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Live updates: The Trump administration’s ongoing battle with Mass. colleges
The Trump administration is threatening to cut school funding and revoke student visas in a stated effort to combat antisemitism.
Local universities have faced a steady stream of blows under the Trump administration—from sudden visa cancellations to threats of funding cuts tied to strict new demands.
Already, the State Department has reportedly revoked the visas of hundreds of students, affecting those at area schools such as Emerson College, Berklee College of Music, Boston University, Northeastern, UMass, and Tufts.
The list is growing.
The terminations are part of a nationwide effort led by the Department of State and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to terminate the legal status of international students who have allegedly engaged in criminal behavior while in the U.S., or in activities in support of U.S.-designated terrorist groups like Hamas.
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The Trump administration is also freezing key university grants over campus protests against Israel’s war in Gaza. It halted over $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in contracts to Harvard for not meeting its demands. Harvard is suing the Trump administration in response.
The National Institutes of Health is also trying to cut hundreds of millions of dollars of medical research funding at local universities. A federal judge blocked the move in early March, which the NIH could still appeal.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion programs are also on the chopping block in higher education.
In March, the U.S. Education Department said it was investigating dozens of universities, including MIT, for alleged racial discrimination, citing ties to a nonprofit that helps Black and Latino students pursue business degrees.
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For the most recent updates, keep reading below:
Tenured Harvard professors pledge portion of their paychecks to defend ‘academic freedom’ (May 1)
Dozens of tenured faculty members at Harvard are pledging to donate a portion of their paychecks to the school to help it withstand the costs of fighting the Trump administration.
So far, 84 senior faculty members have pledged to donate 10% of their paychecks, according to a letter signed by many of the professors and shared with Boston.com Thursday. They are pledging to donate this money for a period of a year, or “shorter if the crisis is resolved sooner.”
The faculty members praised Harvard’s decision to reject the Trump administration’s “unlawful” demands. In explaining the pledge, they cited the fact that the federal government has already frozen more than $2 billion in funding to the school and is considering revoking Harvard’s tax-exempt status. Harvard is suing the Trump administration, alleging that it illegally froze the funding.
“These financial consequences are halting research, limiting graduate student enrollment, and stopping hiring of both faculty and staff. Individual Schools have already instituted salary freezes,” the professors wrote. “The financial costs will not be shared equally among our community. Staff and students in many programs, in particular, are under greater threat than those of us with tenured positions.”
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The faculty members said that they are trying to move quickly because pressure is mounting on the school. Implementation details are being left “intentionally open.” The idea right now is that, eventually, the faculty members who signed the pledge will hold a vote before actually making the donation. The money would only be donated if a majority of the professors agree that Harvard is “making a good faith effort to use its own resources in support of staff, student, and academic programs.”
The letter listed about half of the total number of professors who made the pledge, with many others choosing to remain anonymous. The letter includes an active link for others to make the pledge as well, and those involved said the list of signatories will be updated periodically.
Dani Rodrik, a professor of international political economy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, helped organize the initiative.
“I am proud that so many of my colleagues are willing to share in the financial sacrifice that standing up for academic freedom will require,” he told Boston.com.
Feds restore legal status records for international students around Mass. (April 30)
Earlier this year, the Trump administration moved to terminate the records of hundreds of international students in a key database, putting their ability to stay in the country at risk. Now, however, the federal government is reversing course and restoring the records of students at schools across Massachusetts.
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The Student and Exchange Visitor Information Systems database (SEVIS) is maintained by ICE as a way to monitor the legal status of international students. It also tracks disciplinary actions and any criminal charges related to the students.
As federal officials work to deport noncitizens, even some that had legal status, more than 1,200 SEVIS records were terminated, the Associated Press reported. This was done after the government uncovered minor infractions for many of the students. In court cases around the country, students argued that the Trump administration had no right to cut off SEVIS access in this manner. Students said that they were not even told about the changes. Judges responded by temporarily restoring the records for dozens of students.
News of the policy reversal came first through court filings. Government lawyers filed statements saying that ICE is working on a policy to “framework for SEVIS record terminations.” However, SEVIS records for students are being re-activated until that policy is issued and ICE says it will not modify records solely based on the recent findings that led to the record terminations.
