President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Harvard on Friday, accusing the Ivy League school of discrimination.
Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon posted a video on social media announcing the legal action. She claimed that Harvard tolerated “significant and onerous racial and ethnic abuse against Israeli and Jewish students on the campus in the wake of the horrific Hamas attack in Israel on October 7, 2023.”
‘When institutions take taxpayer dollars, they accept a duty to protect civil rights.’
She noted that the school allowed “pro-Palestinian protests” to “take over” its campus, blocking Israeli and Jewish students from getting to class.
“Harvard has rules about how students should conduct themselves, but it relaxed those rules when it came to these particular protesters,” Dhillon stated.
“Every American university that takes federal funding must comply with federal law.”
The DOJ accused Harvard of violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by allowing anti-Semitic “mobs of students, faculty, and visitors” to assault, harass, and intimidate Jewish and Israeli students.
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“Since October 7, 2023, too many of our educational institutions have allowed anti-Semitism to flourish on campus — Harvard included,” Attorney General Pam Bondi stated. “Today’s litigation underscores the Trump administration’s commitment to demanding better from our nation’s schools and putting an end to discriminatory behavior that harms students.”
The DOJ noted that Harvard is slated to receive $2.6 billion in taxpayer funds under active grants from the Department of Health and Human Services.
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“Every student deserves to learn without fear of harassment or exclusion,” Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said. “When institutions take taxpayer dollars, they accept a duty to protect civil rights. We hold Harvard accountable on the principle that anti-Semitism has no place in any program funded by the American people.”
In October, Harvard issued a financial report that showed a $113 million deficit for fiscal year 2025, marking its first operating loss since 2020. This report followed Trump’s decision to withhold federal research funding from the school after he claimed it “repeatedly” failed to address anti-Semitic harassment.
Harvard released a statement responding to the lawsuit.
“Harvard cares deeply about members of our Jewish and Israeli community and remains committed to ensuring they are embraced, respected, and can thrive on our campus,” the school said. “Our actions illustrate this. Harvard has taken substantive, proactive steps to address the root causes of anti-Semitism and actively enforces anti-harassment and anti-discrimination rules and policies on campus. We also have enhanced training and education on anti-Semitism for students, faculty, and staff and launched programs to promote civil dialogue and respectful disagreement inside and outside the classroom. Harvard’s efforts demonstrate the very opposite of deliberate indifference.”
“We will continue to prioritize this important work and will defend the university against this lawsuit, which represents yet another pretextual and retaliatory action by the administration for refusing to turn over control of Harvard to the federal government,” the statement read.
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News, Harvard, Trump admin, Trump administration, Title vi, October 7, Anti-semitism, Antisemitism, Harmeet dhillon, Hamas, Pro-palestine, Israel, Anti-israel, Department of justice, Doj, Justice department, Pam bondi, Politics