By Rishabh Jaiswal, Shivani Tanna and Helen Coster
Feb 3 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said his administration was seeking $1 billion from Harvard to settle probes into school policies, after a news report that said Trump had dropped his demand for a payment from the Ivy League school.
The Trump administration has been threatening to withhold federal funds from Harvard and several other universities over issues including pro-Palestinian protests against Israel’s war in Gaza, campus diversity and transgender policies.
Trump has said Harvard and other universities allowed displays of antisemitism during pro-Palestinian protests.
“We are now seeking One Billion Dollars in damages, and want nothing further to do, into the future, with Harvard University,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post, without specifying how he arrived at that figure or what damages exactly he was referring to.
Trump’s post came in response to a New York Times report, citing sources, saying the Trump administration has dropped its demand for cash from Harvard in ongoing talks to strike a deal. Trump dismissed the report.
Trump officials and Harvard have engaged in months of talks. Trump said in September a deal was close and would involve a $500 million payment by Harvard. He said two weeks ago his administration may have reached a deal with the university in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Harvard did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
NEW YORK TIMES DEFENDS STORY
In social media posts late Monday and Tuesday, Trump reprised his criticism of the New York Times and said the reporting on Harvard was not accurate.
The Times said its story was based on extensive reporting with multiple sources, including Trump administration officials.
“President Trump and the administration have demonstrated a pattern of criticizing accurate reporting that illuminates new facts about their efforts,” the Times said in a statement.
The government has settled its probes with some universities. Harvard sued the Trump administration last year and a judge later ruled the government had unlawfully terminated some grants for the university.
Protesters, including some Jewish groups, say the government wrongly equates criticism of Israel’s attacks on Gaza and its occupation of Palestinian territories with antisemitism, and advocacy for Palestinian rights with support for extremism.
Rights advocates have also raised concerns about free speech and academic freedom over Trump’s probes.
Several other Ivy League schools, including Columbia University and Brown University, have reached agreements with the administration and accepted certain government demands. Columbia agreed to pay more than $220 million to the government and Brown said it will pay $50 million to support local workforce development.
(Reporting by Rishabh Jaiswal and Shivani Tanna in Bengaluru and Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Christian Schmollinger, Stephen Coates, Susan Fenton, Rod Nickel)
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