Alan Garber, Atul Gawande Praise Harvard’s Fight Against Trump in Alumni Day Speeches

University President Alan M. Garber ’76 affirmed Harvard’s fight against the Trump administration in his address at Harvard’s Alumni Day on Friday, drawing roars from the crowd.

His speech — coming less than 24 hours after Harvard was granted a second order to protect the status of international students — was met with “Garber” chants and a minute-long standing ovation from the thousands of alumni in attendance.

“Wow, that’s a lot of excitement for an annual report,” Garber said as he took the stage. “This has not been a typical year, so this will not be a typical update.”

Garber has so far avoided mentioning President Donald Trump and Harvard’s ongoing legal clash with the White House explicitly — centering his Commencement remarks on the University’s commitment to intellectual freedom and diversity last week.

Garber, again, stopped short of detailing the Trump administration’s attacks directly on Friday. But as he welcomed thousands of alumni into Tercentenary Theatre, he more pointedly underscored Harvard’s resolve in its ongoing legal standoff with the federal government.

“First, we are defending the University against misrepresentations of who we are and what we do,” Garber said. “Second, we are defending the University against retaliation by the federal government for refusing to surrender our rights.”

“Third, we are addressing legitimate criticism,” he added. Though Harvard has accused the Trump administration of using antisemitism as a pretext to control it, Garber has maintained that the government is correct in identifying antisemitism as a problem on campus.

In public statements and court filings, Harvard has pointed to a series of actions it says will curb anti-Jewish prejudice — including protest limits and new nondiscrimination guidelines. The University’s task forces on antisemitism and anti-Arab bias released their final reports at the end of April as federal officials continued to cite campus antisemitism to justify funding cuts and punitive actions against international students.

“Only one thing about Harvard has persisted over 388 years, and actually, it’s not our name,” Garber said. “It's our embrace of scrutiny, advancement, and renewal. A perfect university would not be a university at all.”

Surgeon and public health leader Atul A. Gawande took an even sharper aim at the Trump administration in his keynote address, capping off the fourth annual Alumni Day.

“The past five months, I’ve had the misfortune to have a front row seat as the current regime has moved to weaken and even outright dismantle core foundations of humanitarian assistance, science, public health, law, and higher education,” he said.

Gawande served as an assistant administrator for global health in the U.S. Agency for International Development until January. In the last five months, the Trump administration terminated thousands of USAID contracts, moving forward with a “reorganization” of the Department of State that will dissolve USAID entirely by July.

Gawande — a Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health graduate — has also been a practicing surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital for more than two decades. His own research center at HMS, which focuses on reducing mortality associated with surgery and childbirth, has lost federal funding.

“In my surgical practice, I have navigated serious illness and crisis with many people, and it is seems to me that we — as a community and as a nation — are going through a similar process,” he said. “The disease we face is dangerous. It has already inflicted considerable harm.”

“We must grieve the loss of former certainties and come to clarity about our purpose and priorities going into an uncertain future,” Gawande added, “but navigating it is far easier when we know who we are and what we stand for.”

Gawande commended the University’s resistance to the Trump administration, praising Harvard’s decision to stand its ground amid intensifying federal scrutiny and political attacks.

“The discussions have been hard, but the answer was ultimately easy. I want to express gratitude to Alan Garber and the Corporation, who chose to fight rather than capitulate,” Gawande said, and he was met with resounding applause.

—Staff writer Laurel M. Shugart can be reached at laurel.shugart@thecrimson.com. Follow them on X @laurelmshugart.