After pushing back on the Trump administration‘s order to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion on campus, Harvard caved hours into Day 1 of a court battle.
Harvard entered a court battle Monday, as reported by CNN, to push the administration to restore more than $2 billion in federal funding, which President Donald Trump and his administration said they would revoke for public schools and institutions of higher learning that fail to follow DEI guidelines.
Trump’s DEI guidelines are to remove anything resembling DEI from American schools as “illegal and immoral discrimination” to advance racial, gender, class or other representation in public spaces.
Harvard announced Monday that the oldest and wealthiest college in the United States will change the name of its DEI office. The former head of the college’s Office for Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging announced the change via email.
“We must sharpen our focus on fostering connections across difference, creating spaces for dialogue, and cultivating a culture of belonging – not as an abstract ideal, but as a lived experience for all. To capture this emphasis and this mission, our office will become Community and Campus Life, effective immediately,” Harvard’s Sherri Ann Charleston wrote. Charleston was hired in 2020 as the university’s first chief diversity and inclusion officer.
Harvard will also no longer host or fund affinity group celebrations during commencement, the school’s student newspaper, The Harvard Crimson, reported, which received information from Charleston’s email to affinity groups on campus. The U.S. Department of Education had threatened funding if Harvard did not cancel celebrations at graduation focused on certain student racial groups.
The Trump Administration is reportedly investigating complaints about race-based discrimination at Harvard Law Review, the law journal edited by Harvard students that is the most influential in the American legal profession.
“Harvard Law Review’s article selection process appears to pick winners and losers on the basis of race, employing a spoils system in which the race of the legal scholar is as, if not more, important than the merit of the submission,” Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor said in a statement.
In an April 14 letter, Harvard President Alan Garber, who is Jewish, said the university will not make broad policy changes because the White House demands them across the country, including eliminating DEI. Education advocates applauded Harvard for standing up to Trump’s executive order, which also demands changing university policies on protests, admissions and tightening antisemitism efforts.
The Trump administration has cited the presence of antisemitism on campus as its main reason to demand the removal of DEI.
“The University will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights,” Garber’s letter stated.
The federal funding freeze at Harvard will remain through summer 2025 until a federal district judge makes a final decision in the lawsuit. Oral arguments begin July 21.
The Trump administration has also suggested it will end Harvard’s tax-exempt status and no longer allow the university to host foreign students.
In her email, Charleston said that now is the “right time” to change DEI at Harvard. Her new title is Chief Community and Campus Life Officer.
“It seemed like the right time to adjust my title to better reflect what the offices under my direction do for our campus community,” she wrote.
A new Pulse survey of more than 10,000 respondents, including Harvard students, faculty and staff, revealed approximately half of Jewish students who responded said they feel comfortable expressing their opinions at Harvard. Fifty-one percent of Muslim students who completed the survey said they feel comfortable.
“We will also continue to comply with Students For Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which ruled that Title VI of the Civil Rights Act makes it unlawful for universities to make decisions ‘on the basis of race,’” Garber wrote.
On April 22, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump has made it clear that Harvard is responsible for the situation of losing funding, and that all colleges and universities are expected to abide by federal law.
Harvard argues in the lawsuit that freezing funding is the Trump administration‘s “attempt to coerce and control Harvard.” The administration is disregarding “fundamental First Amendment principles” and has violated the Administrative Procedure Act of 1946. The legislation “requires this Court to hold unlawful and set aside any final agency action that is ‘arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law.”
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Rebecca Barnabi
