Harvard University sued the Trump administration Monday in a new escalation of the fight over institutional oversight, independence and federal funding for the Ivy League school.
University President Alan M. Garber said in a letter to the Harvard community that the administration’s recent actions — including a $2.2 billion federal funding freeze at Harvard, with even more money potentially on the line — “have stark real-life consequences for patients, students, faculty, staff, researchers, and the standing of American higher education in the world.”
The Trump administration is demanding Harvard give it access to all university reports on antisemitism and anti-Muslim bias on campus generated since October 2023, as it ramps up a confrontation with the school that risks billions in federal money amid a broader push to bring elite US colleges in line with its political ideology.
“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,” White House principal deputy press secretary Harrison Fields said in a statement Monday evening. “Taxpayer funds are a privilege, and Harvard fails to meet the basic conditions required to access that privilege.”
Harvard emerged as the first elite US university to publicly rebuke the White House’s demands, which Trump officials have said aim to combat antisemitism following contentious campus protests in response to the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
“Under whatever name, the Government has ceased the flow of funds to Harvard as part of its pressure campaign to force Harvard to submit to the Government’s control over its academic programs. That, in itself, violates Harvard’s constitutional rights,” Harvard wrote in the lawsuit.
“The Government has not – and cannot – identify any rational connection between antisemitism concerns and the medical, scientific, technological, and other research it has frozen that aims to save American lives, foster American success, preserve American security, and maintain America’s position as a global leader in innovation,” the suit, filed Monday, said.
Garber, who is Jewish, said in his letter he knows there are valid concerns to the rise of antisemitism and that the university has task force groups designated to help “address intolerance” in our community.
“Make no mistake: Harvard rejects antisemitism and discrimination in all of its forms and is actively making structural reforms to eradicate antisemitism on campus,” the school’s lawsuit says. “But rather than engage with Harvard regarding those ongoing efforts, the Government announced a sweeping freeze of funding for medical, scientific, technological, and other research that has nothing at all to do with antisemitism and Title VI compliance.”
The university said it’s not looking for money.
“Instead, it seeks an order declaring unlawful and setting aside sweeping agency action taken in violation of Harvard’s constitutional rights under the First Amendment and its rights guaranteed by statute and regulation,” the suit said.
The Trump administration has said it would freeze more than $2.2 billion in grants and contracts after the Ivy League school refused to submit to demands, including that it eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs; ban masks at campus protests; enact merit-based hiring and admissions reforms; and reduce the power of faculty and administrators the White House has said are “more committed to activism than scholarship.”
The university must turn over all reports generated by school task forces on combating antisemitism and anti-Muslim bias on campus, including drafts never released to the public, a letter Saturday from the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights to Harvard leadership says.
A tower on one of the Harvard University buildings in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on April 15, 2025.
Related article
DHS threatens to revoke Harvard’s eligibility to host foreign students amid broader battle over universities’ autonomy
The letter, published by The Free Press, also requests the names of anyone involved in preparing the reports and says they should be made available for interviews by federal officials.
The letter is among the latest twists in the Trump administration’s growing fight with Harvard. It comes as some Jewish organizations and students at Harvard say the White House’s recent threats – from pulling research funding to ending its eligibility to host international students – are not making them safer or more welcome but instead, as some wrote, “pawns in a broader political agenda.”
Another $1 billion in federal health research contracts to Harvard could also be withheld, The Wall Street Journal reported over the weekend, as the Internal Revenue Service is making plans to rescind the tax-exempt status of the university and the administration has threatened Harvard’s ability to enroll foreign students.
Other universities, including Princeton, Cornell and Northwestern, also have seen federal funding paused amid similar demands.
CNN
