The tug-of-war between Donald Trump and Harvard continues: the US administration has filed a lawsuit accusing America's most famous university of anti-Semitism, alleging that the civil rights of Jews and Israelis have been violated. The White House has been investigating Harvard for months, making it the target of a campaign launched last year, pressuring the richest and most illustrious university in the United States to implement "anti-woke" reforms to the higher education system.
The lawsuit marks an escalation of a year-long dispute between the government and the prestigious Ivy League university. Six months ago, a Boston judge blocked the administration's initial attempt to revoke Washington's federal research funding for the university. The lawsuit, filed in the federal district court in Boston, is part of the parties' attempt to reach an out-of-court settlement, which appeared to have been reached in September.
The administration claims that Harvard “turned a blind eye to anti-Semitism and discrimination against Jews and Israelis” by rigidly enforcing its policies against other forms of discrimination and allowing anti-Israel protesters to violate rules “with complete impunity” after the war in Gaza.
Large student protests erupted in the spring of 2024 on the campuses of several universities, but Harvard, which had been among the most restrained, was made the scapegoat: "Rather than arrest students or even promptly end the occupation in violation of university rules, Harvard fed them," the complaint states, adding that faculty members "brought students burritos for dinner" and "gave them candy."
By arguing that Harvard has failed to protect Jewish and Israeli students from serious harassment, the lawsuit is explained as seeking to force Harvard to return billions of dollars in public funds “granted to a discriminatory institution.”
(Unioneonline)
