President Donald Trump is escalating his fight with Harvard University, demanding $1 billion in damages over what he calls the Ivy League school’s “strongly antisemitic” behavior.
Trump said late Monday night that “Harvard has been, for a long time, behaving very badly” and suggested that the case against Harvard “should be Criminal, not Civil.” His comments came as The New York Times published a report claiming that the Trump administration was dropping its previous demand for Harvard to pay $500 million to settle allegations that the university mishandled antisemitism on its campus.
The president refuted the New York Times report and accused Harvard of “feeding a lot of ‘nonsense'” to the “failing” newspaper.
“Harvard has been, for a long time, behaving very badly! They wanted to do a convoluted job training concept, but it was turned down in that it was wholly inadequate and would not have been, in our opinion, successful. It was merely a way of Harvard getting out of a large cash settlement of more than 500 Million Dollars, a number that should be much higher for the serious and heinous illegalities that they have committed,” Trump said.
In a follow-up post, Trump wrote, “The Failing New York Times story was completely wrong concerning Harvard University. I hereby demand that the morons that run (into the ground!) the Times’ change their story, immediately.”
Trump has fought with Harvard over multiple issues since the beginning of his second term. In April, the Trump administration froze $2.2 billion in federal grants to Harvard over the Ivy League school’s diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and allegations of an antisemitic culture. A federal judge blocked Trump’s funding freeze, and most of the funds were restored after Harvard sued. The Trump administration also pushed to bar foreign students from attending Harvard, a move that was also blocked by a federal judge.
As the months-long fight continued last year, the Trump administration was also negotiating with Harvard leaders on a settlement. Last June, Trump praised Harvard for acting “extremely appropriately” during the negotiations and suggested that a “mindbogglingly historic” deal could be made “over the next week or so,” but nothing came of those talks.
Much of the criticism of Harvard began after the university was accused of allowing antisemitism to fester on its campus following Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. Harvard’s previous president, Claudine Gay, resigned shortly after she was grilled by Congress in late 2023 over the anti-Israel protests that popped up on college campuses, including Harvard’s.
On Monday night, Trump lambasted new Harvard President Alan Garber over the negotiations and raised his demand from $500 million to $1 billion.
“Dr. Alan Garber, the President of Harvard, has done a terrible job of rectifying a very bad situation for his institution and, more importantly, America, itself. He was hired AFTER the antisemitism charges were brought – I wonder why??? We are now seeking One Billion Dollars in damages, and want nothing further to do, into the future, with Harvard University,” Trump said.
The president added that his administration “turned down” an offer from Harvard to put $500 million toward a workforce training program to address some of the federal government’s complaints.
“They wanted to do a convoluted job training concept, but it was turned down in that it was wholly inadequate and would not have been, in our opinion, successful,” Trump said. “It was merely a way of Harvard getting out of a large cash settlement of more than 500 Million Dollars, a number that should be much higher for the serious and heinous illegalities that they have committed.”
Harvard leaders reportedly want to avoid paying the federal government directly, out of concern that it would harm the university’s independence. The New York Times reported, however, that Harvard’s reliance on federal funding could likely force it to cut a deal with Trump.
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