Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
trump The administration will appeal a federal judge’s order overturning billions of dollars in funding cuts. Harvard Universitybut the impasse is increasing white Housedemanded improvements in Ivy League School.
Justice Department A notice of appeal was filed late 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 influence the country’s oldest and wealthiest university, which has resisted a pressure campaign targeting elite colleges across 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 placed 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 amid allegations of slowness in tackling anti-Semitic bias on campus. Burroughs rejected that notion, and said the government was using anti-Semitism “as a cover for a targeted, ideologically motivated attack on this country’s premier universities.”
The notice of appeal is the first step in the government’s effort to overturn the decision. It does not provide the legal reasoning behind the appeal.
A statement from Harvard said university officials “are confident in our legal position.”
“The federal district court ruled in Harvard’s favor in September, restoring vital research funding that advances science and life-saving medical breakthroughs, strengthens national security, and enhances our nation’s competitiveness and economic priorities,” Harvard said.
The White House and the AAUP had no immediate comment.
Harvard has been a top target of Trump in the campaign to leverage federal control over research funding to pursue reforms at elite colleges, which he has denounced as being overrun by “woke” ideology. Harvard has fought against the government’s sweeping demands, while other universities such as Columbia, Brown, and Cornell University have compromised with the government.
Harvard and the White House have continued talks amid the legal fight, and Trump has indicated several times that 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 “huge trade school” to produce workers for U.S. plants.
This agreement never came to fruition and Trump has remained silent on the issue ever since.
,
The Associated Press’s education coverage receives financial support from several private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropy, a list of supporters, and funded coverage areas on AP.org.