Education Secretary Linda McMahon questioned Harvard President Alan Garber's decision to cut wages by 25%, saying she was unsure that it showed the university was changing policies regarding anti-Semitism or racial discrimination.
A Harvard spokesman told Fox News Wednesday that Garber agreed to cut wages by 25% in the 2025-26 school year after the Trump administration cut $2.2 billion to colleges.
McMahon, a guest at The Dight Edit of Fox's business, opened up the situation with lower salaries from the Elite Ivy League Institution and Garber.
"I'm not sure today that Harvard President Garber's salary reduction is a statement that they are changing policies against anti-Semitism or racism. I don't think it's a big deal to solve it," McMahon told host Elizabeth MacDonald.
Trump cancels $450 million in funding after Harvard updates lawsuit
“I mean, if you only look at some statistics, Harvard Crimson even reports that … In the past few years, 2% to 3% of teachers in their own research were conservative. And, without the situations that make theology or ideology biased across campus, you can’t have that difference.”
Education Secretary Linda McMahon spoke with Fox News chief political host Bret Baier after President Donald Trump demolished her agency. (Fox News/Special Report)
Harvard filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Tuesday after cutting $450 million in research funding.
Hours after the federal government task force cracked down on anti-Semitism, schools in Massachusetts revised the lawsuit, announcing that eight federal agencies terminated approximately $450 million in grants, while the so-called "radical" and "dark issues" on campus.
“Harvard has repeatedly failed to face the widespread racial discrimination and anti-Semitic harassment of campuses,” the task force said in a statement.
The latest freeze is in addition to the threat of the Trump administration's withdrawal of Harvard's tax-free status.
Harvard president makes 25% cuts amid Trump administration fund freeze
The Trump administration has frozen more than $2.2 billion in federal funding for Harvard University after it failed to address anti-Semitism and racial discrimination on campus. (Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Image)
Harvard filed its initial lawsuit in April to prevent $2.2 billion from being denied.
Many of the funds initially frozen have now been terminated and there is clearly no hope of restoring it, Harvard said in the revised lawsuit.
McMahon told Macdonald that she doesn't think Harvard has changed its approach, adding that the Trump administration has investigated the university.
"We want to sit down with President Garber. I'll talk to him," McMahon said. "We're going to sit down and discuss things, and then we sent a letter ... and asked him to come to the table. His answer was a lawsuit filed by Harvard."
She said there have been other exchanges with Garber since then, noting that the Trump administration has done something without litigation.
But she added that she was willing to discuss the university's work with Harvard officials.
Trump freezes Harvard funds. Money to these universities may also be on the chopping street
Harvard President Alan Garber (Craig F. Walker/Boston Globe via Getty Images)
McMahon admitted Harvard was trying to make changes, including asking the school's Middle East Research Chair to step down.
However, she made it clear that the Trump administration has not taken anything down.
"Obviously, anti-Semitism on campus is an act of infringement of civil rights, and Harvard believes that, like other elite universities, … maybe their First Amendment rights are being removed," McMahon said. "It has nothing to do with the First Amendment. It's a civil rights."
"When you put other students in danger, their safety is concerned," she added. "And their Jewish students will tell us that they are even afraid to attend events on campus. It's obviously a civil rights violation. Yes, it does investigate and we haven't taken anything away."
Harvard has become the target of Trump's wider crackdown on universities, much of which is in response to the anti-Israel unrest that broke out across campuses across the country last year.
Should Harvard fight Trump or did the government surrender? Campus reacts to the battle of funds
The Trump administration announced that Harvard University said it would not comply with federal anti-Semitism requirements and would freeze more than $2 billion in grants and contracts. (Nicholas PFOSI/Reuters)
On April 11, the Trump administration sent a letter to Garber and Harvard chief member Penny Pritzker outlining the agency’s failure and the White House’s list of demands. In the letter, the government accused Harvard of failing to uphold civil rights laws and promoting “environment that produces intellectual creativity.”
The Trump administration threatens to reform governance and leadership and its recruitment and admissions practices by August 2025, and the letter highlights the need for Harvard to change its international admissions process to avoid recognizing values towards the United States or supporting terrorism or anti-Semitism.
Harvard refused to comply with the requirements, and Garber said: “No government … should decide what private universities can teach, people they can acknowledge and hire and areas of study and inquiry they can pursue.”
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The Trump administration then freezes $2.2 billion in funding and is reportedly seeking to cut $1 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The university later filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration’s “illegal” freeze of funds.
Greg Norman, Andrea Margolis, Stephen Sorace and Bonny Chu of Fox News Digital contributed to the report.