The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services referred its investigation of Harvard University’s response to Jew-hatred on campus to the U.S. Justice Department, after it said the Ivy League school opted for “scorched-earth litigation against the federal government.”
Paula Stannard, director of the HHS office for civil rights, told Harvard that the department concluded on June 30 that the university violated Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and attempted to have a dialogue with Harvard about “corrective action.”
“Harvard has chosen scorched-earth litigation against the federal government,” Stannard wrote to the university on Wednesday in a letter that JNS viewed. Engagement between the government and the school “has been fruitless,” she added.
The department’s regulations allow it to refer matters to the Justice Department if voluntary agreements can’t be reached. (The Justice Department declined to comment.)
As such, the Department of Health and Human Services “has no choice but to refer the matter to DOJ to initiate appropriate proceedings to address Harvard’s antisemitic discrimination,” Stannard stated.
