Overview

• On June 30, the HHS Office for Civil Rights determined Harvard violated Title VI by exhibiting deliberate indifference to antisemitic student-on-student harassment.
• After concluding Harvard would not comply voluntarily, HHS on Wednesday formally referred its civil rights investigation to the Justice Department.
• The Justice Department may pursue lawsuits seeking injunctions, consent decrees or penalties beyond the suspension of federal funds to enforce anti-discrimination obligations.
• Harvard is simultaneously challenging the funding freeze in court and negotiating campus reforms aimed at restoring about $2.2 billion in federal support.
• Columbia, the University of Pennsylvania and Brown have struck agreements under similar probes this year, underscoring a broader Trump administration effort to leverage Title VI enforcement against elite universities.