Harvard to set aside $250 million to support research amid federal funding cuts

Harvard plans to dedicate at least $250 million from its budget in the coming year to help sustain research threatened by recent federal funding cuts.

The initial allocation will "support critical research activity for a transitional period" as the university looks for other sources of funding after the Trump administration slashed federal funds to the school, Harvard President Alan Garber and Provost John Manning wrote in a campus-wide message Wednesday.

The amount will add to the roughly $520 million a year Harvard already allots to direct research support. Still, Garber and Manning hinted at future belt-tightening to come during this time of "significant financial constraint."

They wrote that school leaders will decide "how to adjust research programs in this changing funding environment" and that academic leaders, research faculty and staff will "find ways to support vital research while identifying necessary savings."

“We understand the uncertainty that these times have brought and the burden our community faces,” Garber and Manning wrote. “We are here to support you.”

Their message follows an escalating series of actions taken by the Trump administration against the Cambridge institution in recent days. A federal joint task force on Tuesday announced an additional $450 million in canceled grants from eight federal agencies, on top of an already-frozen $2.2 billion that has paused or threatened scientific and medical research projects.

The federal administration pulled funding a month ago after Harvard rejected a list of demands from the Trump administration, which alleges the school hasn't done enough to curb antisemitism on campus.

Harvard has since sued the administration in Boston federal court to block the funding freeze. But a hearing in the matter won't take place until late July, and lawyers for the university have not sought a preliminary injunction. Harvard amended its complaint a few days ago to include the latest notices of suspended research grants from agencies including energy, health and human services and agriculture.

In their message Wednesday, Garber and Manning said the university can’t absorb the entirety of the canceled federal funds and warned that vital research is at risk. Long-term impacts of stalled scientific research “could be severe and lasting.”

“It is crucial for this country, the economy, and humankind that this work continue,” Garber and Manning wrote, adding they will "continue to fight the unlawful freeze and termination" of federal grants.

Meanwhile, a university spokesman confirmed Wednesday a Harvard Crimson report that Garber will take a voluntary 25% pay cut to his salary for the next fiscal year beginning July 1. Though his actual compensation was not provided, Harvard presidents in recent years have drawn a roughly $1 million salary. Other university leaders may take voluntary salary cuts as well.

Individual schools are also taking cost cutting measures. Harvard Medical School leaders said last month they won't be offering merit pay increases to nonunion staff and faculty that would have otherwise kicked in July 1. A hiring freeze that's been in place since March will extend through at least Sept. 1.