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Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76 abruptly canceled a planned spring break trip to India last week as American universities nervously eyed Columbia’s response to a $400 million ultimatum from the Trump administration.

The trip to Mumbai and New Delhi was planned more than a month in advance and would have included talks with alumni and donors in each city, carrying on a tradition of international trips by Harvard presidents during the week of spring break.

University spokesperson Jason A. Newton declined to comment on why Garber’s trip was canceled or how the University president had spent his spring break instead. According to Newton, the trip to India would be rescheduled.

Four days before Garber’s first publicly advertised event on March 17, the Trump administration issued a scathing letter to Columbia University officials, demanding they change their disciplinary procedures and put the university’s Middle Eastern studies department into receivership before the administration would consider reinstating the $400 million in government grants that had been cancelled the week prior.

The letter sparked widespread fears that other colleges and universities would receive similar demands, only heightened by Columbia administrators’ decision to agree to the Trump administration's demands on Friday.

Both of Garber’s scheduled speaking events at Harvard Club of Mumbai on March 17 and Harvard Club of New Delhi on March 20 were repurposed as networking opportunities for attendees in Garber’s absence, according to updated event details.

Harvard presidents often leverage spring break to travel abroad to meet with alumni and donors. Last year, Garber visited London and Florida to mend a growing donor exodus and reassure alumni of Harvard’s ability to address campus antisemitism in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

But Garber’s visit to India this year was set against the backdrop of the Trump administration’s offensive against Ivy League institutions over alleged campus antisemitism.

One week before his scheduled trip, Garber hosted a private lunch with a small group of Harvard affiliates to discuss the visit and explore how Harvard could leverage opportunities for growth in India.

Saravanan Thangarajan, a Harvard Medical School student who was invited to the lunch, said Garber mentioned that he and Vice Provost of International Affairs Mark C. Elliott were planning to meet with administrators at St. Xavier’s College — a liberal arts college in Mumbai — during their visit.

Harvard administrators often host meetings with officials of local universities as part of their trips. Last year, Garber met with administrators and students at the University of Cambridge. The year before, former Harvard President Lawrence S. Bacow visited the University of Jordan, Tel Aviv University, the University of Haifa, and Al-Quds University in the Middle East.

Thangarajan said Garber was particularly interested in learning how Harvard could learn from changes in liberal arts education in India after the Covid-19 pandemic.

“They wanted to strategically understand it – how things evolved in India, in terms of education, economic landscape, and how can Harvard be more collaborative, both in terms of meaningful and strategic engagement,” he said.

Garber’s visit to India would have been the first formal visit since 2006 when former University President Lawrence H. Summers toured South Asia and promised to increase exchange programs with Indian universities. Before former President Claudine Gay resigned over her administration's slow-walked response to the Oct. 7 attack, she said that she was planning to travel to Asia, but did not specify what countries she would visit.

Since being tapped to lead Harvard after Gay’s resignation, Garber has traveled a number of times to speak with alumni, donors, and other University stakeholders. Last month, Garber visited Miami to attend a talk organized by three Florida-based Harvard clubs.

—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