CAMBRIDGE, MASS. (WHDH) - President Donald Trump announced Friday that his administration intends to remove Harvard’s tax exempt status.
A Truth Social post Friday morning read: “We are going to be taking away Harvard’s Tax Exempt Status. It’s what they deserve!”
Harvard responded to Trump’s announcement Friday, saying there is no legal basis to rescind the university’s status.
“Such an unprecedented action would endanger our ability to carry out our educational mission,” the university said in a statement. “It would result in diminished financial aid for students, abandonment of critical medical research programs, and lost opportunities for innovation. The unlawful use of this instrument more broadly would have grave consequences for the future of higher education in America.”
Trump made the threat two weeks ago with the demands that Harvard make a series of changes to admissions and discipline management policies. The Trump administration has already frozen more than $2 billion in federal funds to the university, which the school is fighting in court.
“It is clear to see the next chapter of the American story will not be written by the Harvard Crimson. It will be written by you, the Crimson Tide,” Trump said in his speech at the University of Alabama’s commencement ceremony Thursday.
On Thursday, dozens of senior faculty members pledged 10 percent of their paychecks to support the university’s fight against the Trump administration.
“I just live close by but I know some people who work for the school, and their livelihoods are at stake, and that’s obviously a concern,” said Berg Garry.
Senator Ed Markey said that Harvard needs to take Trump’s threat seriously.
“What President Trump did today is unconstitutional, on its face. But, it doesn’t mean that you don’t have to fight, that you don’t have to resist. You do,” Markey said.
Harvard alumnus Andrew Kingsbury said he hopes Trump’s attacks on Harvard backfire.
“[I hope] it just adds to that collective feeling that we’re being attacked, the Ivy League, and so on, and that they’ll need to do something, which is what they’re already doing, so I think they’ll hit back pretty hard,” Kingsbury said.
This is a developing news story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest details.
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