The entire research model of the United States is threatened with destruction.

“Around the time of World War II, the U.S. government started funding universities for the purpose of aiding the war effort, funneling money toward medical research, innovation and financial aid for students,” according to The New York Times.

“The relationship between the federal government and higher education soon became symbiotic. As the government counted on universities to produce educated and employable students, as well as breakthrough scientific research, universities came to rely on continued funding.”

Ever since the Second World War, research universities have pursued original research in all fields of knowledge with the support of various agencies of the federal government. Public and private research universities develop laboratories, libraries, and other facilities to pursue fundamental and applied research, in partnership with federal and state government agencies.

Federal agencies such as the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Department of Defense, Department of State, Department of Energy, Department of Education, and National Endowment for the Humanities hold competitions for research grants to obtain federal research funding. These competitions involve rigorous peer review evaluations and ranking of proposals in order to select the most promising research projects to fund.

“Big Science” depends on this partnership between the federal government and research universities.

The New York Times reports that “In 1970, the government dispersed about $3.4 billion to higher education. Today, individual colleges depend on what could be billions of dollars, which mainly go toward financial aid and research. Harvard alone receives $9 billion.”

The United States has led the world in science and knowledge development over the past 70 years because of the excellence of its research model based on intensive research conducted at research universities based on funding by federal research grants.

The Trump administration is now attacking the entire system of research and knowledge production in the United States.

The New York Times reports that “the funding freezes have caused work stoppages, cut contracts, imperiled medical research and left students in limbo. Reductions can also affect hospitals that are affiliated with universities, like the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Boston Children’s Hospital, both of which are affiliated with Harvard.”

“Universities have stressed that losing federal funding would jeopardize dozens of medical and scientific studies, including those on cancer and diabetes.”

“After the Trump administration froze $1 billion for Cornell, the university said that affected grants included “research into new materials for jet engines, propulsion systems, large-scale information networks, robotics, superconductors, and space and satellite communications, as well as cancer research,” according to The New York Times.

“When Mr. Trump pulled $790 million from Northwestern, the university said that the freeze would hinder its research on robotics, nanotechnology, foreign military training and Parkinson’s disease.”

Harvard University has rightly rejected the Trump administration’s anti-research policies and coercive measures against institutions of higher education.

The Trump administration’s assault research universities threatens not only their research model, but also academic freedom, freedom of speech, faculty governance, faculty hiring, curricular integrity, peer review processes, and university autonomy.

Minsberg, Talya. “What to Know as Trump Freezes Federal Funds for Harvard and Other Universities.” The New York Times (15 April 2025).