12 universities sue Department of Defense and Hegseth over research funding cap

Mathew Schumer, Baltimore Sun on Jun 18, 2025

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BALTIMORE — A group of American research universities has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Defense and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, seeking to retain millions of dollars in research funding.

The universities filed the suit Monday to challenge a decision made by the Defense Department in May that would cap reimbursement of indirect costs for research funded by the department at 15%. This policy would markedly decrease the amount of money the universities receive for overhead costs to support their research.

On Tuesday, Judge Brian E. Murphy of the U.S. District Court in Boston granted a restraining order filed by the universities, temporarily barring the Defense Department from implementing the indirect cost rate cap.

The schools named in the suit are Arizona State University, Brown University, the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, Colorado State University, Cornell University, The Johns Hopkins University, the University of Maryland, College Park, the University of Illinois, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Washington.

Hopkins currently has 341 active defense department grants, totaling $436.5 million in funding from the department, with an indirect cost rate of 55%. If that rate were reduced to 15%, the university would lose $22 million, according to the suit.

The complaint also states that UMD spends about $125 million annually on research funded by the department, with an indirect cost rate of 56%. Reducing its rate to 15% would cut its indirect cost reimbursement by around $7 million, the suit says.

This is the second lawsuit Hopkins has joined as a named plaintiff against funding cuts from President Donald Trump’s administration — the first being a February lawsuit against the National Institutes of Health. Hopkins and UMD also filed in support of Harvard University’s suit against the administration earlier this month.

“If enacted, these steep and sudden cuts will undermine research at Hopkins and around the country that supports our service members and veterans and protects America,” a spokesperson for Hopkins said in an emailed statement to The Baltimore Sun.

The statement also outlined the expenses covered by indirect research funds, which include “electricity to power labs, technology infrastructure, and expert staff to maintain facilities and equipment.”

Both Hopkins and UMD recently enacted hiring freezes and other cost-cutting measures to mitigate the millions of dollars the Trump administration has cut from their funding.

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