Description: US President Donald Trump is in an ongoing standoff with America’s top universities. Harvard lost $2.3bn in federal funding after it refused to comply with the administration’s demands on admissions and diversity, equity and inclusion. Columbia complied with a similar set of demands, but still lost $400mn. The FT’s global education editor Andrew Jack and acting Washington correspondent Myles McCormick join to discuss the issues at hand and why other universities could be next.

Mentioned in this podcast:

Trump to block Harvard from federal grants

Harvard sues Trump administration over funding freeze

Sign up for the FT’s Swamp Notes newsletter here

Swamp Notes is produced by Katya Kumkova. Topher Forhecz is our acting co-head of audio. Special thanks to Pierre Nicholson.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

View our accessibility guide.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2025. All rights reserved.
Reuse this content (opens in new window) CommentsJump to comments section

Follow the topics in this audio

Comments

Comments have not been enabled for this article.