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Harvard president taking voluntary pay cut amid Trump funding freezes
Alan Garber will take a 25 percent cut to his salary for the fiscal year 2026.
Harvard University President Alan Garber plans to take a voluntary pay cut as the school faces nearly $3 billion in slashed federal funding from President Donald Trump’s administration.
Garber will take a 25 percent cut to his salary for the fiscal year 2026, which begins July 1, a Harvard spokesperson confirmed. Garber previously took a pay reduction in 2020 when he was the school’s provost to assist with the financial challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The move for his latest voluntary pay cut was first reported by The Harvard Crimson. Garber’s salary for the current fiscal year has not yet been made public, according to the newspaper, but past Harvard presidents have earned salaries of more than $1 million a year.
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Other university leaders will also make their own voluntary contributions in the face of the university’s financial challenges. Already, non-union faculty and staff are forgoing merit pay increases in the 2026 fiscal year.
Harvard previously announced a hiring freeze and administrators were directed to “scrutinize discretionary and non-salary spending, reassess the scope and timing of capital renewal projects, and conduct a rigorous review of any new multi-year commitments.”
The Trump administration announced Tuesday it plans to cut another $450 million in grants to Harvard, just a day after the university pushed back against a federal task force alleging the school is a hotbed for liberalism and antisemitism. The Trump administration previously announced it would freeze $2.2 billion in funding to Harvard as the school defies sweeping government demands for leadership changes and an end to diversity, equity, and inclusion practices.
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Harvard is suing the Trump administration to stop the funding freeze, and on Tuesday, the university expanded its lawsuit following the government’s announcement that an additional $450 million in research funding was being halted.
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