Trump sues Harvard for 'failing to protect Jewish, Israeli students'

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

The Justice Department filed the lawsuit on Friday against Harvard University, saying its leadership failed to address antisemitism on campus, creating grounds for the government to freeze existing grants and seek repayment for grants already paid.

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

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

It asked the court to compel Harvard to comply with federal civil rights law and to help it 'recover billions of dollars of taxpayer subsidies awarded to a discriminatory institution.'

The lawsuit also asks a judge to require Harvard to call police to arrest protesters blocking parts of campus and to appoint an independent monitor, approved by the government, to ensure the university complies with court orders.

The Trump Administration accused the school of having a 'do nothing' approach, despite students reportedly saying they felt unsafe on campus and were concealing their yarmulkes, the lawsuit, viewed by the Daily Mail, said. 

It said the school failed its students by remaining 'deliberately indifferent' to the hostility on campus and it refused to enforce its own task force's rules. 

Harvard disputes the claims, saying in a statement on Friday: '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.' 

'Our actions illustrate this.

'Harvard has taken substantive, 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. 

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

The Trump Administration's case has centered on allegations of discrimination against Harvard's Jewish and Israeli students during and after pro-Palestinian demonstrations related to the Israel-Hamas war.

Officials concluded Harvard did not adequately address concerns about antisemitism that some students said kept them from going to class, the lawsuit said.  

During protests of the war, Trump officials said, Harvard permitted students to demonstrate against Israel's actions in the school library and allowed a pro-Palestinian encampment to remain on campus for 20 days, 'in violation of university policy.'

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

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

Harvard, in turn, has said the government is violating its First Amendment rights, after it defied federal demands that it limit activism on campus and change some practices for hiring and enrollment.

'The tradeoff put 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,' attorneys for Harvard said in a lawsuit over the funding freeze.

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

Last year, the government and Harvard were reportedly approaching a deal requiring Harvard to pay $500million to regain access to federal funding and end the investigations. 

Several months later, Trump upped that figure to $1billion, saying Harvard has been 'behaving very badly.'

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

Last June, a federal task force said its investigation had found the university was a 'willful participant' in antisemitic harassment of Jewish students and faculty. 

The task force threatened to refer the case to the Justice Department to file a civil rights lawsuit 'as soon as possible,' unless Harvard came into compliance.

When colleges are found in violation of federal civil rights law, they almost always reach compliance through voluntary agreements. Friday's lawsuit by the Justice Department points to an extraordinarily rare impasse.

Harvard has said it strongly disagrees with the government's civil rights finding and is committed to fighting bias.

Harvard President Alan M Garber says the school formed a task force to combat antisemitism. The university also hired a new provost and new deans and reformed its discipline policies to make them 'more consistent, fair and effective,' Garber has said.

Since he took office, Trump has targeted elite universities he believes are overrun by left-wing ideology and antisemitism. His administration has frozen billions of dollars in research grants, which colleges have come to rely on for scientific and medical research.

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