Harvard alum praises Trump admin targeting university admissions policies, handling of antisemitism

The Trump administration has launched two new probes into Harvard University as it continues to hold the institution accountable for alleged violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. One probe is focused on the handling of antisemitism on campus, while the other alleges that the university has used "illegal race-based preferences in admissions" in violation of the Supreme Court's ruling on Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard.

In addition to the probes, the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued a Letter of Impending Enforcement Action to Harvard over the university's refusal to provide the government with requested information on its admissions process. This follows a review that the OCR opened in May 2025 to determine if the university was still using racial preferences in its undergraduate admissions process.

"Harvard University should know better. Its name will always be tied to the landmark Supreme Court case that found sweeping racial discrimination in admissions and the campus has been in the spotlight for tolerating egregious antisemitic harassment for years now," Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement.

Harvard has been given 20 calendar days to comply with the OCR's information requests. If it fails to do so, the university could face enforcement actions, including a DOJ referral, according to the DOE.

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Alexander Kestenbaum, also known as "Shabbos," commended the Trump administration for launching the probe, saying that to him, it represented "promises made, promises kept."

"I think it's quite astounding that Harvard University knew that the Trump administration was going to investigate them for their civil rights violations and rather than cooperating to reach some sort of settlement negotiation or understanding, they dug deeper, and they refuse to cooperate with the federal government to ensure that no student is having their civil rights violated," Kestenbaum told Fox News Digital.

"I've got to say, Harvard is fighting the Trump administration far greater and with more alacrity than they ever fought against antisemitism, against anti-Asian discrimination, against the discrimination against White Christian men. So, I think it sort of underscores their priorities and their values," the Harvard alumnus added.

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Kestenbaum is no stranger to legal entanglements with Harvard. He and other students sued the university over its alleged lack of action against antisemitism. Harvard and Kestenbaum reached a confidential settlement in May 2025.

"I'm very proud that we play a small role in this. I'm proud of the fact that the DOJ has constantly cited Kestenbaum v. Harvard," he told Fox News Digital. "I'm honored that we can have these conversations with the DOJ, with the Department of Education, the members of the White House who are seriously concerned about the treatment of American students at the hands of these far-left institutions like Harvard and Columbia and elsewhere."

Following Hamas' Oct. 7 massacre and the launch of the resulting war, anti-Israel agitators began demonstrating on university campuses across the U.S., including Harvard. The university's then-President Claudine Gay, was grilled by a congressional committee about rising antisemitism on campus.

In an infamous moment during the December 2023 hearing, Gay was asked by Rep. Elise Stefanik whether calling for the genocide of Jews violated Harvard's rules on bullying and harassment, and answered that "it can be, depending upon the context." Gay later apologized in an interview with The Harvard Crimson, saying that "when words amplify distress and pain, I don’t know how you could feel anything but regret."

Gay resigned from her post in January 2024 following the tense hearing. At the time, she also faced allegations of plagiarism.

When asked about Harvard's seemingly unchanged conduct, Kestenbaum said "poor leadership" was to blame. He said that no one from the university had been able to explain why the university had asked Gay to return to the classroom. He also claimed that university faculty had been adamantly against Harvard President Alan Garber negotiating with the Trump administration.

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Recently, Harvard University earned a "C" on the Anti-Defamation League's (ADL) Campus Antisemitism Report Card. The ADL gave the prestigious university good marks on "publicly disclosed administrative actions" and "Jewish life on campus." However, Harvard received a "medium" score for "campus conduct and climate concerns."

Kestenbaum told Fox News Digital that, while he has graduated and left campus, students who are still there have told him that they are thankful for the Trump administration's actions, but cannot express that sentiment on campus. He said that this is not new, and that when he filed his lawsuit, there were students who wanted to tell their stories, but decided not to out of fear of professional blowback and social isolation.

"A lot of students will self-censor, and so they don't publicly admit how they really feel politically, but many are tremendously grateful to the administration for getting this university in check," he said.

Kestenbaum called for the government to "withhold every last penny from Harvard University," saying that it was "an embarrassment that billions of dollars in American taxpayer funds are still being used to fund an institution that also discriminates against said American taxpayers."

Fox News Digital reached out to Harvard for comment.