Trump Administration Sues Harvard, Claiming University Failed To Protect Jewish And Israeli Students | EUROtoday

BOSTON, March 20 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration escalated its assaults on Harvard University on Friday, because it sued the Ivy League faculty to get well billions of {dollars} for allegedly failing to guard Jewish and Israeli college students.

Harvard has been a central focus of the president’s marketing campaign to pressure adjustments at main U.S. universities, which Trump has derided for alleged antisemitic and “radical left” ideologies, by threatening to withhold or take again federal funding.

In a criticism filed in Boston federal court docket, the U.S. Department of Justice stated Harvard stays intentionally detached to hostility on its campus and has deliberately refused to implement its campus guidelines when victims are Jews or Israelis.

“This sent the clear message to Harvard’s Jewish and Israeli community that the indifference was not an accident; they were being intentionally excluded and effectively denied equal access to educational opportunities,” the criticism stated.

Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Harvard didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark. It beforehand introduced steps to handle antisemitism on campus, together with updating disciplinary processes and increasing coaching.

Friday’s lawsuit got here lower than two months after Trump stated his administration was looking for $1 billion from Harvard to settle probes into faculty insurance policies, after a printed report stated Trump had dropped his demand for a $200 million cost.

It additionally follows a February 13 lawsuit the place the federal government accused Harvard of failing to adjust to a federal investigation, and sought paperwork to find out whether or not the college illegally thought of race in its admissions course of.

Harvard and several other different colleges have been accused by the White House of turning a blind eye to antisemitism on campus because the outbreak of conflict between Israel and Hamas in October 2023.

Columbia University settled in July by agreeing to a $200 million penalty. The following month, the White House demanded $1 billion from the University of California, Los Angeles to resolve related claims.

According to Friday’s lawsuit, Harvard’s indifference to Jews and Israelis violates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bans discrimination based mostly on race, coloration and nationwide origin in any program receiving federal funding.

It’s unclear how a lot the administration is looking for. The criticism stated Harvard is ready to obtain greater than $2.6 billion of taxpayer cash from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services alone.

Last 12 months, the administration canceled a whole lot of analysis grants to Harvard researchers as a result of the varsity allegedly did not cease harassment of Jewish college students on campus.

Harvard has sued the administration over some actions, main U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs in Boston in September to rule that it had unlawfully terminated greater than $2 billion of analysis grants.

Burroughs has additionally blocked the administration’s effort to bar worldwide college students from attending courses. The administration is interesting each selections.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York and Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Rod Nickel and Andrea Ricci )