Close to finalising a $500 mn deal with Harvard University, says Trump

Donald Trump said Harvard will invest $500 mn in AI and trade schools as part of a potential deal, after a bitter standoff over federal funding, antisemitism and campus activism

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday (local time) said his administration is close to finalising a $500 million settlement with Harvard University, Bloomberg reported. The agreement would potentially end one of the most high-profile disputes between his administration and US higher education.

 

“They’ll be paying about $500 million, and they’ll be operating trade schools. They’re going to be teaching people how to do AI, and lots of other things,” Trump told reporters. He did not specify whether the deal would involve an independent monitor, as in Columbia University’s earlier settlement.   

 

Standoff over federal funding

 

The Trump administration froze more than $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in contracts to Harvard in April, citing the university’s alleged failure to curb antisemitism on campus after the Israel-Hamas conflict. The dispute later widened to include accusations of political bias, scrutiny of Harvard’s China ties, and opposition to diversity programmes.

 

Harvard University challenged the freeze in court. President Alan M. Garber said: “No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue.”

 

Earlier this month, a federal court ruled in Harvard’s favour, saying the administration had acted unconstitutionally and used antisemitism as a “smokescreen” for a targeted, ideologically motivated attack.

Settlement talks and penalties

 

Harvard had indicated willingness to invest about $500 million in workforce programmes as part of a potential deal. Trump has repeatedly said a settlement was close, describing it in June as “mindbogglingly historic".

 

Even as negotiations progressed, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Monday referred Harvard for administrative suspension and debarment proceedings, a move that could exclude it from all federal funding. Harvard has 20 days to request a hearing.

 

The settlement, if finalised, would spare the Ivy League institution from the immediate risk of being barred from research grants, student aid, and federal contracts.