(New York Post) Harvard is facing demands to be stripped of billions of dollars in federal payments and tax breaks over its failure to tackle antisemitism on campus.
The university benefits from hundreds of millions of dollars in direct federal payments — and even more in sweeping tax breaks which have helped make it the world’s richest academic institution.
Harvard, led by controversial president Claudine Gay, is being investigated by the federal Department of Education over whether it has breached 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 at the House Education and Workforce Committee last week left the college leader’s career in crisis, told The Post she wanted to “defund.”
“We must defund the rot in America’s higher education,” she said.
“It is unacceptable and un-American that any taxpayer dollars are going to universities propping up their promulgation of antisemitism by supporting professors, students and staff many who have openly called for the genocide of Jews.
This is the moment Elise Stefanik questioned Harvard president Claudine Gay — prompting the college leader to say that students could call for Jewish genocide without being disciplined at Harvard. REUTERS
Days after Hamas killed 1,200 Jews in southern Israel, pro-Palestinian groups at Harvard rallied in support of the terrorist group. Since then the campus has been roiled by antisemitism. AFP via Getty Images
“We will use every tool at our disposal to ensure that schools that protect and encourage antisemitism are cut off from any and all federal funds.”
And lawmaker 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 October 7 terrorist massacres of Israelis by Hamas.
“The American higher ed system is a racket, forcing taxpayers to first subsidize schools before roping them into paying student loans they didn’t choose to take on,” Crane said in a statement to The Post Wednesday on his bill, H.R. 6220.
Eli Crane, a House Republican from Arizona, has introduced a bill which would defund Ivy League colleges including Harvard, which is being investigated over whether it breached the civil rights of Jewish students. Getty Images
“The schools make out like bandits, indoctrinating our youth with hate and delusion, all while taxpayers fund the whole thing. My bill starts to combat this scheme.”
Crane’s bill comes after Gay was allowed to stay as president by the Harvard Corporation, its ultimate governing body, despite disastrous testimony to Congress on antisemitism which included saying that calling for Jewish genocide was not automatically a breach of campus rules, for which she had to apologize.
Harvard is now facing mounting pressure on the huge amount of money it receives from the federal government.
That hit a record of $676 million this year in direct payments, and a $25 million payment from Covid rescue funds, the college reported in its fiscal year 2023 statement.
