President Donald Trump demanded again that Harvard pay back the $8.6 million it received under a stimulus package to ease the economic impact of the coronavirus lockdown – hours after the school said it planned to keep the funds.
“Harvard should give back the money now. Their whole ‘endowment’ system should be looked at!” the president said in a tweet late Tuesday.
Earlier in the day, the world’s wealthiest university tweeted that it was allocated the money as part of the historic $2.2 trillion package passed last month to stimulate the collapsing economy.
The school said all of the funds would be given to students “facing urgent financial needs due to the COVID-19 pandemic” — and stressed that the funds did not fall under the Paycheck Protection Program for small business relief.
“President Trump is right that it would not have been appropriate for our institution to receive funds that were designated for struggling small businesses,” Harvard tweeted.
During a White House briefing, Trump cited the Ivy League institution’s massive endowment — worth almost $41 billion — as the reason why it should hand over the money.
“Harvard is going to pay back the money and they shouldn’t be taking it,” the president said, adding that Harvard has one of the largest endowments “in the country, maybe in the world.”
