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…
13 Aug 00:00 · Inlandnewstoday