Harvard University is reportedly considering spending up to $500 million to settle its ongoing dispute with the Trump administration, according to The New York Times.
After previously vowing not to comply with the administration, Harvard is now open to a deal, the Times reported on Monday, citing four people familiar with the negotiations. The Trump administration has been targeting the Ivy League University since April, when it declared the school violated civil rights law in its lack of response to campus antisemitism.
Harvard is reluctant to pay the federal government directly, and negotiations are ongoing, according to the Times. The potential deal also may include a settlement in the current court dispute between Harvard and the administration over the funding cuts.
A spokesman for the White House did not confirm to the Daily Caller News Foundation whether a deal was on the horizon, but said they are confident one is possible.
“The Trump Administration’s proposition is simple and commonsense: Don’t allow antisemitism and DEI to run your campus, don’t break the law, and protect the civil liberties of all students,” Harrison Fields, principal deputy press secretary for the White House, said in a statement to the DCNF. “We are confident that Harvard will eventually come around and support the President’s vision, and through good-faith conversations and negotiations, a good deal is more than possible.”
Harvard did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
Columbia University, which was on the federal government’s radar for similar antisemitism accusations, recently settled with the administration to the tune of $200 million. President Donald Trump is reportedly set on forcing Harvard to pay more, according to the Times.
Part of Harvard’s reasoning for declining the Trump administration’s resolution in April was its insistence on maintaining academic freedom and freedom of speech, which it is hesitant to relinquish, especially in light of Columbia’s deal, which forced it to adopt an outside monitor to oversee the university and ensure its compliance with the agreement. Columbia also adopted a new definition of antisemitism, which prohibits criticism of Jews and Israel.
Harvard is already facing over $2 billion in federal funding cuts and risks losing its accreditation. The administration has also made several efforts to revoke the school’s ability to host foreign students.
A September 2024 congressional investigation found “Harvard failed” to enforce meaningful punishment on nearly 70 students who were involved in a multi-day pro-Hamas encampment during the previous spring semester. Demonstrators at the Ivy League institution also disrupted classes and occupied a campus building.
A more recent internal investigation revealed that more than a quarter of Jewish students felt “physically unsafe” on campus and “Almost 60% of Jewish students reported experiencing ‘discrimination, stereotyping, or negative bias.’”
Harvard has already shown signs of complying with federal directives, recently shuttering its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) offices and ending its affinity graduation celebrations, though some reports suggest Harvard may simply be reshuffling DEI staff into new offices.
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