Trump Gives Deadline For Federal Agencies To Cancel Harvard Contracts

The Trump administration is pushing for all federal agencies to cancel or transition away from contracts with Harvard University by June 6.

Federal Acquisition Service Commissioner Josh Gruenbaum wrote in a Tuesday letter to all federal agencies to take steps to end any contract they might have with Harvard, accusing the university of engaging in racial discrimination in admissions and other discriminatory behavior. The contracts total approximately $100 million.

“We recommend that your agency terminate for convenience each contract that it determines has failed to meet its standards, and transition to a new vendor those contracts that could be better serviced by an alternative counterparty. Going forward, we also encourage your agency to seek alternative vendors for future services where you had previously considered Harvard,” Gruenbaum wrote in a letter obtained by The Daily Wire. “We look forward to assisting you with terminating or transitioning these contracts.”

The letter cites numerous examples of how the Trump administration believes Harvard violated federal law.

“As relevant here, GSA (U.S. General Services Administration) understands that Harvard continues to engage in race discrimination, including in its admissions process and in other areas of student life. The statistical evidence of Harvard’s racial discrimination in their admissions — as revealed in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard — is shocking, to say the least,” Gruenbaum wrote. 

The letter noted that admissions rates for the top academic performance varied widely by race. The administration said the admission rates for the highest academic decile were 56% for African Americans, 31% for Hispanics, 15% for whites, and 13% for Asians.

“Harvard has shown no indication of reforming their admissions process — to the contrary, Harvard now has to offer a remedial math course, which has been described as ‘middle school math,’ for incoming freshmen. These are the direct results of employing discriminatory factors, instead of merit, in admission decisions,” Gruenbaum wrote. 

Gruenbaum added that Harvard was suspected of having racial preferences not only in admissions, but also in hiring.

“Harvard is suspected of engaging in a pattern or practice of disparate treatment in hiring, promotion, compensation, and other personnel related actions,” he wrote. 

He also cited “discriminatory practices” at the Harvard Law Review, which reportedly include expedited review for minority authors. The Trump administration previously opened up a probe into the journal last month.

The Trump administration has also taken issue with Harvard’s handling of anti-Israel protests, including the awarding of a $65,000 fellowship to a protester accused of assaulting a Jewish student.

“Harvard’s ongoing inaction in the face of repeated and severe harassment and targeting of its students has at times grounded day-to-day campus operations to a halt, deprived Jewish students of learning and research opportunities to which they are entitled, and profoundly alarmed the general public,” Gruenbaum wrote. 

More than $2 billion in federal funds for Harvard have been frozen as the university has pushed back on the Trump administration’s actions to crack down on DEI and campus activism.