Harvard officially renames DEI department as Trump lawsuit begins – National
Shortly after Harvard University began its legal battle with the Trump administration over its move to cut US$2 billion in federal funding, the Ivy League school changed the name of its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) department.
University staff and students were informed of the renaming in an email sent on Monday.
“Here at Harvard, we have built a community of excellence composed of individuals from all walks of life. Our challenge today is to help all within that community to realize the benefits of learning, working, and living alongside others who come from various backgrounds, have had different experiences, and hold diverse viewpoints,” the email read in part.
“To capture this emphasis and this mission, our office will become Community and Campus Life, effective immediately.”
In a letter to Harvard earlier this month, the Trump administration called for widespread government and leadership changes at the university as well as changes to its admissions policies.
It also demanded that the university audit views of diversity on campus and stop recognizing some student clubs, and threatened to revoke the school’s tax-exempt status.
A poster for a protest on a telephone pole at Harvard University.
David L. Ryan/ Getty Images
The moves come amid sweeping efforts by the administration to curb student activism and eliminate DEI initiatives at major educational institutions by threatening to pull significant sums of federal funding if schools refuse to fall in line.
Earlier this month, Harvard president Alan Garber said the university would not bend to the government’s demands.
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Hours later, the government froze billions of dollars in federal funding.
On April 21, Harvard announced that it was suing the Trump administration in an attempt to halt the multi-billion-dollar freeze imposed on the school after it rejected the government’s demands.
“The Government has not — and cannot — identify any rational connection between antisemitism concerns and the medical, scientific, technological, and other research it has frozen that aims to save American lives, foster American success, preserve American security, and maintain America’s position as a global leader in innovation,” the university wrote in its lawsuit, filed in Boston federal court.
The hold on Harvard’s funding marks the seventh attempt by Trump’s administration to force compliance with his political agenda. Six of the seven schools are in the Ivy League, the first to acquiesce being Columbia.
The New York City-based university cowered under the prospect of losing billions, falling in line with government demands.
Its decision came at a time of intense scrutiny over the detainment of former student Mahmoud Khalil, who was involved in last spring’s on-campus pro-Palestinian protests.
Despite having legal status in the U.S., he is currently detained by immigration authorities at a facility in Louisiana for the role he played in the widely publicized demonstrations.
The administration has argued that universities allowed antisemitism to go unchecked at campus protests.
The Trump administration has also paused federal funding for the University of Pennsylvania, Brown, Princeton, Cornell and Northwestern.
The email sent on Monday, penned by Harvard’s newly minted chief community and campus life officer, Sherri Ann Charleston, concludes by looking to the future.
“In the weeks and months ahead, we will take steps to make this change concrete and to work with all of Harvard’s schools and units to implement these vital objectives, including shared efforts to reexamine and reshape the missions and programs of offices across the university,” she wrote.
— With files from The Associated Press
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