Attacks on Harvard by Trump administration have built for months. A timeline of the dispute

Attacks on Harvard by Trump administration have been building for months. A timeline of the dispute

Since returning to office in January, President Donald Trump has made a major push to put America’s elite universities on notice over political ideology. But the groundwork for the White House’s stronger stance was laid more than a year earlier. Two months after Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack on Israel sparked the Gaza war – and protests at colleges over the siege and the US ally’s retaliatory bombardment of the territory – the then-president of Harvard University was asked in a congressional hearing whether “calling for the genocide of Jews” would violate Harvard’s rules against bullying and harassment. “It can be, depending on the context,” Claudine Gay said in a response that slackened the jaws of many students and donors and deeply divided the campus and its alumni. Gay later apologized. But the backlash, plus a plagiarism scandal, ultimately led her to resign, with Jewish organizations agreeing the nation’s oldest, wealthiest and most prestigious university wasn’t taking antisemitism seriously enough. The reaction also provided a fresh line of criticism for conservative groups and politicians who for decades had complained about liberal teachings at ivory tower institutions. Harvard soon launched a task force on antisemitism that called for stronger action against “harassment, abuse and intimidation” and more consistent discipline for violators. Since then, the school says it has tightened its ban on encampments and other protests that disrupt student activities, made “doxing” a violation of its anti-harassment and anti-bullying rules and expanded “inclusion and belonging efforts” to include Jewish students.