Harvard University sues Trump administration funding freeze

Harvard University has filed a lawsuit suing the Trump administration claiming that the administration freezing of federal grants worth billions of dollars is unlawful.

This move comes just one day after the Trump administration planned to cut another $1 billion in federal grants and contracts to the university, according to the Wall Street Journal, which is in addition to the $2.2 billion freeze that was announced last week. Harvard receives about $9bn in total annually, which is mostly spent on research.

The University president, Alan M Garber, announced the action on Monday in a letter to the university community which said the $2bn funding freeze would hamper critical disease research.

Harvard, the world’s richest university, last week rejected a list of demands that the White House said was designed to curb diversity initiatives and fight anti-semitism at the school.

In response to the lawsuit, the White House said the gravy train of federal assistance was coming to an end.

“The gravy train of federal assistance to institutions like Harvard, which enrich their grossly overpaid bureaucrats with tax dollars from struggling American families is coming to an end,” the statement read. 

“Taxpayer funds are a privilege, and Harvard fails to meet the basic conditions required to access that privilege.”

Funding cuts have also been implemented at other elite universities, and a new government anti-semitism task force has identified at least 60 universities for review.

President Donald Trump accused universities of failing to protect Jewish students during last year’s campus protests against the war in Gaza and US support for Israel.

In Monday’s letter, Mr Garber said: “The consequences of the government’s overreach will be severe and long-lasting.”

Studies on pediatric cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease would be affected, he wrote.

“In recent weeks, the federal government has launched a broad attack on the critical funding partnerships that make this invaluable research possible,” the school’s lawsuit said.

It said the withholding of federal funding violated Harvard’s constitutional rights and was being used as “leverage to gain control of academic decision making at Harvard”.

The Trump administration also targeted other private Ivy League institutions including suspending $1bn at Cornell University and $510 million at Brown University.

Others such as Columbia University, the epicentre of pro-Palestinian campus protests last year, have agreed to some demands after $400 million of federal funds was threatened.

The demands to Harvard included agreeing to government-approved external audits of the university’s curriculum as well as hiring and admission data.

In response, Harvard released a letter rejecting what it described as a takeover by the federal government.

The former US President, Barack Obama, a Harvard alum, said he also supported the university, calling the cash freeze unlawful.