Trump Takes On Harvard And Sues Ivy League University ‘for Not Doing Enough To Protect Jewish Students’

The Trump administration has sued Harvard University, alleging nan Ivy League schoolhouse grounded to extremity aliases punish wide field antisemitism successful nan aftermath of nan Israel-Gaza war.

“Jewish and Israeli students astatine Harvard University were harassed, physically assaulted, stalked and spat upon,” nan suit, revenge successful Massachusetts national tribunal Friday, reads. “For respective years, Jewish and Israeli students endured a dispute acquisition environment. Harvard’s consequence to this: do nothing.”

The title alleges that Harvard’s response to field demonstrations, which included building occupations and a 2024 protestation encampment, violated Title VI of nan Civil Rights Act, which bars personality favoritism astatine federally funded institutions.

The national authorities specifications a litany of concerning antisemitism allegations, including group yelling “Heil Hitler” astatine Jewish students and blocking Jews and Israelis connected field from entering definite buildings during demonstrations. The suit besides seeks to categorize wide utilized protest chants successful nan Palestine solidarity activity specified arsenic “from nan stream to nan sea, Palestine will beryllium free,” arsenic calls to termination Jewish people. The suit does not statement that galore Jewish students person taken portion successful pro-Palestine protests astatine Harvard and beyond.

Campus protests person died down since their precocious constituent successful 2023 and 2024, but nan suit alleges alarming behaviour has continued, including pinch a 2025 incident wherever protesters breached barricades during an quality from erstwhile Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.

The suit seeks to rescind national grants to Harvard, enforce an extracurricular monitor, and require nan assemblage to activity pinch rule enforcement to apprehension protesters.

Unlike different apical universities that saw ample Israel-related protests, specified arsenic UCLA and Columbia, Harvard did not prosecute a wide constabulary response.

“Harvard has taken substantive, proactive steps to reside nan guidelines causes of antisemitism and actively enforces anti-harassment and anti-discrimination rules and policies connected campus,” a assemblage spokesperson told The Independent successful a statement. “We besides person enhanced training and acquisition connected antisemitism for students, faculty, and unit and launched programs to beforehand civilian speech and respectful disagreement wrong and extracurricular nan classroom. Harvard’s efforts show nan very other of deliberate indifference.”

The assemblage called nan suit “yet different pretextual and retaliatory action by nan management for refusing to move complete power of Harvard to nan national government.”

The suit is nan latest successful a bid of ineligible battles betwixt nan schoolhouse and nan administration.

In nan aftermath of field protests, nan assemblage conducted a statesmanlike task unit connected combating antisemitism and anti-Israel bias, which included an in-depth investigation of field antisemitism and field argumentation reforms. The move came aft Harvard president Claudine Gay resigned successful early 2024 pursuing grounds to Congress that was blasted by critics.

This February, nan management sued Harvard for its admissions records, alleging nan assemblage was failing to move complete documents to guarantee it was complying pinch a caller Supreme Court ruling ending affirmative action, nan aforesaid period nan Defense Department trim ties pinch nan school complete its “woke” curriculum.

Last year, Harvard sued nan management for freezing much than $2.5 cardinal successful investigation backing complete allegations nan assemblage had allowed field antisemitism.

In September, a national judge sided pinch nan university, penning that nan White House “used antisemitism arsenic a smokescreen for a targeted, ideologically-motivated battle connected this country’s premier universities.”

The Trump management has appealed nan decision.

Since taking office, nan Trump management has launched investigations and backing freezes against galore apical universities complete antisemitism allegations, though Harvard has declined to scope a negotiated colony pinch nan White House for illustration its peers astatine Columbia aliases Northwestern did.

Harvard balked astatine Trump management proposals that were floated during negotiations, including a push for nan assemblage to adopt an extracurricular “viewpoint diversity” audit of nan student assemblage and faculty.