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Business Standard
21-07-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Harvard faculty who fear school's destruction seeks deal with Trump admin
Kit Parker is used to being an anomaly on Harvard University's campus. The physicist — an Army Reserve colonel who served in Afghanistan — is a long-time critic of the school's hiring practices and what he sees as liberal biases. For months, he's urged the university to address criticisms from the White House, even as the vast majority of his colleagues applauded Harvard's decision to resist President Donald Trump's efforts to reshape higher education. These days, in Parker's telling, he finds himself less isolated as Harvard confronts the harsh realities of a sustained fight with the US government. Faculty such as Parker and Eric Maskin, an economics and mathematics professor who won a Nobel Prize in 2007, want Harvard to resolve the clash with Trump before punishing financial penalties cause irreparable damage to the school and the US. They and other faculty agree that reform is needed to address issues including antisemitism, political bias and academic rigor. Harvard declined to comment on negotiations with the Trump administration. The stakes for Harvard will be in focus on Monday, when a federal judge in Boston will hear arguments on whether the Trump administration illegally froze more than $2 billion in research funding, as the university claims. In a sign that the Trump administration isn't running out of ways to challenge the school, government agencies in July threatened Harvard's accreditation and subpoenaed data on its international students. Just last week, Garber warned the combined impact of the federal government's actions could cost the school as much as $1 billion annually — a figure that takes into account federal research cuts, a higher endowment tax and the government's continuing attempt to ban it from enrolling foreign students. Garber said that the school will continue to slash expenditures and that a hiring freeze will remain in place. 'There's a point at which the grant cuts destroy Harvard as a leading university,' said law professor Mark Ramseyer. 'That point is far below $1 billion. So we were already fully in the disaster zone.' Faculty members like Parker, Maskin and Ramseyer – all members of the Council on Academic Freedom at Harvard, a campus group that says it supports free inquiry, intellectual diversity and civil discourse – remain a minority in the wider Harvard community. In a survey of professors in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, 71% said they believed Harvard shouldn't try to reach an agreement with the Trump administration. The poll was conducted by the student newspaper in April and May, and less than a third of some 1,400 professors it was distributed to responded, meaning it might not be a representative sample of views overall. FAS houses 40 academic departments. An alumni group called Crimson Courage continues to urge Garber to fight, and many students would find a settlement unpalatable. 'Standing strong is not merely an operational exercise: it is a moral imperative,' Crimson Courage said last month in a letter to Garber and the board that oversees the university. 'The world is watching and needs Harvard's leadership and courage now.' The splits hint at the delicate position Harvard's leadership is in after months of standing up to the Trump administration, including by suing the government for cutting off federal funding and to prevent a ban on international students. In the hearing Monday in the federal funding case, Harvard is poised to argue the administration's freeze violated its First Amendment rights and failed to follow proper procedures under civil rights law. But the administration argues that Harvard failed to address antisemitism, and the US acted properly under federal law in terminating funding. Harvard has said it is working to combat antisemitism with steps like updating its rules on use of campus spaces, reviewing its disciplinary processes and funding projects aimed at bridging campus divisions. For Garber and the Harvard Corp., the powerful governing body led by Penny Pritzker, striking a deal quickly would offer significant benefits. Students are set to start returning to campus in a matter of weeks, so reaching a settlement before then would potentially allow the school to provide a measure of clarity to international students before the start of the academic year. If funding were restored as part of an agreement, it could also end months of uncertainty for researchers. David Bergeron, a former acting assistant secretary at the Department of Education in Barack Obama's administration, pointed to another advantage for Harvard of arriving at an agreement soon. 'There are fewer faculty and students around in the summer to object,' Bergeron said. Now that the school has become an avatar for resistance to Trump's efforts to transform higher education, a settlement will be perceived by some key constituencies as a capitulation. Bertha Madras, a professor at Harvard Medical School since 1986, said that she thinks some of the changes that could stem from an agreement would benefit the university – even if she thought Trump's tactics for achieving them were aggressive. 'This new reality calls for institutional pride to yield to negotiations,' said Madras, a professor of psychobiology, adding that she sees 'an opportunity for timely self-examination and fast-track reforms.' Maskin, who is one of seven co-presidents of the Council on Academic Freedom, holds a similar view. 'There are plenty of things that Harvard could be doing and should be doing. To go ahead and do them is not caving. It's making the university better,' Maskin said. Still, it's not clear how much progress Harvard and the Trump administration have made toward a deal. While President Trump said last month that Harvard was close to a 'mindbogglingly' historic deal, Bloomberg News later reported that talks between the administration and the school had stalled. Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in July that the administration was 'negotiating hard' with both Harvard and Columbia University. 'I think we're getting close to having that happen. It's not wrapped up as fast as I wanted to, but we're getting there,' she added.
