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The Justice Department quietly pressed the Harvard Law Review last month to remove a reprimand from the file of a cooperating witness before that student graduated from the university’s law school, The New York Times reported.
The demand letters, obtained by the Times, came after the department began investigating claims of discrimination against white men at the Harvard Law Review. The Education Department and Department of Health and Human Services are also investigating alleged race-based discrimination at the publication.
The Justice Department has since accused the student publication of destroying evidence mid-investigation and called on the institution to “cease and desist.” The agency also accused the Law Review of retaliating against the cooperating witness, who “downloaded tens of thousands of documents” and provided information to the government. The Law Review gave the witness, Daniel Wasserman, a formal reprimand for violating its privacy policy, the Times reported. Wasserman now works for Stephen Miller, President Donald Trump’s deputy chief of staff.
The Law Review, being student-run, is independent of Harvard; nevertheless, the Justice Department’s demands add to a growing list of ways Trump has tried to strike the nation’s oldest higher education institution. Some worry it could be a first attempt to elevate charges from a civil to criminal level.
“Harvard is violating federal law with its discrimination, and a student was brave enough to call them out on this,” said Harrison Fields, a White House spokesman. “Because of his actions, the Justice Department is investigating clear violations of the law.”
The university told the Times it is committed to following the law but stressed that the Law Review is an independent entity. The Law Review declined to comment.
