---
title: "Harvard University puts up $250 million to shore up research hit by Trump freeze on grants"
description: "May 14 (Reuters) - Harvard University is dedicating $250 million of its own funds to support researchers after U.S. President Donald Trump's administration froze nearly $3 billion in federal grants and contracts in recent weeks, the university announced on Wednesday."
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "Newsdeck"
author: "Reuters"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/reuters/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-05-15-harvard-university-puts-up-250-million-to-shore-up-research-hit-by-trump-freeze-on-grants/"
published: "2025-05-15T05:14:11"
updated: "2025-05-15T05:17:13"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 347
---

# Harvard University puts up $250 million to shore up research hit by Trump freeze on grants

> May 14 (Reuters) - Harvard University is dedicating $250 million of its own funds to support researchers after U.S. President Donald Trump's administration froze nearly $3 billion in federal grants and contracts in recent weeks, the university announced on Wednesday.

By Reuters · Published 15 May 2025, 07:14 SAST · Updated 15 May 2025, 07:17 SAST

## Key points
- In a dramatic showdown that could rival a blockbuster courtroom thriller, Harvard is taking the Trump administration to court, claiming that cutting off over $2.6 billion in research grants is not just a budgetary blunder, but a brazen assault on academic freedom—because who knew that meddling with the nation's oldest university could be such a sticky wicket?
- Harvard University is suing the Trump administration over cuts to research grants, claiming it violates academic freedom.
- The administration's decision follows Harvard's criticism of demands to overhaul its leadership and curriculum.
- Harvard's president announced a temporary 25% pay cut amid a hiring freeze, citing the financial impact of the grant cuts.
- The university maintains its admissions practices comply with federal law, countering accusations of discrimination linked to recent protests.

## Content

The elite Ivy League university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of Trump's most prominent targets. The Republican president has been making an extraordinary effort to revamp private colleges and schools across the U.S. that he says foster anti-American, Marxist and "radical left" ideologies. He has criticized Harvard in particular for hiring prominent Democrats to teaching or leadership positions.

[Harvard is suing](https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL1N3RL0MS&linkedFromStory=true) the Trump administration over its decision to cut off grants awarded to the school's researchers, mostly in the medical sciences. Harvard calls this an unconstitutional attempt to curtail academic freedom and speech rights.

The government announced the cuts last month, hours after Harvard's president, Dr. Alan Garber, denounced a lengthy list of demands by the Trump administration to overhaul the school's leadership, teaching and admissions, and audit the views of its students and professors.

Garber, in a joint statement with Provost John Manning, said the Trump administration was "stopping lifesaving research" and called it an "extraordinarily challenging time" for the country's oldest and wealthiest university.

On Wednesday, Harvard said Garber was taking a temporary, voluntary pay cut of 25% starting in July. The university previously announced a hiring freeze.

The statement said Harvard "cannot absorb the entire cost" of the frozen grants, which the Trump administration says are worth more than $2.6 billion. The school said it was working with researchers to help them find alternative funding.

"The impact of such steps on the nation's scientific research enterprise could be severe and lasting," the statement said.

Trump's administration has accused Harvard of continuing to consider race when reviewing student applications and of allowing discrimination against Jews as a result of the pro-Palestinian student protest movement that roiled American campuses last year.

Harvard says its admissions practices comply with federal law and court rulings, and it continues to combat antisemitism and other prejudice on its campuses.

A federal judge in Boston has given the government until June 9 to respond to Harvard's lawsuit, and has scheduled a hearing for July 21.

(Reporting by Jonathan Allen in New York; Additional reporting by Nate Raymond; Editing by David Gregorio)