Will Harvard Continue to Lead the Charge? - Part 48

From the NY Times: ...With billions of dollars in research funds in jeopardy, the [Harvard's] leaders are now negotiating with the White House. But an eventual deal may not fully capture the changes, small and large, already enacted at Harvard before any papers are signed. The university has recoiled at some of the sweeping changes the Trump administration demanded. Harvard’s president, Dr. Alan M. Garber, has singled out several as intrusive and unconstitutional, including demands that might influence whom the university hires and admits. But it has also taken a host of steps that align with the White House’s desires, checking off items on the administration’s detailed menu, which have ranged from eliminating diversity offices to ousting program leaders. In some cases, students and faculty members worry, the new, Trump-inspired policies may interfere with the freedom of expression that is central to the university’s mission...

The Trump administration’s demands included eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion programs. In April, Harvard renamed its Office of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging, which is now called the Office for Community and Campus Life. More recently, Harvard also took down websites for its Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations, as well as websites for companion offices for gay and female students, and said they were merging them into a new, single center. The government has also sought leadership shake-ups in certain departments, including the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, after Jewish alumni and others accused the programs of sponsoring antisemitic programming. Harvard removed two of the center’s leaders, including Cemal Kafadar, a leading Turkish scholar, in March...

The university has announced some of the changes, arguing that they were needed to make the campus more welcoming and more open to different viewpoints... Officials at Harvard declined to comment for this article, but some have argued privately that some changes were already underway before Mr. Trump’s inauguration. Dr. Garber has also acknowledged that he agrees with some of the White House’s positions, among them that Harvard has shut out voices that liberals disagree with and that it had failed to adequately restrain campus antisemitism...

Full story at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/23/us/harvard-changes-academic-freedom-trump-deal.html.