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When the Trump administration first set its eyes on Harvard in March, alumni started writing letters, petitioning the University to stand strong against the White House.
One month later, the less than 15-person coalition of individual letter-writers had grown to thousands. These alumni banded together to form Crimson Courage, a grassroots organization that has been on the frontlines of Harvard’s battle against the Trump administration.
The organization — led by Cambridge City Councilor Patricia M.“Patty” Nolan ’80, former Connecticut Secretary of State Miles S. Rapoport ’71, and Christina Jenq ’04 — hit the ground running in the spring.
Crimson Courage officially launched their effort with a webinar in May, drawing 4,000 attendees and featuring speakers like Massachusetts Governor Maura T. Healey ’92 , Eugene J. Dionne ’73, and William “Bill” Kristol ’73.
“We all need to be really strong together,” Healey said at the webinar.
Facilitators encouraged attendees to sign onto an amicus brief in support of the University as it sued the Trump administration over funding cuts. The brief received over 12,000 signatures — the largest sign-on brief from one institution’s alumni in American history, according to the group.
“I think just the sheer numbers of alums that have wanted to be involved has really been just incredible to me,” communications co-chair Helen A. Fairman ’91 said.
Crimson Courage also organized a press conference on the first day of oral arguments in the funding lawsuit. Nolan remembered the press conference as a “really proud” moment where the organization worked with students and faculty to speak up against the Trump administration.
“I think that was a moment when I realized this is larger than just a few of us getting together and standing up,” she said. “This was saying, ‘We have brought students into the mix.’”
Crimson Courage has routinely collaborated with students since the press conference. The group distributed a sign-on letter with Students For Freedom, an unrecognized student organization, in August. The letter, which urged Harvard to refuse a coercive deal with the Trump administration, has garnered more than 14,000 signatures.
But the alumni group, which is completely independent from Harvard, has not held back from criticizing the University itself.
After Harvard abruptly renamed their Office for Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging and quietly shuttered three diversity offices, Crimson Courage turned their pens toward the University.
The group sent a July letter of “deep concern” to Harvard in response to the changes, criticizing the acts as “an apparent capitulation to illegal federal overreach that represents a troubling submission to their coercive demands.”
“No institution is perfect, and there’s plenty of work that Harvard can do internally,” Fairman said.
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Even as the group raised concerns about Harvard’s internal restructuring, Crimson Courage leadership celebrated the September decision that reinstated the University’s funding as a “fantastic ruling.”
“This exactly aligns with our own messaging and our own beliefs in terms of why the federal government and the Trump administration is just flat out wrong,” Communications Co-Chair Evelyn J. Kim ’05 said.
But Fairman said the organization’s work is not done, especially considering the lingering uncertainty of federal research funding — especially when it comes to long-term research projects. Much of the University’s funding has still not been restored, despite the court’s decision two weeks ago.
“Even if the funding is temporarily restored, I think there’s a really strong sense that it could be ripped away at any moment,” Fairman said.
The organization is also expanding beyond Harvard’s gates. They are currently in contact with alumni across the country to develop similar movements, even planning to form a multi-university coalition to fight the Trump administration’s attacks on higher education.
“Harvard is the kind of flagship target of the administration, but whether it’s minority serving institutions or public universities or other universities, Ivy League and non Ivy League, the threat is universal to higher education,” Rapoport said.
“We’re collectively here to stand up for the importance of higher education, but the importance, generally, of learning and truth for America,” Anurima Bhargava ’96, a member of Crimson Courage, said.
—Staff writer Megan L. Blonigen can be reached at megan.blonigen@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X at @MeganBlonigen.
—Staff writer Frances Y. Yong can be reached at frances.yong@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X at @frances_yong_.
