Harvard University filed a lawsuit Monday evening against the Trump administration, claiming the government is using the threat of withholding federal funding as “leverage to gain control over academic decision making” at the school.
Threats to slash Harvard’s funding began in April after the administration demanded the university meet specific requirements to address antisemitism on campus. In its 51-page lawsuit, filed in a Massachusetts federal court, the university said the government has “launched a broad attack on the critical funding partnerships that make” research for certain diseases possible.
“The Government’s attempt to coerce and control Harvard disregards these fundamental First Amendment principles, which safeguard Harvard’s ‘academic freedom,’” the filing states. “A threat such as this to a university’s academic freedom strikes an equal blow to the research conducted and resulting advancements made on its campus.”
On April 11, the Department of Education sent a letter to Harvard demanding the university address issues including adjusting and enforcing disciplinary processes, improving international student screenings for “hostile” views and reviewing “programs with egregious records of antisemitism.” Just days later, on April 14, the Ivy League school said it would not agree to the terms set by the administration, stating in its lawsuit it would not allow itself to be “taken over by the federal government.”
Following Harvard’s response, the Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism declared it would revoke $2.2 billion in multi-year grants and $60 million in contract value from the university. In response to the school’s pushback, the task force said that it “reinforces the troubling entitlement mindset that is endemic in our nation’s most prestigious universities and colleges – that federal investment does not come with the responsibility to uphold civil rights laws.”
In addition to the billions already revoked by the Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism, senior officials at the Department of Health and Human Services told the Daily Caller on Monday that the administration is pausing over 500 grants — worth an additional $1 billion — from the National Institutes of Health to the university.
Harvard University President Alan Garber released a statement to the school, writing that the government’s “overreach will be severe and long-lasting” to their research, adding that the Ivy League is addressing its “unfinished business.”
“We need to ensure that the University lives up to its ideals by taking concrete steps to reaffirm a culture of free inquiry, viewpoint diversity, and academic exploration; making changes to our disciplinary systems so they will be more consistent and more effective in ensuring that our students, faculty, and staff take responsibility for their actions; implementing measures to ensure that all members of our community are safe and respected; and adopting important adjustments to the ways we build community — continuing to focus on individuals and their unique characteristics rather than their race,” Garber wrote.”In the days ahead, I will say more about our progress in each of these areas.”
Garber said that his task forces on “Combating Antisemitism and Anti-Israeli Bias,” as well as “Combating Anti-Muslim, Anti-Arab, and Anti-Palestinian Bias,” have finalized their reports, adding he will soon release their “include[d] recommendations with concrete plans for implementation.”
(Featured Image Media Credit: Joseph Williams/Wikimedia Commons)
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