The administration of President Donald Trump is launching an investigation into the Harvard University Journal of the University of Harvard on alleged discriminatory practices, expanding his several weeks on federal funding with the elite institution.
The civil rights offices of the education and health and social services departments announced on Monday that they were investigating the Harvard Law Review, an independent organization managed by students who promote legal scholarships.
The offices investigate allegations according to which the newspaper discriminates the race “instead of” standards based on merit, in violation of the anti-discrimination law of title VI, according to a press release from the two agencies.
“The process of selecting Harvard Law Review articles seems to choose the winners and losers on the basis of the race, employing a loot system in which the race of the legal researcher is, if not more, important than the merit of the submission,” said Craig Trainor, interim assistant secretary within the office of the Department of Education for Civil Rights, in a declaration.
The agencies said that the Harvard Law Review risked losing federal funding if it was judged in title VI law.
The Harvard Law Review has been published and published by students for over 135 years. It aims to be an effective research tool for practicing lawyers and students, according to its website.
“The Harvard Law School is committed to ensuring that the programs and activities that it supervises are in accordance with all applicable laws and to investigate any alleged violation of credibility,” said a university spokesperson in a statement to ABC News, noting that the journal “is an organization managed by students who are legally independent of the law”.
People cross the Harvard site on the Harvard University campus in Cambridge, Massachussetts, April 15, 2025.
Joseph Prezios / AFP via Getty Images
The latest survey comes after the Trump administration froze more than $ 2.2 billion in federal funding in Harvard after the University refused to comply with a series of requests following an examination of the working group on anti-Semitism earlier this month.
Harvard University President Alan Garber said in a letter at the time that no government – whatever the ruling party – should dictate what private universities can teach, that they can admit and hire, and what areas of study and investigation they can pursue. “”
The University has filed a complaint on the threats of the Trump administration to retain funding, asking a judge to block the financing freezing to enter into force, arguing that this decision is “illegal and beyond the authority of the government”.
During a short conference on Monday, the judge of the American district court Allison Burroughs provided for oral arguments in the trial contesting the freeze on July 21. Meanwhile, the freeze will remain in force.
The Rété-Service internal also plans to revoke Harvard tax exemption, sources told ABC News earlier this month.
In other developments, the Ministry of Education said on Monday that its civil rights office concluded that the University of Pennsylvania had violated title IX by allowing transgender athletes to participate in its women’s sports teams.
The department requires that the University publish a declaration to its community that it will comply with the law, apologizes to athletes whose sports participation has been “spoiled by sexual discrimination”, and restores all records or distinctions of athletics “diverted by male athletes”. The school has 10 days to resolve the violation or risk a reference to the Ministry of Justice.
Earlier this year, the Trump administration said it had suspended $ 175 million in federal contracts granted to Penn, citing the participation of a transgender athlete in a female swimming team.
A Penn spokesman said at the time that the university had “always followed” the policies of NCAA and the Ivy League concerning the participation of students in sports teams.
Peter Charalambous, from ABC News, contributed to this report.
