Trump administration launches race-based discrimination probes of the Harvard Law Review
The Trump administration on Monday announced federal officials are launching investigations into Harvard University and the Harvard Law Review, saying authorities have received reports of race-based discrimination 鈥減ermeating the operations鈥 of the journal.
The Trump administration on Monday announced federal officials are launching investigations into Harvard University and the Harvard Law Review, saying authorities have received reports of race-based discrimination 鈥減ermeating the operations鈥 of the journal.
The investigations come as Harvard fights a in federal grants the Trump administration imposed after the university refused to comply with demands to limit . A letter sent to the university earlier this month called for the institution to clarify its campus speech policies that limit the time, place and manner of protests and other activities. It also demanded academic departments at Harvard that 鈥渇uel antisemitic harassment鈥 be reviewed and changed to address bias and improve viewpoint diversity.
Monday marked the first time both sides met in court over the funding fight. The investigations by the U.S. Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services were announced separately on Monday, with authorities saying they were investigating policies and practices involving the journal’s membership and article selection that they argue may violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
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According to the federal government, the editor of the Harvard Law Review reportedly wrote that it was 鈥渃oncerning鈥 that the majority of the people who had wanted to reply to an article about police reform “are white men.鈥 A separate editor allegedly suggested 鈥渢hat a piece should be subject to expedited review because the author was a minority.鈥
鈥淗arvard Law Review鈥檚 article selection process appears to pick winners and losers on the basis of race, employing a spoils system in which the race of the legal scholar is as, if not more, important than the merit of the submission,鈥 said Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor in a statement. 鈥淭itle VI鈥檚 demands are clear: recipients of federal financial assistance may not discriminate on the basis of race, color, or national origin. No institution 鈥 no matter its pedigree, prestige, or wealth 鈥 is above the law.”
A spokesperson for Harvard Law said in a statement that a similar claim was dismissed in 2018 by a federal court.
鈥淗arvard Law School is committed to ensuring that the programs and activities it oversees are in compliance with all applicable laws and to investigating any credibly alleged violations,” said Jeff Neal. “The Harvard Law Review is a student-run organization that is legally independent from the law school.鈥
Harvard is among multiple where pro-Palestinian protests erupted on campus amid the war in Gaza last year. Republican officials have since those universities, and testified before Congress to discuss antisemitism allegations. The Cambridge, Massachusetts, institution was the fifth Ivy League school targeted in a pressure campaign by the administration, which has also paused federal funding for the , , and universities seeking to force compliance with its agenda.
