Trump Administration Sues Harvard Over Antisemitism, Seeks to Claw Back $2.6 Billion in Grants

The Trump administration on Friday filed a federal lawsuit against Harvard University, alleging the elite institution's leadership showed "deliberate indifference" to antisemitism and failed to protect Jewish and Israeli students in the wake of the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel. The Department of Justice lawsuit seeks to recover more than $2.6 billion in federal grant money already awarded to Harvard and to freeze additional grant payments, representing one of the most aggressive federal actions ever taken against an American university.

The complaint, filed in federal court in Massachusetts, alleges that in the aftermath of October 7, Jewish and Israeli students at Harvard were "harassed, physically assaulted, stalked, and spat upon" on campus and were denied access to educational facilities and opportunities. Administration officials said university leadership and faculty "turned a blind eye to antisemitism and discrimination against Jews and Israelis" when confronted with credible evidence of the conduct. The suit marks the second DOJ action against Harvard in little more than a month, following an earlier lawsuit in February over the school's compliance with race-blind admissions requirements.

Harvard University fired back Friday, calling the lawsuit "another pretextual and retaliatory action by the administration for refusing to turn over control of Harvard to the federal government." In a statement, the university said its extensive efforts to address antisemitism over the past two years "demonstrate the very opposite of deliberate indifference," pointing to new programs, an antisemitism task force, and disciplinary actions taken against students and faculty who violated university policies. Harvard President Alan Garber said the university would mount a vigorous legal defense.

The lawsuit is the latest and most financially sweeping escalation in an ongoing battle between the Trump administration and Harvard. The administration froze more than $2.2 billion in federal research grants last spring after the university refused to comply with a series of demands related to admissions policies, ideological diversity among faculty, and governance reforms. In follow-on letters sent through the spring and summer of 2025, the Department of Education and other agencies signaled that Harvard's continued defiance would invite additional penalties. Friday's lawsuit gives the administration a new legal tool to demand the return of grant money already spent — a financial cudgel unlike anything previously deployed against an American university.

Legal experts say the lawsuit faces significant constitutional hurdles. Courts have generally held that the federal government cannot simply demand repayment of grant money without first establishing that a specific condition of the grant was violated, and that the government gave adequate notice and an opportunity to cure. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression and several Harvard faculty unions announced plans to file amicus briefs on Harvard's behalf. The case is widely expected to eventually reach the Supreme Court, adding a major new front to the broader battle over federal power in higher education that has defined the Trump administration's second term.