Harvard University could pay as much as $500M in a deal with the Trump administration following months of tense back-and-forths over billions in stripped federal funding and research grants, two sources familiar with the negotiations told The Post.
Last week, Trump said the Ivy League school “wants to settle” after seeing Columbia’s funding restored in exchange for paying a $200 million fine to settle civil rights violations.
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The administration had clawed back $2.6 billion in federal funding earlier this year, saying the university had discriminated against Jewish faculty, students and staff by not protecting them from antisemitism on campus.
The specific terms in the ongoing negotiations were not immediately made clear by either side, nor was a precise timeline given. However, Trump said in June that the government could forge a deal with Harvard “over the next week or so.”
Harvard is still pursuing its lawsuit against the administration over the loss of federal research funds, which it claims could lead to damaged careers and the shuttering of labs on the Cambridge, Massachusetts campus.
However, Education Secretary Linda McMahon expressed confidence in a future settlement.
“We’re hoping that Harvard will come to the table,” McMahon told NewsNation’s “Morning in America” on Thursday. “We’re already seeing other universities that are taking these measures before investigation or before our coming in to talk to them.”
Harvard’s $53 billion endowment is more than three times the size of Columbia’s $14.8 billion war chest.
Trump has confided in some that he believes Harvard should have to pay more to settle than Columbia, the New York Times reported on Monday.
Under the terms of Colulmbia’s settlement with the Trump administration, the university regained access to $400 million in grants and other federal funding in exchange for paying the $200 million fine; appointing an independent monitor; placing disciplinary issues under the purview of the provost’s office; submitting semi-annual reports on its compliance with Title VI, VII and IX anti-discrimination rules to the federal government; and implementing merit-based hiring and admissions requirements.
Columbia also agreed to pay out more than $20 million to Jewish employees who were discriminated against.
Harvard University officials were reportedly put off by Columbia’s agreement to appoint an independent monitor, viewing it as potential threat to academic freedom and a possible redline in any settlement agreement, according to the New York Times.
In its lawsuit against the Trump administration, Harvard has argued that the revoking of its federal grants violates the university’s First Amendment rights – a line of argument that Boston US District Judge Allison Burroughs seemed inclined to agree with during a hearing earlier this month.