A US federal court dismissed a lawsuit filed by the Trump administration against Harvard University on Thursday. The lawsuit accused the university of allowing antisemitism to flourish during pro-Palestinian rallies on its campus. This ruling marks a significant legal development regarding the intersection of free speech and allegations of discrimination in academic settings.
District Judge Richard Stearns in Boston ruled that the government had not sufficiently proven that Harvard breached a Civil Rights Act provision that bars discrimination along race, nationality and other lines. Last September, a federal judge ruled that move largely unlawful and ordered the funds be restored.
But Judge Stearns, who granted a Harvard request to dismiss the lawsuit, said the incidents raised by the Trump administration were “too isolated and episodic” to prove noncompliance with the Civil Rights Act.
