The US Department of Justice said on Monday it launched a probe reviewing whether some Harvard University financial aid programmes were discriminatory, marking the latest fight against the university by President Donald Trump’s administration.
“The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division announced today it is opening a compliance review into Harvard University to determine whether its China-based financial aid programmes and practices exclude American-citizen students,” the department said in a statement.
Harvard said on Monday it “does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, or national origin in allocating financial aid”.
A university spokesperson said the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Ivy League school was reviewing the DOJ’s latest letter to Harvard and would engage with the government on the topic.
US law requires universities to report donations from foreign sources exceeding $250,000 in a year. Harvard has previously said it has filed reports for decades “as part of its ongoing compliance with the law”.
The school has also previously cast Trump administration probes as “retaliatory actions against Harvard for its refusal to surrender our independence and constitutional rights”.