Trump administration’s antisemitism lawsuit against Harvard is dismissed

A judge in Massachusetts dismissed a federal lawsuit Thursday that accused Harvard University of not taking sufficient steps to protect Jewish and Israeli students from harassment.

The lawsuit, filed by the Justice Department in March, 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.

U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns found that the complaint cited three incidents since the 2023-2024 school year, when there was a pro-Palestinian encampment in Harvard Yard.

Stearns said the incidents were “too isolated and episodic” to demonstrate that Harvard is not complying with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination by schools that receive federal money. He wrote that the government’s complaint is “devoid of any factual allegations” that the university has failed to comply with the law in the last year.

The ruling is the latest setback for the Trump administration in its efforts to force the Ivy League institution to agree to pay $1 billion and make other changes to address policies that White House officials have claimed are illegal, “woke” and antisemitic.

In February, the Justice Department filed a separate lawsuit against the school, accusing it of withholding admissions records. The government has said it needs the records to make sure Harvard has complied with a Supreme Court decision that generally bars it from using race in admissions. A hearing in that case is slated for next month.

The Trump administration has used a number of tools to pressure Harvard, including attempting to halt federal grants and contracts, cutting off visas for international students and threatening to pull its tax-exempt status. Earlier this year, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the Pentagon would end military training programs for officers at the university.

Harvard has successfully fought some of those efforts in court. For instance, a federal court judge barred the administration from using antisemitism allegations to block grants to the school.

Some universities, including Brown, Cornell and Columbia, have struck deals with the administration, while others, such as UCLA, have continued to battle with the government. (Source: The Washington Post)