2 Oregon universities back up Harvard in lawsuit against the Trump administration

Oregon State University and the University of Oregon this week joined 22 higher education institutions seeking to support Harvard University in its lawsuit against the Trump administration

over funding cuts

and

freezes

.

The other institutions that have signed an amicus brief on behalf of Harvard include top research universities such as Stanford, Princeton, Johns Hopkins and Yale.

“Terminating funding disrupts ongoing projects, ruins experiments and datasets, destroys the careers of aspiring scientists, and deters investment in the long-term research that only the academy — with federal funding — can pursue, threatening the pace of progress and undermining American leadership in the process,” the court document said.

On Tuesday, Oregon State — which last year received a total of $370 million in direct federal investment for 2,400 research projects — sent a campus-wide email explaining its decision.

“Extensive federal research funding cuts to universities – such as those imperiling Harvard – threaten the decades-long partnership between government and research universities that has led to countless scientific and medical breakthroughs contributing to the prosperity, health and security of generations of Americans and people around the world,” the email said.

“As Oregon’s leading research university, OSU has played an important role in building coalitions with peer universities and others to advocate on behalf of the university’s mission and higher education as a whole.”

University of Oregon spokesperson Angela Seydel declined to elaborate on its move, saying the “decision to join with this group of peers in support of Harvard speaks for itself.”

—Kimberly Cortez covers breaking news, public safety and more for The Oregonian/OregonLive. She can be reached at


kcortez@oregonian.com

Stories by

Kimberly Cortez

• Missing teen brothers believed to have been in danger in Portland are found

  

  Ex-prosecutor, high ranking staffer accuse Multnomah DA of discrimination

• Long life of divisive Uncle Sam billboard off I-5 in Washington nears end with sale of land

• Sunnyside fire grows to 750 acres in central Oregon

• No students are involved in case of Gresham teacher charged with child sex crimes, district says

• Grand Floral Parade shines bright in downtown Portland

About The Author