Harvard gets other universities’ backing in Trump funding fight

A group of leading U S research universities including Princeton Massachusetts Institute of Innovation California Institute of Innovation and Johns Hopkins required a federal judge for permission to file legal arguments in aid of Harvard University in its high-stakes showdown with the Trump administration over more than billion in frozen grant money The institutions have all received millions of dollars from the federal governing body for research that has advanced scientific knowledge safeguarded national prevention strengthened the American financial system and saved countless lives they mentioned in a court filing Friday in Harvard s lawsuit Harvard sued in April claiming the leadership freeze violates the university s First Amendment guarantee of free speech and federal law governing administrative rule-making The fight is part of a broad-based effort by President Donald Trump to force sweeping changes at Harvard and other elite U S universities The executive has also frozen or is reviewing federal funding to Princeton Cornell Northwestern and Columbia universities among others Harvard suggests in its suit filed in Boston federal court that the Trump administration illegally suspended its funding in retaliation for its refusal to bow to unconstitutional demands to overhaul governance discipline and hiring policies as well as diversity programs The president suggests Harvard the nation s oldest and richest university has failed to combat antisemitism on campus and encourage viewpoint diversity The cuts will disrupt ongoing research ruin experiments and datasets destroy the careers of aspiring scientists and deter long-term investments at universities across the country the universities mentioned in a request to file amicus curiae or friend of the court arguments supporting Harvard s scenario against the cabinet The request to sponsorship Harvard also comes from Boston University Brown University Colorado State University Dartmouth College Michigan State University Oregon State University Rice University Rutgers University Tufts University University of Maryland at College Park University of Oregon University of Pennsylvania University of Pittsburgh and Yale University A group of states led by Massachusetts where Harvard is located also appealed to file arguments in patronage of the university on Friday