Trump goes for round 2 in court against Harvard, UCLA |
Trump goes for round 2 in court against Harvard, UCLA
The Trump administration is taking another swing at Harvard University and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), filing antisemitism lawsuits and launching civil rights investigations against the schools after previous efforts to halt funding were thwarted in court.
Both Harvard and UCLA were hit with lawsuits by the Justice Department over alleged rampant antisemitism on campus and violating federal antidiscrimination laws. Harvard was also hit Monday with two new civil rights investigations.
President Trump, who has aggressively targeted colleges and universities in his second term, appears to be signaling he’s far from done with the two institutions, which both refused to cut deals after he tried to take away their federal funding last year.
Trump has particularly singled out Harvard, reacting furiously to a New York Times report last month that his administration was backing away from its cash demands on the nation’s oldest and richest school.
“Strongly Antisemitic Harvard University has been feeding a lot of ‘nonsense’ to The Failing New York Times,” the president said on social media. “We are now seeking One Billion Dollars in damages, and want nothing further to do, into the future, with Harvard University.”
The federal lawsuit filed last week accuses the university of failing to protect Jewish students since the Israel-Hamas war broke out in 2023. The administration says Harvard violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, that the federal government should be allowed to halt its grants and that Harvard should pay back the money it was given since the violations began.
The Trump administration says Jewish students were physically assaulted, harassed and stalked while some faculty members supported the pro-Palestinian encampments.
A Harvard spokesperson said the lawsuit “represents yet another pretextual and retaliatory action by the administration for refusing to turn over........