Alan Garber, president of Harvard University, stated on Monday that the Trump administration’s recent actions against the school could cost it up to $1 billion annually.
In a joint statement with the school’s provost, executive vice president and vice president for finance and chief financial officer, Garber stated on July 14 that “the federal government has terminated billions of dollars of multi-year research grants and contracts that had been awarded to Harvard.”
The Trump administration has also proposed “dramatic reductions” in the National Institute of Health and other agencies “that support research,” the leaders wrote.
The university’s legal fight to host foreign students and academics remains ongoing, and a recent spending bill raises the tax on Harvard’s endowment from 1.4% to as high as 8%, the Harvard leaders stated.
“We hope that our legal challenges will reverse some of these federal actions and that our efforts to raise alternative sources of funding will be successful,” they wrote. “As that work proceeds, we also need to prepare for the possibility that the lost revenues will not be restored anytime soon.”
The university’s hiring freeze on faculty and staff, which has been in place since March, will continue, the Harvard leaders said.
“The unprecedented challenges we face have led to disruptive changes, painful layoffs and ongoing uncertainty about the future,” they wrote. “As we meet these challenges together, we will continue to benefit from our commitment to one another and the commitment of Harvard and every research university to serve the nation and the world through our core mission of teaching, learning and research.”
