A group of universities have sued the Department of Energy over cuts to federal research funding.
A group of U.S. universities sued the Department of Energy on Monday over cuts to federal research funding, joining Harvard University in fighting President Donald Trump’s administration.
Newsweek has contacted the DOE and the White House for comment via email.
The lawsuit came the same day that Harvard said it would defy the Trump administration’s demands, prompting the federal government to announce that it would freeze more than $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in contracts to the university.
In a letter to the Harvard community on Monday, Harvard President Alan Garber said the university would « not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights. » The actions reflect growing pushback at universities against what is viewed by the institutions as federal overreach.
The group of universities—including Brown University, Princeton University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, California Institute of Technology and the University of Illinois—and several higher education associations have asked a federal judge in Massachusetts to immediately block the Trump administration from moving forward with a policy change aimed at reducing government spending in support of « indirect » research costs.
The DOE announced on Friday that it would cut an estimated $405 million in annual spending by limiting support of indirect costs of research funding to 15 percent, saying it would bring « greater transparency and efficiency » to federal government spending.
