Department of Education Secretary Linda McMahon says she wants to reopen negotiations with Harvard University, but indicated that the Trump administration will continue its aggressive tactics with the Ivy League school.
McMahon further told The New York Times in an interview published Saturday that Harvard's lawsuit against the Trump administration is making it "a little bit hard to have negotiations" with the school.
"When you’re sitting and talking, do you have to have all your lawyers present, do all those things to make sure you’re not compromising the lawsuit?" McMahon commented. "That kind of stuff I’d have to have the lawyers respond to as well."
President Donald Trump has threatened to pull $9 billion in federal funding and grants from Harvard unless it makes changes to its hiring, curriculum, and admissions practices, which the school's officials have refused to do.
The administration has canceled $2.7 billion in grants, with almost $1 billion for Harvard's research partners being threatened, which McMahon said leaves the administration with plenty of leeway in its push against the university.
There are still more options for the administration, considering that only about one-third of $9 billion in federal money for the university has been pulled.
The Department of Justice has also started an investigation of Harvard under the False Claims Act.
McMahon, though, said that open dialogue may be the first step toward reaching some agreements.
The administration has said its actions come as it fights against antisemitism and DEI practices at the nation's college campuses, but a letter to Harvard this month from McMahon does not mention antisemitism or policies concerning transgender people, and said that the "administration's priorities have not changed."
Dr. Alan Garber, the president of Harvard, responded to McMahon's letter and said that the school welcomes the "opportunity to share further information with you about the important work we are undertaking to combat prejudice and to pursue our mission of excellence in teaching, learning, and research."
When asked if the Trump administration is succeeding in its push for change at Harvard, McMahon pointed out the dismissals of two faculty leaders from the school's Center for Middle Eastern Studies.
She also said Harvard has changed how it handles protests and disciplinary matters while addressing antisemitism.
"We have forced their hand to do that because they weren’t doing it before," McMahon said. "I think we have forced their hand and other universities to see that the president was serious with what he said."
She also called Garber's letter a positive sign, as she thinks he was saying Harvard is "'moving in the directions that you want us to move in.'"
McMahon, meanwhile, said that she also thinks it's time for Americans to reconsider whether four-year college degrees are necessary except for students seeking certain professions.
"I look at my generation and how I encouraged my children, which was, I really believe you have to go to college — to even have a slight chance of success, you know, you need to go to college," she said. "I don’t think that there is that emphasis today, or that we have to have that emphasis today, on four-year college education in the old sense."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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