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9h ago

HHS Says Harvard Violated Civil Rights Act, Threatens to Cut Off All Federal Funding

The HHS Office for Civil Rights found Harvard’s response to campus antisemitism fell short of Title VI requirements, giving the university a strict deadline to implement reforms or face total funding withdrawal.

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This December 2023 photo shows a view of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
FILE - This Nov. 13, 2008 file photo shows the campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Lisa Poole, File)
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Overview

  • The HHS Office for Civil Rights concluded Harvard is in “violent violation” of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act for discriminating against Jewish and Israeli students and threatened to terminate all federal financial resources unless immediate changes are made.
  • Investigators documented numerous antisemitic incidents on campus—including assaults, spitting, circulation of hate imagery and a multiweek encampment that disrupted Jewish students and saw inconsistent disciplinary actions.
  • Harvard rejects the government’s findings, asserting it has taken substantive, proactive steps to combat bias and has shared its own antisemitism task force report while pursuing legal challenges.
  • More than $2.6 billion in federal research grants and contracts has already been frozen after Harvard declined earlier policy demands, and the university is fighting both funding and international student visa restrictions in court.
  • The ultimatum represents the latest move in the Trump administration’s broader effort to exert federal oversight over elite universities’ handling of discrimination, diversity programs and protest management.