Harvard University has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration claiming that its freezing of federal grants worth billions of dollars is unlawful.
“This case involves the Government’s efforts to use the withholding of federal funding as leverage to gain control of academic decision-making at Harvard,” the lawsuit said.
While the Trump administration has for several weeks been engaged in a financial standoff with several American universities accused of allowing increased student activism against the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, Harvard affirmed that it rejects all forms of discrimination and is actively working toward structural reforms to eliminate it on its campus.
In addition to freezing $2.2 billion in grants allocated to Harvard for funding medical, scientific, and technological research, Trump has also threatened to go further by revoking the university’s tax-exempt status, accusing it of spreading “hatred and idiocy.”
Moreover, the Trump administration threatened to block the university from enrolling international students unless it agrees to undergo an audit of its admissions and hiring processes and its political orientation.
