Two organisations representing Harvard University faculty filed a federal lawsuit on Friday against the Trump administration, arguing that the government’s threat to withdraw billions in federal funding violates the constitutional rights of professors and undermines academic freedom, the New York Times reported.
The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court in Massachusetts by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and its Harvard chapter, seeks a temporary restraining order to block the administration from cutting roughly $9 billion in funding that supports research, grants, and other university programs.
“This action challenges the Trump administration’s unlawful and unprecedented misuse of federal funding and civil rights enforcement authority to undermine academic freedom and free speech,” the suit states.
Administration crackdown targets elite universities
The legal challenge comes amid the Trump administration’s broader campaign against what it perceives as inadequate responses to antisemitism on elite campuses. Harvard, along with Columbia and Cornell, has come under scrutiny following an administrative letter accusing it of having “fundamentally failed to protect American students and faculty from antisemitic violence.”
University officials have previously stated that they have taken the issue seriously. Harvard president Alan Garber recently said the school has made “considerable effort” over the past 15 months to address antisemitism and acknowledged that more work remains.
Still, faculty leaders argue that the administration’s actions are being used as a political tool to pressure universities into conformity. “Harvard faculty have the constitutional right to speak, teach and conduct research without fearing that the government will retaliate against their viewpoints,” said Andrew Manuel Crespo, a Harvard law professor and general counsel for the AAUP-Harvard Faculty Chapter.
Campus protests signal growing resistance
On Saturday, hundreds of students, professors, and local officials, including Cambridge Mayor Denise Simmons, gathered in protest at a park near Harvard’s campus, condemning the federal pressure campaign. “Harvard possesses not just the resources to withstand the pressure,” said Simmons. “It has the moral obligation to do so.”
The White House has yet to comment on the lawsuit or the growing backlash.
Legal experts note that if successful, the suit could set a major precedent regarding the limits of executive authority over academic institutions — particularly when tied to ideological or political disagreements.
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