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More than 200 students signed an open letter urging Harvard to “to reject any unreasonable or unlawful demands” as the White House claims it is nearing a deal with the University.

“Harvard is not Harvard if it is ruled over by the Trump administration,” the letter read.

The letter — distributed by Harvard Students for Freedom, an unrecognized student organization formed this spring — was open to all current Harvard graduate and undergraduate students, and included 197 public signatures, with 29 left anonymous.

Two weeks after President Donald Trump boasted that the University had returned to talks with the Trump administration, Students for Freedom sent the open letter — addressed “to Harvard from its Students” — to voice potential concerns over the negotiations.

“If a deal is indeed close to being reached, we sincerely hope that it is because the Trump administration has backed down, not because Harvard has caved,” the letter read.

Though Trump took to social media to declare an incoming “historic” deal with Harvard, the University has not confirmed how close the deal could be — saying only that it has focused on telling the White House what it has already done to combat antisemitism and promote “viewpoint diversity.”

But that has not quelled worries for faculty and alumni, who have voiced concerns that University officials may concede to the federal administration on major issues. Students for Freedom warned that officials should not “sacrifice this university’s academic freedom, its institutional independence, nor its students’ freedom of expression” in pursuit of a deal.

The group also urged that the University should not ban any aspects of its curriculum, fire professors, or reprimand students for “peaceful free speech” to appease Trump. A deal “certainly must not involve turning over disciplinary records of international students, risking ideological deportation,” the students wrote.

“Doing so would set a dangerous precedent for the entire country,” the letter read. “We know Trump’s strategy: give him an inch and he’ll take a mile.”

Jordan D. Schwartz ’27, press chair for Harvard Students for Freedom, said the group gathered signatures from students to demonstrate to Harvard that students stand in solidarity with the University during their negotiations.

“This is, first and foremost, a show of solidarity to show that students have their backs and students want them to keep fighting, just as they did for us in the spring,” Schwartz said.

“The hope is that they see it, and also people on campus and beyond campus see it, and that it really just stiffens all of our spines a little bit, allows us to keep fighting a little longer,” he added.

The letter’s release on Independence Day was an intentional move by the group, according to Schwartz.

“The symbolic value is pretty useful, because Students for Freedom, by and large, our movement is designed to be a large-tent opposition movement, not of the fringes of either side, but genuinely bringing together the majority of students,” Schwartz said.

He added that releasing the letter over the holiday is a form of celebration of individual freedoms.

“I think this is, in our minds, a way to celebrate the Fourth of July, a way to celebrate what we do love about America, the fact that we can and should be able to exercise and enjoy our freedoms,” Schwartz said.

In their letter, the group further urged Harvard not to concede to the administration, claiming that law and truth are on their side.

“The law is on our side. The truth is on our side. Even the ever-elusive court of public opinion is on our side. And so long as we maintain our moral clarity, history too will be on our side,” the letter read.

—Staff writer Shawn A. Boehmer can be reached at shawn.boehmer@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @ShawnBoehmer.

—Staff writer Caroline G. Hennigan can be reached at caroline.hennigan@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @cghennigan.