DOJ sues Harvard, alleging it failed to protect Jewish students

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Justice Department sued Harvard University on Friday, accusing the school of not doing enough to protect Jewish and Israeli students from harassment, in the latest effort by the Trump administration to challenge the Ivy League institution.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Massachusetts, said students were blocked from school buildings in 2023 and 2024 by protesters and forced to wear baseball caps to hide their yarmulkes, a traditional head covering worn by many observant Jewish men.

“Harvard’s response to this: do nothing,” the suit said. “Its faculty and leadership turned a blind eye to antisemitism and discrimination against Jews and Israelis.

The lawsuit said Harvard violated civil rights law, as well as its own rules, by not doing more to stop the harassment. And the suit asks the court to order Harvard to take steps to protect students — including putting restrictions on protests — and give the federal government permission to halt further grant payments to the university.

Harvard said in a statement that it has taken steps to address antisemitism on campus, including improving its training and starting programs to promote civil dialogue on campus.

“Harvard cares deeply about members of our Jewish and Israeli community and remains committed to ensuring they are embraced, respected, and can thrive on our campus,” the statement said. “We will continue to prioritize this important work and will defend the University against this lawsuit, which represents yet another pretextual and retaliatory action by the administration for refusing to turn over control of Harvard to the federal government.”

Friday’s filing was the second time the Trump administration sued Harvard this year. In February, the Justice Department filed a lawsuit against the school saying it refused to provide admissions records. The government said it wants the records to make sure Harvard is complying with a Supreme Court ruling that limits affirmative action.

Harvard sued the administration last year after the government froze billions of its federal funding. A federal court judge in Boston ruled in Harvard’s favor, saying that the administration used antisemitism allegations as a smoke screen to withhold federal money. The judge barred the administration from using similar reasoning to block grants to Harvard in the future.

The Justice Department said in a statement Friday that Harvard is one of a number of universities that allowed antisemitism to “flourish on campus” in the wake of the attacks by Hamas on Israel in 2023.

The lawsuit comes a month after the Justice Department filed a similar complaint against the University of California system for failing to protect Jewish and Israeli employees from harassment.

The Trump administration previously demanded $1.2 billion from UCLA and $1 billion from Harvard, in addition to other action, to settle an onslaught of investigations. Other universities, including Brown and Columbia, have struck deals to settle investigations, while Harvard fought back in court.

In addition to the lawsuits against Harvard, the Trump administration has used a number of other measures to pressure the school to capitulate to its demands for changes over the past year, including attempting to suspend grants and contracts awarded from multiple agencies, targeting the school’s ability to enroll international students, and threatening to revoke its tax-exempt status.

Last month, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the Pentagon would end military training programs for officers at Harvard over concerns the school had gone “woke.” (Source: The Washington Post)