Harvard Bends Even as It Leads University Resistance to the Trump Administration

In the world of resistance politics, Harvard is leading the university charge against the demands of the Trump administration. Harvard refused to a list of ten demands the administration had sent the school and sued the administration last week.

But reports about the breakdown in communications that proceeded this suggested that, behind the scenes, both sides of the divide wanted a deal. The Trump administration wanted to claim victory over one of the leading schools in the Ivy League and Harvard wanted to avoid having its funding pulled. Neither side got what it wanted.

However, there were some faint signs this week that maybe this isn’t over. Harvard is making small moves toward the Trump administration’s position. First, Harvard announced it would not be funding affinity group graduations this year, at least not ones based on race.

Harvard will no longer host or fund affinity group celebrations during Commencement, the University’s former diversity office wrote in an email to affinity groups on Monday afternoon.

The decision comes months after the U.S. Department of Education threatened another wave of funding cuts if the University did not cancel graduation celebrations that might separate students based on race…

Last year, Harvard hosted ten affinity celebrations for the Class of 2024, including for Arab, Black, Indigenous, Latinx, first-generation, low-income, and Asian American, Pacific Islander, and Desi graduates. The events — some of which drew more than 1,000 people from across Harvard’s schools last year — typically feature awards and speeches from students, faculty, and administrators.

The Education Department letter did not address affinity celebrations not based on race, including events for LGBTQ graduates, Jewish graduates, veterans, and graduates with disabilities.

And that wasn’t the only change announced yesterday. The university also renamed its diversity office.

Harvard will immediately rename its Office of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging to “Community and Campus Life,” the University announced Monday…

The change was announced in a Monday afternoon email from Sherri A. Charleston — formerly Harvard’s chief diversity officer, now retitled as the University’s chief Community and Campus Life officer. Half an hour after Charleston’s email was sent, the OEDIB website did not reflect changes to its name or objectives.

“In the weeks and months ahead, we will take steps to make this change concrete and to work with all of Harvard’s schools and units to implement these vital objectives, including shared efforts to reexamine and reshape the missions and programs of offices across the university,” Charleston wrote…

For months, even as peer schools scrubbed their websites and cut DEI initiatives, Harvard made no major moves to follow suit.

That’s really vague and probably amounts to little more than a rebranding like we’ve seen at other schools (and corporations). Still, the fact that Harvard is even making this minimal effort suggests they are still calibrating their response a bit. 

Even the diversity officer’s description of the school’s new direction sounded promising. She said the school was “reimagining how Harvard fosters community” and added there would be “a focus on supporting free expression.” If true, that would be an improvement.

I guess we’ll see if there is some kind of resumption of discussions with the Trump administration in light of these changes. Trump still wants a win and Harvard still wants that research money so it’s not impossible.