Harvard University has been accused of failing to protect Jewish students on campus from discrimination. Photo / Getty Images
The Trump administration has notified Harvard University that a federal investigation had found the school in violation of federal civil rights law for failing to protect Jewish students on campus from discrimination.
A letter from the administration’s Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism to Harvard’s president, Alan Garber, said an investigation by the Office for Civil Rights at the Department of Health and Human Services had concluded the school was in “violent violation” of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.
The letter alleges that in some cases the university had been deliberately indifferent and in others had been “a wilful participant in anti-Semitic harassment of Jewish students, faculty and staff”.
The administration has already cut more than US$2 billion ($3.2b) in federal research funding to Harvard, contending that the school hadn’t done enough to combat anti-Semitism, among other issues. The violation notice marked the conclusion of a formal government inquiry into the matter – a step that would normally precede any punitive actions.
Harvard and other universities have been accused of not doing enough to combat anti-Semitism, especially after protests over the Israel-Gaza war intensified divisions on some campuses across the country during the 2023-2024 school year. Harvard has said it has taken numerous steps to improve the campus climate in recent months, including strengthening rules about protests, enhancing training on anti-Semitism and expanding kosher dining options.
But the university remains in a tense standoff with the Trump administration, which, on top of the more than US$2b it has cut in federal funding, has threatened to revoke the school’s tax-exempt status and tried to prevent international students from enrolling there.
Last week, White House officials said they were close to reaching a deal with Harvard, and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday (local time) referenced negotiations happening “behind closed doors”.
The letter added another pressure point.
Leavitt ticked through alleged examples of anti-Semitism on Harvard’s campus. She said a quarter of Jewish students at the school reported feeling “physically unsafe”, citing graffiti depicting an Israeli flag with a swastika, among other examples of discrimination and abuse.
“So,” she said, “I rest my case on Harvard.”
A spokesman for Harvard, Jason Newton, said anti-Semitism is a serious problem and is unacceptable. He also said Harvard is “far from indifferent on this issue” and strongly disagrees with the Government’s findings.
“Harvard has taken substantive, proactive steps to address the root causes of anti-Semitism in its community,” Newton said. “In responding to the Government’s investigation, Harvard has not only shared its comprehensive and retrospective Anti-Semitism and Anti-Israeli Bias Report but also outlined the ways that it has strengthened policies, disciplined those who violate them, encouraged civil discourse and promoted open, respectful dialogue.”
Newton said Harvard has made significant strides to combat bigotry, hate and bias. “We are not alone in confronting this challenge and recognise that this work is ongoing. We remain committed to ensuring members of our Jewish and Israeli community are embraced, respected and can thrive at Harvard.”
The administration’s letter cited problems such as a protest encampment over the war a year ago and reports that a majority of Jewish students reported negative bias or discrimination on campus. According to the letter, “Jewish and Israeli students ... hid their kippahs for fear of being harassed and concealed their Jewish identity from classmates for fear of ostracisation”.
Failure to institute adequate changes immediately will result in the loss of all federal financial resources, the letter, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, warned.
This is the second OCR Title VI investigation by the Trump administration “that examines the civil rights liability of a federal funding recipient for race and national origin discrimination under a deliberate indifference theory”, according to Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) officials. Title VI prohibits recipients of federal funding from discrimination on the basis of race, colour or national origin; that includes discrimination based on shared national ancestry, such as Jewish heritage.
In May, the agency said it had determined that Columbia University had violated the law. The Trump administration had already cancelled US$400 million in research funding to Columbia – four days after it announced it was launching an investigation.
Typically, inquiries into alleged violations of Title VI follow procedures that are dictated in part by federal law: complaints are investigated and, if substantiated, government officials give the institution a chance to come into voluntary compliance. There’s usually a negotiated agreement, including changes by the university that can include government oversight. If the university does not come to an agreement or does not abide by the terms, the investigation could be referred to the Justice Department, which could then ask a federal court to withhold funding. An agency could also ask an administrative law judge whether funding should be withheld.
The actions related to Harvard are part of the normal process for such investigations. But they come months after the Trump administration began slashing research funding at the school.
“Ironically, the word that comes to mind is chutzpah,” said Benjamin Eidelson, a professor at Harvard Law School who was speaking in his individual capacity, not for the school. “The bulk of the allegations are that students said and did various things that offended many Jewish students – not that people were targeted for any adverse treatment because of a protected characteristic. But the Trump administration has renounced the whole idea that discrimination claims can be based on effects on a group, rather than specific intent to harm them, in every context except this one.”
Eidelson, who teaches anti-discrimination law, is an author of a recent piece in the Harvard Law Review, titled “Anti-Semitism, Anti-Zionism and Title VI: A Guide for the Perplexed”.
HHS officials said the findings at Harvard were based on sources that included documents produced during the investigation, the school’s policies, a congressional investigation, media reports and, extensively, Harvard’s own taskforce report on the issue.
The 23-page notice of violation details what it calls a pattern of unlawful and unchecked discrimination over a 19-month period at Harvard through “direct student-on-student harassment; targeted harassment by student groups; exclusion from campus spaces; and institutional-level acceptance of anti-Semitism”.
In January, Harvard announced, without admitting to wrongdoing, settlements in two lawsuits brought by the Brandeis Centre and Jewish Americans for Fairness in Education and, separately, Students Against Anti-Semitism. The university agreed to build on changes it had already made to address the issue, including publishing an annual public report for the next five years on Harvard’s response to discrimination or harassment and transparency around disciplinary actions in Title VI-related issues.
On Monday (local time), a federal official said the university had not done enough.
“Harvard’s public pledges to improve its disciplinary framework for harassment and misconduct are inadequate to meaningfully address these serious findings,” Paula M. Stannard, director of the Office for Civil Rights at the HHS, said in a written statement. She said the agency “stands ready to re-engage in productive discussions with Harvard to reach resolution on the corrective action that Harvard can take to remedy the violations and come into compliance with its Title VI obligations”.
– Susan Svrluga is a reporter covering higher education for the Washington Post.