A United States federal court has dismissed a lawsuit filed by the Trump administration against Harvard University over alleged anti-semitism and discrimination against Jewish and Israeli students on the campus.
District Judge Richard Stearns, sitting in Boston, ruled on Thursday that the government failed to sufficiently establish that Harvard violated a provision of the Civil Rights Act prohibiting discrimination based on race, nationality and other protected characteristics.
The lawsuit, filed by the US Department of Justice in March, accused Harvard’s leadership and faculty of ignoring antisemitic incidents during pro-Palestinian demonstrations on the university campus.
According to the government, Harvard “turned a blind eye to antisemitism and discrimination against Jews and Israelis.”
The administration also alleged that the university allowed anti-Israeli protesters to occupy its libraries and permitted a pro-Palestinian encampment to remain on campus for about 20 days despite violating university policies.
However, Judge Stearns rejected the administration’s case, ruling that the incidents cited by the government were “too isolated and episodic” to establish that Harvard had failed to comply with the Civil Rights Act.
The ruling represents another setback for Trump’s broader campaign against leading US universities over their handling of pro-Palestinian demonstrations and allegations of antisemitism following Israel’s military offensive in Gaza.
The Trump administration has accused several major universities of allowing pro-Palestinian movements to operate freely on their campuses while failing to adequately protect Jewish students from discrimination and antisemitism.
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Harvard has also been at the centre of the administration’s efforts to restrict federal funding to universities it accuses of tolerating antisemitism and promoting liberal political views.
The administration previously moved to freeze billions of dollars in federal funding allocated to Harvard over the allegations.
A federal judge ruled last September that the funding freeze was largely unlawful and ordered the government to restore the affected funds.
