Former DOJ lawyer alleges Trump administration abused investigative process to target Harvard, Brown and Columbia
Updated on: August 18, 2026 / 3:45 PM EDT / CBS News
TL;DR
- A former Justice Department attorney, Haley Van Erem, alleges the Trump administration pressured civil rights attorneys to investigate Harvard, Columbia, and Brown for antisemitism.
- Van Erem's whistleblower complaint claims there was no factual or legal basis for these investigations and that outcomes were predetermined.
- The complaint states that attorneys encountered compressed timelines and disregarded concerns, leading to a belief that enforcement outcomes were set before evidence was evaluated.
- The Justice Department denies the allegations, asserting that Van Erem was not involved in these specific university investigations and standing by the integrity of the probes.
- A federal judge recently dismissed the DOJ's lawsuit against Harvard, finding alleged discrimination instances too isolated to violate Title VI.
- Brown and Columbia settled with the government over similar allegations to restore federal funding, though Brown maintains it did not admit fault.
- The whistleblower complaint, made public by Rep. Jamie Raskin, raises concerns about the politicization of civil rights investigations under Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon.
- Raskin accused the administration of using the 'investigation' as a politically motivated operation to harass universities and curtail academic freedom.