US appeals Harvard court victory on $2 billion funding freeze

WASHINGTON, Dec 19 (Reuters) - The U.S. government has appealed a court ruling that President ​Donald Trump's administration unlawfully terminated about $2.2 billion ‌in grants awarded to Harvard University and can no longer ‌cut off research funding to the Ivy League school.

The Trump administration filed the appeal notice on Thursday, close to the end of a 60-day ⁠deadline. The appeal ‌will be heard by the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston.

The ‍decision in September by U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs in Boston marked a major legal victory for Harvard ​as it sought to cut a deal ‌that could bring an end to the White House's multi-front conflict with the nation's oldest and richest university.

The university in Cambridge, Massachusetts became a central focus of the administration's broad campaign to ⁠leverage federal funding to ​force change at U.S. universities, ​which Trump says are gripped by antisemitic and "radical left" ideologies.

The administration cancelled hundreds of ‍grants awarded ⁠to Harvard researchers on the grounds the school failed to do enough to address harassment ⁠of Jewish students on its campus, prompting Harvard to ‌sue.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond and Doina Chiacu; ‌Editing by Chizu Nomiyama )