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Donald Trump’s administration has ruled that Harvard University is in “violent violation” of civil rights law and must “immediately” reform or lose all federal funding.
In a letter sent to the Ivy League university on Monday and seen by the Financial Times, the administration said Harvard’s failure to prevent the harassment of Jewish students had breached the Civil Rights Act’s prohibition of discrimination based on race, colour and national origin.
The ruling marks a fresh escalation between the elite university and the Trump administration, despite comments by the president himself earlier this month that suggested a settlement could be close.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt later on Monday declined to comment on timing when asked about the status of negotiations.
“The administration has found [Harvard] in violation of title six and has threatened to withhold their federal funding because if you break the federal law you should not be receiving federal tax dollars.”
Harvard, however, countered that it had already shared its report on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias on campus, as well as how it has since strengthened its policies to prevent and discipline such behaviour.
“Harvard is far from indifferent on this issue and strongly disagrees with the government’s findings,” it said in a statement.
The university has launched lawsuits challenging the White House’s moves against it, which include efforts to halt federal funding and prevent the university from enrolling international students.
The letter, which was signed by agencies including the health department, comes as the administration piles pressure on the US’s higher-education institutions, including the University of Virginia, whose president James Ryan resigned last week after coming under attack by the administration.
The administration claimed that Harvard had been “in some cases deliberately indifferent, and in others has been a wilful participant in antisemitic harassment of Jewish students, faculty, and staff”.
It added: “Harvard’s commitment to racial hierarchies — where individuals are sorted and judged according to their membership in an oppressed group identity and not individual merit — has enabled antisemitism to fester on Harvard’s campus and has led a once great institution to humiliation, offering remedial math and forcing Jewish students to hide their identities and ancestral stories.”
Many academics and civil rights groups, including some Jewish organisations, have criticised the Trump administration’s attacks on US universities as a threat to freedom of speech and academic freedom.
US university leaders recently signed a statement saying they “must oppose undue government intrusion into the lives of those who learn, live, and work on our campuses”.
Alan Garber, Harvard’s president, in April made public reports it had commissioned on antisemitic and anti-Muslim bias, which highlighted concerns and made recommendations for reform.
He said at the time that the university was redoubling its efforts and that “Harvard cannot — and will not — abide bigotry. We will continue to provide for the safety and security of all members of our community and safeguard their freedom from harassment.”
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