Columbia paid a $200 million fine—so how much might Harvard have to shell out to settle its fight with the Trump administration? The New York Times is the first to put a number on it, and it's a big one: $500 million. The newspaper reports that the Ivy League school is willing to pay that much as negotiations continue with federal officials. Whether it would go directly to the federal government or be disbursed in some other way is one of the issues under discussion.
The White House has accused Harvard of civil rights violations, including allegations that it failed to protect Jewish students from harassment, and Trump is demanding that Harvard pay more than Columbia, according to the Times. Two opposing views on the potential settlement, which affects Harvard's access to federal funds:
- About time: At Hot Air, Ed Morrissey has little sympathy for the university, which he says could and should have reached a settlement for much less had it not prolonged the fight. "If Harvard wants independence, they can end this fight today by adopting the Hillsdale College model and ending all claims to federal funds," he writes.
- 'Shakedown': In a post at Lawyers, Guns, Money, Scott Lemieux writes that Harvard is making a mistake for a different reason. "Once you've accepted the principle that the government can make you pay half a billion dollars in exchange for charges that have virtually no chance of standing up in court so you can stop them from pulling funding, whether the government has a formal monitoring role is beside the point—they can always take funding away again and/or come back and demand more money," he writes. "How any halfway intelligent person could believe that agreeing to a shakedown will help 'avoid more troubles' is beyond me."
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