US Politics |OT|

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Judge says Trump admin used anti-Semitism as ‘smokescreen’ for Harvard cuts

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/9/3/us-judge-rules-trump-unlawfully-cut-harvard-university-research-grants
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g2x7x03gjo
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/03/us/harvard-trump-funding-ruling.html

A United States federal judge has ruled that the administration of President Donald Trump violated the law when it cancelled research grants worth more than $2.2bn to Harvard University.

The decision from District Judge Allison Burroughs on Wednesday is a major setback for the Trump administration, which has sought to pressure universities into compliance with policies opposing pro-Palestine protests and diversity initiatives.

In her ruling, Burroughs wrote that “a review of the administrative record makes it difficult to conclude anything other than that Defendants used anti-Semitism as a smokescreen for a targeted, ideologically motivated assault on this country’s premier universities.”

Trump has targeted several schools, including Columbia, for their prominent role in the antiwar protests that emerged after Israel launched its war on Gaza in October 2023.

The Trump administration argued that those protests promoted anti-Semitism and created an unsafe environment for Jewish students. Student activists, however, have rejected those assertions.


Yet the damage has already been done, is that going to be reversed now?

Trump’s threats against Harvard have been at the centre of his administration’s efforts to exert greater control over higher education. But critics denounced those moves as attacks on academic freedom and freedom of expression.

Other prestigious US universities have struck deals with the government amid threats to slash federal funding.

Columbia University, for instance, agreed to pay the administration $220m and comply with Trump administration demands, including changes to its disciplinary practices and the hiring of a new provost to ensure “balanced” curricula.

Brown University likewise cut a deal to restore its funding, including paying $50m to workforce training programmes in Rhode Island.

The University of Virginia, meanwhile, saw its president resign under threat of a Department of Justice investigation into its diversity programmes in June.

Trump has targeted several schools, including Columbia, for their prominent role in the antiwar protests that emerged after Israel launched its war on Gaza in October 2023.