Thousands urge Harvard not to 'give in' to Trump administration with a deal

Letter calls on school to reject deal that would relinquish its autonomy 'in unlawful ways'

- Vimal Patel

A coalition of groups at Harvard urged it to reject striking a deal with the Trump administration that would relinquish "the university's autonomy in unconstitutional or unlawful ways".

The letter, signed by more than 14,000 Harvard alumni, students, faculty and members of the public, comes as the school is at the negotiating table with the Trump administration.

The university is trying to restore the billions of dollars in research funds that the administration has frozen and put an end to attacks on several other fronts.

"A settlement with the Trump administration will have a chilling effect on the Harvard community and on all of higher education," stated the letter, sent by Crimson Courage, a new alumni group that was formed to defend academic freedom.

It was addressed to Harvard's president Alan M. Garber and the board that governs the university.

The government has targeted top universities, claiming that they have failed to protect Jewish students from anti-Semitism and allowed diversity programming to flourish.

It has cut off or frozen research money, forcing universities to negotiate to turn the funding tap back on.