US federal judge Allison Burrows in Boston ruled that the administration of US President Donald Trump illegally cut funding to Harvard University worth about $2.2 billion and cannot cut it any further.
Points of attention
- US federal judge rules that the Trump administration illegally cut funding to Harvard University worth $2.2 billion.
- The court's decision allows Harvard to receive federal funding without restrictions and repressive measures from the administration.
- Harvard accused the administration of using anti-Semitism as a pretext to attack leading universities and violating their free speech rights.
Court announces decision on Harvard-Trump administration case
Harvard has become central to the Trump administration's campaign to use federal funding to achieve change at US universities, which the US president has said are riddled with anti-Semitic and "radical left" ideology.
The administration canceled hundreds of grants awarded to Harvard researchers on the grounds that the university had not taken sufficient steps to combat harassment of Jewish students.
Harvard filed a lawsuit, claiming that the Trump administration is taking repressive measures against it and violating its rights.
Burroughs agreed, saying that the Trump administration "has used anti-Semitism as a smokescreen for a targeted, ideologically motivated attack on this country's leading universities."
She emphasized that the administration's pressure campaign led to the illegal termination of Harvard's funding and repression of the university, which violated its rights to free speech enshrined in the First Amendment to the US Constitution.
It prohibited the Trump administration from cutting off or freezing any additional federal funding to Harvard and blocked the ability to continue withholding payments on existing grants or denying new funding to the university in the future.
In a separate case, Burroughs has already barred the administration from depriving Harvard of the opportunity to admit international students, who make up about a quarter of the university's student body.
White House spokeswoman Liz Houston vowed in a statement to appeal the judge's decision, saying Harvard "has no constitutional right to taxpayer money and remains ineligible to receive grants in the future."
Harvard President Alan Garber said the decision “reaffirms our case for the university’s academic freedom, critical scholarship, and the core principles of American higher education.” Garber stressed that while the university recognizes the key principles affirmed by the Burroughs decision, Harvard will “recognize the changing circumstances in which we seek to fulfill our mission.”
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