Harvard sets aside $250 million to fund research after Trump freezes federal grants

Harvard University has announced it will allocate $250 million of its own funds to support research projects impacted by the Trump administration's sweeping freeze on federal funding.

The move comes as the Ivy League institution, the wealthiest university in the United States with a $53 billion endowment, battles a loss of over $2.6 billion in government grants, primarily in the medical sciences.President Donald Trump’s administration has intensified its campaign against elite universities, accusing them of fostering “radical left” ideologies, discrimination, and failing to uphold viewpoint diversity.

Harvard, in particular, has been a central target, facing demands to overhaul its governance, admissions, and protest policies. After the university refused to comply with the White House’s demands, the administration suspended significant research funding, with the latest cuts totalling $450 million on top of earlier terminations.President Alan Garber has described the cuts as a threat to academic freedom, stating that vital, life-saving research has been halted and years of work lost.

In a message to the Harvard community, Garber confirmed the school would reallocate $250 million as a stopgap to maintain key research initiatives, but warned of difficult financial decisions ahead. He also announced he would take a voluntary 25% pay cut in the upcoming fiscal year.The funding crisis has forced other leading institutions to take similar steps. Johns Hopkins University has begun offering grants to faculty affected by funding disruptions, while Northwestern University is covering costs for projects stalled by government directives.

Columbia University, another target of the administration’s campaign, has announced nearly 180 staff layoffs following $400 million in federal cuts.Harvard is currently suing the Trump administration, claiming that the funding freeze is an unconstitutional attempt to pressure the university into compliance. A federal judge has ordered the government to respond by June 9, with a hearing scheduled for July 21.Meanwhile, over 50 higher education groups have issued a joint statement condemning the administration’s actions, warning that holding research grants “hostage for political reasons” threatens the entire scientific enterprise. Harvard maintains that its admissions and hiring practices comply with federal law and continues to reject allegations of antisemitism on its campus. The university has also pushed back against probes into its diversity efforts, insisting that no ideological or racial quotas are used in recruitment or scholarship awards.