Higher Education Harvard sues the Trump administration in escalating confrontation
Lawsuit argues that government actions, including freezing $2.2 billion in federal funding, violated the First Amendment and didn’t follow legal procedures.
Updated April 21, 2025 at 5:54 p.m. EDT, today at 5:54 p.m. EDT, 10 min
People gather near the John Harvard Statue at Harvard University on April 17, 2025, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (Sophie Park/Getty Images)
By Susan Svrluga and Danielle Douglas-Gabriel
Harvard University sued the Trump administration in federal court Monday, the latest move in the escalating feud between the nation’s wealthiest school and the White House.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts against multiple federal agencies, seeks to block the Trump administration from withholding federal funding “as leverage to gain control of academic decision making at Harvard.”
Alan M. Garber, the president of Harvard, said in a message to the university community Monday that the Trump administration’s actions are unlawful and beyond the government’s authority.
Although some members of the administration have said their letter of demands sent this month was issued by mistake, Garber said, other statements and actions suggest otherwise: In addition to a freeze of $2.2 billion in federal funding, the government has considered taking steps to freeze an additional $1 billion in grants, initiated numerous investigations of Harvard’s operations, threatened the education of international students, and said that it is considering a revocation of Harvard’s tax-exempt status.
Garber noted that the government has cited the university’s response to antisemitism as a justification for its actions.
