Trump administration threatens further sanctions in escalating fight with Harvard

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The Trump administration escalated its fight with Harvard University on Friday, placing the Ivy League school under extra financial oversight and threatening sanctions if it does not provide additional data on its admissions practices.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon said the department was placing Harvard under “heightened cash monitoring,” forcing the school to use its own money to pay out financial aid for students and then seek reimbursement from the government.

She also threatened “further enforcement action” if the school does not turn over records to prove it no longer is considering race in admissions.

Harvard did not respond to a request for comment.

The moves are part of the administration's crackdown on Harvard as President Donald Trump seeks to eradicate what he describes as liberal bias at colleges around the country. Since taking office, Trump has used the Education Department in unprecedented ways, cutting federal research grants for schools that do not accede to his administration's demands and pressing colleges into paying large cash settlements to end federal investigations.

At Harvard, the Trump administration cut off $2.6 billion in federal research funding from the school after it spurned administration demands for sweeping changes to its governance and student disciplinary policy.

In a lawsuit filed by Harvard, a federal judge this month ordered the government to restore the funding, saying the administration had engaged in “a targeted, ideologically-motivated assault on this country’s premier universities.” On Friday, the Department of Health and Human Services unfroze $46 million in research funding for Harvard, the university said.

The Education Department is also investigating Harvard's admission practices as part of a wider effort to compel universities to prove that they are not using race to evaluate applicants. It says Harvard has not met all of its demands for information about its applicants and admitted students.

A group of students sued Harvard in 2014, alleging that its admissions policies unfairly disadvantaged white and Asian students. The case was resolved by the Supreme Court in 2023, which banned consideration of race in college admissions.

Harvard's finances are also facing new scrutiny. McMahon said she had concerns over the school's financial well-being because its federal funding is under threat. Harvard has a $53 billion endowment, the largest of any university.

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