The Trump administration has intensified its campaign against what it describes as ideological bias and antisemitism in higher education, launching a new federal enforcement unit and terminating millions in research grants to leading universities.

On Monday, the U.S. Department of Justice announced the formation of the Civil Rights Fraud Initiative, a unit tasked with using the False Claims Act, a civil anti-fraud law, to investigate federally funded colleges and universities. The initiative is aimed at institutions accused of promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies that the administration argues enable antisemitism, reverse discrimination, and radical political agendas.

“A university that accepts federal funds could violate the False Claims Act when it encourages antisemitism, refuses to protect Jewish students, allows men to intrude into women’s bathrooms, or requires women to compete against men in athletic competitions,” said Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche in a memo.

He added: “Colleges and universities cannot accept federal funds while discriminating against their students.”

The initiative will be co-led by the Justice Department’s Fraud Section and Civil Rights Division, with participation required from all 93 U.S. Attorneys’ offices across the country.

In a parallel move, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced Monday that it was terminating $60 million in federal grants to Harvard University, citing the institution’s “continued failure to address antisemitic harassment and race discrimination.”

“Due to Harvard University’s continued failure to address antisemitic harassment and race discrimination, HHS is terminating multiple multi-year grant awards … over their full duration,” the department said in a post on X.

The actions against Harvard come amid a broader effort by President Donald Trump, who since taking office in January, has pledged to use federal research funding to overhaul academia. He has repeatedly accused US universities of being controlled by “anti-American,” “Marxist,” and “radical left” ideologies.

Harvard has become a central target of this campaign. The Justice Department recently opened a False Claims Act inquiry into whether Harvard’s admissions policies comply with the Supreme Court ruling that ended affirmative action. The university, in turn, is suing the federal government, alleging that the administration is using grant funding as leverage to “coerce and control” academic institutions.

Earlier this month, Harvard settled a lawsuit filed by an Orthodox Jewish student who alleged the university failed to act on antisemitic harassment. That case followed two other lawsuits in which Jewish students claimed the campus had become a “hotbed of antisemitism.” In response, the university pledged additional protections for Jewish students.

Harvard has not yet commented on the latest HHS grant terminations, but previously said it was helping researchers find alternative sources of funding, adding that it “cannot absorb the entire cost” of the frozen federal support.

The Trump administration has also taken aim at Columbia University over similar allegations of campus antisemitism, much of it tied to pro-Palestinian student protests that swept campuses nationwide last year.

The administration’s combined use of civil anti-fraud law and federal grant leverage represents a significant escalation in the federal government’s pressure campaign against elite academic institutions.