Wealthy Colleges Fight to Protect Their Riches From Taxation (1)

Even before Donald Trump said he would pull $400 million in funding from Columbia University on Friday, officials at the wealthiest US colleges were making efforts to fight monetary salvos from his administration.

Last week’s cancellation of federal grants and contracts to Manhattan’s Ivy League school — over its alleged failure to combat antisemitism on campus — represents just one tool in Trump’s playbook to ratchet up pressure on elite universities. The institutions also face multiple efforts to increase taxes on their endowments, and they’re mobilizing to defeat them.

Harvard University tapped the Republican-friendly lobbying firm that used to employ ...