Federal Civil Rights Investigation Opened into Antisemitism at Harvard

The U.S. Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights has opened an investigation into allegations of antisemitism at Harvard University. The Ivy League institution has been in the headlines in recent weeks due to pro-terror, anti-Israel displays among students on campus in the wake of the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

The complaint against Harvard joins a growing list of federal civil rights investigations into similar complaints of discrimination at schools like Columbia, Cornell, Wellesley College, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Tampa, and the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, according to a report by the New York Times.

Several school districts are also included, such as New York City public schools, Clark County School District in Las Vegas, and Hillsborough County Schools in Tampa.

The complaint against Harvard, filed this week, reportedly addresses discrimination based on “shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics.”

The Office for Civil Rights said its probe into the schools and school districts are part of a wider effort to “take aggressive action to address the alarming nationwide rise in reports of antisemitism, anti-Muslim, anti-Arab, and other forms of discrimination and harassment on college campuses and in K-12 schools since the October 7 Israel-Hamas conflict.”

While the Office for Civil Rights has publicly revealed that an investigation exists, it does not typically disclose who filed a complaint or what the complaint says. As a result of a federal investigation such as this, a university could lose federal funding for civil rights violations.

While it remains unclear who has filed the official complaint against Harvard, the Boston Globe reported that it has seen a letter from the U.S. Department of Education saying that the complaint accuses the Ivy League university of discrimination against Jewish or Israeli students.

As Breitbart News reported, the October 7 massacre of Jews in Israel has galvanized students into putting on pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel demonstrations on their college campuses, opening the eyes of many who are now shocked to see just how widespread antisemitism is on college campuses across the country.

At Harvard, more than 30 student groups infamously signed a pro-terror statement in the wake of the attack that left roughly 1,200 Israelis dead, blaming Israel for the terrorist attack against them, writing, in part, “We hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence.”

You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and X/Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.

Editor’s Note:  This story was updated to reflect a revised number on the death toll from the October 7 Hamas attack in Israel.  The Israeli government estimate of 1,400 was revised to around 1,200, according to Reuters.