Latest news with #researchgrants
Yahoo
22-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Judge Weighs Harvard's Fight Against Trump-Era Grant Cuts Over Antisemitism Dispute
Harvard University is urging a federal judge to reinstate $2.5 billion in canceled federal research grants, claiming the Trump administration is punishing the school for refusing to overhaul its governance and hiring practices.
CNA
21-07-2025
- Politics
- CNA
Harvard challenges Trump administration in court over cancelled research funding
BOSTON: Harvard University on Monday (July 21) urged a federal judge to order US President Donald Trump's administration to restore about US$2.5 billion in cancelled research grants and stop efforts to cut off additional federal funding to the Ivy League institution. The court hearing before US District Judge Allison Burroughs in Boston stretched more than two hours but ended without a ruling. The case marks a high-stakes flashpoint in the administration's broader push to reshape US higher education through funding leverage. DOJ DEFENDS FUNDING CANCELLATION Michael Velchik, a senior lawyer for the US Justice Department, argued the cancelled grants reflected a government priority to stop supporting institutions that "tolerate antisemitism". 'Harvard prioritized campus protestors over cancer research,' Velchik said, while asserting the matter should be handled by the US Court of Federal Claims, which hears monetary disputes. The administration said Harvard's rejection of an April list of demands triggered a wave of cancellations, including the suspension of hundreds of research grants. It accused the university of failing to adequately respond to reports of antisemitic harassment on campus. RESEARCH AT RISK Harvard, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, says the funding cuts threaten hundreds of research projects, including those focused on cancer, infectious diseases and Parkinson's. Steven Lehotsky, a lawyer representing Harvard, said the administration was using antisemitism as a pretext for broader ideological retaliation. "The administration has given no consideration to patients, the public at large, and the harm of all this research being cut off," Lehotsky told the court. JUDGE QUESTIONS LEGAL BASIS Judge Burroughs expressed scepticism over the government's assertion that it could cancel grants on broad policy grounds without a formal process. "That's a major stumbling block for me," she said, adding that if funding could be cut over issues related to speech, the constitutional consequences would be 'staggering.' Burroughs, an Obama appointee, has already barred the administration from ending Harvard's ability to host international students in a separate case. She is expected to issue a written ruling in the funding case in the coming weeks. GOVERNANCE DEMANDS SPARKED CONFLICT The administration's push to defund Harvard followed its refusal to comply with demands issued in an April 11 letter by a White House task force. The letter called for sweeping changes including governance restructuring, revised admissions and hiring practices to ensure ideological diversity, and the termination of select academic programmes. Harvard has said the demands overstepped legitimate concerns about antisemitism and aimed instead to control academic speech, in violation of First Amendment protections. University President Alan Garber said the cuts could cost the school nearly US$1 billion annually, forcing layoffs and hiring freezes. The amount includes the cancelled multi-year federal research grants. TAX PENALTIES ADDED TO PRESSURE As part of Trump's spending and tax legislation, the Republican-led Congress also raised the federal excise tax on Harvard's US$53 billion endowment income from 1.4 per cent to 8 per cent. Endowment income accounts for 40 per cent of Harvard's operating budget. Garber said the school has taken steps to support Jewish and Israeli students who faced 'vicious and reprehensible' treatment following the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas in October 2023. But he maintained that the administration's measures extended far beyond the issue of antisemitism and amounted to unconstitutional interference in Harvard's academic independence.
New York Times
28-06-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Can Donors Fill the Major Budget Holes That Colleges Face Under Trump?
The T.H. Chan School of Public Health at Harvard has not been disguising its plight. 'With Harvard's federal funding frozen, we are relying on philanthropy to power our research and support our educational programs,' the school's donation website says. 'Your ongoing engagement is vital to keeping our mission on track.' The Trump administration's decision to block billions of dollars in research money to certain colleges is forcing administrators and their fund-raising teams to scrounge for cash. As schools across the country contemplate layoffs, lab shutdowns and other drastic steps, they are weighing how much the gaps can be plugged by private philanthropy — and how pointedly political their pleas for donations ought to be. A handful are wagering that the financial rewards of trying to leverage donors' concerns about the federal cuts will outweigh the risk of antagonizing the White House. In an April 30 note to alumni, Christina H. Paxson, the president of Brown University, said about three dozen of its grants and contracts had already been canceled, and that the government had stopped funding many research grants. She said news reports stated that the Trump administration had threatened an additional $510 million in grants and contracts to the university. The moves, she wrote, represented 'a significant threat to Brown's financial sustainability.' She urged alumni to lobby lawmakers about the issue, and included links for making donations to the university, including to support research whose federal funding was canceled or delayed. (Brown said data was not yet available for release about whether giving had increased as a result.) Many other institutions have opted for more caution. Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education and a former leader of Occidental College, suggested that some schools may be worried about turning off right-leaning donors who may agree with President Trump's opinion that academia has tilted too far to the left. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
CBS News
17-06-2025
- Health
- CBS News
Federal judge strikes down Trump cuts to NIH medical research grants linked to diversity, gender
