The Trump administration sued Harvard University, alleging the school violated Jewish students’ civil rights, in the latest escalation of the government’s yearlong campaign against the Ivy League school.
The suit alleged Harvard failed to protect its Jewish and Israeli students by ignoring hostility on campus and refusing to enforce antiharassment rules. The suit, being filed Friday in federal district court in Massachusetts, sought to compel the school to comply with civil rights law and recover millions of taxpayer dollars that Harvard accepted while allegedly in violation of the law, Wall Street Journal reported.
Harvard was currently set to receive more than $2.6 billion in grants from the Department of Health and Human Services, among other federal agencies, according to the lawsuit.
Since Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023 assault on Israeli civilians, “too many of our educational institutions have allowed anti-Semitism to flourish on campus, Harvard included,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said.
Harvard didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
It previously said it devoted considerable efforts to addressing antisemitism on its campus, including strengthening rules and discipline measures against those who violated them.
The lawsuit was the latest tactic in the Trump administration’s battle against Harvard and other elite universities. The administration froze $2.2 billion in federal research grants to Harvard last spring over allegations that the school tolerated antisemitism on campus. Since then, the administration threatened its tax-exempt status, targeted its ability to enrol international students and probed its acceptance of foreign donations.
Harvard sued the administration and won a key court battle in September last year. A federal judge ruled that the Trump administration’s funding cuts were unconstitutional and ordered the money restored. In December, the administration filed an appeal. Harvard said it remained confident in its legal position.
Harvard remained deeply dependent on federal funding, and President Trump had many levers he could pull to damage the university.
In February, Trump posted on social media that he would seek $1 billion in damages from the school. A few days later, the Defense Department severed academic ties with Harvard, and the Justice Department then sued Harvard for allegedly failing to produce admissions documents it said it needed in an investigation into whether the school discriminates against white applicants.
