Harvard takes the Trump administration to court over economic pressures

WashingtonAfter standing up to economic pressure from the Donald Trump administration to interfere with its teaching curriculum, Harvard has now struck back. The nation's richest university is suing the US government for freezing billions of dollars in grants, citing accusations of allowing antisemitism on campus and in retaliation for not giving in to the administration's demands. This is an escalation of the confrontation between the university and the Trump administration, amid the president's coercive crusade against several universities in the country.

In a letter sent ten days ago, the Trump administration accused Harvard of not having done enough to combat "antisemitism" on campus and threatened to freeze $2.2 billion in grants if it did not agree to a series of demands. Among other things, the government demanded that Harvard shut down all diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and subject certain departments to an external audit.Harvard refused to comply with the demands because it considered them to threaten its independence and academic freedom.

"No government should dictate what a private university can teach, who it admits or hires, or what areas of study or research may be pursued," Harvard President Alan Garber wrote in a message to the university community last Monday.

In the lawsuit filed Monday in federal court in Massachusetts, Harvard accuses the government of leading a broad attack on the university "to influence and control academic decisions." The lawsuit also names other Ivy League universities—the umbrella term for the nation's elite schools that Trump is now railing against—that have suffered federal funding cuts. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.; Education Secretary Linda McMahon; Acting Administrator of the General Services Administration Stephen Ehikian; Attorney General Pam Bondi; and other government officials are the prime defendants in the university's filing.

Harvard accuses the Trump administration of violating its First Amendment rights, federal administrative procedures, and regulations to take action against institutions. The government has also accused the university of violating Title VI, a federal law that states that any institution that violates civil rights cannot receive federal funds. But the university denies this.

Trump's promise to "take back" universities

Under accusations of "anti-Semitism," the Trump administration has launched a campaign to try to influence the functioning of Ivy League universities and suppress all ideas related to diversity, climate change, or critical race theory. During the election campaign, the president promised to "take back" universities and put an end to what the far right has dubbed "the agenda." woke".

On Friday, the government fund revealed to the New York Times that the letter containing all the demands Harvard rebelled against was sent in error. Even so, the federal government has continued to demonstrate its willingness to influence and pressure the institution: Trump has threatened to eliminate Harvard's tax exemption and deny visas to international students who want to attend.

Harvard is the richest and oldest university in the United States and has an endowment of $53.2 billion, a kind of reserve that would allow it to withstand any cuts the Trump administration wants to implement for a long time. As Harvard economics professor Pol Antràs explained, "this is not the end of Harvard," and pointed to this reserve—known in English as endowment– as a guarantee that the center could survive. However, the professor also acknowledged that there would be an impact on research.