1 week Ago By Althea Legaspi
Harvard professors are suing the Trump administration over its review of about $9 billion in federal funding for the university following pro-Palestine protests, calling the move a “gun to the head.” In the lawsuit , the professors argue that reviewing the funding is discriminatory and undermines free speech. The move comes as Donald Trump and his administration place their focus on college campuses, revoking students’ visas and attempting to defund universities over pro-Palestine activism.
On Friday, a judge ruled that Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil , a legal permanent resident who helped lead pro-Palestine protests, could be deported after Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared that Khalil’s presence in the U.S. poses foreign policy concerns.
Other students have been targeted as well, such as Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish Tufts student who was grabbed off the street by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. According to the Harvard Crimson , three Harvard students and two recent graduates have had their student visas revoked, and last month, the Harvard AAUP sued the Trump administration over arrests and attempts to deport pro-Palestine protesters. The Trump administration has canceled funding for Columbia and frozen funding for Brown , Cornell, and Northwestern over what they call antisemitism on campuses.
In the new lawsuit , the Harvard chapter of the American Association of University Professors said that the review of the university’s funding violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination when it comes to federal assistance. The Trump administration is looking at about $9 billion in grants and $225 million in contracts. “Threats like these are an existential ‘gun to the head’ for a university,” the Harvard professors stated in the filing.
“They overtly seek to impose on Harvard University political views and policy preferences advanced by the Trump administration and commit the University to punishing disfavored speech.” Editor’s picks The 100 Best TV Episodes of All Time The 250 Greatest Albums of the 21st Century So Far The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time The 200 Greatest Singers of All Time The group is also seeking a temporary restraining order. “These tactics amount to exploiting Title VI to coerce universities into undermining free speech and academic inquiry in service of the government’s political or policy preferences,” the professors wrote in the lawsuit.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration also called on Harvard to end diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives and ban masks at protests. The university has not provided an update on these issues. Trending Stories Team Trump Is Gaming Out How to Ship U.
S. Citizens to El Salvador Are Em Dashes Really a Sign of AI Writing? Lady Gaga Proves Why She's a Once-in-a Generation Pop Icon During Coachella Set Menendez Brothers Prevail at Key Hearing, Resentencing Bid Will Proceed Harvard has made several changes around the Israel-Palestine conflict. The university suspended the Religion, Conflict, and Peace Initiative; suspended a research partnership with a university in the West Bank; and dismissed faculty leaders of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies.
“Eliminating discrimination and protecting all students is important,” Harvard Law School professor Nikolas Bowie and secretary-treasurer of Harvard’s AAUP said in a statement. “But Trump is defying the Civil Rights Act, terrifying students, and illegally holding hostage grants for hospitals and scientific research so he can accomplish his real goal of punishing academics for our politics,” Bowie said..
