WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is suing Harvard University, asserting that the school has refused requests for admissions records demanded by the Justice Department to ensure compliance with the ban on affirmative action in admissions.
Filed in federal court in Massachusetts, the lawsuit alleges that Harvard has “thwarted” efforts to investigate potential discrimination and highlights the university's obstruction of a federal inquiry. The Justice Department has requested a judge order Harvard to turn over the records.
Harmeet Dhillon, head of the department’s Civil Rights Division, commented that Harvard’s noncompliance is concerning. “If Harvard has stopped discriminating, it should happily share the data necessary to prove it,” she stated.
Harvard officials have not yet responded to the lawsuit.
This lawsuit represents the latest in a series of confrontations between President Trump and Harvard, which previously faced significant funding cuts and sanctions after refusing to meet certain demands from the administration last year.
The Trump administration has accused Harvard of harboring anti-Jewish bias on campus, while university officials contend they are facing unconstitutional retaliation for rejecting the administration's ideological positions. Currently, the administration is also appealing judges' rulings that have favored Harvard in other litigation.
In April, the Justice Department initiated a compliance review of Harvard's admissions practices, coinciding with the release of the Trump administration’s sweeping demands regarding numerous educational institutions. They requested access to a variety of admissions data, including applicant grades, test scores, and demographic information.
The Supreme Court's 2023 ruling prohibited affirmative action in college admissions, stating that issues concerning race should not be a factor. As such, Justice Department officials require this data to assess whether Harvard has continued to consider applicants' race in its admissions process.
In addition to Harvard, the administration is urging other U.S. universities to supply similar data to determine how widely race is still considered in admissions decisions. The Department of Education is set to collect more detailed admissions information from colleges, driven by concerns that many institutions are not adhering to Supreme Court guidelines.
Recent tensions appeared to diminish last summer after Trump suggested they were closing in on a resolution regarding Harvard’s federal funding, but this announced lawsuit has reignited the dispute. Trump has raised the stakes, demanding $1 billion from Harvard as part of any agreement—double the previous figure.
