McMahon Tells Harvard To Stop Seeking Grant Funds

Education Secretary Linda McMahon is telling Harvard University that it should no longer ask for grant funding, as “none will be provided,” in a letter to University President Alan Garber.

McMahon’s scathing letter called out the supposedly elite university for for becoming embroiled in plagiarism scandals, needing remedial math, and engaging in “ugly racism.” She also slammed the school for hiring far-left mayors, Bill de Blasio of New York City and Lori Lightfoot of Chicago, saying, “This is like hiring the captain of the Titanic to teach navigation to future captains of the sea.”

“Harvard University has made a mockery of this country’s higher education system. It has invited foreign students, who engage in violent behavior and show contempt for the United States of America, to its campus,” McMahon wrote. “In every way, Harvard has failed to abide by its legal obligations, its ethical and fiduciary duties, its transparency responsibilities. and any semblance of academic rigor. It had scrapped standardized testing requirements and a normalized grading system. This year Harvard was forced to adopt an embarrassing ‘remedial math’ program for undergraduates. Why is it, we ask, that Harvard has to teach simple and basic mathematics, when it is supposedly so hard to get into this ‘acclaimed university?’ Who is getting in under such a low standard when others, with fabulous grades and a great understanding of the highest levels of mathematics, are being rejected?”

McMahon made clear to Harvard that the federal government was willing to keep federal funding if the institution was committed to complying with federal law, protect students, and end its racial preferences by finally abiding by the Supreme Court’s decision to end affirmative action.

Harvard would need to return to a meritocratic system for admissions and hiring, end “unlawful programs that promote crude identity stereotypes,” and comply with law enforcement, including with the Department of Homeland Security. Doing so, McMahon wrote, would “advance the best interests of Harvard University, so it can reclaim its status a respected educational institution.”

“Given these and other concerning allegations, this letter is to inform you that Harvard should no longer seek GRANTS from the federal government, since none will be provided,” she said. “Harvard will cease to be a publicly funded institution and can instead operate as a privately-funded institution, drawing on its colossal endowment, and raising money from its large base of wealthy alumni.”

“You have an approximately $53 billion head start, much of which was made possible by the fact that you are living within the walls of, and benefiting from, the prosperity secured by the United States of America and its free-market system you teach your students to despise,” she added.

Upon receipt of the letter, Harvard claimed the federal government is “illegally” withholding funding. The letter also comes amid a lawsuit filed by Harvard challenging a $2.2 billion funding freeze, as though the school is entitled to American taxpayer money, while simultaneously working to fundamentally degrade the country.

“Receiving such taxpayer funds is a privilege, not a right,” McMahon wrote. “Yet instead of using these funds to advance the education of its students, Harvard is engaging in a systemic pattern of violating federal law. Where do many of these ‘students’ come from, who are they, how do they get into Harvard, or even into our country – and why is there so much HATE? These are questions that must be answered, among many more, but the biggest question of all is, why will Harvard not give straightforward answers to the American public?”

The letter also comes as the Trump administration announced it would take away Harvard’s tax-exempt status, and Trump himself criticized the school for having become a laughingstock in higher education.

“Harvard has been hiring almost all woke, Radical Left, idiots and ‘birdbrains’ who are only capable of teaching FAILURE to students and so-called ‘future leaders,’” Trump posted to social media. “Look just to the recent past at their plagiarizing President, who so greatly embarrassed Harvard before the United States Congress.”

Breccan F. Thies is a correspondent for The Federalist. He previously covered education and culture issues for the Washington Examiner and Breitbart News. He holds a degree from the University of Virginia and is a 2022 Claremont Institute Publius Fellow. You can follow him on X: @BreccanFThies.