Appeals Court to Review Trump Administration's Attempt to Cut Harvard Funding

An appeals hearing scheduled for October 5 will determine if the Trump administration can keep a freeze on more than $2 billion in federal funding to Harvard University. The freeze was imposed after Harvard refused a set of ten demands that included ending diversity, equity and inclusion programs and installing third-party auditors. Harvard President Alan Garber argued that the government should not dictate university curricula or admissions.

The university filed a lawsuit alleging the funding cut retaliates against First Amendment-protected speech. Judge Allison Burroughs previously found the administration’s actions to be an ideologically driven attack masked as anti-Semitism. The Justice Department has appealed that ruling to the 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals. Separate lawsuits against Harvard, including a civil-rights claim over alleged anti-Jewish conduct, have been dismissed.