WASHINGTON — The Department of Justice sued Harvard University on Friday, accusing the Ivy League school of violating federal civil rights law by having “turned a blind eye to antisemitism and discrimination against Jews and Israelis” on campus.
In a complaint filed in Boston federal court, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon alleged that Harvard demonstrated “deliberate indifference” to the harassment and “refused to enforce” rules to protect students, faculty, and staff.
“This Justice Department has no tolerance for such brazen violations of federal law,” Dhillon added in a statement.
All of the discrimination cited in the filing came after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, massacre of around 1,200 people in Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza — which sparked widespread protests at US universities and colleges.
The suit noted how anti-Israel demonstrators camped out on Harvard Yard for twenty days in spring 2024 — despite then-President Alan Garber calling out their “indefensible and unacceptable” behavior.
Harvard’s Presidential Task Force on Combating Antisemitism and Anti-Israeli Bias also called out the “exclusion of Israeli or Zionist students from social spaces and extracurricular activities” to no avail, according to the suit.
Meanwhile, Jewish and Israeli students have been “assaulted, harassed, or intimidated” by “mobs” that have taken over campus buildings and spaces.
“This sent the clear message to Harvard’s Jewish and Israeli community that the indifference was not an accident; they were being intentionally excluded and effectively denied equal access to educational opportunities,” the 44-page filing stated.
“The United States cannot and will not tolerate these failures and brings this action to compel Harvard to comply with Title VI, and to recover billions of dollars of taxpayer subsidies awarded to a discriminatory institution.”
Department of Health and Human Services grants to Harvard total more than $2.6 billion, the suit noted, and the Trump administration moved to freeze that funding last year before courts ruled against the move.
Federal civil rights law bans discrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin.
“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,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement.
Reps for Harvard did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