The firings and billion-dollar research grant cuts at NIH in Trump's first 100 days back in office Washington — A federal judge struck down sweeping Trump administration orders that resulted in the cancellation of hundreds of National Institutes of Health research grants because they were linked to topics like diversity, gender identity and vaccine hesitancy. "The ideologically motivated directives to terminate grants alleged to constitute DEI, 'gender ideology,' or other forbidden topics were, in fact, arbitrary and capricious, and have now been ruled unlawful," Dr. Peter Lurie, head of the Center for Science in the Public Interest said in a statement Tuesday. Lurie's group was among those that filed the lawsuit. Judge William Young of the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts capped a trial Monday for multiple lawsuits that were filed against the Trump administration: one by a coalition of public health groups and another by several Democratic state attorneys general. It is possible that the Trump administration could seek to block the ruling by Young, who was nominated to the court by President Reagan in 1985. "HHS is exploring all legal options, including filing an appeal and moving to stay the order," Andrew Nixon, communications director for the Department of Health and Human Services, said in a statement. Nixon said the department "stands by its decision to end funding for research that prioritized ideological agendas over scientific rigor and meaningful outcomes for the American people," saying the department wanted taxpayer dollars to support "gold standard science" and not "divisive DEI mandates or gender ideology." The court has not yet published Young's order in the case, but notes from the clerk announced that the challenged directives have been vacated and that the Trump administration was ordered to "promptly comply." Separate court cases are underway for other cuts to medical research funding sought by the Trump administration, like the terminations of funding to universities like Harvard and Columbia that have disrupted studies for cancer and diseases. Another federal judge in Massachusetts earlier this year blocked the NIH from implementing a policy change that would have cut funding for research overhead costs, which is now being appealed by the Trump administration. "Today's court ruling halted the cancellation of millions of dollars that have already been awarded to address important public health needs and will allow funding for life-saving medical research to continue," the Massachusetts attorney general's office said Monday in a statement. They said that the judge had "denounced these actions" at the trial, saying he had "never seen a record where racial discrimination was so palpable" and would "be blind not to call it out." Young's ruling came after opponents challenged the process used by the Trump administration to come up with and implement its steep cuts to grants, saying the law requires federal agencies changing their policies to "supply a reasoned analysis for the change." Flaws cited by a trial brief brought by the groups included the lack of a definition for what qualified as banned "DEI studies" and NIH Acting Director Dr. Matthew Memoli having spent only minutes deciding which grants and funding opportunities to cut. "Defendants do not explain how lightning speed implementation of the Directives could possibly reflect reasoned decisionmaking," they wrote.
Yahoo
17-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Federal judge rules Tump directives canceling NIH grants are 'void,' 'illegal'
A federal judge in Massachusetts ruled on Monday that directives from the Trump administration that led to the cancellations of several research grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) were "void" and "illegal." U.S. District Judge William Young said the cancellation of the grants -- related to studies involving LGBTQ+ issues, gender identity and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) -- violated federal law, saying it was a case of racial discrimination and discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community, according to the plaintiffs in the case. Two lawsuits had been filed against the administration: One led by the American Public Health Association and the other filed by a group of 16 states. Some estimates have suggested that up to $1.8 billion in research funding had been cut. MORE: NIH terminating active research grants related to LGBTQ+, DEI studies Young, an appointee of President Ronald Reagan, said he was ordering the NIH to restore the grants that were terminated. In a statement, Andrew Nixon, the director of communications for the Department of Health and Human Services, said the agency stands by its decision to end funding for research "that prioritized ideological agendas over scientific rigor and meaningful outcomes for the American people. Under the leadership of Secretary Kennedy and the Trump administration, HHS is committed to ensuring that taxpayer dollars support programs rooted in evidence-based practices and gold standard science – not driven by divisive DEI mandates or gender ideology." Nixon said HHS is "exploring all legal options, including filing an appeal and moving to stay the order." Among the plaintiffs is Dr. Brittany Charlton, an associate professor at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, who had all her grants terminated by the NIH. One of the terminated grants focused on documenting obstetrical outcomes for lesbian, gay and bisexual women and another focused on how discriminatory laws impact mental health among LGBTQ+ teens. "As a plaintiff, I felt truly seen -- it was a rare moment when the deep harm caused to researchers and the communities we serve was acknowledged out loud, in front of the world," Charlton told ABC News in a statement. "Sitting there, I felt a wave of relief and hope as the judge condemned the government's actions and ordered the grants to be reinstated," the statement continued. "After so much uncertainty and disruption, it finally felt like justice and the value of our research -- and the communities at its heart -- were being affirmed." The terminations came after President Donald Trump passed a flurry of executive orders including vowing to "defend women from gender ideology extremism" and aiming to dismantle DEI initiatives. MORE: Judge blocks Trump administration's move to cut billions in NIH scientific funding According to termination letters sent to researchers at various universities that were reviewed by ABC News, the administration said the canceled projects do not serve the "priorities" of the current administration. "Research programs based on gender identity are often unscientific, have little identifiable return on investment, and do nothing to enhance the health of many Americans. Many such studies ignore, rather than seriously examine, biological realities. It is the policy of NIH not to prioritize these research programs," some of the termination letters read. "The premise…is incompatible with agency priorities, and no modification of the project could align the project with agency priorities," the letters continued. ABC News' Sony Salzman contributed to this report. Federal judge rules Tump directives canceling NIH grants are 'void,' 'illegal' originally appeared on
