The Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee plans to submit an amicus brief in support of Harvard’s lawsuit against the Trump administration’s freeze on billions of dollars in federal research funding.
The proposed filing, which a lawyer for the PSC asked to submit on Thursday, is in favor of Harvard’s request for summary judgment in the lawsuit, which would permit a judge to reach a decision on the case without a full trial.
The PSC’s brief will argue that pro-Palestine activism, including anti-Israel rhetoric, does not target individuals of a protected group and is insufficient to constitute a “hostile environment” — the federal government, and Harvard’s, bar for unlawful behavior under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The White House has consistently accused Harvard of tolerating a hostile environment for Jewish students, citing pro-Palestine organizing at Harvard as an unchecked source of rampant antisemitism. In an April 11 letter to Harvard, the administration conditioned Harvard’s federal funding on permanently ending support and recognition for the PSC and other pro-Palestine groups, alleging they had engaged in antisemitic activity since Oct. 7, 2023.
The brief will contest the Trump administration’s “unlawful demands” on Harvard in recent months as well as the University’s adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism, according to a filing submitted by Suffolk University Law professor Ragini N. Shah on the PSC’s behalf.
One day after Trump took office, Harvard settled two Title VI lawsuits which accused the University of condoning antisemitism on campus. As part of the settlements, Harvard agreed to adopt the IHRA definition — which classifies certain criticisms of Israel as antisemitic — and clarify that Jewish and Israeli students are protected under its nondiscrimination policies.
The PSC’s brief will argue that the IHRA definition “enables actionable discrimination against Palestinian students and those who advocate on their behalf” by suppressing criticisms of Israel.
“Title VI does not and cannot require universities to suppress criticism of the policies of a state merely because some members of a protected group take offense to that criticism,” Shah wrote in the filing.
Neither Harvard nor the defendants have opposed the PSC’s motion, according to Shah’s filing. A University spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The PSC, which was founded in 2002, became a national flashpoint after it issued a statement immediately after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel, That statement, which attributed the “unfolding violence” in Israel and Gaza entirely to the Israeli government, fueled white-hot backlash — and marked the start of Harvard’s drawn-out fight against complaints that position it as a symbol of campus antisemitism.
Other groups — including the American Council on Education and a raft of civil liberties groups — have also asked to file amici briefs in the case. A federal judge granted the ACE’s motion on Thursday.
Harvard filed the lawsuit on April 11 in response to the Trump administration’s decisions to cut nearly $3 billion in federal research funding and disqualify the University from future federal grants. The federal government has consistently justified the cuts by arguing Harvard has fostered antisemitism. After the first freeze was announced, a federal antisemitism task force wrote that the University had refused to “commit to meaningful change” to address antisemitism on campus.
Harvard has requested a decision on the lawsuit before Sept. 3.
—Staff writer Samuel A. Church can be reached at samuel.church@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @samuelachurch.
—Staff writer Cam N. Srivastava can be reached at cam.srivastava@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @camsrivastava.