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The United States Department of Health and Human Services launched an investigation into Harvard Business School and requested that the school provide reports from working groups on free expression, antisemitism, and Islamophobia — another step in the HHS’ expansion of its ongoing Title VI investigation into Harvard.

The requests from the HHS’ Office for Civil Rights were listed in an emailed letter sent to Harvard’s lawyers on Saturday, which was obtained and first published by a reporter for The Free Press.

The HHS began investigating Harvard Medical School in February over pro-Palestine protests at its commencement and expanded its investigation on April 7 to include the entire University. In letter to Harvard on Saturday, the office asked Harvard to hand over reports from University-wide task forces on combating antisemitism and anti-Arab, anti-Muslim, and anti-Palestinian bias.

In the letter to HBS, HHS asked for reports and recommendations from the Business School’s Antisemitism Working Group, Islamophobia and Anti-Arabism Working Group, Classroom Culture and Norms Working Group, and Free Expression and Community Values Working Group.

HHS asked for all relevant documents to be submitted by May 5, 2025.

The working groups’ formation was announced by HBS Dean Srikant M. Datar in a November 2023 message responding to Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

The requested documents include any reports or recommendations created by the working groups that have not been made publicly available or are still in the draft stage, as well as all drafts or finalized documents that have been or will be reviewed by University and HBS leadership.

Additionally, HHS requested that the Business School provide the names of all persons involved with the writing or editing of reports associated with the working groups, along with their role in the creation of those documents and dates when they are available for interviews with the OCR.

An HBS spokesperson declined to comment on the expansion of the HHS investigation.

HBS released an update on the progress made by the working groups on Jan. 30 in a message posted online by Datar. In that update, Datar wrote that the working groups had surveyed more than 200 HBS affiliates thus far.

The progress report called for HBS to rework its courses to accurately portray Jewish, Israeli, Muslim, and Arab identities. The Business School also announced that it was collaborating with groups including Project Shema and the Islamic Network Group to develop training on combating antisemitism, Islamophobia, and anti-Arab bias.

The update also noted that HBS would follow the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism, which classifies some criticisms of Israel as antisemitic.

Though he did not explicitly accept the working groups’ recommendations in January, Datar wrote that a community values report, slated to be released in 2025, will strive to incorporate the recommendations of the Free Expression and Community Values working group.

The Medical School submitted documents to HHS earlier this semester in response to its February request.

—Staff writer Graham W. Lee can be reached at graham.lee@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @grahamwonlee.