Federal investigation finds Harvard violated civil rights law

A Trump administration investigation has found that Harvard University violated federal civil rights law by failing to protect Jewish students on campus. The finding puts the school 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 has been a willful participant in anti-Semitic harassment of Jewish students, faculty, and staff.”

It is the latest in a battle between the federal government and the world’s wealthiest university.

In a statement a Harvard spokesperson said, “Harvard is far from indifferent on this issue and strongly disagrees with the government’s findings.”

The university says it has taken a number of steps to better protect against antisemitism and support Jewish students on campus.

“We remain committed to ensuring members of our Jewish and Israeli community are embraced, respected, and can 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 findings outline the violations it says occurred on the Cambridge, Mass., campus since Oct. 7, 2023.

“OCR finds that specific and repeated examples uncovered during our investigation establish a pattern of unlawful and unchecked 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 federal OCR 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 set for mid July.