A federal judge dismissed the Department of Justice’s Harvard harassment lawsuit on Aug. 13, rejecting claims that the university failed to protect Jewish students.
Harvard Lawsuit Dismissed
The suit, filed March 20, 2026, alleged that Harvard violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act by tolerating anti‑Semitic harassment after the Hamas Oct. 7 attacks.
Judge Richard Stearns of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts ruled that the alleged violations were “too isolated and episodic” to prove institutional noncompliance.
“Without diminishing any concern arising from these occurrences, the court finds them, singly and collectively, to be too isolated and episodic to support a plausible inference that any institutionalized noncompliance with Title VI persists at Harvard to this day,” Stearns wrote in his Aug. 13 opinion.
The judge noted that the amended complaint focused almost entirely on the 2023‑2024 academic year, with only three post‑2024 incidents alleged, all occurring nearly a year later in March 2025.
Harmeet K. Dhillon, assistant attorney general for civil rights at the Justice Department, said the department disagrees with the ruling and is reviewing next steps, emphasizing an ongoing nationwide investigation into antisemitism.
“The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division is actively investigating antisemitism nationwide. The division has an extensive and active portfolio of enforcement actions, including indictments, prosecutions, settlements, and investigations across the country,” Dhillon stated.
The original 44‑page complaint claimed Harvard allowed hostile anti‑Semitism and anti‑Israeli conduct to flourish on campus, forcing Jewish students to hide symbols of faith and miss educational opportunities.
Former Attorney General Pamela Bondi, who filed the suit, said the case underscores the Trump administration’s commitment to ending campus discrimination that harms students.
Harvard declined to comment after multiple requests for statement.
