On Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump warned that he might take away Harvard's tax-free status because the university didn't follow a set of requests from the White House. These requests included cutting back on student activism and ending its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs.

Trump threatened to tax Harvard as a "political entity" in a post on Truth Social if the university persisted in promoting what he described as "political, ideological and terrorist-inspired sickness. 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. Remember, tax-exempt status is totally contingent on acting in the public interest!" On Monday, the Trump administration blocked around USD 2.3 billion in federal funding to Harvard because the university refused to follow major policy changes directed by the White House.

The department's task group on countering antisemitism claimed Harvard's opposition reflected "the troubling entitlement mindset that is endemic in our nation's most prestigious universities" and that the freeze involves USD 60 million in federal contracts and USD 2.2 billion in grants. Harvard President Alan Garber wrote a letter to everyone at the university, saying no to Trump's demands. He stood up for the university's freedom to make its own decisions and said the government was going too far in trying to control what the school does. "The university will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights. 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 enquiry they can pursue," Garber wrote.

He argued that the administration's demands went against the First Amendment and went beyond what the federal government is allowed to do under Title VI — a civil rights law that bans discrimination based on race, colour, or national origin. "These ends will not be achieved by assertions of power, unmoored from the law, to control teaching and learning at Harvard," he said, adding, "The work of addressing our shortcomings is ours to define and undertake as a community."