NATIONAL NEWS – Trump threatens Harvard’s tax-exempt status, under guise of protecting Jewish students

Laila Kirkpatrick, Staff Writer

On Friday, Trump publicly threatened to revoke Harvard University’s tax-exempt status. In a post on the social media platform Truth Social, he said, “We are going to be taking away Harvard’s tax-exempt status. It’s what they deserve!” His comments were marked in the latest volley in the dispute between the Trump administration and wealthy colleges. 

Trump first suggested revoking the university’s status in April, when he wrote on social media, “Perhaps Harvard should lose its Tax Exempt Status and be Taxed as a Political Entity if it keeps pushing political, ideological, and terrorist inspired/supporting ‘Sickness?’ ” The administration is claiming that Harvard has failed to protect Jewish students on campus and has sent Harvard a list of demands it said must be met or the university may lose $9 billion in federal funding. Harvard’s president has rejected all of Trump’s demands, calling them an illegal and intolerable attempt to dictate “what private universities can teach, whom the can admit, and hire, and which areas of student and inquiry they can pursue.” In response to these comments, the government froze over $2.2 billion in federal funding.