Homeland Security Department spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told The New York Times recently that SEVIS access was restored only for those whose visas had not been terminated.
“We have not reversed course on a single visa revocation,” she told the Times. “What we did is restore SEVIS access for people who had not had their visa revoked.”
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But some Massachusetts universities are reporting that SEVIS records for their students have, in fact, been restored. A UMass Amherst spokesperson confirmed Wednesday that 13 SEVIS statuses were terminated by the government and all have since been re-activated.
“The impact on canceled visas remains unclear. The Office of Global Affairs and other offices are working with each of the 13 students on a case-by-case basis to advise on next steps,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
Marcelo Suárez-Orozco, who leads UMass Boston, sent an email to the school community Tuesday informing them that 10 of the 11 students who had been affected by the records terminations now had their SEVIS access restored.
“While we recognize this positive development, we acknowledge that there is still considerable work to be done, and we must remain vigilant in our efforts to protect our community and our mission and values. The emotional turmoil these federal governmental actions has caused our fellow community members cannot be minimized or easily undone,” Suárez-Orozco wrote.
A spokesperson for Northeastern University referred Boston.com to an online FAQ page when contacted about the SEVIS issues Wednesday.
“Every Northeastern student and recent graduate whose status had been terminated, has since had their status restored in [SEVIS]” the page now reads. It was updated on Tuesday to reflect this change.
Harvard officials recently updated an FAQ page as well, informing the community that 12 international students and recent graduates had their “F-1 visa status terminated” earlier in April.
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As of last Saturday, all of them “have since had their visa status reverted to active status.” Administrators at the Harvard International Office check SEVIS records daily. Students are notified of revocations and referred to legal assistance. A Harvard spokesperson did not return a request for comment.
Harvard protesters ordered into anger management after 2023 confrontation (April 29)
Two graduate students at Harvard who were accused of assaulting a Jewish student during a pro-Palestine demonstration in 2023 were ordered Monday to complete a pretrial diversion program. It includes in-person anger management classes, 80 hours of community service, and enrollment in Harvard’s Program on Negotiation, according to court documents.
The students, Elom Tettey-Tamaklo and Ibrahim Bharmal, were involved in a confrontation that went viral in the immediate aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks. At a “die-in” demonstration outside of Harvard Business School, student Yoav Segev attempted to film participants and was confronted by pro-Palestine demonstrators. Prosecutors said that they surrounded Segev, covered him with keffiyah scarves, and shouted “get out.” They also alleged that Tettery-Tamaklo grabbed Segev by his backpack and Bharmal blocked his path as a crowd chanted “shame.”
Tettey-Tamaklo and Bharmal maintain their innocence. They did not know Segev was Jewish and any contact with him was unintentional, they insist.
As footage of the interaction spread online, so too did outrage. Multiple Harvard Business School alumni, including Mitt Romney, signed a letter to administrators denouncing the incident as a “violent assault.” The following week, Harvard Business School Dean Srikant Datar described the confrontation as “troubling” and said that reports had been filed with the FBI and the university’s police department. It took another six months for charges to be filed against Tettey-Tamaklo and Bharmal.
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In February, a judge dismissed hate crime charges against both men. Attorneys for Tettey-Tamaklo and Bharmal had argued that those charges should be dismissed due to a lack of probable cause, according to court records. Misdemeanor charges of assault and battery were allowed to stand.
Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden’s office shared a victim impact statement written by Segev with members of the media. In it, Segev says that Tettey-Tamaklo and Bharmal refused to apologize and instead doubled down by “slandering” him in the media. Segev said that the two traumatized him, causing him to spend hours in therapy and jeopardizing job prospects.
“Their assault was not a rash incident at a bar,” Segev wrote. “Their actions and public commentary afterwards demonstrate that the defendants believe they were acting in a private security capacity and are above the law, using force to determine who can and cannot be in public spaces—deciding to exclude the visibly Jewish student.”
Hayden maintained Segev’s innocence in another statement.
