DOJ Sues Harvard for Campus Antisemitism Failures

The U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Harvard University on Friday in federal court in Boston, accusing the institution of failing to protect Jewish and Israeli students and faculty from antisemitism on campus. The complaint alleges that Harvard demonstrated deliberate indifference to harassment and intentionally refused to enforce its own rules when the victims were Jewish or Israeli, violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color or national origin in programs receiving federal funding.

According to the lawsuit, this indifference effectively denied equal access to educational opportunities for Harvard's Jewish and Israeli community. The filing details incidents following the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza, including protests that led to encampments in Harvard Yard for about 20 days in spring 2024. It claims that anti-Israel demonstrators disrupted campus spaces, excluded Israeli or Zionist students from social and extracurricular activities, and in some cases assaulted or intimidated Jewish and Israeli individuals. A presidential task force at Harvard identified...