IBL News | New York
Two groups representing Harvard University professors (the American Association of University Professors and the Harvard faculty chapter) filed a lawsuit against the Trump Administration on Friday, saying that the threat to cut billions in federal funding for the institution violates free speech and other First Amendment rights.
The Trump Administration announced two weeks ago that it reviewed about $9 billion in federal funding that Harvard receives and would send a list of demands to unfreeze the money.
In a statement, Andrew Manuel Crespo, a law professor at Harvard and general counsel of the AAUP-Harvard Faculty Chapter, said the “Trump administration’s policies are a pretext to chill universities and their faculties from engaging in speech, teaching, and research that don’t align with President Trump’s views.”
“Harvard faculty have the constitutional right to speak, teach, and conduct research without fearing that the government will retaliate against their viewpoints by canceling grants,” Mr. Crespo added.
Other universities like Columbia, Cornell, Northwestern, Brown, Penn, Princeton, and over fifty more have also been targeted over allegations of antisemitism or accusations of racial discrimination, stemming from their efforts to promote DEI programs.
This campaign has resulted in more than $12 billion in federal funds being suspended or canceled.
Earlier this month, the Trump Administration said it had frozen over $1 billion in funding for Cornell and Northwestern.
The funding pause involves mostly grants and contracts with the Agriculture, Defense, Education, and Health and Human Services departments.
