Trump Predicts ‘Many More’ University Settlements Despite Harvard Ruling

President Donald Trump said “many more” settlements with elite universities over civil rights claims were coming soon and warned that schools would face further scrutiny if they did not adhere to existing agreements.

Trump cast the settlements as efforts by the administration to take on what he cast as anti-religious bias targeting Jewish and Christian students in schools during an address Monday at the Museum of the Bible in Washington.

“I’m also taking action against anti-semitic and anti-Christian bias in our institutions of higher learning. You’ve been watching that play out. They’re making very substantial settlements,” Trump said. “Many more settlements are soon to follow, and they’re going to be behaving because they understand we’re coming back.”

Trump expressed confidence in his ability to win additional concessions from top-tier schools, even as he acknowledged that a recent federal ruling blocking his attempt to freeze $2 billion in research funding from Harvard University presented a challenge. But the president said he believed appeals courts would eventually find in favor of the administration, strengthening his bargaining position. 

“We’re doing very well with Harvard, and we’re doing very well with all of them,” Trump said. “But we’ve done very well at the appellate level and at the United States Supreme Court.”

Trump has previous said he wants “nothing less than $500 million” from the school. On Monday, he touted what he called a “unprecedented” settlement with Columbia University under which the Ivy League school agreed to pay a $200 million penalty to resolve multiple civil rights investigations and $21 million to settle claims of unlawful workplace discrimination against Jewish faculty and staff.

Trump’s comments came at a meeting of his Religious Liberty Commission, which he established earlier this year, highlighting how he’s sought to bolster religious freedoms his administration says have been under threat.

Trump cast the agreements that have targeted schools over diversity, equity and inclusion practices, allegations of political bias and over incidents of antisemitic rhetoric and violence Jewish students faced on campuses after the start of the Israel-Hamas war. Trump framed the scrutiny on elite schools as as part of his administration’s efforts to protect religious freedoms.

“They would not let you have your voice. They wouldn’t let the people in this room, any of them have the voice, because that’s not the voice they wanted to hear from,” Trump said.

Trump on Monday said religious liberty was facing “grave threats” in American schools and announced that the Education Department would “soon issue new guidance protecting the right to prayer in our public schools.”

While the president’s Religious Liberty Commission aims to “celebrate America’s peaceful religious pluralism,” according to a May fact sheet on its creation, Trump and his administration have more broadly enacted policies cheered by Christian evangelical voters who have twice propelled him to the Oval Office. 

Trump has created a new White House faith office and his administration released a memo that aimed to allow workers in federal agencies to more easily express their religious views.

Trump implored evangelical voters to turn out in last year’s election and their support will be critical to Republican hopes of retaining control of Congress in next year’s midterms. In his second inauguration address in January, Trump cast his return to power as divinely ordained, invoking the failed assassination attempt on him during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Monday’s venue, the Museum of the Bible, is a non-profit organization which describes itself, according to its website, as an “educational institution whose purpose is to invite all people to engage with the transformative power of the Bible.”

Trump unveiled an initiative asking Americans to pray for the country. The president’s call for Americans to pray, first reported by Fox News Digital, is tied into the celebrations for America’s 250th anniversary next year and encourages people to pray each week, in groups of at least 10