Harvard agrees to share employment records of thousands of staff members with Trump administration | What we know so far | Today news

Harvard University announced on Tuesday that it would comply with the request of the Trump administration to hand over thousands of staff members. However, the university has made it clear that it is currently withholding records related to posts held exclusively by students. In an email to university employees sent Tuesday, Harvard said it had received a notice of inspection and a related subpoena from the Department of Home Security earlier this month to inspect the I-9, or to inspect the verification, forms and supporting documentation for university employees. The I-9 forms, from US citizenship and immigration services, are used to verify the identity and employment authorization of individuals hired for work in the US, according to the agency’s website. Harvard said the federal regulations give the government the right to access the paperwork of an American employer, including information on employment qualifying. Harvard is embraced in a legal battle with the Trump administration to restore its billions of dollars of frozen federal funds. This sued the Trump administration earlier this year. The president has threatened universities with the cutting of the federal financing on pro-Palestinian protests against the war of the US ally in Gaza, climate initiatives, transgender policy and diversity, fairness and inclusion programs. Proponents of rights have expressed concern about free speech, proper process and academic freedom. Harvard said that for the time being it does not share records with the government for people who work in roles who are only available to students as it determines whether such a request meets the privacy protection requirements. The New York Times reported on Monday that Harvard was open to spending up to $ 500 million to end its dispute with the government. The amount was more than twice that Columbia University agreed to pay last week to solve federal investigations. According to the newspaper, negotiators still discuss the financial details of the Harvard agreement and that Harvard is opposed to the fact that an outside monitor oversees to oversee the agreement. The government on Monday began an investigation into Duke University and Duke Law Journal to determine whether the magazine’s choice of its editors gave preferences to candidates from minority communities. The government said on Tuesday that it had notified Duke of a $ 109 million freezing point to federal funds. Separately, it claims that the University of California, Los Angeles violated the Federal Civil Rights Act. Both Duke and UCLA made no immediate comments. (Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Leslie Adler)