Columbia and White House Enter Final Stage of Talks to End Standoff

New York|Columbia and White House Enter Final Stage of Talks to End Standoff

Officials from Columbia University and the Trump administration on Thursday inched closer to ending a monthslong standoff over the college’s ability to protect Jewish students from harassment, meeting for about an hour in Washington, where they agreed on the main terms of a deal but left without finalizing all of the details.

There was optimism from some of those involved in the negotiations that an agreement would be announced next week, but they were hesitant to discuss specifics and risk upsetting the delicate negotiations. The deal is expected to include about $200 million in payments by Columbia to settle the matter, while the administration would restore most of more than $400 million in canceled federal research funding, according to a recent draft of the deal.

The account of the White House meeting and information about a potential deal was provided by three individuals with direct knowledge of the continuing negotiations who spoke on the condition of anonymity so that they could describe sensitive talks.

Claire Shipman, the acting president of Columbia, was among roughly 10 officials from Columbia and the Trump administration who met at the White House on Thursday to review the deal. President Trump has been fully briefed on the negotiations, a White House spokesman said.

Columbia declined to comment on the details of the talks. “The university remains engaged in productive discussions with the federal government,” Virginia Lam Abrams, a spokeswoman, said.

Talks between the White House and Columbia have gained momentum in recent weeks.

The two sides have discussed some kind of monitoring system that would track compliance by Columbia with the government’s demands. At one point, the deal included a judge-approved consent decree, which is a legally binding performance-improvement plan.