Washington: The Trump administration is asking federal agencies to cancel contracts with Harvard University worth about $100 million, a senior administration official said Tuesday.
The government already has cancelled more than $2.6 billion in federal research grants for the Ivy League school, which has pushed back on the administration’s demands for changes to several of its policies.
A draft letter from the General Services Administration directs agencies to review contracts with the university and seek alternate vendors. The administration is planning to send a version of the letter Tuesday, the official said. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal deliberations.
The New York Times first reported on the letter.
President Donald Trump has railed against Harvard in an intensifying clash with the nation’s oldest and wealthiest university, calling it a hotbed of liberalism and antisemitism.
Harvard filed a lawsuit April 21 over the administration’s calls for changes to the university’s leadership, governance and admissions policies. Since then the administration has slashed the school’s federal funding, moved to cut off enrolment of international students and threatened its tax-exempt status.
The administration has identified about 30 contracts across nine agencies to be reviewed for cancellation, according to another administration official who was not authorised to speak publicly and provided these details on the condition of anonymity. The contracts total roughly $100 million, including executive training for Department of Homeland Security officials.
Agencies with contracts that are deemed critical are being directed not to halt them immediately, but to devise a plan to transition to a different vendor other than Harvard.
The letter applies only to federal contracts with Harvard and not its remaining research grants.
AP
