Trump administration moves to cancel federal contracts with Harvard worth $100 mn

US President Donald Trump’s administration is moving to cancel all remaining federal contracts with Harvard University, worth an estimated $100 million, in the latest escalation of its battle against the Ivy League institution. Federal Acquisition Service Commissioner Josh Gruenbaum, in a letter seen by Bloomberg News, is directing federal agencies to review their contracts and terminate those that they deem not critical and transition to other vendors if necessary.

The latest cuts come on top of $2.65 billion in recent federal cuts to Harvard.

US' richest and oldest university in recent weeks has borne the bulk of the White House’s ire against institutions it believes embody a liberal woke front.


Harvard has refused many government demands, including that it hand over foreign students’ entire conduct records and allow audits to confirm it has expanded “viewpoint diversity” on campus.

“The University will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights,” Harvard President Alan Garber wrote last month.

Harvard sued the Trump administration last month over its freeze of $2.2 billion in federal grants and contracts and since then has halted another $450 million to the university.

The Trump administration last week cancelled Harvard’s ability to enrol foreign students, a move that’s subject to a status conference Tuesday after a federal judge put it on hold. The school has argued revocation of its certification in the Student and Exchange Visitor Program was “clear retaliation” for its refusal of the government’s ideologically rooted policy demands.