Not negotiating. That’s what the state of Maine did when the administration tried to bully them into banning trans athletes from K-12 sports. The governor refused to budge, and the administration backed off.
Yes, it’s painful. And, yes, it could cost jobs (again, acutely aware of this given my own position). But this is about the future of higher ed in this country. If it’s going to change radically, let it be on the universities’ terms, not the president’s.
NCAA rules around trans athletes were already modified in February. Universities must comply with those rules.
I’m thrilled Harvard is fighting, but the Maine model isn’t working. Trump is not backing off.
Since debating is not allowed on CC, I’ll leave it there. We agree on some points and disagree on others. My posts were already edited for being too political. 
I think we do agree on more than we disagree on!
I’ll just add that the Maine model is not to negotiate at all. Harvard is negotiating, sending signals of their willingness to tap out. It doesn’t seem any schools have tried not negotiating—except maybe Princeton? They’ve had pretty clear and consistent messaging, and I haven’t seen their name in the lists of schools allegedly working on deals. It will be interesting to see what happens there.