The Trump administration's suggestion that it's reconsidering about $9 billion in federal funding for Harvard University has been answered with a pair of lawsuits from professors. The filing Friday in federal District Court in Massachusetts asks for a temporary restraining order to block any suspension of funding, the New York Times reports. "This action challenges the Trump administration's unlawful and unprecedented misuse of federal funding and civil rights enforcement authority to undermine academic freedom and free speech on a university campus," the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit also says the administration failed to provide clear reasoning for its threat, per the Guardian. The legal action by the American Association of University Professors and its Harvard chapter follows the notice that the government's Joint Task Force to Combat Antisemitism is reviewing the funding. The administration sent Harvard a list of demands it said the university must meet to retain funding and protect students from antisemitism on campus. Cornell and the University of Pennsylvania received similar notices this month, and Columbia acceded to administration demands to protect its funding in March.
Andrew Manuel Crespo, a Harvard law professor, said Trump's action is intended to chill universities and their faculties from engaging in speech, teaching, and research that clash with the president's stances. "Harvard faculty have the constitutional right to speak, teach and conduct research without fearing that the government will retaliate against their viewpoints by canceling grants," Crespo said, per the Times. The mayor of Cambridge, home to Harvard, joined students and faculty in a protest of the threat on Saturday. "Harvard possesses not just the resources to withstand the pressure, but the moral obligation to do so," said Mayor Denise Simmons. (More Harvard University stories.)
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