The US Department of Education officially started an investigation of Harvard on Tuesday because of the recent claims of hate speech and other problems that have come up at the college.
A group of Arab and Muslim students spoke out against discrimination at school, which led to this probe. This is also brought up because Harvard’s president quit after getting flak for something she said at a hearing about racism at her school.
The DOE is also looking into 60 other schools from kindergarten to 12th grade for discrimination. This is not the only school being looked into; see the list below. Since the Israel-Hamas war, there have been more of these since a lot of problems and statements have come out.
Mr. Jason Newton, who is in charge of communications and media relations at Harvard, said, “We support the Office of Civil Rights’ work to protect students’ rights to access educational programs, and we will work with the office to answer their questions.”
The Muslim Legal Fund of America said the students had the right to make the complaint. It said that the students had been harassed and attacked racially because they were Palestinian, Muslim, and supported Palestinian rights. These attacks included doxxing, stalking, and assault.
People who went to Harvard College, Harvard Law School, Harvard Divinity School, or Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences were the target of the lawsuit.
The Muslim Legal Fund of America said, “Our complaint is about how Harvard failed to protect more than a dozen students from being harassed, threatened, and intimidated because they were Palestinian, Arab, Muslim, or supporters of Palestinian rights.” This investigation is a big step toward holding people responsible and getting justice for these kids. They all deserve to be able to learn in a safe place and say what they think.
Now that the complaint has been sent to the Department of Education Office, they will decide if they want to start a probe.
