Trump administration will appeal reversal of Harvard federal funding cuts

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration will appeal a federal judge's order reversing billions of dollars in funding cuts to Harvard University, extending a standoff over the White House's demands for reforms at the Ivy League school. The Justice Department filed a notice of appeal late on Thursday in a pair of consolidated lawsuits brought by Harvard and the American Association of University Professors. The case has tested the government's power to sway the nation's oldest and wealthiest university, which has resisted a pressure campaign targeting elite colleges around the country. U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs ruled in September that the Trump administration's sweeping funding cuts violated Harvard's First Amendment rights. The judge said the government put unconstitutional conditions on Harvard's federal funding and failed to follow federal procedures allowing the government to sanction universities for civil rights violations. The Trump administration cut more than $2.6 billion from Harvard over allegations that it had been slow to deal with anti-Jewish bias on campus. Burroughs rejected that notion, saying the government was using antisemitism "as a smokescreen for a targeted, ideologically-motivated assault on this country's premier universities." The notice of appeal is a first step in the government's effort to have the ruling overturned. It does not provide legal arguments behind the appeal. A statement from Harvard said university officials "remain confident in our legal position." "The federal district court ruled in Harvard's favor in September, reinstating critical research funding that advances science and life-saving medical breakthroughs, strengthens national security, and enhances our nation's competitiveness and economic priorities," Harvard said. Todd Wolfson, president of the AAUP, said the administration's appeal is "just a continuation of their shameless campaign to halt critical research funding in an attempt to chill universities and faculty from engaging in any speech, teaching, and research that Donald Trump disfavors." The White House did not immediately comment. Harvard has been Trump's top target in a campaign to leverage federal control of research funding to push for reforms at elite colleges he has decried as overrun by "woke" ideology. Harvard has put up a fight against the government's wide-reaching demands, even as others like Columbia, Brown and Cornell universities reach deals with the government. Harvard and the White House have continued negotiations amid the legal battle, and Trump has multiple times indicated a resolution was imminent. In September, he said officials were close to a deal that would require a $500 million payment from Harvard to create a "giant trade school" to produce workers for American plants. The deal never materialized and Trump has been quiet on the issue since then.