Former President Donald Trump has announced his decision to seek $1 billion in damages from Harvard University as part of his administration's ongoing tensions with the prestigious institution. The announcement comes in the wake of a report from the New York Times which revealed that the Trump administration had previously backed away from demanding $200 million in a settlement with Harvard.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump accused Harvard of 'feeding a lot of nonsense' to the New York Times. The administration's claims against Harvard have intensified following accusations that the university has not done enough to combat antisemitism amidst protests supporting Palestine, entirely rejected by the university's administration.
Harvard has increasingly become a target for Trump's administration, which is keen on tackling what they term as 'woke' ideologies prevalent in American educational institutions. Last year, Trump revoked nearly $2 billion in research grants to the university and frozen federal funding. This led Harvard to sue the Trump administration, asserting that the government should not interfere in the academic autonomy of private institutions.
In a significant ruling, a US federal court overturned the funding cuts, highlighting violations of free speech rights, to which the White House responded vowing to challenge the decision while maintaining that Harvard remains ineligible for future grants.
Before Trump's recent announcement, discussions were underway to potentially unfreeze federal funding. In his post, Trump declared, 'We are now seeking One Billion Dollars in damages, and want nothing further to do, into the future, with Harvard University,' alleging 'serious and heinous illegalities' but without elaborating on the nature of these purported infractions. Previous threats by Trump have included revocation of Harvard's tax-exempt status and controlling patents from federally funded research.
Interestingly, three other Ivy League schools, Columbia, Penn, and Brown, managed to secure agreements with the Trump administration to safeguard their federal funding amidst similar allegations.}
In a post on Truth Social, Trump accused Harvard of 'feeding a lot of nonsense' to the New York Times. The administration's claims against Harvard have intensified following accusations that the university has not done enough to combat antisemitism amidst protests supporting Palestine, entirely rejected by the university's administration.
Harvard has increasingly become a target for Trump's administration, which is keen on tackling what they term as 'woke' ideologies prevalent in American educational institutions. Last year, Trump revoked nearly $2 billion in research grants to the university and frozen federal funding. This led Harvard to sue the Trump administration, asserting that the government should not interfere in the academic autonomy of private institutions.
In a significant ruling, a US federal court overturned the funding cuts, highlighting violations of free speech rights, to which the White House responded vowing to challenge the decision while maintaining that Harvard remains ineligible for future grants.
Before Trump's recent announcement, discussions were underway to potentially unfreeze federal funding. In his post, Trump declared, 'We are now seeking One Billion Dollars in damages, and want nothing further to do, into the future, with Harvard University,' alleging 'serious and heinous illegalities' but without elaborating on the nature of these purported infractions. Previous threats by Trump have included revocation of Harvard's tax-exempt status and controlling patents from federally funded research.
Interestingly, three other Ivy League schools, Columbia, Penn, and Brown, managed to secure agreements with the Trump administration to safeguard their federal funding amidst similar allegations.}
