Trump administration says Harvard violated civil rights of Jewish students
The university had resumed talks with the White House, but US attorneys warned Harvard might lose federal funding due to its ‘indifference’ to Jewish student safety
The US government told Harvard it violated federal civil rights law in its treatment of Jewish and Israeli students, ratcheting up the pressure on the oldest and richest US university to reach a settlement with the Trump administration to restore funding.
“Harvard has been in some cases deliberately indifferent, and in others has been a wilful participant in anti-Semitic harassment of Jewish students, faculty, and staff,” according to a letter sent to Harvard President Alan Garber. “Failure to institute adequate changes immediately will result in the loss of all federal financial resources and continue to affect Harvard’s relationship with the federal government.”
Harvard didn’t immediately provide a comment in response to the letter, which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal. The government’s finding included reports that the “majority of Jewish students reported experiencing negative bias or discrimination on campus, while a quarter felt physically unsafe.” The letter raised the prevalence of pro-Palestinian campus protests in the wake of the Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023 and the Jewish state’s retaliatory response in Gaza, and how the university failed to adequately discipline students who broke university rules.
The White House has for months made Harvard its primary target in its mission to reshape higher education, cancelling more than US$2.6 billion in research funding, threatening its tax-exempt status and attempting to block international students from attending the school. The government initially accused Harvard of fostering antisemitism, but the attack has expanded to include accusations of political bias and for promoting diversity initiatives in hiring and admissions.
It is part of a broader campaign influenced by Trump adviser and deputy chief of staff of policy Stephen Miller, which has also gone after top colleges including Columbia, Cornell, Northwestern and Yale.