Edited release
06/25/25
Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird today led a 16-state coalition supporting President Trump’s efforts to hold Harvard accountable for its antisemitic and discriminatory conduct.
According to a release from Bird’s office, Harvard’s own Presidential Task Force on Combating Antisemitism and Anti-Israel Bias revealed the alarming extent of antisemitism and discrimination on Harvard’s campus. That type of discrimination has long been illegal under federal law. Bird claims Harvard failed to address the misconduct, and President Trump responded by stopping Harvard’s funding. Harvard subsequently sued, citing First Amendment rights protection.
This is not the first time a university has asserted that the First Amendment protects them from federal disciplinary action. When the federal government discovered that Bob Jones University was discriminating based on race in the 1980s, the government stripped its tax-exempt status.
The coalition of 16 state Attorneys General believe the court in Harvard’s suit should hold that the federal government need not fund universities that practice illegal discrimination. Receiving federal dollars requires obeying federal antidiscrimination laws.
Iowa led the brief and was joined by 15 other states, including Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, the Dakotas, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Texas.