President Donald Trump has been overtly pressuring several left-leaning elite colleges and universities as part of an ongoing effort to force them to reform certain policies and discriminatory practices that don't align with federal laws, American values, and his policy agenda.

Trump is reportedly on the verge of another major win in that regard, as Cornell University is reportedly close to finalizing a massive financial settlement of around $100 million, plus other stipulations, according to Business Standard.

If and when Cornell signs off on the reported agreement, it will become the latest leftist Ivy League school to capitulate to the president's demands, joining the likes of Brown, Columbia, and Penn, among others.

Cornell close to reaching a deal

Earlier this year, the Trump administration reportedly froze discretionary federal funds and grants, as well as launched investigations into alleged civil rights violations, for Cornell and several other elite colleges and universities across the country.

The funding freeze and investigations came in response to allegations that the left-leaning schools weren't doing enough, if anything, to curb increasingly radical and violent antisemitism during anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian protests and rallies, not to mention the continued pushing of so-called "diversity, equity, and inclusion" policies and the allowance for biological males -- who identify as transgender women -- to compete athletically against and share intimate spaces with biological females.

Those funds may soon be unfrozen, and the investigations closed, if recent reports are correct that Cornell is preparing to agree to a potential $100 million settlement with the White House, which could be finalized and publicly announced as soon as next week.

The university declined to respond to a request for comment about the possible settlement, and one significant unanswered question is whether the school will agree to the imposition of a "resolution monitor" to ensure that it abides by the terms of the deal.

Confirmation that talks are happening

The Cornell Daily Sun reported similarly last week that, while the university declined to discuss any specific details, it did confirm that it was currently engaged in talks with the White House about an agreement to end the funding freeze and ongoing civil rights investigations.

Separate reporting in April indicated that more than $1 billion in federal funds and research grants for the school had been frozen, and Cornell President Michael Kotlikoff confirmed to the student-run paper at that time that the U.S. Education Department's Office of Civil Rights had opened active investigations into multiple alleged violations of federal anti-discrimination laws.

"We have an open OCR --  Office [for] Civil Rights -- investigation into the University," Kotlikoff said at the time. "We've been trying to close those investigations, respond effectively to the questions of the federal government, and we've been having those conversations quite often to see how we can satisfy legitimate concerns of the government and also tell the federal government about Cornell and what's going on in Cornell so we can get back to normal and get back to what we do very well."

As troublesome as those investigations undoubtedly are, the Daily Sun's report seemed to suggest that it was the funding freeze that proved more successful in garnering the university's attention and convincing its administration that negotiations on a settlement were necessary, as evidenced by a warning issued by Cornell administrators in June about the "financial challenges" the school faced, which could result in staffing cuts and a hiring freeze.

"It is important that every member of this community understands both the scale of the challenges our university faces, and the seriousness of the risks," the administrators said in the June announcement. "While we are confident that we will weather this crisis, we will only do so by working together to make the difficult, but necessary, changes to ensure that Cornell will continue 'to do the greatest good' for many years to come."

Deal will likely model the recent Columbia University settlement

Both of the reports from Business Standard and the Daily Sun indicated that unnamed sources said any potential deal would likely be modeled on the White House's recently announced "historic" settlement with Columbia University for approximately $221 million, which included multiple substantial concessions and reforms in exchange for a resumption of federal funding and the closing of OCR investigations.

Following close on the heels of that victory for President Trump was the, albeit smaller, $50 million settlement with Brown University that was revealed on Wednesday. Still lingering, and reportedly the biggest target of the Trump administration, is the effort to cow Harvard University, which has opted to fight the matter in court instead of negotiating a deal.