From the NY Times: ...Mr. Trump and his team also took early aim at Harvard, the nation’s oldest and richest university. The school sued the administration in April, accusing the government of running roughshod over its constitutional and procedural rights. Harvard’s lawsuit has infuriated the president and his team... Talks between the two sides are proceeding, but Mr. Trump has continued to view Harvard’s lawsuit in deeply personal terms. He has fumed that Harvard hired William A. Burck, a lawyer who had represented key Trump allies and advised the Trump Organization. Mr. Trump fired him after he sued the administration on behalf of Harvard.
When he complained about Mr. Burck during a negotiation session in October, Stephen A. Schwarzman, the billionaire investment executive who had taken a direct role in Harvard’s negotiations with the White House, offered to drop Mr. Burck, according to three people familiar with the meeting. Mr. Trump responded by repeating his grievance about Mr. Burck. “It really wasn’t smart of him to sue me,” he said. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Trump told Mr. Schwarzman that he liked Mr. Burck but that their relationship had not worked out. Mr. Burck has remained Harvard’s lead negotiator with the administration.
Mr. Trump has said publicly on several occasions that the university and the administration were close to striking a deal to end the feud, but no deal has materialized. On Tuesday, at a news conference on the anniversary of his inauguration, Mr. Trump said again that the two sides were close to an agreement. “I hear we have a deal, but who the hell knows with them?” he told reporters. “They have a lawyer that wants to show how hot he is.”
...In the summer, Ms. Mailman, a Harvard-trained lawyer, had been facilitating what was Mr. Trump’s top priority at the time: extracting $500 million from Harvard to spend on work force programs. But before the agreement was finalized, Ms. Mailman took on a part-time role, which she still maintains. Her absence created an opening for Harmeet Dhillon, a hard-liner who leads the Justice Department’s civil rights division and who argued behind the scenes that the proposed deal was not tough enough on Harvard.
Ms. Dhillon pushed for more policy concessions and for the inclusion of a fine of at least $200 million — a nonstarter for Harvard, according to government and university officials. [Trump aide Stephen] Miller has shown little interest in easing any tension with Harvard, according to two administration officials involved in the discussions...
Full story at https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/21/us/politics/trump-higher-education-2025.html.
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