US sues Harvard over treatment of Jewish and Israeli students, seeks billions of dollars

March 20 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration sued Harvard University on Friday over the Ivy League school’s alleged failure to protect Jewish and Israeli students, and is seeking to recover billions of dollars of taxpayer money.

In a complaint filed in Boston federal court, the U.S. Department of Justice said Harvard remains deliberately indifferent to hostility on its campus and has intentionally refused to enforce its campus rules when victims are Jews or Israelis.

“This sent the clear message to Harvard’s Jewish and Israeli community that the indifference was not an accident; they were being intentionally excluded and effectively denied equal access to educational opportunities,” the complaint said.

Harvard had no immediate comment.

Friday’s lawsuit came less than two months after Trump said his administration was seeking $1 billion from Harvard to settle probes into school policies, after a published report said Trump had dropped his demand for a $200 million payment.

It also follows a February 13 lawsuit where the government accused Harvard of failing to comply with a federal investigation, and sought documents to determine whether the university illegally considered race in its admissions process. 

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Additional reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Rod Nickel)