Harvard is considering creating a centre for conservative scholarship as it seeks to end its months-long dispute with Donald Trump.

America’s oldest university is said to have discussed the idea with potential donors, which could cost up to $1 billion, to “promote and support viewpoint diversity”, The Wall Street Journal reported.

It has been locked in a dispute with the Trump administration for months over claims that it has failed to tackle anti-Semitism on campus while pushing discriminatory diversity programmes, with Mr Trump stripping it of billions of dollars in federal funds.

The US president said last month the government was close to striking a deal with Harvard, although this week it announced plans to subpoena the institution for data on foreign students.

Setting up a conservative centre would likely be interpreted as a concession to the president and Right-wing critics, who have long complained elite universities are liberal bastions with no political diversity.

The initiative, which could be modelled along the lines of Stanford’s Hoover Institution, has been under discussion for several years but recently gained steam following the pro-Palestinian protests that broke out across college campuses last year.

Centre would ‘support viewpoint diversity’

A Harvard spokesman said the initiative being discussed “will ensure exposure to the broadest ranges of perspectives on issues, and will not be partisan”.

It would “model the use of evidence-based, rigorous logic and a willingness to engage with opposing views” and “promote and support viewpoint diversity”, he added.

In 2023, a survey by the student newspaper found that just three per cent of faculty at Harvard identified as conservative.

Harvard struck a defiant stance earlier this year when it refused to change its hiring, admissions and other internal procedures following demands by the Trump administration, hiring a high-powered legal team who accused it of trying to “invade university freedoms”.

However, Mr Trump announced last month the two sides were negotiating as the government froze federal funding, attempted to ban it from enrolling foreign students, opened investigations and accused it of breaking the law.

Analysis by The Wall Street Journal has found the university would be left with a budget shortfall of around $1 billion if Mr Trump followed through on all of his threats.

Administration ‘negotiating hard’

On Tuesday, Linda McMahon, the US education secretary, said the administration was “negotiating hard” with Harvard and that “we’re getting there”.

However, tensions flared again on Wednesday when the Department of Homeland Security announced it would subpoena the university for information about its foreign students, accusing it of allowing them to “advocate for violence and terrorism on campus”.

The same day, the education department declared that administration probes had found the university had violated federal anti-discrimination laws in its treatment of Jewish students.

Harvard University has been approached for comment.