Deal between Harvard and Trump administration not imminent, according to reports
Some feared that Harvard could be ready to pay even more than other Ivy League schools did to settle disputes with the White House.
Last week, reports surfaced that Harvard University is open to making a deal with the Trump administration, potentially paying as much as $500 million to theoretically end its dispute with the federal government.
However, Harvard President Alan Garber is now telling faculty leaders that a deal with the White House is not imminent, according to reports from GBH News, The Harvard Crimson, and elsewhere.
Harvard is suing the federal government in an attempt to unfreeze $2.6 billion in federal research funding, which the Trump administration said it was withholding over concerns about antisemitism on campus. In recent weeks, the State Department announced that it is reviewing Harvard’s eligibility for a program that helps students and researchers from other countries get American visas.
When The New York Times reported recently that Harvard officials could be open to a deal, some worried that the university could be following in the footsteps of Columbia and Brown. Both of those Ivy League schools struck deals with the Trump administration this summer in order to regain access to federal funding.
There is no set deal between Harvard and the administration. The university is adamant about not wanting to give disciplinary records for foreign students over to the government, according to GBH.
Garber told a faculty member that the notion of Harvard being open to a $500 million payment is not true. Garber said that that figure could have been leaked to the press by White House officials, the Crimson reported.
As part of Columbia’s deal, the university is allowing an outside monitor to make sure that the school is complying with the federal government’s policies opposing diversity, equity, and inclusion practices. Harvard officials are opposed to any such arrangement and see the requirement of an outside monitor as a red line, the Times reported.
A Harvard spokesperson declined to comment but disputed the characterization of Garber’s remarks when contacted Monday.