Harvard seeks end to US funding cuts, says national security, public health research in peril
FILE PHOTO: Students walk on the campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S., May 23, 2025. REUTERS/Faith Ninivaggi/File Photo
Harvard seeks end to US funding cuts, says national security, public health research in peril
WILMINGTON, Delaware - Harvard University asked a federal judge on Monday to issue a summary judgment ruling to unfreeze $2.5 billion in funding blocked by President Donald Trump's administration, which Harvard said was illegal.
Harvard's filing in the U.S. District Court in Boston said that it had received 957 orders since April 14 to freeze funding for research pertaining to national security threats, cancer and infectious diseases and more since the country's oldest and wealthiest school rejected a White House list of demands.
Trump has said he is trying to force change at Harvard - and other top-level universities across the U.S. - because in his view they have been captured by leftist "woke" thought and become bastions of antisemitism.
The Trump administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs has set arguments for July 21 on Harvard's motion for summary judgment, which is a request for a judge to decide a dispute without a trial to determine material facts.
Harvard sued the Trump administration in April, alleging the funding freeze violated the school's right to free speech and was arbitrary and capricious.
In Monday's court filing, Harvard detailed the terminated grants, including $88 million for research into pediatric HIV, $12 million for increasing Defense Department awareness of emerging biological threats and $8 million to better understand dark energy. The school said ending the funding would destroy ongoing research into cancer treatments, infectious disease and Parkinson's.
The Trump administration has opened numerous investigations into Harvard. Some are looking at threats against Jewish students and faculty after pro-Palestinian protests broke out following the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel and subsequent Israeli military actions in Gaza.
Other investigations are probing whether Harvard discriminates based on sex and gender, along with the school's ties to foreign governments and international students.
The Trump administration revoked Harvard's ability to enroll international students last month, which a judge temporarily blocked after Harvard sued in a separate case.
Harvard and other universities say Trump's attacks are threats to freedom of speech and freedom of academics, as well as threats to the schools' very existence. REUTERS
Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
39 minutes ago
- Straits Times
Putin says deadly bridge attack shows Ukraine's leaders do not want peace
Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting with members of the government via video link at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow, Russia June 4, 2025. Sputnik/Gavriil Grigorov/Pool via REUTERS MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that he did not think Ukraine's leaders wanted peace after accusing them of ordering a deadly bomb attack in Russia that killed seven and injured 115 more just a day before talks in Turkey. A highway bridge over a railway line in the Bryansk region of western Russia was blown up at 10:33 pm (1933 GMT) on Saturday night just as a passenger train carrying 388 passengers to Moscow was passing underneath, Russian investigators said. Russia's top state investigator said Ukraine was responsible for planting the three bombs in the Bryansk bridge attack, five bombs in the attack against a bridge in neighbouring Kursk and another bomb attack against a bridge in Bryansk on Sunday. In some of his most hawkish remarks in recent months on the outlook for peace, Putin said the attacks had been directed against civilians and accused the Kyiv leadership of being a "terrorist organisation" supported by powers who were becoming "terrorist accomplices". "The current Kyiv regime does not need peace at all," Putin said at a meeting with senior officials. "What is there to talk about? How can we negotiate with those who rely on terror?" Ukraine has not commented on the bridge attacks. It denies it targets civilians, as does Russia, though civilians have been killed by both sides. Kyiv has similarly accused Moscow of not seriously wanting peace, citing as evidence Russian resistance to an immediate ceasefire. Russia says certain conditions must first be met. In the remarks released by the Kremlin, Putin did not mention the high-profile Ukrainian operation - which unfolded on Sunday - to attack strategic bomber aircraft at Russian air bases. The attacks on bridges and the nuclear-capable bombers came just before Russia and Ukraine met for direct peace talks in Istanbul where Moscow set out what the United States has called "maximalist" aims. Putin suggested a ceasefire would simply be used by Ukraine and its Western backers to rearm. Russia's negotiator at the talks said Ukraine had passed him a list of 339 children Kyiv says have been abducted by Moscow. WAR HEATING UP Before Putin spoke, other Russian officials said that military options were "on the table" for its response to Ukrainian attacks deep inside Russia and accused the West of being involved in them. "We urge London and Washington to react in such a way as to stop further escalation," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying. Ryabkov oversees relations with the U.S. and arms control. British and U.S. officials have said they had no prior knowledge of the weekend attacks on Russian nuclear-capable long-range bombers. U.S. President Donald Trump's Ukraine envoy said the risk of escalation from the war was "going way up" after the attacks on the nuclear-capable bombers. A week earlier, Trump rebuked Putin over a fierce aerial attack on Ukraine. At the Putin meeting, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov suggested that Russia should not give in to the clearly provocative attacks by Ukraine and should use both negotiations and other means to achieve its aims in the military operation. Putin appeared to agree with Lavrov but in later remarks said he would be speaking to security officials about the situation. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
Brazil plans to cut tax breaks, curb education spending in fiscal package, say sources
Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva stands on the day he attends a press conference at the Planalto Palace in Brasilia, Brazil June 3, 2025. REUTERS/Adriano Machado/File Photo BRASILIA - Brazil's government is negotiating a package of fiscal measures with congressional leaders that includes cuts to tax exemptions and limits on the growth of transfers to an education fund, according to sources familiar with the talks. After initially signaling the measures would be unveiled on Tuesday, Finance Minister Fernando Haddad said they would be disclosed only after further discussions with party leaders on Sunday. First reported by local newspaper Valor Economico and confirmed by three government sources who requested anonymity, the package is being prepared as an alternative to the controversial hike in the financial transactions tax (IOF) announced last week, which drew broad backlash from lawmakers and business sectors. The plan focuses heavily on reducing tax benefits, a longstanding target of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's leftist administration, said three sources. His economic team often criticizes the volume of tax exemptions that weaken public revenues, though previous attempts to roll them back have seen limited success in Congress. That includes a payroll tax break for companies, which remains in place without due compensation. One of the sources said the new package includes a proposed constitutional amendment that would establish rules to curb growth in transfers to the Fund for the Development of Basic Education. A similar initiative in last year's fiscal package was watered down by Congress, which blocked efforts to redirect more of the fund's resources to full-time education spending. The new measures aim to create fiscal space for the government to revise the recent IOF tax decree, which increased rates on a range of credit, foreign exchange, and pension transactions. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Business Times
an hour ago
- Business Times
Trump says Fed's Powell must lower interest rate
[WASHINGTON] US President Donald Trump on Wednesday (Jun 4) redoubled his calls for Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell to lower interest rates, noting that payroll processing firm ADP reported that job creation slowed in May. 'ADP number out. 'Too Late' Powell must now lower the rate. He is unbelievable. Europe has lowered nine times,' Trump said in a Truth Social post. ADP reported on Wednesday that US private payrolls increased far less than expected in May, increasing by only 37,000 jobs last month after a 60,000 rise in April that was revised downward. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast private employment increasing 110,000 following a previously reported gain of 62,000 in April. Wednesday's ADP data came ahead of a more comprehensive employment report that will be released on Friday by the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics. Trump, a Republican, has hammered Powell for months in often personal attacks, with his calls for the Fed chair's resignation weighing on US stocks and financial markets. Trump's repeated attacks have raised questions about the continued independence of the US central bank under the Trump administration, although the US president last month said he would not remove the Fed chair before his term ends in May 2026. REUTERS
