Identity of Speakers
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n/a
Unaffiliated
Other
Resources
Additional Information
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Incident Nature:
Other
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Incident Political Orientation:
Not Clear -
Incident Responses:
Other
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Incident Status:
Other
- Did not involve Speech Codes
Summary
In June 2025, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued a formal finding that Harvard University violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act by permitting antisemitic harassment on campus. The OCR concluded that Harvard exhibited “deliberate indifference” to severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive harassment of Jewish and Israeli students by other students and faculty over an extended period. This conclusion was based on evidence including Harvard’s own Task Force on Combating Antisemitism and Anti-Israeli Bias, congressional reports, and media accounts documenting episodes of vandalism, harassment, and physical violence spanning 19 months.
Following this finding, on July 9, 2025, the Trump administration notified Harvard’s accreditor, the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE), that the university was potentially in violation of federal civil rights law and suggested that there was “strong evidence” warranting reconsideration or revocation of its accreditation. The federal Departments of Education and Health and Human Services emphasized the importance of accreditor enforcement of policies ensuring compliance with civil rights laws, warning that failure to address the violations risked loss of federal funding and jeopardized Harvard’s accreditation status.
Also in early July, the Trump administration announced plans to subpoena Harvard for information concerning alleged misconduct by foreign students, underscoring broader federal scrutiny of the university’s international programs alongside the antisemitism investigation.
Harvard has disputed the findings and resisted the federal government’s demands, arguing that these actions infringe upon its constitutional rights and academic freedom. The accreditor, NECHE, indicated that any ruling against Harvard would not necessarily result in immediate loss of accreditation, as institutions are typically allowed several years to come into compliance.
These coordinated federal actions, part of the Trump administration’s broader targeting of Harvard, represent an intensified effort to hold the university accountable for alleged civil rights violations on campus, with significant implications for its funding and accreditation moving forward.
