The Trump administration sued Harvard University on Friday over claims that the school is violating the civil rights of Jewish and Israeli students, an escalation of the government’s year-long clash with the Ivy League university.

The complaint alleges that Harvard failed to enforce its campus policies against hostile demonstrations targeting Jewish and Israeli students. It further claims that the university tolerated building occupations, disrupted classes, and allowed disruptive protests without meaningful discipline.

The complaint alleges that Jewish and Israeli students faced harassment, assaults, and intimidation, including chants calling for their deaths and occupation of campus spaces, such as the library and classrooms. According to the complaint, during this time Harvard allegedly did not intervene or punish violations of its policies, and instructors exhibited unfair behavior by allowing students to attend anti-Israel protests but not pro-Israel protests. The lawsuit claims this caused students to be fearful and feel excluded, with reports of students being followed around campus and antisemitic hate speech being directed at them.

In a statement announcing the lawsuit, the US Department of Justice said:

The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts, alleges that Harvard has failed to protect its Jewish and Israeli students in two ways. First, Harvard has continued to be deliberately indifferent to a level of hostility on its campus so well-known across the nation that members of Congress were writing about it. Second, Harvard has refused to enforce its campus rules against students who harass their Jewish and Israeli peers.

Harvard receives over $2.6 billion in federal grants and certifies compliance with Title VI. These grants are a legally binding contract between Harvard and the US Department of Health and Human Services. As such, HHS conducted an investigation and found that Harvard’s conduct violated Title VI. HHS conducted negotiations to voluntarily bring Harvard into compliance. Negotiations did not succeed and now HHS asserts that Harvard in violation of Title VI via its intentional conduct and its deliberate indifference to discriminatory harassment of Jewish and Israeli students and creation of a hostile educational environment since October 7, 2023, up to the present day.