White House views Harvard’s recent changes as ‘positive’ but says more needs to be done, signals additional funding cuts

The White House characterized recent steps by Harvard University to rectify its apparent mishandling of antisemitism as “positive,” but signaled Wednesday that the university needs to do more to crack down on what it sees as anti-Israel bias on campus for the flow of federal funding to resume — and even suggested more money could be cut.

The White House characterized recent steps by Harvard University to rectify its apparent mishandling of antisemitism as “positive,” but signaled Wednesday that the university needs to do more to crack down on what it sees as anti-Israel bias on campus for the flow of federal funding to resume — and even suggested more money could be cut. “What we’re seeing is not enough, and there’s actually probably going to be additional funding being cut. So we’re not having a conversation of what is, you know, releasing the spigot again. We’re not. The spigot is closed. If anything, getting tighter right now,” a White House official told CNN when asked about Harvard’s recent actions. “But there is an avenue, a very clear avenue, a very real situation in where, you know, they can commit to what we’re asking — reasonable asks. This isn’t something like not reasonable, where we could have a conversation about funding,” they told CNN. Earlier this month, the federal government’s Joint Task Force to Combat Antisemitism froze over $2 billion in federal funding to the Ivy League institution. Harvard sued the Trump administration over the freeze last week. The administration says its task force, created following a February executive order, is intended to crack down on antisemitism on campuses amid the Israel-Hamas war. But even prominent Jewish organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League and Harvard’s chapter of the Hillel student organization, have publicly questioned the administration’s broad attacks on the university. The White House put Harvard grants on hold because the university would not provide the administration with information about alleged “criminal activity” of its students, according to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.