Here’s why Trump has now set his sights on US universities.

Why is Trump now battling Harvard University?

In response, the Trump administration’s Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism said it was freezing more than US$3 billion ($4.7 billion) in contracts and grants to Harvard, the country’s oldest and richest university.

But he did not say how he would do this. Under the US tax code, most universities are exempt from federal income tax because they are deemed to be “operated exclusively” for educational purposes.

How has Harvard responded?

“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,” Garber wrote in a public letter.

Some professors, students and university presidents have said the protests are being unfairly conflated with antisemitism as a pretext for an unconstitutional attack on academic freedoms.

“Harvard has set an example for other higher-ed institutions — rejecting an unlawful and ham-handed attempt to stifle academic freedom,” he wrote on X. “Let’s hope other institutions follow suit.”

What’s next?

The standoff between the Trump administration and universities comes as he faces court challenges to his immigration policies and pushback from state attorneys-general trying to block his firing of government workers and suspension of trillions of dollars in federal grants, loans and financial support.