Joe Scarborough says Harvard could ‘lose in the long run’ by not getting future grants even if they win in court

“Morning Joe” co-host Joe Scarborough admitted Thursday that Harvard could still find itself unable to secure future grants even if they win a court case.

Secretary of Education Linda McMahon announced May 6 that Harvard would not receive future grants, saying the Ivy League university displayed a “systemic pattern of violating federal law.” Scarborough said the outcome of a lawsuit the university filed against the Trump administration over freezing some grants may not matter.

“‘The New York Times’ had an article, Michael Schmidt had an article out last week that Harvard loses any way you look at this,” Scarborough said. “Even if they win the court battle, how are they going to get funding over the next several years for the research money? And as much as any school since World War II, Harvard has become very dependent on money from the federal government for research and development, because that’s how the United States invests in research and development. They go to the best schools, spend a lot of money.”

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“And so, yeah — so even if they win in court, the feeling is they’re probably going to lose in the long run, because where will the funding come next year and the next year?” Scarborough asked. “You hope sanity will return to Congress, but I’m doubtful.”

Harvard announced its lawsuit over the grants the Trump administration cancelled in an April 21 release published in The Harvard Gazette, the Ivy League school’s official news outlet. The Trump administration cancelled $2.2 billion in grants over the university’s failure to address antisemitism.

A report by the House Committee on Education and the Workforce released in September found that the university failed to discipline pro-Hamas protesters that disrupted classes, established an encampment and took over a building on the Ivy League school’s campus. None of the 68 students referred for discipline were suspended at the time the report was released.

During demonstrations at colleges and universities across the country since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by the radical Islamic terrorist group Hamas that killed over 1,200 people in Israel, anti-Israel protesters have occupied buildings, chanted a slogan that has connotations of wiping out Israel and blocked Jewish students from parts of campus.

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