The White House views a payment of $500 million by Harvard University as a floor in negotiations for a settlement, and the cost of a deal could climb far higher if the school doesn’t submit to government oversight provisions,

A t Harvard you can study negotiation. This being Harvard, there is in fact an entire academic programme dedicated to the craft. The principles are simple. Understand your alternatives—what happens if you fight rather than compromise—and your long-term interests. This being Donald Trump’s America, Harvard itself is now the case study.