WASHINGTON — The Justice Department plans to use an anti-fraud law to prosecute or sue university officials who continue to promote diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
The creation of the “Civil Rights Fraud Initiative” announced Monday is the latest government effort to remake universities that President Donald Trump has called anti-American, Marxist and advocates for the “radical left.”
A Justice Department memo proposes using the False Claims Act as the primary tool to sue or prosecute universities and their administrators.
The threat of litigation raises the likelihood the accused universities will lose federal funding.
In the latest example of the dispute, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced Monday it would terminate $60 million in federal grants to Harvard University.
“Due to Harvard University’s continued failure to address antisemitic harassment and race discrimination, HHS is terminating multiple multi-year grant awards … over their full duration,” the health department’s announcement on X said.
The Trump administration also has frozen or terminated nearly $3 billion in federal grants and contracts for Harvard in recent weeks, largely because of its diversity, equity and inclusion program. Federal officials say the program’s use of ethnicity to determine eligibility for benefits is racist.
Georgetown University and New York’s Columbia University have been threatened with losing federal funds for similar reasons.
Georgetown received...
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