Justice Department Task Force Will Visit Harvard To Investigate Antisemitism Allegations

The United States Department of Justice’s task force on antisemitism will visit Harvard and nine other colleges and universities to investigate antisemitism allegations, the department announced Friday — bringing the Trump administration’s crackdown to campus.

During the visits, the Federal Task Force to Combat Antisemitism — which was created early last month in response to a January executive order — will meet with “university leadership, local law enforcement, impacted students and staff, local law enforcement, and community members” to determine “whether remedial action is warranted.”

Leo J. Terrell — a leading task force member and a vocal Harvard critic — said the visits are “just one of many steps” the Trump administration is taking to crack down on antisemitism on college campuses.

"The task force's mandate is to bring the full force of the federal government to bear in our effort to eradicate antisemitism, particularly in schools,” he said in a press release.

In an interview on Fox News just hours after announcing the visits, Terrell threatened to use the task force’s work to strip the universities of their funding.

“Let me tell you what we’re going to do — we’re going to take away your funding, we’re going to sue you under Title VII, we’re going to sue you under Title VI,” he said. “Why aren’t Jewish Americans being protected at schools?”

All 10 universities the task force plans to visit were notified on Thursday about the visits, according to the press release. The release did not specify when the visits will happen or what incidents the task force plans to investigate.

A Harvard spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday afternoon.

The other universities identified by the task force include Columbia University, George Washington University, Johns Hopkins University, New York University, Northwestern University, the University of California, Los Angeles, the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Minnesota, and the University of Southern California — all of which were flashpoints for pro-Palestine protests last spring.

Per the Justice Department press release, the task force elected to visit the 10 schools because it “was aware of allegations that the schools may have failed to protect Jewish students and faculty members from unlawful discrimination, in potential violation of federal law.”

The release did not specify which allegations prompted the investigation. But Harvard was named in three lawsuits over its handling of antisemitism complaints, one of which was dismissed Wednesday. Two other cases were settled, though some of the plaintiffs are continuing to pursue their complaints under new counsel.

Harvard was also subject to a Title VI investigation by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights into allegations of antisemitic harassment, but the investigation was closed because of a concurrent lawsuit over the same complaints.

The University has long been a target for federal Republicans’ investigations into antisemitism at U.S. colleges, including a House-wide probe that terminated in December.

Last month, one day after the federal task force was launched, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services launched an investigation into the Harvard Medical School over pro-Palestine messaging worn by students at graduation ceremonies.

Terrell, a civil rights lawyer and commentator on Fox News, was a vocal critic of Harvard’s response to Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack against Israel and has repeatedly threatened federal action against the University under the Trump administration. Just days before Trump was sworn into office, Terrell said he would “start work next week” on revoking Harvard’s federal funding.

Harvard Divinity School graduate Alexander “Shabbos” Kestenbaum — the lead plaintiff in an antisemitism lawsuit against the University — celebrated the planned visits in a Friday post on X.

“I look forward to ensuring they not be fooled by Harvard's lies and meaningless words,” he wrote.

—Staff writer Dhruv T. Patel can be reached at dhruv.patel@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @dhruvtkpatel.