Will Harvard Continue to Lead the Charge? - Part 108

From the Harvard Crimson: Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76 said the University “went wrong” by allowing professors to inject their personal views into the classroom, arguing that faculty activism had chilled free speech and debate on campus. In rare and unusually candid remarks on a podcast released [last] Tuesday, Garber appeared to tie many of higher education’s oft-cited ills — namely, a dearth of tolerance and free debate — to a culture that permits, and at times encourages, professors to foreground their identity and perspectives in teaching.“How many students would actually be willing to go toe-to-toe against a professor who's expressed a firm view about a controversial issue?” he said.

The remarks mark Garber’s most explicit public acknowledgement that faculty practices have contributed to a breakdown in open discourse on campus — and that he is committed to backtracking toward neutrality in the classroom... Though Garber has carved some exceptions to the policy — notably when he, in his personal capacity, condemned a Palestine Solidarity Committee post marking the anniversary of the Oct. 7 attack — he has increasingly emphasized restraint, particularly in the classroom...

While the podcast touched on free speech, antisemitism, and protest policy, ...Garber [was not pressed] on Harvard’s ongoing conflict with the federal government or a potential settlement. In his responses, Garber echoed the sentiment of a Faculty of Arts and Sciences report released last January, which affirmed professors’ right to “extramural speech” but warned that instructors must proactively encourage disagreement in the classroom to avoid alienating students. One example of professors espousing political views, Garber said, was the rise of anti-Israel sentiment among a body of disproportionately left-wing faculty in the aftermath of Oct. 7.

...Garber said the rise in anti-Israel beliefs occurred in tandem with a rise in antisemitism on college campuses. Though Garber has dismissed attempts by the Trump administration to use antisemitism as a justification for its pressure campaign against the University, he has not denied its presence on Harvard’s campus...

Full article at https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/1/3/garber-faculty-activism-podcast/.