Faculty
Facing Trump’s Ultimatum, Harvard Has No Easy Choices
Harvard may find itself walking a tightrope to keep its funding after the Trump administration sent a Thursday night email demanding DEI cuts and policy changes. But some prominent voices are calling on the University to reject the balancing act altogether — and emerge instead as academia’s anti-Trump standard-bearer.
Faculty Votes To Eliminate Option To Take Gen Ed, QRD Courses Pass-Fail
The Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences voted overwhelmingly to eliminate the option to take courses fulfilling the Harvard College General Education and Quantitative Reasoning with Data requirements on a pass-fail basis at a Tuesday faculty meeting.
Harvard FAS Elects 6 New Members to Faculty Council
The Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences elected six new members to its Faculty Council, elevating several professors hoping to exert more control over the University’s governance amid the Trump administration’s attacks on higher education.
FAS Declines To Debate Resolution Condemning Trump
An effort to open debate on whether Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences should condemn President Donald Trump’s threats to academic freedom failed at a Tuesday faculty meeting, falling short of the 80 percent threshold needed to discuss the motion.
Harvard FAS Is Developing a Contingency Plan for Drastic Federal Funding Cuts
Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean Hopi E. Hoekstra said Tuesday that the FAS is developing a contingency plan for the looming possibility that the Trump administration hits Harvard with steep federal funding cuts.
The FAS Dean Told Centers To Comply With Classroom Norms Committee Report. The Committee’s Co-Chair Was Surprised.
History professor Maya R. Jasanoff ’96, who co-chaired the Classroom Social Compact Committee, was caught off guard when FAS Dean Hopi E. Hoekstra cited the CSCC’s report to justify requiring FAS center directors to show their centers promote viewpoint diversity.
Khurana Suggests Trump Admin Is Using Antisemitism Fears As Pretext for Campaign Against Higher Ed
Harvard College Dean Rakesh Khurana said at a Faculty of Arts and Sciences meeting on Tuesday that the federal government has weaponized genuine concerns about campus antisemitism to justify its attacks on higher education.
Harvard Dismisses Leaders of Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Interim Harvard Dean of Social Science David M. Cutler ’87 dismissed the director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, professor of Turkish Studies Cemal Kafadar, and its associate director, History professor Rosie Bsheer, on Wednesday, according to a faculty member familiar with the situation.
More Than 600 Harvard Faculty Urge Governing Boards To Resist Demands From Trump
More than 600 Harvard faculty signed a letter to Harvard’s governing boards urging the University to publicly condemn attacks on universities and defy orders that interfere with its independence.
Harvard Launches ‘Impact Labs’ To Fund Social Scientists Who Partner With Outside Organizations
Harvard will pilot a program — named Harvard Impact Labs — to fund collaboration between social scientists and leaders in the public and private sectors.
Harvard AAUP Sues Trump Administration Over Attempts To Deport Pro-Palestine Students, Faculty
The Harvard chapter of the American Association of University Professors filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Tuesday morning for allegedly violating its members’ First Amendment rights by arresting and attempting to deport noncitizens for expressing pro-Palestine views.
As Trump Slashes Federal Grants, the Harvard School of Public Health Has the Most To Lose
As President Donald Trump escalates his attacks on universities’ access to federal research funding, the Harvard School of Public Health has felt the pain especially acutely.
A Shortcut or a Level Up? Harvard Faculty Debate Generative AI in Academia
Three Harvard faculty members debated whether generative AI would be a useful tool — or a perilous shortcut — in scholarship and teaching at a March 13 panel.
Nearly 200 Harvard Affiliates Rally on Widener Steps To Protest Arrest of Columbia Student
Nearly 200 faculty, staff, and students gathered on the steps of Widener Library on Thursday afternoon to protest the arrest of Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil and call for Harvard to deliver a more assertive rejoinder to President Donald Trump’s attacks on universities.
Susan Wolf Delivers 2025 Mala Soloman Kamm Lecture in Ethics
Philosopher Susan Wolf delivered the 2025 Mala & Soloman Kamm Lecture in Ethics to nearly 50 Harvard affiliates on Thursday, examining the relationship between responsibility, blame, and punishment.
Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Will Deny All Waitlisted Candidates Amid Financial Uncertainty
The Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences will reject all waitlisted candidates for its Ph.D. programs — the University’s latest response to federal funding cuts threatened by the Trump administration.
Biden National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan To Join Harvard Kennedy School Faculty in April
Former U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan will join the Harvard Kennedy School as the inaugural Kissinger Professor of the Practice of Statecraft and World Order on April 1.
With Federal Funds Stalled, Two Harvard School of Public Health Graduate Programs Reduce Admissions
The reductions to Biostatistics Ph.D. admissions are the first reported cuts to a graduate program at Harvard amid President Donald Trump’s escalating attacks on federal funding.
Harvard Freezes Hiring Amid Anxiety Over Trump
Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76 announced a University-wide staff and faculty hiring freeze in a message to Harvard affiliates Monday morning, citing uncertainty under the Trump administration.
Harvard Study Identifies Socializing as a ‘Survival Need’ in Mice
Researchers in the Molecular and Cellular Biology Department published a study last week that found a brain drive for social interactions in mice, similar in neural organization to drives for hunger and thirst.
More Than 500 Researchers, Physicians Rally at Boston Common To Protest Trump’s Attacks on Research Funding
Hundreds of researchers, physicians, and students — including Harvard faculty — rallied at Boston Common on Friday to protest President Donald Trump’s efforts to cut federal funding for scientific research, lay off federal employees, and eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion programming at universities.
Harvard Poised To Eliminate Option To Take Gen Ed, QRD Courses Pass-Fail
Faculty of Arts and Sciences professors expressed broad support at a Tuesday FAS meeting for proposals to eliminate the option to take courses fulfilling the Harvard College General Education and Quantitative Reasoning with Data requirements on a pass-fail basis.
Harvard Students Walk Out of Class To Protest Time Caps for Academic Workers
More than 200 Harvard affiliates rallied outside University Hall on Tuesday afternoon to protest time caps for non-tenure-track faculty, amid an extended campaign by the campus academic workers’ union to end the practice.
Summers Accuses Harvard Corporation, Garber of Inaction Against Antisemitism
Summers’ thread was an extraordinary broadside against Harvard — not just a rebuke of the University’s sitting leadership by a former president, but also a wide-ranging attack against individual instructors, academic programming, and professional schools that Summers termed “redoubts of the far left.”