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The battle between Harvard and the Trump administration may soon be coming to an end. Our great leader recently announced that negotiations are very close to being finished: you know things are serious because he delivered the news in person instead of via a Truth Social post. New York Times has coverage:

President Trump said Tuesday that his administration was close to reaching a multimillion-dollar agreement with Harvard University, which would end a monthslong standoff that had come to symbolize the resistance to the White House’s efforts to reshape higher education.

“We are in the process of getting very close,” President Trump said in an appearance from the Oval Office. He added that the details were being finalized and said, “They would be paying about $500 million.”

Big if here — he said negotiations with Harvard should be done in a week or so back on June 20th — but if the school goes through with paying out $500M to the Trump administration, they should expect a lot of push back from all of the donors that dug deep and donated to try and make up for the government playing hardball with their grants. And sure, the million or so they got in April is a far cry from the billions that the government put on hold, but the summary judgment ruling that the government’s funding freeze was unlawful gave some hope that the law was on their side. Protracted fights suck, but this hardly seems like the time to throw in the towel. Even the prospect of surrender alone will have reputational consequences:

If Harvard bows down to this lawless president, it will cover itself in shame and betray its motto “Veritas.”Don’t pretend to stand for truth if you’re going to surrender to this bully. Appeasement only feeds the beast and puts us all at greater risk.

Senator Chris Van Hollen (@vanhollen.senate.gov) 2025-10-01T13:23:41.087Z

If there is any saving grace it would be that the $500M is earmarked for trade schools. Let’s see how long it takes for someone to discover whatever payola scheme they’d have to do to keep Trump happy was illegal the whole time.

Trump Says A Deal With Harvard Is Close [NYT]


Chris Williams 2025

Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s .  He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who is learning to swim, is interested in critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and by tweet at @WritesForRent.

The post Trump Makes Big Claim About A $500M Harvard Settlement appeared first on Above the Law.

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(Photo by Yuki Iwamura-Pool/Getty Images)

The battle between Harvard and the Trump administration may soon be coming to an end. Our great leader recently announced that negotiations are very close to being finished: you know things are serious because he delivered the news in person instead of via a Truth Social post. New York Times has coverage:

President Trump said Tuesday that his administration was close to reaching a multimillion-dollar agreement with Harvard University, which would end a monthslong standoff that had come to symbolize the resistance to the White House’s efforts to reshape higher education.

“We are in the process of getting very close,” President Trump said in an appearance from the Oval Office. He added that the details were being finalized and said, “They would be paying about $500 million.”

Big if here — he said negotiations with Harvard should be done in a week or so back on June 20th — but if the school goes through with paying out $500M to the Trump administration, they should expect a lot of push back from all of the donors that dug deep and donated to try and make up for the government playing hardball with their grants. And sure, the million or so they got in April is a far cry from the billions that the government put on hold, but the summary judgment ruling that the government’s funding freeze was unlawful gave some hope that the law was on their side. Protracted fights suck, but this hardly seems like the time to throw in the towel. Even the prospect of surrender alone will have reputational consequences:

If there is any saving grace it would be that the $500M is earmarked for trade schools. Let’s see how long it takes for someone to discover whatever payola scheme they’d have to do to keep Trump happy was illegal the whole time.

Trump Says A Deal With Harvard Is Close [NYT]


Chris Williams 2025

Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s .  He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who is learning to swim, is interested in critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at [email protected] and by tweet at @WritesForRent.