The administration had taken action after the university refused to comply with the administration’s demands regarding addressing antisemitism, and make changes to its hiring practices.
U.S. District Court Judge Allison Burroughs criticized the Trump administration for running “afoul of constitutional free speech protections and federal law,” but admitted that the Trump administration was “right to combat antisemitism and to use all lawful means to do so,” according to the Hill.
The decision from Burroughs restored $2.2 billion in federal grants to the university.
“Defendants and the President are right to combat antisemitism and to use all lawful means to do so,” Burroughs said. “Harvard was wrong to tolerate hateful behavior for as long as it did.”
Per the outlet, while Burroughs’ “ruling at turns criticizes the Ivy League School for its response to antisemitism,” she says that the university is “taking steps to address it.”:
The judge’s new ruling at turns criticizes the Ivy League school for its response to antisemitism, but the judge noted the school was now taking steps to address it.
Burroughs framed her order as necessary to safeguard academic freedom and First Amendment free speech protections, “even if doing so risks the wrath of a government committed to its agenda no matter the cost.”
ABC News reported that “while the Trump administration cited antisemitism as a basis to cancel funds,” Burroughs accused President Donald Trump of using it as an excuse:
While the Trump administration cited antisemitism as a basis to cancel funds, Judge Burroughs said the actual reason was the president’s “power and political views.” She noted that the Trump administration’s demands on admissions, governance, and staffing had little relationship with antisemitism, undercutting the government’s claims.
“[T]here is, in reality, little connection between the research affected by the grant terminations and antisemitism,” the judge wrote.
Breitbart News reported that in April, lawyers for Harvard University issued a letter revealing that the university would not comply with the Trump administration’s demands for the university, and they accused the Trump administration of invading “university freedoms long recognized by the Supreme Court.”
The letter from the lawyers for the university came after a letter addressed to Harvard University President Alan Garber and Penny Pritzker, a Lead Member with the Harvard Corporation accused the university of having “failed to live up to both the intellectual and civil rights conditions that justify federal investment.”
“It is unfortunate, then, that you letter disregards Harvard’s efforts and instead presents demands that, in contravention for the First Amendment, invade university freedoms long recognized by the Supreme Court,” the letter says. “The government’s terms also circumvent Harvard’s statutory rights by requiring unsupported and disruptive remedies for alleged harms that the government has not proven through mandatory processes established by Congress and required by law.”
In response to the university’s announcement that it would not be complying with the Trump administration’s demands for changes, the Trump administration responded by freezing “$2.2 billion in multi-year grants,” the Harvard Crimson reported in April.
The freeze represented “a fraction of the $9 billion the Trump administration” had previous “put under review,” according to the outlet.
In response to the Trump administration freezing billions of dollars in funding to the university, the university filed a lawsuit against the administration. Garber expressed that the administration has attempted to wield “unprecedented and improper control.”
Breitbart News
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