Harvard University has agreed to accept the controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, after settling a lawsuit from Jewish students who accused other students of harassment during pro-Palestine protests on campus in 2024.

The student group, Students Against Antisemitism, filed a complaint in January 2024 in a court in Boston, saying that Harvard was failing to protect them under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, a law that prohibits any school from receiving federal funding from discriminating against anyone based on race, colour or national origin.

The complaint cited last year’s pro-Palestinian protests against Israel’s war on Gaza as the source of antisemitic rhetoric from other students.

Middle East Eye has previously reported on these accusations of antisemitism against pro-Palestinian protesters at US universities, which often conflate support for Palestinian rights with antisemitism.