Back in April there were reports in the NY Times that Harvard and the Trump administration both wanted to make a deal, despite public evidence to the contrary.
Over the past month, as it became clear that Mr. Trump was ratcheting up pressure on Harvard, the school’s president, Dr. Alan Garber, looked for other ways into the White House — including a potential meeting with Mr. Trump himself, according to three people briefed on the matter. In late March, he called Jared Kushner, a Harvard alumnus and the president’s son-in-law, to ask for help.
The Kushner connect didn't work out but Harvard has been spending a ton of money on lobbying in the months since:
Harvard spent $270,000 lobbying the federal government between April and June as it ramped up efforts to counter mounting political and financial pressures from Washington, according to disclosures filed last month.
The total marks Harvard’s highest quarterly lobbying expenditure on record and brings its year-to-date federal lobbying outlay to at least $500,000 — already nearing the $620,000 it spent in all of 2024, which was itself the most in more than a decade.
The basic problem here is the Harvard is caught between what is clearly the sensible thing to do, i.e. make a deal and get back billions in federal funding, and what the far left wants them to do, which is act as leaders of the resistance. Making a deal with Trump would really do damage to their anti-Trump street cred.
The internal discussions at Harvard are particularly fraught because among the sticking points with the Trump White House are issues of admissions, hiring and viewpoint diversity. Universities regard admissions and hiring as especially critical to academic freedom — a cornerstone that government oversight could dilute, compromising their independence and infringing on constitutional protections for speech. And Harvard officials are well aware that a deal with the Trump administration on anything related to the school’s academic independence could invite lasting anger from an already anxious faculty.
So we've continually had this back and forth where Harvard is apparently close to a deal and then nothing happens for a few days. That is usually followed by the Trump administration announcing another move. The most recent one, announced last week, is an investigation of Harvard's patents.
In a two-page letter to Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76 — which was posted publicly on X — United States Commerce Secretary Howard W. Lutnick announced an “immediate comprehensive review” of Harvard’s compliance with the Bayh-Dole Act, a 1980 law governing inventions developed with federal research grants.
Lutnick accused Harvard of failing to fulfill its obligations to disclose federally funded inventions in a timely manner, ensure substantial U.S. manufacturing for licensed technologies, and maximize public benefit...
A Harvard spokesperson slammed the letter as a "retaliatory effort” to punish the University for defending its academic freedom.
Yes, I think it's safe to say at this point that the administration is playing hardball. So here we go again. Today the Times published another article saying a deal is just around the corner.
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.
So what's in the new deal? Harvard would pay $500 million to get its grant money back. That's the figure Trump wants but Harvard gets to not pay the money directly to the government. Instead it would fund vocational training. Harvard would also have to commit to fighting anti-Semitism on campus.
One of the remaining sticking points in the negotiation is data that would prove Harvard is not using race as a factor in admissions.
One potential sticking point could be the government’s access to admissions data, especially numbers involving applicants’ race. The administration was seeking a stipulation in the deal that would require Harvard to release detailed admissions data, including on race and gender as well as grade point averages and standardized test scores. That would be consistent with an executive action that Mr. Trump signed last week, forcing schools nationwide to give the government similarly detailed data.
Brown and Columbia, as part of their deals, both agreed to supply the administration with that information, something conservatives have sought in an effort to prove that elite schools have disregarded a recent Supreme Court decision banning affirmative action...
It was not clear on Monday how any agreement between the government and Harvard would resolve that demand, which the university has viewed as overly invasive. It was also not clear when Mr. Trump would be briefed on the potential agreement.
It seems pretty likely Harvard is going to lose this particular battle, but they keep trying. Given that affirmative action is illegal after the Supreme Court ruling, you have to wonder why they are trying so hard to keep a lid on this data. It's almost like they are hiding something.
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