Donald Trump seeks $1bn in damages from Harvard University
Talks have been ongoing for months, with the president saying last September a deal was close, and that the university would pay $500m to settle. But now Mr Trump is seeking $1bn in damages.
Tuesday 3 February 2026 10:52, UK
Donald Trump has said his administration will sue Harvard University for $1bn in damages as an ongoing row between the two sides deepens.
The White House has threatened to withhold federal funds from several US universities over a number of issues.
Mr Trump has criticised their approaches to diversity and trans rights, and said they have allowed antisemitism on campus during pro-Palestinian protests against Israel's war in Gaza.
Some Ivy League schools, including Columbia and Brown University, have agreed deals with the White House and accepted certain demands, but Harvard sued the government over the federal funding freeze last year.
The administration has cancelled hundreds of grants for Harvard researchers, saying the university failed to do enough to address harassment of Jewish students, which prompted the institution to take legal action.
Talks with Harvard have been ongoing for months, with the American president saying last September that a deal was close, and that the university would pay $500m (£365m) to settle.
But now Mr Trump wants $1bn (£730m) in damages, after the New York Times reported White House demands for a payment had been dropped.
"We are now seeking One Billion Dollars in damages, and want nothing further to do, into the future, with Harvard University," he wrote on his social network, Truth Social.
He also accused the Ivy League institution, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, of feeding "nonsense" to the newspaper, and of proposing a "convoluted" and "wholly inadequate" scheme in a bid to avoid paying up.
"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," he wrote.
He shared an excerpt from the New York Times too, in which it was suggested that the university had no choice but to agree a deal, given its dependence on federal funding.
Harvard did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Columbia agreed to pay more than $220m (£161m) to the government and Brown said it will pay $50m (£36m) to support local workforce development.
The president is no stranger to the courts, and has repeatedly filed lawsuits against those who have incurred his displeasure.
He is currently suing the BBC in a multi-billion dollar lawsuit over the way one of his speeches was edited in a Panorama documentary.