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A week after officials at the University of Missouri resigned amid protests and claims of widespread racism, Donald J. Trump called those who stepped down “babies” and said he did not think that discrimination was a problem on the campus.

“I think they sent the absolutely wrong signal when they resigned so sheepishly,” Mr. Trump said in an interview with Yahoo News. “It just showed such grotesque weakness and that just sent a signal to go out and do whatever you want to do, and now you’re going to see this problem all over.”

Months of tension at the university came to a head last week when Timothy M. Wolfe, the university’s president, resigned and the chancellor, R. Bowen Loftin, stepped down to a less prominent position.

Several incidents ignited the recent furor. Last month the Legion of Black Collegians, a student group, was rehearsing for a homecoming event and was interrupted by a white man who walked onstage shouting racial slurs. Swastikas have also been found scrawled on campus buildings and students said racism was widespread, leading the football team to threaten a strike.

Several Republican presidential candidates have said that despite such offensive actions, free speech on campuses must be protected. Mr. Trump went further in the Yahoo interview, raising doubts about whether racism was even a problem on the campus.

“I would have handled things differently,” Mr. Trump said. “First of all, I would have made sure there was no discrimination or any of that — and I don’t think there was.”

Mr. Trump, a billionaire developer who is leading most Republican polls, has taken a hard line when it comes to dealing with frustrations from African-American activists who have protested unfair treatment from police. He criticized Senator Bernie Sanders this year for being weak when Black Lives Matter activists took over the stage when he was trying to speak.

Similarly, Mr. Trump said that he would have been much tougher than the University of Missouri administrators in dealing with the demands of protesters.

“Many of those demands were absolutely — not all — but many of those were absolutely over the top,” he said. “And to watch these two men grovel and resign like two babies — whoever paid them in the first place?”