Trump wants Harvard University to pay back virus aid funds

BOSTON: US President Donald Trump has insisted Harvard, the world’s wealthiest university, return millions it received under a massive government stimulus package meant to protect the economy from the coronavirus pandemic.

“Harvard, you pay that money back. I want Harvard to pay the money back, ok? And if they don’t do that, then we’ll do something else,” Trump said at his daily briefing on the pandemic.

“I don’t like it at all. This is meant for workers. This isn’t meant for one of the richest institutions … in the world,” the billionaire president continued.

Harvard should give back the money now. Their whole “endowment” system should be looked at! https://t.co/LcjOcsnCWT

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 22, 2020

Shortly after Trump spoke, the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based university tweeted that it was allocated $8.6 million as part of the historic $2.2 trillion package passed last month to stimulate the collapsing US economy.

It said 100 percent of the funds would be given to students “facing urgent financial needs due to the COVID-19 pandemic”, and stressed that the money 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,” it tweeted.

This did not respond directly to Trump’s call for the money to be repaid. The university has been under fire for a day already over the funds.

(2/5) 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 University (@Harvard) April 21, 2020

The Department of Education was to receive $30.8 billion to support schools and universities, which are closed across the country, under the stimulus package.

The Harvard Crimson, the university student-run newsletter, reported Tuesday that the university’s endowment, the largest of any in the world, was last valued in 2019 at $40.9 billion, although it may have declined to the “mid 30-billion range” as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.