Noah Feldman, Columnist

Here Is Harvard's Best Argument Against Funding Cuts

Claims over Title VI are only the most obvious legal battleground, and it may all come down to freedom of speech.

April 15, 2025 at 3:44 PM UTC

Noah Feldman is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. A professor of law at Harvard University, he is author, most recently, of “To Be a Jew Today: A New Guide to God, Israel, and the Jewish People."

Can Harvard fight back?
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Harvard University is betting everything on the rule of law. Standing up to President Donald Trump and refusing to accede to unlawful conditions on federal funding is the right thing to do. It’s necessary to defend academic freedom and the future of all American universities as global leaders in the pursuit of truth.

But for the effort to succeed, it’s not enough for Harvard to be right. The legal battle that is just starting will be every bit as important as the strong stand that the university’s president, Alan Garber, laid out in an open letter on Monday.