US Department of Energy terminates US$89M in grant funding to Harvard University; agency cites racial discrimination and antisemitism concerns on campus

In case you missed it, the Department of Energy issued a notice to Harvard University this week terminating approximately $89 million in grant funding from DOE’s Office of Science and Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy due to the University’s policy of racial discrimination. This cancellation from DOE resulted in an immediate savings of $7 million to the American taxpayer and was issued in coordination with the Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism’s letter to Harvard University announcing the termination of $450 million in grants from eight government agencies in addition to $2.2 billion that was previously frozen by the Trump Administration.

Excerpts of DOE’s letters to Harvard President Dr. Alan Garber are below:

DOE understands that Harvard University (Harvard) continues to engage in race discrimination, including in its admission process, and in other areas of student life, such as access to the Law Review at Harvard Law School. We are also aware of recent events at Harvard involving antisemitic action that suggest the institution has a disturbing lack of concern for the safety and wellbeing of Jewish students. Harvard’s ongoing inaction in the face of repeated and severe harassment and targeting of Jewish students has ground day-to-day campus operations to a halt, deprived Jewish students of learning and research opportunities to which they are entitled, and brought shame upon the University and our nation as a whole.

Indeed, as the Harvard Presidential Task Force on Combating Antisemitism and Anti-Israeli Bias concluded, actions at Harvard during the 2023-2024 academic year resulted in widespread abuse of Jewish and Israeli students by an institution “that mainstreamed and normalized what many Jewish and Israeli students experience as antisemitism and anti-Israeli bias.”

DOE maintains a firm policy of not supporting entities, individuals or actions that engage in discrimination or which promote and condone, by action or acquiescence, antisemitism. Despite being aware of deeply rooted racial discrimination and antisemitism at Harvard, Harvard has refused to take immediate, definitive and appropriate remedial action.

Therefore, based on the available information, DOE has concluded that no modification of the Harvard projects could align the projects with agency priorities and any continued funding of the projects is inconsistent with DOE’s stewardship of American taxpayer funds and would be inconsistent with the DOE’s overall mission and goals.