The US Department of Education announced on Monday that its Office for Civil Rights has opened two new investigations into Harvard University for potential violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, reported JNS.
One probe will examine alleged ongoing antisemitic harassment on Harvard’s campus and the university’s purported failure to protect Jewish students.
The department stated that it will “investigate alleged ongoing antisemitic harassment on Harvard’s campus and the institution’s purported failure to protect Jewish students."
A separate investigation will determine whether Harvard’s admissions process continues to give preference based on race, in defiance of the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling against such practices.
Harvard “has refused to provide responsive information" on the matter, the department said. It warned that if Harvard fails to cooperate within 20 days, the case will be referred to the US Department of Justice.
“Harvard University should know better," stated US Education Secretary Linda McMahon. “Its name will always be tied to the landmark Supreme Court case that found sweeping racial discrimination in admissions and the campus has been in the spotlight for tolerating egregious antisemitic harassment for years now."
The announcement follows the Justice Department’s lawsuit filed against Harvard on Friday, which accused the university of turning a “blind eye" to Jew-hatred.
The Trump administration has taken several steps against Harvard in the wake of its failure to handle growing antisemitism on campus, including a freeze of more than $2 billion in federal research funding.
President Donald Trump later announced that Harvard University had agreed to pay $500 million and operate trade schools as part of a deal with the administration, but that deal did not come to fruition.
Since returning to the White House last year, Trump and his administration have increased pressure on higher education institutions across the country. The Department of Education has opened antisemitism investigations into at least 60 universities and warned of “potential enforcement actions if institutions do not fulfill their obligations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act."
Several universities have already reached agreements with the administration following similar investigations, including Northwestern University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Brown University, and the Universities of Virginia and Pennsylvania, which accepted multiyear settlements.