Harvard Student Groups Must Coordinate with College on External Donations Under New Policy

Harvard College student organizations must coordinate with University officials before accepting external donations under a new requirement in the 2026-27 student handbook.

A draft version of policy updates to the handbook circulated at a May Faculty of Arts Sciences meeting only stated that student organizations would be “strongly encouraged to adopt policies consistent with Harvard’s university-wide guidance.”

But the final handbook language goes further, dropping the encouragement language and instead requiring groups to “coordinate” with the College’s development office before accepting external donations.

College spokesperson Jonathan Palumbo confirmed that the policy applies to all student organizations, including Philips Brooks House Association organizations, club sports, and department-sponsored organizations.

Most officially recognized student organizations are required to maintain accounts with the Harvard Federal Credit Union. S0me groups that have long existed as independent nonprofit organizations with separate bank accounts, including Harvard Student Agencies and Harvard Advocate, will be grandfathered into the policy, according to Palumbo.

Palumbo declined to comment on the specific coordination process student organizations will be required to follow.

Separately, the handbook states that Harvard student groups must comply with University guidelines when participation in events hosted outside of the United States, including requirements related to U.S. sanctions and export control laws.

The policy notes that those restrictions may apply particularly when an international program involves compensation. Federal sanctions broadly restrict certain financial transactions, services, and other activities involving sanctioned individuals, entities, or countries.

Palumbo wrote that the Office of the Vice Provost for Research oversees compliance with the policy and that approval timelines will depend on the “complexity of the event.”

“The policy is in alignment with Federal law. It is now made explicit in the College Handbook and the Student Organization Manual which are shared with students at the start of each academic year,” he added. “Student organizations that do not comply will be in violation of the Student Handbook and the Student Organization Manual and may be subject to disciplinary action as outlined.”

The policy changes come amid heightened federal scrutiny of Harvard’s financial and academic ties abroad.

Last June, Secretary of State Marco Rubio called for the Department of Treasury to investigate if Harvard violated federal sanctions through co-sponsoring a healthy policy conference in China that may have included blacklisted Chinese officials. The House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party had previously opened an investigation into the University’s ties with China-linked affiliates through events and donations.

Foreign donations to Harvard have also drawn scrutiny from the Justice Department, which opened an investigation into whether Harvard violated federal civil rights law by accepting gifts that expressed preferences for financial aid recipients from specific countries.

—Staff writer Uy B. Pham can be reached at [email protected] or on Signal at ubp.88. Follow him on X @uybpham.