Harvard gets backing of other universities, including Pitt, in Trump funding fight

A group of 18 leading U.S. research universities, including Princeton, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, California Institute of Technology and Johns Hopkins, asked a federal judge for permission to file legal arguments in support of Harvard University in its high-stakes showdown with the Trump administration over more than $2 billion in frozen grant money.

The request to support 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.

The institutions have all received millions of dollars from the federal government for research that has “advanced scientific knowledge, safeguarded national security, strengthened the American economy and saved countless lives,” they said in a court filing Friday in Harvard’s lawsuit.

Harvard sued in April, claiming the government 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 government has also frozen or is reviewing federal funding to Princeton, Cornell, Northwestern and Columbia universities, among others.

Harvard claims 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 claims 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 said in a request to file amicus curiae or “friend of the court” arguments supporting Harvard’s case against the government.

A group of states led by Massachusetts, where Harvard is, also asked to file arguments in support of the university on Friday.