Harvard seeks end to US funding cuts, says national security, public health research in peril

WILMINGTON, Delaware: Harvard University asked a federal judge on Monday (Jun 2) to issue a summary judgment ruling to unfreeze US$2.5 billion in funding blocked by President Donald Trump’s administration, which Harvard said was illegal.

Harvard’s filing in the US District Court in Boston said that it had received 957 orders since Apr 14 to freeze funding for research pertaining to national security threats, cancer and infectious diseases and more since the country’s oldest and wealthiest school rejected a White House list of demands. 

Trump has said he is trying to force change at Harvard – and other top-level universities across the US – because in his view, they have been captured by leftist “woke” thought and become bastions of antisemitism.

The Trump administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

US District Judge Allison Burroughs has set arguments for Jul 21 on Harvard’s motion for summary judgment, which is a request for a judge to decide a dispute without a trial to determine material facts. 

Harvard sued the Trump administration in April, alleging the funding freeze violated the school’s right to free speech and was arbitrary and capricious. 

In Monday’s court filing, Harvard detailed the terminated grants, including US$88 million for research into pediatric HIV, US$12 million for increasing Defense Department awareness of emerging biological threats and US$8 million to better understand dark energy.

The school said ending the funding would destroy ongoing research into cancer treatments, infectious disease and Parkinson’s.