What To Know About the DOJ’s New Lawsuit Against Harvard

The federal government is suing Harvard over its alleged discriminatory treatment of Jewish and Israeli students since October 7, 2023, in violation of Title VI and in breach of its federal grants and Title VI compliance certifications.

The government claims Harvard violated Title VI in two ways: deliberate indifference to a hostile environment and intentional discrimination, including selective enforcement of campus rules.

The government is asking the court to let the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) stop making further payments to Harvard under its active grants; the complaint says Harvard has more than $2.615 billion in currently active HHS grants.

The government is asking the court to claw back more than $953 million in HHS’s grant payments to Harvard during its period of Title VI noncompliance.

The government is also asking the court to block Harvard from entering new federal funding agreements — HHS or otherwise — that require Title VI compliance certifications, until the court finds Harvard is complying.

It also seeks to appoint an independent monitor to oversee Harvard’s compliance with any court-ordered reforms.

The lawsuit comes after HHS opened an investigation into Harvard in February 2025, issued its Notice of Violation to the school in June 2025, and has been in negotiations to secure voluntary compliance since.

The government argues Jewish and Israeli students faced a pervasively hostile environment that impeded their full participation in Harvard’s educational programs and campus life.

The argument tracks with the stated approach to campus antisemitism enforcement of DOJ Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon, who announced the DOJ lawsuit in a video on X today. In an October 2025 interview with Jewish Insider, she said that while she’s faced pressure “to issue guidance to outlaw certain kinds of speech on campus…I don’t think that’s appropriate. I think that you can criticize Israel. Many Jews criticize Israel. You can criticize the United States’ role. You can support the aspirations of the Palestinian people. You can even support Hamas, to a degree.” Instead, she said she is focused on remediating situations where protest activity “obstruct[s]” students’ ability to get to class or access university spaces.”

To show notice and an inadequate response, the complaint cites an October 2023 congressional letter, Title VI lawsuits filed in January and May 2024, and a preliminary warning from Harvard’s Presidential Antisemitism Task Force of “disturbing reports” of faculty and teaching-fellow discrimination or harassment — and then argues Harvard “failed to take sufficient action” despite policies including its Non-Discrimination Policy, Anti-Bullying Policy, and University-Wide Statement on Rights and Responsibilities.

The government alleges Harvard’s unequal treatment was intentional, not accidental, as demonstrated by how the University responded forcefully to offensive speech or misconduct involving other protected groups, while taking “no meaningful” action when Jewish and Israeli students were the targets.

The government argues that Harvard’s grants, including from HHS, are legally binding contracts conditioned on Title VI compliance, and that Harvard materially breached those contracts by repeatedly certifying compliance while it was not in compliance.

On the non-monetary side, it asks the court to declare that Harvard violated Title VI and to order policy, discipline, and oversight changes to prevent future discrimination.

On the monetary side, it seeks permission to stop making further payments to Harvard under existing HHS grants and to recover HHS funds already paid during the period it alleges Harvard was out of compliance.

It also seeks to block Harvard from entering new federal funding agreements that require Title VI compliance certifications — for HHS or otherwise — until the court finds Harvard is complying.

HHS is involved because its Office for Civil Rights opened the Title VI investigation in early February 2025 (initially focused on Harvard Medical School’s May 2024 commencement protests) and later issued a Notice of Violation to Harvard in June 2025.

DOJ is involved because HHS can refer Title VI matters to the DOJ for enforcement when voluntary resolution fails. The complaint says that after issuing its Notice to Harvard, HHS worked with DOJ’s Civil Rights Division and other agencies for months to try to secure voluntary compliance before filing suit.

The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns (JD ’76) in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

Stearns also oversaw the Students Against Antisemitism and Shabbos Kestenbaum (MTS ‘24) lawsuits against Harvard, each settled last year, and more recently, dismissed Yoav Segev’s (MBA ‘25) lawsuit against Harvard and the Harvard University Police Department for discrimination, following the University’s failure to discipline two Harvard students who assaulted Segev during an October 2023 “die-in” protest on the HBS campus.

Harvard now has 21 days to respond to the government’s complaint, or file a Rule 12 motion, including a motion to dismiss (for example, for failure to state a claim).

Harvard remains in litigation against the federal government in the First Circuit on two other fronts: its spring 2025 federal research funding lawsuit and a separate case over its ability to enroll international students — both of which the government appealed after district-court rulings in Harvard’s favor.

