While Brown and Other Elite Schools Succumbed, Trump Turns Up Pressure on Harvard

While Brown and Other Elite Schools Succumbed, Trump Turns Up Pressure on Harvard

While Ivy League schools like Brown University and Columbia buckled under pressure from the Trump administration, Harvard has continues to rebuff the president’s effort to control academics, programming, and housing.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights announced Monday that it’s moving to cut off Harvard University’s eligibility to receive federal funding.

The Trump administration has accused Harvard of allowing antisemitism.

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But Harvard has refused to go the way of other schools like Brown, which changed policies under pressure from the Trump administration.

In the agreement Brown signed, the University agreed to changes in policy for transgender students, gender surgery, single sex housing, and other Trump administration dictated policies.

HHS wrote, “announcement follows OCR’s June 30, 2025 Notice of Violation [PDF, 746 KB] issued to Harvard under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI) and OCR’s July 30, 2025 referral of Harvard to the U.S. Department of Justice to further enforce the violation. OCR’s Notice of Violation details findings from OCR’s compliance review that Harvard violated Title VI by acting with deliberate indifference toward discrimination and harassment against Jewish and Israeli students on its campus since October 7, 2023. Both before and after HHS OCR issued the Notice of Violation, the United States government, through HHS OCR, the White House, and the multi-agency Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism, engaged in extensive communications with Harvard to secure Harvard’s voluntary compliance with Title VI.”

“OCR’s referral of Harvard for formal administrative proceedings reflects OCR’s commitment to safeguard both taxpayer investments and the broader public interest,” said Paula M. Stannard, OCR Director. “Congress has empowered Federal agencies to pursue Title VI compliance through formal enforcement mechanisms, including the termination of funding or denial of future Federal financial assistance, when voluntary compliance cannot be achieved. OCR has notified Harvard of its right to a formal administrative hearing, where an HHS administrative law judge will make an impartial determination on whether Harvard violated Title VI by acting with deliberate indifference towards antisemitic student-on-student harassment.”

Harvard has 20 days to inform OCR whether it will exercise its right to a hearing.