WASHINGTON — Harvard University “wants to settle” after seeing Columbia get all of its grant funding back in exchange for a $200 million fine to resolve civil-rights violations, President Trump said Friday.
“Harvard wants to settle, but I think Columbia handled it better,” Trump told reporters on the White House’s South Lawn before departing for a trip to Turnberry, Scotland.
“They have a very good, Obama-appointed judge,” he said of the jurist overseeing Harvard’s case. “And so they’ll get a little kick out of that. But ultimately, we win that case. And the bottom line is we’re not going to give any more money to Harvard.”
Trump stripped the Cambridge, Mass., school of $2.6 billion in federal funding earlier this year because he said it discriminated against Jewish faculty and students by not protecting them enough from hate, and also because the Ivy League promoted DEI.
Harvard has shown no signs of relenting in its lawsuit against the administration, but the president and Education Secretary Linda McMahon have both expressed confidence in a future settlement.
“We’re hoping that Harvard will come to the table,” McMahon told NewsNation’s “Morning in America” on Thursday. “We’re already seeing other universities that are taking these measures before investigation or before our coming in to talk to them.”
Former Harvard President Larry Summers had posted on X that the terms of Columbia’s recent agreement, which allowed for the return of $400 million in grants and other federal funding, were “an excellent template” for his alma mater.
In particular, Summers noted the deal’s commitments to academic freedom and reforms to address the explosion of antisemitism on campus after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, massacre in Israel — not to mention the return of grants that have stalled scientific and medical research.
As part of its agreement, Columbia University will also appoint an independent monitor, place disciplinary issues under the purview of the provost’s office, submit “semi-annual” reports on its compliance with Title VI, VII and IX anti-discrimination rules to the feds and ensure it is implementing merit-based hiring and admissions requirements.
It will also pay out more than $20 million to Jewish employees who were discriminated against.
Not all Jewish alumni were convinced that the terms were enough, pointing to several provisions floated during negotiations in April — such as placing departments under an academic receivership or abolishing the University Judicial Board for not punishing anti-Israel demonstrators — that weren’t agreed to.
“Whatever money it is, Columbia is treating it as a drop in the bucket,” said Shai Davidai, who announced he was leaving the school earlier this month after a year-plus investigation into him cleared the business school professor of wrongdoing.
“We have to remember the billions in endowments,” he said of the Ivy League school’s outside haul.
Still, “I hope they’re feeling a little bit of pain — and rethink their actions in the future,” Davidai said,
As for the more than $20 million promised to Jewish workers who were discriminated against, the professor said he doesn’t know whether he’ll see “a penny” of it.
“I’m cautiously optimistic — because nobody knows. We don’t have any assurances,” he said.
Sam Nahins, a Columbia grad student trapped inside the school’s main Butler Library during the student siege on campus last year, added that the deal’s promised safety enforcement may prove difficult based on the vague language of the pact.
“It’s a great step in the right direction, but the biggest concern is faculty members not facing accountability for their incitement and involvement,” Nahins said.
“I think with the [faculty] senate losing disciplinary power, the school adopting the [International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance] definition of antisemitism and students leaving Columbia in masses due to expulsions, suspensions, and graduation, we might see and feel a difference on campus,” Nahins said.
But the rot at the fabled Ivy runs deep, the grad student said.
“That can all be for nothing if professors keep indoctrinating students.”
Columbia acting President Claire Shipman in a statement, “The settlement was carefully crafted to protect the values that define us and allow our essential research partnership with the federal government to get back on track.
“Importantly, it safeguards our independence, a critical condition for academic excellence and scholarly exploration, work that is vital to the public interest.”
An email from the Columbia provost’s office Wednesday night noted the significance of having none of its academic departments “placed under outside supervision or receivership,” according to a copy obtained by The Post.
“This landmark agreement, including a record-breaking $21 million EEOC settlement—the largest ever for victims of religious or racial discrimination—is a direct result of President Trump’s unwavering commitment to combating antisemitism and ensuring justice for Jewish students and faculty,” said White House principal Deputy Press Secretary Harrison Fields in a statement.
“This historic settlement with Columbia is a monumental victory for the Jewish community and the entire country, and everyone should applaud a return to common sense and upholding the civil rights of all Americans.”
Harvard, in its case against the Trump administration, has argued that the revoking of its federal grants violates the university’s First Amendment rights, a line of argument that Boston US District Judge Allison Burroughs seemed inclined to agree with during a Monday hearing.
Burroughs questioned whether the government had the ability to make “ad hoc” decisions about yanking research dollars without being able to prove Harvard officials have actually done enough to curtail Jew-hatred on campus.
Reps for Harvard University did not immediately respond to a Post request for comment.
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