“Mr. Segev is an entirely innocent victim. He did nothing wrong leading up to this incident and nothing wrong during this incident. He had a Constitutional right to walk across the campus of his school without being accosted or assaulted. As such, we were prepared to go to trial to seek accountability from the two defendants and justice for Mr. Segev,” Hayden said.
Amid Trump battle, Harvard renames DEI office (April 29)
Harvard officials announced Monday that the university’s Office of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging would be changing its name. The move comes amid Harvard’s ongoing battle with the Trump administration, which has sought to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion programs around the country.
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The office will now be known as Community and Campus Life, its head Sherri Ann Charleston wrote in an email to the Harvard community.
When the Trump administration sent a long list of demands to Harvard leaders earlier this month, it insisted that the university discontinue all DEI programs. Harvard refused to comply with those demands, and sued the federal government instead. The administration responded by freezing more than $2 billion in federal funds.
In explaining the decision, Charleston pointed to the results of a recent university-wide survey meant to check the “pulse” of those at Harvard. The survey, which was conducted last fall for the first time since 2019, found that just 66% of students and 59% of faculty and staff said they had formed relationships with people holding different viewpoints. It also found that only 68% of students feel comfortable sharing their opinions with others.
The university must do more to “build a culture of mutual respect,” Charleston wrote.
“We must sharpen our focus on fostering connections across difference, creating spaces for dialogue, and cultivating a culture of belonging — not as an abstract ideal, but as a lived experience for all,” she wrote.
The name change, therefore, is meant to “capture this emphasis and this mission.”
Charleston provided more context in an interview with The Harvard Gazette about the pulse survey. Over the past five years, she told the Gazette, the office has “evolved to direct a variety of services on campus.”
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Charleston said that the decision to rename the office was ultimately made by university President Alan Garber.
“Given the high-level outcomes of the last Pulse Survey, President Garber decided to rename the portfolio to Community and Campus Life to align with its current focus — building community and increasing belonging,” she told the Gazette. “As we administered the Pulse Survey again last fall and considered the best way to communicate all the services we offer, it seemed like the right time to adjust my title to better reflect what the offices under my direction do for our campus community.”
In her email to the community, Charleston said that the office will now put more of a focus on three goals: creating forums for schools to share best practices on community-building, expanding programs that give community members “greater opportunities to engage across difference,” and increasing support for first-generation and low-income students.
President Trump and the federal government were not mentioned in either the Gazette interview or Charleston’s email. But the administration looms large over Harvard’s decision. Upon reentering the White House, Trump signed a series of executive orders targeting DEI initiatives in the federal government and elsewhere. Most recently, he took aim at higher education accreditors and discipline policies in K-12 schools.
Also on Monday, the administration announced an investigation into Harvard and the Harvard Law Review “based on reports of race-based discrimination permeating the operations of the journal.” The Law Review is run by students and is independent from Harvard Law School. In 2019, a federal judge dismissed a similar lawsuit against the Law Review from an anti-affirmative action group.
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The school “is committed to ensuring that the programs and activities it oversees are in compliance with all applicable laws and to investigating any credibly alleged violations,” a Harvard Law spokesperson told The Harvard Crimson in a statement.
Harvard institutes ‘backup plan’ for foreign students with visas at risk (April 28)
International students admitted to Harvard University can now hold a spot at another foreign university as “a backup plan,” according to an email the Ivy League school sent to admitted students.
The email, sent by Harvard College Admissions and Financial Aid, acknowledges that families abroad are concerned about “recent events here in the United States.” Recently, Harvard refused to comply with the Trump Administration’s demands to make widespread changes. The administration promptly froze $2.2 billion in federal research grants.
One of the demands included to “commit to full cooperation with DHS and other federal regulators,” a letter sent to Harvard earlier this month read.
Twelve international students and recent graduates at Harvard also had their visas revoked as the federal government’s crackdown on student visas continues to ripple through college campuses. Students were affected at other area schools such as Emerson College, Berklee College of Music, Boston University, Northeastern, UMass, and Tufts.
“We write to reassure you that we are doing everything possible to enroll the students we have admitted and to provide guidance in the face of current uncertainties,” the admissions office wrote to admitted international students. “While students are usually required to hold a place at only one university after May 1, we understand that many of you may feel compelled to have a backup plan.”
