Harvard University has sued the Trump administration after it took steps to freeze US$2.2 billion (A$3.42 billion) in funding from the university.
The lawsuit is in an effort to halt the funding freeze, which Harvard president Alan Garber deemed “unlawful” and “beyond the government’s authority”.
“These actions have stark real-life consequences for patients, students, faculty, staff, researchers, and the standing of American higher education in the world,” he said in a statement.
The funding freeze came after the university rejected a list of demands from the Trump administration intended to crack down on campus anti-Semitism.
Demands included calls for changes to Harvard’s hiring procedures, orders for officials to shift diversity officers and cooperate with the screening of international students, which Garber rejected in a message to the Harvard community.
This comes as U.S. President Donald Trump started making moves to target DEI initiatives after taking office in the White House earlier this year.
In his latest statement, Garber said the funding freeze could severely impact the university’s research efforts in the medical field.
“The consequences of the government’s overreach will be severe and long-lasting,” he said.
“Indiscriminately slashing medical, scientific, and technological research undermines the nation’s ability to save American lives, foster American success, and maintain America’s position as a global leader in innovation.”
Garber also said the university intends to address concerns surrounding antisemitism and maintain autonomy over who they hire.
“We stand for the truth that colleges and universities across the country can embrace and honour their legal obligations and best fulfill their essential role in society without improper government intrusion,” he said.
“That is how we achieve academic excellence, safeguard open inquiry and freedom of speech, and conduct pioneering research—and how we advance the boundless exploration that propels our nation and its people into a better future.”
Garber also announced that Harvard will soon release the reports of the Task Force on Combating Antisemitism and Anti-Israeli Bias and the Task Force on Combating Anti-Muslim, Anti-Arab, and Anti-Palestinian Bias.
The university’s lawsuit comes after Harvard law professors filed a separate lawsuit against the Trump administration, arguing that its requests breached free speech and were unconstitutional.
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