Will Harvard Continue to Lead the Charge? - Part 65

From the Harvard Crimson: Harvard Business School won’t say what happened to its $25 million Racial Equity Action Plan after the plan was apparently shuttered as Harvard backs away from the language of race and diversity. The plan was established in 2020 following years of complaints about a lack of diversity at the Business School, where Black students were underrepresented in classrooms and featured in only 5 percent of the case studies used in HBS classes. But five years later, as the Trump administration targets diversity programming and Harvard removes mentions of race from its offices and public materials, HBS has indicated that the Racial Equity Action Plan was discontinued and taken down the plan’s website.

In an interview published in August by the Business School’s press office, HBS Chief Community and Culture Officer Terrill L. Drake gave few specifics when asked about the plan’s future. “We will continue to incorporate the intention behind the plan in our efforts. But our aspiration has always been bigger,” Drake said.

“Any initiative that’s designed only for one group inevitably leads others to ask about how the School can recognize and support them,” he added. “We want to maintain the true spirit of the Racial Equity Action Plan, but also broaden it so that everyone across the community sees how the OCC supports who they are and what they bring to the School.”

The action plan’s website now redirects to the homepage of the Office of Community and Culture, which itself was renamed from the Office of Diversity Equity and Inclusion in August...

Full story at https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/9/23/hbs-racial-equity-plan-shuttered/.