Harvard College graduates attend the college’s 374th graduation ceremony on Might 29, 2025 in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
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The Trump administration on Monday mentioned an investigation into Harvard University discovered the college had violated the federally protected civil rights of Jewish and Israeli college students.
In a letter to school president Alan Garber, the civil rights workplace of the Division of Well being and Human Companies mentioned Jewish college students on campus had been subjected to “extreme, pervasive and objectively offensive harassment” following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas assault on Israel.
The investigation discovered what the Trump administration described as a “sample of illegal and unchecked discrimination” on the nation’s oldest college.
These actions, coupled with Harvard’s response, comprised a violation of the scholars’ civil rights underneath Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
The investigation concluded that Harvard’s response to the alleged harassment was akin to “deliberate indifference,” the civil rights workplace wrote.
“Harvard’s public pledges to enhance its disciplinary framework for harassment and misconduct are insufficient to meaningfully deal with these critical findings,” the workplace’s director, Paula Stannard, mentioned in a statement.
The examples of alleged civil rights violations uncovered by the probe embrace “focused harassment” of Jewish college students and “institutional acceptance of antisemitism.”
The letter additionally claimed that Harvard’s response to earlier notification that the Workplace for Civil Rights had launched an investigation was, “too little, too late.”
The letter mentioned that “absent voluntary compliance” from Harvard, the civil rights workplace would refer the college to the Division of Justice, which may file a federal civil go well with in opposition to the college.
In response to the letter, Harvard mentioned that it has taken “substantive, proactive steps” to handle antisemitism on the campus.
“Harvard is way from detached on this challenge and strongly disagrees with the federal government’s findings,” the college mentioned in a press release to CNBC.
“Harvard has made vital strides to fight bigotry, hate and bias. We aren’t alone in confronting this problem and acknowledge that this work is ongoing.”
The findings of the investigation are the regulation in a sequence of escalating authorized and coverage confrontations between the Trump administration and Harvard, the nation’s wealthiest college.
In Might, the administration introduced it was terminating the rest of its federal grants to the college. This ultimate minimize got here on high of a grant freeze the month earlier than that had amounted to greater than $2 billion.
Harvard is only one of a number of elite universities focused by the Trump administration for alleged violations of scholars’ civil rights. In Might, HHS issued the same notice of violation to Columbia College.
Harvard has engaged in restricted negotiations with the Trump administration, however paused them after the White Home demanded federal supervision over the college’s admissions and personnel choices.
President Donald Trump claimed earlier this month that the administration had been “working carefully with Harvard, and it is vitally doable {that a} Deal will probably be introduced over the following week or so.”
Trump mentioned the faculty had “acted extraordinarily appropriately throughout these negotiations, and look like dedicated to doing what is correct. If a Settlement is made on the premise that’s presently being mentioned, will probably be ‘mindbogglingly’ HISTORIC, and excellent for our Nation,” he posted on social media June 20.
On the time, Harvard declined to touch upon the president’s publish.