(Washington) Donald Trump announced Monday that he was demanding a billion dollars in damages from the prestigious Harvard University, which he accuses of anti-Semitism and “wokism”, the latest avatar of his offensive on American universities.
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“We are now seeking a billion dollars in damages and want no further dealings with Harvard University in the future,” Donald Trump wrote on his Truth Social network.
Investigations against the world-famous institution will now have to be considered “criminal and not civil matters”, he added. “Harvard will have to face the consequences of its wrongdoing.”
Donald Trump accuses Harvard and other American universities of promoting a so-called “woke” ideology which promotes a strong sensitivity to injustices linked to racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination, and of not sufficiently protecting Jewish students during pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
His administration has filed legal complaints and demanded exorbitant compensation against dozens of universities – at least 75 according to a recent investigation by the New York Times.
A policy denounced in September by the former president of the university. “It’s about destroying the institutions of knowledge because they are centers of independent thought and information,” Claudine Gay said.
“Nothing justifies or explains it. Apart from the fact that authoritarian powers do not like independent centers of thought and information,” added the first black woman to head Harvard in 368 years, resigning in January 2024.
The US president’s latest anger against Harvard erupted after the New York Times said Monday that he had “backtracked,” dropping his initial demand for $200 million from the university.
“Harvard University, strongly anti-Semitic, provided a lot of “nonsense” to the defaulter New York Times », denounced the head of state, six hours after the publication of the article.
“Harvard has been behaving very badly for a long time!” “, he insisted again. “Alan Garber, the president of Harvard, has done an abominable job (…). He was hired after the accusations of anti-Semitism were made, I wonder why? ? ? “.
In September, Donald Trump said that negotiations with Harvard were close to a $500 million deal, and that part of that sum would go toward opening professional schools.
But in a long message published shortly before midnight on the subject, the president changed his tone and doubled down.
Since his return to power a year ago, he has targeted universities in the prestigious Ivy League. He withdrew federal grants from them and accused them of allowing student movements against the war in Gaza to flourish on their campuses or, more generally, of being centers of progressive protest.
Universities negotiate
More generally, the Trump administration insists that universities take into account its education priorities.
She asks them to adhere to “biological” definitions of masculine and feminine. And to stop positive discrimination linked to factors such as “sex, ethnicity, race, nationality, political opinions, sexual orientation, gender identity, religious affiliations” in the admission and scholarship award processes.
Several universities have chosen to negotiate. Columbia thus agreed to pay $200 million to end investigations against it and recover $1.7 billion in federal grants and funding.
She pledged in particular to “eliminate racial preferences” and to “put an end” to the promotion of diversity, the bane of conservatives.
The University of Pennsylvania also relented, announcing it would ban transgender women from competing in women’s competitions.
Two other Ivy League universities, Brown and Cornell, reached deals paying $50 million and $60 million, respectively.
The Trump administration is also demanding a billion dollars from the University of California (UC) for its management of pro-Palestinian demonstrations in 2024 on its Los Angeles campus.
