April 12, 2025
The professors allege that the Trump administration violated the First Amendment and federal law when it threatened to use funding cuts as a cudgel to coerce Harvard University to restrict speech and allow government control over teaching and learning
CAMBRIDGE, MASS. — The Harvard Faculty Chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and the national AAUP have filed a lawsuit seeking to block the Trump administration from demanding that Harvard University restrict speech and restructure its core operations or else face the cancellation of $8.7 billion in federal funding for the university and its affiliated hospitals. With Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC and Selendy Gay PLLC as counsel, the lawsuit alleges that the administration’s demands violate the Constitution without any federal law authorizing their actions.
“The First Amendment does not permit government officials to use the power of their office to silence critics and suppress speech they don’t like,” said Andrew Manuel Crespo, Morris Wasserstein Professor of Law at Harvard University and general counsel of the AAUPHarvard Faculty Chapter. “Harvard faculty have the constitutional right to speak, teach, and conduct research without fearing that the government will retaliate against their viewpoints by canceling grants.”
In March 2025, the chair of President Trump’s Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism announced on Fox News that “the academic system in this country has been hijacked by the left, has been hijacked by the Marxists. They have controlled the mindset of our young people . . . and we have to put an end to it.” He further stated, “We’re going to bankrupt these universities. We’re going to take away every single federal dollar.” On March 31, his task force announced a “comprehensive review” of more than $8.7 billion in federal contracts and grants at Harvard University and its affiliates.
Three days later, the task force issued a demand letter outlining “immediate next steps that we regard as necessary for Harvard University’s continued financial relationship with the United States government.” The demands included new speech restrictions on campus, the cancellation of all diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, and a commitment to “full cooperation” with the Department of Homeland Security. Far beyond measures to combat antisemitism on campus, they seek to force the private university to transform its governance to comply with the administration’s agenda.
Last night’s filing argues that the task force and its demands are part of a pretextual effort to to chill universities and their faculty from engaging in any speech, teaching, and research that President Trump disfavors. The professors filing the suit have asked for an immediate temporary restraining order blocking the Trump administration from cutting off any funding to Harvard University.
“No law in this country permits President Trump to suspend billions of dollars from universities like Penn, Princeton, or Harvard simply because he doesn’t like their policies on transgender athletes, their research on climate change, or the constitutionally protected speech of their students and faculty,” said Nikolas Bowie, Louis D. Brandeis of Law at Harvard University and the secretary-treasurer of the AAUP-Harvard Faculty Chapter. “Eliminating discrimination and protecting all students is important. But Trump is defying the Civil Rights Act, terrifying students, and illegally holding hostage grants for hospitals and scientific research so he can accomplish his real goal of punishing academics for our politics.”
“The research and teaching of Harvard faculty have already been chilled by the Trump administration’s attempt to coerce the university into changing its curriculum and governing structure,” said Kirsten Weld, Professor of History at Harvard University and the president of AAUP-Harvard Faculty Chapter. “If Trump can threaten to withhold billions of dollars from our colleagues unless we stop teaching about diversity and inclusion, he can make the same threat to try and stop us from teaching about science, his critics, or anything else. An academic community cannot freely exist with such a threat hanging over us.”
“The Trump administration’s not so veiled attempt to destroy the freedom to speak, debate, and research on campuses is an attack on democracy and economic mobility,” said Todd Wolfson, president of the American Association of University Professors. “The harms will be so irreparable that they will last generations. Where university administrators fail to protect our sector, faculty will stand up and fight.”
“Our students and faculty members across the nation are terrified. If the administration’s lawless and unconstitutional attempts to control speech and governance at Harvard are allowed to proceed, then any one of our institutions could be next,” said Veena Dubal, AAUP General Counsel. “The impact would be catastrophic – fundamentally crushing freedom of speech and academic freedom as hallowed ideals in our democracy.”
Read last night’s complaint here.
Read last night’s motion for a temporary restraining order here.
###
The lawsuit is a joint effort of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and the AAUP Harvard Faculty Chapter.
About the American Association of University Professors: The mission of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) is to advance academic freedom and shared governance; to define fundamental professional values and standards for higher education; to promote the economic security of faculty, academic professionals, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and all those engaged in teaching and research in higher education; to help the higher education community organize to make our goals a reality; and to ensure higher education’s contribution to the common good. Founded in 1915, the AAUP has helped to shape American higher education by developing the standards and procedures that maintain quality in education and academic freedom in this country’s colleges and universities.
Read Harvard AAUP and National AAUP Sue Trump Administration to Block Unlawful Funding Cuts.