WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced Monday that Harvard University violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by responding with deliberate indifference to sustained harassment targeting Jewish and Israeli students. The findings span 19 months, from October 2023 to the present, during which harassment reportedly denied students key educational opportunities and created a hostile campus environment.
Title VI prohibits recipients of federal financial assistance from discriminating on the basis of race, color, or national origin, a category that includes discrimination based on actual or perceived Jewish or Israeli identity or ancestry. Harvard and its subrecipients collectively received over $794 million in federal funding from HHS between fiscal years 2023 and 2025.
The OCR’s investigation revealed severe and pervasive acts of harassment, including threats, intimidation, and vandalism. Instances of physical violence were also documented, targeting Jewish and Israeli students on campus. These hostile actions reportedly blocked access to campus facilities, classes, and extracurricular activities while undermining affected students’ safety and emotional well-being.
“Harvard’s public pledges to improve its disciplinary framework for harassment and misconduct are inadequate to meaningfully address these serious findings,” said Paula M. Stannard, Director of the Office for Civil Rights at HHS. “HHS stands ready to reengage in productive discussions with Harvard to reach resolution on the corrective action that Harvard can take to remedy the violations and come into compliance with its Title VI obligations.”
The OCR found that Harvard failed to meet multiple obligations under Title VI, including:
- Establishing clear, consistent policies to report and address discrimination.
- Uniformly enforcing disciplinary measures, which resulted in inconsistent sanctions that lacked deterrence.
- Applying time, place, and manner restrictions to stop recurring incidents in campus facilities.
The findings cite numerous sources, including internal reports by Harvard’s own Task Force on Combating Antisemitism and Anti-Israeli Bias, a U.S. Congressional investigation, and reliable media coverage of incidents involving physical and verbal harassment on campus.
The Notice of Violation issued by OCR is the second under this Administration to assess liability for race and national origin discrimination using a “deliberate indifference” standard. This case does not address a separate ongoing investigation into potential race-based discrimination in the Harvard Law Review.
The announcement aligns with the Administration’s multi-agency Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism, established under President Trump’s executive orders aimed at addressing anti-Semitic harassment and violence nationwide. The HHS emphasized its commitment to working with Harvard to implement necessary corrective measures.
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