Harvard loses another $450 million in grants, then adds to its legal complaint against Trump administration

Harvard University is set to lose another $450 million in grants a day after the Ivy League school pushed back against government allegations that it's a hotbed of liberalism and antisemitism.

In a letter to Harvard on Tuesday, a federal antisemitism task force said Harvard will lose grants from eight federal agencies in addition to $2.2 billion that was previously frozen by the President Donald Trump administration, according to an AP report.

The letter said Harvard has become a “breeding ground for virtue signalling and discrimination” and faces a “steep, uphill battle” to reclaim its legacy as a place of academic excellence.

“There is a dark problem on Harvard's campus, and by prioritising appeasement over accountability, institutional leaders have forfeited the school's claim to taxpayer support,” the letter said.

Harvard expands lawsuit against Trump administration

Hours after the latest cuts on Tuesday, Harvard filed a legal challenge to several sanctions imposed by the Trump administration in recent weeks. It was filed as an update to the university's April lawsuit seeking to block the initial $2.2 billion freeze, the AP report said.

In its new complaint, Harvard cited several actions taken by the administration since the university’s initial lawsuit on April 21. It claims federal agencies illegally halted the flow of funds because the university refused to submit to government control over its academic programs. President Trump asserts that Harvard has failed to protect Jewish students from antisemitism and fostered a climate of discrimination, a Bloomberg report said.

As with their earlier complaint, Harvard’s lawyers asked a federal judge in Boston to bar the government from enacting the funding freeze and declare that the US violated its First Amendment right to free speech.

According to the report, “The freezes and terminations will chill Harvard’s exercise of its First Amendment rights,” the amended lawsuit, filed in federal court in Boston, said. “Harvard will be unable to make decisions regarding its faculty hiring, academic programs, student admissions, and other core academic matters without fear that those decisions will run afoul of government censors’ views on acceptable levels of ideological or viewpoint diversity on campus.”

Harvard vs Trump administration

Harvard has faced escalating sanctions from the White House after becoming the first US university to openly defy the government's demands to limit pro-Palestinian activism and end diversity, equity and inclusion practices.

Trump, a Republican, has said he wants Harvard to lose its tax-exempt status, and the Department of Homeland Security has threatened to revoke the school's eligibility to host foreign students.

Last week, the Education Department said Harvard will receive no new federal grants until it meets the government's demands, an AP report said.