WTF: Trump's Harvard Funding Cut Backfires, US Court Reverses $2.6 Billion Research Grant

Court ruling against Trump's order: A federal judge in Boston on Wednesday ordered the Trump administration to reverse its cuts of more than $2.6 billion in research funding for Harvard University, delivering a significant victory to the Ivy League school in its battle with the White House. US District Judge Allison Burroughs ruled the cuts amounted to illegal retaliation for Harvard's rejection of the Trump administration's demands for changes to Harvard's governance and policies.

What Happened With Harvard Funding? 

Trump officials moved to freeze $2.2 billion in research grants the same day Harvard rejected the administration's demands. Education Secretary Linda McMahon declared in May that Harvard would no longer be eligible for new grants, and weeks later, the administration began canceling contracts with Harvard.

Harvard's lawsuit accused the Trump 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.

(Donald Trump | REUTERS)

The judge's order reverses all of Harvard's federal funding freezes and cuts since April 14, and it bars the government from future cuts that violate Harvard's constitutional rights or run afoul of federal law.

Why did Trump Administration block Harvard Funding? 

The government had tied the funding freezes to Harvard's delays in dealing with antisemitism, but the judge said the university's federally backed research had little connection to discrimination against Jews. “A review of the administrative record makes it difficult to conclude anything other than that (the government) used antisemitism as a smokescreen for a targeted, ideologically-motivated assault on this country's premier universities,” Burroughs wrote. The country must fight antisemitism, she wrote, but it also must protect the right to free speech.

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The ruling reverses a series of funding freezes that later became outright cuts as the Trump administration escalated its fight with the nation's wealthiest university. The administration also has sought to prevent the school from hosting foreign students and threatened to revoke its tax-exempt status in a clash watched widely across higher education.

What judge said On Trump's Harvard Funding Cut?

Allision Burroughs, who ruled against Trump's order, sided with the university's argument that the cuts amounted to retaliation in violation of its First Amendment rights and that the government put unconstitutional conditions on Harvard's federal money.

(CREDIT: REUTERS)

“As pertains to this case, it is important to recognize and remember that if speech can be curtailed in the name of the Jewish people today, then just as easily the speech of the Jews (and anyone else) can be curtailed when the political winds change direction,” the judge wrote.

Will Harvard Actually Get The Money?

The restoration of federal money would revive Harvard's sprawling research operation and hundreds of projects that sustained cuts. But whether Harvard actually receives the federal money remains to be seen. The government plans an immediate appeal, White House spokeswoman Liz Huston said in a statement, calling Burroughs an “activist Obama-appointed judge.” 

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How Harvard Researchers Reacted To Court Ruling

Harvard's research scientists said they had been watching the case closely but feared their funding would not be restored anytime soon. “Many of us are worried that the federal government is going to appeal this decision or find other ways to obstruct the delivery of research dollars, despite the judge's clear statement that the funding terminations were illegal,” said Rita Hamad, director of a center that researches the impact of social policies on health.

Wednesday's federal court ruling should embolden Harvard's administration, said historian Kirsten Weld, president of Harvard's chapter of the American Association of University Professors, which also prevailed in a lawsuit over the funding cuts. “We hope this decision makes clear to Harvard's administration that bargaining the Harvard community's rights away in a compromise with the government is unacceptable,” Weld said.

(With inputs from agency)