Harvard board chair Penny Pritzker emerges as a target in Trump administration’s higher ed fight
The fight between two of America’s most prominent institutions – the federal government and Harvard University – is getting personal.
Pritzker, 66, a Harvard alumna, former Democratic Cabinet official and one of the world’s richest people, in 2022 became the leader of the Harvard Corporation, the board in charge of university operations. The role makes her the equivalent of Harvard’s board chairperson, with Garber as the university’s top administrative officer — whom the board wields the power to hire and fire.
In the 1970s, when Penny Pritzker’s uncle Jay was operating the Hyatt chain, it signed a deal with Trump to buy a failing hotel in New York and rebrand it as the Grand Hyatt, marking Trump’s first major development in Manhattan.
The partnership soured over the next decade, and Trump sued the family in 1993, claiming it had taken advantage of his financial struggles.
“They attacked me when I was down,” Trump told the Chicago Tribune that year. “Now I’m doing great again and it’s my turn. I always said, the first time I got back on my feet, the Pritzkers would be the first people I’d go after.”
After two years of legal wrangling and lawsuits, Trump and Jay Pritzker settled in 1995, the New York Times reported.
Pritzker’s time in Harvard leadership marked by criticism
Ackman’s rebuke this week wasn’t the first time Pritzker has faced a call to resign.
After leading the search process that led to Claudine Gay being named Harvard president – and its first Black top executive – in late 2022, Pritzker said: “We are confident Claudine will be a thoughtful, principled, and inspiring president for all of Harvard.”
https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/06/us/penny-pritzker-harvard-board-trump
