U.S. Departments of Education and Health and Human Services Notify Harvard University’s Accreditor of Harvard’s Title VI Violation

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Postsecondary Education and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (HHS’ OCR) today notified the New England Commission of Higher Education (the Commission) that its member institution, Harvard University, is in violation of federal antidiscrimination laws and therefore may fail to meet the standards for accreditation set by the Commission. Pursuant to President Trump’s Executive Order, Reforming Accreditation to Strengthen Higher Education, both Departments have an obligation to promptly provide accreditors with any noncompliance findings related to member institutions.

The Commission’s “Standards for Accreditation” state that its members institutions must adhere to “non-discriminatory policies and practices in recruitment, admissions, employment, evaluation, disciplinary action, and advancement.” In light of HHS’ OCR’s finding that Harvard University is in violation of Federal civil rights law, there is strong evidence to suggest the school may no longer meet the Commission’s accreditation standards.

“Accrediting bodies play a significant role in preserving academic integrity and a campus culture conducive to truth-seeking and learning. Part of that is ensuring students are safe on campus and abiding  federal laws that guarantee educational opportunities to all students,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon. “By allowing antisemitic harassment and discrimination to persist unchecked on its campus, Harvard University has failed in its obligation to students, educators, and American taxpayers. The Department of Education expects the New England Commission of Higher Education to enforce its policies and practices, and to keep the Department fully informed of its efforts to ensure that Harvard is in compliance with federal law and accreditor standards.”

“When an institution—no matter how prestigious—abandons its mission and fails to protect its students, it forfeits the legitimacy that accreditation is designed to uphold,” said HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. “HHS and the Department of Education will actively hold Harvard accountable through sustained oversight until it restores public trust and ensures a campus free of discrimination.”

“On June 30th, HHS OCR determined that Harvard has violated Title VI.  Today’s action fulfills the Executive Order requirement to notify accreditors when such a determination is made,” said HHS OCR Director Paula M. Stannard.  “We now trust the New England Commission of Higher Education to give appropriate consideration to OCR’s Notice of Violation, which found – among other things – that Harvard has been – and is – deliberately indifferent to the severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive harassment of Jewish and Israeli students by its own students and faculty, in determining whether Harvard has failed to meet the Commission’s accreditation standards.”  

Under 34 C.F.R. § 602.20(a), accreditors are required to notify member institutions of failures to comply with accreditor standards and to establish a plan to return the institution to compliance. If a university fails to come into compliance within a specified period, accreditor are required to take appropriate action against its member institution.

Background:

On February 3, HHS’ OCR initiated a compliance review of Harvard Medical School based on reports of antisemitic incidents during its 2024 commencement ceremony. On April 7, 2025, HHS OCR expanded the scope of the compliance review to Harvard University as a whole and to the time period from October 7, 2023, to the present.  On March 10, The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights sent a letter to Harvard University warning them of potential enforcement actions if they do not fulfill their obligations under Title VI to protect Jewish students.

On June 30, the Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism notified Harvard that HHS’ OCR found that the university violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act (1964) by acting with deliberate indifference toward discrimination and harassment against Jewish and Israeli students on its campus from October 7, 2023 to the present.

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits recipients of federal funding from discriminating on the basis of race, color, or national origin.