The government has been funding colleges for a very long time, but recently, this has been put into jeopardy by the Trump administration, which has been threatening to cut many colleges’ federal funding if they don’t agree to change their policies the way the administration sees fit, with one of the first colleges targeted being Harvard. Harvard received a letter from the Trump administration telling them that if they did not change their curriculum and admissions programs, more particularly cut their DEI practices, they would stop giving them federal funding.  

Harvard has strongly rejected these letters, stating that the “university will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights.” Bizarrely, the Trump administration would go on to say that the letter was unauthorized and should not have been sent but told CNN, “The White House stands by the letter.” Harvard University said that they fully believed the letters’ authenticity, citing the fact that the Trump administration had already frozen billions in federal funding to their university.  

The story of Harvard reminded a lot of other people of a similar situation, which happened around two weeks earlier at the University of Michigan, where the University of Michigan caved into shutting down their DEI office, citing the Trumps’ administration threat of cutting funding but stating, “… The university announced it will reallocate funding away from administrative functions and toward student-facing initiatives that directly enhance student success and foster a sense of belonging for all members of our community.” This decision drew major criticism from many people who were disappointed in what they viewed as Michigan giving in.