A judge concludes that Trump violated the law by freezing Harvard funding.
The university had sued the US administration for trying to interfere with its academic agenda.
WashingtonThe rentrée The September 19th freeze is leaving Donald Trump with a string of judicial necks. This Wednesday, a federal judge concluded that the US president violated the law by freezing billions of dollars at Harvard as a means of pressure to interfere with its educational curriculum. Although the Trump administration will likely appeal the decision, it represents an important legal victory for the university, which in June began secret negotiations with the White House to reach an agreement.
Although the decision by Judge Allison D. Burroughs of the US District Court in Boston focused on the funding freeze, the lawsuit Harvard filed in April alleged that Trump had violated its rights to free speech, as enshrined in the First Amendment of the Constitution.
In the lawsuit filed in the spring, Harvard accused the government of leading a broad attack on the university "to influence and control academic decisions." The text also mentioned other Ivy League universities—the umbrella term for the country's elite schools, which 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 main defendants in the university's filing.
"No government should dictate what a private university may teach, who it may admit or hire, or what areas of study or research may be pursued," Harvard President Alan Garber wrote in an April message to the university community.
In order to freeze funding for the search, Trump accused Harvard of not having done enough to combat "anti-Semitism" on campus. In exchange for not imposing the punishment, the president demanded a series of demands. Among other things, Harvard must close 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.
