Trump says he’ll revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt status
President Donald Trump declared Friday that “We are going to be taking away Harvard’s Tax Exempt Status,” saying “It’s what they deserve!”
The announcement from Trump comes after Fox News reported last week that his administration asked the Internal Revenue Service to revoke Harvard University’s tax-exempt status. The Ivy League school’s failure to address antisemitism on campus is grounds for losing its 501(c)(3) status, sources said at the time.
“The government has long exempted universities from taxes in order to support their educational mission. The tax exemption means that more of every dollar can go toward scholarships for students, lifesaving and life-enhancing medical research, and technological advancements that drive economic growth. There is no legal basis to rescind Harvard’s tax-exempt status,” a Harvard University spokesperson told Fox News Digital on Friday, noting that Harvard provided more than $749 million in financial aid during fiscal year 2024.
“Such an unprecedented action would endanger our ability to carry out our educational mission. It would result in diminished financial aid for students, abandonment of critical medical research programs, and lost opportunities for innovation,” the spokesperson added. “The unlawful use of this instrument more broadly would have grave consequences for the future of higher education in America.”
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Trump argued in mid-April that Harvard had “lost its way” and didn’t deserve federal funding.
“Harvard has been hiring almost all woke, Radical Left, idiots and ‘birdbrains’ who are only capable of teaching FAILURE to students and so-called ‘future leaders,'” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Look just to the recent past at their plagiarizing President, who so greatly embarrassed Harvard before the United States Congress.”
“Many others, like these Leftist dopes, are teaching at Harvard, and because of that, Harvard can no longer be considered even a decent place of learning, and should not be considered on any list of the World’s Great Universities or Colleges,” he continued.
“Harvard is a JOKE, teaches Hate and Stupidity, and should no longer receive Federal Funds,” Trump also said.
Democratic Whip Katherine Clark of Massachusetts called Trump’s announcement Friday an “illegal action.”
“Revoking Harvard’s tax-exempt status will have profound consequences far beyond its faculty and students. Harvard is a global leader in scientific research that produces cures and hope for patients and drives our innovation economy,” she said. “President Trump can’t change a fundamental truth: There are no kings in this country.”
Tyler Coward, the lead counsel for government affairs for the free speech advocacy group Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), added that “Weaponizing the IRS and the tax code to attack the president’s ideological opponents is a dangerous precedent that inevitably will be used by future administrations to penalize any nonprofit whose speech falls out of favor with those in power.”
Harvard has become a target of Trump’s broader crackdown on universities, much of which is in response to last year’s anti-Israel unrest that erupted on campuses across the country.
On April 11, the Trump administration sent a letter to Harvard University President Dr. Alan Garber and Harvard Corporation Lead Member Penny Pritzker outlining the institution’s failures and a list of demands from the White House. In the letter, the administration accused Harvard of failing to uphold civil rights laws and to foster an “environment that produces intellectual creativity.”
The Trump administration threatened to pull federal funding if Harvard did not reform governance and leadership, as well as its hiring and admissions practices by August 2025. The letter emphasized the need for Harvard to change its international admissions process to avoid admitting students who are “hostile” to American values or support terrorism or antisemitism.
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Harvard refused to comply with the demands, with Garber saying that “no government… should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and areas of study and inquiry they can pursue.”
The Trump administration then froze $2.2 billion in funding to Harvard, and is reportedly looking to slash another billion, according to The Wall Street Journal.
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The university later filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over its “unlawful” freezing of funds.
Fox News’ Andrea Margolis, Alexis McAdams and Rachel Wolf contributed to this report.