Virtual — April 1 from 10:00-11:00 am ET: At this Inside HBS series event, Harvard Business School (HBS) Dean Srikant Datar and Executive Director of MBA and Doctoral Programs and External Relations Jana Kierstead will discuss recent developments and priorities at HBS, including around AI and entrepreneurship. Register here.

Cambridge, MA and Virtual — April 9 from 5:30-7:00 pm ET: Harvard Graduate School of Education is hosting University Professor Danielle Allen (PhD ‘02) on the role of schools in civic education as the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, with discussion focused on patriotism, pluralism, and democratic participation in polarized times. Register here.

Virtual & New York, NY — April 13 at 7:30 pm ET: President Alan Garber (AB ’76, PhD ’82) will speak with Wall Street Journal editor-in-chief Emma Tucker at the 92nd Street Y about the pressures reshaping research universities and their role in American democracy. Register here.

Washington, DC — April 15 from 5:30-8:00 pm ET: Meet HKS Dean Jeremy Weinstein at this HKS on the Road series event. Register here.

Virtual — April 16 from 5:30-7:30 pm ET: The Harvard Law School (HLS) Association of New York City will host a virtual fireside chat with Paul Deschner, director of the Nuremberg Trials Project, on HLS’s effort to digitize and publicly release Nuremberg trials records. Register here.

This week, the Harvard Jewish Alumni Alliance (HJAA) released “A Narrowing Gate: Jewish Enrollment at Harvard and Its Peers, 1967-2025,” a report on Jewish enrollment at Harvard and across the Ivy League. Its headline finding is that “Jewish enrollment at Harvard stands at approximately 7 percent today, the lowest recorded since before World War II, roughly half what it was a decade ago, and the lowest of any Ivy League institution with reliable data.”

Using a measure of Jewish enrollment decline relative to White non-Jewish decline at the same school, the report argues that Harvard and Yale saw disproportionately steeper declines than peers, while Princeton — the report’s main benchmark among the Ivies — did not.

The report says Jewish enrollment at Harvard peaked at roughly 20-25% from the late 1960s through the 1990s, and notes that the current share now sits below the roughly 15% ceiling imposed under Harvard’s Jewish quota in the 1920s.

The report says several common structural explanations — including geographic diversification, socioeconomic targeting, international growth, and athletic recruitment — don’t account for its finding of a disproportionately steep decline in Jewish students at Harvard relative to peer schools even when these factors are accounted for.

HJAA is explicit that the report “does not assert that Harvard intentionally discriminates against Jewish applicants.” Its point is that current data “cannot fully separate admissions decisions from applicant self-selection and evolving Jewish identity labels,” so the cause of Harvard’s decline cannot yet be known until it has sufficient data.

The report draws on The Crimson freshman survey, a 2016 Brandeis Center for Modern Jewish Studies sample, Hillel International, and peer-school data, while noting limits in each. For example, Hillel’s data are estimates to begin with, and carry what the report calls “calibration uncertainty.” The report notes that earlier Harvard Hillel baselines were inflated “roughly 1.8-fold” and were later revised downward.

HJAA’s request is that Harvard “count,” “audit,” and “correct” — i.e., track Jewish enrollment outcomes, commission an “independent review” of its admissions process, and “If the review reveals that specific policies are driving a disproportionate outcome, adjust them.”

Rabbi Jason Rubenstein (AB ‘04), director of Harvard Hillel, said that the study provides a “vitally important” opportunity to understand why Harvard’s Jewish population is “significantly smaller than similar institutions,” but that Harvard Hillel's “perception is that each of the last two admitted classes have an appreciably larger number of Jewish students than the preceding classes.”

Rabbi Hirschy Zarchi, founder of Harvard Chabad, noted that “because different methods and factors vary across universities — and even within the same institution over time — we don’t have the data to accurately contrast Jewish population figures.”

Separately, according to the Washington Free Beacon, a person present at a February Harvard Chabad Shabbat dinner at Harvard Business School said Harvard College Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid William Fitzsimmons (AB ’67, EdM ’69, EdD ’71) told attendees that Harvard was conducting outreach targeting Jewish day schools, and that results had been promising.

Harvard custodians in the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) 32BJ overwhelmingly approved a new four-year contract after nearly six months of bargaining, a two-day strike, and federal mediator involvement.