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The office told students that “the situation at Harvard might be replicated at other American universities as well as the fact that the I-20 document is university-specific,” so the students can’t hold a spot at another U.S. school.
The university also noted that admitted students could defer their acceptance for a year, particularly if students aren’t able to secure a visa before the start of the school year. If admitted students choose to start at another university, they would have to reapply as a transfer student to Harvard.
“We hope this authorization provides you and your family with a measure of relief as you consider your options,” the Office of Admissions and Financial Aid wrote. “You have been admitted to Harvard College because we believe you have something special to offer our community. We want you here as our student, and we look forward to working with you to help make that possible.”
‘We have no choice,’ Harvard president says in first interview since suing Trump administration
Harvard President Alan Garber gave his first interview since university officials decided to sue the Trump administration this week, telling Lester Holt of NBC News that the demands made by federal officials left the school no choice but to fight back.
In the sit-down interview, which aired Wednesday evening, Holt framed the battle as Garber and Harvard “taking on the most powerful man in the world.”
Garber sees it differently. To him, Harvard’s move is not only necessary to maintain the school’s independence, but to show that higher education as a whole is worth preserving at any cost.
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“We are defending what I believe is one of the most important lynchpins of the American economy and way of life: our universities,” he said.
With more than $2 billion in federal funding at risk and the idea of revoking the university’s tax-exempt status floated by President Donald Trump, Garber is bracing for an extended showdown with the federal government. Some are already being laid off, and the Harvard School of Public Health is expected to be particularly impacted due to its heavy reliance on federal dollars.
Harvard—the nation’s oldest, richest, and most prestigious university—is uniquely positioned to forcefully resist the Trump administration. But Garber admitted some uncertainty about the road ahead, even as he vocally committed to defending the school’s constitutional rights.
“We don’t know how much we can actually absorb, but what we do know is that we cannot compromise on basic principles, like defense of our First Amendment rights,” he told Holt.
The administration, Garber said, wants to be able to tell Havard what faculty should be hired and fired. It also wants to directly oversee the school’s admissions processes. The government’s demands were made public by Harvard when it announced that it would not be complying with them.
The situation is “bigger than Harvard,” he said, particularly because of the threat to lifesaving scientific research that many universities conduct using federal funding.
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One of the first laboratories hit with a stop-work order from the National Institutes of Health was one led by renowned tuberculosis researcher Sarah Fortune. Spliced into the interview with Garber, Holt also spoke with Fortune. She said her work could resume relatively quickly if funding were immediately available again, but as time goes on the “network unravels,” and the damage would become “irrevocable.”
When pro-Palestine demonstrations rocked Harvard last year, Harvard leaders were attacked by pro-Israel voices who said that they were fostering a culture of antisemitism on campus. The Trump administration has leaned on these accusations in its dealings with Harvard, saying its demands are meant to crack down on antisemitism.
Garber, who has also been accused of stifling the free speech of pro-Palestine activists, told Holt that Harvard does indeed have a “real problem with antisemitism.” He insisted that the university is taking every available measure to fight this problem. But he also maintains that most of the Trump administration’s demands are not truly about antisemitism, saying there is no credible link between that topic and the elimination of research funding.
“There’s no doubt about the severity of that problem,” Garber said about antisemitism on campus. “We don’t really see the relationship to research funding at Harvard and other universities. They are two different issues.”
The faceoff with the federal government is expected to be lengthy and very costly. Holt asked Garber if this is truly a winnable fight.
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“I don’t know the answer to this question, but the stakes are so high that we have no choice,” Garber said in response.
Now the Trump administration wants Harvard’s antisemitism report (April 21)
The Trump administration on Saturday requested that Harvard University turn over all documents related to its antisemitism task force report, marking the latest in a series of demands directed at the school.
The request from the Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights is ordering the university to send “all reports” of the university’s task force on combating antisemitism and anti-Israeli bias and combating anti-Muslim, anti-Arab, and anti-Palestinian bias by May 2.
The data request also asks the university to include the names of the people involved in preparing, editing, and finalizing the reports, drafts, or documents.
The department is also seeking information related to an op-ed by the co-chairs of the antisemitism task force in The Harvard Crimson.
