Trump Admin. Investigating Whether Harvard is Complying With SCOTUS Ruling on Affirmative Action
“If it is found liable, Harvard will have to return money to the government and could be fined hundreds of millions of dollars.”
The hits just keep coming for Harvard. Just remember, with no Trump administration it would just be business as usual.
The New York Times reports:
Trump Administration Escalates Harvard Feud With New Justice Dept. Investigation
The Trump administration is investigating whether Harvard’s admissions policies comply with a Supreme Court ruling that ended affirmative action, opening a new front in its widening effort to bring the institution to heel.
In a letter on Monday, the Justice Department notified Harvard about an investigation into whether its admissions process had been used to defraud the government. The inquiry was opened under the False Claims Act, a law designed to punish those who swindle the government, according to the letter, which was reviewed by The New York Times.
The investigation adds to the mounting pressure on the nation’s oldest, wealthiest university to overhaul its admissions, curriculum and hiring practices to align with President Trump’s political agenda. The Education Department also informed Harvard earlier this month that its admissions policies were the subject of a new compliance review to determine whether the university was racially discriminating against undergraduate applicants, according to a letter from the agency that was also seen by The Times.
The compliance review and the Justice Department investigation have not been previously reported. Targeting a university under the False Claims Act is highly unusual, reflecting the administration’s increasingly aggressive tactics.
False Claims Act investigations typically focus on contractors accused of bilking the government. If it is found liable, Harvard will have to return money to the government and could be fined hundreds of millions of dollars.
The new inquiries push the administration deeper into a politically combustible debate over wealth, privilege and race. It is also the latest example of the Trump administration’s willingness to use the vast powers of the Justice Department to further its political goals.
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Comments
And so it begins . . . .
As I previously analyzed here on LI:
https://legalinsurrection.com/2025/04/trump-admin-should-unleash-the-false-claims-act-to-end-discrimination-in-higher-education/
the use of the FCA against universities like this is sound, and is based on the nondiscrimination certifications that are a prerequisite for federal funds. If Harvard fibbed in its certifications — and the evidence is strong that it did — then Harvard must refund 300% of all federal funds obtained on the back of a false certification. This isn’t difficult legal analysis.
As far as the NYT breathlessly worrying that such use of the FCA is “unusual,” perhaps it should look at all the BigLaw posts (some of which are linked in my article) in which firms that routinely represent universities and federal contractors have been warning of the potential FCA liabilities for submitting false nondiscrimination certifications for months.
The only reason we haven’t seen the FCA used like this before is that the Biden administration was perfectly willing to look the other way when universities lied in their nondiscrimination certifications (i.e., they swore they did not favor or disfavor anyone based on race, color, national origin, ethnicity, sex, etc., in admissions, hiring, promotions, etc., while maintaining such discriminatory programs and practices).
As one of my old professors (who has been one of the leading scholars on race relations for the last 50 years, and has been the head of a department at at T1 university) told me regarding nondiscrimination certifications, “we all lie, and we all know we all lie.” The coming FCA suits by the government and by whistleblowers are simply the result of having an administration unwilling to overlook such lies.
this is worth the dojs time
bust harvard to the core
I want to repurpose their campus for low income immigrant housing. Cambridge loves its immigrants and this would give them more to love.
Oh, I don’t know… Why not turn the Harvard grounds and property into a university?
Good. This is exactly right.