US court set to hear Harvard University on Donald Trump’s funding freeze

Harvard University faces a $2.6 billion funding freeze imposed by the US government. FILE PIC/AFP

Harvard University was set to appear in federal court on Monday to make the case that the Trump administration illegally cut $2.6 billion from the storied college.

If US District Judge Allison Burroughs decides in the university's favour, the ruling would reverse a series of funding freezes that later became outright cuts as the Trump administration escalated its fight with the nation's oldest and wealthiest university. Such a ruling, if it stands, would revive Harvard's sprawling scientific and medical research operation and hundreds of projects that lost federal money.

Harvard's lawsuit accuses President Donald Trump's administration of waging a retaliation campaign against the university after it rejected a series of demands in an April 11 letter from a federal antisemitism task force. The letter, meant to address government accusations that the university had become a hotbed of liberalism and tolerated anti-Jewish harassment, demanded changes related to campus protests, academics and admissions.

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever