Republicans including Rep Elisa Stefanik (R-NY) are calling for Harvard to be stripped of billions of dollars in federal funding and tax breaks over the Ivy League institution’s “antisemitism shame.” Stefanik explains, “We must defund the rot in America’s higher education.”
Harvard, which benefits from hundreds of millions of dollars in federal payments, as well as sweeping tax breaks — which have helped to make the school the world’s richest academic institution — is now being investigated by the Department of Education over whether it has violated the civil rights of its Jewish students.
Meanwhile, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) told the New York Post, “We must defund the rot in America’s higher education.”
Harvard Prez Claudine Gay holds her face in her hands (Boston Globe /Getty)
“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,” Stefanik said.
“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,” the congresswoman added.
Notably, Stefanik was one of the representatives who questioned embattled Harvard President Claudine Gay last week during a congressional hearing in which Gay — as well as the presidents of the University of Pennsylvania and the MIT — declined to say whether advocating for the genocide of Jews is permissible on campus.
Rep. Eli Crane (R-AZ) echoed Stefanik’s sentiments, telling the New York Post that he is introducing a bill to make Harvard and other institutions of higher learning face real financial consequences if they are caught fostering antisemitism on campus.
“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 of his bill, H.R. 6220.
“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 added.
Harvard receives a huge amount of taxpayer money from the federal government. The university reportedly hit a record of $676 million this year in direct payments, as well as a $25 million payment from coronavirus rescue funds.
Moreover, the school reported that 64 percent of its research funding comes directly from federal departments. Harvard has also reportedly received an undisclosed amount of $1.33 billion in tuition from students via Pell grants and federal student loans.
“But the biggest way Harvard, in common with other colleges, benefits from federal largesse is its tax-free status,” the Post reports, noting that donations to the school are tax-deductible, which is an incentive for donors. This has allowed Harvard to grow its endowment to nearly $51 billion.
This year, Harvard raked in $186 million more than it spent. Last year, the school drew $2.46 billion from its endowment, but paid only a 1.4 percent tax on that money. Meanwhile, a taxpayer would be subjected to up to a 37 percent tax on a figure like that.
Stefanik and Crane are not the only members of the Republican Party who have called to defund Harvard and other prestigious schools in the wake of the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack against Israel, which resulted in unabashed displays of antisemitism on college campuses across the United States.
In October, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) introduced legislation in the Senate to defund universities that “fund or facilitate events that promote violent antisemitism.”
“Any university or college that peddles blatant antisemitism, especially after Hamas’ brutal attack on Israeli civilians, women and children, has no place molding the minds of future generations, never mind receiving millions of taxpayer funds to do so,” Scott said. “No college or university should receive a single cent from the federal government to fund violent antisemitism.”
In an interview with WHO 1040, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) said, “These are universities that will justify saying that it’s okay to talk about the genocide of Jews because of quote, free speech, but they don’t allow free speech on their universities.”
“We’ve got to get smart about how we deal with these universities,” DeSantis added. “We can’t keep funding universities that are creating this type of toxic environment and toxic ideology.”
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and X/Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
