WASHINGTON (TNND) — President Donald Trump has signed a series of executive orders aimed at reforming higher education, escalating tensions between the White House and some of the nation's elite universities.

The orders, signed Wednesday in the Oval Office, address issues such as student discipline in K-12 schools, support for historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), scrutiny of foreign gifts to universities, and the accreditation process for higher education institutions.

The order on accreditation criticizes accreditors for being "improperly focused on compelling adoption of discriminatory ideology, rather than on student outcomes," with the discriminatory ideology referring to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices.

Trump expressed concerns about university admissions, saying, "They’re allowing people into school who can’t do math, and yet kids who worked really hard and are number one in their class at a high school someplace in Mississippi or New Jersey, they can’t get into the best schools."

Meanwhile, Harvard University President Alan Garber spoke out for the first time since the university sued the White House over the withholding of $2.2 billion in federal funding.

The funding was allegedly used as leverage to force changes in Harvard's admission process and hiring practices amid allegations of antisemitism on campus. Garber told NBC's Lester Holt, "At Harvard, we have a real problem with antisemitism. We take it very seriously. We don’t really see the relationship to research funding at Harvard. They are two different issues."

President Trump, however, disagreed, taking to Truth Social on Thursday to label Harvard as "anti-semitic," "a Liberal mess," and "a threat to democracy."

Despite the ongoing dispute, Harvard continues to receive $550 million annually from the federal government, totaling $4.4 billion since 2017.