Harvard expands lawsuit after Trump cancels $450 million more in grants

By Nate Raymond

BOSTON (Reuters) -Harvard University expanded its lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's moves to cut off billions of dollars in federal funding to the Ivy League school on Tuesday after officials said they are terminating an additional $450 million in grants.

Harvard filed the amended complaint in federal court in Boston hours after a federal antisemitism task force announced that eight government agencies were canceling additional grants on top of the $2.2 billion in funding President Donald Trump's administration had already terminated.

The task force, which includes representatives from agencies including the U.S. departments of Education, Health and Human Services, and Justice, did so after accusing the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based school of failing to  confront "pervasive race discrimination and anti-Semitic harassment plaguing its campus."

In response, Harvard expanded a lawsuit it first filed on April 22 after the administration froze the initial $2.2 billion to cover those latest research-grant terminations, which came from agencies including the U.S. departments of Defense and Energy as well as the National Science Foundation.

The revised complaint also now challenges a decision by the administration announced in a letter from Education Secretary Linda McMahon last week to freeze billions of dollars in future research grants and other aid until the nation's oldest and wealthiest college concedes to the administration's demands.

Harvard argues the administration's sweeping demands violate the free speech guarantees of the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment. It says the massive funding freeze is overly broad and was instituted without following proper procedures.

"The Government has not identified - and cannot identify -any rational connection between antisemitism concerns and the medical, scientific, technological, and other research it has frozen or terminated," the lawsuit said.

Harvard is asking U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs to declare the administration's actions unlawful and block the grant terminations. She previously scheduled arguments in the case for July 21.

Trump has targeted Harvard, citing allegations of antisemitism on campus during pro-Palestinian protests. The protests were sparked by U.S. ally Israel's war in Gaza after the October 2023 attack on Israel by Palestinian Hamas militants.

Trump has alleged pro-Palestinian protesters are antisemitic and sympathetic to Hamas. Protesters, including some Jewish groups, say the government wrongly conflates their criticism of Israel's actions in Gaza with antisemitism and their advocacy for Palestinian rights with support for extremism. 

The Trump administration has moved to cancel funding after announcing in late March it was launching a review of about $9 billion in grants and contracts with Harvard. Trump has also threatened to strip Harvard of its tax-exempt status.

Harvard in its complaint said it is committed to combating antisemitism and has taken steps to ensure its campus is safe and welcoming to Jewish and Israeli students. It said the administration's actions are a threat to academic freedom.

Harvard has a $53 billion endowment, the largest of any U.S. university, but the funds are often restricted and used for things like financial aid and scholarships.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi, Nick Zieminski, Mark Porter and Matthew Lewis)