President Donald Trump has doubled down on his assaults in opposition to Harvard University, demanding that the Ivy League college pay a $1 billion settlement to revive federal funding after months of failed negotiations.
“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 late Monday, disputing a report from the New York Times that the White House had dropped his administration’s demands on for a monetary fee from the college, citing a number of unnamed sources.
Officials from Harvard and the White House have been in discussions for months a couple of high-dollar deal to revive all federal funding to the college and finish its ongoing lawsuits in opposition to the administration. Trump had been calling on Harvard to pay a sweeping $500 million settlement.
University directors have refused any deal that features a money fee, The Harvard Crimson reported, and had been as an alternative negotiating the main points of a workforce improvement settlement of as much as $500 million.
In his publish on Monday, Trump dismissed the previous $500 million potential deal with Harvard to function commerce colleges, which NCS reported final fall the White House was near finalizing, calling it “wholly inadequate.”
“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 wrote. “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 additionally mentioned in his Truth Social publish the administration’s investigations into Harvard ought to now be felony.
“This should be a Criminal, not Civil, event, and Harvard will have to live with the consequences of their wrongdoings,” Trump mentioned.
NCS has reached out to Harvard for remark. The college has not responded publicly to Trump’s newest demands.
In its authentic report Monday, the New York Times mentioned Trump was keen to drop his demand for a $200 million fee from the college if that concession secured a deal to resolve claims that college officers mishandled antisemitism, citing a number of folks briefed on the matter.
In a response to NCS asking in regards to the report, a Department of Education spokesperson mentioned “negotiations with Harvard are ongoing.”
“The Administration’s goal with Harvard, as with all its work on higher education, is to ensure campuses properly enforce civil rights laws, students are learning in an environment free from harassment and intimidation, and campuses once again prioritize truth-seeking and merit,” mentioned Madi Biedermann, the Department of Education’s performing chief of workers.
NCS has additionally reached out to the White House for extra data.
The administration has argued it’s cracking down on antisemitism on school campuses within the wake of the most recent conflict in Gaza.
In September, a federal decide dominated in Harvard’s favor to restore more than $2 billion in federal funding for analysis frozen by the White House, a significant win for the college, which the federal government is interesting. Since then, the Trump administration has continued to seek out unprecedented methods to exert stress on the elite establishment, utilizing a number of levers of the federal authorities and repeatedly threatening to chop off analysis grants.
While Harvard takes on the White House immediately in court docket, different universities have taken much less confrontational approaches with the president’s staff. In July, Columbia University agreed to pay the US Treasury a $200 million settlement to revive all federal funding. Days later, Brown University reached a deal during which it might pay Rhode Island workforce improvement organizations $50 million in grants over 10 years. Cornell University agreed in November to pay the Trump administration $30 million over three years.