US President Trump calls Harvard 'anti-Semitic' as fight over funding heads to court

WASHINGTON: US President Trump on Thursday bashed Harvard as an "Anti-Semitic, Far Left Institution," as the university battles his administration's funding freeze in court.

Since returning to 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 govt. The lawsuit calls for a funding freeze and conditions imposed on federal grants to be declared unlawful. "The place is a Liberal mess," Trump wrote on Truth Social, also complaining that it has admitted students "from all over the World that want to rip our Country apart."

His tirade 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.