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The first 100 days of the Trump administration have made higher education institutions a central front in its broader battle against “woke” policies and discriminatory practices linked to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs.
As both federal funding and immigration enforcement tools are being wielded, universities are feeling unprecedented pressure to reform or face serious consequences.
“The Trump administration is going after the sources of funding that enable the DEI industrial complex,” Cornell University Professor William Jacobson told Fox News Digital.
President Donald Trump shut down all DEI offices across the federal government during his first week in office and signed a number of executive orders to quickly undo former President Joe Biden’s efforts.
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Rümeysa Öztürk, a Turkish Ph.D. student at Tufts University, was detained by ICE agents in March.
Her visa had been revoked due to alleged involvement in pro-Palestinian protests. She is currently awaiting deportation proceedings.
The campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Lisa Poole, File)
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 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.
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 university later filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over its “unlawful” freezing of funds.
Trump fired back, calling the Ivy League institution “a liberal mess.”
“Harvard is an [antisemitic], far-left institution, as are numerous others, with students being accepted from all over the world that want to rip our country apart. The place is a liberal mess, allowing a certain group of crazed lunatics to enter and exit the classroom and spew fake ANGER AND HATE,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “Harvard is a threat to democracy…”
President Donald Trump signs an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, April 23, 2025, in Washington D.C. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Despite early victories by the administration in its crackdown on campus DEI, Jacobson warned that reforming higher education is a marathon, not a sprint.
“This is going to take more than 100 days,” he said.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House and Harvard for comment.
Fox News Digital’s Rachel Wolf and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