Harvard launched both task forces last January, in response to criticism over its handling of rising tensions on campus following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel.
The antisemitism task force released preliminary recommendations last June. The report said that the situation for Israeli students at Harvard “has been dire,” with many frequently being subject to “derision and social exclusion.”
In addition, the anti-Muslim task force found a “deep-seated sense of fear among students, staff, and faculty” with many Muslims, Palestinians, Arab Christians and pro-Palestinian allies describing “a state of uncertainty, abandonment, threat, and isolation, and a pervasive climate of intolerance.”
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The preliminary reports say the task force was going to submit a more “substantive” report to the school last fall. However, neither task force issued a final report by the end of the fall semester, according to The Harvard Crimson.
The request came only a week after Harvard rebuffed the Trump administration’s list of growing demands. It is only the latest threat directed at Harvard, which was also told it could lose its tax-exempt status and its ability to enroll international students.
Trump admin demands records on foreign funding and staff from Harvard (April 18)
The Department of Education is demanding that Harvard turn over a long list of records concerning the university’s foreign funding and how affiliated employees and researchers interact with foreign governments.
The records request, which was announced Friday morning, was sent after federal officials found “incomplete and inaccurate disclosures” in Harvard’s foreign reports.
“As a recipient of federal funding, Harvard University must be transparent about its relations with foreign sources and governments. Unfortunately, our review indicated that Harvard has not been fully transparent or complete in its disclosures, which is both unacceptable and unlawful,” Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a statement.
Under a law called Section 117, Harvard and other postsecondary institutions receiving federal funding must disclose foreign gifts and contracts that value $250,000 or more annually. The inaccurate disclosures found by the federal government could represent a violation of an agreement signed last December by Harvard and the government. The Department of Education initiated an investigation of Harvard’s compliance with the law back in 2020, and that concluded with the agreement in December.
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The government is requesting a list of all foreign gifts, grants, and contracts from or with foreign sources. Officials want to know the identities of all known parties involved in these gifts and contracts and are asking for all related communications. The government makes several more demands that are laid out in the official request.
“As standard practice, Harvard has filed Section 117 reports for decades as part of its ongoing compliance with the law. As is required, Harvard’s reports include information on gifts and contracts from foreign sources exceeding $250K annually. This includes contracts to provide executive education, other training, and academic publications,” Harvard spokesperson Jason Newton told The Boston Globe.
McMahon framed the request as a means to ensure Harvard is not working with foreign entities who are opposed to American interests.
“This records request is the Trump Administration’s first step to ensure Harvard is not being manipulated by, or doing the bidding of, foreign entities, which include actors who are hostile to the interests of the United States and American students,” she said.
Layoffs coming at Harvard (April 18)
After the Trump administration froze more than $2 billion in federal funding, layoffs have reportedly already started at Harvard University and are likely to continue.
The Harvard School of Public Health is working around a “significant budget crisis,” a spokesperson recently told The Harvard Crimson.
Some layoffs of staff and researchers on projects who have lost funding have occurred already. There is not a specific number of cuts officials are targeting.
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HSPH is also reportedly downsizing its physical space. Officials confirmed to the Crimson that the school would exit leases on two buildings near the Longwood campus in Boston: one at 90 Smith St. and another for the fourth floor of the Landmark Center at 401 Park Drive. The former is home to the school’s human resources office and the university’s police department for the Longwood area. The latter is a 40,000-square-foot space with offices, laboratories, and classrooms.
Of all the schools within Harvard, HSPH is the most reliant on federal funding. Just under half of its budget comes from the federal government, according to The New York Times. The school could also be significantly impacted if the Trump administration follows through on threats to block the university from enrolling international students. About 40% of the students there are international.
Steve Gortmaker, director of the school’s Prevention Research Center on Nutrition and Physical Activity, told the Times that he is worried about the staff he works with and thinks that conditions will not improve anytime soon.
“It’s like you’re hunkering down for the beginning of a war, where you think you’re going to be losing a lot of your freedoms and a lot of your resources,” he told the paper.
HSPH has received three stop-work orders this week, including one that derailed a $60 million contract to study tuberculosis.
