Columns
With Discipline Changes, Harvard Listened to Trump — Not Students
Harvard’s discipline problem starts with who’s missing from the room. Until students win seats at the table and presidential decree is swapped for participatory governance, inconsistent justice simply becomes consistent injustice.
Viewpoint Diversity and the Scientists
Yet, when we turn from science to the humanities we encounter postmodern arguments like Kuhn’s helpless relativism. Far from giving reason why science might be good, the humanities fail to justify themselves. They know they are not science, but then what are they, and what do they know?
An Endowment Tax Is Worse Than You Think
As I’ve written previously, university spending generates enormous social good. That’s why, for generations, the government has subsidized our research. Now, in a complete about-face, the Trump administration wants to punish us for it.
Stop Recognizing Student Organizations
Bureaucracy might be great fun when used appropriately. Requiring administrative approval to use spaces that are, in a real sense, ours, runs counter to what our community should be about.
Is Going to Class Still Worth It?
In the digital era, education looks different. We have access to unlimited information at our fingertips, and our approach to in-class learning must therefore adapt to be more collaborative and discussion-centered rather than the pedagogic teaching that has traditionally been the norm.
I’ve Stopped Caring If Harvard Protesters Are Antisemitic. They Might Be Worse.
Antisemitic or not, the pro-Palestine movement’s vision for Israel would be a travesty for Jews. It’s high time we abandon the talking points about double standards and defend the principle of a Jewish state on its own terms.
Harvard Needs To Make Up Its Mind on DEI
The University keeps insisting on its staunch belief that lowercase diversity, equity, and inclusion are all worthwhile pursuits. Yet when confronted with largely misinformed and overblown concerns about how this translates to capital DEI, it fails to levy any sort of defense.
Affinity Groups, Don’t Let Harvard Shut Down Your Celebrations
With diversity under attack from all fronts — and Harvard’s perceived concessions to this assault — it is important now more than ever for students to celebrate with the communities that have shaped them into who they are.
Feminism and the Gender-Neutral Society
Feminism being the subject, you are thinking already that I am against women. But I am against feminism because it is against women. It is against them because it cannot define them.
Conservatives Deserve Better than the Salient
The widespread disregard of the Salient is not because Harvard is inherently hostile to conservative thought; it is because the publication refuses to engage in serious debate. The Salient must reject its current insular platform and give conservatives the respected space they deserve.
Don’t Renovate Away Harvard’s House Community
At Eliot, keep the decorative wood and iron railings, the wood-paneled library annex with a spiral staircase, the old stone steps, and the weirdly-curved hallways.Don’t erase the small, unique features that have long distinguished our houses from the rest — and remind me that I am home.
Make the T Free
The benefits of free MBTA passes go far beyond letting students save a few dollars — they can help Harvard form a connection with the community in a way that better serves us all.
The Endowment Should Be Taxed
Harvard has a complicated social role. It is neither entirely charitable nor entirely self-interested. I believe that its investment income should be taxed at a rate that reflects this middle ground.
Harvard’s Trash Problem Is Deeper Than That
Indeed, by forgetting about our short-term impacts, we contribute to the problems we are trying to solve. Despite the plethora of Environmental Science and Public Policy concentrators at Harvard, we don’t seem to value our own environment as much as we do distant ones.
Trump’s Harvard Simply Isn’t Real
In the eyes of many citizens, distortions and falsehoods from the Trump media machine have transformed Harvard from a symbol of American excellence to a leftist hellhole. And crucially, they have facilitated an “ends justify the means” approach to policy that is allowing the government to commit legally suspect actions.
Harvard, Pay Your PILOTs
If Harvard is serious about defending its nonprofit status from political threats, it must make good on its commitments to serve the public — especially Boston residents. It should start by paying its fair share of PILOTs in the only form that can provide truly essential services to community members: cash.
Harvard, Clean Up Your Mess
If Harvard wants to continue as one of the most prestigious institutions, we have to ensure our campus is the best that it can be. In order to see our campus improve, we must all play our part in keeping it clean.
It’s Time for Harvard To Go Global
Now is the time for Harvard to do all the things that Harvard does so well. Our innovation and resolve must be a shining light to the rest of the world of higher education at its best. Opening an international campus could help us do just that.
No, Harvard’s Endowment Cannot Withstand Trump
The headline number this week was $2.2 billion, but Trump is laying the groundwork for policies that could cost the University more in the future. And despite its large endowment, Harvard will face tremendous financial pain.
Peer Teaching Is Key to Our Education. I’m Glad Harvard’s Protecting It.
In moments of institutional uncertainty, it’s precisely this kind of peer-driven, community-centered support that keeps our University thriving. In these unprecedented times, let’s make sure we preserve it.
From the Notes of Alan M. Garber
7:08 - We sold my office supplies (to economize) so I am sitting on the floor writing this on a banana peel with a toothpick. It will be legible later; I saw this on Facebook.
Harvard’s Defense of Academia Is Missing Half the Story
The thing we’ve failed to reckon with is that — though scientific research will bear the brunt of Trump’s attacks because it benefits so much from federal funding — it’s not his real target.
Harvard, Help Me Eat During Ramadan
By providing refund checks for those observing Ramadan or offering earlier breakfast times, Harvard can ensure Muslim students can observe Ramadan without undue financial burden.
When They Go Low, We Go DEI
Unless Harvard is willing to say that it does not care, it must act to support DEI. But until our University makes its support public and concrete, we shouldn’t assume it does.
Do Not Applaud Harvard for Doing the Bare Minimum
Do not mistake Garber’s scramble to retain a semblance of liberalism as a stand — let alone fight — against the Trump administration. No number of strongly worded statements nor invocations of “independence” or “constitutional rights” will allow Harvard to claw its way out of the hole it has dug itself into for over a year now.