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Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76 confirmed to a group of top-dollar donors Monday that the University is in talks with the Trump administration, according to a person familiar with the call — the first acknowledgment from Harvard officials that discussions quietly reopened last week.

Garber’s comments came during a pre-scheduled video call with roughly 60 international donors, many of whom are major benefactors of Harvard’s global initiatives and graduate schools. The call was moderated by Carlyle Group co-founder and former Harvard Corporation fellow David M. Rubenstein, who directed questions throughout the hour-long meeting.

Harvard Provost John F. Manning ’82 and Vice Provost of International Affairs Mark C. Elliott were also present on the call and participated in the conversation.

While Garber confirmed in response to a question from Rubenstein that talks had resumed, he declined to share the specifics of how Harvard expected to settle with the White House, according to the person.

He also did not discuss how close a deal could be and said instead that Harvard had focused on laying out the steps it was already taking to address issues that are common ground for the University and the Trump administration.

Areas of shared concern that have been discussed with the White House include “viewpoint diversity” and antisemitism, Garber said during the Monday call.

While Harvard has said it has met with representatives of the Trump administration several times, it had not previously commented on the resumption of negotiations last week — a shift that comes after months of political pressure and the loss of $3 billion in federal funding.

A Harvard spokesperson declined to comment on the call, Garber’s remarks, or conversations that have taken place with the White House.

During the call, Garber addressed concerns over campus climate, citing figures found in Harvard-wide studies that showed a number of students, faculty, and staff feeling uncomfortable leading class discussions on controversial topics.

He and Manning described the student body’s approach to campus discourse as increasingly shaped by a kind of “illiberalism,” saying that while progress had been made, students were reluctant to engage across ideological boundaries.

Manning, who has played a low-profile role in Harvard’s historic standoff with the White House, spoke about maintaining institutional integrity and academic independence. Like Garber, he avoided commenting directly on the negotiations or the lawsuits Harvard has filed against the federal government.

Several donors expressed support for Harvard’s decision to reengage with the administration during the call, but stressed that any deal must preserve core academic values, according to the person.

Some also said they were prepared to rally behind Harvard if international students faced barriers to returning to campus, offering institutional support in their home countries — including partnerships with local universities. The idea echoes a proposal circulated at the Harvard Kennedy School the following day, which outlined options for HKS students to continue coursework virtually or through a satellite campus arrangement at the University of Toronto.

Monday’s call took place as alumni and faculty continue to pressure Harvard’s leadership to avoid making concessions — warning that any perceived capitulation could undermine the University’s autonomy and set a precedent for institutions across higher education.

The news that Harvard had resumed talks with the White House became public last Friday when President Donald Trump declared on Truth Social that his administration was on the verge of a “historic” deal with the University. The New York Times first reported that Harvard sought out a meeting, which took place in the White House last week, where University officials presented on existing initiatives to address antisemitism and promote “viewpoint diversity.”

A Trump administration official familiar with the talks confirmed that the two parties began negotiating last week — and that the White House was cautiously optimistic that a deal is more likely now than it has ever been.

But in private, Garber has taken a harder line. According to a person familiar with internal deliberations, he has told advisers that Harvard will not agree to any deal that compromises its ability to oversee faculty and students.

The University has made similar statements in public, writing that it “will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights.”

It remains unclear what, if any, terms Harvard would agree to — and what the University sees as its bottom line. Similarly, the Trump administration has not yet indicated what threats it would be willing to back off on and what it would demand in exchange.

A key claim in Harvard’s lawsuit to keep its federal funding is that the administration’s demands for the enforcement of “viewpoint diversity” on campus are a First Amendment violation that would force Harvard to adhere to the government’s definition of ideological balance.

But Garber’s statements on illiberalism and ideological homogeneity during Monday’s call signal that conditions aimed at increasing viewpoint diversity — and possibly bringing more conservatives to campus — could form part of any eventual deal. Already, Harvard has indicated that it is willing to take steps that align with the Trump administration’s agenda if its leaders see them as independently supporting the University’s interests, too.

Harvard has already renamed its diversity office and forced out personnel at programs on religion, conflict, and the Middle East. Though it has not acceded to the Trump administration’s demands for far-reaching protest limits, it has tightened protest rules and suspended the leading pro-Palestine undergraduate organization until July.

—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.