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<\/a><\/p>\nIsraeli flags were planted on the lawn of the Harvard Divinity School as campus protests continue on October 25, 2025 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Lane Turner\/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The lawsuit, which was filed by the Justice Department in Massachusetts District court, marked a sharp escalation of the government\u2019s yearlong battle with the university as it now seeks to freeze existing grants to the school and demand repayment of all grants made since at least Oct. 7, 2023.<\/p>\n
The 44-page lawsuit alleges that Jewish and Israeli students on Harvard\u2019s campus were \u201charassed, physically assaulted, stalked, and spat upon\u201d and \u201crepeatedly denied access to educational facilities by antisemitic demonstrators\u201d following Oct. 7.<\/p>\n
\u201cHarvard\u2019s response to this: do nothing,\u201d the complaint reads. \u201cIts faculty and leadership turned a blind eye to antisemitism and discrimination against Jews and Israelis. Students and faculty violated Harvard\u2019s time, place, and manner rules with impunity; rules that Harvard has and would enforce against anyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harvard confirmed in a statement Friday that it would defend against the lawsuit, writing that it was \u201cyet another pretextual and retaliatory \u2060action by the administration for refusing to turn over control of Harvard to the federal government.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHarvard cares deeply about members of our Jewish and Israeli community and remains \u200bcommitted to ensuring they are embraced, respected, and can thrive on our campus,\u201d the spokesperson said. \u201cHarvard\u2019s efforts demonstrate the very opposite of deliberate indifference.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Nexus Project, an antisemitism watchdog group, condemned the lawsuit in a post on X, writing that the Trump administration \u201ccontinues to exploit legitimate Jewish concerns over antisemitism as a thinly veiled excuse to attack and bully major academic institutions.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis authoritarian abuse of power doesn\u2019t make Jewish students safer, or reflect the recommendations of antisemitism experts,\u201d the post continued.<\/p>\n
The lawsuit comes days after the Harvard Jewish Alumni Alliance published a report that found Jewish undergraduate enrollment had dropped to 7%, a figure it said was \u201cthe lowest level recorded since before World War II and the lowest of any Ivy League institution with reliable data.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last month, Harvard College\u2019s dean of admissions and financial aid, William Fitzsimmons, announced that the school had been working to recruit students from Jewish day schools, adding that the results of the effort had been encouraging. (The school\u2019s pledge was first reported by The Washington Free Beacon.)<\/p>\n
The Trump administration\u2019s latest salvo against Harvard shortly follows another lawsuit filed by the Justice Department last month against UCLA, accusing its leadership of allowing an antisemitic work environment to \u201cflourish\u201d on its campus.<\/p>\n
Following the lawsuit, more than 100 Jewish faculty and staff at UCLA signed onto a letter opposing the Trump administration\u2019s claims against the school.<\/p>\n