President Donald Trump on Friday said he would strip Harvard University of its tax-exempt status, as a battle between his administration and the Ivy League school continues.
“We are going to be taking away Harvard’s Tax Exempt Status. It’s what they deserve,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. He did not elaborate on the details, including when it may happen.
Some schools, religious organizations, charity groups, private foundations, and others can receive tax-exempt status if they meet 501(c)(3) nonprofit qualifications under the tax code established and enforced by the IRS.
The White House has threatened to pull funding from Ivy League schools over alleged anti-Semitism at campuses and for promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, among other measures. Harvard filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over funding that was blocked.
Trump previewed removing the university’s tax-exempt status in comments last month.
“Tax-exempt status, I mean, that’s a privilege. It’s really a privilege. And it’s been abused. By a lot more than Harvard, too,” he told reporters in the Oval Office, while also mentioning Princeton University and Columbia University, also Ivy League schools.
“It’s something that these schools really have to be very, very careful with.”
In mid-April, the Trump administration froze $2.2 billion in grants to Harvard and $60 million in contracts to Harvard University, after the school said it would defy the Trump administration’s demands to limit activism on campus.
Harvard President Alan Garber said at the time that his school would not adhere to the government’s demands.
“The University will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights,” Garber said in a letter released online. “No government—regardless of which party is in power—should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue.”
But earlier this week, Harvard pledged reforms in response to a pair of internal reports on anti-Semitism and anti-Arab prejudice at the Ivy League campus following last year’s anti-Israel protests amid an ongoing war between Israeli forces and the Hamas terrorist group that started in October 2023.
In a separate statement, Garber said Harvard has made “necessary changes and essential progress” over the past year but promised further action in response to a task force that was established under the Trump administration.
“We will redouble our efforts to ensure that the University is a place where ideas are welcomed, entertained and contested in the spirit of seeking truth,” Garber wrote.
In response to the task force’s efforts, Columbia University agreed to the Trump administration’s requests to overhaul its rules for public protests rather than risk billions of dollars in lost federal funds.
The president has also suggested that his administration could target other groups’ tax-exempt status, not just universities. In last month’s Oval Office exchange with reporters, Trump specifically named the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a progressive nonprofit organization.
“It’s supposed to be a charitable organization,” Trump said regarding CREW. “The only charity they had is going after Donald Trump. So we’re looking at that. We’re looking at a lot of things.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.