Judge dismisses Trump administration lawsuit alleging antisemitism at Harvard

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by the Trump administration that accused Harvard University of failing to protect Jewish students from harassment. U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns ruled Thursday that the administration did not prove an ongoing violation of federal civil rights laws.

The lawsuit, filed in March, primarily focused on incidents during the 2023-24 academic year and a few from March 2025. Judge Stearns found these cases to be "too isolated and episodic" to establish a persistent civil rights violation at the Cambridge, Massachusetts campus.

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too isolated and episodic

The Trump administration had accused Harvard of ignoring harassment, assault, stalking, and spitting against Jewish students during pro-Palestinian demonstrations following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel. The government sought to reclaim billions in federal research grants awarded to Harvard since October 2023, citing Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

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cares deeply about members of our Jewish and Israeli community and remains committed to ensuring they are embraced, respected, and can thrive on our campus.

Harvard had previously stated it "cares deeply about members of our Jewish and Israeli community" and is "committed to ensuring they are embraced, respected, and can thrive on our campus." The university also asserted it had taken "substantive, proactive steps to address the root causes of antisemitism and actively enforces anti-harassment and anti-discrimination rules and policies."

This case is one of several actions the government took against Harvard after the university refused demands from the White House. In a separate legal battle last year, a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to reinstate over $2.6 billion in federal funding cuts, finding the White House had placed unconstitutional conditions on federal funding and used antisemitism as a "smokescreen for a targeted, ideologically-motivated assault" on universities.

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Harvard has taken substantive, proactive steps to address the root causes of antisemitism and actively enforces anti-harassment and anti-discrimination rules and policies.