Trump just threatened to pull federal funding from Harvard and UCLA after a shocking revelation about their ‘diversity quotas’ during the Iran war

The Trump administration is really digging in its heels when it comes to Harvard University and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), hitting both schools with new antisemitism lawsuits and launching fresh civil rights investigations, as reported by The Hill. This latest push comes after previous attempts to cut federal funding from these institutions were largely blocked in court.

President Trump, who has been pretty vocal about colleges and universities during his second term, seems to be signaling he’s far from done with these two. Both Harvard and UCLA were the subject of lawsuits from the Justice Department last week, alleging rampant antisemitism on campus and violations of federal antidiscrimination laws. Harvard also faced two new civil rights investigations recently.

The federal lawsuit against Harvard accuses the university of failing to protect Jewish students ever since the Israel-Hamas war kicked off in 2023. The administration says Harvard violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. They are demanding that the federal government be allowed to halt its grants and that Harvard should pay back all the money it received since the alleged violations began. The Trump administration claims Jewish students were physically assaulted, harassed, and even stalked, and that some faculty members actually supported the pro-Palestinian encampments.

President Trump has specifically singled out Harvard

He reacted pretty furiously to a recent report that his administration was backing away from its cash demands on the nation’s oldest and richest school. “Strongly Antisemitic Harvard University has been feeding a lot of ‘nonsense’ to The Failing New York Times,” the president said on social media. “We are now seeking One Billion Dollars in damages, and want nothing further to do, into the future, with Harvard University.”

A Harvard spokesperson fired back, saying the lawsuit “represents yet another pretextual and retaliatory action by the administration for refusing to turn over control of Harvard to the federal government.” On top of that, those two new civil rights investigations against Harvard on Monday are looking into whether the university is refusing to provide demanded admissions data to the federal government and allegedly using affirmative action in admissions. This is happening despite the Supreme Court ruling in 2023 that banned the practice.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon didn’t mince words, stating, “Harvard University should know better. Its name will always be tied to the landmark Supreme Court case that found sweeping racial discrimination in admissions and the campus has been in the spotlight for tolerating egregious antisemitic harassment for years now. OCR [the Office for Civil Rights] will investigate these complaints thoroughly.”

Shabbos Kestenbaum, a recent Harvard graduate who sued the school over antisemitism, echoed that sentiment. He said, “Harvard has proven that they’re both unable and unwilling to reach any type of meaningful reform. So, I’d certainly encourage the Trump administration, both publicly and privately, cut funding entirely.”