'Harvard is a JOKE': Trump unleashes on Ivy League, calls for end to federal funds

Harvard University - File Photo

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday took aim at Harvard University, accusing the Ivy League institution of promoting "hate and stupidity" and demanding that it be stripped of federal funding.

Taking to Truth Social, Trump criticized Harvard's hiring decisions, specifically singling out former mayors Bill de Blasio of New York and Lori Lightfoot of Chicago — both of whom joined Harvard in teaching roles after leaving office. Trump labeled them “two of the WORST and MOST INCOMPETENT mayors in the history of our Country,” and questioned their qualifications to educate future public leaders.

He further criticized the university’s leadership, referencing Claudine Gay, Harvard’s former president, who resigned amid a controversy involving allegations of plagiarism and her widely scrutinized testimony before Congress on antisemitism. Trump claimed Harvard merely reshuffled her into a teaching position instead of removing her outright, calling it an example of “woke” mismanagement.

The blistering attack by Trump follows a $2.2 billion federal fund freeze on Harvard, followed by a threat to strip its tax-exempt status if the country's most famous educational establishment refuses to submit to wide-ranging government oversight.

Harvard stands out for defying Trump, in contrast to several other universities and a string of powerful law firms that have folded under intense pressure from the White House in its crackdown on American institutions.

Its president, Alan Garber, said the school would not "negotiate over its independence or its constitutional rights."

The impacts are already being felt on a campus that has produced 162 Nobel prize winners and whose alumni range from Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg to eight US presidents.

The university said one faculty member had just been told to halt her tuberculosis research because of "the broader funding freeze."