Harvard is facing demands to be stripped of billions of dollars in federal payments and tax breaks for its failure to address antisemitism on campus.
The university benefits from hundreds of millions of dollars in direct federal payments — and even more so in sweeping tax breaks that have helped make it the richest academic institution in the world.
Harvard, led by controversial president Claudine Gay, is being investigated by the federal Department of Education over whether it has violated the civil rights of Jewish students, which are protected under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.
Elise Stefanik, the New York Republican whose questioning of Gay on the House Education and Workforce Committee last week put the college president’s career in crisis, told The Post she wanted to “push back.”
“We must eliminate the rot in American higher education,” he said.
“It is unacceptable and un-American that any taxpayer money would go to a university to support their declaration of antisemitism by supporting professors, students and staff who openly call for the genocide of Jews.
This is the moment Elise Stefanik questioned Harvard president Claudine Gay – prompting the head of the college to say that students can call for the genocide of Jews without discipline at Harvard. REUTERS Days after Hamas killed 1,200 Jews in southern Israel, a pro-Palestinian group at Harvard rallied in support of the terrorist group. Since then the campus has been rocked by antisemitism. AFP via Getty Images
“We will use every tool at our disposal to ensure that schools that harbor and promote antisemitism are cut off from any and all federal funding.”
And Rep. Eli Crane (R-Az) told The Post he is introducing a bill to make Harvard and other colleges face real financial consequences if they are found to have fostered antisemitism on campus in the wake of the Oct. 7 terrorist massacre by Hamas . .
“The American higher education system is a racket, forcing taxpayers to subsidize schools first before forcing them to pay off student loans they didn’t choose to take out,” Crane said in a statement to The Post Wednesday on his bill, HR 6220.
Eli Crane, a House Republican from Arizona, has introduced a bill that would deny Ivy League colleges including Harvard, which are under investigation for violating the civil rights of Jewish students. Getty Images New York Congresswoman Elise Stefanik is leading calls for Harvard to be defunded in the wake of a wave of antisemitism on campus following the October 7 Hamas massacre of innocent Israelis. AP
“Schools look like bandits, indoctrinating our youth with hatred and delusion, while taxpayers fund it all. My bill begins to fight this scheme.”
Crane’s bill came after Gay was allowed to remain president by the Harvard Corporation, its main governing body, despite scathing testimony to Congress on antisemitism that included saying that calling for the genocide of Jews was not automatically a violation of campus rules, which he had to ask sorry
Harvard is now facing increasing pressure over the large amount of money it receives from the federal government.
That’s on top of a record $676 million this year in direct payments, and $25 million in payments from the Covid rescue fund, the college reported in its fiscal year 2023 statement.
Harvard’s 2023 federal funding is record-breaking — and as well as outright totals, it benefits from tax breaks to build its endowment and get more federal money through tuition payments from students.
The college said that 64% of its research funding comes directly from federal departments, the largest single tranche allocated by the Department of Health and Human Services.
Additionally, an undisclosed amount of the $1.33 billion it received in tuition from students came through Pell grants and federal student loans.
But the biggest way Harvard, like other colleges, benefits from federal grants is its tax-exempt status.
Donations to it are tax-deductible, an incentive for donors to give generously.
Harvard is tax-exempt, which allows it to benefit from not paying taxes on transactions that would be taxable to ordinary citizens or corporations.
That has allowed him to grow his endowment to just $51 billion. And it benefits even more from tax relief because its money managers trade stocks, bonds and property without paying capital gains tax, corporation tax or tax on interest and dividend payments.
In 2023, it brings in $186 million more than it spends – the figure at which profitable companies will be taxed.
And last year it pulled $2.46 billion from the endowment but paid just 1.4% in taxes on it, rather than the up to 37% that individual taxpayers would face.
The 1.4% tax was introduced in the face of intense lobbying by Harvard in Pres. The 2017 Trump-era tax reform, which imposed a levy on the endowment of colleges with at least 500 tuition-paying students and net assets of at least $500,000 per student.
Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis, a Harvard Law School graduate, questioned why federal funds support an Ivy League school that promotes antisemitism during a campaign stop in Iowa this week. AP
Harvard, with 23,000 students, has $3 million in net assets per student thanks to its endowment, according to Richard Vedder, Distinguished Professor of Economics Emeritus at Ohio University and senior fellow at the Independent Institute, an economist who studies finance and higher education.
“This is not an insignificant amount of money,” he told The Post.
“I want to sell my shares and not pay any capital gains either! Harvard has various privileges built into the tax code.”
Everything there is to know about embattled Harvard President Claudine Gay
Harvard President Claudine Gay faces calls to resign amid growing antisemitism and plagiarism scandals. AP
Harvard President Claudine Gay is facing calls to resign as she grapples with a growing antisemitism crisis and new allegations that she plagiarized much of her academic work.
Here’s how we got here:
Vedder has compared government subsidies and tax breaks at Ivy League universities and state schools, and concluded that students at Ivy League schools receive higher subsidies than students at public institutions.
“Using the endowment primarily to keep student fees low is very rare,” Vedder said in testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee in 2015. “As a rule, endowments increase university revenue, rather than reducing student costs.”
Harvard President Claudine Gay was allowed to keep her job after disastrous Congressional testimony for which she had to apologize. Reuters
Calls for Harvard, and other members of the Ivy League, to be defunded have grown since Oct. 7. and a wave of anti-Israel protests on their campuses, which saw praise for Hamas.
In October Republican Senator Tim Scott (RS.C.) introduced parallel legislation in the Senate to deny universities, including Harvard, that “fund or facilitate events that promote violent antisemitism.”
“Any university or college that openly peddles antisemitism, especially after Hamas’ brutal attacks on Israeli civilians, women and children, has no place to shape the minds of future generations, never mind receive millions in taxpayer funds to do so. so,” said Scott in a statement.
“No college or university should receive a single penny from the federal government to fund violent antisemitism.”
Florida Governor and Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis – a graduate of Harvard Law School – joined the call in an interview with WHO 1040.
Harvard students continue to support Hamas terrorists days after the Harvard Corporation voted not to expel Claudine Gay despite allegations of plagiarism and her testimony before Congress last week. David McGlynn
“This is a university that would allow saying that it’s okay to talk about the Jewish genocide because of quote, freedom of speech, but they don’t allow freedom of speech at their university,” he said.
“We need to be smart about how we deal with this university. We cannot continue to fund universities that create this type of toxic environment and toxic ideology.”
Tech billionaire Elon Musk also joined the call to abolish universities, posted on X on Monday“Funding Harvard is the only thing that will work.”
He responded to a post from C. Bradley Thompson, who posted, “@Harvard is gone. It cannot be saved. Harvard has an endowment of $50 billion. It should no longer receive a cent of taxpayers’ money. #defundHarvard.” Thompson is a professor of political science at Clemson University.
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