Okay, so like, Harvard is totally not having it with these old-school Trump administration demands that are suddenly making a comeback. And honestly? It’s giving serious “you can’t sit with us” energy from the Ivy League right now.
So here’s the tea: the Department of Education (with major MAGA vibes) is back pushing this list of demands on elite schools. Like, they’re trying to micromanage everything—from who gets accepted to what professors are allowed to say. Um, hello? Academic freedom, anyone?
👀 What Trump World Wants
So basically, they’re asking schools like Harvard to:
- Rethink affirmative action admissions (which like, SCOTUS already touched last year, ugh)
- Spill every detail on foreign donations, especially from places like China and the Middle East
- Ditch or majorly tone down their DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) programs
- And like, police “anti-American” speech on campus? What even counts as that??
And Harvard’s like, “Yeah, no thanks.” In their official statement, they were basically like: We’re standing by our values and we’ll lawyer up if we have to. Period.
😬 Who’s Folding Under Pressure?
So while Harvard, Yale, and Stanford are standing their ground in designer heels, a few other big names are kinda… caving. Here’s who blinked:
- Georgetown: Okay fine, they’ll track foreign money better
- UPenn: DEI programs? “Modified.”
- Columbia: Rewrote its speech codes like a nervous student editing their essay at 3 a.m.
- Duke: Totally reviewing its China ties
- Cornell: Filed a cute little report for the DOJ on how they admit people
Some schools are saying, like, “It’s strategy,” not surrender. But let’s be real—some of this is giving “please don’t take away our research dollars.”
💸 Let’s Talk About the Money, Honey
Even though Harvard has, like, the biggest endowment in the universe (okay, not literally—but it’s over $50 billion, so basically), they still take tons of money from the government. Like, actual taxpayer money.
- In 2023, Harvard got around $676 million just in federal research funding
- Stanford? Even more—like $1.1 billion
- Yale got $560 million, Columbia took in $700 million, and UPenn grabbed almost $900 million
Oh, and don’t forget—students at all these schools are using federal aid like Pell Grants and loans too.
Now here’s the kicker: Harvard’s total budget is, like, $6.1 billion for the year. And about 18% of that is from federal funding. So yeah, they’re rich, but they’re also kinda on the government’s allowance.
And that’s why people like Rep. Elise Stefanik are like, “If you want taxpayer money, you better play by taxpayer rules.” She literally said, “They need to answer to the people—not just their donors and faculty senates.” Oop.
🔮 So, What Now?
Basically, Harvard is putting its Jimmy Choos down and saying, “We’re not budging.” But with Trump running for president again, and all this drama heating up, schools might find themselves in an even hotter mess real soon.
So yeah—stay tuned. Because if this turns into a full-on war between academia and Washington, it’s gonna be Ivy League vs. Capitol Hill, and babes, that’s a fight worth watching. 🍿
XOXO,
Valley Girl News
