Harvard pledges $250 million to support researchers amid Trump administration grant freeze

The prestigious Ivy League institution in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has become one of President Trump's key targets.

Harvard University announced on Wednesday that it is allocating $250 million of its own resources to support researchers after the Trump administration froze nearly $3 billion in federal grants and contracts in recent weeks.

The prestigious Ivy League institution in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has become one of President Trump's key targets. The Republican president has been making significant efforts to reform private colleges across the U.S. that he claims promote anti-American, Marxist, and "radical left" ideologies. He has specifically criticized Harvard for appointing prominent Democrats to teaching and leadership roles.

Harvard is challenging the Trump administration's decision to withhold grants awarded to its researchers, mainly in medical sciences, calling it an unconstitutional attempt to restrict academic freedom and free speech.

The government announced the funding cuts last month, shortly after Harvard's president, Dr. Alan Garber, condemned the administration’s extensive demands to reform the school's leadership, teaching, admissions, and to audit the perspectives of students and faculty.

In a joint statement with Provost John Manning, Garber said the Trump administration was "stopping lifesaving research" and described the situation as an "extraordinarily challenging time" for the nation’s oldest and wealthiest university.

On Wednesday, Harvard revealed that Garber would take a temporary, voluntary 25% pay reduction starting in July. The university had earlier announced a hiring freeze.

The statement noted that Harvard "cannot absorb the entire cost" of the frozen grants, which the administration values at over $2.6 billion. The university is assisting researchers in securing alternative funding.

"The impact of such steps on the nation's scientific research enterprise could be severe and lasting," the statement added.

The Trump administration has accused Harvard of continuing to consider race in student
admissions and permitting discrimination against Jewish students, linked to the pro-Palestinian protests on campuses last year.

Harvard maintains that its admissions policies comply with federal laws and court decisions and that it continues to address antisemiism and other forms of prejudice on campus.

A federal judge in Boston has ordered the government to respond to Harvard’s lawsuit by June 9, with a hearing set for July 21.

(With agency inputs)