A federal judge in Boston dismissed a lawsuit filed by the Trump administration that accused Harvard University of failing to protect Jewish students from harassment during pro-Palestinian campus protests. US District Judge Richard G. Stearns ruled that the government failed to demonstrate an ongoing violation of federal civil rights laws.
The judge found that the incidents cited in the lawsuit — primarily from the 2023-24 academic year with a few from March 2025 — were “too isolated and episodic” to establish a persistent pattern of civil rights violations at the Ivy League institution. The lawsuit, originally filed in March, had accused Harvard of turning a blind eye to antisemitic harassment following Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel.
Neither Harvard nor the White House immediately provided comment on the court’s ruling. The decision represents a significant legal setback for the administration’s efforts to hold universities accountable for campus climate issues through federal litigation.
