WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump announced on Friday that he intends to revoke Harvard University’s tax-exempt status, escalating his administration’s ongoing campaign against what he calls ideological bias in elite American higher education institutions.
“We are going to be taking away Harvard’s Tax Exempt Status. It’s what they deserve!” Trump wrote on his social media platform, offering no timeline or legal justification for the move.
The White House has not yet provided further details, and Harvard representatives could not be immediately reached for comment.
Since taking office in January, Trump has made U.S. universities a central target of his domestic agenda. His administration has frozen federal research funding, launched multiple investigations, revoked student visas, and issued sweeping demands aimed at combating what he describes as antisemitic, anti-American, Marxist, and “radical left” ideologies on campus.
Harvard, one of the most prominent targets of these efforts, has pushed back strongly. The university has filed lawsuits against the administration over halted funding and has joined a coalition of more than 200 college and university presidents in publicly protesting Trump’s education policies.
The threat to Harvard’s nonprofit tax status marks a significant escalation in Trump’s battle with higher education, raising concerns among legal experts and academic leaders about political interference in the autonomy of American universities.