ISLAMABAD: Harvard University has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration after $2.2 billion in federal grants were frozen, intensifying an already heated political clash over campus governance and academic freedom.
The lawsuit, announced on Monday, April 21, 2025, comes in response to the administration’s decision to halt funding following Harvard’s refusal to comply with a set of sweeping demands. These included major reforms to its leadership structure, admissions processes, and policies regarding student activism.
According to the administration, the funding freeze was triggered by Harvard’s alleged failure to rein in certain campus groups and to conduct audits of diversity-related programs that officials claim breach federal guidelines.
Harvard President Alan Garber strongly condemned the move. “We will not permit federal overreach to undermine academic freedom or institutional independence,” he stated. “These grants fund vital research and innovation that serve the national interest.”
The administration’s directive also called on Harvard to derecognize specific student organizations accused of engaging in politically or socially disruptive activism.
Critics have denounced the funding freeze as politically motivated retaliation, while supporters argue that the administration is addressing long-standing issues of bias and opacity within elite universities.
Harvard’s legal challenge is expected to question the constitutionality of withholding federal research funding over ideological disagreements, a case that could have far-reaching consequences for academic institutions across the country.
