No. 2 House Republican Steve Scalise Says Harvard’s Accreditation May Be in Jeopardy
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) warned that Harvard’s accreditation could be revoked under a second Trump administration during in a private Oct. 1 meeting between Scalise and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel lobbying group.
“Your accreditation is on the line,” Scalise said, according to recordings first reported by The Guardian on Wednesday. “You’re not playing games any more or else you’re not a school any more.”
Though Harvard has already been engaged in a contentious back-and-forth with congressional Republicans over the University’s handling of antisemitism on campus, Scalise’s remarks indicate that Harvard’s relationship with Washington could further deteriorate during a second Trump administration and keep Harvard at the center of a national battle over the future of higher education.
“We’re looking at federal money, the federal grants that go through the science committee, student loans,” Scalise said. “You have a lot of jurisdiction as president, with all of these different agencies that are involving billions of dollars, some cases a billion alone going to one school.”
