OAN Staff James Meyers
2:09 PM – Tuesday, April 29, 2025
Harvard University announced on Monday that its “Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI) and Belonging” is getting a makeover, as the school continues its ongoing battle with the Trump administration — which has since paused billions of dollars in federal aid.
The big change was announced on Monday in a mass email chain to the campus community.
It will focus on “expanding cross-cultural engagement programs, supporting first-generation and low-income students, and creating more opportunities for dialogue across differences,” The Harvard Crimson reported.
Additionally, Harvard’s chief diversity officer position has now been renamed and will not be referred to as the Chief Community and Campus Life Officer. The university will “reexamine and reshape the missions and programs of offices across the university,” Sherri A. Charleston, who holds the position, said in an email.
Trump has labeled the Ivy League school “anti-Semitic,” “Far-Left,” and “a threat to Democracy.”
Additionally, the Trump administration has frozen over $2 billion in federal funding for Harvard after the university rejected demands to dismantle its DEI programs and do more to stop anti-Semitism on campus.
In April, multiple federal agencies sent two letters to the school, urging the university to eliminate DEI programs.
The school’s president, Alan M. Garber, claimed this month that the Trump administration doesn’t have the authority to “dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue.”
Meanwhile, the Ivy League school’s announcement marks the first significant change it has made so far to its DEI programs.
The GOP administration also recently launched an investigation into the Harvard Law Review and its treatment of specific races. The investigation will look into allegations that the school put race over merit in its law journal’s article publication and membership evaluation process.
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