The Trump administration’s letter to Harvard University threatening financial ruin if it does not agree to a list of demands was sent by an official “without authorization,” according to a report.
Last Friday, the letter from the White House’s task force on antisemitism triggered a standoff between the Trump administration and the historic institution that continues to rumble on.
That letter, according to the New York Times, was reportedly sent by “mistake” after Harvard refused to cave to the administration’s demands in a powerful public statement issued Monday.
“Some people at the White House believed it had been sent prematurely,” the newspaper reports. “Others in the administration thought it had been meant to be circulated among the task force members rather than sent to Harvard.”
After the university refused to back down publicly, it received a “frantic” phone call from a Trump official, according to the Times.
The letter was sent by a member of the antisemitism task force, Sean Keveney, who is acting general counsel of the Department of Health and Human Services, according to the Times, citing three people briefed on the matter.
The Independent has contacted the Department of Health and Human Services and the White House for comment.
The White House is standing by the letter and its sweeping demands. The administration alleges the university has failed to tackle antisemitism on campus.
Other demands in the letter included cooperating with federal immigration officials, ending diversity programs, screening international students for their views, de-recognizing pro-Palestine student groups, and Harvard subjecting itself to a wide-ranging “viewpoint diversity” audit.
In a statement to the Times, May Mailman, White House senior policy strategist, blamed Harvard for going on a “victimhood campaign.”
“It was malpractice on the side of Harvard’s lawyers not to pick up the phone and call the members of the antisemitism task force who they had been talking to for weeks,” Mailman said. “Instead, Harvard went on a victimhood campaign.”
Mailman added that the conflict could be resolved if Harvard follows through on President Donald Trump’s demands.
The antisemitism task force told the newspaper that they are in “lock step” with the Trump administration on “ensuring that entities who receive taxpayer dollars are following all civil rights laws.”
Harvard pushed back on the White House’s statement that they were at fault for “not picking up the phone.”
“It remains unclear to us exactly what, among the government’s recent words and deeds, were mistakes or what the government actually meant to do and say,” the university said in a statement to the Times. “But even if the letter was a mistake, the actions the government took this week have real-life consequences.”
The White House has accused Harvard of failing to counter campus antisemitism amid widespread pro-Palestine protests over the last two years.
“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,” Harvard president Alan Garber pushed back this week.
Harvard has maintained that it has worked diligently to stop antisemitism on campus. It is the first of the many Ivy League universities targeted by the administration to affirmatively commit to resisting the administration’s demands.
Trump has also threatened to revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt status.
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