A collected image for Harvard University

WASHINGTON, April 24, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - US President Donald Trump on
Thursday bashed Harvard as an "Anti-Semitic, Far Left Institution," as the
prestigious university battles his administration's funding freeze in court.

Since returning to the White House, Trump has sought to bring several
universities to heel over claims they tolerated anti-Semitism on their
campuses, threatening their budgets, tax-exempt status and the enrollment of
foreign students.

But Harvard has refused to bow, and on Monday filed suit against the Trump
administration.

The lawsuit calls for a funding freeze and conditions imposed on federal
grants to be declared unlawful, arguing the measures amount to political
interference aimed at compromising the Ivy League institution's independence.

"The place is a Liberal mess," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, also
complaining that it has admitted students "from all over the World that want
to rip our Country apart."

His broadside came a day after he issued an executive order targeting higher
education, upending how federal authorities decide which universities and
colleges can access billions of dollars from certain grants and student
loans.

The executive order seeks to clamp down on what Trump brands "unlawful
discrimination" -- that is any measures that seek to promote the
representation of "racial and ethnic minority individuals."

- Anti-Semitism claims -

Trump and his White House team have publicly justified their campaign against
universities as a reaction to what they say is uncontrolled "anti-Semitism"
and a need to reverse diversity programs aimed at addressing historical
oppression of minorities.

The administration claims protests against Israel's war in Gaza that swept
across US college campuses last year were rife with anti-Semitism.

Many US universities, including Harvard, cracked down on the protests over
the allegations at the time, with the Cambridge-based institution placing 23
students on probation and denying degrees to 12 others, according to protest
organizers.

Harvard President Alan Garber said that Trump's administration had launched
"numerous investigations" into the university's operations.

Trump's claims about diversity tap into long-standing conservative complaints
that US university campuses are too liberal, shutting out right-wing voices
and favoring minorities.

In the case of Harvard, the White House is seeking unprecedented levels of
government control over the inner workings of the country's oldest and
wealthiest university -- and one of the most respected educational and
research institutions in the world.

Harvard has rejected the government's supervision demands, prompting the
Trump administration to freeze $2.2 billion in funding.

In Wednesday's executive order, Trump decreed that "American students and
taxpayers deserve better, and my Administration will reform our dysfunctional
accreditation system so that colleges and universities focus on delivering
high-quality academic programs at a reasonable price."