On April 21 Harvard University filed a 51-page lawsuit against the Trump administration, alleging violations of constitutional rights and academic freedom, and the freezing of funding. The suit argues that cutting billions in federal research dollars is not designed to curb anti-Semitism at Harvard, but is “part of its pressure campaign” to gain “control over its academic programs.” According to the suit the government “cannot identify any rational connection between antisemitism concerns and the medical, science, technological and other research it has frozen that aims to save American lives.”
Harvard President Alan M. Garber issued a statement dated April 21, writing that, “as a Jew and as an American, I know very well that there are valid concerns about rising antisemitism.” But Garber argued, that instead of engaging the university to better combat hate, the federal government is more interested in seeking “unprecedented and improper control” over “whom we hire and what we teach.”
