The Justice Department filed a new lawsuit against Harvard University in federal court in Massachusetts on Friday, saying the university’s leadership failed to address antisemitism and arguing that federal civil-rights law gives the government authority to freeze existing grants and seek repayment for grants already paid. The complaint escalated a long-running legal fight between the Trump administration and the elite university that has tested how the government enforces compliance at U.S. colleges.
In the lawsuit, federal attorneys wrote, “The United States cannot and will not tolerate these failures,” and asked the court to compel Harvard to comply with federal civil-rights law. The government also asked the judge to help it “recover billions of dollars of taxpayer subsidies awarded to a discriminatory institution,” according to the complaint.
The Justice Department’s filing asked for specific changes aimed at campus demonstrations tied to the Israel-Hamas war. It said Harvard permitted pro-Palestinian demonstrations in places on campus during the protests, including allowing a pro-Palestinian encampment to remain for 20 days that officials said violated university policy, and it alleged Harvard did not adequately address concerns that antisemitic conduct kept Jewish students from going to class.
The suit also asked a judge to order Harvard to involve law enforcement in response to protest activity, including calling police to arrest protesters who block parts of campus. It additionally sought an independent monitor, approved by the government, to oversee whether Harvard complies with court orders.
Harvard responded that it is committed to protecting Jewish and Israeli community members. In a statement, the university said it “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 also said it has taken steps that it described as proactive. The university said, “Harvard has taken substantive, proactive steps to address the root causes of antisemitism and actively enforces anti-harassment and anti-discrimination rules and policies,” according to the statement provided in the AP report.
The latest lawsuit comes amid broader disputes over government authority and universities’ autonomy. Federal officials have said they investigated allegations that Harvard failed to address antisemitism during and after pro-Palestinian demonstrations, while Harvard argued that the government’s demands infringe on its First Amendment rights after it resisted federal pressure tied to activism on campus and changes requested by the government involving hiring and enrollment.
As the conflict has intensified, negotiations between Harvard and the administration appear to have stalled after coming close on multiple occasions. AP reported that last year the parties were approaching an agreement that would have required Harvard to pay $500 million to regain access to federal funding and end investigations, before the figure later increased to $1 billion, which the administration said was necessary because Harvard had been “behaving very badly.”
Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education, criticized the administration’s approach, saying in an email that Friday’s lawsuit was “just the latest attempt to pressure Harvard to agree to changes favored by the administration.” Mitchell compared the stance to bullies “pound[ing] on the table” when they do not get what they want, in a comment included in the AP report.
The Justice Department’s new filing is also framed as a response to what it said were failures by Harvard to protect Jewish students from harassment. White House press secretary Liz Huston said in an X post that “Harvard University has failed to protect its Jewish students from harassment and has allowed discrimination to wreak havoc on its campus,” as the AP report describes. Harvard, meanwhile, has said it strongly disagrees with the government’s civil-rights findings and has described its own efforts, including forming a task force and changing discipline policies.
The dispute began with an investigation into allegations of campus antisemitism and has grown into a wider feud, including actions by the administration such as freezing billions of dollars in research funding, ending federal contracts, and trying to block Harvard from hosting international students. The administration’s strategy, according to the AP report, is different from how previous administrations typically handled civil-rights enforcement at colleges, which often involved investigations, findings, and longer-term compliance negotiations rather than rapid, broad funding moves.
For Harvard, the legal fight has included cases filed by the university challenging the funding freeze. A federal judge sided with Harvard in September, reversing the funding cuts and calling the antisemitism argument a “smokescreen,” AP reported. The AP report also notes that an editor’s note accompanied the original version of the story, correcting the timing of the judge’s order that reversed the funding cuts.
The Associated Press Education Writer Collin Binkley contributed to the report, which said the lawsuit in Massachusetts is another salvo as the two sides continue to dispute how universities must balance civil-rights obligations, protest-related activity, and constitutional protections.