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BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — Groups representing Harvard professors have sued the Trump administration over threats to cut about $9 billion in federal funding.
Harvard’s faculty chapter of the American Association of University Professors along with the national chapter filed a lawsuit in federal court in Massachusetts Friday seeking a temporary restraining order to protect the school's funding.
Friday’s lawsuit alleged the threats to withdraw federal funding are “unlawful” and “undermine academic freedom and free speech on a university campus.” Additionally, the cuts would also impact federally funded research and scholarships, the lawsuit said.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration sent a letter addressed to Harvard President Dr. Alan Garber saying that a government Task Force is reviewing the university’s federal funding. The letter included a list of demands the school must implement to keep those funds.
The Harvard Crimson reported that the demands included more oversight on student groups, eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs and banning masked campus protests.
In the letter, the government said Harvard “fundamentally failed to protect American students and faculty from anti-semitic violence and harassment."
The White House has been targeting elite American universities to crack down on anti-semitic protests in response to the Israel-Hamas war.
On Saturday, hundreds of protesters gathered in Cambridge calling for Harvard to stand against the Trump administration’s threats against higher education.
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