Harvard sues Trump government for shortened funds

President Donald Trump’s renowned Harvard University is suing President Donald Trump because of the cut of grants in billions. The Trump government thus endangers academic freedom, it said in the application published on Monday (local time). The government had justified the incisions with anti -Semitic protests on the elite university campus.

The government deliberately maintains federal funds “in order to obtain control over the academic decision-making at the Harvard University,” said the IVY League University near Boston. The measures are “arbitrary” and, among other things, disregarded the first constitutional additive to guarantee freedom of speech. The cuts would therefore have to be suspended.

Harvard Lehne “Anti -Semitism and discrimination in all its forms”, it said in the application of Monday. The university carries out “actively structural reforms” to “eradicate” anti -Semitism on campus. But instead of “communicating with the university about these ongoing efforts”, the government “had announced a comprehensive freezing of the funds for medical, scientific, technological and other research” that “that nothing” had to do with anti -Semitism.

The US government wants to delete Harvard for several years of $ 2.2 billion (1.9 billion euros). Trump also threatened the university with the withdrawal of its tax advantages and the classification as a “political organization”.

The US government justifies its procedure with an allegedly missed “ideology” of the university and anti-Semitism on campus. The accusation mainly refers to pro-Palestinian demonstrations at US universities such as Harvard or the Columbia University in New York since the beginning of the Gaza War on October 7, 2023. In March, the Ministry of Education announced the review of state support for a total of 60 universities and universities.

However, Harvard’s management, unlike most US universities, opposed the government’s demands. This includes closing diversity departments and supporting the immigration authority in the glow of the students. University President Alan Garber said that the facility was “not about its independence or constitutional rights”.

Note: This article has been updated.