CNN
11-07-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Websites serving Harvard undergrad women, minority and LGBTQ students taken down, Crimson reports
Websites for Harvard College centers serving minority and LGBTQ students and women vanished Wednesday, The Harvard Crimson reported, marking the continued unraveling of diversity initiatives at the nation's most prestigious university as it faces fresh pressure from the Trump administration. Websites for the Harvard College Women's Center, the Office for BGLTQ Student Life and the Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations now redirect to a page for an Office of Culture and Community, the student newspaper reported. That office – which promotes '(e)xposure to and learning from different backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences,' its site states – was announced internally just Wednesday as a replacement for the soon-to-close diversity office for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, which encompasses Harvard College, the undergraduate school and university's PhD programs. The White House welcomed the development, viewing it as a goodwill gesture one official described Thursday as 'good news.' In a letter to Harvard President Alan Garber on Thursday, alumni group Crimson Courage expressed disappointment with 'the dismantling of diversity efforts at Harvard College and the FAS,' calling it a threat to academic freedom and the university's core values. The group called on Garber to reinstate diversity initiatives to 'ensure that all students are safe and welcome.' 'This is no time to step back from your refusal to allow the federal government to dictate how Harvard educates,' Crimson Courage said. 'It's time for courage not capitulation.' Also Wednesday, the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services notified the New England Commission of Higher Education that Harvard is 'in violation of federal antidiscrimination laws and therefore may fail to meet the standards for accreditation set by the Commission,' according to a joint statement. That statement followed a June 30 finding by the Trump administration's Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism that Harvard was in 'violent violation' of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color or national origin in programs or activities receiving federal funding. The new Office of Culture and Community is part of an effort to 'break down silos, ensuring all members of our community are connected, supported, and empowered,' Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean Hopi Hoekstra told colleagues Wednesday in a memo to which a university spokesperson directed CNN for information about the disappearance of the Harvard College website. As for its accreditation, Harvard 'continues to comply with the New England Commission of Higher Education's Standards for Accreditation, maintaining its accreditation uninterrupted since its initial review in 1929,' the spokesperson said Thursday in a statement. 'Antisemitism is a serious problem and no matter the context, it is unacceptable,' the statement said, adding the university 'has made significant strides to combat bigotry, hate and bias.' The moves Wednesday come amid a monthslong fight between Harvard and the Trump administration, which has sought to coerce the school to make changes that adhere to its more conservative ideology and less than a month ago suggested a deal was in sight. Other US universities have faced similar pressure from the White House and met at least some of its demands. At Harvard, the White House since April has frozen billions of federal dollars and threatened to yank more if Harvard does not comply, accusing the university in part of failing to adequately combat antisemitism and curb diversity practices – designed to advance racial, gender, class and other representation in public spaces – it decries as 'illegal and immoral discrimination.' Harvard in April announced it would rename its central diversity office from the Office for Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging to the Office of Community and Campus Life. It also has acknowledged antisemitism is an issue, and two school task forces in late April released a pair of internal reports – one on its handling of antisemitism and anti-Israeli bias, and the other of anti-Muslim, anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian bias. Its antisemitism task force, among other proposed changes, recommended updating the admissions process to focus on the need to work alongside people of differing viewpoints and be prepared to accept disagreements. Harvard should also 'become a hub for antisemitism research' and dedicate a faculty member to its study, the task force said. 'We remain committed to ensuring members of our Jewish and Israeli community are embraced, respected, and can thrive at Harvard,' its spokesperson added Thursday. Meantime, Harvard continues to battle the Trump administration in federal court on two fronts: In one, it seeks to claw back the frozen federal funds, with a hearing set for July 21; in the other, a judge has indefinitely blocked the White House's effort to revoke Harvard's ability to enroll international students, who make up about a quarter of its enrollment.
