People walk between buildings on Dec. 17, 2024, on the campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. | Steven Senne/AP
The feud between Harvard University and President Donald Trump could be coming to a close, after months of bitter legal battles between the Ivy League school and the White House.
The president on Friday signaled a “historic” deal between his administration and Harvard may now be on the table.
“Many people have been asking what is going on with Harvard University and their largescale improprieties that we have been addressing, looking for a solution,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social, the social media site he owns. “We have been working closely with Harvard, and it is very possible that a Deal will be announced over the next week or so.”
Since Trump took office in January, his administration has been in a multi-front war with Harvard. It has accused Harvard of perpetuating antisemitism; terminated $2 billion in grants; and tried to ban the school from granting admission to foreign students.
Trump on Friday said that the school has “acted extremely appropriately” during negotiations, and that it appears to be “committed to doing what is right.”
“If a Settlement is made on the basis that is currently being discussed, it will be ‘mindbogglingly’ HISTORIC, and very good for our Country,” the president concluded.
A spokesperson for Harvard did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Harvard has not been the only school to draw the president’s ire.
Columbia University was the first school to come under the administration’s scrutiny. In March, the administration cancelled $400 million in grants to the New York school. At the time, the administration said the school had failed to protect Jewish students from antisemitic protests on campus.
Shortly after the funding was pulled, Columbia agreed to a series of changes the administration set forward, including changes to the school’s on-campus protest policies, security and the Middle Eastern studies program.
Trump’s suggestion that a deal with Harvard might be imminent came just after a federal judge in Boston issued a preliminary injunction extending her earlier block on one of the Trump administration’s highest profile moves against the school.
U.S. District Court Judge Allison Burroughs said on Friday that the Department of Homeland Security cannot move forward with an attempt to stop visas for Harvard’s international students based on Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s May 22 letter purporting to immediately kick the school out of the “Student Exchange Visitor Program.”
Burroughs, an Obama appointee, has also issued a temporary restraining order preventing officials from implementing a proclamation Trump issued earlier this month attempting to use his immigration powers to block international students and “foreign exchange” visitors destined for Harvard. The order blocking Trump’s directive is set to expire Monday, but the judge is considering a longer-term injunction against the president’s action.
The post Trump hints at detente with Harvard: ‘Very possible that a Deal will be announced’ appeared first on Politico.
