Pritzker Says She is Open to Meeting with White House Officials as Harvard’s Governing Boards Convene

Harvard Corporation Senior Fellow Penny S. Pritzker ’81 said Sunday that she has not met with members of the Trump administration recently but would be open to meeting with top White House officials in the future.

Pritzker’s brief remarks came as she left a weekend convening of the University’s two highest governing boards and as Harvard continues to stare down several legal battles with the Trump administration.

Approached by a Crimson reporter as she departed a dinner at the Faculty Club following a day of meetings, Pritzker said she was “always open to meeting with people.” Asked specifically about a meeting with Secretary of Education Linda E. McMahon, she again said she was open to any meeting.

The Corporation met Sunday for the first of two days of meetings. Its members were joined throughout the day by the Board of Overseers — Harvard’s second-highest governing board, composed of elected alumni — and several of the University’s deans.

School of Engineering and Applied Sciences Dean David C. Parkes, Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean Hopi E. Hoekstra, and Harvard Divinity School Dean Marla F. Frederick each declined to comment on their meetings as they left Loeb House on Sunday afternoon.

Harvard College Dean David J. Deming and Harvard Graduate School of Education Dean Nonie K. Leseaux were among those who joined the Corporation for dinner Sunday night. Leseaux declined to comment after the dinner.

The Corporation did not arrive on campus until Sunday, but the seven newest members of the Board of Overseers — nearly a quarter of the board — were briefed Saturday afternoon by Provost John F. Manning ’82. Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76 joined the new members for dinner at Loeb House on Saturday evening.

The Corporation also convened twice in July.

Top Harvard leaders have not met publicly with members of the Trump administration since the White House began their pressure campaign against the University last year, though Garber spoke by phone with McMahon that spring.

McMahon has spearheaded the administration’s effort to secure voluntary reforms from universities. Her first effort to bring elite universities to the table — a compact that required schools to sign onto a slate of reforms in order to guarantee federal funding — was widely rejected by the schools that received it.

She has since shifted tactics. In August, McMahon sent an open letter to universities around the country asking them to submit information by the end of the year on how they have worked to increase transparency, foster civil discourse, and ensure affordability. Several have responded, including the University of North Carolina system and Florida’s public universities. Others have solicited input from their affiliates as they prepare a response. Harvard has not publicly responded.

McMahon also visited several elite universities this year — including those under scrutiny by the administration — as part of her “Returning Education to the States Tour,” which aims to visit schools in all 50 states.

During an April visit to Yale’s campus, McMahon said she met with Yale President Maurie D. McInnis. Since June, she has also met with leadership at Villanova University, Washington University in St. Louis, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

But the administration — with McMahon as a leading spokesperson — has continued to target Harvard. In a June congressional testimony, McMahon said the University would do well to look to Yale as a model for campus reform. She told the New York Post in July that she believed Harvard remained in violation of the 2023 Supreme Court ruling which barred the consideration of race in admissions.

The University is also mired in ongoing litigation with the administration. Last week, lawyers for the University argued for the dismissal of a Department of Justice lawsuit that accuses Harvard of unlawfully withholding applicant-level admissions records.

In just over a week, Harvard and the government will face off in court again, as the government seeks to overturn a September 2025 district court ruling that ordered the Trump administration to return nearly $2.7 billion in frozen federal grants to the University.

—Staff writer Hugo C. Chiasson can be reached at [email protected] or on Signal at hcc.35. Follow him on X @HugoChiassonn.

—Staff writer Elise A. Spenner can be reached at [email protected] or on Signal at elisespenner.82. Follow her on X @EliseSpenner.