Local business leaders in Harvard Square are concerned about the rising tension between the Trump administration and Harvard University.
“The business community around Harvard is very embedded with the university,” said Denise Jillson, executive director of the Harvard Square Business Association. “They live side by side.”
The university’s students are a major source of neighborhood foot traffic and spending, according to Jillson. With the Trump administration cutting Harvard’s funding and trying to end enrollment for foreign students, Jillson said there’s a lot to worry about.
“Thinking about the square, thinking about the next few months, thinking about tourism, thinking about our businesses and the impact of the administration’s actions against the university — and not just Harvard, but what they’re doing relative to funding programs across our region here?” she said. “We’re concerned.”
The business community is watching for potential cuts to Harvard’s staff, too, as the school’s funding is slashed.
Brooke Garber owns Mint Julep, a women’s boutique, on Brattle Street known for its wide selection of clothing, jewelry and accessories. She says the Harvard campus community is a huge portion of her customer base from their first visit to tour the school through graduation day.
“They shop with us all the way through, right up until commencement — and then sometimes they stay,” Garber said.
Garber worries about the apparent standoff between the White House and Harvard escalating.
“Every day we say, could something crazier happen today? And every day something crazier happens,” she said. “Last week with the assault on the international students, it’s just unbelievable. And a lot of our customers are international and their families are, too, so I hope that it doesn’t come to that because it would be very sad for higher ed in general, but also for tourism in Boston and in the U.S.”
Around the corner, Anna Shine owns and operates New England School of English, an English as a Second Language (ESL) program primarily for international students.
“My students spend a lot of money in Harvard Square, a lot of money in Boston and so money spent in Harvard Square is good for everyone, including Harvard. It keeps the businesses alive,” Shine said.
Shine, who is originally from the United Kingdom, says her four-week class typically enrolls about a dozen students who are immersed in local culture while enhancing their English skills.
“Whether you’re a Jew or an Arab, Black or white, when you’re in this environment there’s this environment of kindness and tolerance and acceptance, people come together, and there’s this magic that happens. The power of internationalism,” said Shine. “What happens to all the soft power? What happens to all of the goodwill that goes back to their countries?”
Jillson, who advocates for about 400 members of the Harvard Square Business Association, believes the community will persevere.
“As we look back over the COVID years, even further with the Great Recession, with the dot-com bubble, all of those are within a lifetime,” Jillson pointed out. “We know what that was like and our businesses were able to respond. And we will respond to this, and we will not be defeated, not by our own government.”
