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Penny S. Pritzker ’81, the senior fellow of the Harvard Corporation — the University’s highest governing body — said the University is working to support students whose visas had been revoked by the Trump administration in its push to deport international students involved in pro-Palestine protests on Tuesday.

“The department that handles that is all over it, and that they care very much about these students and are trying to help them,” she said when approached by a Crimson reporter after speaking to a packed Science Center lecture hall for Econ 10b, Harvard’s flagship introductory macroeconomics course.

Pritkzer’s comments come just two days after the Harvard International Office informed international students that it had discovered that three Harvard students and two graduates had their visas revoked as part of a “routine records review.” The HIO did not identify the students or explain why their visas were revoked.

The HIO’s Sunday email was sent as the Corporation, which Pritkzer helms, met with members of the Board of Overseers — the University’s second highest governing body — in Harvard Square to prepare a response to the White House’s $9 billion ultimatum. Days before the meeting, the Trump administration threatened to slash Harvard’s federal funding if it did not agree to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion programming, ban masks at protests, and fully cooperate with the Department of Homeland Security — a drastic escalation that casted a shadow over the weekend meetings.

When asked whether Harvard would concede to the Trump administration’s demands, Pritzker stayed guarded in her reply.

“I can’t talk about any of that right now, I have to catch my plane,” she said. “The good news is we’re working hard to help Harvard students.”

But Harvard is strapped for time in crafting its reply to its fiercest critics in Washington. In the letter detailing demands to Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76, the White House demanded “immediate cooperation” in rolling out the changes before federal funding was slashed.

And Monday, the Cambridge City Council unanimously voted to call on the Corporation to refuse the administration’s demands and “safeguard academic independence, the rule of law, and democracy.” In the lead-up to the Corporation’s weekend meetings, more than 1,500 alumni also called on Harvard to “mount a coordinated opposition to these undemocratic attacks.”

Several members of the Board of Overseers told The Crimson after the weekend meetings that a response from Harvard was forthcoming — but since Thursday, neither Garber nor Pritkzer have issued a public reply to the demands.

Overseers and Corporation members were also expected to determine who would succeed outgoing Harvard College Dean Rakesh Khurana over the weekend. A source familiar with the process said that the announcement is expected very soon, but Pritzker said she was unfamiliar with the status of the search on Tuesday.

“I don’t know, I have no idea about that,” she said.

Khurana’s successor would need to be approved by a committee including members of the Corporation.

—Staff writer Dhruv T. Patel can be reached at dhruv.patel@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @dhruvtkpatel.

—Staff writer Grace E. Yoon can be reached at grace.yoon@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @graceunkyoon.