Harvard president pressed on why Americans hate university, acknowledges 'real problems we should address'

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06-05-2025

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Harvard University President Alan Garber was pressed on why Americans dislike the elite institution during an interview with The Wall Street Journal amid the university's back-and-forth with President Donald Trump.
Wall Street Journal editor-in-chief Emma Tucker pressed Garber on why "a lot of people in America really hate Harvard." Trump recently announced he would be freezing federal funds that go to the university, and Harvard responded by filing a lawsuit against the Trump administration.
As Garber noted that there was a strong dislike for elite universities in general, he added, "But I will say that we've had some real problems that we should address. One of them is the perceived lack of ideological diversity, among our faculty and among our students."
"I have to say that there's recent evidence that makes me think maybe this is overblown, even though I think it's a real problem. But the perception is out there that we are an almost uniformly left-wing institution," he said.
President of Harvard University Alan Garber addresses the crowd during the 373rd Commencement at Harvard University.
Jewish Harvard Students Speak Out After University Sues Trump Admin Over Funding Freeze
Tucker then pressed Garber on why the faculty at Harvard skewed liberal, citing a study by The Harvard Crimson that found that over 77% of the faculty surveyed in 2023 identified as either "very liberal" or "liberal."
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"One thing I can tell you is it's nothing deliberate about our hiring policies or our tenure policies, and I think there are certain fields with people with more liberal or left-wing points of view feel more welcome. It may be that we don't have as many conservatives as we should have. Part of it also may be that people don't feel comfortable speaking out when they disagree," he said.
He said that part of what Harvard faculty needed to do was "promote the idea that it doesn't matter what your personal views are, you need to teach in a way that is fair to multiple points of view."
Garber said during an interview with "NBC Nightly News" anchor Lester Holt in late April that he had no choice but to fight the Trump administration.
Donald Trump has targeted Harvard by freezing their federal funding as the administration, and Harvard has sued the Trump administration in response.
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"I would say at Harvard, we have a problem with antisemitism. We take it very seriously, and we are trying to address it. There's no doubt about the severity of that problem. We don't really see the relationship to research funding at Harvard and other universities. They are two different issues," Garber told NBC.
Garber released a letter on April 29 apologizing for the university's failure to address both antisemitic and anti-Muslim/Arab tensions on campus in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack.
Harvard University also released reports from its presidential task forces on antisemitism and anti-Israeli bias, as well as anti-Muslim, anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian bias. In a letter to the university, Garber expressed his gratitude for the teams' work and lamented the rise of bigotry and "sometimes violent clashes" occurring on campus.
"The 2023-24 academic year was disappointing and painful," Garber's letter began. "I am sorry for the moments when we failed to meet the high expectations we rightfully set for our community. The grave, extensive impact of the October 7, 2023, Hamas assault on Israel and its aftermath had serious repercussions on our campus."
Fox News' Lindsay Kornick contributed to this report.
Original article source: Harvard president pressed on why Americans hate university, acknowledges 'real problems we should address'