Former Democratic U.S. Department of Education secretaries Miguel Cardona and Arne Duncan joined a brief filed on Thursday supporting Harvard University in its legal challenge to the Trump administration’s termination of federal funding over allegations that the university failed to address antisemitism on campus.
Cardona served in the Biden administration, while Duncan served under former President Barack Obama.
The former Democratic officials argued that the administration violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by terminating Harvard’s funding without following required procedures, including an investigation and efforts to secure voluntary compliance. They also said the administration failed to provide the Ivy League school with an administrative hearing or submit the required report to Congress before terminating the funds.
“Fund termination was to be used as a matter of last resort, only when all efforts at negotiating a voluntary resolution had been exhausted,” the court filing states.
The 30 signatories also include former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala, who served under the Clinton administration, as well as Vanita Gupta and Kristen Clarke, former senior officials for the U.S. Department of Justice who served under Biden.
The brief also includes former Republican administration officials, including Wan J. Kim, who served as assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division under former U.S. President George W. Bush, and Don Ayer, who served as deputy attorney general under former U.S. President George H.W. Bush.
