Harvard University takes legal action against Trump Administration on $2.2 bn funding freeze

Harvard University brought a case against  against the Trump administration to block significant funding reductions.

The suit filed Monday is connected to a longstanding dispute that intensified recently when the elite institution rejected a number of demands that the Trump administration said aimed to limit diversity efforts and combat anti-Semitism on campus.

President Donald Trump blocked $2.2 billion (£1.7bn) of federal financial support and also presented a significant threat to university’s tax-exempt status.

Alan M. Garber, Harvard University president said in a letter to the university on Monday that “The consequences of the government’s excessive actions will lead to severe consequences.”

The White House answered at a later time  Monday night in a statement. White House spokesman Harrison Fields said that “The gravy train of federal assistance to institutions like Harvard, which enrich their grossly overpaid bureaucrats with tax dollars from struggling American families is coming to an end. Taxpayer funds are a privilege, and Harvard fails to meet the basic conditions required to access that privilege.”

Mr Garber said the blocked funding affected critical research, covering studies on pediatric cancer Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. The school’s lawsuit said that “In recent weeks, the federal Government has launched a broad attack on the critical funding partnerships that make this invaluable research possible.”

“This case involves the Government’s efforts to use the withholding of federal funding as leverage to gain control of academic decisionmaking at Harvard.”

Beyond financial support, the Trump administration days ago also compromised the ability of Harvard University to enroll international students.

Mr Garber, identified as a Jewish acknowledged Harvard’s campus encountered hostility but said has set up a working groups to tackle the problem. He said the university would make the public aware of the conclusion of two forces examining anti-semitism and anti-Muslim.

“The university will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights,” Harvard’s lawyers told the administration on April 14.

“Neither Harvard nor any other private university can allow itself to be taken over by the federal government. Accordingly, Harvard will not accept the government’s terms as an agreement in principle.“

The top US university, located in Massachusetts, is not alone in facing federal funding challenges that play a major part in fostering innovative scientific inquiry. The administration had concentrated on other private Ivy League institutions like suspended $1 billion in aid at Cornell University and $510 million at Brown University.

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