Feds launch racial discrimination investigations targeting Harvard Law Review
Federal officials have launched investigations of the Harvard Law Review "based on reports of race-based discrimination permeating the operations of the journal," officials announced Tuesday.
The civil rights offices of both the Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services are now investigating the law journal and Harvard University in response to allegations regarding "policies and practices for journal membership and article selection" that may violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the departments said in a press release .
Title VI prohibits recipients of federal financial assistance from discriminating based on race, color or national origin in the recipient's programs or activities.
The departments also plan to examine Harvard's relationship with the journal, including financial ties, oversight procedures, selection policies and other documentation regarding membership and article publication, officials said.
"Harvard Law Review's 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," Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor said in the release.
Neither Harvard University nor Harvard Law School immediately responded to a request for comment on the investigations Tuesday afternoon.
Federal officials provided two examples of alleged discriminatory behavior by Harvard Law Review editors that they say were reported to the departments.
One report recounted that an editor wrote that it was "concerning" that "[f]our of the five people" who wanted to reply to an article about police reform were white men. Another report claimed an editor suggested "that a piece should be subject to expedited review because the author was a minority."
"The allocation of opportunities or recognition based on race can deprive other students of educational opportunities to which they would be entitled by merit," the release reads.
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The investigations come amid an ongoing feud between Harvard and the Trump administration .
Earlier this month, Harvard filed a lawsuit in federal court over the administration's freezing of $2.2 billion in funding for the university. The money stoppage came in retaliation for Harvard's public rejection of the administration's demands for increased government control, shuttering of diversity initiatives and ramping up of efforts to crack down on antisemitism at the university.
Harvard has repeatedly argued that the Trump administration's demands threaten its academic freedom and ability to serve the public. During an interview with NBC News anchor Lester Holt last week, Harvard University President Alan Garber said the university is fighting for something "bigger than Harvard" in resisting the administration's demands.
"What's at risk is the excellence of higher education in the United States, and in particular the research mission of many of our universities, which plays such a vital role in the U.S. economy and in the health and well-being of the American people," he said.
Since then, Harvard appears to have acquiesced to one of the Trump administration's demands by renaming its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Office to Community and Campus Life.
The legal battle over the funding freeze is now expected to extend into the summer .
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