\n<\/p>\n
A federal judge in Boston ruled in favor of Harvard University Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Photo illustration by Justin Morrison\/Inside Higher Ed | Mandel Ngan and Joseph Prezioso\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
A judge ruled Wednesday that the Trump administration illegally froze more than $2\u00a0billion in research funding at Harvard University over how officials handled alleged campus antisemitism.<\/p>\n
Judge Allison Burroughs of the U.S. District Court in Boston found that the federal government violated Harvard\u2019s First Amendment rights and the U.S. Civil Rights Act in her 84-page opinion, writing, \u201cWe must fight against antisemitism, but we equally need to protect our rights, including our right to free speech, and neither goal should nor needs to be sacrificed on the altar of the other.\u201d She added that Harvard is \u201ccurrently, even if belatedly\u201d taking action against antisemitism.<\/p>\n
Harvard sued the Trump administration in April after the federal government froze $2.2\u00a0billion in funding when the Ivy League university rejected demands to enact a far-reaching slate of changes that would have overhauled admissions, governance, hiring and much more.<\/p>\n
Burroughs, an Obama appointee, appeared skeptical of the Trump administration\u2019s claims in a July hearing, telling government lawyers that they failed to back up claims Harvard did not appropriately address antisemitism. She also ruled against the administration in another case in June, temporarily blocking the government from halting Harvard\u2019s ability to host international students.<\/p>\n
Burroughs wrote Wednesday that \u201cHarvard was wrong to tolerate hateful behavior for as long as it did,\u201d but \u201cthe record\u00a0\u2026 does not reflect that fighting antisemitism\u201d was the \u201ctrue aim\u201d of the defendants and such efforts \u201ccannot be accomplished on the back of the First Amendment.\u201d<\/p>\n
The ruling comes as rumors of a Harvard settlement with the federal government continue to swirl. The Trump administration has demanded a $500\u00a0million settlement that would force other changes to admissions and discipline policies, similar to agreements made by its Ivy League peers Columbia University and Brown University.<\/p>\n
Harvard President Alan Garber said in a statement Wednesday that \u201cthe ruling affirms Harvard\u2019s First Amendment and procedural rights, and validates our arguments in defense of the University\u2019s academic freedom, critical scientific research, and the core principles of American higher education.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wednesday\u2019s legal ruling also prompted celebration from free speech groups and others.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday, a federal court echoed what [the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression] has said all along: The Trump administration trampled Harvard University\u2019s First Amendment rights and broke civil rights law when it yanked billions in federal grants and contracts over alleged Title\u00a0VI violations,\u201d FIRE wrote in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a huge win for all of American higher education, for science, and for free and critical thought in this country,\u201d said Todd Wolfson, president of the American Association of University Professors. \u201cTime and again, Trump has tried to restrict speech and cripple lifesaving university research. As today\u2019s victory shows, Trump\u2019s war on higher education is unconstitutional. We will continue to stand up and fight back against these attempts to dismantle our universities, terrify students and faculty, and punish hospitals and scientists for not bowing to authoritarianism. And we will win.\u201d<\/p>\n
The American Council on Education praised Burroughs\u2019s ruling. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe are pleased to see a federal court affirm what we always knew to be true: The Trump administration has ignored the law in pursuing politically motivated attacks on Harvard and other institutions,\u201d said Peter McDonough, general counsel for ACE. \u201cWe urge the administration to abandon these harmful attacks and instead work to restore the partnership that has made colleges and universities the engine of American innovation for decades.\u201d<\/p>\n
Judging from the Department of Education\u2019s response to the ruling, that seems unlikely. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn an unsurprising turn of events, the same Obama-appointed judge that ruled in favor of Harvard\u2019s illegal race-based admissions practices\u2014which was ultimately overturned by the Supreme Court\u2014just ruled against the Trump Administration\u2019s efforts to hold Harvard accountable for rampant discrimination on campus,\u201d spokesperson Madi Biedermann wrote in an emailed statement. \u201cCleaning up our nation\u2019s universities will be a long road, but worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a post on X, Education Secretary Linda McMahon added, \u201cThe Trump Administration is fully committed to appealing this erroneous\u00a0decision and will ensure that new taxpayer funding is not invested at any university that steadfastly refuses to uphold civil rights for all students.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A federal judge in Boston ruled in favor of Harvard University Wednesday. Photo illustration by Justin Morrison\/Inside Higher Ed | Mandel Ngan and Joseph Prezioso\/AFP\/Getty Images A judge ruled Wednesday that the Trump administration illegally froze more than $2\u00a0billion in research funding at Harvard University over how officials handled alleged campus antisemitism. Judge Allison Burroughs<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18987,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[3653,116,676,408,675,666],"class_list":{"0":"post-18986","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-education","8":"tag-freeze","9":"tag-funding","10":"tag-harvard","11":"tag-illegal","12":"tag-judge","13":"tag-rules"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18986"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18986\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}