Harvard University has settled two antisemitism lawsuits, which were merged by a federal judge in Nov. 2024, that blighted its reputation while feeding an impression that Ivy League universities have become bastions of anti-Jewish hatred and pro-terror ideologies.

As previously reported by the Algemeiner, Harvard was sued, separately, both by the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law (The Brandeis Center) and Students Against Antisemitism (SAA) in 2024. The Brandeis Center alleged that the university’s neglecting to discipline a professor whose mistreatment of Israeli-Jewish students was confirmed by a third-party investigator violated civil rights protections mandated by federal law. SAA, citing similar legal infractions, alleged that the university failed to quell an explosion of antisemitic behavior on the campus, including harassment and hate speech.

Harvard initially fought the suits in court, attempting to have their allegations thrown out of court on the grounds that they “lacked standing” and a “legally cognizable claim” even as it proclaimed “the importance of the need to address antisemitism at the university,” according to court documents.

With the settlement, which comes one day after the inauguration of President Donald Trump — who has vowed to tax the endowments of universities where antisemitism is rampant —Harvard avoids a lengthy legal fight that would have been interpreted by the Jewish community as a willful refusal to acknowledge the discrimination to which Jewish students are subjected.