RCP White House correspondent Phil Wegmann joined Thursday’s edition of the RealClearPolitics podcast to discuss his latest article on Donald Trump’s agreement with Harvard University: ‘Their Sins Are Forgiven’: Trump Claims He Has Deal With Harvard “Initially, the administration froze $ 2.2 billion in federal research grants to Harvard over accusations they didn’t get their antisemitism problem in check,” he explained. “Harvard has documented a lot of those problems and apologized. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the compact leaked to The Wall Street Journal right after Donald Trump said a deal was imminent with Harvard.” “Behind the scenes, there are two factions inside the administration. Some say this is their last chance to reform higher education; they have them on the ropes, and we need long-term systemic reforms to restore a more neutral ivory tower,” Wegmann reported. “Others are uncomfortable with the way the federal government has been using its power and say that if they can get a splashy settlement from Harvard, let’s call it a day.” “The sketch they delivered of a potential deal is very simple: Harvard pays the federal government $ 500 million, and Harvard agrees to operate a chain of trade schools to teach people everything from artificial intelligence to automotive engineering,” Wegmann reported. “Certainly $ 500 million is nothing to sneeze at, but Harvard has an endowment larger than some small countries’ GDPs.” “When I sat down with the Education Secretary, she was adamant there would be some sort of independent monitor, not unlike the deal set up with Columbia University. Harvard has rejected that thus far. We’ll see if they accept the compact and an independent monitor,” he said. “This is the defining fight they’ve had with higher education. If they go soft on Harvard, maybe Princeton, maybe Brown-some of the universities that yielded initially-maybe they start rethinking the terms of their agreement,” he said.
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