Harvard could pay up to $500 million to close its dispute with the Trump Administration

Harvard University is evaluating shelling out as much as $500 million to settle with the Trump Administration over a legal dispute over alleged civil rights violations and the handling of anti-Semites on their campus, The New York Times revealed, citing sources close to the negotiation.

Surprisingly, the figure demanded by the White House doubles the $200 million payment Columbia University agreed to shell out last week in a similar deal. For now, however, Harvard is refusing to make a direct payment to the federal government, rejecting altogether the possibility of accepting an outside overseer, as Columbia did.

According to university officials, an overseer would be a direct threat to their academic freedom.

The negotiations come as the Trump Administration intensifies its pressure on elite universities, conditioning federal research funding on modifications to internal policies, especially on sensitive issues such as anti-Semitism.

In April, Harvard filed a lawsuit against the federal government following the withdrawal of billions of dollars in grants over the same issue.

President Trump, according to the NYT, has demanded that Harvard pay a much higher figure than Columbia, given that its assets, estimated at $53 billion, are much larger and would allow the house of study access to significant settlements. The president has made it clear that he will not approve any settlement if the university does not accept a sum that represents an exemplary punishment. 

For his part, Harvard's president, Alan Garber, said repeatedly that no government should meddle in the affairs of a private university. Particularly, Garber said the state should not dictate what to teach, whom to admit, or how to hire, denouncing the pressure exerted by the Trump Administration as an attempt at ideological censorship.

So while talks have moved forward, the agreement is still in the negotiation phase. Harvard is seeking to have any resolution tied to the lawsuit it maintains against the government while preserving its institutional autonomy from potential federal interference.