After Harvard University scored a recent legal victory over the Trump administration's “arbitrary and capricious" funding freeze orders, it appears the government is ramping up its confrontation with the university.
The Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS') Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has referred the university to an entity within the HHS that handles "suspension and debarment" decisions that determine whether outside organizations can do business with the government, according to a Sept. 29 release.
The OCR claims Harvard has acted with "deliberate indifference toward discrimination and harassment against Jewish and Israeli students on its campus since October 7, 2023," having made its determination on this issue back in the summer.
The alleged conduct represents a violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, according to the OCR, so it's asking an HHS organization to review whether the school should be able to do business with the government.
Harvard has a right to a formal administrative hearing where it can defend against the allegations, according to the release. If the university is found in violation of civil rights laws, a "debarment" would have a governmentwide effect, prohibiting the university from business relations with any U.S. federal agency for a specified time frame.
The development comes weeks after a U.S. district judge ruled that the Trump administration acted unlawfully when it froze the university's research funding earlier this year.
"The ruling affirms Harvard’s First Amendment and procedural rights, and validates our arguments in defense of the University’s academic freedom, critical scientific research, and the core principles of American higher education," Harvard University President Alan Garber wrote in a statement at the time.