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At a town hall event on Wednesday, leaders of Harvard Medical School told attendees that staffing cuts are expected there as well. Julie Joncas, the school’s chief financial officer, reportedly told those gathered that the school had already been dealing with financial challenges before the showdown with the Trump administration. Philanthropic support went down after Harvard’s public response to the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel and the subsequent campus turmoil began a national flashpoint.
“Harvard has to figure out the solution and what we can do with what limited resources we’re going to be left with when all the dust settles,” Joncas said, per the Crimson.
Government wants Harvard’s disciplinary records, threatens ability to accept foreign students (April 17)
On Wednesday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem canceled two grants totaling over $2.7 million to Harvard, declaring it “unfit to be entrusted with taxpayer money.”
In a letter to the university, Noem also demanded detailed records on the “illegal and violent activities” of Harvard’s foreign student visa holders by April 30 or the university would face immediate loss of its Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) certification.
“Harvard bending the knee to antisemitism — driven by its spineless leadership — fuels a cesspool of extremist riots and threatens our national security,” she said.
Noem continued, “With anti-American, pro-Hamas ideology poisoning its campus and classrooms, Harvard’s position as a top institution of higher learning is a distant memory. America demands more from universities entrusted with taxpayer dollars.”
If Harvard cannot verify its compliance with its reporting requirements, the statement says the university would lose the privilege of enrolling international students.
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The school enrolls 6,793 international students, which is about 27% of the student population, in the current academic year, according to the university.
The Homeland Security release says the $800,303 grant for Implementation Science for Targeted Violence Prevention is a “shockingly skewed study” that branded conservatives as “far-right dissidents” and the $1,934,902 Blue Campaign Program Evaluation and Violence Advisement grant funded Harvard’s “public health propaganda.”
“Both undermine America’s values and security,” it says.
The action to cancel the two grant programs follows President Donald Trump’s administration’s decision to freeze $2.2 billion in federal funding to Harvard. Earlier this week, Harvard rejected the Trump administration’s demands.
The release from Homeland Security also says since Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, Harvard’s foreign visa-holding “rioters and faculty have spewed anti-Semitic hate, targeting Jewish students.”
“With a $53.2 billion endowment, Harvard can fund its own chaos– DHS won’t,” the release says.
In a statement shared with The Boston Globe on Wednesday, a university spokesperson said, “Harvard will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights. We continue to stand by that statement. We will continue to comply with the law and expect the Administration to do the same.”
Tuberculosis researcher ordered to stop work at Harvard; scientists may have to kill monkeys (April 16)
A leading tuberculosis researcher at Harvard said Tuesday that she received a stop-work order from the National Institutes of Health.
The order arrived soon after the university announced it would not comply with a lengthy set of demands set forth by the Trump administration. In response, the federal government froze $2.2 billion in federal research grants for Harvard.
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The scientist, Sarah Fortune, leads a lab where researchers work to understand tuberculosis and work towards eventually eradicating the disease. An estimated 1.25 million people died from tuberculosis in 2023, likely making it the “world’s leading cause of death from a single infectious agent,” according to the World Health Organization.
Through a $60 million contract with the NIH, Fortune was able to work with an international team of experts to produce groundbreaking research. But now, Fortune cannot distribute funds to those she works with at other universities. She is unable to use federal dollars to fund anything related to the tuberculosis study, the Boston Globe reported.
The funding freeze likely means that scientists will be laid off.
Fortune also told the paper that researchers may have to kill macaques, a type of primate used in a vaccine study at the University of Pittsburgh. Harvard is funding the project.
Fortune said the researchers may have to kill the animals because they are no longer allowed to use federal funds to feed and care for them.
“The macaques, can you believe, they’re so precious,” Fortune told the paper. “It’s such a heavy responsibility to work with them and to just be asked to kill them halfway through the study…” Fortune said, trailing off.
“Anybody who has animal studies ongoing … is looking at killing the animals,” if funding is cut, Fortune said.
Despite the ramifications on her work, Fortune said that she supports the decision made by Harvard’s leaders.
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“I feel better about going down on the right side of this action,” Fortune told the Globe.
