Trump Admin Issues Finding That Harvard Permitted Antisemitism in Violation of Civil Rights Law

The Trump administration formally accused Harvard on Monday of violating federal civil rights law by failing to protect Jewish and Israeli students from harassment, ratcheting up its allegations as University officials return to talks with the White House.

The Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights accused Harvard of acting with “deliberate indifference” toward anti-Jewish and anti-Israeli discrimination in a notice of violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act sent Monday morning.

It was accompanied by a letter to University President Alan M. Garber ’76 from the Trump administration’s joint task force on antisemitism, established in February, which also includes representatives from the Department of Education, the General Services Administration, and the Department of Justice.

In to the letter and 57-page investigation report, the administration alleged that Harvard acted with “deliberate indifference” after Jewish and Israeli students reported being spit on and targeted with antisemitic imagery. The letter warned that Harvard’s failure to make “adequate changes” would immediately jeopardize its access to federal resources.

“Harvard may of course continue to operate free of federal privileges,” administration attorneys wrote, “and perhaps such an opportunity will spur a commitment to excellence that will help Harvard thrive once again.”

It is unclear what specific changes the administration is demanding or which federal resources are at risk. The White House has already cut nearly $3 billion in federal funding since April and directed all federal agencies in May to cancel up to $100 million in remaining contracts with Harvard.

It has also attempted to revoke Harvard’s authorization to host international students and threatened the University’s tax-exempt status.

Harvard spokesperson Jason A. Newton insisted that Harvard had taken “substantive, proactive steps to address the root causes of antisemitism” and provided details about those efforts to the administration in a statement.

“Harvard is far from indifferent on this issue and strongly disagrees with the government’s findings,” he wrote.

The letter, which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, marks a significant escalation in the Trump administration’s months-long campaign targeting Harvard over its response to campus antisemitism. Federal officials have repeatedly singled out Harvard as a central focus of their investigation, citing what they allege is a pattern of inaction in the face of harassment against Jewish students.

A formal “notice of violation” of civil rights law generally precedes either a lawsuit from the Justice Department or a voluntary resolution agreement with the institution in question. Such investigations historically have ended in negotiation settlements.

Harvard already resumed direct negotiations with the White House earlier this month, and the new finding is likely to accelerate pressure on both sides to reach a resolution.

University officials have emphasized during the talks that they have already taken steps to tighten protest policies, provide resources to Jewish students, and overhaul programs accused of antisemitism — including by cutting ties with a Palestinian university and ousting leaders of programs that study the Israel-Palestine conflict.

But Monday’s letter suggested that the Trump administration still thought Harvard had done too little, too late, to centralize its disciplinary policies and introduce guidance and training on combating antisemitism. The cascade of criticisms indicates that federal agencies may attempt to eke out still further concessions from Harvard before they agree to relax their grip on its funds.

The letter cited a Harvard survey that found that a majority of Jewish students reported experiencing bias or discrimination and a quarter felt unsafe. The Trump administration has shown little interest in investigating or penalizing Harvard for bias against Muslim students, more than half of whom reported feeling physically unsafe on the same survey.

The administration also cited a series of incidents on Harvard’s campus in the letter, including students being spit on, a confrontation at an October 2023 protest, and displays of antisemitic imagery. The examples referenced included a cartoon circulated by pro-Palestine groups in early 2024, which was immediately condemned by Harvard’s central administration, and a sticker that depicted an Israeli flag with a swastika in place of the Star of David.

Harvard reported the incidents of vandalism to the Harvard University Police Department, according to the notice of violation, but no perpetrators were found or punished.

Many of those same incidents were also documented in Harvard’s own internal report into antisemitism, released in April after months of delay, which found a fractured campus climate in the months following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attacks on Israel.

In response to the report, Harvard instructed school deans to strengthen academic review processes for course and curricula, pledged to review admissions policies at each school, and began exploring the establishment of a new center for pluralism.

But many of the recommendations put forward into the report have yet to be formally instituted or accepted.

The letter also focused on pro-Palestine protests at Harvard, including a series of silent “study-ins” in University libraries, some of which focused on free speech as well as the war in Gaza.

Federal officials reiterated concerns about Harvard’s handling of the pro-Palestine encampment in Harvard Yard last spring, calling it an “impermissible, multiweek” protest that disrupted campus life for Jewish and Israeli students. It criticized what it described as lax and inconsistent discipline, noting that sanctions for some students were downgraded and that no students were ultimately suspended.

Harvard is not the first institution to receive a notice of violation. Columbia University received a similar letter in May following a separate federal investigation into antisemitism on its campus. Two weeks after issuing the notice, the Department of Education alerted Columbia’s accreditor that the University was not in compliance with federal anti-discrimination standards.

It is unclear whether the Trump administration has any plans to challenge Harvard’s accreditation. However, leading Republicans in Congress have previously backed efforts to revoke it.

Though the antisemitism task force report urged some recommendations similar to what the Trump administration has demanded, including banning masks at protests and shifting power away from junior and non-tenure-track faculty, it pushed back on federal coercion in service of those goals.

Harvard has argued that the Trump administration is using antisemitism as a pretext to punish Harvard by taking actions — like cutting off research funding — that have nothing to do with improving its campus climate.

In mid-April, shortly before Harvard sued over the revocation of its federal funding, Harvard Hillel wrote that the federal government’s attack on Harvard’s funding, tax-exempt status, and international students “is neither focused nor measured, and stands to substantially harm the very Jewish students and scholars it purports to protect.”

And more than 100 Jewish students signed a letter in April condemning the Trump administration’s review of Harvard’s federal research funding.

—Staff writer Dhruv T. Patel can be reached at dhruv.patel@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @dhruvtkpatel.

—Staff writer Grace E. Yoon can be reached at grace.yoon@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @graceunkyoon.