The Department of Health and Human Services has referred Harvard University for suspension and debarment of federal funding over its treatment of Jewish students.

The university has 20 days to decide if it will attend an administrative hearing over the potential of losing its federal funding.

The HHS Office of Civil Rights reported that it found extensive evidence that Jewish and Israeli students felt threatened and unsafe on campus at Harvard since the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel by the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

Federal authorities say that Harvard University violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bans discrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin in programs that receive federal funding.

The department’s lengthy report notes that its officials spoke with more than 500 students before making its findings.

“The hostility about which we heard has had significant consequences that are degrading to the University. Some Jewish students told us they turned down offers of admission at Harvard Schools. Some Jewish students completing PhDs said they decided to leave for private industry because of the perception and experience of academia being unfriendly to Jews,” the report reads.

“Some non-Jewish faculty told us that Jewish candidates turned down post-doctoral fellowships at Harvard. We also heard from Jewish medical school students that they shied away from residencies at Harvard’s hospitals because of the deep politicization of the climate,” the report states. “We have heard from many dozens of non-Jewish students, faculty, and staff who were profoundly troubled at what they described as an intolerance that has crept into higher education and that is also on display at Harvard.”

Universities that receive federal financial aid must not discriminate.

From 2023-2025, Harvard received more than $794 million in federal aid from HHS, according to the report.

Harvard could be suspended for a period of a year from federal aid from HHS or it could extend through debarment for a number of years.

A spokesperson for the university did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Some of the examples listed in the report that included alleged evidence of discrimination included: student on student harassment, student groups leading harassment and intimidation, acceptance of antisemitism and exclusion from campus.

“Reports of Jewish and Israeli students being spit on in the face for wearing a yarmulke, stalked on campus, and jeered by peers with calls of ’Heil Hitler’ while waiting for campus transportation went unheeded by Harvard administration and resulted in Jewish and Israeli students constantly fearing for their physical safety,” the report reads.

The Trump administration’s move comes weeks after a federal court restored $2.7 billion in frozen research to the university that the feds had looked to pause.

The administration originally looked to pause the research funds in May, but U.S. District Judge Allison D. Burroughs ruled that the move violated the First Amendment.

• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.