City Leaders Increase Pressure on Harvard To Reject Trump With New Petition

Harvard’s leadership is used to handling demands from its faculty and students. But with the Trump administration’s latest threats, the University is feeling pressure from its hometown, too.

Last week, the Cambridge City Council unanimously voted to pass a resolution urging Harvard to reject Trump’s recent demands jeopardizing the University’s federal funds. And on Saturday, the Council co-organized a rally on Cambridge Common with the American Association of University Professors to call on Harvard leadership to stand up to the White House.

Now, City Councilor Burhan Azeem plans to send a petition to “ensure that Harvard stands up for its values” to University President Alan M. Garber ’76.

The petition, organized by Azeem and Councilor Patty M. Nolan ’80, is signed by just more than 1,300 Cambridge and Boston residents. Nearly 600 of the signatures come from Harvard affiliates.

Azeem said the petition is designed to show support for Harvard, and make it clear to University leadership that they will not face the Trump administration alone.

“Harvard, I think, is in a way trying to go this alone and decide what they should do in isolation as a university,” Azeem said. “Instead, I think the better approach would be to find the people who do support Harvard in this moment, and all of us can be on the same side, and figure this out together.”

Nolan said they worked with Nikolas Bowie, a professor at Harvard Law School and a leader of the Harvard AAUP chapter, to organize the petition. Bowie signed a similar letter along with 600 faculty members last month and the AAUP filed a lawsuit challenging the legality of the Trump administration’s demands.

Nolan said that she recognizes the challenging decision that faces Harvard as nearly $9 billion in federal funding hangs in the balance, adding that she wants to support University leadership in this difficult time.

“The corporation is balancing a lot of pressure and responsibility, and I respect that,” she said. “I hope that our message is very clear, which is what the rally was: stand up, and also, we will stand with you.”

Azeem echoed Nolan’s sentiment about the gravity of the decision that lies ahead for Harvard, adding that the Trump administration’s threats put both Harvard and Cambridge at risk.

“I really do believe that this is an existential risk to both the city and the University,” he said.

The brunt of Trump’s planned cuts to Harvard’s funding will directly impact hospitals in the Greater Boston area, including Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

“Ordinarily, Harvard isn’t making a decision that has this deeper repercussion for the city and for the state and for the country,” Nolan said. “And yet, this is a decision that will have those deep repercussions.”

Nolan, a graduate of Harvard College, introduced last week’s motion and helped organize the petition out of an obligation to the city — and her responsibility as an alumna.

“I was the first, and so far, the only member of my family to go to Harvard,” she said. “I recognize it’s a privilege and also a responsibility to take a stand for values, like the ones that I think the policy order stood for.”

—Staff writer Shawn A. Boehmer can be reached at shawn.boehmer@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @ShawnBoehmer.

—Staff writer Jack B. Reardon can be reached at jack.reardon@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @JackBReardon.