President Donald Trump’s administration has launched a broad new crackdown on elite American universities. Moving past earlier antisemitism inquiries, the Department of Justice now focuses heavily on dismantling diversity programs. This sweeping campaign targets over 100 top institutions to eliminate race-based admissions, curb foreign influence, and monitor federal research funds flow across the country.

Premier medical schools face intense scrutiny over their low acceptance rates and heavy reliance on federal research money. Meanwhile, new Justice Department probes target international donors and global enrolment. Federal officials recently investigated race-conscious admissions at Yale University’s medical school and Chinese student scholarships at Harvard University. They have also expanded inquiries into Duke University and the University of California, Berkeley law schools. During an investigation into Duke's law school, investigators discovered admissions officers using essay prompts and tracking spreadsheets to maintain student diversity.

Harmeet Dhillon, the Justice Department's civil rights chief, leads this aggressive strategy. "It's a hostage situation," said Harmeet Dhillon, the Justice Department's civil rights chief, in an interview with Bloomberg. "Faculty are like petulant children. They view it as a jihad to protect their turf." Dhillon shifted the department's primary focus toward dismantling campus diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. "There's only a subset of institutions that have the anti-Semitism problem," she said. "Almost every institution of higher learning in the United States has the DEI problem."

Administration officials are overhauling standard rules for student aid, research grants, and visas. They aim to shift federal funding toward institutions complying with their policy demands. Dhillon directly criticised foreign enrolment at premier institutions. "American students are being shut out of opportunities that are being given to foreign students who can pay more money," Dhillon said. "That's certainly the case at Harvard and Columbia."

Universities are already feeling the financial pinch. Federal research funding plunged by 20% at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 18% at Harvard, and 45% at Johns Hopkins University. Meanwhile, cooperative schools like Arizona State University and the University of North Carolina are offering to absorb reallocated federal research dollars. Dhillon noted that many university leaders now travel directly to Washington to settle inquiries privately. "I have universities come to me proactively and say, 'don't sue us, here's our homework, here's our lawyer, we're happy to give you whatever you want," she said. "They're opening their books. They're opening their kimonos."

Many schools are voluntarily cutting minority-focused scholarships and ending international partnerships out of caution. However, Harvard continues to resist the administration's strictest demands, backed by its $55 billion endowment and recent legal wins. Settlements with Harvard collapsed after Dhillon took charge, leading to ongoing disputes over federal support. "The idea that they're going to ultimately win a war of attrition, where they get to continue to be funded by the federal government to the tune of billions of dollars without consequence, is actually silly," she said. "At some point, their runway is going to run out."

Dhillon views this push as essential oversight to completely reform American higher education. "I view it as kind of like speeding tickets," she said. "If no one is ever checking people's speed, then there will be more speeding." Reflecting on her own time as a student at Dartmouth College, she remains determined to eliminate affirmative action permanently. "The kids who were getting admitted under these programs were kids from Park Avenue, who are definitely more privileged than me, an immigrant from the Deep South," she said. "Now," she continued, "it's going to be different."