Trump admin sues Harvard University for allegedly failing to protect Jewish and Israeli students from anti-Semitic discrimination

The Trump Administration is taking on Harvard again in a new lawsuit, alleging the Massachusetts institution failed to protect its Jewish and Israeli students.

The Justice Department filed a lawsuit against Harvard University on Friday, saying the university’s administration had failed to combat anti-Semitism on campus, providing grounds for the government to freeze existing grants and demand repayment of grants already paid.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Massachusetts, is another salvo in a protracted fight between President Donald Trump’s administration and the elite university.

“The United States cannot and will not tolerate these failures,” the Justice Department wrote in its lawsuit.

He asked the court to force Harvard to comply with federal civil rights law and help ‘roll back billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies given to a discriminatory institution.’

The lawsuit also asks a judge to order Harvard to call police to arrest protesters who have blocked parts of campus and to appoint a government-approved independent monitor to ensure the university complies with court orders.

The lawsuit, seen by the Daily Mail, stated that the Trump Administration accused the school of a “do-nothing” approach, even though students said they did not feel safe on campus and hid their yarmulkes.

He said the school had failed its students by being “deliberately indifferent” to hostility on campus and refused to enforce its own study group’s rules.

The school, led by President Alan M. Garber, does not join the lawsuit, saying it ‘cares deeply about members of our Jewish and Israeli community.’

Harvard disputes the allegations in a statement on Friday, saying: ‘Harvard cares deeply about members of our Jewish and Israeli communities and is committed to ensuring that they are welcomed, respected, and able to thrive on our campus.’

‘Our actions show this.

‘Harvard has taken significant, proactive steps to address the root causes of antisemitism and actively enforces anti-harassment and anti-discrimination rules and policies on campus.’

The Daily Mail has reached out to the White House for comment.

Harvard is poised to receive $2.6 billion in federal grants from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) this year, the DOJ said. Between October 2023 and February 2026, the school requested $953 million in grant payments from HHS.

The Trump Administration’s lawsuit focused on allegations of discrimination against Jewish and Israeli students at Harvard during and after pro-Palestinian demonstrations related to the Israel-Hamas war.

Officials concluded that Harvard had failed to adequately address concerns about antisemitism that some students said prevented them from going to class, the lawsuit said.

Trump officials said that during war protests, Harvard allowed students to demonstrate against Israeli actions in the school library and allowed a pro-Palestinian camp to remain on campus for 20 days, ‘in violation of university policy.’

A file photo shows people walking in Harvard Yard on campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts

The Justice Department, run by Pam Bondi, said Harvard will receive $2.6 billion in federal grants this year. He also alleged that the school broke the law and laid the groundwork to take back the grants.

In its lawsuit, the Justice Department also accused Harvard of failing to discipline staff or students who protested or tacitly protested by canceling class or expelling students early.

“Harvard University has failed to protect its Jewish students from harassment and allowed discrimination to wreak havoc on campus,” White House District Press Secretary Liz Huston told the Daily Mail.

Harvard, for its part, said the government violated its First Amendment rights after it defied federal demands to limit activism on campus and change some hiring and admissions practices.

“The concession to Harvard and other universities is clear: Allow the government to micromanage your academic institution or jeopardize the institution’s ability to pursue medical breakthroughs, scientific discoveries, and innovative solutions,” Harvard’s lawyers said in a lawsuit about the funding freeze.

Despite their bitter disagreement, Harvard and the Trump Administration have held some talks, and the two sides have reportedly been close to reaching an agreement on multiple occasions.

Last year, the government and Harvard were reportedly nearing a deal that would require Harvard to pay $500 million to regain access to federal funding and end the investigations.

A few months later, Trump increased that figure to $1 billion, saying Harvard had “behaved very badly.”

At the same time, the administration was taking steps in a civil rights investigation that could jeopardize Harvard’s entire federal funding.

Harvard and the Trump Administration have clashed multiple times, including over other funding-related lawsuits

Last June, a federal task force said its investigation found the university was a “deliberate participant” in anti-Semitic harassment against Jewish students and faculty.

The task force threatened to refer the case to the Justice Department for a civil rights lawsuit ‘as soon as possible’ if Harvard did not comply.

When colleges are found to have violated federal civil rights law, compliance with that law is almost always achieved through voluntary agreements. Friday’s Justice Department lawsuit marks an extraordinarily rare impasse.

Harvard said it strongly disagreed with the government’s civil rights finding and was committed to combating bias.

Harvard President Alan M Garber said the school had created a task force to combat anti-Semitism. The university also hired a new president and new deans and realigned its disciplinary policies to make them “more consistent, fair and effective,” Garber said.

Since taking office, Trump has targeted elite universities that he believes are overrun by left-wing ideology and anti-Semitism. His administration has frozen billions of dollars in research grants that universities rely on for scientific and medical research.

Many universities have reached agreements with the White House to restore funding. Some agreements included direct payments to the government, including $200 million from Columbia University. Brown University agreed to pay $50 million to workforce development groups in the state.