Harvard Kennedy School lays off staff amid backlash over DEI, anti-Semitism response
The Harvard Kennedy School announced it will lay off some staff after grant cuts from the federal government over the school’s response to campus anti-Semitism and support for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI.)
Dean Jeremy Weinstein sent an email on Wednesday announcing the change, which he stated was a reaction to 'unprecedented new headwinds' that had spurred 'significant financial challenges.'
The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) announced that it will lay off part of its staff following grant cuts from the federal government over the school’s response to campus anti-Semitism and support for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI).
The dean of HKS, Jeremy Weinstein, sent an email on Wednesday announcing the change, which he stated was a reaction to “unprecedented new headwinds” that had spurred “significant financial challenges,” as reported by Fox News.
Weinstein specifically referenced “massive cuts to federal funding of research” in the email.
The HKS dean also announced that the school will restructure some positions to ensure financial stability. “Unfortunately, those efforts alone will not be enough to address our current financial challenges,” Weinstein reportedly wrote in the letter.
“As a result, we need to lay off some members of our team and restructure other positions to ensure the long-term financial future of the Kennedy School,” Weinstein added. “This is an extremely difficult moment, and one that we did everything possible to avoid.”
President Trump’s efforts to bar foreign students from Harvard would be particularly problematic for HKS, as noted by The Harvard Crimson. More than half of HKS students last year came from foreign nations.
Harvard’s Chan School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School have also had to make cuts as far back as April, according to WBUR.
Campus Reform has reported about the Trump administration’s efforts to block federal funding previously earmarked for Harvard. This month, 16 Republican states filed a brief supporting Trump’s efforts to block the funding over anti-Semitism and DEI concerns.
“There are apparently three constant truths in American life: death, taxes, and Harvard University’s discrimination against Jews,” the state attorney generals wrote in a letter.
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The officials added that “the bottom line is that the First Amendment does not allow institutions to violate Title VI,” and that federally funded institutions “must live up to their obligations to protect Jewish students, just like they protect students of other nationalities, ethnicities, and religions.”
Campus Reform has also reported how Harvard, the world’s richest university, has used a Massachusetts legal loophole to avoid paying for tort damages. Because Harvard qualifies as “furthering its charitable mission” under state law, it is capped for tort liability at $20,000.
“If [Massachusetts residents] get hit by an Amazon truck and become a quadriplegic, be assured that Amazon will be paying them many millions of dollars to look out for them for the rest of their lives,” State Sen. Carmine Gentile has explained. “But if they get hit by a Harvard University truck, with a $50 billion endowment, they’re not going to get squat.”
Campus Reform has contacted Harvard University for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
