President Trump on Tuesday called for Harvard University to lose its tax-exempt status over its left-leaning campus activism.
“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!” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The president’s push to revoke Harvard’s tax exemption status comes one day after his administration froze $2.2 billion in federal grants to Harvard after the school announced it would defy the government’s demands to limit activism.
In a letter to Harvard sent Friday, the Trump administration called for government and leadership reforms at the university, plus an audit of DEI.
Harvard President Alan Garber on Monday said 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 inquiry they can pursue.”
Harvard is one of the oldest and wealthiest universities in the country, with an endowment of $50 billion. It owns more than $290 million in real estate around the campus, but because of its nonprofit status has a tax rate of zero.
