Anti-Defamation League calls Trump administration Harvard reprimand an 'overreach'

A major organization that combats antisemitism denounced the Trump administration for withholding funds from Harvard University after the administration alleged the university has allowed antisemitism to flourish on campus.

"Antisemitism on college campuses is a genuine crisis that demands serious attention, but we are concerned about the extent and scope of the current approach taken by the Administration to Harvard," wrote Jonathan Greenblatt, president and CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, in an open letter Friday.

"Denying federal funds (whether in part or in total) is an extremely serious and rightfully rare punishment that should be used only in the most severe situations with institutions incapable or unwilling to improve," Greenblatt added.

The Trump administration has frozen more than $2.2 billion in grants to Harvard University, called for the Internal Revenue Service to remove the university's tax-exempt status and threatened to revoke its ability to accept and host international students. Harvard sued the Trump administration on April 21 to block those measures. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier that day that the administration is planning to slash an additional $1 billion in cuts to federal health research funding at the university.

The administration has claimed Harvard did not do enough to combat antisemitism during pro-Palestinian student protests against the Israel-Hamas war. Reports of antisemitism and Islamophobia have increased on college campuses since Oct. 7, according to reports from the Anti-Defamation League and the Council on American-Islamic Relations .

Related: Antisemitic incidents hit all-time high for 4th year in a row last year

It has also demanded that Harvard, along with other universities and schools across the nation, get rid of diversity, equity and inclusion programming , offices like its Office of Civil Rights and Belongings and other DEI-related initiatives .

Harvard has denied the administration's accusations that it's not doing enough to combat antisemitism and declined to comply with a list of demands, including changing its recruitment, screening, and admissions of international students to prevent admitting "students hostile to the American values," paying an external party to audit the university's student body, faculty, staff, and leadership for "viewpoint diversity" and shutter all DEI programming.

Harvard has improved in its efforts to combat antisemitism on campus by the Anti-Defamation League's own metrics since 2024, Greenblatt said.

The Trump administration did not respond to an inquiry from USA TODAY.

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Following Trump threats: IRS may revoke Harvard's tax-exempt status, reports say

What happened at Harvard?

Multiple federal agencies on April 11 sent a letter to Harvard University accusing the college of violating federal civil rights law for not doing enough to combat antisemitism during student protests of the Israel-Hamas war.

"Harvard has in recent years failed to live up to both the intellectual and civil rights conditions that justify federal investment," the administration's letter reads. The letter detailed a list of directives for Harvard to follow and gave university leaders months to comply with many of its demands.

One of the demands calls on the university to change programs with an "egregious record of antisemitism or bias."

More: Read full text of Trump administration letter to Harvard on DEI, antisemitism

The agencies direct Harvard to fire a third party to audit the school's programs and departments "that most fuel antisemitic harassment or reflect ideological capture," including the university's Graduate School of Education, Carr Center for Health & Human Rights and the Center for Middle Eastern Studies.

They direct the university to hire a third party to conduct a report including information about faculty members "who discriminated against Jewish or Israeli students or incited students to violate Harvard’s rules following October 7" and to cooperate with the federal government to "determine appropriate sanctions for those faculty members within the bounds of academic freedom and the First Amendment."

On April 14, Harvard University President Alan Garber wrote a letter addressed to the Harvard community titled "The Promise of American Higher Education." He said in the letter that the university told the Trump administration it refused to comply with its directives and would not accept its proposed agreement .

According to Garber, the Trump administration violated Harvard’s First Amendment rights with its demands and exceeded the statutory limits of the government’s authority under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 .

"The University will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights," Garber wrote. "The administration’s prescription goes beyond the power of the federal government ... And it threatens our values as a private institution devoted to the pursuit, production, and dissemination of knowledge."

Garber also critiqued the administration's overreach on American universities.

"No government—regardless of which party is in power—should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue," Garber wrote.

He said Harvard has "taken many steps" to address antisemitism on campus and plans to do more.

"It makes clear that the intention is not to work with us to address antisemitism in a cooperative and constructive manner," he said.

The Trump administration has sent similar letters to other universities. Harvard is the first university to refuse to comply with the administration's demands.

Columbia agreed to comply with the administration's demands after it pulled $400 million in federal funding from the university, citing the school's " continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students ," according to the U.S. Education Department and other agencies.

Harvard vs. Trump: What to know about the standoff costing the university billions

ADL: 'The fight against antisemitism must be about antisemitism — nothing more, nothing less'

The case at Harvard is "simple, but complex," Greenblatt said.

The university made progress on the organization's Campus Antisemitism Report Card since last year – jumping from an "F" grade to a "C" grade, he wrote.

"To be clear, this is not a grade that satisfies ADL, nor should it satisfy anyone associated with one of the most elite universities in the world," he said. "Nonetheless, it’s a step in the right direction."

Between 2024 and 2025, Harvard has publicly disclosed how antisemitism is included in the school's code of conduct and policies and has an advisory council to address antisemitism, according to the Anti-Defamation League's Campus Antisemitism Report Cards from those years.

Campus antisemitism requires action and oversight to ensure Jewish students are protected from discrimination, but that should not come with overreach, Greenblatt said.

"This does not take Harvard off the hook. Far from it," he wrote. "The institution needs to do a demonstrably better job to ensure that Jews benefit from the same privileges and protections as those provided to all other students."

The group wants the university to implement mandatory antisemitism education for students according to its campus antisemitism report cards.

The clash between Harvard and the Trump administration persists.

"Harvard will continue to suffer reputational damage and donor repercussions until supporters and the public see credible change," Greenblatt wrote. "However, the fight against antisemitism must be about antisemitism — nothing more, nothing less."

Contributing: Savannah Kuchar, USA TODAY

Contact Kayla Jimenez at kjimenez@usatoday.com. Follow her on X at @kaylajjimenez.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: ADL: Trump went too far against Harvard on antisemitism