Harvard University Is Suing the Trump Administration

Harvard University filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration Monday, arguing it has violated the university's constitutional rights by freezing billions of dollars in federal funding and imperiling its academic independence.

- Douglas Belkin & Sara Randazzo

The suit sets up a legal showdown between America's most prominent university and the U.S. president, who has been on an escalating campaign to reorder elite higher education.

"The consequences of the government's overreach will be severe and long-lasting," Harvard President Alan Garber said in a community message announcing the lawsuit.

Research at risk by the funding cuts, Garber said, includes work on child cancer, infectious disease outbreaks, and easing the pain of soldiers wounded in battle.

Harvard argues in the suit that the government has cut off funds "as part of its pressure campaign" to force the university "to submit to the government's control over its academic programs."

The government's actions flout the First Amendment by seeking to control what university faculty may teach and whom the school may hire, Harvard says.

It also argues that the federal government is disregarding laws and regulations around how to pursue civil rights investigations.

The suit asks the court to halt the funding freeze and declare as illegal both the freeze and the demands asked of the university.

In recent weeks, a new government task force has shaken top American universities, pausing or freezing billions of dollars in federal grants and contracts at premier institutions such as Columbia and Harvard, and putting many schools on high alert.

The task force says it is targeting schools that failed to adequately protect Jewish students during pro-Palestinian protests that disrupted campuses last year.