President Donald Trump wants to make sure Harvard University pays for what he called being “very bad.”
At a meeting with his Cabinet on Tuesday, Trump made his demands clear to Education Secretary Linda McMahon.
“We want nothing less than $500 million from Harvard. Don’t negotiate, Linda. They’ve been very bad,” Trump said.
Earlier this month, it was reported Harvard University and the Trump administration were close to reaching a landmark legal settlement that would stipulate the nation’s oldest university pay $500 million in exchange for the government restoring billions in federal funding.
Harvard would agree to invest $500 million in vocational and educational programs and research, according to three people who spoke with The New York Times. Harvard has requested that it not pay the government directly, while the Trump administration would reportedly restore Harvard’s research funding and forgo appointing a monitor — a condition the school has insisted on to preserve its academic independence, sources told the Times.
The university would also commit to continuing its efforts to stamp out antisemitism on campus while the Trump administration would reportedly restore Harvard’s research funding and not appoint a monitor, a condition the school has insisted on to preserve its academic independence, sources told the Times.
As part of the settlement, the government would end its increasing number of investigations into the university and discontinue blocking Harvard from enrolling international students under the terms of the deal, the Times said.
Some of the agreement terms are expected to be similar to Brown University’s settlement with the White House last month. Brown agreed to pay $50 million over the next decade.
The White House was reportedly pushing for a provision that would require Harvard to hand over detailed admissions data to the government, including information on race, gender, grade-point averages, and standardized test scores, the Times reported.
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