The agreement includes a $500 ratification bonus, the largest wage increase for Harvard custodians in two decades — a $4/hour raise over four years (from $28.68 in 2026 to $32.68 in 2029) — and keeps healthcare benefits fully funded.

It also adds new provisions addressing immigration enforcement, including protections for workers removed from their jobs by immigration authorities, though it does not include earlier proposals for immigration legal services or a legal defense fund.

Harvard is still bargaining with its graduate-student union as a strike-authorization vote proceeds. Harvard and its Graduate Student Union have been negotiating a successor contract since February 2025, and union members are voting in a strike authorization vote that would allow union leadership to call a strike if negotiations fail.

Harvard has named Astronomy and Natural Sciences professor Karin Öberg as its next senior vice provost for faculty.

In this University-wide role, Öberg will oversee faculty affairs, including efforts to recruit and retain faculty, support research and teaching and coordinate the review of academic appointments.

She succeeds Judith Singer, who will retire from the Provost’s Office this spring after 18 years of service.

Provost John Manning described Öberg as a “brilliant scientist” and “dedicated teacher” whose “deep commitment to academic excellence and broad range of interests will serve her well.”

The Crimson: “‘It’s Really Unfortunate’: Students Say SEAS Layoffs Have Strained Labs, Courses, and Support Networks”

Harvard Kennedy School: “Harvard Kennedy School launches new event series marking 250th Anniversary of America’s Founding”

The Crimson: “Science Journalist Matt Kaplan Calls for Greater Transparency in Scientific Research at Harvard Talk”

The Crimson: “Harvard Cancels Brazil, Mexico City Summer Programs Over Funding Constraints and Low Enrollment”

The Crimson: “Harvard Kennedy School Faculty, Students File Denaming Proposal for Wexner Building”

Harvard Gazette: “Atlas Hotel opens at the Enterprise Research Campus”

Harvard Magazine: “Can We Disagree Better? A Harvard Professor Has Tips.” — feat. HKS professor Julia Minson (AB ‘99) and her Disagreeing Better initiative

Harvard Magazine: “Readers Respond to Our ‘Grade Inflation’ Survey”

The Crimson: “Harvard, Please Comment!” — op-ed by Harvard English and Theater, Dance, Media professor Derek Miller

STAT News: “National survey of NIH-funded researchers shows precarious state of U.S. science — ‘This is like the Titanic’”

New York Times: “What’s Driving the Spike in College Students With Disabilities”

Jewish Insider: “Cornell president rejects ‘deeply disturbing’ student resolution to sever partnership with Technion”

92nd Street Y: “SAPIR Debates: Is Fighting Antisemitism a Losing Battle?” — feat. Dara Horn (AB ‘99, PhD ‘06) and Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism Deborah Lipstadt

Bloomberg: “How Trump’s Immigration Policies Are Remaking US B-Schools”

Brown Daily Herald: “Paxson talks tuition, grade inflation, future of higher education at American Enterprise Institute event”

Brown Daily Herald: “Students unsurprised by campus climate survey results, note connections with federal actions on campus”

New York Times: “Judge Vacates Punishments of Columbia Students Who Occupied a Building”

The Free Press: “Columbia Grad Students Get a Reality Check”

New York Times: “Trump Administration Surveys Cornell Employees About Antisemitism”

Higher Ed Dive: “GSA plan would ban DEI for all federal funding recipients — including colleges”

New York Times: “Judge Temporarily Blocks Trump Demand for Student Race Data”

U.S. Department of Education: “U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Department of Labor Announce First Grant Competition Under Postsecondary Education Partnership”

National Bureau of Economic Research: “‘Feel’ as a Determinant of College Choice: Evidence from Campus Tour Weather”

SCOTUS Blog: “The First Amendment’s application to public university students: an explainer”

Washington Post: “Trump administration moves key student loan oversight to Treasury”

Public Discourse: “Responding to Seven Theses Against Viewpoint Diversity” — by HSPH professor Tyler VanderWeele (PhD ‘06), in response to Lisa Siraganian's AAUP Academe Magazine piece, "Seven Theses Against Viewpoint Diversity"

Education Next: “The Dumbing Down of Advanced Placement Tests” — by Harvard Government professor Paul Peterson

MIT Free Speech Alliance: “The Simplest, Best Reason for MIT to Adopt Institutional Neutrality” — by MIT Free Speech Alliance executive director Peter Bonilla