Justice Dept. to Use False Claims Act Against Colleges Over DEI Programs
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department plans to use an anti-fraud law to prosecute or sue university officials who continue to promote diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
The creation of the “Civil Rights Fraud Initiative” announced Monday is the latest government effort to remake universities that President Donald Trump has called anti-American, Marxist and advocates for the “radical left.”
A Justice Department memo proposes using the False Claims Act as the primary tool to sue or prosecute universities and their administrators.
The threat of litigation raises the likelihood the accused universities will lose federal funding.
In the latest example of the dispute, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced Monday it would terminate $60 million in federal grants to Harvard University.
“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 health department’s announcement on X said.
The Trump administration also has frozen or terminated nearly $3 billion in federal grants and contracts for Harvard in recent weeks, largely because of its diversity, equity and inclusion program. Federal officials say the program’s use of ethnicity to determine eligibility for benefits is racist.
Georgetown University and New York’s Columbia University have been threatened with losing federal funds for similar reasons.
Georgetown received $195 million in federal research funding in fiscal year 2024. It received $267 million for student financial aid, such as loans, Pell grants and work-study grants. The university operated with a $1.8 billion annual budget.
Harvard University’s $53.2 billion endowment is the world’s largest for an academic institution.
Harvard officials have resisted complying with Trump administration policies requiring an end to diversity, equity and inclusion but also have said previously that they “cannot absorb the entire cost” of frozen federal funds. They are suing the Trump administration over the loss of grants.
The Justice Department memo released Monday was written by U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who previously represented Trump as a private attorney on criminal charges in New York.
The False Claims Act is a federal law that imposes liability on persons and companies — typically federal contractors — who defraud governmental programs.
Blanche’s memo suggests the law could be used to prosecute college administrators who allow transgender women to compete in women’s sports or to use women’s bathrooms. It also could be used against administrators who grant preferences to minorities for scholarships or other benefits.
The Justice Department calls the preferences a violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The Civil Rights Fraud Initiative will “identify and root out instances in which recipients of federal funds fail to uphold their basic obligations under federal civil rights laws. The days of using federal funds to further discrimination are over,” Blanche said in a statement.
The Justice Department plans to seek compensation and fines in most cases. The False Claims Act allows up to three times the provable damages. In severe cases, the Justice Department would press criminal charges.
The law also allows private citizens to sue on behalf of the government and to keep part of the money recovered. “The department strongly encourages these lawsuits,” the memo says.
The memo appears to presage conflicts with many universities, particularly the ones that have said they will not back down from their diversity, equity and inclusion programs. They include Harvard, Georgetown and Columbia.
More than half of universities and colleges nationwide receive federal funding. On average, it makes up 18% of their annual budgets.
In April, the Trump administration froze more than $10 billion in federal funds for elite universities over their refusals to abandon diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
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