Meanwhile, Trump admin says it will cut another $450 million in funding to Ivy League school
Harvard University is under federal investigation for allegedly discriminating against white and male applicants in its faculty hiring practices, according to the Washington Free Beacon.
Additionally, on Tuesday, the Trump administration announced plans to cut an additional $450 million in grants to the school over its handling of antisemitism on campus, Reuters reports.
“There is a dark problem on Harvard’s campus, and by prioritizing appeasement over accountability, institutional leaders have forfeited the school’s claim to taxpayer support,” the administration’s antisemitism task force said in a statement.
The task force also accused Harvard of having a “long-standing policy and practice of discriminating on the basis of race.”
First reported this week at the Beacon, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission launched an investigation into Harvard’s hiring practices at the end of April.
Documents obtained by the Beacon point to data and statements on Harvard’s website – “many of them now deleted—in which the school bragged about increasing the number of ‘women, non-binary, and/or people of color’ on the faculty.”
“Harvard may have violated and may be continuing to violate Title VII by engaging in a pattern or practice of disparate treatment against white, Asian, male, or straight employees, applicants, and training program participants,” acting EEOC Commissioner Andrea Lucas wrote, according to the investigation documents.
Lucas said the university’s faculty statistics, as well as a number of fellowships and programs exclusively for “minority” students, suggest a “pattern or practice of discrimination.”
From 2013 to 2023, the number of “non-white tenure-track faculty” increased by 37 percent. Over that same time period, the number of white men on faculty went down from 46 percent to 32 percent, according to the investigation.
Meanwhile, every “other demographic for which Harvard collects data, including white women, rose over the same period,” according to the Beacon.
The EEOC alleges Harvard discriminated against “white, Asian, male, or straight employees, applicants, and training program participants” in its hiring practices.
The Harvard Crimson reports more:
Beyond faculty hiring practices, the EEOC’s investigation also extends into Harvard’s fellowships and training programs. The charge listed thirteen programs — including the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program, Harvard Medical School’s Summer Honors Undergraduate Research Program, and the Research Scholar Initiative at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences — that allegedly violate Title VII by prioritizing applicants of color.
The EEOC specifically called out “disparate treatment” in Harvard College’s Du Bois Scholars Program and the HMS Four Directions Summer Research Program.
The Du Bois Scholars Program, a paid summer research internship “for scholars from select R2 and research-focused historically Black colleges and universities,” launched in 2024 as a part of Harvard’s Legacy of Slavery initiative.
Harvard’s media relations office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The College Fix.
However, university President Alan Garber refuted the allegations in a letter Monday to Education Secretary Linda McMahon, writing that its hiring decisions are based on “individual accomplishments,” not “ideological litmus tests,” “race or ethnicity,” or other “characteristics.”
The prestigious university and President Donald Trump have been sparring for months over its federal funding and ideological leanings.
“Harvard is in a pickle,” retired Harvard professor Harvey Mansfield told The Dispatch this week when asked about the Trump administration’s actions.
Mansfield, an outspoken conservative, said Harvard has a “long practiced, very one-sided program called diversity which totally lacks the main feature of diversity which is viewpoint diversity, that is diverse opinions.”
He said the university has informally aligned itself with the Democratic Party, and “faculty consists of mostly left-wing or liberals to the point of 90 percent or so, maybe only 2 or 3 percent conservatives.”
In April, Harvard sued the Trump administration for pausing more than $2.2 billion in funding. The reason was the Ivy League school’s refusal to comply with the administration’s reforms regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and antisemitism.
Trump also has warned Harvard that its tax exempt status could be revoked.
Earlier this month, Harvard ended its tradition of hosting special, racially segregated graduation ceremonies. It also renamed its Office of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging, with both moves seen by some as a concession to the Trump administration, The College Fix reported.
MORE: Trump says he’ll follow through on ending Harvard’s tax-exempt status
IMAGE CAPTION AND CREDIT: A view of Harvard University’s campus. F11Photo/Shutterstock
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