President Trump is ramping up the pressure on Harvard University after the Ivy League school has resisted his demands to address antisemitism on campus.
Trump is suggesting that the university should lose its tax-exempt status if it fails to reform. Writing on Truth Social, he said, "Perhaps Harvard should be taxed as a political entity if it keeps pushing political, ideological, and terrorist inspired/supporting sickness?"
"The president has been quite clear, they must follow federal law," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt insisted on Tuesday. "He also wants to see Harvard apologize, and Harvard should apologize for the egregious antisemitism that took place on their college campus against Jewish American students."
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This came after the administration froze more than $2 billion in funding for the Ivy League school, with an additional $7 billion at stake, for refusing its demands to address antisemitism on campus and reform DEI policies.
Harvard's president shot back, posting online, "No government – regardless of which party is in power – should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue."
"What the Trump administration is doing is illegal, and the university has a very strong legal position here that the First Amendment and the Civil Rights Act do not permit what the Trump administration is demanding," argued Niko Bowie, professor with Harvard Law School.
One law expert told CBN's Faith Nation that Harvard will likely sue the government to protect its funding.
"I believe it had over $54 billion in endowments as of last summer," said Gerard Filitti with the Lawfare Project. "It has the funds to fight the Trump administration all the way. So we will absolutely see a legal challenge that will probably wind its way to the Supreme Court at some point."
Currently, 60 universities, including Northwestern, Brown, Princeton, and Cornell, are under investigation for allegedly tolerating antisemitism on their campuses.
READ: Trump Admin Cancels $400M in Federal Funding for Columbia University, Citing Antisemitism
"There are a lot of our higher ed institutions that likely did violate Title Six by not responding to known incidents of unprotected speech or unprotected conduct, including violence targeted against Jewish students, because of their Jewish identity," said Tyler Coward with Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.
Experts argue that in recent years, especially following Hamas' massacre of Israelis on October 7th, college campuses have become hotbeds for antisemitism, with an increasing number of incidents involving hate speech and discrimination targeting Jewish students and faculty.
"It's like standing against a tidal wave right now with an umbrella. It is so overwhelming for the Jewish students, for the pro-Israel Christian students, for any student who believes Israel has a right to live in peace and safety," said Jessica Marzucco, a pro-Israel advocate.
MORE: Lawmakers Tackle Antisemitism on College Campuses Amid Staggering Spike in Hate
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