Harvard University sued on Monday to block United States President Donald Trump from freezing billions of dollars in federal funding after the elite research institution rejected a list of White House demands that it said would undermine its independence.
The lawsuit filed in federal court in Boston said Trump has launched a broad attack on funding for cutting-edge research at major universities as he seeks to rid them of what he describes as antisemitism and ideological bias.
“This case involves the Government’s efforts to use the withholding of federal funding as leverage to gain control of academic decision-making at Harvard,” the lawsuit said.
Harvard alleges the Trump administration’s actions were arbitrary and unlawful and violated the university’s First Amendment rights to free speech.
White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said in a statement that the “gravy train of federal assistance” to institutions like Harvard was coming to an end.
“Taxpayer funds are a privilege, and Harvard fails to meet the basic conditions required to access that privilege,” Fields said.
Since his January inauguration, Trump has cracked down on top US universities, saying they mishandled last year’s pro-Palestinian protests and allowed antisemitism to fester on campuses. But protesters, including some Jewish groups, say their criticism of Israel’s military actions in Gaza is wrongly conflated with antisemitism.
The Trump administration began a review of $9 billion in federal funding for Harvard in March and subsequently gave the university a sweeping list of demands, including a mask ban and an end to all diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
