The Harvard University president, Alan Garber, has told faculty a deal between the Ivy League institution and the Trump administration is not imminent – and denied reports that the university is considering a $500m settlement with the White House, Harvard’s student newspaper the Crimson reported.
The Crimson attributed that information to three unnamed faculty members in a report published early on Monday.
According to the publication, Garber said Harvard was seeking to resolve its dispute with the Trump administration through the court system.
Negotiations between the Trump administration and Harvard reopened in June after the president halted billions in federal funding to the university.
That came before Columbia University in July reached a $221m settlement with the Trump administration to restore federal funding that was frozen amid allegations that certain universities across the US were not doing enough to combat antisemitism.
Harvard University said on 29 July that it was complying with Trump administration demands to turn over employment forms for thousands of university staff. But the university said it would not share records of employees in student-only roles.
The New York Times reported Harvard was open to spending up to $500m to resolve its dispute with the Trump administration.
A faculty member reportedly told the Crimson that Garber denied it was true Harvard was open to spending that much – and he added that claim was leaked to the Times by the White House.
The New York Times told the Crimson it stood by its reporting.
“A Harvard spokesperson declined to comment but disputed the characterization of Garber’s remarks after publication,” the Crimson reported. “Harvard officials, including Garber, have consistently maintained that they will not agree to any deal that threatens the university’s academic freedom. But it remains unclear exactly what Garber sees as essential.”
The Crimson noted Harvard had already taken steps to try to appease the Trump administration by eliminating its diversity offices, cutting ties to a Palestinian university, following through on a commitment to establishing ties with Israeli universities, and centralizing disciplinary powers under Garber.
Harvard is currently in court against the Trump administration, fighting federal attempts to end international student enrollment at the university and challenging the federal freeze on research funds. A judge has issued preliminary injunctions in the university’s lawsuit challenging the international student enrollment ban, and a judge appeared skeptical of the Trump administration’s arguments for freezing federal research funds, though Trump has vowed to appeal any victories in court by Harvard.
Harvard did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Guardian.
