Columbia University's agreement to pay more than $220 million to the U.S. government to resolve federal probes was not capitulation but a means to restore vital public funding, the university's acting president said on Thursday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The White House is seeking fines from several universities it says failed to stop antisemitism on campus, including Harvard University, in exchange for restoring federal funding, a Trump administration official said on Friday.

The White House is pursuing heavy fines from Harvard and other universities as part of potential settlements to end investigations into campus antisemitism, according to an administration official familiar with the matter.