Trump Administration Probes Harvard Law Review For Alleged Race-based Discrimination

The Trump administration on Monday opened two investigations into Harvard University and the Harvard Law Review over allegedly factoring race into editorial decisions at the legal publication.

The civil rights offices of the departments of Education and Health and Human Services said the agencies launched the investigations “based on reports of race-based discrimination permeating the operations of the journal.”

The offices said they received information about policies and practices for journal membership and article selection that they say could violate Title VI, which bars race-based discrimination. Education Secretary Linda McMahon on social media pointed to a lengthy social media thread and an investigation into the journal from the Free Beacon.

“Harvard Law Review’s article selection process appears to pick winners and losers on the basis of race, employing a spoils system in which the race of the legal scholar is as, if not more, important than the merit of the submission,” Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the Education Department Craig Trainor said in a statement. “No institution — no matter its pedigree, prestige, or wealth — is above the law.”

The two agencies are examining Harvard’s relationship with the Harvard Law Review, which is student-run and independent of Harvard Law School, according to the journal. Student editors make all organizational decisions and its members are second- and third-year Harvard Law students.

The Trump administration is probing financial ties, oversight procedures, selection policies and other documentation for both membership and article publication.

“The allocation of opportunities or recognition based on race can deprive other students of educational opportunities to which they would be entitled by merit, which is unacceptable for recipients of federal funding,” the administration said in a press release.