Harvard University nears $500 million deal with Trump administration

By Alan Blinder, Michael S Schmidt & Michael C Bender

 

Harvard University and the Trump administration are nearing a potentially landmark legal settlement that would see Harvard agree to spend $500 million in exchange for the restoration of billions of dollars in federal research funding, according to four people familiar with the deliberations. 

Negotiators for the White House and the university have made significant progress in their closed-door discussions over the past week, developing a framework for a settlement to end their monthslong battle. The talks could still collapse, as President Trump and senior Harvard officials need to sign off on the terms of the deal. The sides are still going back and forth over important wording  for a potential agreement. 

 

But under the framework coming together, Harvard would agree to spend $500 million on vocational and educational programs, three of the people said. That figure, currently penciled in to be paid out over years, would meet a demand from President Trump that Harvard spend more than double what Columbia University agreed last month to pay. It would also satisfy Harvard’s wish that it not pay the government directly, as Columbia is doing. 

Harvard would also make commitments to continue its efforts to combat antisemitism on campus, two of the people said. In return, Harvard — one of the largest recipients in higher education of federal research money — would see its research funding restored and avoid the appointment of a monitor, a condition the school has demanded as a way to preserve its academic independence, according to people. 

The Trump administration would also end its widening number of investigations into the university, including ones conducted by the Justice Department and another inquiry that the Commerce Department announced on Friday. The deal would also stop attempts by the Trump administration to block Harvard from enrolling thousands of international students, according to three of the people.

 

The stakes for reaching a deal are high for both Harvard and the administration. A deal would allow Trump to claim that Harvard forked over $500 million amid pressure from him. For Harvard, the deal would allow the school to remain one of the most robust higher education institutions in the country. Harvard has insisted that any settlement must not jeopardise its academic freedom, and Trump has taken a keen interest in the details.

 

Harvard declined to comment. Harvard has spent the last four months at the forefront of the opposition to the Trump administration’s pressure campaign against higher education. It is the only school that has sued after the administration targeted it with explicitly punitive funding cuts.