Harvard, Baylor cut dining options due to costs despite $80k+ tuition prices

Two separate universities have announced the closure of on-campus dining options for students while universities across the United States have increased tuition and continued to fund DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion).

The Harvard Crimson has reported that Harvard University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences closed its Barker Center Cafe and laid off 20 student employees. Additionally, Baylor University in Texas has announced that on May 14th it will close its Brooks Great Hall, one of four full-service dining locations for students at the university, as reported by the Baylor Lariat.

In an internal memo, a Harvard official noted “[a]s part of annual reviews of budgets and in light of the current uncertain financial times, we are in a position where we need to focus funding on academic programs and services.”

The Harvard administrator said that the cafe closed on April 30, and that the university “has been in contact with the student workers’ union and has offered to engage in order to support the needs of any returning student worker who may be impacted by this closure decision.” 

The Ivy League school recently had federal funding paused, amounting to $2.2 billion dollars in grants, after rejecting demands from the Trump administration to scale back DEI on campus.

The university also recently outlined how it would begin pausing merit-based raises for faculty and staff in the upcoming school year. 

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The Faculty of Arts and Sciences, which ran the cafe, announced in March that it was preparing for financial constraints, and issued a letter to administrators saying that it would cut back spending due to political fears. 

Similarly, a Baylor spokesperson told the Lariat that the closed dining option would be converted to an event space. The official stated that, “This decision allows Baylor to maximize the Great Hall footprint for future student meeting and event space as well as other campus and community needs.” 

A Baylor spokesperson stated to Campus Reform that, “It is not unusual for colleges and universities to repurpose buildings and spaces based on changing needs, capacity and other factors, and this decision allows Baylor to maximize the Great Hall footprint for future student meeting and event space as well as other campus and community needs.”

“[A] recent internal review has revealed that fewer and fewer individuals are choosing to eat at Brooks,” the spokesperson added. “In fact, less than 10% of campus dining is delivered in the Great Hall, while the costs to operate the facility as a full-time dining hall continue to increase.”

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Campus Reform has previously noted how academic institutions have increased student fees and costs of tuition to fund far-left programs like DEI events and programming.

Tuition costs for Harvard and Baylor during the 2025-26 academic year will sit at totals of $86,926 and $80,258, respectively. Undergraduate students at Baylor will pay $16,638 for housing and food, while students at Harvard will pay a “Food Rate” of $8,598.

Additionally, Harvard’s spending and income has been in question as the Department of Education demanded the university release records of its foreign funding, as the school has accepted $1.6 million from Palestine during 2017-2019.