A federal judge ruled on Wednesday that the administration of American president Donald Trump illegally dismissed approximately 2.2 billion dollars in subsidies granted to Harvard University and can no longer reduce research funding to the prestigious Ivy League school.
The decision of the American district judge Allison Burroughs in Boston marked a major legal victory for Harvard when she seeks to conclude an agreement which could end the multi-pont conflict in the White House with the oldest and richest university in the country.
The school based in Cambridge, in Massachusetts, has become a central objective of the broad campaign of the administration aimed at taking advantage of federal funding to force change in American universities, which, according to Trump, are seized by anti -Semitic and “radical” ideologies.
The administration has canceled hundreds of subsidies granted to Harvard researchers on the grounds that the school did not do enough to deal with the harassment of Jewish students on its campus.
Harvard continued, arguing that the Trump administration retaliated against it in violation of its rights of freedom of expression after having refused to respond to the demands of civil servants to revise its governance, its hiring and its academic programs to align themselves with their ideological program.
Refrimand
Burroughs, appointed by Democratic President Barack Obama, agreed, saying that while Harvard had tolerated hateful behavior for too long, the Trump administration “used anti -Semitism as a smoke screen for targeted assault and motivated by ideology on the first universities of this country”.
She said that the administration’s pressure campaign led her to the end of Harvard subsidies without complying with the law and riding against the school in violation of her rights to freedom of expression under the first US Constitution Amendment.
Burroughs said it was the work of the courts to safeguard academic freedom and “ensure that important research is not badly subject to arbitrary and procedural layoffs, even if it risks the anger of a government engaged in its program, regardless of the cost.”
Students meet on the Harvard University campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, April 15, 2025. Photo: Reuters
It has prohibited the administration from ending or freezing any additional federal funding in Harvard and prevented it from continuing to retain the payment of existing subsidies or to refuse to grant new funding to school in the future.
The spokesperson for the White House, Liz Huston, in a statement, promised to appeal the decision by an “militant judge appointed by Obama”, claiming that Harvard “has no constitutional right to taxpayers’ dollars and remains ineligible for subsidies in the future”.
Harvard president Alan Garber, in a message to the campus community, said that the decision “validates our arguments to defend the academic freedom of the university, critical scientific research and the fundamental principles of American higher education”.
Garber did not mention the status of settlement conferences with the administration, that Trump at a meeting of the cabinet last week said that he wanted to see the result of Harvard pay “nothing than $ 500 million” because he was “was very bad”.
Garber said that even if the school recognized the key principles of Burroughs said, Harvard was going to be “aware of the changing landscape in which we are trying to fulfill our mission”.
Three other Ivy League schools have concluded agreements with the administration, including Columbia University, which in July agreed to pay $ 220 million to restore federal research money which had been refused due to allegations, the university has enabled anti -Semitism to be transmitted on the campus.
As with Columbia, the Trump administration took measures against Harvard linked to the pro-Palestinian protest movement which turned its campus and other universities following October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks Israel and the War of Israel in Gaza.
Harvard said he had taken measures to ensure that his campus is welcoming for Jewish and Israeli students, of which he recognizes “vicious and reprehensible” treatment after the appearance of the War of Israel in Gaza.
The administration’s decision to cancel the subsidies was one of the many actions it has taken against Harvard.
Read: Harvard reports a settlement of $ 500 million to end the dispute with the Trump administration
He also sought to prevent international students from frequenting school; threatened Harvard’s accreditation status; And opened the door to cut more funds by finding it the federal law on civil rights.
Academic protest
Burroughs in a separate case has already prohibited the administration from stopping Harvard’s ability to welcome international students, who include around a quarter of the student body of the school.
Harvard pleaded the case of funding for subsidies alongside the School of the School of the American Association of University Professors, which opposes the idea of the institution to conclude an agreement with Trump.
“We hope that this decision clearly indicates to the Harvard administration that the negotiation of Harvard community rights in a compromise with the government is unacceptable,” the group’s lawyers, Joseph Sellers and Corey Stoughton said.
