By Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON, March 23 (Reuters) - The Trump administration said on Monday it launched two more probes against Harvard University in its latest escalation against the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based school and other top U.S. universities.
The U.S. Education Department said its civil rights office "opened two new investigations into Harvard University amid allegations that it continues to discriminate against students on the basis of race, color, and national origin" in violation of federal law.
The latest probes will look into whether Harvard uses race-based preferences in admissions after the U.S. Supreme Court's 2023 ruling that ended affirmative action in higher education and into allegations of antisemitism on Harvard's campus, the Education Department said in a statement.
Harvard, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment, has previously condemned all forms of discrimination and said it aims to combat bigotry.
Harvard task forces released reports last year saying Jewish and Muslim students at the university had faced bigotry and abuse. The university has previously said the administration's actions amount to retaliation "for refusing to turn over control of Harvard to the federal government."
A deal to resolve the administration's probes against Harvard remains elusive.
Last week, the administration sued Harvard to recover billions of dollars over allegedly failing to protect Jewish students. The Trump administration also separately sued Harvard in February accusing it of failing to comply with a federal investigation, while also seeking documents to determine whether the university considered race in its admissions process.
Education advocates have urged universities to push back against government efforts to collect more admissions data, saying they could lead to privacy violations. A previous official from former President Joe Biden's administration reportedly described it as "a tool for anti-civil rights enforcement."
CAMPAIGN AGAINST TOP SCHOOLS
U.S. President Donald Trump has attempted to crack down on universities and freeze their federal funds over pro-Palestinian protests against Israel's assault on Gaza, transgender policies, climate programs and diversity initiatives, leading to concerns that the Trump administration's campaign chills academic freedom, free speech and due process.
Efforts to freeze federal funds have faced legal and judicial roadblocks.
Trump has in particular cast pro-Palestinian protests as antisemitic and alleged that universities, including Harvard, have allowed antisemitism on campus.
Protesters, including some Jewish groups, say the government wrongly conflates criticism of Israel's assault on Gaza and its occupation of Palestinian territories with antisemitism, and advocacy for Palestinian rights with support for extremism.
Trump's administration has reached deals to settle investigations against universities like Columbia University. Columbia agreed last year to pay over $200 million to the government. Academic experts have raised alarm over parts of those agreements, saying they set a precedent for "pay-to-play" deals.
Trump has not initiated equivalent probes into allegations of Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian bias.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh and Daphne Psaledakis in Washington;Editing by David Ljunggren and Aurora Ellis)
