Harvard’s position is “going to change the dynamics and increase the odds that other institutions take a more adversarial position versus the Trump administration,” said Evan Horowitz, executive director for Tufts University’s Center for State Policy Analysis. “That may well be the right call morally and legally, but definitely raises the economic stakes.”

Colleges and universities provide more than 320,000 jobs in Massachusetts and generate $71 billion for the local economy, according to the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts. In a statement after Harvard’s announcement, Massachusetts Institute of Technology President Sally Kornbluth emphasized the school’s own efforts to fight back against cuts to funding from the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Energy, as well as unexpected visa revocations for students.

As the richest US university, with a $53 billion endowment, Harvard has more financial power than others to weather a potential legal and political fight. But the funding freeze will still have serious consequences, particularly for researchers who can’t afford to keep labs open without the government’s support.

Harvard had already temporarily frozen hiring amid the uncertainty. More than 18,700 Massachusetts residents, including professors but also research assistants, lab technicians and administrators, work for Harvard, making it the state’s fourth-largest employer, according to a 2023 report from the school. Spending cutbacks “will ripple out into the community,” Horowitz said.

The review of Harvard’s handling of alleged antisemitism also collides with a separate probe by the Department of Justice into Boston’s response to unspecified incidents. Trump has also threatened to cut off funding for sanctuary cities, including Boston. The city receives about $300 million each year from Washington.

While Harvard is based in Cambridge, the university has significant operations in Boston, including Harvard Business School, Harvard Medical School and the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Unlike many medical schools, Harvard doesn’t have its own teaching hospital and instead relies on a network spread across Massachusetts.

The impact of the federal investigation on Mass General Brigham and other Harvard Medical School teaching hospitals is “unknown,” Anne Klibanski, the hospital system’s chief executive officer, wrote in a message to employees. The organization doesn’t believe the administration’s demands apply to it and Mass General Brigham stands behind its own non-discrimination policies, she said.

Healey has warned of serious consequences for Massachusetts if the Trump administration follows through on funding cuts. The education and medical industries in Massachusetts “are under attack right now,” she said at a February event hosted by the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. The state must protect and defend those institutions, Healey added.

“Who wants to kill medical research? Who wants to kill research for the next generation weapons systems?,” she said. “Research is good. It’s America, for god’s sake.”

She called upon the business community to take a stand, pointing to the sweeping ramifications of a funding pullback. Companies that make the equipment for labs, banks that provide financing, lawyers and other professional services firms that work with these organizations, as well as real estate companies, would all be affected by cuts, she said.

A March report from the nonprofit United for Medical Research found that every dollar of research funded by the NIH yields $2.56 in economic activity.

Healey this week expressed gratitude to Harvard for “standing against the Trump Administration’s brazen attempt to bully schools and weaponize the U.S. Department of Justice under the false pretext of civil rights.”

Even those who had initially criticized Harvard rallied in support.

Representative Jake Auchincloss, a Democrat from Massachusetts and also a Harvard graduate, had said last year that federal funding cuts should be “on the table” for the university and others over their response to antisemitism on campus.

This week, he backed Harvard for “defending teaching and research from Trump’s attacks,” while also calling on the school to continue fighting antisemitism and restoring ideological diversity.

(Updates with Trump comment in third paragraph)

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