Suzanne Kreiter|The Boston Globe via Getty Images

An open gate on the campus of Harvard University on May 27.

This week, President Donald Trump claimed the administration “reached a deal” with Harvard University in which the university will pay $500 million and operate trade schools, and that the university’s unnamed “sins” would be “forgiven.” Pressed on details, the president admitted that terms were not finalized, but insisted, “It’ll be great.”

It’s unclear whether there is indeed a provisional agreement to settle the administration’s outlandish claims, to end federal investigations into the university and to restore billions of dollars in federal grants for scientific and medical research – or whether the president is trying to pressure the university to buckle in the court of public opinion. In recent weeks, there have been rumors of an imminent deal, but so far, Harvard has not surrendered. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of students, faculty, alumni, university staff and unions are making our voices heard.

We lead Crimson Courage, a nonpartisan group of thousands of Harvard alumni from graduating classes spanning the past eight decades. Since March, the Trump administration has withheld billions of dollars from Harvard and other top research universities in an effort to pressure them to bow to the administration’s ideological demands. Making false claims about the university’s failure to address campus antisemitism, the government has targeted the university in a sustained assault, seeking to block international students, launching numerous frivolous probes, cutting off federal grants and canceling government contracts.

In April, concerned alumni came together as Crimson Courage, coalescing around the goal of urging Harvard authorities – including President Alan Garber and the Harvard Corporation – to uphold academic freedom and rule of law. We helped gather 12,000 alumni signatures on an amicus brief supporting Harvard’s April 21 lawsuit challenging the freeze on government research grants, and more than 16,000 signatures on a letter urging Harvard to stand firm against unreasonable Trump administration demands.

Archon FungSept. 15, 2025

We believe that as Harvard negotiates with the government, it must stand firm in upholding academic freedom and not allow the government to have any hand in admissions, hiring, promotions, disciplinary procedures or governance. Any potential deal must reject federal monitoring, oversight and interference in Harvard’s........

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