A Harvard student sits with her belongings before returning home on March 12, 2020, as students left campus due to the coronavirus pandemic (Maddie Meyer)<\/i><\/p>\n
Washington (AFP) – US President Donald Trump insisted Tuesday that Harvard, the world’s wealthiest university, pay back millions it received under a massive government stimulus package meant to cushion the economy from the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n
“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. <\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n
It did not respond directly to Trump’s call for the money to be repaid.<\/p>\n
“Give it back. Everyone, literally everyone, needs it more than you,” responded one user, Ellen Sledge. <\/p>\n
The university has been under fire for a day already over the funds.<\/p>\n
“The last time Harvard got this much money out of the blue, they had to accept Jared Kushner,” joked Comedy Central’s The Daily Show on Twitter, referring to Trump’s son-in-law, on Monday.<\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
The Harvard Crimson reported Tuesday that the university’s endowment, the largest of any in the world, was last valued in 2019 at $40.9 billion — though it cited administrators as saying that may have declined to the “mid 30-billion range” as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. <\/p>\n
Disclaimer:<\/b> Validity of the above story is for 7 Days from original date of publishing. Source: AFP.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Harvard student sits with her belongings before returning home on March 12, 2020, as students left campus due to the coronavirus pandemic (Maddie Meyer) Washington (AFP) – US President Donald Trump insisted Tuesday that Harvard, the world’s wealthiest university, pay back millions it received under a massive government stimulus package meant to cushion the…<\/p>\n