Harvard may not meet accreditation standards for ‘deliberate indifference’ toward antisemitism
The Ivy League school has allowed “antisemitic discrimination to persist unchecked on its campus,” the Education Department secretary stated.
People walk by the Harvard Coop Store in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
The Trump administration announced on July 9 that it has notified Harvard University’s accreditor that it may not meet the commission’s accreditation standards because it is in violation of federal antidiscrimination laws.
The U.S. Departments of Education and Health and Human Services notified the New England Commission of Higher Education, the accreditation agency for colleges and universities in six states in the New England region, that HHS had concluded the university violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act after launching a compliance review in February.
HHS initially launched the review into Harvard’s Medical School, examining reported antisemitic incidents during the school’s graduation ceremony last year. The review was expanded to the entire university in April.
The Joint Task Force to Combat Antisemitism notified the university on June 30 that the department concluded that Harvard acted “with deliberate indifference toward discrimination and harassment against Jewish and Israeli students on its campus from Oct. 7, 2023, to the present,” according to HHS.
“When an institution—no matter how prestigious—abandons its mission and fails to protect its students, it forfeits the legitimacy that accreditation is designed to uphold,” stated HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. “HHS and the Department of Education will actively hold Harvard accountable through sustained oversight until it restores public trust and ensures a campus free of discrimination.”
Linda McMahon, secretary of the Education Department, stated, “By allowing antisemitic harassment and discrimination to persist unchecked on its campus, Harvard University has failed in its obligation to students, educators, and American taxpayers.”
“The Department of Education expects the New England Commission of Higher Education to enforce its policies and practices, and to keep the Department fully informed of its efforts to ensure that Harvard is in compliance with federal law and accreditor standards,” she added.
JNS sought comment from the university and the commission.
This is the latest move from the Trump administration to hold universities accountable for their actions regarding campus antisemitism.
On June 4, the administration notified the Middle States Commission on Higher Education that Columbia University no longer meets its accreditation standards, as the Department of Education concluded that the university “acted with deliberate indifference towards the harassment of Jewish students on its campus.”
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