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The framework is still being sorted out with significant gaps to
close, but both sides have agreed on the financial figure and a
settlement could be finalized in coming weeks, according to the
person who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of
anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
Harvard declined to comment.
The agreement would end a monthslong battle that has tested the
boundaries of the government’s authority over America’s
universities. What began as an investigation into campus
antisemitism escalated into an all-out feud as the Trump
administration slashed more than $2.6 billion in research
funding, ended federal contracts and attempted to block Harvard
from hosting international students.
The university responded with a pair of lawsuits alleging
illegal retaliation by the administration after Harvard rejected
a set of demands that campus leaders viewed as a threat to
academic freedom.
Details of the proposed framework were first reported by The New
York Times.
A $500 million payment would be the largest sum yet as the
administration pushes for financial penalties in its settlements
with elite universities. Columbia University agreed to pay the
government $200 million as part of an agreement restoring access
to federal funding, while Brown University separately agreed to
pay $50 million to Rhode Island workforce development
organizations.
Details have not been finalized on where Harvard’s potential
payment would go, the person said.
The Republican president has been pushing to reform prestigious
universities that he decries as bastions of liberal ideology.
His administration has cut funding to several Ivy League schools
while pressing demands in line with his political campaign. None
has been targeted as frequently or as heavily as Harvard, the
richest U.S. university with an endowment valued at $53 billion.
More than a dozen Democrats in Congress who attended Harvard
cautioned against a settlement on Aug. 1, warning the university
it may warrant “rigorous Congressional oversight and inquiry.”
Capitulating to political demands, they said, would set a
dangerous precedent across all of higher education.
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