Arabic version: قاضٍ يرفض دعوى إدارة ترامب ضد هارفارد

According to Al Jazeera, a US federal judge has dismissed a Trump administration lawsuit accusing Harvard University of failing to protect Jewish students during pro-Gaza demonstrations.

The Department of Justice filed the case in March, alleging that Harvard’s “faculty and leadership turned a blind eye to antisemitism and discrimination against Jews and Israelis”. The administration said the university had failed to comply with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars discrimination based on race, colour and national origin in federally funded programmes.

Judge Richard Stearns said on Thursday that the lawsuit did not show evidence of the alleged violation. He found that the incidents cited by the administration were “too isolated and episodic” to support a claim of continuing civil rights violations.

The case was part of wider administration action targeting universities over their responses to pro-Gaza protests and other issues, including hiring and admissions practices. Harvard has taken a more defiant position than several other leading institutions. Columbia University, Northwestern University and Cornell University reached multimillion-dollar settlements with the administration to preserve funding.

Trump had previously sought to freeze $2.2bn in federal funding for Harvard. The university’s lawyers described that step as an effort to use research money to “micromanage” the institution, and a federal judge ruled last year that the funding freeze was unlawful. Harvard’s endowment is valued at more than $56bn.