President Donald Trump has announced a potential resolution to the protracted dispute between the Department of Education and Harvard University concerning federal funding.
During a ceremony for an unrelated executive order in the Oval Office, Trump revealed that Education Secretary Linda McMahon is in the final stages of negotiating the agreement. "She has a good chance of getting that closed," Trump stated.
According to Breitbart, the proposed settlement would require Harvard to pay $500 million and establish trade schools with a focus on artificial intelligence education. "Theyll be teaching people how to do AI and lots of other things, engines, lots of things," Trump remarked, emphasizing the university's commitment to launching a "series of trade schools."
Harvard has yet to respond to inquiries from Politico and CNN regarding the situation.
The legal confrontation between Trump and Harvard arose after the President sought to withhold over $2 billion in funding, citing the university's alleged failure to address anti-Semitic activities linked to anti-Israel protests over the Gaza conflict. The administration accused Harvard of not adequately addressing anti-Semitism on campus.
Earlier this month, U.S. Judge Allison Burroughs of the District of Massachusetts reinstated the funding, which had been allocated for research in critical areas such as radiation exposure, ALS diagnostics, and tuberculosis treatment. The judge's decision came in response to a lawsuit filed by Harvard and its employee groups, which claimed that Trump was using the funding as leverage to influence academic decisions at the institution.
Additionally, the Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights has initiated a process that might render Harvard ineligible for federal funding under Title VI, further complicating the university's financial and legal challenges.
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