Harvard sues White House over funding freeze

Harvard claims the administration violated the university’s constitutional rights and has imperilled its academic independence, setting up a legal showdown with Donald Trump.

Harvard is suing the White House for violating its constitutional rights. Picture: Getty Images via AFP.

Harvard University said it has filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration, arguing it has violated the university’s constitutional rights by freezing billions of dollars in federal funding, illegally imperilling its academic independence.

“The consequences of the government’s overreach will be severe and long-lasting,” Harvard President Alan Garber said in a community message announcing the lawsuit. Research at risk by the funding cuts, Garber said, includes work into child cancer, infectious disease outbreaks, and easing the pain of soldiers wounded in battle.

Harvard argues in the lawsuit that the government has cut off funds as part “as part of its pressure campaign” to force the university “to submit to the government’s control over its academic programs.” The lawsuit sets up a legal showdown between America’s most prominent university and the president of the United States, who has been on an escalating campaign to reorder elite higher education.

In recent weeks, a new government task force has shaken top American universities, pausing or freezing billions of dollars in federal grants and contracts at premier institutions such as Columbia and Harvard, and putting many schools on high alert.

The task force says it is targeting schools that failed to adequately protect Jewish students during pro-Palestinian protests that disrupted campuses last year.

Critics, including Harvard’s president, have said antisemitism is being used as a cudgel to give the Trump administration more control of universities.

Harvard is the first university to sue the administration over actions by Trump’s antisemitism task force, though faculty groups at Harvard and Columbia have filed lawsuits, accusing the administration of exploiting civil-rights laws to undermine academic freedom and free speech.

The confrontation with Harvard began in late March after the government said it was reviewing nearly $9 billion in federal funding at the school and asked it to take certain actions “necessary for Harvard University’s continued financial relationship with the United States government.”

Dow Jones