HHS’ Office for Civil Rights Refers Harvard University for Suspension and Debarment Proceedings

Office for Civil Rights Recommends Excluding Harvard from Federal Funding to Protect the Public Interest

Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced it is referring Harvard University (Harvard) to the HHS office responsible for suspension and debarment decisions.

The announcement follows OCR’s June 30, 2025 Notice of Violation issued to Harvard under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI) and OCR’s July 30, 2025 referral of Harvard to the U.S. Department of Justice to further enforce the violation. OCR’s Notice of Violation details findings from OCR’s compliance review that Harvard violated Title VI by acting with deliberate indifference toward discrimination and harassment against Jewish and Israeli students on its campus since October 7, 2023. Both before and after HHS OCR issued the Notice of Violation, the United States government, through HHS OCR, the White House, and the multi-agency Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism, engaged in extensive communications with Harvard to secure Harvard’s voluntary compliance with Title VI.

“OCR’s referral of Harvard for formal administrative proceedings reflects OCR’s commitment to safeguard both taxpayer investments and the broader public interest,” said Paula M. Stannard, OCR Director. “Congress has empowered Federal agencies to pursue Title VI compliance through formal enforcement mechanisms, including the termination of funding or denial of future Federal financial assistance, when voluntary compliance cannot be achieved. OCR has notified Harvard of its right to a formal administrative hearing, where an HHS administrative law judge will make an impartial determination on whether Harvard violated Title VI by acting with deliberate indifference towards antisemitic student-on-student harassment.”

Harvard has 20 days to inform OCR whether it will exercise its right to a hearing.

In addition to the administrative civil rights proceedings, OCR is also referring Harvard for further proceedings under the HHS Suspension and Debarment Program. This program is operated by the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Financial Resources, an HHS staff division that handles budget, financial management, grants, and acquisition management. Under HHS grants policy and regulations, the nonprocurement suspension and debarment process is available as a tool to protect the integrity of Federally supported programs to exclude individuals and entities from doing business with the Federal government. Suspension is temporary, and used pending completion of another action, such as a debarment proceeding. Debarment lasts for a specified period as a final determination that an entity is not responsible enough to do business with the Federal government because of the wrongdoing. Both suspension and debarment have a government-wide effect. An entity, or part of an entity, that is debarred by any Federal agency (including HHS) is excluded from entering into a procurement or nonprocurement transaction with other Federal agencies.

The referral for administrative suspension and debarment proceedings that OCR announced today does not address OCR’s ongoing investigation under Title VI into suspected race-based discrimination permeating the operations of the Harvard Law Review journal.

OCR enforces Title VI, which prohibits a recipient of Federal financial assistance from discriminating in its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, or national origin, which includes discrimination against individuals that is based on their actual or perceived Israeli or Jewish identity or ancestry.

If you believe that you or someone else has been discriminated against because of race, color, national origin, disability, age, sex, or religion in programs or activities that HHS directly operates or for which HHS provides Federal financial assistance, you may file a complaint with the HHS Office for Civil Rights.

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