Education Secretary Linda McMahon, in the latest “Pod Force One” episode, warned Harvard administrators that she could drop the “hammer” on the Ivy League university should it continue quietly pursuing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives that run afoul of federal law.
President Trump issued executive actions seeking to eliminate DEI at Harvard and other universities shortly after taking office in January 2025; the Department of Education also launched investigations into the Cambridge, Mass., school over alleged anti-semitism on campus and race-based admissions policies; and the DOJ sued Harvard for allegedly withholding data about those admissions.
But that isn’t stopping McMahon from threatening further probes to hold the Ivy League school accountable.
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The Trump administration’s focus on curbing liberal influence in higher education has centered on Harvard.
Health and Human Services (HHS) officials yanked $2.2 billion in federal grants from Harvard in May 2025, alleging that the university wasn’t complying with federal non-discrimination laws. That prompted a court battle that ended in September 2025 with a judge ordering that the funding be restored, which the administration appealed.
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Conservative legal groups have also filed complaints with the DOJ’s Office of Civil Rights that the school is still running tens of millions of dollars’ worth of taxpayer-funded DEI programming.
Trump and McMahon had both expressed hopes that Harvard would enter into an agreement with the administration as Columbia University did when administrators settled for $220 million and scrapped policies that violated Jewish students’ civil rights, in addition to other discriminatory practices.
Other schools like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology shut down their DEI offices to demonstrate good faith that administrators were overseeing only merit-based programs.
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