US President Donald Trump on Monday said his administration would seek $1 billion in damages from Harvard University, sharply escalating an ongoing standoff with the Ivy League institution.
The announcement came after a New York Times report suggested Harvard had secured some concessions in settlement negotiations with the federal government, a claim Trump dismissed outright.
“We are now seeking One Billion Dollars in damages, and want nothing further to do, into the future, with Harvard University,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
In a lengthy post, Trump launched a scathing attack on the university, accusing it of misconduct and alleging that it had tried to evade a large financial settlement.
“Strongly Antisemitic Harvard University has been feeding a lot of ‘nonsense’ to The Failing New York Times. Harvard has been, for a long time, behaving very badly!” he wrote.
Trump claimed Harvard had attempted to offer an alternative proposal in place of a cash payout. “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,” he said.
According to Trump, the proposal 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.”
He went on to suggest that the matter should be treated as a criminal case rather than a civil dispute. “This should be a Criminal, not Civil, event, and Harvard will have to live with the consequences of their wrongdoings,” Trump wrote, adding, “this case will continue until justice is served.”
Trump also criticised Harvard president Dr. Alan Garber, saying he had “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???” Trump added.
The Trump administration has repeatedly accused Harvard and other elite universities of promoting what it calls “woke ideology”. Federal officials have filed legal complaints against several universities and demanded large financial penalties.
Last year, another Ivy League university, Columbia University, agreed to pay the administration $200 million and committed to comply with federal rules barring the use of race as a factor in admissions and hiring.
