Trump Govt Accuses Harvard Of Civil Rights Violations Against Jewish Students, Escalates Crackdown

Last Updated:July 01, 2025, 07:20 IST

The decision marks a significant escalation in the administration’s ongoing battle with Harvard, which has already seen $2.5 billion in federal grant funding frozen.

More than 200 university presidents, including those from Princeton, Brown and Columbia signed a joint statement to condemn Trump’s 'government overreach'. (Reuters file photo)

The Trump administration on Monday accused Harvard University of violating federal civil rights laws by failing to address the harassment of Jewish and Israeli students adequately. The findings come after a federal investigation concluded that the university showed “deliberate indifference" toward reported cases of antisemitic discrimination on campus. However, critics, including faculty members and civil rights groups, argue the move is part of a broader effort by the administration to exert control over higher education institutions.

The decision marks a significant escalation in the administration’s ongoing battle with Harvard, which has already seen $2.5 billion in federal grant funding frozen. University leaders have warned that such actions pose a serious threat to academic freedom, free speech, and vital scientific research.

In its findings, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) accused Harvard of failing to take timely or effective action to address a series of antisemitic harassment incidents. A letter sent to Harvard President Alan Garber warned that unless the university immediately implements corrective measures, it risks losing all federal financial assistance.

“Failure to institute adequate changes immediately will result in the loss of all federal financial resources," the administration stated in the letter, which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

In response, Harvard issued a statement pushing back strongly against the government’s conclusions, asserting that the university has taken “substantive, proactive steps" to combat antisemitism. This includes reforming disciplinary procedures and expanding campus training to address antisemitic incidents. “Harvard is far from indifferent on this issue and strongly disagrees with the government’s findings," the university said.

Monday’s development is the latest in what has become an expansive and aggressive campaign by the Trump administration against elite universities. The administration has moved not only to freeze funding but also to block Harvard from enrolling international students and has threatened its tax-exempt status. The university has filed legal challenges against these measures.

The crackdown extends beyond Harvard. Earlier this year, the administration terminated $400 million in grants and contracts to Columbia University, citing the school’s alleged failure to protect Jewish students amid campus protests related to the Israel-Gaza conflict, despite some of those protests being organised by Jewish students themselves. Critics argue that these punitive actions violate constitutional protections of free speech and due process.

In the wake of the Columbia controversy, the university entered negotiations with the administration over demands to tighten protest rules. The dispute culminated in the resignation of Columbia’s interim president, Katrina Armstrong. In May, the administration determined that Columbia had violated federal civil rights laws, similar to the conclusion reached regarding Harvard.

The administration has expanded this campaign to other institutions. On Friday, the University of Virginia’s president, James Ryan, resigned following pressure over the university’s diversity, equity, and inclusion policies. And last week, federal officials opened an investigation into the University of California system, which enrols nearly 300,000 students, focusing on whether its hiring practices violate anti-discrimination laws.

(With inputs from Reuters)

Abhro Banerjee

Covering day-to-day national and international news for the last nine years across print and digital. Associated with News18.com as Chief Sub-Editor since 2022, covering innumerable big and small events, includ...Read More

Covering day-to-day national and international news for the last nine years across print and digital. Associated with News18.com as Chief Sub-Editor since 2022, covering innumerable big and small events, includ...

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