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Business Standard
14-05-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Harvard expands lawsuit against US after Trump ends $450 mn funding
In its new complaint, Harvard cited several actions taken by the administration since the university's initial lawsuit on April 21 Bloomberg By David Voreacos and Janet Lorin Harvard University expanded its lawsuit Tuesday against the Trump administration for freezing billions of dollars in federal funds, ratcheting up the high-stakes legal battle between the wealthiest US university and the White House. University lawyers revised their lawsuit on the same day the federal Joint Task Force to Combat Antisemitism said the government terminated $450 million in grants to Harvard. The US earlier froze more than $2.2 billion in funding, citing the university's handling of alleged discrimination on campus. In its new complaint, Harvard cited several actions taken by the administration since the university's initial lawsuit on April 21. It claims federal agencies illegally halted the flow of funds because the university refused to submit to government control over its academic programs. President Donald Trump asserts that Harvard has failed to protect Jewish students from antisemitism and fostered a climate of discrimination. As with their earlier complaint, Harvard's lawyers asked a federal judge in Boston to bar the government from enacting the funding freeze and declare that the US violated its First Amendment right to free speech. 'The freezes and terminations will chill Harvard's exercise of its First Amendment rights,' according to the amended lawsuit, filed in federal court in Boston. 'Harvard will be unable to make decisions regarding its faculty hiring, academic programs, student admissions, and other core academic matters without fear that those decisions will run afoul of government censors' views on acceptable levels of ideological or viewpoint diversity on campus.' The Education Department didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. The latest escalation comes amid one of the highest-profile standoffs in Trump's efforts to remake much of the US economic and cultural landscape. The funding cuts at Harvard are already imperiling research projects as well as the broader ecosystem that thrives off their existence and helps drive the Massachusetts economy. The amended complaint makes the same basic claims as the April 21 lawsuit — that a wide range of government agencies violated the First Amendment and the Administrative Procedure Act by abruptly cutting off funding to Harvard. US District Judge Allison Burroughs has set a July 21 hearing in the case. A representative for Harvard referred questions for comment on Tuesday's cuts to the amended complaint. The lawsuit refers to a May 6 letter from the National Institutes of Health that formally terminated $2.2 billion in awards, saying its grants 'no longer effectuate agency priorities' because of 'recent events at Harvard University involving antisemitic action.' That letter cited 'Harvard's ongoing inaction in the face of repeated and severe harassment and targeting of Jewish students.' While NIH will generally let a grant recipient take 'appropriate corrective action' after a suspension, it said 'no corrective action is possible here.' Harvard received similar letters on May 9 from the US Department of Agriculture and on May 12 from the Departments of Energy, Defense, and Housing and Urban Development, according to the complaint. Harvard President Alan Garber has twice publicly rebuked the Trump administration for threatening the school's independence. On Monday, he wrote to Education Secretary Linda McMahon, denying allegations of partisan political bias and warning government 'overreach' threatens key freedoms. On Tuesday, the antisemitism task force hit back. 'Harvard's campus, once a symbol of academic prestige, has become a breeding ground for virtue signaling and discrimination,' the task force wrote. 'This is not leadership; it is cowardice. And it's not academic freedom; it's institutional disenfranchisement.'
Mint
14-05-2025
- Business
- Mint
Harvard Expands Lawsuit Against US as Funding Feud Deepens
Harvard University expanded its lawsuit Tuesday against the Trump administration for freezing billions of dollars in federal funds, ratcheting up the high-stakes legal battle between the wealthiest US university and the White House. University lawyers revised their lawsuit on the same day the federal Joint Task Force to Combat Antisemitism said the government terminated $450 million in grants to Harvard. The US earlier froze more than $2.2 billion in funding, citing the university's handling of alleged discrimination on campus. In its new complaint, Harvard cited several actions taken by the administration since the university's initial lawsuit on April 21. It claims federal agencies illegally halted the flow of funds because the university refused to submit to government control over its academic programs. President Donald Trump asserts that Harvard has failed to protect Jewish students from antisemitism and fostered a climate of discrimination. As with their earlier complaint, Harvard's lawyers asked a federal judge in Boston to bar the government from enacting the funding freeze and declare that the US violated its First Amendment right to free speech. 'The freezes and terminations will chill Harvard's exercise of its First Amendment rights,' according to the amended lawsuit, filed in federal court in Boston. 