Education Secretary Linda McMahon questions Harvard president’s pay cut amid antisemitism probe

Education Minister Linda McMahon asked about the decision of Harvard University President Alan Garper to reduce the salaries of 25 %, saying that she was not sure how the university offered to change policies related to high -end or racial discrimination.

A spokesman for Harvard University told Fox News Wednesday Garber who agreed to a 25 % wage reduction against the 2025-26 academic year after the Trump administration reduced $ 2.2 billion of financing to the university.

McMahon was a guest at Fox Business.

“I am not completely sure of the President of Harvard University, President Garper, that taking salaries in the salary is a somewhat statement that they are changing their policies on anti -Semitism or racial discrimination. I do not think this does a lot to solve the problem,” McMahon told host Elizabeth McDonald.

Harvard University updates the lawsuit after Trump cancels an additional $ 450 million in financing

“And if you only look at some statistics, I mean, Harvard Crimson has mentioned that … in their own research over the past two years, 2 % to 3 % of faculty members are conservative. You cannot have this type of contradiction without the theology or ideology biased throughout the campus.”

On Tuesday, Harvard University submitted an update of a lawsuit against the Trump administration after a reduction of $ 450 million of research financing.

The Massachusetts School amended the lawsuit hours after the federal government’s work squad to combat anti -Semitism announced that eight federal agencies ended about 450 million dollars as grants about what is described as “radical, radical” and “dark” problem on the campus.

“Harvard University has failed again and again in the face of discrimination in the prevailing race and anti -Semitic harassment that suffers from its university campus,” the work group said in a statement.

The latest freezing comes in addition to $ 2.2 billion of funding that has already been blocked and threats by the Trump administration to cancel the Harvard tax exemption.

The President of Harvard University takes 25 % wage reduction amid the freezing of the Trump administration financing

The Trump administration has frozen more than $ 2.2 billion of Harvard’s federal funding after it failed to address anti -Semitism and racial discrimination on campus. (Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images)

Harvard University filed a preliminary lawsuit in April to prevent $ 2.2 billion from financing from deprivation.

In the amended lawsuit, Harvard said that a lot of funding that was initially frozen was now ended, apparently without hope to restore it.

McMahon McDonald told that she did not think Harvard had changed its practices, adding that the Trump administration went to the university for investigation.

“We wanted to sit with President Garper. I spoke to him,” McMahon said. “We were sitting and discussing things, and we sent a message … and we asked him to come to the table. His answer was a lawsuit filed by Harvard.”

Since then, she said, there has been another contact with Garber, noting that the Trump administration was doing some things without removing the lawsuit.

But she added that she is ready to discuss with Harvard officials what the university does differently.

Trump has frozen financing for Harvard University. The money for these universities may also be on the cutting block

Harvard University President Alan Garper (Craig F. Walker/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

McMahon at Harvard University admitted to changes, including the head of the head of the school’s studies department to step down.

I have made clear, however, that the Trump administration does not come out of anything from the table.

McMahon said: “It is clear that anti -Semitism on the campus is a violation of civil rights, and Harvard has argued, as other elite universities have done, that … the first amendment rights may be shortened.” “This is not a matter of first amendment. These are civil rights.

“When other students are at risk, their safety raises anxiety,” she added. “Their Jewish students will tell us that they fear even going to activities on the campus. This is clear that this is violations of civil rights. Yes, this is the investigation, and we do not take anything from the table.”

Harvard University has become a target of Trump’s broader suppression of universities, many of which respond to anti -Israel unrest last year that erupted in universities throughout the country.

Is Harvard University worth war with Trump, or is the government exceeding? The campus interacts to finance the battle

The Trump administration announced that it freezes more than two billion dollars of scholarships and contracts after Harvard University said it will not comply with federal demands regarding anti -Semitism. (Nicholas Pfosi/Reuters)

On April 11, the Trump administration sent a message to a member of Garber and Harvard Corporation Beny Pritzker, determining the Foundation’s failures and a list of demands from the White House. In the thesis, the Harvard University administration was accused of failing to support civil rights laws and enhance “an environment that produces intellectual creativity.”

The Trump administration has threatened to withdraw federal financing if Harvard did not reach the governance, leadership, employment practices and acceptance by August 2025. The message stressed the need to change its international acceptance process to avoid accepting students who “hostility” to American values, support terrorism or supreme hostility.

Harvard University refused to comply with the demands, and Garber said, “A government should not dictate … What can private universities study, who can accept and employ them, and the fields of study and investigation that they can follow.”

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The Trump administration then freezed $ 2.2 billion from financing to Harvard and is said to be looking to reduce one billion dollars, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The university later filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on “illegal” money freezing.

Greg Norman from Fox News Digitter, Andrea Margolis, Stephen Sora and Bony Chu contributed to this report.