Federal task force finds Harvard guilty of anti-Jewish bias in violation of civil-rights law

The Trump administration told Harvard University on Monday that it finished its investigation under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and found the Cambridge, Mass., Ivy League school violated civil rights law in its mistreatment of Jewish and Israeli students on campus.

“Harvard did not dispute our findings of fact, nor could it. These facts, while tragic for the individuals involved, are important to address for a broader, historical reason as well,” the task force stated in a letter to the Harvard president.

“As history has proven, the failure to face the reality of antisemitism can have catastrophic effects,” the task force stated.

Among the examples that the Task Force to Combat Antisemitism cited in its letter are a “majority” of Jewish Harvard students experiencing “negative bias or discrimination on campus, while a quarter felt physically unsafe,” Jewish and Israeli students being spat upon and hiding their Jewish identities “from classmates for fear of ostracization” and a multi-week encampment at the center of campus that “instilled fear in, and disrupted the studies of, Jewish and Israeli students.”

“Even worse, individuals who participated in the encampment received lax and inconsistent discipline, and as the discipline was reviewed by higher levels among the faculty, it was often downgraded,” the task force said.

The task force said that the probe concluded that “Harvard has been in some cases deliberately indifferent, and in others has been a willful participant in antisemitic harassment of Jewish students, faculty and staff.”

“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,” the task force said. “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.”

Paula Stannard, director of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ civil rights office, stated that “Harvard’s public pledges to improve its disciplinary framework for harassment and misconduct are inadequate to meaningfully address these serious findings.”

The department “stands ready to reengage in productive discussions with Harvard to reach a resolution on the corrective action that Harvard can take to remedy the violations and come into compliance with its Title VI obligations,” Stannard said.

According to the department, Harvard has received more than $794 million in federal financial assistance from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

“The Trump administration has concluded what many of us have suspected,” stated Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas). “Harvard’s repeated failures to address the rampant antisemitism on its campus violate federal law. It’s time we reverse the tide of antisemitism that has plagued America’s college campuses.”

© JNS