President Donald Trump declared that Harvard University would lose its tax-exempt status, a designation that has allowed the school to avoid paying levies on its revenue under a classification for educational institutions.
Trump posted the announcement after weeks of threatening an Internal Revenue Service review of the Ivy League’s tax-free treatment.
“We are going to be taking away Harvard’s Tax Exempt Status. It’s what they deserve!” Trump wrote early Friday morning.
Conservatives have targeted Harvard and other elite universities in recent years over accusations of ideological bias and allegations of a rise in antisemitism amid campus protests against the war in Gaza. Trump and other Republicans have accused the institutions of promoting liberal agendas and so-called “wokeness.”
“The next chapter of the American story will not be written by the Harvard Crimson,” Trump said during a Thursday night commencement address at the University of Alabama. “It will be written by you, the Crimson Tide.”
The IRS code prevents presidents from interfering with the federal tax agency’s decisions. But the IRS commissioner reports to the Treasury Secretary and it was unclear if Trump’s announcement stemmed from his decision or that of the independent agency.
The White House, IRS and Treasury Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump’s fight with Harvard has escalated rapidly since the university rejected the administration’s demands to reform campus policies, arguing they went far beyond their stated efforts of combating antisemitism and threatened the school’s independence. The administration has frozen billions of dollars in funding that supported projects including ALS and tuberculosis research and Harvard has sued several U.S. agencies and top officials in response.
Harvard has warned of “grave consequences” should the Trump administration follow through on revoking its tax-exempt status. Democrats, including Senator Elizabeth Warren, have rallied around Harvard. The Massachusetts lawmaker said in an interview with Bloomberg News last month that it was “flatly illegal” for the U.S. president to direct the IRS to investigate or change status for a taxpayer.
Earlier this week, the university released long awaited reports on antisemitism and anti-Muslim bias that painted a scathing picture of how students treated each other in the wake of the Hamas attack against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
“I’m sorry for the moments when we failed to meet the high expectations we rightfully set for our community,” Harvard President Alan Garber said in a letter accompanying the reports.
Garber has acknowledged the need to tackle antisemitism, noting that he’s experienced it directly while serving as the university’s leader, and said Harvard is committed to working with the administration. In recent weeks, the school placed the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee on probation and forced the faculty leaders of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies to leave their posts. Harvard also suspended a partnership with Birzeit University in the West Bank. Harvard has also renamed its diversity, equity and inclusion office as Community and Campus Life.
