Latest news with #AlanGarber
The Hindu
5 hours ago
- Politics
- The Hindu
The man who stood up to Trump
In May last year, as Alan Garber stepped up to the podium on Harvard Alumni Day, a woman suddenly emerged from the crowd and poured gold glitter all over his head. She then began demanding the release of monkeys from the university's laboratories. With his face still covered in shimmering flecks, Mr. Garber calmly assured the attendees that he was unharmed and then declared, 'I hope that Harvard will always continue to be a place where… free speech continues to thrive.' Unbeknownst to him at the time, the physician and economist would soon become a central figure in the pushback against the Trump administration's escalating assault on academic freedom across American university campuses. The latest salvo in this ongoing conflict came when the Department of Homeland Security revoked Harvard's certification to enrol international students. The move prompted an immediate lawsuit from the university and a swift restraining order from a federal judge. Though the decision is interim, it brought palpable relief to students as the university held its commencement on May 29. In his address, Mr. Garber did not refer to the standoff directly, but his words struck a defiant note: Harvard, he said, welcomes students from around the world 'just as it should be'. Mr. Garber's association with Harvard spans over half a century, beginning in 1973 when he enrolled as an undergraduate. He went on to earn three degrees from the Ivy League institution — a bachelor's, a master's, and a doctorate, all in economics. He later pursued a medical degree from Stanford University, where he eventually built a distinguished academic career spanning over 25 years. Presidency forged in crisis In 2011, then-Harvard president Drew Gilpin Faust invited him to serve as provost, the university's chief academic officer. Reflecting on the decision in an interview with The New York Times, she recalled being impressed by his calm demeanour and ability to build consensus in moments of conflict. Over the next 12 years, Mr. Garber solidified his reputation as a formidable senior administrator while maintaining a low public profile. By 2023, he was preparing to step away from administrative duties and return to teaching. However, fate had other plans. That year, Claudine Gay made history as Harvard's first Black female president. But her tenure came to an abrupt end just six months later, following allegations of plagiarism and mounting criticism over her handling of alleged anti-Semitism on campus. Soon thereafter, Mr. Garber found himself suddenly thrust into the spotlight, tasked with steering the university through one of its most turbulent chapters. In his first interview as interim president with The Harvard Crimson, he candidly acknowledged that he was assuming office at a 'painful and disorienting time for Harvard'. One of his first administrative decisions was to establish twin presidential task forces to address anti-Semitism and Islamophobia on campus. His appointment of Derek J. Penslar, a professor of Jewish history, as co-chair of the anti-Semitism task force drew immediate criticism, largely due to Mr. Penslar's prior writings that were critical of the Israeli government. Just over a month later, Mr. Garber made another contentious decision by appointing John F. Manning, a conservative law professor, as interim provost. This move stirred quiet discontent among the university's predominantly liberal faculty. Around the same time, Harvard adopted a new policy of not issuing official statements unrelated to its 'core functions', following the recommendations of a faculty committee. Its largest academic division also announced that it would no longer require job applicants to submit written statements affirming their commitment to diversity. What ultimately solidified Mr. Garber's reputation as a resolute leader unafraid to make unpopular decisions for the university's betterment was his handling of the pro-Palestinian encampment protests that spread across campuses. While many peer institutions responded with police crackdowns, he opted for restraint and dialogue. The encampment at Harvard concluded peacefully after he agreed to expedite petitions for reinstating suspended students and facilitated a meeting between protesters and the university's governing bodies to discuss divestment. To the Harvard Corporation, his measured response exemplified the leadership the university needed. Consequently, on August 2, 2024, Mr. Garber was appointed president through the 2026–27 academic year. During his 2024 campaign, Mr. Trump pledged to reclaim American universities from 'radical Left and Marxist maniacs', indicating that reining in academia would be a priority in his second term. Initially, Mr. Garber avoided confrontation with the new administration. When the White House announced in March that it was reviewing $9 billion in grants and contracts over Harvard's alleged failure to protect students from anti-Semitic discrimination, his response was measured rather than defiant. He expressed a willingness to work with the federal task force in outlining the university's efforts to combat anti-Semitism. In a rare personal disclosure, he revealed that he had encountered anti-Semitism himself, even while serving as president. However, the administration's next move marked a sharp escalation. On April 11, an email from federal officials laid out sweeping demands: federal oversight of faculty hiring, mandatory reporting of misconduct by international students, and the appointment of an external overseer to enforce 'viewpoint diversity' within academic departments. Three days later, Harvard released a searing letter penned by Mr. Garber. 'No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue,' he wrote. Legal fight with government In the days that followed, federal officials announced the suspension of $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in contracts awarded to the university, alongside threats to revoke its tax-exempt status. Harvard responded by suing the Trump administration, accusing it of exerting financial coercion to interfere with academic governance. The 51-page lawsuit also accused the administration of violating the First Amendment by restricting what Harvard's faculty could teach students. Harvard has already announced cuts to degree-granting programmes and halted faculty recruitment. It is also staring down a catastrophic Republican-backed endowment tax Bill. Although most of the administration's sanctions are being challenged in court, the litigation will take months if not years. Even if the courts ultimately side with Harvard, appeals are almost certain, and some hits to funding may be irreversible. Mr. Garber, too, has been compelled to concede ground. Last month, he announced that Harvard would undertake reforms to 'focus on individuals and their unique characteristics rather than their race'. Soon after, the university cancelled graduation ceremonies for affinity groups. His strategy reflects a delicate balancing act — shielding the institution from political assault while undertaking reforms that may ensure its survival.
