The Trump administration has for several months imposed sanctions on the US's oldest and richest university. The government accuses Harvard of being marked by anti-Semitism after Hamas's attacks on Israel in October 2023, among other things in connection with demonstrations on the university premises.
Harvard protests against this image, and the university's lawyer, Steven Lehotsky, said during Monday's hearing that the government is trying to control how Harvard is governed. If the money is not paid out again, research can be stopped, research careers can be damaged and laboratories can be closed, he explained.
"Anti-Semitism"
Allison Burroughs, who is the judge in the case, is also responsible for another case where Harvard has sued the government for its attempts to stop the university from admitting foreign students. In that case, the court blocked the government's attempts.
One of the government's lawyers, Michael Velchik, claims that the government has the right to freeze the support with reference to Trump's executive order to combat anti-Semitism.
Protested
Judge Burroughs protested and referred to the fact that the government cannot withdraw research grants without presenting any evidence that the research itself would be anti-Semitic.
Harvard, which has the world's largest endowment fund of 53 billion dollars, has tried to finance the research on its own, but says that it cannot bear the entire cost itself.
