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Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76 will take a voluntary 25 percent pay cut for fiscal year 2026 as the University stares down the Trump administration’s nearly $3 billion funding cut, according to Harvard spokesperson Jonathan L. Swain.

Garber has notified other members of Harvard’s top brass of his decision, and several are making voluntary cuts of their own, according to Swain. It is unclear how large of cuts other administrators have committed to making.

While Garber’s salary for fiscal year 2025 has not yet been made public, Harvard presidents have historically earned upward of $1 million annually — meaning that a 25 percent pay cut could amount to a six-figure reduction. Fiscal year 2026 begins in July.

Though largely symbolic amid the multibillion-dollar cuts, Garber’s pay cut is a gesture toward sharing in the financial strain that has so far fallen most heavily on faculty and staff.

Harvard has already taken a wave of cost-cutting measures as it braces for months, and potentially years, of financial strain.

In March, Harvard hit pause on faculty and staff hiring, directing schools to curb discretionary spending, reassess capital projects, and halt new multi-year commitments. In April, Harvard told employees it would not award merit pay raises to faculty and non-union staff in fiscal year 2026. And earlier this week, Faculty of Arts and Sciences professors were instructed to develop contingency plans for how their departments would handle budget shortfalls — as administrators acknowledge they expect long-term financial fallout.

This is not the first time Garber has reduced his pay in the wake of challenges affecting Harvard. In 2020, as provost, he took a similar 25 percent cut in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Then-President Lawrence S. Bacow and several deans also accepted temporary reductions as Harvard confronted a projected $750 million revenue shortfall.

The pay cuts in Massachusetts Hall follow an independent effort from faculty across the University. More than 80 faculty members — from several schools and academic units — have pledged to donate 10 percent of their salaries for up to a year to support the University if it continues to resist the Trump administration.

Garber’s decision also mirrors similar moves from leaders of other schools. Brown University President Christina H. Paxson announced last month that she — and two other senior administrators — would take a 10 percent salary cut in fiscal year 2026.

Paxson also announced that top Brown administrators would not be eligible for wage or performance-based raises and that “highly compensated” school leaders were “invited to participate in a voluntary salary freeze.”

But at Harvard, administrators have not been invited or encouraged to take cuts in their salaries, and Garber and other administrators who have taken a cut have done so voluntarily, according to Swain.

Garber’s decision comes as the standoff between Harvard and the White House shows little sign of easing. On Tuesday, the Trump administration announced that it would cut another $450 million in federal funding from Harvard, expanding the scope of its campaign against Harvard to allege Harvard had failed to check race-based discrimination as well as antisemitism. And earlier this month, it pledged to no longer award any grants or contracts to the University.

Harvard’s lawsuit against the Trump administration, filed in April, remains in its early stages, with oral arguments not scheduled to begin until July 21 — a sign that the legal battle is likely to be drawn out for months.

—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.