Harvard University is suing President Trump’s administration in order to prevent the federal government from freezing more than $2 billion in grants.
The Trump administration had said it was going to freeze around $2.2 billion in grants in order to limit activism on campus.
In a letter to Harvard earlier this month, Trump’s administration had called for broad government and leadership reforms at the university, as well as changes to its admissions policies. It also demanded the university audit views of diversity on campus, and stop recognizing some student clubs.
Harvard is the fifth Ivy League school targeted in a pressure campaign by the administration, which also has paused federal funding for the University of Pennsylvania, Brown, and Princeton to force compliance with its agenda.
A letter to the university’s president earlier this month described Harvard’s federal money as a taxpayer investment that’s based on performance. Harvard has “fundamentally failed to protect American students and faculty from antisemitic violence and harassment” and must take immediate action to keep its funding, the letter said.
Harvard President Alan Garber said the university would not bend to the government’s demands. Hours later, the government froze billions of dollars in federal funding.
Last week, Harvard became the first university to openly defy the Trump administration as it demands sweeping changes to limit activism on campus. The university frames the government’s demands as a threat not only to the Ivy League school but to the autonomy that the Supreme Court has long granted American universities.
Harvard is uniquely equipped to push back against the federal government because its $53 billion endowment is the largest in the nation. But like other major universities, Harvard also depends on the federal funding that fuels its scientific and medical research.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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