Harvard President Garber Visits Seattle, Los Angeles in West Coast Swing

Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76 toured the West Coast last week, traveling to Los Angeles and Seattle to meet with hundreds of alumni in his first set of club-hosted alumni events since his permanent appointment in August.

Three event attendees said Garber also traveled to San Francisco, but a University spokesperson declined to comment on the purpose of that trip. The Harvard Club of San Francisco did not list an official event with Garber on its website.

Garber and other top Harvard officials met regularly with alumni last semester to begin the process of coaxing back University donors who were angered by the leadership crisis and administration’s response to antisemitism. But this time, Garber met with alumni with the full authority of president and a series of administrative victories to tout.

Garber kept his message positive and broad, according to event attendees in both cities, describing his path to becoming provost of Harvard in addition to discussing the University’s new policy against commenting on controversial issues and the work of his twin task forces to address antisemitism and anti-Arab bias.

Garber started his trip in Los Angeles on Monday, speaking at an alumni event moderated by Harvard Corporation member Diana L. Nelson ’84. The event was co-sponsored by the Harvard Club of Southern California and several other alumni groups. While attendees were not able to ask live questions during the panel, they were offered the opportunity to submit questions in advance.

Madeleine Mejia, a board member of the Harvard Club of Southern California who attended the talk with Garber in Beverly Hills, said his answers during the event gave her “ease and comfort” about the University’s future.

“I appreciated just how thoughtful he was in his responses,” Mejia said. “He spoke directly from his heart.”

Joan I. Chu Reese ’85, who also attended the Los Angeles event, said Garber came across as “pragmatic” and “a realist.”

“I think the University can do a reset and can evolve from here to something better,” Chu added. “I think it takes a leader of a special kind, and I sort of felt that when he spoke.”

Both Meija and Chu said Garber’s decision to remain at the hotel for hours after his talk concluded to meet event attendees left an impression on them.

“He stayed the entire time, and he talked to everyone that waited to speak with him,” Mejia said.

Garber’s event in Seattle on Thursday was co-sponsored by the Harvard Club of Seattle and moderated by Sheryl WuDunn, a member of the Harvard Board of Overseers, the University’s second-highest governing body.

Harvard Club of Seattle President Kelly Charlton said he was approached by the Harvard Alumni Association roughly two months ago about the event.

Though a smaller alumni crowd, attendees said Garber conveyed a similar message of his own intention to encourage civil discourse.

But Garber did not discuss some of the most controversial campus topics during the event, according to Charlton. In particular, Garber did not specifically address the University’s new restrictions on campus protests after the encampment in the spring semester.

The West Coast outreach follows trips to London and Miami in March, where Garber held Q&A sessions, hoping to ease alumni concerns about the climate on campus.

The events, not billed as fundraisers, precede the release of Harvard’s annual financial report later in the fall. The report will be the first official measure of how the University's turmoil affected donations in the 2024 fiscal year.

At previous private events prior to the fundraising deadline, Garber told alumni that donations had taken a sharp decline. But last week, attendees said Garber was projecting confidence about the University’s future.

Charlton also expressed optimism about the future of Garber’s presidency.

“Alexander the Great persuaded his men to go on this journey and mission and risk their lives,” Charlton said. “I think that’s something that President Garber can do.”

—Staff writer Emma H. Haidar can be reached at emma.haidar@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @HaidarEmma.

—Staff writer Cam E. Kettles can be reached at cam.kettles@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @cam_kettles or on Threads @camkettles.