Post by : Jyoti Gupta

Photo:Reuters

The government, led by President Donald Trump, has sent a formal letter to Harvard University, saying it has handed over a case to the Justice Department. The case is about serious claims that Harvard did not protect Jewish and Israeli students from being harassed.

Back in June, government officials finished an investigation. They said Harvard broke federal civil rights laws by failing to stop bullying and hateful behavior against Jewish students on campus.

For months, Harvard and the government have been in a tense situation. The university has been trying to get back billions of dollars in frozen government funding used for medical research and other programs. Earlier this year, Harvard even filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration to solve the issue.

But talks between both sides didn’t work. So now, the Office for Civil Rights has passed the case to the Department of Justice. The government says Harvard has shown “antisemitic discrimination” and legal steps will now be taken.

President Trump has also warned universities that they may lose federal money if they allow big protests against Israel. Many of these protests happened during the Gaza war, and the government claims some of them were antisemitic.

However, many protest groups — including some Jewish ones — say this is unfair. They believe that speaking up against Israel's military actions in Gaza and supporting Palestinian rights does not mean they are antisemitic or extreme.

Students who joined these protests called for their schools to stop investing in companies that make weapons or support Israel’s actions in the Palestinian territories.

Harvard didn’t give a response to the latest letter right away. The university has said it wants to fight all forms of discrimination. In April, two of Harvard's task forces — one on antisemitism and another on Islamophobia — said Jewish, Muslim, and Arab students have faced fear and hate on campus.So far, the Trump administration has not started similar investigations into Islamophobia on campuses.

Recently, Columbia University agreed to pay over $220 million to settle government investigations. Reports say Harvard might spend up to $500 million to end its fight with the government as well.