Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Here’s how you know

Dot gov

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

HTTPS

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock (LockA locked padlock) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

  • About HHS
  • Programs & Services
  • Grants & Contracts
  • Laws & Regulations
  • Radical Transparency
  • Big Wins
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. Press Room
  3. Joint Task Force Letter to Harvard University Concerning Notice of Violation
  • Press Room
  • HHS Live
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 30, 2025
Contact: HHS Press Office
202-690-6343
Submit a Request for Comment

Joint Task Force Letter to Harvard University Concerning Notice of Violation

Today, the Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism sent the following letter to Harvard University.

DOJ HHS Ed GSA Logos

Dr. Alan Garber
President
Harvard University
Massachusetts Hall
Cambridge, MA 02138

Re:  Notice of Violation

Dear Dr. Garber,

Harvard holds the regrettable distinction of being among the most prominent and visible breeding ground for race discrimination, as the Supreme Court noted in Students for Fair Admission v. Harvard, 600 U.S. 181 (2023). That legacy of discrimination persists with Harvard’s continued anti-Semitism. Any institution that refuses to meet its duties under federal law may not receive a wide range of federal privileges.

Today, the Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism is notifying you that the Office for Civil Rights at the United States Department of Health and Human Services has concluded its Title VI investigation regarding anti-Semitism at Harvard University.  After a thorough investigation, HHS OCR finds that Harvard University is in violent violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, and national origin.

The enclosed Notice of Violation details the findings of fact supporting a conclusion that Harvard has been in some cases deliberately indifferent, and in others has been a willful participant in anti-Semitic harassment of Jewish students, faculty, and staff. For example:

  • The majority of Jewish students reported experiencing negative bias or discrimination on campus, while a quarter felt physically unsafe.
  • Jewish and Israeli students were assaulted and spit on; they hid their kippahs for fear of being harassed and concealed their Jewish identity from classmates for fear of ostracization.
  • Images were widely circulated among the Harvard community that trafficked in obvious anti-Semitic tropes, including one that showed a dollar sign inside a Star of David. The campus was vandalized with anti-Semitic stickers, including one that showed the Israeli flag with a swastika in place of the Star of David.
  • The campus was wracked by demonstrations that flagrantly violated the University’s rules of conduct. The demonstrations included calls for genocide and murder, and denied Jewish and Israeli students access to campus spaces.
  • The heart of campus was overrun by an impermissible, multiweek encampment that instilled fear in, and disrupted the studies of, Jewish and Israeli students. Even worse, individuals who participated in the encampment received lax and inconsistent discipline—and as the discipline was reviewed by higher levels among the faculty, it was often downgraded. By the end of the process, even accounting only for the students that were charged, only a fraction received some sort of discipline, and none were suspended. A member of Harvard’s own leadership called the disciplinary process "not fair" and "not right."

Harvard did not dispute our findings of fact, nor could it. These facts, while tragic for the individuals involved, are important to address for a broader, historical reason as well. As history has proven, the failure to face the reality of anti-Semitism can have catastrophic effects.  The Holocaust engulfed Europe due to the "[d]isbelief, incredulity, and denial on the part of both victims and onlookers" which "worked to the advantage of those who wanted to eradicate the Jews."1

Harvard’s inaction in the face of these civil rights violations is a clear example of the demographic hierarchy that has taken hold of the University. Equal defense of the law demands that all groups, regardless of race or national origin, are protected. Harvard’s commitment to racial hierarchies—where individuals are sorted and judged according to their membership in an oppressed group identity and not individual merit—has enabled anti-Semitism to fester on Harvard’s campus and has led a once great institution to humiliation, offering remedial math and forcing Jewish students to hide their identities and ancestral stories.

Failure to institute adequate changes immediately will result in the loss of all federal financial resources and continue to affect Harvard’s relationship with the federal government. Harvard may of course continue to operate free of federal privileges, and perhaps such an opportunity will spur a commitment to excellence that will help Harvard thrive once again.

The enclosed document serves to focus Harvard on the need for meaningful and immediate reform and fulfill the requirement under law that Americans cease funding discriminatory institutions.

/s/
Harmeet K. Dhillon
Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights
U.S. Department of Justice

/s/
Josh Gruenbaum
Commissioner, Federal Acquisition Service
U.S. General Services Administration

/s/
Sean R. Keveney
Acting General Counsel
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

/s/
Thomas E. Wheeler
Acting General Counsel
U.S. Department of Education

Endnote

1  Ruth R. Wisse, If I Am Not For Myself 45 (1992).

###
Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other news materials are available in our Press Room.
Like HHS on Facebook, follow HHS on X @HHSgov, @SecKennedy, and sign up for HHS Email Updates.
Last revised: June 30, 2025

Submit a request for comment

For media inquiries, please submit a request for comment.

Sign up to receive our press releases

Sign Up

Related Press Releases

  • HHS’ Civil Rights Office Finds Harvard University in Violation of Federal Civil Rights Law

    • June 30, 2025 Press Release
Content created by ASPA Press Office
Content last reviewed June 30, 2025
Back to top

Subscribe to Email Updates

Receive the latest updates from the Secretary and Press Releases.

Subscribe
  • Contact HHS
  • Careers
  • HHS FAQs
  • Nondiscrimination Notice
  • Press Room
  • HHS Archive
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Budget/Performance
  • Inspector General
  • Web Site Disclaimers
  • EEO/No Fear Act
  • FOIA
  • The White House
  • USA.gov
  • Vulnerability Disclosure Policy
HHS Logo

HHS Headquarters

200 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20201
Toll Free Call Center: 1-877-696-6775​

Follow HHS

Follow Secretary Kennedy