Harvard University sues Trump administration over federal funding threats

An article from site logo Dive Brief Harvard University sues Trump administration over federal funding threats

The Ivy League institution’s scathing lawsuit accuses the federal government of threatening research “that has nothing at all to do with antisemitism.”

Published April 21, 2025 Laura Spitalniak's headshot Laura Spitalniak Editor Harvard Medical School The image by Németh Dezső is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 Listen to the article 4 min This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Dive Brief:
  • Harvard University on Monday sued the Trump administration for attempting to withhold federal funding "as leverage to gain control of academic decisionmaking," according to the Ivy League institution's court filing.
  • In a scathing lawsuit, the university named numerous federal agencies as defendants, including the departments of Education, Energy, Defense and Health and Human Services, along with the National Institutes of Health, NASA and the U.S. General Services Administration.
  • This marks the latest salvo in the fight between Harvard and President Donald Trump, since the latter targeted the university for allegedly not protecting Jewish students from antisemitism. 
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Earlier this month, Trump's antisemitism task force issued a list of ultimatums to Harvard, demanding the university comply or risk losing access to federal funding. Harvard President Alan Garber on April 14 rejected the demands, which included surrendering some programmatic and workforce authority to the government. 

The Trump administration responded a day later by freezing over $2.2 billion in multi-year grants and contracts to Harvard. The announcement came "just hours after Harvard rejected the Government’s demands for control over its academic enterprise," according to the lawsuit.

In less than a week since, Trump has called for Harvard to lose its tax-exempt status as well as all federal funding. And the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has threatened to revoke Harvard's ability to enroll international students if it does not comply with an extensive record request by the end of the month.

The federal government has repeatedly claimed it is taking action against Harvard over allegations the university has not done enough to protect Jewish students from harassment.

But the task force has not publicly cited specific allegations against Harvard or incidents on its campus. The opacity appears to be intentional, Harvard's lawsuit alleges. It cites leaked NIH emails that state, per HHS guidance, that the department “should not provide any communications to these schools about whether or why the funds are frozen.”

Some free speech experts and Israeli academics have argued that the administration is weaponizing antisemitism concerns. Harvard made a similar argument in its lawsuit Monday.

"Make no mistake: Harvard rejects antisemitism and discrimination in all of its forms and is actively making structural reforms to eradicate antisemitism on campus," the university said in court filings. "But rather than engage with Harvard regarding those ongoing efforts, the Government announced a sweeping freeze of funding for medical, scientific, technological, and other research that has nothing at all to do with antisemitism and Title VI compliance."

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act bans discrimination based on race, color and national origin at federally funded institutions.

Harvard's 50-page lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, seeks an end to the government's funding freezing and requests expedited action in the case to prevent further harm to the university. 

The U.S. Department of Education did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.

The Harvard chapter of Hillel International, the parent organization of Jewish student centers on many college campuses, accused the federal government of overstepping on Friday.

"The current, escalating federal assault against Harvard — shuttering apolitical, life-saving research; targeting the university’s tax-exempt status; and threatening all student visas, including those of Israeli students who are proud veterans of the Israel Defense Forces and forceful advocates for Israel on campus — is neither focused nor measured, and stands to substantially harm the very Jewish students and scholars it purports to protect," the organization said in a social media post.

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