Harvard University graduates attend the 374th Commencement Ceremony on May 29, 2025 in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
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President Donald Trump’s administration escalated its attacks on Harvard University on Friday, filing a lawsuit seeking to recover billions of dollars from the Ivy League school for failing to protect Jewish and Israeli students.
Harvard University is at the center of President Donald Trump’s campaign to force reforms at America’s major universities over suspected anti-Semitic and “radical left” ideology, and has threatened to withhold or withdraw federal funds.
In a complaint filed in Boston federal court, the U.S. Department of Justice said Harvard was “deliberately indifferent” to harassment of Jewish and Israeli students and intentionally refused to enforce campus rules when the victims were Jewish or Israeli.
“This sent a clear message to Harvard’s Jewish and Israeli communities that their indifference was not accidental; they were intentionally excluded and effectively denied equal access to educational opportunities,” the complaint said.
Harvard plans to defend itself against the lawsuit, which a spokesperson said is “another pretext and retaliatory act by an administration that has refused to transfer control of Harvard to the federal government.”
The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based school also defended its efforts to address anti-Semitism on campus, including expanding training, improving disciplinary processes and adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of anti-Semitism.
“Harvard University cares deeply about members of the Jewish and Israeli communities and remains committed to ensuring that they are accepted, respected, and thrive on campus,” the spokesperson said. “Harvard’s efforts demonstrate the opposite of willful indifference.”
The Trump administration objected to other schools.
Since war broke out between Israel and Hamas in October 2023, many schools have been accused by Republican presidential administrations and private lawsuits of turning a blind eye to anti-Semitism on their campuses.
That includes Columbia University, which last July agreed to pay $220 million to restore federal research funding. The Department of Justice last month sued the University of California System for allegedly subjecting Jewish and Israeli employees at the University of California, Los Angeles, to rampant anti-Semitism.
Most of Friday’s lawsuit repeats past incidents and accusations involving Harvard, rather than presenting new instances of alleged discrimination.
According to the complaint, Harvard University’s indifference toward Jews and Israelis violates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin in programs receiving federal funding.
The report comes less than two months after the Trump administration announced it was seeking $1 billion from Harvard University to resolve an investigation into its school policies, after it was announced that President Trump had dropped his request for just $200 million.
The administration also accused Harvard in a Feb. 13 lawsuit of failing to provide documents to investigate whether its admissions process was biased against white applicants.
U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns, an appointee of former Democratic President Bill Clinton, was assigned to hear Friday’s case.
Harvard University and the White House have fought many times.
It is unclear how much money the administration is seeking. According to the complaint, Harvard University will receive more than $2.6 billion in taxpayer funds from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services alone. Last June, the department’s Office of Civil Rights discovered Title VI violations.
The lawsuit seeks permission to recover all federal grants to Harvard University and freeze payments of existing grants while the university is out of compliance.
It also calls for the appointment of an independent, U.S.-approved external monitor to monitor Harvard’s compliance.
“Since October 7, 2023, too many educational institutions, including Harvard University, have allowed anti-Semitism to flourish on their campuses,” U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement. “Today’s lawsuit underscores the Trump Administration’s commitment to demanding better from our nation’s schools.”
The Trump administration and Harvard University have battled it out in court numerous times, including in a lawsuit brought by Harvard itself.
Last September, U.S. District Judge Alison Burroughs in Boston ruled that the White House illegally canceled more than $2 billion in research grants to Harvard University.
Four months earlier, Burroughs had thwarted a White House effort to bar international students from attending Harvard classes. The White House is appealing both decisions. Burroughs was appointed by former Democratic President Barack Obama.
