Harvard University has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration after it froze billions of dollars in federal grants.
“Moments ago, we filed a lawsuit to halt the funding freeze because it is unlawful and beyond the government’s authority,” Harvard President Alan Garber said. “The consequences of the government’s overreach will be severe and long-lasting. Research that the government has put in jeopardy includes efforts to improve the prospects of children who survive cancer, to understand at the molecular level how cancer spreads throughout the body, to predict the spread of infectious disease outbreaks, and to ease the pain of soldiers wounded on the battlefield.”
Garber condemned the Trump administration for seeking to “control whom we hire and what we teach.”
The filing states that the “tradeoff put to Harvard and other universities is clear: Allow the Government to micromanage your academic institution or jeopardize the institution’s ability to pursue medical breakthroughs, scientific discoveries, and innovative solutions.”
“No government—regardless of which party is in power—should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue,” the lawsuit adds.
The filing further asserts that the Trump administration’s actions are “unlawful,” arguing that the “First Amendment does not permit the Government to ‘interfere with private actors’ speech to advance its own vision of ideological balance,'” quoting a 2024 Supreme Court ruling.
Harvard University professors filed a similar lawsuit against the Trump administration last week, claiming the funding threat undermines “academic freedom and free speech.”
President Trump has also criticized the institution, declaring that Harvard “should lose its Tax Exempt Status and be Taxed as a Political Entity.”
