Banners hang from Memorial Church on the Harvard University campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts in May 2025. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty ImagesView image in fullscreenBanners hang from Memorial Church on the Harvard University campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts in May 2025. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty ImagesJudge dismisses Trump lawsuit that claimed Harvard failed to protect Jewish studentsFederal court rules administration failed to plausibly show ongoing violation of civil rights law
A US federal judge has dismissed the Trump administration’s lawsuit that claimed Harvard University failed to protect Jewish and Israeli students from harassment in the aftermath of the war in Gaza.
In a ruling on Thursday, US district judge Richard Stearns in Boston said the administration’s lawsuit – filed in March – failed to plausibly show an ongoing violation of federal civil rights law on Harvard’s campus.
The administration’s complaint focused largely on a handful of incidents alleged in March 2025, Stearns said, saying these were “too isolated and episodic” to support a claim of ongoing civil rights violations by Harvard.
