Harvard: the one that fought, and won on the freeze

Editor's note: a federal court ruled the funding freeze violated Harvard's First Amendment rights and called the antisemitism rationale a smoke screen.

Harvard had more than $2.2 billion in research grants and contracts frozen or canceled, plus $110 million-plus in NIH funding halted, after declining the administration's list of demands, the only major university among those documented here to refuse a settlement and litigate instead. In a separate case not brought by Harvard, the Supreme Court on August 21, 2025 voted 5-4 to let NIH terminate $783 million in grants linked to DEI initiatives; the challengers were 16 states and a group led by the American Public Health Association.

Separately, in September 2025, a federal district court ruled in Harvard's favor on the broader freeze, finding the government had illegally frozen more than $2 billion in grants and contracts; the government is appealing that ruling.

Harvard's endowment donations reportedly fell by $151 million amid the fight, and President Garber said as of August 2025 he was 'not considering' a rumored $500 million settlement, despite Northwestern's interim president separately noting that litigation 'would likely have lasted for years' and cost tens of millions monthly to sustain research without federal funds, the actual cost calculus every other university weighed before settling instead.