News18
14 hours ago
- Politics
- News18
Harvard Chief's Swipe At Trump In Address To 2025 Batch: ‘From Around The World…'
Last Updated: Harvard President Alan Garber, addressing the Class of 2025, extended a warm welcome to students from across the United States and around the world. Days after US President Donald Trump revoked Harvard University's ability to enroll international students, the university president took a swipe at Trump during the commencement ceremony. Alan Garber received a huge round of applause at Tercentenary Theatre in Harvard Yard after acknowledging the presence of students 'from around the world". 'To the class of 2025, from down the street, across the country, and around the world," he said as students clapped. 'Around the world, just as it should be," he added. His remark came days after the Trump administration on Tuesday asked federal agencies to cancel contracts with Harvard University worth about USD 100 million. The government has already cancelled over USD 2.6 billion in federal research grants for the Ivy League school. President Donald Trump has railed against Harvard, calling it a hotbed of liberalism and antisemitism. Amid the ongoing tensions, a federal judge on Thursday extended an order blocking the Trump administration's attempt to stop Harvard from enrolling foreign students. Harvard also sued the federal government after Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem revoked its ability to host foreign students at its campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts. 'Harvard will continue to take steps to protect the rights of our international students and scholars, members of our community who are vital to the University's academic mission and community — and whose presence here benefits our country immeasurably," a university spokesman said in a statement. Notably, more than 7,000 international students, exchange scholars and alumni participating in a post-graduate career training period rely on Harvard for their sponsorship and legal status in the United States. The Trump administration has accused Harvard of promoting liberal ideology and failing to adequately protect Jewish students from harassment. The administration is now calling for structural and policy reforms to bring the university in line with the president's political vision. Watch India Pakistan Breaking News on CNN-News18. Get breaking news, in-depth analysis, and expert perspectives on everything from geopolitics to diplomacy and global trends. Stay informed with the latest world news only on News18. Download the News18 App to stay updated! First Published:
India Today
17 hours ago
- Politics
- India Today
Video: Harvard chief's jab at Trump in speech to 2025 batch wins standing ovation
During Harvard University's commencement ceremony, President Alan Garber took a jibe at Donald Trump and received a standing ovation after he opened his address by celebrating the presence of students "from around the world". This comes as the Donald Trump administration has been targeting the enrolment of international students at the opening lines drew loud applause from the crowd at the historic Tercentenary Theatre in Harvard Yard. "To the class of 2025, from down the street, across the country and around the world," he said, pausing to allow the cheers to rise. "Around the world, just as it should be."BREAKING: At the Harvard Graduation Ceremony moments ago, Harvard President Alan M. Garber just got a standing ovation after taking a subtle shot at President Trump."To the class of 2025, from down the street, across the country and around the world. AROUND THE WORLD! JUST AS Ed Krassenstein (@EdKrassen) May 29, 2025advertisementJust days earlier, the White House attempted to block Harvard from enroling international students and cancelled an additional USD 100 million in federal contracts with the university. The remarks came amid escalating tensions between Harvard and the Trump administration. On Wednesday, the US Department of Homeland Security sent Harvard a notice of intent to withdraw its certification under a federal program that allows the enrolment of non-US students. A federal judge responded by announcing she would issue an order to block the administration's move from taking immediate Thursday, the White House had stepped back from its initial plan, saying Harvard would now have 30 days to contest the withdrawal through a formal administrative the commencement ceremony, speakers from the student body, faculty, and keynote guests addressed the broader climate of political hostility, urging resilience and reaffirming the university's commitment to inclusion and global
Free Malaysia Today
a day ago
- Health
- Free Malaysia Today
Defunding Harvard hurts America
