Under Trump-era pressure, Harvard is backing off DEI and being forced to protect Jewish students
Campus Reform’s reporting shows that Harvard University is changing course on DEI, campus anti-Semitism, transparency, and foreign influence.
Under a blitz of Trump administration–led probes and court filings, Campus Reform’s reporting shows that Harvard University is changing course on DEI, campus anti-Semitism, transparency, and foreign influence.
On the ground, Harvard conservatives say the climate is shifting. “It’s never been a better time to be a Republican at Harvard,” said Michael Oved, president emeritus of the Harvard Republican Club.
[RELATED: Harvard Republican says ‘it’s never been a better time’ to be conservative on campus]
DEI rollbacks and rebrands
Harvard has begun dismantling and rebranding DEI infrastructure across its schools. The Graduate School of Education shuttered its DEI office, while Harvard Business School, Divinity School, and Medical School have been consolidated under “community” branding. Meanwhile, Harvard’s accreditor, the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE), is considering stripping DEI from standards altogether.
To protect its federal funding, the administration warned Harvard that it must “shutter” DEI programs, restore merit-based admissions, and implement merit-based hiring reforms. It further directed Harvard to end all preferences based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin in both admissions and employment—standards that track with the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard.
Crackdown on anti-Semitism
Following an investigation by the Trump administration’s Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism, Harvard was found to be in “violent violation” of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act for failing to stop anti-Semitic harassment on campus. The task force put the university on notice: implement concrete reforms or risk losing federal funding.
The task force outlined safeguards against anti-Semitism that Harvard must implement to keep its federal funding, including a mask ban, disciplined enforcement of conduct codes, and cooperation with police.
Under intense federal scrutiny and mounting litigation pressure, Harvard is weighing a settlement of up to $500 million with the Trump administration over civil-rights violations.
The university also announced new partnerships with Israeli universities.
Return to merit
Harvard’s return to standardized testing requirements and the Trump administration’s new admissions transparency rule are victories for accountability post–affirmative action that make it harder to hide unlawful preferences in admissions. Harvard also pledged institutional neutrality and will no longer issue institutional statements on controversial “public matters.”
Foreign students and monitoring national security
The U.S. State Department opened a formal review of Harvard’s authorization to sponsor J-1 visas for foreign students, scholars, and faculty, examining whether the university remains eligible to host exchange visitors. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the probe was prompted by transparency gaps and potential national-security risks.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) hit Harvard with an I-9 records subpoena, requiring the university to turn over records for all current employees and anyone employed by Harvard in the past 12 months.
Disclose foreign funding
The Department of Education (ED) ordered Harvard to release records that fully disclose foreign funding the university receives through gifts, contracts, and grants. Campus Reform’s audit found that Harvard received over $1.4 billion in foreign funding over the last decade, including from China and Palestine.
Lawmakers have raised alarms about foreign influence at Harvard, prompting a U.S. House of Representatives investigation into the university’s reported close ties with organizations linked to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The probe puts Harvard’s partnerships and funding relationships under the microscope.
What’s next: possible settlement & the Columbia template
Harvard and the White House are already litigating and negotiating. Harvard has floated a settlement of up to $500 million, which is about double Columbia’s fine, to end the dispute. The administration has framed the Columbia deal as a blueprint for reform across higher ed, and a Harvard settlement would likely track it.
Potential settlement terms may include codified merit-based admissions and hiring practices, routine disclosures of admissions data to verify the end of race-based preferences, mask restrictions, and tougher discipline with active law-enforcement cooperation, and full Section 117 transparency on foreign gifts backed by periodic audits.
Campus Reform has contacted Harvard University for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
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