Harvard's Mixed Victory

"Since January, the Trump Administration has threatened the federal funding of hundreds of universities, in a campaign that is ostensibly about enforcing civil-rights laws, particularly regarding antisemitism on campus, race in admissions decisions, D.E.I., and transgender athletes. Columbia, Brown, and the University of Pennsylvania have made deals with the Administration to restore their funding, and other universities have conformed to what the Administration seems to want in order to avoid becoming targets themselves."

"But Harvard-with its outsized brand, its unrivalled endowment of fifty-three billion dollars, and its researchers' large share of federal grant awards-is the big game in the Trump Administration's pursuit of submission. And, perhaps for that reason, it has been the only university to sue the Administration. But Harvard's fight has come to represent much more than saving its own skin: the university is attempting to assert the value of higher education to our democratic society."

A federal judge ruled in Harvard's favor against the Trump Administration's decision to freeze and terminate nearly $2.2 billion in federal grants. The administration has threatened funding for hundreds of universities under the banner of enforcing civil-rights laws on antisemitism, race in admissions, D.E.I., and transgender athletes. Several universities negotiated to restore funding or altered behavior to avoid scrutiny, while Harvard uniquely sued. Harvard's financial scale and research footprint make it a central target. The case invokes Title VI and raises questions about administrative power, academic independence, and the broader value of higher education to democratic society.

Read at The New Yorker