Harvard Sues Trump Administration over “Unlawful” $2.3 Billion Federal Funding Freeze

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Loh Huey Xin
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Harvard University filed a lawsuit on 21 Apr 2025 against the Trump administration to block the freezing of billions of dollars in federal funding.

The legal action represents a significant escalation in the ongoing conflict between higher education institutions and President Donald Trump.

Harvard Challenges Trump Administration’s “Unlawful” Funding Freeze in Federal Court

In the lawsuit filed in federal court in Boston, Harvard alleges the Trump administration launched a broad attack on funding for research at major universities.

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The university claims the government is using the withholding of federal funds as leverage to gain control of academic decision-making at Harvard.

Harvard University President Alan Garber stated the institution would continue to fight hate and comply with anti-discrimination laws while maintaining that the government was seeking “to control whom we hire and teach” rather than engaging with Harvard about fighting anti-semitism as required by civil rights law.

“The university will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights,” Prof Garber wrote in a message to the community earlier this month.

The lawsuit names various federal officials and agencies as defendants, including Mr Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health and human services secretary; Ms Linda M. McMahon, the education secretary; Mr Stephen Ehikian, acting administrator of the General Services Administration; Attorney General Pam Bondi; and several other administration officials.

Impact of Funding Freeze on Research and White House Response to Harvard Lawsuit

The Trump administration began reviewing US$ 9 billion in federal funding for Harvard in March and subsequently presented the university with a list of demands, including a mask ban and the elimination of all diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs.

After Harvard rejected these demands on 14 Apr 2025, the administration froze US$ 2.3 billion in funding.

Government officials are planning to freeze an additional US$ 1 billion in research funding to Harvard, according to administration officials who spoke anonymously.

This funding primarily comes from the National Institutes of Health, the nation’s main agency for biomedical and public health research.

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The freeze has resulted in immediate stop-work orders affecting Harvard’s federally funded research projects on tuberculosis, ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease), and radiation poisoning.

Harvard officials have stated the funding freeze will significantly impact the T.H. Chan School of Public Health, which receives nearly half of its total budget from federal research grants. The school announced major budget cuts last week.

White House spokesperson Harrison Fields responded to the lawsuit with a statement that the “gravy train of federal assistance” to institutions like Harvard was ending.

“Taxpayer funds are a privilege, and Harvard fails to meet the basic conditions required to access that privilege,” Fields said.

Besides Harvard, the Trump administration has also paused funding for universities including Columbia, Princeton, Cornell, Northwestern and Brown over campus protests.

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The administration has cast its campaign as a fight against anti-semitism, but has also targeted programs and teaching related to racial diversity and gender ideology.

Harvard is the first university to file a lawsuit in response to Trump’s crackdown, though some Harvard faculty members and Columbia University professors have sued the Trump administration separately, citing similar grounds to those Harvard outlined on 21 Apr 2025.

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Loh Huey Xin