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The White House is pushing Harvard for a major financial settlement in negotiations to restore more than $2 billion in frozen funds, according to a person familiar with the talks — and demanding that Harvard cough up even more than Columbia University did earlier this week.
United States President Donald Trump is personally pressing officials involved in the negotiations to ensure Harvard pays more than Columbia’s $220 million deal, the person said, adding that Trump believes exceeding that sum would set an example.
The Trump administration has publicly framed the Columbia deal as a “template” for future settlements with elite universities like Harvard. Trump himself has zeroed in on Harvard because of a personal disdain for the University, according to the person, treating the school as a centerpiece in his broader campaign against higher education.
A Harvard spokesperson declined to comment, and a White House spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on Friday night.
The push comes just days after Columbia finalized a deal with the Trump administration, ending a monthslong tug-of-war that began when the Ivy League school accepted a series of demands in March.
Columbia agreed to pay $221 million — including $21 million to resolve a Title VII case — in exchange for the restoration of more than $400 million in frozen research support that the government had initially continued to withhold despite Columbia’s earlier concessions.
Columbia also accepted a sweeping set of conditions, including the adoption of a federally endorsed definition of antisemitism, the rollback of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives deemed unlawful by the White House, a review of its Middle East curriculum, and new vetting measures for international students.
It is not yet clear which other demands the Trump administration will press Harvard to accept, though several others are under consideration, the person said. Harvard and the Trump administration have exchanged several offers over the last few weeks, according to another person familiar with the matter — though the terms are hardly finalized.
It is also unclear whether any payment would go solely to the White House or also be used to resolve Harvard’s ongoing Title VI case. In late June, the administration issued a formal finding that Harvard was in violation of Title VI because of its slow-walked response to campus antisemitism.
U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon celebrated the administration’s deal with Columbia as a “seismic shift” for higher education and a “roadmap” of what future deals — including with Harvard — would follow in a Thursday interview with CNN.
“While there’s a lawsuit pending with Harvard, and I’m sure that lawsuit will play out,” she said, “I do hope that Harvard will continue to come to the table with negotiations.”
“Those talks are continuing, and we’d like to have a resolution there, outside of the courts,” McMahon added.
Talks between the White House and Harvard began after a volley of attacks from the Trump administration and its allies in Congress. Since April, Harvard has seen more than $2.7 billion in federal research funding frozen, its tax-exempt status repeatedly questioned, its foreign donations investigated, its international students targeted with visa restrictions, and multiple federal subpoenas issued.
Trump first broke the news of the talks late last month, writing in a post on Truth Social that a deal with Harvard was “coming in the next week or so.” But more than a month later, no deal has been finalized — and the terms are still fluid.
A different person familiar with the talks said the two sides have exchanged multiple offers in recent weeks.
The White House has repeatedly struck a hopeful tone in its comments on the chances of a deal with Harvard. On Friday, Trump told reporters that the University “wants to settle.”
Harvard, for its part, has kept its cards close. It has not once publicly acknowledged the existence of any talks and has only nodded to their existence in private conversations with top-dollar donors.
The University has blasted Trump’s demands as unconstitutional and intrusive in statements and lawsuits, and it has suggested the administration is using antisemitism claims as a pretext to punish Harvard. But University President Alan M. Garber ’76 has said that he agrees with the substance of some of the government’s critiques, including suggestions that the University must do more to confront antisemitism and that its campus is too liberal.
Even without a formal agreement, Harvard has already taken steps that some observers have seen as tacit capitulations to the administration's demands. Before Trump came back to power, it adopted the same White House-backed definition of antisemitism that Columbia agreed to Wednesday. Since then, Harvard has launched a systemic rollback of DEI programs, ousted the faculty leaders of its Center for Middle Eastern Studies, and — just on Wednesday — closed its undergraduate college’s offices for minority students, LGBTQ students, and women.
The Trump administration meanwhile has repeatedly upped the ante, even as it edges toward a deal. Since late June, the Department of Homeland Security has issued a subpoena for documents related to alleged misconduct by international students, the Department of State has probed Harvard’s ability to host J-1 visa professors, researchers, and students, and the Department of Education has urged Harvard’s accreditor to strip it of its accreditation.
The full contours of a potential deal remain undisclosed. But Trump has repeatedly railed against what he sees as ideological homogeneity on Harvard’s campus, and his administration has demanded a third-party audit for viewpoint diversity.
Garber has echoed the concern in private, warning of growing “illiberalism” at Harvard in the call with donors last month. Provisions aimed at addressing ideological balance could factor into any eventual agreement.
If a deal is finalized, Harvard would become the third school to settle with the Trump administration. Before Columbia, the University of Pennsylvania restored its federal funding by agreeing to ban transgender women on its campus from competing in women’s sports. The deal also required Penn to remove Division 1 records and titles held by Lia Thomas, a transgender swimmer who graduated from the school in 2022.
Penn did not pay a financial penalty to the White House or change certain parts of campus programming, though its case did not involve charges of antisemitism and racial discrimination.
The outcome, and timing, of any settlement are also likely to hinge on Harvard’s position in its ongoing lawsuit over the suspended grants and contracts. At a hearing on Monday, U.S. District Judge Allison D. Burroughs appeared skeptical of the Trump administration’s rationale for cutting off federal funding, but has not yet issued a ruling.
Harvard has requested a decision by Sept. 3 — the deadline set by the White House to liquidate all financial obligations under the first wave of canceled grants. Whether a settlement is announced before then remains unclear.
—Staff writer Dhruv T. Patel can be reached at dhruv.patel@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @dhruvtkpatel.
—Staff writer Grace E. Yoon can be reached at grace.yoon@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @graceunkyoon.
