The Trump administration slapped a new multibillion-dollar lawsuit against Harvard University on Friday, alleging that the school is in violation of a civil rights law and has failed to protect Jewish and Israeli students from discrimination. It is asking a federal judge to require the school to pay back millions in grant payments and halt more than $2.6 billion in existing grants. “Harvard University has failed to protect its Jewish students from harassment and has allowed discrimination to wreak havoc on its campus,” White House spokesperson Liz Huston told CNN in a statement. Harvard has previously said that the school is “far from indifferent” when it comes to addressing antisemitism on campus. In the meantime, the Trump administration has continued to find new and creative ways to exert pressure on the elite institution using multiple levers of the federal government.

Source: CNN March 20, 2026 17:49 UTC