'Harvard will be unable to make decisions regarding its faculty hiring, academic programs, student admissions, and other core academic matters without fear that those decisions will run afoul of government censors' views on acceptable levels of ideological or viewpoint diversity on campus.' The Education Department didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. The latest escalation comes amid one of the highest-profile standoffs in Trump's efforts to remake much of the US economic and cultural landscape. The funding cuts at Harvard are already imperiling research projects as well as the broader ecosystem that thrives off their existence and helps drive the Massachusetts economy. The amended complaint makes the same basic claims as the April 21 lawsuit — that a wide range of government agencies violated the First Amendment and the Administrative Procedure Act by abruptly cutting off funding to Harvard. US District Judge Allison Burroughs has set a July 21 hearing in the case. A representative for Harvard referred questions for comment on Tuesday's cuts to the amended complaint. The lawsuit refers to a May 6 letter from the National Institutes of Health that formally terminated $2.2 billion in awards, saying its grants 'no longer effectuate agency priorities' because of 'recent events at Harvard University involving antisemitic action.' That letter cited 'Harvard's ongoing inaction in the face of repeated and severe harassment and targeting of Jewish students.' While NIH will generally let a grant recipient take 'appropriate corrective action' after a suspension, it said 'no corrective action is possible here.' Harvard received similar letters on May 9 from the US Department of Agriculture and on May 12 from the Departments of Energy, Defense, and Housing and Urban Development, according to the complaint. Harvard President Alan Garber has twice publicly rebuked the Trump administration for threatening the school's independence. On Monday, he wrote to Education Secretary Linda McMahon, denying allegations of partisan political bias and warning government 'overreach' threatens key freedoms. On Tuesday, the antisemitism task force hit back. 'Harvard's campus, once a symbol of academic prestige, has become a breeding ground for virtue signaling and discrimination,' the task force wrote. 'This is not leadership; it is cowardice. And it's not academic freedom; it's institutional disenfranchisement.' With assistance from Akayla Gardner. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
Axios
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Axios
Trump admin cancels additional grants to Harvard
The Trump administration on Tuesday announced the termination of some $450 million in grants to Harvard, further squeezing the elite university. The big picture: Harvard is at the center of the administration's war on universities over alleged antisemitism on campus and diversity, equity and inclusion practices. Harvard, one of several elite universities whose federal grants and funding have taken a hit under the second Trump administration, pushed back on changes the administration demanded last month and is currently suing the administration. Driving the news: Eight federal agencies will terminate grants to the university, the administration's Joint Task Force to Combat Antisemitism said in a news release Tuesday. "Harvard's campus, once a symbol of academic prestige, has become a breeding ground for virtue signaling and discrimination," the task force said. It alleged the university had failed to confront what the task force considered "pervasive race discrimination and anti-Semitic harassment plaguing its campus." Catch up quick: The cuts come on top of the administration task force's April announcement that it would cut $2.2 billion in federal funds to the Ivy League institution. That termination came after the university rejected the administration's proposal to keep billions in funds flowing. In an April 11 letter to the university's president, the administration laid out a series of demands. They included discontinuing DEI, rejecting international applicants who are "hostile to ... American values" and commissioning a third-party audit of Harvard departments for "viewpoint diversity." Earlier this month, the administration announced it would pause all new federal grant funding to the university.
Boston Globe
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Trump administration announces $450 million in new Harvard funding cuts
Harvard has been locked in a standoff with the Trump administration for more than a month. As part of what President Trump has described as a campaign to 'reclaim' elite universities, the government has sought to place Harvard's admissions, hiring, and certain academic divisions under federal oversight. Harvard's leaders have refused to comply and the university sued the Trump administration last month arguing that its tactics violate federal laws and the US Constitution. The new grant cuts come from eight federal agencies, according to a press release from the Trump administration's Joint Task Force to Combat Antisemitism. Advertisement The task force has led the Trump administration's campaign at Harvard, but the cuts announced Tuesday appeared to originate elsewhere. 'The Task Force fully supports the Trump administration's multi-agency move to cut funding to Harvard, demonstrating the entire administration's commitment to eradicating discrimination on Harvard's campus,' the press release said. Spokespeople for the task force and the White House did not immediately respond to questions about which agencies were responsible for the new cuts. Last week, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said Harvard would no longer be eligible to receive any new federal grants. Advertisement In her letter announcing that move, McMahon accused Harvard's leaders of 'engaging in a systemic pattern of violating federal law' including alleged racial discrimination in its admissions, hiring, and diversity programs. She has also alleged that Harvard cultivates an academic environment that is rigidly leftist and intolerant of conservative viewpoints. In his response to McMahon Monday, Garber denied those charges. 'Harvard is a place to bring people of all backgrounds together to learn in an inclusive environment where ideas flourish regardless of whether they are deemed 'conservative,' 'liberal,' or something else,' he said. Mike Damiano can be reached at
CNN
30-04-2025
- Politics
- CNN
