The email landed at 10 minutes to midnight on a Friday in early April—a more menacing email than Alan Garber had imagined. The Harvard president had been warned that something was coming. His university had drawn the unwanted and sustained attention of the White House,

Alan M. Garber, an economist and physician who is Harvard University's provost and chief academic officer, will serve as interim president after Claudine Gay resigned Tuesday.

Alan M. Garber ’76’s first semester in Harvard’s top job would have tested even the most battle-hardened university president — and technically, he was not even the real president.

Harvard University named Alan M. Garber as its president on Friday, ... Dr. Garber’s ties to Harvard stretch more than a half-century, since he became an undergraduate student there in 1973.