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President Donald Trump on Tuesday escalated his standoff with Harvard University, telling Education Secretary Linda McMahon to demand a $500 million payout from the Ivy League institution as part of settlement talks with the federal government.
“We want nothing less than $500 million from Harvard. Don’t negotiate, Linda. They’ve been very bad,” Trump said during a Cabinet meeting, according to remarks released by the White House.
The push comes as the administration and Harvard have been working toward a potential agreement that would allow the school to regain access to billions in blocked federal research funding. The dispute centers on government investigations into admissions practices and campus antisemitism.
Harvard has resisted direct payments to the federal government. Instead, the school has proposed investing $500 million into vocational and educational programs and research initiatives. In exchange, the Trump administration would restore research funding, drop ongoing investigations and stop enforcing restrictions on international student enrollment.
The settlement framework mirrors aspects of a recent deal with Brown University, which agreed last month to pay $50 million to resolve similar disputes with the administration.
One sticking point is a White House push to require Harvard to hand over detailed admissions data, including information on race, gender, grade-point averages and standardized test scores. The administration has signaled that this provision is key to ensuring transparency and fairness in admissions, while Harvard has expressed concern over maintaining academic independence.
As part of the proposed deal, Harvard would also commit to strengthening measures against antisemitism on campus, a condition the administration has insisted upon amid heightened scrutiny of universities nationwide.
“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,” White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said last month.
“We’re 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,” he added.
If finalized, the settlement would represent one of the largest financial penalties ever imposed on an American university by the federal government.
