Harvard University is the latest in a growing list of higher education institutions that had its federal funding targeted by the government in order to comply with .
The series of threats 鈥� and subsequent pauses in funding 鈥� to some of the top U.S. universities have become an for the administration to exert influence on college campuses. Six of the seven universities impacted are Ivy League schools.
President Donald Trump vowed to pursue these federal cuts last year, saying he would focus on schools that push 鈥渃ritical race theory, transgender insanity, and other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content.鈥� are targets for cuts too.
Here's a look at which universities have been pressured by the administration's funding cuts so far.
Harvard University
The administration announced its antisemitism task force would conduct a 鈥� 鈥� of the Massachusetts university on March 31. The government was set to review nearly $9 billion of federal grants and contracts.
Harvard is among where pro-Palestinian protests erupted on campus amid the war in Gaza last year. Republican officials have since those universities, and testified before Congress to discuss antisemitism allegations.
The administration issued its to Harvard in a letter on April 3. The demands included a ban on face masks, and a review of academic departments鈥� biases.
About a week later, those demands were expanded to include leadership reforms, admission policy changes and stopping the university's recognition of certain student organizations.
Then, on Monday, Harvard President Alan Gerber , saying in a letter that the university 鈥渨ill not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights.鈥�
Hours later, the administration announced it froze more than $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in contracts to the university.
Cornell University
The White House announced last week that it froze . The administration said the freeze came as it investigated alleged civil rights violations at the university.
The New York university was among a group of more than 60 universities that on March 10 urging them to take steps to protect Jewish students or else face 鈥減otential enforcement actions.鈥�
The Defense Department issued more than 75 stop-work orders for research, Cornell said in a statement, but that the federal government hadn't confirmed if the total funding freeze totaled $1 billion.
Northwestern University
Like Cornell, Northwestern also saw a halt in some of its federal funding last week. The amount was about $790 million, according to the Trump administration.
The Illinois university did not receive an official message from the White House on the freeze despite its cooperation with civil rights investigations, according to Northwestern officials at the time.
University spokesperson Jon Yates said Northwestern's scientific research was 鈥渁t jeopardy鈥� because of the freeze 鈥� a facing .
Brown University
The Trump administration was anticipated to at Brown University because of the Rhode Island school's response to alleged antisemitism on campus, according to a White House official on April 3.
The total was expected to be about $510 million in funding, according to the official.
Princeton University
at Princeton University without a clear rationale, according to an April 1 campus message from university president Christopher Eisgruber. The grants came from federal agencies such as the Department of Energy, NASA and the Defense Department.
Before the funding pause, Eisgruber had expressed his opposition to in an essay in The Atlantic magazine. He called the administration's move a 鈥渞adical threat to scholarly excellence and to America's leadership in research."
University of Pennsylvania
Unlike the other targeted universities, the University of Pennsylvania saw funding cuts because of a transgender athlete who competed in Penn's swimming program, according to the Trump administration.
After a Feb. 5 executive order barring transgender athletes from participating in women's and girls' sports, the Education Department a day later into athletics programs at Penn and . The Penn investigation centered on , who is the first openly transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division I title and graduated from the university in 2022.
Over a month later, the White House announced from the Defense Department and the Department of Health and Human Services. The administration said the halt in funding on March 19 came after a separate discretionary federal money review.
The university said at the time that it wasn't directly notified of the action.
Columbia University
Columbia University was the first major institution that had its funding singled out by the Trump administration.
At first, federal agencies declared they were for about $51 million of contracts with Columbia on March 3. Trump had also said on social media that schools that allow 鈥渋llegal protests鈥� would see funding cuts.
Last year, Columbia student protesters against Israel's military campaign in Gaza. The protests led to tense faceoffs with police at the New York City university and the .
University leadership faced scathing condemnations from Republicans on the protests' proliferation, leading . Columbia also , such as , who was later arrested and is at threat of deportation.
On March 7, the Trump administration . Columbia took some action afterward, such as who occupied a campus building during demonstrations.
The university announced March 21 that it had that the Trump administration had demanded.
The changes included placing the Middle East studies department under supervision, hiring new safety personnel who can make arrests, and banning face masks 鈥渇or the purposes of concealing one's identity.鈥� The university also agreed to appoint a senior provost tasked with reviewing several international studies departments' leadership and curriculum.
Armstrong the following week. The decision was met with and a .
But following of the Trump administration's demands, Columbia's acting president, Claire Shipman, had a Monday. She said that while she agrees with some of the administration's requests, the university would reject 鈥渉eavy-handed orchestration鈥� that would 鈥渞equire us to relinquish our independence and autonomy as an educational institution.鈥�
Discussions were still ongoing between the federal government and Columbia as of Monday, according to Shipman's campus letter.
Makiya Seminera, The Associated Press
