Journalism of Courage
US President Donald Trump’s administration is escalating its fight with educational institutes, and is now expanding its campaign against Harvard University by starting a process that could make the country’s oldest university ineligible for federal funding over the allegations of antisemitism on campus.
The Office for Civil Rights in the Health and Human Services Department (HHS) wrote a letter to Harvard President Alan Garber on Monday and said it is referring the university to a process called debarment and administrative suspension, which could be a big blow to Harvard since it chose to stand against the demands of Trump administration and can also put billions of dollars in jeopardy.
The decision by the HHS could disbar the Ivy League school from entering into contracts with all government agencies or receiving federal grants.
The announcement comes after the Office for Civil Rights referred Harvard to the US Justice Department to acknowledge the allegations that the university failed to address discrimination and harassment against Jewish and Israeli students on its campus.
Director of the Office for Civil Rights, Paula Stannard, has said that her office notified Harvard of its right to a formal administrative hearing wherein an administrative law judge would examine if the Ivy League school violated the Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Harvard has 20 days in order to seek a hearing.
Stannard, in a statement said, “OCR’s referral of Harvard for formal administrative proceedings reflects OCR’s commitment to safeguard both taxpayer investments and the broader public interest,” Reuters reported.
President Trump launched a campaign to bring changes at Harvard and other educational institutes by leveraging federal funding as the US president believes these educational institutions have been gripped by antisemitic and “radical left” ideologies.
Harvard had sued the Trump administration over its actions and a US district judge ruled in favour of the university earlier this month, stating that the federal government had unlawfully terminated more than $2 billion in research grants awarded to the school.
(with inputs from Reuters)
