Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) on Tuesday demanded Harvard President Alan Garber resign for reportedly considering making a deal with the Trump administration to resolve lingering concerns about how the school handled antisemitism on campus.

Garber is eyeing a $500 million settlement with the White House to unfreeze critical federal funding after President Donald Trump rescinded billions in taxpayer dollars to the Ivy League institution due to accusations that the school allowed antisemitism to foment against Jewish students, multiple outlets reported this week. 

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Newsom, who oversees a state where multiple leading schools have been similarly targeted by the government for how they handled antisemitism, responded to the reports of a looming deal by denouncing Harvard for “surrendering” to Trump, calling for Garber to step down, and pledging that California will “never bend the knee” to the White House. 

“You don’t work with Donald Trump — only FOR Donald Trump,” the California Democrat wrote in a post to X. 

“Looks like Harvard has chosen to surrender,” Newsom continued. “Alan Garber must resign. An absolute failure of leadership that will have demonstrable impacts to higher education across our country. He should be ashamed.”

The California governor further pledged that his state will “never bend the knee” to the White House, even as the University of California, Los Angeles actively pursues a $1 billion settlement with the Trump administration regarding concerns it failed to sufficiently combat antisemitism.

Harvard and the White House have gone back and forth for months over accusations that the Ivy League institution failed to take sufficient measures to check antisemitic acts and violence against Jewish students, particularly during pro-Palestinian protests last year. 

While Garber issued an apology in April after an internal investigation concluded that many Jewish students faced persistent hate, violence, and bias, he initially rebuffed the government’s steep demands for reforms it asked Harvard to make in order to keep all federal funding. 

The Trump administration responded by removing over $2 billion in federal funding to the university, targeting the school’s ability to enroll foreign students, who account for around one-third of its student body, challenging the university’s accredited status, and finding the school in “violent violation” of a federal civil rights law guaranteeing the protection of Jewish students on campus. 

HARVARD APOLOGIZES, PROMISES CHANGE AFTER INTERNAL REPORTS ON ANTISEMITISM ON CAMPUS

Garber has come to the negotiating table with the Trump administration amid the sweeping pushback at the federal level. 

Under the terms of the latest proposed deal, as outlined in the New York Times, Bloomberg, and other outlets, Harvard would agree to spend $500 million on vocational and educational programs and research and make commitments to further combat antisemitism on campus in exchange for restored federal funding.