The Trump administration sued Harvard University, alleging the school violated the civil rights of Jewish students, in the latest expansion of the government’s year-long campaign against the Ivy League school.The lawsuit alleged that Harvard failed to protect its Jewish and Israeli students by ignoring hostility on campus and refusing to enforce anti-harassment rules. The lawsuit, filed Friday in federal district court in Massachusetts, seeks to force the school to comply with civil rights law and recover millions of taxpayer dollars Harvard allegedly admitted violating the law, The Wall Street Journal reports.According to the lawsuit, Harvard was currently scheduled to receive more than $2.6 billion in grants from the Department of Health and Human Services, among other federal agencies.Attorney General Pam Bondi said, since the Hamas attack on Israeli civilians on October 7, 2023, “Many of our educational institutions have allowed anti-Semitism to flourish on campus, including Harvard.”Harvard did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It had previously said it had made considerable efforts to address anti-Semitism on its campus, including strengthening rules and discipline measures against those who violate them.The lawsuit was the latest tactic in the Trump administration’s fight against Harvard and other elite universities. The administration withheld $2.2 billion in federal research grants to Harvard last spring, alleging that the school tolerated anti-Semitism on campus. Since then, the administration has threatened its tax-exempt status, targeted its ability to enroll international students and investigated its acceptance of foreign donations.Harvard sued the administration and won a significant court battle last September. A federal judge ruled that the Trump administration’s funding cuts were unconstitutional and ordered the funds to be restored. The administration filed an appeal in December. Harvard said it was confident of its legal position.Harvard remained deeply dependent on federal funding, and President Trump had many levers to harm the university.In February, Trump posted on social media that he would seek $1 billion in damages from the school. A few days later, the Defense Department severed academic ties with Harvard, and the Justice Department sued Harvard for allegedly failing to produce admissions documents, saying it needed to investigate whether the school discriminated against white applicants.
