The Ivy League loves to preach from its ivory towers on climate, gender theory, race, and geopolitics. In FY 2024 alone, these elite universities hauled in roughly $6.4 billion in federal funding, most of it for research that could just as easily be done by private companies or public universities without billion-dollar endowments. Harvard’s endowment tops $53 billion, yet taxpayers still fund its labs. The federal government treats academic research like a public good, ignoring the fact that these schools have morphed into ideological fortresses. Research is valuable, no doubt. But when other sources are available and just as capable, why feed arrogance and activism that has essentially created dire problems worldwide?
In 2022 alone, Ivy League schools took in $1.8 billion just for overhead—the indirect costs of running their lavish operations. That has nothing to do with science. It’s similar to funding Planned Parenthood. The money, no matter how it is budgeted, keeps the lights on. The argument is that elite schools are best equipped to handle high-risk, long-term research. But what they’re really good at is winning grants, not solving national problems. Meanwhile, smaller schools, public universities, and HBCUs struggle to compete. This system is rigged to feed prestige, not performance. And let’s not ignore the ideological imbalance: faculty donations overwhelmingly go to leftist Democrats, and DEI bureaucracies abound—funded in part by taxpayer-backed grants. We’re underwriting institutions that often push agendas hostile to traditional American values.
Supporters claim it’s about academic freedom and innovation. But freedom doesn’t come with a guaranteed check from the Treasury. And innovation isn’t limited to Cambridge or New Haven. The truth is, private industry already drives most applied research, and public universities train the bulk of America’s workforce. Why are we funding the most elitist, exclusionary, and culturally radical universities in the country, when they increasingly serve global, not national, interests? When they produce studies designed to undermine faith, family, capitalism, or constitutionalism? These aren’t research institutions—they’re ideological engines, and America is the one paying for the fuel. It’s time to defund the hubris.
Taxpayer funding should follow national interest. If Ivy League schools want to pursue niche agendas or globalist dreams, fine, but not with money from the autoworker in Ohio or the farmer in Kansas. Public dollars should support public priorities, not elite entitlements. We need more investment in local colleges, trade schools, and R&D tied to American values and needs, such as defense, energy, agriculture, and infrastructure. Instead, there is a bloated pipeline of prestige that benefits the few at the expense of the many. As the prophet Ezekiel once warned about corrupt leadership, “You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool, but you do not feed the flock (Ezekiel 34:3).” Let’s stop feeding institutions that have no intention of feeding us back.
Sources:
Fox News: Ivy League received $6.4B in 2024
Heritage Foundation: Ivy League overhead costs
USAFacts: University R&D funding
Pew Research: Faculty political leanings