Last week, I was among hundreds of researchers at Harvard University who received termination notices for our federal research grants. Mine was for a project to study electrical signalling between neurons in the brain. My lab's research has led to progress in treatments for pain, epilepsy, and ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease). We have been working to map the physiological basis of memory, enabling new ways to study Alzheimer's disease. All of our work is available for the public to see. I am a long-time member of the Harvard community (18 years on the faculty, plus four years as an undergraduate), and I am visibly and proudly Jewish. The government's decision to withhold federal funding in the name of combating antisemitism is wrong, bad for Jews everywhere, and terrible for the US. Yes, antisemitism on campus is real and must be confronted. Harvard's recent report on the matter documents harrowing incidents of bias and harassment. But in my 22 years here, I have never personally encountered antisemitism. From many conversations with Jewish students and colleagues, I am confident that Harvard is and has been a welcoming and supportive home for the vast majority. The problem of antisemitism is serious but not systemic. A proportionate and effective response requires local knowledge and nuanced leadership, exactly the sort that Harvard's president, Alan Garber, provides. His Presidential Task Force on Combating Antisemitism and Anti-Israeli Bias, and the parallel Presidential Task Force on Combating Anti-Muslim, Anti-Arab, and Anti-Palestinian Bias, studied these problems extensively and provided strong recommendations that strike a thoughtful balance between the sometimes-competing demands of free speech and protections against harassment. Some are already being implemented. By contrast, US president Donald Trump's administration is seeking to destroy Harvard, and its assertion that it is doing so to combat antisemitism effectively pins the blame for the wreckage on the Jews. Whatever the administration's intent, the effect is indistinguishable from genuine antisemitism. The intent, apparently, is to turn antisemitism into a political weapon, associating it solely with the left and portraying the right as protectors of Jewish students, and hence America's Jews. The government's charges of antisemitism at Harvard and other universities have been supplemented with a litany of other accusations: that students are indoctrinated with leftist ideology; that academic standards have slipped; that Harvard's faculty and students are living fat off taxpayer dollars. Trump claimed: 'Harvard can no longer be considered even a decent place of learning.' I invite any Trump administration official who thinks our academic standards have declined to sit for an exam in my class. If you can explain the quantum principles underlying the structure of the Periodic Table (like my 18-year-old freshmen can), then you can lecture me on academic standards. The notes for my graduate biophysics class are online. I challenge any reader to guess my political leanings from these notes (be careful, you might learn some physics while searching). My classes are the norm, not the exception. Trump supporters argue that, given its US$53.2 billion endowment, Harvard doesn't need federal money. But the opposite is true. The endowment has been subsidising research costs by supporting graduate students, financing core facilities, and providing funds to help new researchers get started. This support provides additional leverage for taxpayer investments in science. Every dollar of my grants is scrutinised. There is no fat. Overhead charges to federal grants pay for compliance with federal regulations, safety standards, and lab infrastructure. The Republican Party that Trump leads has long championed local control, limited government, and the free market – especially when it comes to education. For decades, US conservatives have fought for school choice, opposed federal overreach, and insisted that parents, teachers, and local communities – not federal bureaucrats – know best how to educate their children. These values should apply just as much to higher education as they do to primary and secondary schools. Yet today, some of the same voices calling for decentralisation are applauding a heavy-handed federal effort to punish a private university, to dictate who gets to study and teach there, and to interfere in research funding decisions that have traditionally been merit-based and apolitical. The federal government has no more business telling Harvard who it can admit or hire, or what its faculty can teach, than it does setting the curriculum at my kids' public school. Students come to Harvard to learn; if we don't deliver, they will go elsewhere. If Harvard faculty don't produce valuable research, they will lose grants. The academic marketplace is self-correcting, and it is fiercely competitive. When the government steps in to micromanage that system to score political points, it undermines the principles conservatives have defended for generations. In the short term, the people most affected by the Trump administration's funding cuts are not tenured professors, but rather early-career scientists, postdoctoral researchers, and graduate students, very few of whom have any connection to campus activism. In the long term, the US itself will be worse off, both because of the discoveries that don't happen and because global leadership in science and technology will be ceded to China and other countries. The US needs more research funding, not less. On May 15, researchers announced a breakthrough treatment for a baby who had an otherwise-fatal genetic condition – an advance based on discoveries first made at Harvard. Other Harvard researchers are working on advanced battery technologies, and mobility aids for stroke survivors and injured soldiers. Federal investment in science – at Harvard and other US universities – is an investment in a healthier, wealthier, and more secure future for Americans of all backgrounds and beliefs. Cutting it off is a wanton act of self-sabotage. Adam Ezra Cohen is professor of chemistry and physics at Harvard University. The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.
