Overview

• Education Secretary Linda McMahon formally notified Harvard University that it will no longer receive new federal research grants, citing alleged systemic legal violations.
• Harvard has filed a lawsuit challenging the administration's freeze of $2.2 billion in federal funding, accusing the government of overreach and retaliation.
• McMahon's letter criticized Harvard's admissions, hiring practices, and leadership, while also drawing widespread attention for grammatical errors and controversial language.
• Social media posts falsely attributed a marked-up, corrected version of McMahon's letter to Harvard; fact-checkers confirmed it was created by an independent X user.
• This confrontation highlights broader tensions between academic freedom and federal oversight, as the Trump administration targets multiple universities over alleged civil rights violations and policy non-compliance.