Harvard President Garber Says Diversity Is a Condition of Academic Excellence at Annual EDIB Forum

Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76 argued diversity is a “critical enabler of learning” in opening remarks at the University’s annual Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging Forum on Tuesday, avoiding reference to sustained threats to diversity programming from the Trump administration.

In his brief remarks on Wednesday to the forum crowd — gathered at Smith Campus Center for a series of panels on equity, diversity, and freedom of speech at Harvard — Garber focused his speech on academics and said diversity enhances higher education.

“Academic excellence continues to resonate with individuals across the country and around the world,” Garber said. “Despite the great uncertainty that we face at the present moment, the possibility that knowledge will pave the way to a better future has not lost its luster.”

“Exposure to different backgrounds, different perspectives, different experiences, leads to intellectual and personal growth,” Garber added.

The annual forum, which was first held in 2022, was hosted less than two weeks after the Department of Education warned federally funded institutions against using race as a factor in any programs or decision making processes. According to the letter, which threatens further legal action, the department will prohibit institutions from associating students with race or distributing benefits based on race.

In her opening remarks at the forum, Harvard’s Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer Sherri A. Charleston also said diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and policies to counteract discrimination, bias, and harassment help create an environment conducive to academic freedom and free expression.

“To nurture free expression and uphold academic freedom, it is imperative that Harvard students, faculty, and staff can engage in discourse and learning without encountering harassment, discrimination, or bias,” she added.

But the event’s keynote speaker, Donna Hicks — an expert in conflict resolution at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs — spoke instead about dignity, a value she argued could connect people and help resolve differences.

“Our shared yearning for dignity, our shared yearning to be treated as if we matter, I think, is our highest common denominator,” Hicks said. “This can elevate us. This can raise us up to a way of being, together in the world, that can outsmart any of the technological advances that we're doing.”

During a question and answer session after her speech, Hicks was asked why there was a growing backlash against dignity.

“Actually, I have not experienced a backlash against dignity,” Hicks responded. “We’ve experienced backlashes against DEI and other people who are canceling out certain literature and novels. But when it comes to this issue of dignity, I have never had pushback.”

At a student panel later in the event, several speakers said they are fearful about the Trump administration’s effect on DEI policies and programs.

Jamaal ‘Jama’ N.A. Willis ’25, who is Black and interned at the Department of State over the summer, said Trump’s comments in June about positions he saw as “Black jobs” undermined the work of employees hired through diversity initiatives.

“I just think we have to start calling out nonsense and recognizing that this does not mean you’re unqualified,” he said. “It just means that you are getting the ability to be in a space that you have not necessarily been granted to be in systematically.”

In an interview following the panel discussion, Willis said that conversations about diversity and inclusion are important “because a lot of people are afraid to just say the word DEI” as government agencies have removed DEI pages and material from their websites.

He added that misconceptions about DEI have allowed people to politicize and “scapegoat” the initiatives and the people they support.

“It becomes an attack on a population who does not deserve it,” Willis said.

Where Garber and Charleston avoided calls to respond to political threats against DEI programming, Willis asked forum attendees to “stop being quiet.”

“We have the privilege of going to Harvard University, having the best opportunities ever,” he said. “Yet it seems as if a lot of people on our campus right now are quiet and afraid.”

“We should be the ones standing up, holding space, holding forums, holding dialogues and discussions,” Willis added.

—Staff writer Alexander W. Anoma can be reached at alexander.anoma@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @AnomaAlexander.

—Staff writer Chantel A. De Jesus can be reached at chantel.dejesus@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @c_a_dejesus.