Hillel International Backs Harvard in Appeal Over $2.7 Billion Funding Freeze

Editor’s note, Jul. 22, 2026: After the publication of this article, a spokesperson for Hillel International said the organization would move to withdraw its amicus brief backing Harvard because it had not gone through the organization’s internal review process. A follow-up article reports the details of the reversal.

—Dhruv T. Patel, Managing Editor

—E. Matteo Diaz, President

Hillel International backed Harvard’s effort to defend a ruling restoring roughly $2.7 billion in federal grants in an amicus brief filed Wednesday, calling the Trump administration’s funding freeze a “draconian one-size-fits-all” response to campus antisemitism.

The 22-page brief instructs the First Circuit to affirm a sweeping September ruling that found the administration’s funding freeze orders violated Harvard’s First Amendment rights. The federal government appealed in December.

Hillel International based its support on measurable steps taken by Harvard to address campus antisemitism in the aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel and what the brief called the “very serious number” of antisemitic incidents in the months that followed.

The filing marks a notable show of support from Hillel International — the nation’s largest Jewish campus organization — as the University pushes back against the government’s use of antisemitism to justify broad funding cuts. Hillel International did not file a brief when the case was before the district court last year.

Though Hillel International wrote that campus antisemitism remained a serious problem, it argued that the administration’s across-the-board funding cuts were not a constructive response.

“The government appears more interested in vastly reshaping universities—or even destroying them—than combating the specific problem of antisemitism within them,” lawyers for the organization wrote.

The brief praised several changes to University policy and Harvard’s release of its final task force report on antisemitism and anti-Israeli bias, including tighter protest restrictions, mandatory bias training, and clarified guidelines for reporting Title VI violations.

In particular, Hillel International wrote that Harvard had agreed to hold Hillel-sponsored training for teaching assistants and had previously hosted sessions with Project Shema, a partner organization that facilitates antisemitism education at universities.

The brief also credited Harvard with widening its course offerings to include additional instruction on the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Jewish identity alongside new faculty hires and “expanded partnerships with other institutions of higher learning.”

Harvard announced two new partnerships with Israeli universities last July, launching an undergraduate study abroad program at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and a postdoctoral fellowship for Israeli scientists at Harvard Medical School.

Members of the Hillel International Board of Directors visited Harvard Hillel as recently as last December, meeting with Harvard Hillel Executive Director Rabbi Jason B. Rubenstein ’04, according to the brief.

The organization argued separately that stripping Harvard’s funding could undercut the government’s stated goal by withholding support from Jewish students and researchers.

“Coercive measures that cut Harvard off from billions of dollars in lifesaving scientific and medical research, on the other hand, do not help Jewish students or improve the campus climate,” they wrote. “To the contrary, they disproportionately impact the very Jewish students and Jewish researchers the government purportedly seeks to help.”

The filing comes as Harvard stares down a separate Justice Department lawsuit alleging that the University was “deliberately indifferent” to antisemitic and anti-Israeli harassment after Oct. 7. Harvard asked the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts to dismiss the complaint in May, arguing it ignored the University’s response in the years since.

Hillel International appeared to agree on Wednesday.

“While there is still much more to be done, and the issues are far from resolved, Hillel believes that Harvard is on the right track,” Hillel International wrote.

—Staff writer Hugo C. Chiasson can be reached at [email protected] or on Signal at hcc.35. Follow him on X @HugoChiassonn.

—Staff writer Elise A. Spenner can be reached at [email protected] or on Signal at elisespenner.82. Follow her on X @EliseSpenner.