Trump administration launches race-based discrimination investigations against Harvard Law Review
Apr 28, 2025, 4:23 PM | Updated: 5:01 pm

A sculler rows down the Charles River near Harvard University, at rear, Tuesday, April 15, 2025, in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS
(AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
The Trump administration on Monday announced federal officials are launching investigations into Harvard University and the Harvard Law Review, saying authorities have received reports of race-based discrimination 鈥減ermeating the operations鈥 of the journal.
The investigations come as Harvard fights a freeze on $2.2 billion in federal grants the Trump administration imposed after the university refused to comply with demands to limit activism on campus. A letter sent to the university earlier this month called for the institution to clarify its campus speech policies that limit the time, place and manner of protests and other activities. It also demanded academic departments at Harvard that 鈥渇uel antisemitic harassment鈥 be reviewed and changed to address bias and improve viewpoint diversity.
Monday marked the first time that both sides met in court over the funding fight. The investigations by the U.S. Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services were announced separately on Monday, with authorities saying they were investigating policies and practices involving the journal’s membership and article selection that they argue may violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
According to the federal government, the editor of the Harvard Law Review reportedly wrote that it was 鈥渃oncerning鈥 that the majority of the people who had wanted to reply to an article about police reform “are white men.鈥 A separate editor allegedly suggested 鈥渢hat a piece should be subject to expedited review because the author was a minority.鈥
鈥淗arvard Law Review鈥檚 article selection process appears to pick winners and losers on the basis of race, employing a spoils system in which the race of the legal scholar is as, if not more, important than the merit of the submission,鈥 said Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor in a statement. 鈥淭itle VI鈥檚 demands are clear: recipients of federal financial assistance may not discriminate on the basis of race, color, or national origin. No institution 鈥 no matter its pedigree, prestige, or wealth 鈥 is above the law.”
An email seeking comment was sent Monday to a spokesperson for Harvard.
Harvard is among multiple universities across the country where pro-Palestinian protests erupted on campus amid the war in Gaza last year. Republican officials have since heavily scrutinized those universities, and several Ivy League presidents testified before Congress to discuss antisemitism allegations. The Cambridge, Massachusetts, institution was the fifth Ivy League school targeted in a pressure campaign by the administration, which also has paused federal funding for the University of Pennsylvania, Brown, and Princeton universities to force compliance with its agenda.