Boston Globe
11-07-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Trump ‘just wants to make Harvard bleed,' and these alumni are standing up to him
Anurima Bhargava, ('96) a former Justice Department official in the Obama administration who helped write the brief, said in an interview. This is the moment for alumni to protect the institution that seeded their success. 'A lot of people are feeling they have something to stand up for even if they've never been involved before.' Advertisement Harvard's Advertisement This ignores the work Harvard The stakes could hardly be higher. As another signatory, the conservative writer Bill Kristol ('73), put it in a Over the past few months, the stance of Crimson Courage and other concerned alumni has veered from admonishing the university not to capitulate to Crimson Courage has taken no specific stand on what might constitute a fair compromise, said Miles Rapoport, former senior fellow at Harvard's Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation and a Crimson Courage leader, but it is 'totally united in defense of academic freedom, constitutional law, the democratic process, and against government overreach.' Advertisement Perhaps unintentionally, Trump's attack has had a unifying effect on the campus community; indeed, some Crimson Courage leaders had been on the barricades against Harvard during Vietnam-era protests. Even Lawrence Summers, the former Harvard president who has been a in an interview, 'it's a principle of organizing that you have no permanent opponents or permanent allies.' Finfer is helping to organize a rally at the Moakley courthouse on July 21, when US District Judge Allison Burroughs will hear Harvard's To be sure, not all Harvard alumni agree. After all, it was billionaire donor William Ackman ('88) who set off a cascade of troubles for Harvard in 2023 by It's hard to see at this point how Harvard and Trump can both claim victory in any agreement to suspend hostilities. Trump will want to prove that he stuck it to the ' as Rapoport put it, if 'he just wants to make Harvard bleed.' Advertisement Renée Loth's column appears regularly in the Globe.
Yahoo
25-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Alums urge Harvard to resist compromise with Trump as reports of deal emerge
Harvard alumni, through Crimson Courage, whose mission is to stand up for academic freedom, sent an open letter to Harvard administrators on Monday morning calling for the institution to resist caving into the federal government. 'We cannot stand for 'veritas' if we refuse to stand up for truth when the moment demands it or if we dilute our values because it is expedient,' said the community of Harvard alumni. The letter comes after reports that the Trump administration and Harvard were circling toward a deal after months of challenges. President Donald Trump boasted on Friday of a 'mindbogglingly HISTORIC' deal with Harvard University. In April, the Trump administration demanded an overhaul of Harvard's leadership structure, admissions and hiring. If the university didn't comply, it risked losing $9 billion in funding, the federal government said. The actions were taken in the name of antisemitism, as the Trump administration claimed Harvard failed to protect Jewish students, particularly in the wake of the war in Gaza. Harvard rejected the administration's demands and set the stage for a historic showdown, leading to two lawsuits — one of which centered on Harvard's ability to enroll international students. It also led to a series of other funding cuts and cuts to research funding. The university has so far largely prevailed in court in lawsuits against the Trump administration, with a federal judge granting a preliminary injunction on Friday, allowing Harvard University's international students to continue attending school until the legality of the case is decided. Crimson Courage sent the letter to Harvard President Alan Garber, the Harvard Corporation and the Board of Overseers, the Harvard Alumni Association and the Deans of all 12 Harvard schools, according to the organization. The organization pointed to President Garber's speech on alumni day on June 6, where he said that no government should 'dictate what we teach, who we admit and hire, and which areas of study of inquiry they can pursue.' The Harvard alumni said that academic freedom 'cannot be negotiated away nor yield to political pressure and coercion.' 'Harvard has benefited from our early embrace of academic freedom as seen in its world-class research as well as its graduates' civic and business leadership across the world. Standing strong is not merely an operational exercise: it is a moral imperative,' Crimson Courage said. 'The world is watching and needs Harvard's leadership and courage now,' the organization said. Crimson Courage said Harvard's status as a global leader in higher education would be 'decimated' if Harvard compromised on its ideals. 'We cannot stand for 'veritas' if we refuse to stand up for truth when the moment demands it or if we dilute our values because it is expedient,' the organization said. In its first lawsuit against the Trump administration, Harvard garnered the support of 12,000 alumni, which emanated from Crimson Courage's organizing. Other individuals and groups also expressed their support through amicus briefs, including two dozen universities, Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell, the American Civil Liberties Union, the American Council on Education, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression — also known as FIRE — and Columbia Alumni for Academic Freedom. 'We have your back and we trust that you have our backs as well,' Crimson Courage said. These 16 states are supporting the Trump admin in lawsuit with Harvard 'Devastating': 10 Harvard researchers detail 'essential' work set to be cut by Trump Federal judge halts Trump's plans to keep Harvard from enrolling foreign students Harvard researcher's work gives 'hope' for Parkinson's. But the feds cut his funding These US colleges are among the top 100 best global universities, US News says Read the original article on MassLive.
Bloomberg
23-06-2025
- Politics
- Bloomberg
Harvard Alumni Group Calls on School to Resist Amid Trump Feud
A group of Harvard University alumni urged the school not to cave to the Trump administration's demands as it restarts talks with the White House. President Donald Trump on Friday said his administration had been holding talks with Harvard and may announce a ''mindbogglingly' HISTORIC' deal over the next week. Any detente must not come at the expense of Harvard's academic freedom and institutional autonomy, said Crimson Courage, a grassroots campaign organized by alumni to rally goodwill and money for the university in its battle with Trump.
