President Trump crowed online in June that his administration might cut a “‘mindbogglingly’ HISTORIC” deal with Harvard University “over the next week or so.”

But as the White House and the university negotiated in the weeks that followed, no deal materialized to return the billions of research dollars that the government had frozen.

Now the two sides face a crucial court hearing on Monday in their lawsuit about financial obligations and academic independence, even as the Trump administration continues to pelt the nation’s oldest university to amass leverage in negotiations.

Last week, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement served subpoenas to Harvard with sprawling demands that included payroll records, years of disciplinary files and any videos Harvard had of international students protesting on campus since 2020, according to two people familiar with the subpoenas, some of which were reviewed by The New York Times. The agency gave the university a breakneck one-week deadline for compliance.

Also this month, the administration formally accused the school of civil rights violations, arguing that Harvard had failed to protect Jewish people on campus. The government also complained to the university’s accreditor, which could eventually jeopardize Harvard students’ access to federal financial aid.

Even so, both sides have continued discussions toward a resolution of the government investigations into the school and the sprawling legal fights, though they have made limited headway. This account is drawn from conversations with four people familiar with negotiations, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid endangering the talks, and from public statements and court records.