24 universities plan to back Harvard in court battle with Trump administration

Boston Globe

3 hours ago

In the motion on Monday, the universities say the brief will explain how 'academic research is an interconnected enterprise' and will provide 'a broader perspective of how these devastating consequences will play out.'
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'The elimination of funding at Harvard negatively impacts the entire ecosystem,' the filing reads. 'The cuts will disrupt ongoing research, ruin experiments and datasets, destroy the careers of aspiring scientists, and deter long-term investments at universities across the country.'
Other schools involved in the effort are Princeton University, University of Pennsylvania, California Institute of Technology, Colorado State University, Johns Hopkins University, Michigan State University, Oregon State University, University of Oregon, Rice University, Rutgers University, University of Maryland (College Park), and University of Pittsburgh, according to court records.
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A judge granted the Friday motion but had not yet ruled on the Monday filing for the six additional universities as of Monday afternoon.
Several of the universities that have signed on to back Harvard in court have also faced funding threats from the Trump administration, which has taken extraordinary moves to overhaul higher education, particularly elite schools.
The Trump administration has claimed elite universities pedal leftist ideologies and have failed to address antisemitism on campus since Hamas launched its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
Cornell and Columbia are the only Ivy League schools that have not joined as of Monday. Columbia leaders have said they would comply with the administration's demands after officials froze hundreds of millions of dollars in funding, arguing that the school failed to protect Jewish students from discrimination.
In April, professors at several
This is a developing story and will be updated.
Nick Stoico can be reached at