Trump administration finds Harvard in ‘violent violation’ of Civil Rights Act, threatens further loss of federal resources
CNN
A Trump administration investigation has found Harvard University in “violent violation” of the Civil Rights Act, once more escalating its battle with the school days after President Donald Trump suggested a deal was in sight to end its targeting of the university.
A Trump administration investigation has found Harvard University in “violent violation” of the Civil Rights Act, once more escalating its battle with the school days after President Donald Trump suggested a deal was in sight to end its targeting of the university. Members of the Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism said in a Monday letter to Harvard President Alan Garber that an investigation into the school’s compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color or national origin in programs or activities receiving federal funding, is now complete. The Office for Civil Rights at the Department of Health and Human Services “finds that Harvard University is in violent violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act,” reads the letter obtained by CNN, which is signed by Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon and others. The investigation concluded that Harvard “has been in some cases deliberately indifferent, and in others has been a willful participant in anti-Semitic harassment of Jewish students, faculty, and staff,” pointing to examples of Jewish and Israeli students being “assaulted and spit on,” imagery on campus that it says “trafficked in obvious anti-Semitic tropes,” and what it describes as an “impermissible, multiweek encampment that instilled fear in, and disrupted the studies of, Jewish and Israeli students,” according to the letter. The letter from the joint task force, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, warns that a “failure to institute adequate changes immediately will result in the loss of all federal financial resources and continue to affect Harvard’s relationship with the federal government,” adding, “Harvard may of course continue to operate free of federal privileges, and perhaps such an opportunity will spur a commitment to excellence that will help Harvard thrive once again.” In response, Harvard said it’s “far from indifferent and strongly disagrees” with the report’s conclusion, the university’s communications director Jason Newton said in a statement.
