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Dhillon says DOJ will sue Harvard over admissions data
She cited that the university missed deadlines and has not provided substantive admissions data.
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Anushka Pathak - Mon, 23, Feb 2026
- 15:19 EST
- 23
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Harmeet Dhillon / Courtesy: Harmeet Dhillon
Assistant Attorney General (AAG) Harmeet Dhillon said the Justice Department will move forward with litigation against Harvard University for failing to provide admissions data requested by the Civil Rights Division.
In posts on X, Dhillon stated that Harvard, like all federally funded institutions of higher education, is required to submit admissions information for review.
She said the university has missed multiple deadlines dating back to April and has refused to turn over the requested records.
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“The Harvard saga dates back to the Students for Fair Admissions case,” Dhillon said, noting that Harvard lost the lawsuit over its admissions policies and is now required to comply with federal law. She said the department began seeking data in April after she was sworn in and that Harvard requested extensions before ultimately submitting 3,000 pages of publicly available documents.
According to Dhillon, the university has “blown numerous deadlines” and has not provided substantive admissions data. She said the department attempted negotiations to secure compliance and ensure “the United States taxpayer is getting value for their money,” but those talks did not resolve the issue. “We have to go forward with this litigation,” she said, adding that “there may be more litigation.”
Dhillon also alleged that Harvard has engaged in discriminatory admissions practices. “For years, Harvard has basically been suppressing the admission of white and Asian applicants at the expense of or to benefit Black, Hispanic, and other minority applicants,” she said, calling such actions illegal under federal law.
She indicated that Harvard is not the only institution under review. Dhillon said the Civil Rights Division has launched close to 100 investigations into colleges and universities and has reached agreements with several institutions, including Columbia, Northwestern, Cornell, and Brown. She said settlements totaling roughly half a billion dollars have been secured.
Dhillon identified UCLA as among the schools taking an adversarial stance, along with others not specified. She said the department prefers negotiated resolutions but is prepared to sue institutions that refuse to cooperate.
“I'd really like to get Harvard tied up,” Dhillon said, warning that continued noncompliance could become costly if the university continues to “flout federal law.”
The department’s action follows the Supreme Court’s ruling in Students for Fair Admissions, which found Harvard’s admissions policies unlawful and required changes to align with federal standards. Dhillon reiterated that institutions receiving federal funding must provide requested admissions data for civil rights oversight.
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