The biggest takeaways from Harvard's task force reports on campus antisemitism and anti-Muslim bias
As its legal battle over critical federal money plays out in court, two Harvard University task forces have released a pair of long-awaited internal reports: one on how antisemitism and anti-Israeli bias are handled on campus, and another on anti-Muslim, anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian bias. Harvard President Alan Garber announced the task force reports in a letter to the campus community that began with an apology, calling the 2023-24 academic year 'disappointing and painful.' The reports released Tuesday afternoon included accounts of both Jewish and Muslim students juggling profound grief over the deaths of loved ones in Gaza and Israel, coupled with fear for their safety and deep feelings of alienation and academic censorship on campus. They include several broad recommendations and policy changes for Harvard's programs, admissions and academic programs. 'Some students reported being pushed by their peers to the periphery of campus life because of who they are or what they believe, eroding our shared sense of community in the process,' Garber wrote in his letter. Still, a 'message that did not emerge clearly' from the lengthy task force reports seems to be that these are 'largely problems of the prior academic year,' Garber told Harvard alumni Wednesday during a moderated online conversation. 'They have not gone away, but what I have heard close to universally is that things are better this year.' Harvard has put in place measures to protect speech and support constructive dialogue, Garber said, 'and I like to think we are seeing early signs of success. They are not complete, but they are getting underway, and I think we're seeing progress.' The reports' release arrived amid a battle between the nation's oldest and wealthiest university and the White House: Earlier this month, the federal government's Joint Task Force to Combat Antisemitism froze over $2 billion in federal funding to the Ivy League institution. Harvard sued the Trump administration over the freeze last week. 'The sanctions that the government chose to impose against us — having to do with cutting off federal support at Harvard — those are not sanctions that will particularly aid us in the fight against antisemitism,' Garber told alumni on Wednesday's call, noting he had spent that morning on Capitol Hill discussing the federal funding crisis and why even the school's $53.2 billion endowment cannot protect key research projects from the White House's freeze. Harvard is committed to complying with the law and addressing antisemitism, but cutting federal research money 'is not the way to achieve it,' Garber said. 'What is at stake here goes far beyond Harvard. It is an assault on higher education.' Each task force sought to understand the experiences of Harvard students, faculty, and staff through a series of listening sessions, held primarily in March and April 2024, followed by a university-wide survey that found Muslim and Arab students, as well as Jewish and Israeli students, often felt uncomfortable and alienated on campus, before and after the October 7 attacks on Israel. The survey, which received about 2,300 responses from students, faculty, and staff, was conducted by both task forces from May to August 2024 across Harvard's schools. Among the Jewish students that participated in the survey, 67% reported feeling discomfort expressing their opinions with others at Harvard, compared with 80% of Muslim students, according to the reports on antisemitism and anti-Muslim bias. An overwhelming 92% of Muslims surveyed at the university said they believed they were likely to face academic or professional repercussions for expressing their opinions, according to the report on anti-Muslim bias. Meanwhile, 61% of Jewish respondents felt they would face academic or professional repercussions for expressing their opinions, according to the report on antisemitism. Across nearly every area of concern, Jewish students reported greater levels of discomfort and alienation than Christian, atheist and agnostic students, but lower levels than their Muslim peers, according to the antisemitism report. Members of both pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian communities expressed concern over doxxing: the university's Presidential Task Force on Combating Anti-Muslim, Anti-Arab, and Anti-Palestinian Bias found pro-Palestinian students' faces and private information were plastered on box trucks and their information was published online, often labeling them as antisemites or terrorists. One faculty member told the task force a doxxed student had received death and rape threats after their face and phone number were put on a 'doxxing truck' and shared online. Harvard's Presidential Task Force on Combating Antisemitism and Anti-Israeli Bias revealed similar incidents among Jewish students supporting the anti-Zionist movement on campus. 'My roommate was doxxed, our apartment was doxxed,' one Jewish graduate student told the task force. 'The most frustrating thing is that students have been weaponizing antisemitism to accuse people of acting out Judaism in a way they don't like. I'm not antisemitic because I'm doing Judaism differently, and that's how it's been seen.' The university's Presidential Task Force on Combating Antisemitism and Anti-Israeli Bias narrated a rise in antisemitism that surged after the October 7 attacks: some Jewish and Israeli students said they felt a need to hide their identity and reported being bullied and excluded on campus. The report found that Jewish students had 'faced bias, suspicion, intimidation, alienation, shunning, contempt, and sometimes effective exclusion from various curricular and co-curricular parts of the University and its community — clear examples of antisemitism and anti-Israeli bias.' Some Jewish students told the task force they had turned down admission offers at Harvard schools, while others completing PhDs said they pivoted to the private industry because they perceived