Education Secretary Linda McMahon has questioned Harvard President Alan Gerber's decision to take a 25% salary cut.
A Harvard spokesperson said Gerber agreed to cut 25% on Wednesday from 2025-26 after the Trump administration cut $2.2 billion in funding to the university.
McMahon was a guest on Fox Business' “The Evening Edit” Thursday, revealing the status of Elite Ivy League facilities and wage cuts at Gerber.
“Today, taking a salary reduction with President Gerber, Harvard University's President, is not a statement that they are changing policies regarding anti-Semitism and racism. I don't think it's doing much to solve the problem,” McMahon told host Elizabeth McDonald.
Harvard renews lawsuit after Trump cancels another $450 million in funds
“And if you just look at some statistics, Harvard Crimson… in their own research over the past few years, they've even reported that 2% to 3% of faculty are conservative.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon speaks to Fox News political anchor Brett Byer after President Donald Trump moves in to tear down her agency. (Fox News/Special Report)
Harvard filed an update on the lawsuit against the Trump administration on Tuesday after another $450 million in research funding was cut.
Massachusetts schools have announced that the federal task force amended the lawsuit hours later to combat anti-Semitism, with eight federal agencies having ended roughly $450 million in grants for what Harvard calls “radical” and “dark issues” on campus.
“Harvard University has repeatedly failed to confront the prevalent racism and anti-Semitism harassment that plagues its campus,” the task force said in a statement.
The latest freeze will be in addition to $2.2 billion in threat and threat funds already withheld by the Trump administration to revoke Harvard's tax-free status.
Harvard University president takes 25% pay cuts during Trump administration's funding freeze
The Trump administration has frozen more than $2.2 billion in federal funds for Harvard after failing to address anti-Semitism and racism on campus. (Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images)
Harvard filed its first lawsuit in April, preventing it from being denied $2.2 billion in funds.
Harvard said in the amended lawsuit that much of the initially frozen funds are now closed, and apparently does not want to recover.
McMahon told McDonald that he didn't believe Harvard had changed its practices and added that the Trump administration had gone to university to investigate.
“We wanted to sit with President Gerber. I spoke with him,” McMahon said. “We were going to sit down and discuss things. We sent a letter… and asked him to come to the table, and his answer was a lawsuit filed by Harvard University.”
Since then, she said she has been paying attention to other communications with Gerber and the Trump administration has been doing some things without robbing the lawsuit.
However, she added that she is willing to discuss with Harvard officials what the university does differently.
Trump has frozen funds for Harvard. Money to these universities may also be in the chopping block
Harvard President Alangerber (Boston Globe via Craig F. Walker/Getty Images)
McMahon admitted that Harvard University had tried to make changes, including asking the school's Middle Eastern Research Chair to resign.
But she made it clear that the Trump administration has taken nothing from the table.
“It's clear that anti-Semitism on campus is a civil rights violation, and Harvard claimed that, as other elite universities have, perhaps, their initial right to amendments were summed up,” McMahon said. “This is not about the First Amendment, it is a civil rights.
“If we put other students at risk, their safety is a concern,” she added. “And their Jewish students will say they are even afraid of going to campus activities, which is clearly a civil rights violation.
Harvard has been the target of Trump's wider crackdown on universities, many of which respond to anti-Israel unrest that erupted on campuses nationwide last year.
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The Trump administration has announced it will freeze more than $2 billion in grants and contracts after Harvard University said it would not comply with federal demands on anti-Semitism. (Nicholas Pfosi/Reuters)
On April 11, the Trump administration wrote to Gerber and the lead members of Harvard Corporation, with member Penny Pretzker outlined a list of agency failures and requests from the White House. In the letter, the administration accused Harvard of supporting civil rights laws and failing to cultivate a “environment that creates intellectual creativity.”
The Trump administration threatened to withdraw federal funds if Harvard did not reform governance and leadership and its employment and enrollment practices by August 2025. The letter highlighted the need for Harvard to recognize “hostile” to American values or change the international admissions process to avoid students who support terrorism and anti-Semitism.
Harvard refused to comply with the request, and Gerber said “the government should not direct what private universities can teach, what private universities can recognize and hire, and what areas of learning and research they can pursue.”
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The Trump administration reportedly has frozen $2.2 billion in funding to Harvard and is trying to cut another billion, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The university later filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over a “illegal” freeze on funds.
Greg Norman, Andrea Margolis, Stephen Sorace and Bonny Chu of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.
