Trump says Harvard is 'hurting themselves' by 'fighting' while Columbia is 'working with us'

Speaking at the White House on Wednesday, President Donald Trump said he wants Harvard to be "great again," coming as the school has seen federal funds revoked and its ability to enroll international students halted by the administration.

Trump was asked how the "confrontation with Harvard will end," as the administration has taken increasing action against the Ivy League school, to which Trump said, "I don’t know, I don’t know. Harvard’s gotta behave themselves."

"Harvard is treating our country with great disrespect, and all they’re doing is getting in deeper and deeper and deeper. They’ve got to behave themselves. You know, I’m looking out for the country and for Harvard. I want Harvard to do well. I want Harvard to be great again, probably, because how could it be great, how could it be great when you have Harvard announced two weeks ago that they’re going to teach remedial mathematics? Remedial, meaning they’re teaching low-grade mathematics like two plus two is four."

"How did these people get into Harvard if they can’t do basic mathematics? How did they do it?"

"I mean, people with 1600 on their boards don’t get in and then they’re letting people in and they’re bragging about how they’re teaching them basic mathematics," Trump continued. "Where did these people come from?

"So we have to look at the list and Harvard has to understand, the last thing I want to do is hurt them. They’re hurting themselves, they’re fighting. You know, Columbia has been really — they were very, very bad, what they’ve done. Very antisemitic and lots of other things. But they’re working with us on finding a solution. But Harvard wants to fight. They want to show how smart they are, and they’re getting their a** kicked."

The Department of Homeland Security on Thursday said that it had revoked the school’s ability to enroll international students. A notice from DHS read, "Harvard’s leadership has created an unsafe campus environment by permitting anti-American, pro-terrorist agitators to harass and physically assault individuals, including many Jewish students, and otherwise obstruct its once-venerable learning environment. Many of these agitators are foreign students."

"Harvard’s leadership further facilitated, and engaged in coordinated activity with the CCP, including hosting and training members of a CCP paramilitary group complicit in the Uyghur genocide."

A letter to Harvard President Alan M. Garber from DHS Secretary Kristi Noem read, "I am writing to inform you that effective immediately, Harvard University's Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification is revoked." She said that the school had failed to conform to demands from the department, including "simple reporting requirements," and said that the school "perpetuat[ed] an unsafe campus environment that is hostile to Jewish students, promotes pro-Hamas sympathies, and employs racist ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, you have lost this privilege."

The following day, however, a federal judge granted an emergency motion filed by Harvard and blocked the administration’s ability to revoke the ability to enroll international students. 

The Trump administration has revoked billions in federal funding and grants to the school, and will be pulling remaining federal funds.