By Nate Raymond and Jonathan Stempel
BOSTON, March 20 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration escalated its attacks on Harvard University on Friday, as it sued the Ivy League school to recover billions of dollars for allegedly failing to protect Jewish and Israeli students.
Harvard has been a central focus of the president’s campaign to force changes at major U.S. universities, which Trump has derided for alleged antisemitic and “radical left” ideologies, by threatening to withhold or take back federal funding.
In a complaint filed in Boston federal court, the U.S. Department of Justice said Harvard remains deliberately indifferent to hostility on its campus and has intentionally refused to enforce its campus rules when victims are Jews or Israelis.
“This sent the clear message to Harvard’s Jewish and Israeli community that the indifference was not an accident; they were being intentionally excluded and effectively denied equal access to educational opportunities,” the complaint said.
Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Harvard did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It previously announced steps to address antisemitism on campus, including updating disciplinary processes and expanding training.
WHITE HOUSE HAS CHALLENGED OTHER SCHOOLS
Friday’s lawsuit came less than two months after Trump said his administration was seeking $1 billion from Harvard to settle probes into school policies, after a published report said Trump had dropped his demand for a $200 million payment.
It also follows a February 13 lawsuit where the government accused Harvard of failing to comply with a federal investigation, and sought documents to determine whether the university illegally considered race in its admissions process.
Harvard and several other schools have been accused by the White House of turning a blind eye to antisemitism on campus since the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas in October 2023.
Columbia University settled in July by agreeing to a $200 million penalty. The following month, the White House demanded $1 billion from the University of California, Los Angeles to resolve similar claims.
HARVARD, WHITE HOUSE HAVE BATTLED MULTIPLE TIMES
According to Friday’s lawsuit, Harvard’s indifference to Jews and Israelis violates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bans discrimination based on race, color and national origin in any program receiving federal funding.
It’s unclear how much the administration is seeking. The complaint said Harvard is set to receive more than $2.6 billion of taxpayer money from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services alone.
Last year, the administration canceled hundreds of research grants to Harvard researchers because the school allegedly failed to stop harassment of Jewish students on campus.
Harvard has sued the administration over some actions, leading U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs in Boston in September to rule that it had unlawfully terminated more than $2 billion of research grants.
Burroughs has also blocked the administration’s effort to bar international students from attending classes. The administration is appealing both decisions.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York and Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Rod Nickel and Andrea Ricci )
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