Federal funding at Harvard starts back up following court decision
The federal government has begun reinstating some of the nearly $3 billion of Harvard University's previously cancelled federal funding in the name of campus antisemitism, according to a university spokesperson.
The reinstatement comes after a federal judge's decision last week, ruling in Harvard's favor , finding that the Trump administration's actions were arbitrary and capricious.
The reinstatements of federal awards, coming from a range of federal agencies, have just begun to trickle in at Harvard. The university is "monitoring funding receipts closely," the spokesperson said.
Payments on the awards haven't been restored, the spokesperson said.
In Judge Allison D. Burroughs' 84-page ruling , she said that there is "little connection between the research affected by the grant terminations and antisemitism," and described antisemitism as a "smokescreen."
"In fact, a review of the administrative record makes it difficult to conclude anything other than that Defendants used antisemitism as a smokescreen for a targeted, ideologically-motivated assault on this country's premier universities, and did so in a way that runs afoul of the APA, the First Amendment and Title VI," she said.
She continued by stating that the Trump administration's actions have jeopardized "decades of research and the welfare of all those who could stand to benefit from that research."
In reaction to the decision, Harvard President Alan Garber wrote in a letter that while the university acknowledges the "important principles affirmed in today's ruling, we will continue to assess the implications of the opinion, monitor further legal developments, and be mindful of the changing landscape in which we seek to fulfill our mission."
What happens next?
While Burroughs ruled in the university's favor, the institution is still up against a series of roadblocks.
The decision will likely be appealed by the Trump administration, moving its way up to the First Circuit of Appeals and then potentially to the Supreme Court.
While it is not certain how the Supreme Court would rule, the high court has been consistently siding with the Trump administration, to the consternation of one of its justices: Ketanji Brown Jackson.
"This is Calvinball jurisprudence with a twist. Calvinball has only one rule: There are no fixed rules. We seem to have two: that one, and this Administration always wins," Jackson wrote in her dissent in response to the Supreme Court walking back a district court judge's injunction over canceled National Institutes of Health funding.
The Supreme Court ruled that the judge didn't have jurisdiction to restore hundreds of grants from NIH, something that it could also determine Burroughs lacked in the Harvard case.
In the meantime, the rollout of the funding that Burroughs ordered to be restored may be paused if the Trump administration asks the court to stay her decision until they can appeal.
If Burroughs doesn't grant the stay — pausing the rollout of funds — the First Circuit Court of Appeals or the Supreme Court could do it instead.
That would ultimately leave Harvard in a similar place it was in before — with its funds frozen and inaccessible.
What has happened between the Trump administration and Harvard?
The fight between the Trump administration and Harvard began in April when the federal government warned the school could risk losing $9 billion in funding if it did not meet a list of demands that includes an overhaul of Harvard's leadership structure, admissions and hiring.
Harvard rejected those demands, saying the administration sought to "invade university freedoms long recognized by the Supreme Court."
Then the fight over funding unfolded, leading to nearly $3 billion in canceled grants over campus antisemitism and the federal government barring the institution from receiving new federal grants .
Other investigations and threats have been made against the institution, some of which have focused on the university's international students, leading to Harvard opening a second lawsuit against the Trump administration.
In the meantime, the public is anxiously awaiting whether a deal between the Trump administration and Harvard will pan out.
The New York Times first reported that there could be a $500 million deal on the table at the end of July. Other institutions, such as Columbia University and Brown University , have struck deals with the federal government recently.
During a cabinet meeting at the end of August , President Donald Trump publicly called for Harvard University to pay at least $500 million in a settlement to restore nearly $3 billion of its federal funding.
"We want nothing less than $500 million from Harvard," Trump told U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon.
"Don't negotiate, Linda. They've been very bad," he continued.
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