BOSTON (AP) 鈥
Harvard University will appear in federal court Monday to make the case that the Trump administration illegally cut $2.6 billion from the storied college 鈥 a pivotal moment in its .
If U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs decides in the university's favor, the ruling would reverse a series of funding freezes that later became outright cuts as the Trump administration with the nation鈥檚 oldest and wealthiest university. Such a ruling, if it stands, would revive Harvard鈥檚 sprawling scientific and medical and hundreds of projects that lost federal money.
鈥淭his case involves the Government鈥檚 efforts to use the withholding of federal funding as leverage to gain control of academic decisionmaking at Harvard,鈥 the university said in its complaint. 鈥淎ll told, the tradeoff put to Harvard and other universities is clear: Allow the Government to micromanage your academic institution or jeopardize the institution鈥檚 ability to pursue medical breakthroughs, scientific discoveries, and innovative solutions.鈥
A second lawsuit over the cuts filed by the American Association of University Professors and its Harvard faculty chapter has been consolidated with the university's.
Harvard鈥檚 lawsuit accuses President Donald Trump's administration of waging a retaliation campaign against the university after it rejected a series of demands in an April 11 letter from a federal antisemitism task force.
The letter demanded sweeping changes related to campus protests, academics and admissions. For example, the letter told Harvard to audit the viewpoints of students and faculty and admit more students or hire new professors if the campus was found to lack diverse points of view. The letter was meant to address government accusations that the university had become a hotbed of liberalism and tolerated anti-Jewish harassment on campus.
Harvard President Alan Garber pledged to fight antisemitism but said no government 鈥渟hould dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue.鈥
The same day Harvard rejected the demands, Trump officials moved to freeze $2.2 billion in research grants. Education Secretary Linda McMahon declared in May that Harvard would , and weeks later the administration began with Harvard.
As Harvard fought the funding freeze in court, individual agencies began sending letters announcing that the frozen research grants were . They cited a clause that allows grants to be scrapped if they no longer align with government policies.
Harvard, which has the nation's largest endowment at $53 billion, has some of its research, but warned it can鈥檛 absorb the full cost of the federal cuts.
In court filings, the school said the government 鈥渇ails to explain how the termination of funding for research to treat cancer, support veterans, and improve national security addresses antisemitism.鈥
The Trump administration denies the cuts were made in retaliation, saying the grants were under review even before the April demand letter was sent. It argues the government has wide discretion to cancel contracts for policy reasons.
鈥淚t is the policy of the United States under the Trump Administration not to fund institutions that fail to adequately address antisemitism in their programs,鈥 it said in court documents.
The research funding is only one front in Harvard鈥檚 fight with the federal government. The Trump administration also has sought to prevent the school from , and Trump has threatened to revoke Harvard's .
Finally, last month, the Trump administration that the school tolerated antisemitism 鈥 a step that eventually could jeopardize all of Harvard鈥檚 federal funding, including federal student loans or grants. The penalty is typically referred to as a 鈥渄eath sentence.鈥
