HHS’ Civil Rights Office Finds Harvard University in Violation of Federal Civil Rights Law
Harvard University Violated Title VI by Showing Deliberate Indifference to the Hostile Environment Faced by its Jewish and Israeli Students 9-3-25
Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced that Harvard University (Harvard) violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI) by acting with deliberate indifference towards harassment of Jewish and Israeli students by other students and faculty from October 7, 2023, through the present. OCR enforces Title VI, which prohibits a recipient of Federal financial assistance from discriminating in its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, or national origin, which includes discrimination against individuals that is based on their actual or perceived Israeli or Jewish identity or ancestry. From fiscal years 2023 to 2025, Harvard and its subrecipients have received over $794 million in Federal financial assistance from HHS.
OCR’s Notice of Violation finds that Harvard has been – and is – deliberately indifferent to the severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive harassment of Jewish and Israeli students by its own students and faculty. The findings are based on information and documents obtained during the investigation: Harvard’s policies and procedures; conclusions from Harvard’s own internal Task Force on Combating Antisemitism and Anti-Israeli Bias; findings from a U.S. Congressional task force that investigated antisemitism on college campuses; and reliable media reports that contemporaneously depicted antisemitic episodes of vandalism, harassment, and physical violence over a 19-month period at Harvard.
“Harvard’s public pledges to improve its disciplinary framework for harassment and misconduct are inadequate to meaningfully address these serious findings,” said Paula M. Stannard, Director of the Office for Civil Rights at HHS. “HHS stands ready to reengage in productive discussions with Harvard to reach resolution on the corrective action that Harvard can take to remedy the violations and come into compliance with its Title VI obligations.”
OCR’s findings document that a hostile environment existed, and continues to exist, at Harvard. This hostile environment includes harassing speech, threats, and intimidation targeting Jewish and Israeli students, including calls for genocide and murder. OCR’s findings also extensively detail acts of physical intimidation and violence between students. This hostile environment denied, and continues to deny, students’ fundamental educational opportunities. Such educational opportunities denied include safe class attendance, access to campus facilities such as libraries, dining halls, dorms, and other common areas, participation in extracurricular activities, and overall physical and emotional well-being on campus.
The Notice of Violation explains the ways in which Harvard – which has substantial control over both the students who committed harassment and the property where harassment occurred – acted with deliberate indifference with regard to the hostile environment.
For
example, Harvard failed:
· To establish clear and
consistent policies and practices to report and remediate discrimination;
· To discipline violators
of its policies with any uniformity, resulting in a patchwork application of
sanctions that Harvard inconsistently reduced or reversed, resulting in a
disciplinary system that had little to no deterrent effect; and
· To enforce its own time, place and manner restrictions in any consistent or meaningful way, resulting in recurring and unsanctioned episodes that deprived Jewish and Israeli students their full access to parts of campus where they studied and socialized.
The
Notice of Violation may be found at https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/harvard-title-vi-notice-violation.pdf
[PDF, 746 KB].
This investigation is the second OCR investigation
completed in this Administration under Title VI that examines the civil rights
liability of a Federal funding recipient for race and national origin
discrimination under a deliberate indifference theory. The scope of the
findings released today do not address OCR’s ongoing investigation under Title VI into
suspected race-based discrimination permeating the operations of the Harvard
Law Review journal.
Today’s announcement is part of a broader effort by the Administration’s multi-agency Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism, which is part of the Administration’s commitment to address “unlawful anti-Semitic harassment and violence,” as expressed in President Trump’s Executive Orders, Combatting Anti-Semitism (Dec. 11, 2019) and Additional Measures to Combat Anti-Semitism (Jan. 29, 2025).
https://www.hhs.gov/press-room/hhs-finds-harvard-in-violation
In 2025, a U.S. federal judge ruled that the Trump administration unlawfully froze billions of dollars in federal research grants to Harvard University. While the White House had initially sought a $500 million fine or settlement from the university, the September 2025 court decision effectively blocked the administration's punitive action.
The
federal court ruling
· On September 3, 2025,
U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs issued a ruling in favor of Harvard,
ordering the reversal of more than $2.2 billion in federal funding cuts.
· Judge Burroughs ruled
that the Trump administration's freeze on research grants was unconstitutional,
violated federal law, and infringed upon Harvard's First Amendment rights.
· The judge wrote that
the administration used antisemitism "as a smokescreen for a targeted,
ideologically-motivated assault on this country's premier universities".
· Following the ruling, the White House announced its intention to appeal the decision.
Events
leading up to the ruling
· April 2025: After
Harvard rejected the Trump administration's demands to change its admissions
and disciplinary policies, the White House responded by freezing over $2
billion in federal grants and revoking the university's ability to enroll
international students.
· May 2025: Harvard
sued the Trump administration over the funding freeze, with University
President Alan Garber stating that the demands were an attempt to control
hiring and curriculum.
· July 2025: News
broke that the White House was seeking fines from multiple universities,
including Harvard, over allegations of antisemitism on campus. Reports stated
that the administration saw a deal with Harvard as a key target.
· August 2025: Harvard's negotiations with the White House reportedly involved a potential settlement of up to $500 million, though Harvard leadership denied an agreement was near. The administration also threatened to seize research patents from the university.
Related
Title VI finding
· June 2025: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) found that Harvard had violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This violation related to the university's "deliberate indifference" to the harassment of Jewish and Israeli students.
https://www.google.com/search?q=us+fine+against+harvard+university+2025
Comments
This 9-3-25 decision by U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs is headed to appeal court. Harvard failed to enact rules that would have stopped this violation of civil rights laws. Future Grants could go to the many competent Universities who are more than able to take future Medical Research Grants for their Medical Schools. Washington University Medical School has a “first class” Medical Research Group and has had effective Rules for decades. There are no disruptive protests at Washington U. I used to work there.
This case could redefine “Free Speech”.
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader
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