HUCTW leaders are proud of the decisive, principled stand that the University has taken in refusing to capitulate to the Trump administration’s authoritarian demands on our institution. The University’s actions help to safeguard Harvard’s academic independence and integrity, but they also serve to embolden other institutions across the country to join Harvard in standing up against the growing attacks on our democratic norms and principles.

Harvard must not tolerate hate speech, discrimination, or violence against Jewish students, Muslim students, or any other members of our community. At the same time, working to create a campus where everyone feels safe also means ensuring that academic freedom is protected, and that the U.S. government does not use our university as a tool to violate and undermine our community members’ constitutional rights and protections.

As anticipated, Harvard’s response has drawn swift retaliation from the Trump administration. Since Monday, April 14, the U.S. government has indicated it will cut $2.2 billion in federal research grants to the University, President Trump has ordered the IRS to revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt status, and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has indicated that—if Harvard doesn’t comply with the government’s latest set of demands—DHS will revoke Harvard’s ability to host international students altogether. These are not isolated incidents but part of a series of escalating destructive attacks on higher education under this administration.

Swift Consequences of Government Funding Cuts

As President Garber aptly wrote in Harvard’s letter to the Trump administration, “For the government to retreat from [University research] partnerships now risks not only the health and well-being of millions of individuals but also the economic security and vitality of our nation.”

The real-world consequences of the government’s actions are already being felt. In articles highlighted on the University’s website, Harvard faculty describe being forced, under government orders, to halt groundbreaking work on tuberculosis, ALS, and radiation treatments—stopping progress that was already making a difference in patients’ health outcomes, on diseases that affect millions of Americans and people around the world.

Faculty described how much of this research can’t be easily restarted and will be lost—materials and samples have been developed over months and have a limited lifespan. Some studies rely on primates and other animals, all of which depend on federal funds to pay for their continued feeding and care.

And of course, we know preparations are being made for the possibility that hundreds of staff who carry out or help facilitate research could lose their jobs.

Harvard Has the Ability To Stop the Immediate Devestation

We urge Harvard to defy this attack on our University’s lifesaving work with the same moral clarity and resolve that it demonstrated in its April 14 statement. The University has the power and resources necessary to continue the research that defines its mission and to protect the livelihoods of the staff who carry out that critical work.

We recognize the complexities surrounding the use of the endowment—its funds allow Harvard to continue to exist and thrive in perpetuity and we know it is not a limitless resource. It cannot indefinitely absorb the loss of billions in federal research support for years to come. 

We also recognize that Harvard will likely need to draw on portions of its reserves to weather the broader financial challenges ahead should additional government threats come to fruition. Additionally, we understand that the majority of the endowment is donor-restricted and is earmarked for certain purposes.

However, significant unrestricted funds still exist. Harvard’s 2024 investment report notes, “While the University has no intention of doing so, there are additional investments held by the University and the endowment that could be liquidated in the event of an unexpected disruption.” It goes on to note that, as of June 30, 2024, there were $9.6 billion in endowment funds without donor restrictions, and $6.1 billion of General Operating Account investments (GOA) that could be accessed with the approval of the Corporation.

Donald Trump will not be president forever. Additionally, midterm elections taking place in less than two years may shift the legislative balance dramatically. In Harvard’s letter, President Garber repeatedly underscored the lawlessness of the Trump administration’s directives, presumably signaling the University’s readiness to pursue legal action, which could potentially pause or permanently stop some of the impending changes from moving ahead.

Unfortunately, we know there are no certainties. But at this uncertain and turbulent moment, we urge Harvard not to curtail research efforts immediately, but to draw upon a limited portion of its billions in financial reserves to sustain its critical research in the near term, until the path forward becomes clearer.

Continued Courage in the Face of Government Attacks

The government’s attacks on higher education are not designed to protect anyone in our community; they are calculated attempts to tear down universities and bend them to its will. If we yield now and shutter essential research—including laying off hundreds of Harvard staff committed to that research, endangering their economic security and damaging their careers—we help to give the Trump administration what it wants: control over our academic direction, our future, and our community.

No less than former Harvard President and U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Larry Summers noted in his April 3 New York Times op-ed that universities like Harvard “should make clear that their formidable financial endowments are not there to simply be envied or admired. Part of their function is to be drawn down in the face of emergencies, and covering federal funding lapses surely counts as one. Believe me, a former president of Harvard, when I say that ways can be found in an emergency to deploy even parts of the endowment that have been earmarked by their donors for other uses.”

We know that drawing on the endowment outside of the regular annual distributions to the schools goes against long-standing institutional instincts, but these are extraordinary times.

Once Harvard research has been stopped and dismantled, and staff have been laid off or found other positions, our University’s lifesaving work will be set back by years in ways that may be difficult or impossible to recover from.

The University has already shown great leadership in standing up to the Trump administration’s demands. We call on Harvard to press forward—not with caution, but with continued courage and conviction—to carry forward the research that saves lives and gives hope to the world, and to protect the dedicated Harvard staff who carry out and facilitate that vital work.

In doing so, Harvard has the opportunity not only to endure this moment, but to emerge from it stronger—a beacon of continued discovery, principled resistance, and human compassion in the face of malicious destruction and lawlessness.