Donald Trump Is Going After Harvard, but Why Is He So Focused on That School?

Since its founding more than 400 years ago, Harvard University has grown to become one of the most prestigious universities in the entire world. In fact, its reputation is part of what makes American higher education so respected. In spite of that, though, President Trump has spent what seems like an inordinate amount of time going after the university since returning to office.

Given his hyper-focus on the school, many wanted to better understand whether Trump was motivated by anything specific, and why he seems so intent on taking down Harvard. Here's what we know.

The battle between the Trump administration and Harvard dates back to two related conflicts from 2023. The first is the ongoing protests on campus across the country because of the conflict in Gaza and the thousands of Palestinians who have been killed, and the second is the removal of Claudine Gay, the university's president in 2023, after she was accused by many on the right of committing plagiarism.

When Trump took office in 2025, he signed an executive order designed to remove DEI programs at private institutions like universities and to increase government activities around combatting antisemitism, particularly on college campuses.

After Columbia faced $400 million in cuts to research funding unless it complied with a list of demands from the administration, Columbia folded, banning masks on campus as well as changes to its staffing around Middle East studies.

Harvard was given a similar letter but refused to comply, issuing a forceful statement in defense of its own academic independence. They then filed a lawsuit against the administration, accusing them of violating the First Amendment by instituting "arbitrary and capricious funding cuts."

Trump then announced that he would be cutting all federal funding to Harvard, but Harvard has held firm.

The latest escalation came when DHS Secretary Kristi Noem announced that they would be revoking Harvard’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program, preventing them from taking new international students and telling current international students they would need to transfer to continue their studies.

In response, Harvard filed a lawsuit seeking to prevent the Trump administration from revoking that program, which is a source of many students (and thus, funds from their tuition) for the university.

We don't know for sure whether Trump's son Barron applied to Harvard, but he's currently attending NYU. Some have speculated that Trump is going after Harvard because they rejected his son.

It's also possible, though, that Trump is trying to make an example of one of the most powerful universities in the country by asserting his own dominance.

Thus far, Harvard has fought back, refusing to kowtow to Trump's desires to turn the university into a place that more closely reflects his own views. Harvard knows how important it is to American higher education, and it seems like its desire to fight is a promising signal that not all American institutions are going to bend to Trump's whims.