Harvard sued the Trump administration on Monday in an effort to keep it from withholding billions of dollars in funding "as leverage to gain control of academic decision making" at the university, the suit says. "Moments ago, we filed a lawsuit to halt the funding freeze because it is unlawful and beyond the government's authority," Harvard President Alan Garber said. The school says the administration has violated its First Amendment rights as well as federal administrative procedures and regulations, the Washington Post reports. "Today, we stand for the values that have made American higher education a beacon for the world," Garber wrote to the Harvard students, faculty, and alumni.
The dispute began when the Trump administration antisemitism task force gave Harvard a list of changes it would have to make to retain its funding. When the school refused to meet the demands, the government froze billions of dollars in allocations. In his announcement Monday, Garber detailed the research at risk from the funding freeze, such as attempts to learn how cancer spreads, forecast the spread of infectious diseases, and combat multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson's disease. The suit, filed in federal court in Massachusetts, says the government "cannot identify any rational connection between antisemitism concerns and the medical, science, technological and other research it has frozen that aims to save American lives."
With a $53 billion endowment, Harvard has deeper pockets than any other US university. But the Post points out that donors placed restrictions on how much of the money can be used. The administration also wants the IRS to revoke Harvard's tax-exempt status. Other universities face similar threats, which the lawsuit points out. The filing includes Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Education Secretary Linda McMahon, and Attorney General Pam Bondi as defendants, per the Times. (More Harvard University stories.)
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
