On Friday, the U.S. Department of Justice announced it is filing a lawsuit against Harvard University for race and national origin discrimination against Jewish and Israeli students. In a press release, the DOJ accused Harvard of “selectively enforcing” campus rules that allowed Jewish students to be harassed and assaulted.
“Harvard has been deliberately indifferent to its Jewish and Israeli students’ plight and failed to prevent such conduct by selectively enforcing its campus rules to permit it to continue,” read the press release.
“Harvard failed to meaningfully discipline the mobs that occupied its buildings and terrorized its Jewish and Israeli students. Federal law prohibits discrimination based on race, color, or national origin in schools that accept federal funding.”
In a video posted to X, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon emphasized the importance of the lawsuit, stating that no public institution should receive federal funding if it shows indifference to racial or ethnic abuse.
“Harvard allowed pro-Palestinian protests to take over the campus… that included people blocking visibly Jewish and Israeli students from being able to get to their classes,” said Dhillon.
Harvard University has been under scrutiny from the U.S. Department of Justice following the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, which sparked large protests on campus, some of which included harassment and physical assaults against Jewish students.
Calls to defund the university intensified after then-president Claudine Gay declined to clearly state whether students “calling for the genocide of Jews” constitutes bullying or harassment.
When asked by Rep. Elise Stefanik if calling for the genocide of Jews constituted bullying or harassment, Gay replied, “It can be, depending on the context.”
After finding President Gay’s answer to be unacceptable, Stefanik stated that no institution of higher education that is complicit in discrimination should receive federal funding.
“It is unacceptable and un-American that any taxpayer dollars are going to universities propping up their promulgation of antisemitism by supporting professors, students and staff many who have openly called for the genocide of Jews,” said Stefanik.
In the DOJ’s litigation press release, Attorney General Pam Bondi underscored that the lawsuit demonstrates the Trump administration’s commitment to ending discriminatory practices in higher education.
“Today’s litigation underscores the Trump Administration’s commitment to demanding better from our nation’s schools and putting an end to discriminatory behavior that harms students.”
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