Harvard’s Powerful Leader Faces Intense Scrutiny in Trump Fight

In the high-stakes negotiations between the Trump administration and Harvard University, the White House and a growing number of people at Harvard have at least one shared goal.

They want Penny Pritzker, the head of the university’s top governing board, out.

Ms. Pritzker holds a powerful post as the leader of the Harvard Corporation that in normal times is also a quiet one. The corporation is the equivalent of a board of trustees at any other academic institution and is mostly focused on fund-raising, strategy and picking the university’s president.

But for Harvard, these are far from normal times. The government has cut billions in federal funds to the school and tried to ban international students — a quarter of its enrollment — from attending. The school has sued the government twice in the last several months, even as it tries to negotiate an end to a conflict that has forced painful belt-tightening. As Harvard’s problems pile up, Ms. Pritzker’s leadership has been called into question.

On campus, prominent professors and donors are wondering whether she should go. And two Trump administration officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity as delicate negotiations continue, say the hope is that the government’s pressure campaign on the school will lead to her ouster.

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