The Donald Trump administration is preparing to cancel all federal funding for the prestigious Harvard University. This was revealed by The New York Times, which reported on a letter the General Services Administration (GSA) would send to all federal agencies across the country on Tuesday.
It recommends terminating current contracts and instructs agencies to “seek alternative providers” for future services.
“Going forward, we also encourage your agency to seek alternative vendors for future services where you had previously considered Harvard.”
The aforementioned outlet reports that the total contracts signed between the federal government and Harvard are estimated at around $100 million, in addition to the $4 billion the administration has eliminated in recent months.
The letter, dated May 27, 2025, will be delivered to federal agencies this Tuesday, according to an official source who spoke to The New York Times on condition of anonymity. The information was corroborated hours later by CNN in a conversation with another senior Trump administration official.
“A letter will be sent today to federal agencies asking them to identify any contracts with Harvard and whether they can be canceled or redirected elsewhere,” the source told the agency.
“This review is in line with the administration’s directive that all contracted federal services strongly defend and promote the agencies’ strategic priorities.”
“The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) is assisting all federal agencies in a review for termination or transition of their federal government contracts with Harvard University and affiliates,” the letter begins. “This review aligns with the Administration’s directive that all federal contracted services steadfastly uphold and advance agency strategic priorities,” it continues.
The GSA argues that its decision is based on the claim that “Harvard continues to practice racial discrimination, including in its admissions process and in other areas of student life.”
This is in response to the Republican administration’s allegations that the prestigious institution, with its diversity and inclusion programs and policies, is perpetrating “racial discrimination” and “anti-Semitic acts.”
“Harvard is suspected of engaging in a pattern or practice of disparate treatment in hiring, promotion, compensation, and other personnel-related actions,” the GSA continues in its letter.
Therefore, the GSA orders each agency to “review” its contracts with Harvard University and “determine whether the services provided effectively advance the agency’s priorities.” In addition, it asks the entities addressed by the letter to “terminate” each contract it deems “not meeting standards” and “transfer the services to a new provider.”
In the letter, released by The New York Times, the GSA also stipulates that if agencies feel they cannot terminate a contract with Harvard, they must “provide justification” along with the name of the person who made that decision.
“Going forward, we also encourage your agency to seek alternative vendors for future services where you had previously considered Harvard,” the GSA concludes in its letter. The agency has set a deadline of June 6 for agencies to submit a report to the Commissioner of the Federal Procurement Service, detailing the actions taken against the university.
In recent months, the Trump administration has cut nearly $2 billion in federal grants to Harvard, threatened to withdraw its tax exemptions, and announced last Thursday that it will stop issuing visas to foreign students at Harvard. Those already enrolled at the university would have to transfer to another school or face expulsion.
This latest measure, which a federal judge has temporarily blocked since last Friday, responds to Harvard’s refusal to provide data on its international students so the government can determine which of them participated in pro-Palestinian protests and other activities sanctioned by the administration.
“We are still waiting for the Foreign Student Lists from Harvard so that we can determine, after a ridiculous expenditure of BILLIONS OF DOLLARS, how many radicalised lunatics, troublemakers all, should not be let back into our Country,” Trump wrote Monday in another post on Truth Social.
“Harvard is very slow in the presentation of these documents, and probably for good reason! The best thing Harvard has going for it is that they have shopped around and found the absolute best Judge (for them!) – But have no fear, the Government will, in the end, WIN!” he concluded.
Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has intensified his confrontation with prestigious Ivy League academic institutions such as Columbia and Harvard, accusing the latter of fueling anti-Semitism by allowing demonstrations against the Israeli offensive in Gaza or of favoring the Chinese Communist Party with its exchange programs.