The Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights has opened a formal investigation into a civil rights complaint filed last week accusing Harvard of failure to protect Palestinian students and allies from targeted racism and harassment.
The complaint, filed by the Muslim Legal Fund on behalf of more than a dozen students, alleges the university failed to protect them “from harassment, intimidation and threats based solely on their status as Palestinian, Arab, Muslim, and supporters of Palestinian rights,” the legal fund said in a news release. It says the students have been subject to “doxxing, stalking and assault.”
“Students who reported the harassment to Harvard administrators received slow and ineffective responses and often met with closed doors, and in some cases threats to limit or retract their future academic opportunities,” the group said.
The school is also under investigation by the Education Department over claims of antisemitism on campus. That investigation was launched late last year.
In a statement Tuesday, the Muslim Legal Fund included an account from an unnamed Palestinian student who described harassment on campus as “shocking, terrifying and outrageous.”
“We have been chased, spat at, stalked and hounded by doxxing trucks on campus, and even at our families’ homes,” the fund quoted the student as saying. “On top of worrying about my family’s safety in Palestine, I’m living in fear of being attacked while walking to class.”
The group said students are asking that the Education Department “do what Harvard refused to do” and truly investigate what has been happening to students and bring accountability so no other student experiences racism and harassment.
Harvard University did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the investigation. Last week, a spokesperson did not comment on the complaint but directed NBC News to a list of resources the university has provided students, including a newly launched presidential task force on combating Islamophobia and anti-Arab bias.
The list also included a link to a statement Harvard College Dean Rakesh Khurana made on Oct. 12 denouncing antisemitism, Islamophobia, xenophobia and discrimination.
The Office for Civil Rights considers all complaints it receives but opens formal complaints only “where the allegations merit closer consideration,” the legal fund said in a statement.
The Office for Civil Rights did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Since Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, the number of reports of harassment and discrimination have spiked at U.S. schools, with some resulting in arrests.
