In a crucial case involving Harvard’s request to have $2.6 billion in federal funding returned, a federal court has begun hearings.
Steven Lehotsky, a Harvard lawyer, claimed at the hearing on Monday that the case involves the government trying to control Harvard’s “inner workings.” If not reversed, the funding cuts, he said, could cause lab closures, lost research, and deteriorated careers.
The administration of President Donald Trump has been imposing sanctions on the nation’s oldest and wealthiest university as it files a number of demands on the Ivy League school, which it denigrates as a haven for anti-Semitism and liberalism, for months.
The administration’s main challenge is the administration’s refusal to comply with Harvard’s policy, which has been closely watched throughout higher education and beyond.
Allison Burroughs, a US District Judge, is presiding over Harvard’s lawsuits against the administration’s efforts to prevent it from hosting foreign students. She then temporarily stifled the administration’s efforts.
Harvard is requesting that she reverse a number of funding restrictions at Monday’s hearing. If the decision is upheld, it would revive Harvard’s extensive scientific and medical research program and hundreds of federally subsidized projects.
When an institution disobeys the president’s directives, the government has the authority to revoke research grants, according to Michael Velchik, a government lawyer. He claimed Harvard incidents were incompatible with Trump’s anti-Semitism policy.
Judge questions serve as the foundation for the government’s anti-Semitism findings.
Burroughs reacted by posing questions about how the government could “ad hoc” decide to cancel grants across Harvard without providing any evidence that any of the research was anti-Semitic.
She added that Harvard administrators “have taken enough steps or haven’t” to combat anti-Semitism because the government had “no documentation, no procedure” to “suss out.”
She stated at the hearing on Monday that the effects of that on constitutional law were “scatastrophic.” I don’t believe you can defend a contract violation based on unlawful speech suppression. Where is that incorrect?
According to Velchik, the decision to allocate billions of dollars for research funding is down to the government.
“Harvard asserts that the government opposes him.” That is not what I want, Velchik said. Harvard students are pro-Jewish, according to the government. Harvard professors are pro-Jewish, and the government is.
Following the rejection of a number of demands by a federal anti-Semitism task force in an April 11 letter, Harvard is accused by the Trump administration of staging a retaliation campaign against the university. The American Association of University Professors and its Harvard faculty chapter’s lawsuit has been joined by the university’s.
The April letter called for drastic changes to academic, admissions, and campus protests. For instance, the letter advised Harvard to review the viewpoints of faculty and students, admit more students, and appoint new professors if it was discovered that the campus lacked diverse viewpoints.
No government “should dictate what private universities can teach, who they can admit and hire, and what areas of study and inquiry they can pursue,” according to Harvard President Alan Garber, who claimed the university had made changes to combat anti-Semitism.
Without the bench’s approval, Burroughs’ hearing on Monday came to an end. Later in writing, a decision is anticipated.
A number of sanctions have been used in Trump’s pressure campaign.
Trump’s administration reacted to the government’s demands the same day Harvard rejected the government’s demands. After Linda McMahon, head of education, announced in May that Harvard would no longer be eligible for new grants, the administration immediately began terminating contracts with Harvard.
Individual organizations started e-mailing out notices that the funding for Harvard had been frozen in correspondence. They cited a provision that permits the removal of grants when they no longer conform to government guidelines.
Harvard, which has the highest endowment in the country, is trying to self-fund some of its research, but it has been warned it can’t cover the full cost of the federal budget cuts.
The government “fails to explain how the termination of funding for research to treat cancer, support veterans, and improve national security addresses antisemitism,” the school claimed in court filings.
The Trump administration claims that the grants were being reviewed even before the April demand letter was sent, and that the cuts were not intended as retaliation. It asserts that the government has a wide discretion to revoke contracts for political reasons.
In Harvard’s conflict with the federal government, funding for research is just one. Additionally, Trump has threatened to revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt status and made an effort to stop the school from hosting foreign students.
Source: Aljazeera
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