academia as being unfriendly to Jewish people. The report recommended an overhaul of how students report antisemitic behavior on campus, faculty training on the issue and curriculum changes. More classes on the Israel-Palestinian conflict should be included in the school's curriculum, the task force noted, suggesting that all intro courses on the topic should be co-taught from a Palestinian or Israeli 'perspective.' Promoting a 'culture of pluralism' on campus could create a safer environment for Jewish students while 'recognizing the diversity of identities and ideologies on campus,' the task force said. The task force also recommended Harvard prohibit face masks during on-campus demonstrations and urged the university to 'take appropriate action' against unrecognized student organizations that 'piggyback' on recognized student groups. Muslim, Arab and Palestinian faculty and students at Harvard overwhelmingly reported feeling 'abandoned and 'actively silenced' as they voiced concerns over the mounting death toll and unfolding humanitarian crisis in Gaza, according to the report from the task force on anti-Muslim, anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian bias. 'Many participants reported feeling a profound sense of erasure – that they, and the cause they feel strongly about, were silenced,' the task force wrote. This perception was fueled by the university's initial response to the October 7 attacks in Israel, the report said, during which administrators sent emails that did not mention the reciprocal attacks on Gaza. Some participants also felt their grief and fear were met by 'indifference' from university leadership, according to the report. Arab, Muslim and Palestinian university members reported being 'actively suppressed and repressed' if they vocalized their concerns, the report said. Many viewed student protests and encampments as being punished with disciplinary measures of 'unprecedented severity,' including Harvard's decision to withhold the degrees of 13 graduating seniors who had participated in an encampment. Several people also expressed concern over academic freedom, noting faculty appeared to 'self-censor' references to Palestinian topics in their teaching and syllabi out of concern for their tenure or other professional repercussions. Palestinian and pro-Palestinian faculty told the task force they felt unsupported and unsafe, the report said, noting some felt they were not being protected if they were 'unfairly or maliciously targeted' by people both on and off campus. The task force recommended immediate steps to increase physical safety of Harvard's community members, including safe transportation options and increasing awareness of a 24-hour safety hotline. It also advised the university to publicly denounce doxxing and recognize the severity of the problem by compiling resources and expert advice for community members who are victims of doxxing. The report suggested creating a program that invites university members to host conversations on different viewpoints and respectful disagreement or designating 'free speech spaces.' The task force also advised the university to develop clearer policies about on-campus protests, which includes ensuring that counter-protesters are subject to the same rules as protesters. The issue of antisemitism is at the heart of the Trump administration's $2 billion funding freeze at Harvard and cited as a key reason behind it. The White House is also scrutinizing dozens of other US colleges over purported antisemitism, as well as their commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion programs, their rules for campus protests and whom they admit and employ. While the Anti-Defamation League and Harvard's Hillel chapter have expressed appreciation for the administration's focus on antisemitism, they have decried funding cuts as overreach with the potential to harm Jewish students. The Anti-Defamation League's CEO said the organization commended 'the clear-eyed and brutally honest assessment' of the Harvard antisemitism task force in a statement Wednesday. 'Jews deserve equal treatment on campus, nothing more and nothing less. And yet we hope that the federal government will appreciate the importance of this report and recognize results as they are achieved so that it can reinstitute federal funding and resume the provision of other services that have been halted,' Jonathan Greenblatt wrote. Rabbi Jason Rubenstein, executive director of Harvard Hillel, told CNN in a statement Tuesday that 'This report makes two things clear: Jewish and Israeli students have been the victims of a social, political, and intellectual campaign of delegitimization and stigmatization supported and enacted by many members of Harvard's student body and faculty.' 'President Garber is committed to addressing the deeper causes of this intolerable state of affairs and not merely their headline-grabbing manifestations over the past nineteen months,' Rubenstein wrote. Garber launched the two presidential task forces in January 2024 with the goal of determining how the university was failing to combat antisemitism and anti-Muslim bias, and what could be done to further dispel tension between on-campus communities. In June, the two groups issued preliminary reports with a message: Harvard needs to do more work to promote diversity in education and multiple perspectives on campus. The university received a failing grade from the Anti-Defamation League last year, which released a report assessing how US colleges combat antisemitism and protect Jewish students. In an updated report published in March, Harvard received a C, moving up two grades from an F the year before. Ivy League peers the University of Pennsylvania and Cornell University each received a C, up from a D. Columbia University remained at a D. In January, President Donald Trump issued an executive order focused on combating antisemitism at US colleges, heightening the pressure on administrators to crack down on campuses. CNN's Nicki Brown contributed to this report.
