A Harvard student sits with her belongings before returning home in March 2020, as students left campus due to the coronavirus pandemic — the university says it will not take a virus aid grant it received following serious backlash (Maddie Meyer)<\/i><\/p>\n
New York (AFP) – Harvard University said Wednesday it would not take millions of dollars it received from a coronavirus relief fund, following a backlash led by President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n
Harvard, the globe’s wealthiest university, was allocated $8.6 million under the federal CARES Act, a government stimulus package meant to cushion the US economy from the COVID-19 fallout.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, Trump called on the Massachusetts-based university to pay the money back, saying it was intended “for workers” and not for “one of the richest institutions” in the world.<\/p>\n
Harvard later said 100 percent of the funds would be given to students “facing urgent financial needs due to the COVID-19 pandemic.”<\/p>\n
But on Wednesday, it announced that it would not take the money after all.<\/p>\n
“Harvard has decided not to seek or accept the funds allocated to it by statute,” it said in a statement.<\/p>\n
“We will inform the Department of Education of our decision and encourage the department to act swiftly to reallocate resources previously allocated to Harvard.”<\/p>\n
Harvard added that it “remains fully committed to providing the financial support that it has promised to its students.”<\/p>\n
The university had been under fire over the funds, even before Trump’s comments.<\/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 $2.2 trillion stimulus package passed last month.<\/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 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 in March 2020, as students left campus due to the coronavirus pandemic — the university says it will not take a virus aid grant it received following serious backlash (Maddie Meyer) New York (AFP) – Harvard University said Wednesday it would not take millions of…<\/p>\n