Harvard University violated federal civil rights law by failing to protect Jewish and Israeli students, the Trump administration found after an investigation by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The administration is now threatening to cut off all funding to the university if action is not taken to address the violation.
HHS’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) found Harvard to be in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on race and ethnicity. The university has been a “willful participant in anti-Semitic harassment of Jewish students, faculty, and staff,” the agency wrote in a letter 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.”
The official finding and threat to cut off all funding represents a stark escalation in the administration’s ongoing war against Harvard, which has already resulted in significant funding cuts and a ban on the enrollment of foreign students. Harvard is currently suing the administration for making what is says are unconstitutional demands to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and increase ideological diversity on the faculty.
The Monday letter notes that a majority of Jewish students on campus reported experiencing discrimination, while a quarter of them felt physically unsafe. According to the notice, Jewish and Israeli students reported being assaulted, spat on, and having to conceal their Jewish identity from their classmates. One image circulated among the student body showed a dollar sign inside a Star of David. Additionally, anti-Israel stickers were placed around campus, including an Israeli flag with a swastika on it.
The letter also alleged that Harvard failed to respond to antisemitic protests: “The campus was wracked by demonstrations that flagrantly violated the University’s rules of conduct. The demonstrations included calls for genocide and murder, and denied Jewish and Israeli students access to campus spaces.” Students who participated in last year’s encampment received “received lax and inconsistent discipline.” OCR wrote, “By the end of the process, even accounting only for the students that were charged, only a fraction received some sort of discipline, and none were suspended.”
The Trump administration said Harvard did not dispute its finding “nor could it,” as “Harvard’s commitment to racial hierarchies—where individuals are sorted and judged according to their membership in an oppressed group identity and not individual merit—has enabled anti-Semitism to fester on Harvard’s campus and has led a once great institution to humiliation.”
“Harvard may of course continue to operate free of federal privileges, and perhaps such an opportunity will spur a commitment to excellence that will help Harvard thrive once again.”
Harvard University did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NR.