A federal judge in Boston has dismissed a Trump administration lawsuit accusing Harvard University of failing to protect Jewish students from antisemitic harassment, dealing another legal setback to the administration's ongoing campaign against elite American universities. U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns ruled on Thursday that the government had not demonstrated a persistent violation of federal civil rights law, finding the incidents cited were "too isolated and episodic" to support such a claim.

The lawsuit, filed in March 2026, alleged that faculty and administrators at Harvard — the oldest university in the United States, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts — turned a blind eye as Jewish students were "harassed, physically assaulted, stalked, and spat upon" during pro-Palestinian demonstrations that swept the campus following Hamas' October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel. The Justice Department pointed specifically to a 20-day anti-Israel encampment that it argued violated the university's own policies, and to incidents from the 2023–24 academic year as well as a handful from March 2025. Judge Stearns, who sided with Harvard's motion to dismiss, found that these events did not adequately establish ongoing non-compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the federal law prohibiting discrimination based on race, colour, and national origin in programmes receiving federal funding. He also noted that the lawsuit failed to sufficiently prove institutional failures after the Department of Education formally notified Harvard in June 2025 that it was not in compliance with that law.

The administration had sought to recover billions of dollars in federal research grants awarded to Harvard since October 2023, arguing it was entitled to recoup funds given to what it described as a discriminatory institution. Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for civil rights at the Department of Justice, said the administration disagreed with the ruling and was assessing next steps. Harvard, which had characterised the lawsuit as retaliation for its refusal to cede control to the federal government, did not immediately comment on the decision, though it has previously stated its commitment to ensuring Jewish and Israeli students can participate fully in campus life free from harassment.

The dismissal is the latest in a series of legal reverses for the administration in its broader confrontation with Harvard. A separate federal court previously blocked the administration's attempt to revoke Harvard's ability to enrol international students, and another judge earlier ruled that the White House had unconstitutionally cancelled more than $2.6 billion in research funding, describing antisemitism concerns as a "smokescreen" for an ideologically motivated assault on universities. The administration has appealed that decision. Other universities, including Columbia, have agreed to some of the administration's demands in its campaign against what it describes as progressive ideology and campus antisemitism. Harvard, however, has consistently resisted, and the two sides have held negotiations that have yet to produce a settlement.