Major Legal Defeat, Harvard Funding Cuts by Trump Admin Declared Unlawful by US Court

U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration illegally ended around $2.2 billion in grants to Harvard University, according to a federal court’s decision on Wednesday. The judge also said that the government may no longer stop supporting research at the esteemed Ivy League university.

U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs’ ruling in Boston, which opens a new tab, was a significant legal win for Harvard as it looks to reach an agreement that would conclude the White House’s multifaceted battle with the oldest and wealthiest institution in the country.

The institution in Cambridge, Massachusetts, became the focal point of the administration’s extensive effort to utilize government funds to compel reform at American colleges, which Trump claims are rife with “radical left” and antisemitic beliefs.

On the basis that Harvard did not go far enough in addressing the harassment of Jewish students on campus, the administration revoked hundreds of scholarships given to Harvard academics.

When Harvard declined to comply with officials’ demands that it change its employment, governance, and academic programs to fit their ideological agenda, the university filed a lawsuit, claiming the Trump administration was retaliating against it in violation of its free speech rights.

Burroughs, who was appointed by Democratic President Barack Obama, concurred, stating that while Harvard had allowed ugly conduct for too long, the Trump administration “used antisemitism as a smokescreen for a targeted, ideologically-motivated assault on this country’s premier universities.”

She claimed that as a consequence of the administration’s pressure campaign, Harvard’s grants were terminated without following the law, and the institution was retaliated against in violation of its First Amendment right to free expression.

Courts should protect academic freedom and “make sure that important research is not improperly subjected to arbitrary and procedurally infirm grant terminations, even if doing so risks the wrath of a government committed to its agenda no matter the cost,” according to Burroughs himself.
In addition to preventing the administration from continuing to delay payment on current funds or from declining to provide Harvard with new funding in the future, she prohibited the government from ending or freezing any further federal assistance to the university.
In a statement, White House spokeswoman Liz Huston said Harvard “does not have a constitutional right to taxpayer dollars and remains ineligible for grants in the future,” vowing to challenge the decision made by a “activist Obama-appointed judge.”

In a statement to the school community, Harvard President Alan Garber said that the decision “validates our arguments in defense of the University’s academic freedom, critical scientific research, and the core principles of American higher education.”

Garber did not address the state of the administration’s settlement negotiations, which Trump said in a cabinet meeting last week that he hoped Harvard would pay “nothing less than $500 million” since the situation had “been very bad.”
While acknowledging the fundamental values upheld by Burroughs’ decision, Garber said that Harvard will be “mindful of the changing landscape in which we seek to fulfill our mission.”

Columbia institution, which in July agreed to pay $220 million to recover federal research funds that had been rejected due to claims the institution enabled antisemitism to thrive on campus, is one of three other Ivy League colleges that have reached agreements with the government.
Similar to Columbia, Harvard was targeted by the Trump administration for its involvement in the pro-Palestinian demonstrations that swept over its campus and other colleges after the October 7, 2023, Hamas assault on Israel and Israel’s war in Gaza.

Harvard has pledged to make its campus inclusive of Israeli and Jewish students, who it admits were subjected to “vicious and reprehensible” abuse when Israel’s assault in Gaza began.
The government has taken many steps against Harvard, including the decision to terminate funds. Additionally, it has attempted to prevent foreign students from enrolling, jeopardized Harvard’s accreditation, and made it possible to cut off additional funding after determining that it had violated federal civil rights legislation.

In a another case, Burroughs has previously prohibited the administration from blocking Harvard’s admission of foreign students, who make up about 25% of the student population.

Harvard’s faculty branch of the American Association of University Professors, which is against the school making a deal with Trump, joined the lawsuit in the grant funding issue.

“We hope this decision makes clear to Harvard’s administration that bargaining the Harvard community’s rights in a compromise with the government is unacceptable,” said Corey Stoughton and Joseph Sellers, the group’s attorneys.