The U.S. Department of Justice on Friday filed a lawsuit accusing Harvard University of violating federal civil rights law by failing to address antisemitic harassment on campus. The complaint alleges Harvard was “deliberately indifferent” to harassment of Jewish and Israeli students, and intentionally failed to apply campus rules when victims were Jewish or Israeli, effectively denying those students equal access to educational opportunities.
The government says it will not tolerate such failures and is seeking to force Harvard into compliance with federal civil rights obligations, while also pursuing the recovery of billions in taxpayer-funded subsidies it contends were awarded to a discriminatory institution. Harvard has not issued a public response to the lawsuit.
According to the filing, the Justice Department’s review began less than two weeks after President Donald Trump took office and examined conduct before and after pro-Palestinian demonstrations tied to the Israel-Hamas war. The suit asserts Harvard did not discipline staff or students who protested or appeared to endorse demonstrations, including instances where classes were canceled or dismissed to accommodate protests.
Harvard has disputed the government’s conclusions and reiterated its commitment to fighting bias. The university said antisemitism is a serious, unacceptable problem and that it has taken substantive steps to address root causes. Harvard President Alan Garber told officials the school convened a task force on antisemitism, appointed a new provost and deans, and revised disciplinary policies to make them more consistent, fair and effective.
The Trump administration has used similar tactics with other universities, freezing billions in research grants that many institutions depend on. When negotiations break down after a civil-rights finding, the government can seek to cut federal funding administratively or refer cases to the Justice Department for litigation, as it did with Harvard.
Some universities have reached settlements that restored funding; those agreements sometimes included direct payments, such as Columbia’s $200 million and Brown’s $50 million contributions toward state workforce programs. Reports indicated Harvard and the administration had been near a settlement that might have required a $500 million payment to regain federal funding, a figure later raised by Trump to $1 billion, who said Harvard had been “behaving very badly.”
Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education, described the administration’s approach as a “full scale, multi-pronged” attack, adding, “When bullies pound on the table and don’t get what they want, they pound again.”