Fox News
a day ago
- Business
- Fox News
Harvard vs. Trump: All the president wants is for the university to obey the law
"It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future," America's philosopher laureate Yogi Berra once said. Wise counsel, but it's difficult to see how Harvard wins its war of wills with President Donald Trump. The oldest and most hallowed university in the country decided to fight Trump after he made a series of demands in April, most of which were reasonable. The reasons why they are fighting aren't crystal clear, but they are discernable. One could be sheer hubris. Harvard is Harvard; it thinks Trump a rube and cannot give in to him. In that case, its fate is sealed. Hubris comes before fall. It could also be that Harvard's dons, and especially its president, Alan Garber, had had just about enough of being a punching bag for students. They knew that fighting a president who is disdained by students and its very leftist professoriate alike would win it accolades from both. It did at this year's graduation on May 29. The New York Times gleefully reported that "The mood at Harvard's graduation ceremony is vastly different from the scene at last year's, where the university's leadership was frequently booed and hundreds walked out in protest over the university's handling of Gaza protests. This year, Alan Garber, the school president, has received multiple standing ovations." But that also could be very short-sighted. Argentine military dictator General Leopoldo Galtieri also received the almost unanimous adulation of his countrymen when he invaded the Falkland Islands in 1982. Then when British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher took the islands back in a very short war, the national mood turned very ugly, and Galtieri was overthrown. Trump's and Harvard's war of words started with a letter the administration sent the university back on April 11, outlining 10 demands. The administration, for example, asked that Harvard make "meaningful governance reform." It also requested that it institute merit-based hiring, giving it an August deadline to "cease all preferences based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin throughout its hiring, promotion, compensation, and related practices among faculty, staff, and leadership." In other words, the administration asked Harvard to abide by the law. It also said the university had to reform international admissions so as to exclude "students hostile to the American values and institutions." Again, common sense. Why would a university admit foreign students who hate Americans and their values? Some civil libertarians may have more trouble with the demand for Harvard to audit "the student body, faculty, staff, and leadership for viewpoint diversity." But Harvard is precisely in its current pickle because for years it has hired only liberal professors, producing the ideological imbalance we have now in the faculty lounge. And nobody could argue with such administration demands as auditing programs and departments "that most fuel antisemitic harassment," or discontinuing diversity, equity and inclusion "programs, offices, committees, positions, and initiatives." But Harvard did argue. On April 14, Garber fired back by writing a message to Harvard's stakeholders refusing all the demands. "No government—regardless of which party is in power—should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue," he wrote. That very evening, Trump responded by freezing $2.2 billion in multi-year grants. And he hasn't stopped. Since then, Trump's Department of Homeland Security moved on May 22 to revoke Harvard's ability to enroll foreign students. Harvard Professor Kirsten Weld called it "an extinction-level event," and it is easy to see why. Foreign students account for almost 7,000 of Harvard's students or 27% of the student body in 2024-2025. But the cost of tuition would be even higher. Foreign students, unlike American ones, tend to pay full freight. The hit to tuition could be as high as 40%. Again, Harvard has a tough case to make. DHS says Harvard has allowed "anti-American, pro-terrorist agitators" to make campus unsafe for Jews on campus. But Trump has kept punching. He has threatened to revoke Harvard's tax-exempt status and threatened to cancel all federal contracts with Harvard — around $100 million. Obviously, Trump has many arrows in his quiver, and even Harvard's gargantuan $50 billion endowment could be threatened. In an interview with the BBC recently, a reporter asked me why Trump was pursuing his crusade with Harvard. Doesn't he have bigger things to do, like the economy and foreign policy? It also said the university had to reform international admissions so as to exclude "students hostile to the American values and institutions." Again, common sense. Why would a university admit foreign students who hate Americans and their values? I answered her that Trump may not have read much cultural Marxism, but he understands that this woke mind virus started at our universities, and at the highest level. American taxpayers kept sending money to universities because they thought they were centers where culture would be transmitted to future generations. Instead, cultural Marxists used them as venues to kill the culture. His fight with Harvard is a crusade, all right. And like all crusades, this one is about narrative. Or, in Yogi's immortal words, "It ain't over till it's over."
