The Trump administration’s antisemitism investigations into Ivy League universities were rushed and had “predetermined” outcomes meant to force the institutions into paying out settlements, a former Justice Department lawyer alleges in a new whistleblower complaint.
The claims were brought forth by Haley Van Erem, a former DOJ attorney assigned to work on the investigations through the Department of Health and Human Services, and other career civil rights attorneys whose names were redacted in the public version of the complaint, released by House Judiciary Democrats. The group describes an “outcome‑driven approach” taken by a multiagency task force that was “subordinate to political priorities,” alleging that those who brought forward disagreements were sidelined or faced reprimands.
The White House created a sweeping task force last year to “root out antisemitic harassment” in response to pro-Palestinian student groups protesting Israel’s actions in Gaza following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks. Under President Donald Trump’s administration, officials investigated dozens of the country’s top schools — including Harvard University, Brown University and Columbia University, which are at the center of Tuesday’s whistleblower report — and canceled hundreds of millions in grant money by claiming the institutions were violating Jewish and Israeli students’ Title VI rights. Those fights over federal dollars eventually led to settlements and ongoing litigation.
When attorneys assigned to the investigations detailed a lack of evidence of civil rights violations or settlements that preempted finished work, senior DOJ and HHS officials dismissed those concerns, says the complaint, which was sent to multiple congressional committees.
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“[Ms. Van Erem and her colleagues] believe based on HHS officials’ actions that the outcomes of the investigations were predetermined, without regard to the evidence,” the report states. “Hundreds of millions of dollars were suspended from these universities prior to the completion of Title VI investigations and the investigative team’s conclusions were frequently disregarded.”
The investigators were pushed to complete their investigations in 45 days, despite their objections to that timeline, the report says. At Brown University, investigators did not find any violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act — which prohibits discrimination based on race or national origin for programs that receive federal funding — but an HHS official said higher-ups would never accept that result, the complaint says.
Daniel Shieh, the associate deputy director at the HHS’ civil rights office, had “acknowledged that the team had done a good job convincing the front office that they should move on from Brown, but unspecified ‘stakeholders’ had ‘approached the Task Force’ demanding action,” the complaint says. “Ms. Van Erem left federal service shortly after this meeting.”
A DOJ spokesperson said in a statement that Van Erem did not work on university investigations during her time at the department. Van Erem stopped working for the federal government on May 30, 2025, according to the report.
“And for all matters, the Department stands behind the integrity of these investigations,” the spokesperson said.
HHS, Columbia and Harvard did not respond to a request for comment.
The whistleblowers’ allegations follow recent criticism from federal judges who say government lawyers have increasingly presented misleading evidence in court and assert that Trump’s DOJ is flouting a longtime presumption of good-faith cases.
The agencies also assigned investigators to interview Middle East studies faculty who weren’t connected to complaints of antisemitism, the report says, and were given just a few hours to examine documents that would justify suspending hundreds of millions of dollars worth of grants from Columbia.
Both Columbia and Brown reached deals with the Trump administration, with Columbia agreeing to pay more than $220 million to restore its research funding. Brown entered into an agreement to give $50 million to workforce development organizations in its home state of Rhode Island.
“We made clear when announcing Brown’s resolution with the government that the agreement was not a result of any determination of fault by any government agency, and Brown denied any fault or violation of federal law,” Brian Clark, vice president for news and strategic campus communications, told NOTUS in a statement. “In contrast with other universities, Brown had not been informed of a reason for the freeze of its federal research funding, and at no time was Brown informed of any finding that the University violated any law.”
The investigation into Harvard was not completed before the university sued the Trump administration in a matter that remains ongoing in a federal appeals court. In December, a federal judge ruled the administration had unlawfully frozen in $2 billion research funds.
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