Whistleblower claims Trump-era task force forced Ivy League schools into settlements without evidence

A former Justice Department civil-rights lawyer, identified as Haley Van Erem, filed a whistleblower complaint alleging that the Trump administration’s antisemitism task force targeted elite universities for political purposes. The filing states the multi-agency team, launched in February 2025 under then-Attorney General Pam Bondi, pushed Ivy League schools—Brown, Harvard and Columbia—into settlement agreements despite investigations that found no Title VI violations or were conducted on accelerated timelines.

The complaint says leadership ignored the absence of a legal basis, used funding freezes and settlement demands to coerce the institutions, and also targeted Muslim professors. Van Erem left the department in May 2025, citing unwillingness to participate in politically motivated probes. House Judiciary Committee Democrat Jamie Raskin has written to assistant attorney general Harmeet Dhillon, calling the investigations a “pre-baked frame-up.” The Justice Department and Health and Human Services have not yet commented.