Geline Salac

Harvard sues Trump over US federal funding cuts

Article (news)

Agence France-Presse

<div><br/></div><p>NEW YORK - Harvard sued US President Donald Trump&#x27;s administration Monday in a sharp escalation of the fight between the prestigious university and the Republican, who has threatened its funding and sought to impose outside political supervision.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2025/4/1/trump-threatens-9-b-in-harvard-funding-over-anti-semitism-1021"><strong>Trump threatens $9-B in Harvard funding over &#x27;anti-Semitism&#x27;</strong></a></div><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2025/4/14/harvard-defies-trump-demands-for-policy-changes-risking-funding-0653"><strong>Harvard defies Trump demands for policy changes, risking funding</strong></a></div><p>Trump has sought to bring several prestigious universities to heel over claims they tolerated campus anti-Semitism, threatening their budgets, tax-exempt status and the enrollment of foreign students, but Harvard has refused to bow.</p><p>&quot;This case involves the Government&#x27;s efforts to use the withholding of federal funding as leverage to gain control of academic decision making at Harvard,&quot; the Ivy League university said in a lawsuit filed in a Massachusetts federal court that named several other institutions targeted by Trump.</p><p>&quot;The Government&#x27;s actions flout not just the First Amendment, but also federal laws and regulations,&quot; said the complaint which called Trump&#x27;s actions &quot;arbitrary and capricious.&quot;</p><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pFSluCiQjHc?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div><p>Trump and his White House team have publicly justified their campaign against universities as a reaction to what they say is uncontrolled &quot;anti-Semitism&quot; and a need to reverse diversity programs aimed at addressing historical oppression of minorities.</p><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable fr-active" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fgiLy0L2CgA?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div><p>The administration claims protests against Israel&#x27;s war in Gaza that swept across US college campuses last year were rife with anti-Semitism.</p><p>Many US universities, including Harvard, cracked down on the protests over the allegations at the time, with the Cambridge-based institution placing 23 students on probation and denying degrees to 12 others, according to protest organizers.</p><p>Other institutions, including Columbia University, have bowed to less far-ranging demands from the Trump administration, which claims that the educational elite is too left-wing.</p><p>gw/aha</p><p>© Agence France-Presse</p>

<p>Harvard sued US President Donald Trump's administration Monday in a sharp escalation of the fight between the prestigious university and the Republican, who has threatened its funding and sought to impose outside political supervision.</p>

Harvard sued US President Donald Trump's administration Monday in a sharp escalation of the fight between the prestigious university and the Republican, who has threatened its funding and sought to impose outside political supervision.