Trump administration says hospitals will be spared brunt of Harvard’s cuts (April 16)
An Education Department official told the Associated Press that hospitals affiliated with Harvard, which operate as separate non-profits that are financially independent from the school, will not be affected by the announced cuts in federal funding.
Instead, a Department of Education spokesperson told the Globe that the hold on more than $2.2 billion in funding will be limited to the university itself.
Harvard Medical School is affiliated with five Boston-area teaching hospitals. Hospital staff often have teaching appointments at Harvard Medical School.
The immediate funding freeze, the AP reports, will most likely impact research at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, which says 46% of its budget was through federal grants last year.
The freeze in federal research grants for Harvard comes after the university resisted demands for changes to campus policy.
Although some have championed Harvard’s stand against demands to crack down on protesters and pursue more viewpoint diversity among faculty, others worry that life-saving scientific research will be threatened.
According to the AP, federal money accounted for 10.5% of Harvard’s revenue in 2023.
Federal judge forbids ICE from arresting MIT student with revoked visa (April 16)
On Tuesday, a federal judge blocked immigration authorities from arresting a Chinese Massachusetts Institute of Technology senior after the federal government revoked her student visa.
According to court documents and The Boston Globe, which obtained a recording of the hearing, the 22-year-old student identified as “Jane Doe” filed a civil suit in federal court in Boston on Friday against the US Department of Homeland Security, its secretary, Kristi Noem, and Todd Lyons, the acting director for the US Immigration and Custom Enforcement.
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The student’s lawyers in court said that the US Department of State notified her on Monday that her visa had been revoked and that she needed to leave the country “immediately.”
The student also filed a motion seeking a temporary restraining order on Monday.
In a letter to the campus community, MIT President Sally Kornbluth announced that nine people connected to the university have had their visas revoked.
At Tuesday’s hearing in federal court in Boston, the Globe reports that her lawyer says that she did not engage in any activities that would typically lead to a termination and that ICE did not present evidence that she is a risk to national security or the public.
Court filings show that the judge ruled that federal authorities are temporarily prohibited from arresting or detaining the student, terminating her database status, or transporting her out of the state before her next hearing on April 23.
9 connected to MIT have had visas revoked (April 15)
On Monday, MIT President Sally Kornbluth announced that nine students, recent graduates and postdocs had unexpectedly had their visas and immigration status revoked since April 4.
Kornbluth said the school is “extremely concerned that there appears to have been no notice or explanation from the government for the revocation.”
Kornbluth wrote that unexpected revocations are sending “alarms” throughout the campus.
MIT is in the business of attracting and supporting “exceptionally talented people,” wrote Kornbluth. To find those “rare people, we open ourselves to talent from every corner of the United States and from around the globe.”
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Kornbluth wrote that the university would be “gravely diminished without the students and scholars” from other nations.
“The threat of unexpected visa revocations will make it less likely that top talent from around the world will come to the US – and that will damage American competitiveness and scientific leadership for years to come,” she continued.
Kornbluth also provided an update on the National Institutes of Health’s sudden cap on “indirect cost” reimbursements required for research on campus.
In February, MIT joined several other schools and associations in filing a lawsuit against the NIH. The court granted a permanent injunction, which remains intact until the government seeks an appeal.
Indirect costs cover things like data storage, hazardous materials management, radiation safety, and the maintenance and renewal of research facilities and equipment.
On Friday evening, the Department of Energy (DOE) imposed a cap similar to the one from NIH to cut more than $400 million in annual spending.
DOE announced that university grants would no longer cover indirect costs at previously agreed-to rates. Instead, they would terminate all grants unless they conformed to a blanket rate of 15%.
Kornbluth wrote that the DOE grants support the work of nearly 1,000 members of the MIT community. The 15% cap would amount to $30-$35 million of cuts to MIT annually.
In response, MIT joined several peer schools and higher ed associations in filing a lawsuit to stop the action.
“We believe these proposed cuts are unlawful and pose a direct threat to MIT’s mission,” wrote Kornbluth in a statement. “They fracture the compact between the US government and its research institutions that, since the end of World War II, has fueled America’s innovation economy and ensured the nation’s security, prosperity and quality of life.”
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