A Trump administration investigation concluded that Harvard University violated federal civil rights law by failing to protect Jewish students on campus. The conclusion puts the university at risk of losing additional federal funding.
In a separate letter to the university summarizing the investigation’s findings, a federal task force said: “Harvard has been, in some cases, deliberately indifferent, and in others, deliberately complicit in antisemitic harassment against Jewish students, faculty, and staff”.
It is the latest chapter in a battle between the federal government and the world’s richest university.
In a statement, a Harvard spokesperson said: “Harvard is far from indifferent to this issue and strongly disagrees with the government’s conclusions”.
The university says it has taken a series of measures to better protect against antisemitism and support Jewish students on campus.
“We remain committed to ensuring that members of our Jewish and Israeli community are welcomed, respected, and able to thrive at Harvard,” the statement said.
The investigation was completed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights, and its conclusions outline the violations that, according to it, occurred on the Cambridge, Mass., campus since October 7, 2023.
“The OCR concludes that specific and repeated examples discovered during our investigation establish a pattern of illegal and uncontrolled discrimination at Harvard,” the report says.
Earlier this year, Harvard created its own task force to investigate antisemitism on campus, and many examples and quotes from that report were cited in the OCR’s federal review.
Harvard has already had more than $2 billion in federal funds canceled or frozen and is currently suing the administration. A hearing for that trial is scheduled for mid-July.
Source: npr.org by Elissa Nadworny