Judge Stearns found no plausibly alleged continuing Title VI violation. He did not absolve Harvard of its conduct after October 7.

A federal judge has dismissed the Trump administration’s lawsuit accusing Harvard University of failing to protect Jewish and Israeli students from antisemitic harassment. The decision is a significant legal victory for Harvard. It is not a finding that antisemitism did not occur on its campus, that the students’ complaints were unfounded, or that the university responded adequately following October 7, 2023.

That distinction is already in danger of disappearing beneath the headlines.

The Department of Justice brought the action under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color, or national origin in federally funded programs. It alleged that Harvard had been deliberately indifferent to discrimination and harassment directed at Jewish and Israeli students and sought both compliance with Title VI and recovery of previously awarded federal funds.

In his August 13 memorandum and order, Judge Richard G. Stearns did not determine whether Harvard had acted properly during the 2023–2024 academic year. Nor did he decide whether the incidents described by the government had occurred. He dismissed the action because the government had not plausibly alleged that an institutional violation of Title VI continued when the case was filed.

This was a pleading decision. The question was not whether the government had proved its case, but whether its amended complaint alleged facts sufficient to permit the case to proceed.

Almost all the allegations concerned the 2023–2024 academic year. Only three alleged incidents occurred later, all in March 2025—more than an academic year before the government filed suit. Without minimizing their seriousness, Judge Stearns concluded that they were “too isolated and episodic” to support a plausible inference........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)