The standoff between President Donald Trump and Harvard University escalated late Monday night, with the president posting on Truth Social that he is now demanding $1 billion in damages and declaring that his administration wants “nothing further to do, into the future, with Harvard University.“
Trump takes aim at The New York Times
The post came hours after The New York Times reported his administration had dropped a previous demand for a $200 million settlement to resolve a long-running dispute with the Ivy League school.
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Trump has repeatedly accused Harvard and other universities of engaging in antisemitic behavior by falling to protect Jewish students during pro-Palestinian rallies on campus protests in 2024, and of promoting what he calls “woke” ideology through diversity and inclusion policies.
The Wall Street Journal and other outlets have reported that the Trump administration has cut off billions of dollars in federal research grants, frozen funding, threatened Harvard’s tax-exempt status and targeted the enrollment of international students. Several of those actions have been challenged in court, including a ruling last year by a federal judge in Boston restoring Harvard’s federal funding and blocking limits on international students.
The Times reported Monday that Trump had “backtracked” on negotiations, citing four people familiar with the matter who said the president no longer expected a $200 million payment to end the dispute.
Trump fires back
Hours later, Trump publicly rejected the report, accusing both Harvard and the newspaper of spreading misinformation.
“Strongly Antisemitic Harvard University has been feeding a lot of nonsense to the Failing New York Times,” he wrote. “Harvard has been, for a long time, behaving very badly! They wanted to do a convoluted job training concept. “
Trump went on to accuse the university of proposing a “convoluted job training concept” as a way to avoid paying what he described as a $500 million settlement. The Times reported that Harvard had previously rejected the idea of paying hundreds of millions of dollars to the U.S. Treasury amid backlash from liberal students and faculty.
Efforts to broker a deal
The Times also reported that Trump discussed the dispute with billionaire investment executive Stephen Schwarzman during the World Economic Forum in Davos, where Scharzman was said to be acting as an intermediary. According to the report, Trump later signaled a willingness to drop the monetary demands if Harvard agreed to comply with federal law.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon reportedly conveyed a similar position to Schwarzman during separate discussions.
Harvard’s response
In April 2025, Harvard released a report outlining steps it said it was taking to address antisemitism and anti-Muslim bias on campus.
Harvard’s governing board was scheduled to meet Monday night to discuss the dispute and potential settlement, but the university had not publicly commented on Trump’s latest remarks.
Late Tuesday morning, Trump again took to Truth Social, calling The New York Times corrupt and unprincipled and asking, “Why hasn’t the Fake News New York Times adjusted its phony article on the corruption and antisemitism which has taken place at Harvard.”
