Washington, D.C. — U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon said she is open to resuming talks with Harvard University but gave little indication that the Trump administration is willing to soften its hardline tactics, which have fueled an escalating standoff with the nation’s oldest university.

In an interview Friday, McMahon expressed frustration over Harvard’s ongoing lawsuit against the administration, which she said complicates any chance of meaningful dialogue. “It’s a little bit hard to have open negotiations when we’ve got a lawsuit pending,” she said. “When you’re sitting and talking, do you have to have all your lawyers present?”

Though McMahon reiterated her desire to restart talks, she declined to outline what concessions the administration might accept. The standoff has intensified in recent months, with the administration threatening to pull Harvard’s $9 billion in federal funding unless it complies with changes to its admissions, curriculum, and hiring policies—a campaign seen by critics as an ideological effort to reshape elite academia.

The administration has already canceled around $2.7 billion in research grants, with an additional $1 billion for Harvard’s research partners now in jeopardy. This week, the Justice Department opened a False Claims Act investigation, a move that could signal a transition from civil scrutiny to potential criminal charges.

Despite the tension, Harvard President Dr. Alan Garber responded this week with a letter to McMahon expressing a willingness to engage, writing, “We welcome 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.”

McMahon acknowledged Garber’s gesture as a positive sign but emphasized that further cooperation would depend on how legal concerns are addressed. “I think Dr. Garber is saying, ‘We are moving in the directions that you want us to move in,’” she said. “So now we’ve got to balance it against the legal side and see how the advice goes.”

The Education Department has launched at least eight investigations and inquiries into Harvard, ranging from funding practices to allegations of antisemitism and campus protest handling. While the administration initially framed its concerns around antisemitism and LGBTQ+ inclusivity, McMahon’s recent letter to Harvard cutting federal funding made no mention of either issue, instead citing broader policy and institutional grievances.

Pressed on whether the administration’s efforts had yielded results, McMahon pointed to recent dismissals of two faculty leaders at Harvard’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies, changes in protest policies, and what she described as improved responses to antisemitism. “We have forced their hand to do that because they weren’t doing it before,” she said.

Still, she noted that only about a third of Harvard’s federal funding has been withheld, suggesting that more leverage remains. “There is still that kind of balance as to how that money would be spent and what kind of accommodation would have to be made by Harvard,” she said.

McMahon also took aim at traditional notions of higher education, signaling a philosophical shift in the administration’s priorities. Seated in her seventh-floor office in the Lyndon Baines Johnson Department of Education Building, she questioned the value of four-year degrees for many students.

“I really believed you had to go to college to even have a slight chance of success,” 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.”

While a Harvard spokesperson declined to comment, insiders at the university privately acknowledge that the situation has reached a crisis point. Many fear that the civil investigations could escalate into full-scale criminal proceedings.

Meanwhile, McMahon left no doubt that the administration remains committed to reshaping higher education and Harvard remains its most high-profile target.

NYTimes input