Alan Garber
Appearances
Apple News Today
Why a court just struck down Trump’s sweeping tariffs
Harvard's voice is loud and clear! Harvard's voice is loud and clear!
Apple News Today
Why a court just struck down Trump’s sweeping tariffs
I don't know fully what the motivations are, but I do know that there are people who are fighting a cultural battle. They don't like what's happened to campuses. And sometimes they don't like what we represent. What I can tell you is Harvard is a very old institution, much older than the country.
Apple News Today
Why a court just struck down Trump’s sweeping tariffs
And as long as there has been a United States of America, Harvard has thought that its role is to serve the nation.
Apple News Today
Why a court just struck down Trump’s sweeping tariffs
It is a warning. They see this as a message that if you don't comply with what we're demanding, these will be the consequences.
Morning Wire
Trump - Putin Faceoff & NPR Sues Trump | 5.28.25
Shutting off that work does not help the country, even as it punishes Harvard. And it is hard to see the link between that and, say, anti-Semitism.
Morning Wire
Trump - Putin Faceoff & NPR Sues Trump | 5.28.25
It is a warning. They see this as a message that if you don't comply with what we're demanding, these will be the consequences.
Up First from NPR
Harvard President says critics' "fire is misdirected"
So in reallocating to some other use, including trade schools, it means that work just won't be performed. So the right question is, is this the most effective use of federal funding? Do you really want to cut back on research dollars? I'm less concerned about whether it goes to a trade school or if it goes to some other project like working on highways.
Up First from NPR
Harvard President says critics' "fire is misdirected"
The real question is, how much value does the federal government get from its expenditures on research? There is a lot of actual research demonstrating the returns to the American people have been enormous.
Up First from NPR
Harvard President says critics' "fire is misdirected"
Well, they said it, and I have to believe it. And I've repeated it myself. And that is how it's understood by the other leaders of other universities that I've spoken to. It is a warning. They see this as a message that if you don't comply with what we're demanding, these will be the consequences.
Up First from NPR
Harvard President says critics' "fire is misdirected"
I would say that we need to be firm in our commitments to what we stand for. And what we stand for, I believe, I believe I speak for other universities, is education, pursuit of the truth. helping to educate people for better futures, our own students, and hopefully our own students after they graduate from our institutions go out and serve the world.
Up First from NPR
Harvard President says critics' "fire is misdirected"
In the end, we're about producing and disseminating knowledge. and serving our nation and our world. When we fail in that, then we can expect to be attacked. So number one, I think we all need to redouble our commitment to the good of the nation and the world. And I know my fellow leaders fully embrace that.
Up First from NPR
Harvard President says critics' "fire is misdirected"
In my view, the federal government is saying that we need to address anti-Semitism in particular, but it has raised other issues, including issues about speech, and it includes claims that we lack viewpoint diversity. There are also claims about failure to comply with laws concerning discrimination more generally.
Up First from NPR
Harvard President says critics' "fire is misdirected"
For some of this, we have been very clear that we think we do have issues, and I would particularly emphasize the speech issues. We think it's a real problem if, particularly at research universities, students don't feel free to speak their minds. When faculty feel that they have to think twice before they talk about the subjects that they're teaching.
Up First from NPR
Harvard President says critics' "fire is misdirected"
That's a real problem that we need to address. And it's particularly concerning when people who have views that they think are unpopular and the administration and others have said conservatives are too few on campus and their views are not welcome. And so far as that's true, that's a problem we really need to address. Is it true?
Up First from NPR
Harvard President says critics' "fire is misdirected"
I think that we have heard from some people that they do feel that way. So we certainly need to address that. And that means changing views in the community, making diverse viewpoints more welcome. It includes skills in speaking as well as skills in listening. So the federal government has referred to some of these areas.
Up First from NPR
Harvard President says critics' "fire is misdirected"
And as I said, we agree that some of these problems we absolutely need to address. What is perplexing is the measures that they have taken to address these that don't even hit the same people that they believe are causing the problems. Why cut off research funding? Sure, it hurts Harvard, but it hurts the country because after all, the research funding is not a gift.
Up First from NPR
Harvard President says critics' "fire is misdirected"
The research funding is given to universities and other research institutions to carry out work that the research work that the federal government designates as high priority work. It is work that they want done. They are paying to have that work conducted. Shutting off that work does not help the country, even as it punishes Harvard.
Up First from NPR
Harvard President says critics' "fire is misdirected"
And it is hard to see the link between that and, say, anti-Semitism.
Up First from NPR
Harvard President says critics' "fire is misdirected"
I don't know fully what the motivations are, but I do know that there are people who are fighting a cultural battle. I don't know if that is what is driving the administration. They don't like what's happened to campuses. And sometimes they don't like what we represent. What I can tell you is Harvard is a very old institution, much older than the country.
Up First from NPR
Harvard President says critics' "fire is misdirected"
And as long as there has been a United States of America, Harvard has thought that its role is to serve the nation. I believe I speak for nearly every other university as well in believing that is our goal.
Up First from NPR
Harvard President says critics' "fire is misdirected"
And that is why insofar as there are people who would like to see these universities brought down in some sense, I think that their fire is misdirected because we have a common interest in making the nation and indeed the world a better place.
Up First from NPR
Harvard President says critics' "fire is misdirected"
To the best of my knowledge, they are not true. I need to add, by the way, that this is clearly the subject of litigation, as you pointed out earlier. So we have endeavored to comply fully in line with the law with the requests that the government has made.
Up First from NPR
Harvard President says critics' "fire is misdirected"
I believe we have provided ample information in line with the law.
Up First from NPR
Harvard President says critics' "fire is misdirected"
Well, clearly there has been tremendous division on campus over that period of time. There are faculty and students who disagreed with one another about what the university should do. But the main purpose of that report was to identify the problems that we face, particularly with regard to our Jewish and Israeli students. And they took a very hard look and they listened to many, many people.
Up First from NPR
Harvard President says critics' "fire is misdirected"
They had dozens of listening sessions and put together what they thought was a comprehensive picture of how basically how people felt on campus about issues touching on not only Jewish and Israeli students, but faculty and staff and the broader community as well. And their work led to a series of recommendations.
Up First from NPR
Harvard President says critics' "fire is misdirected"
And I take very seriously not only their identification of the problems, but the recommendations that they made about how we should address them. Some of those recommendations we had already adopted. Some we are currently working through. But I do believe that we have a real problem in this regard, or we had a real problem. We had done a lot to address it. And we will continue to work at it.
Up First from NPR
Harvard President says critics' "fire is misdirected"
I believe that we have made substantial progress on campus over the past year. And that's what I've heard from many faculty and staff and students. There has been real progress. Comparing what goes on on campus to what goes on in the rest of the country is a little bit difficult because the manifestations may be different. From what I've heard, We have many fewer violent incidents.
Up First from NPR
Harvard President says critics' "fire is misdirected"
They're almost unheard of on our campus and probably a lot less vandalism. The main manifestation of anti-Semitism and anti-Israeli bias that we have grappled with has to do with social exclusion. It has to do with shunning.
Up First from NPR
Harvard President says critics' "fire is misdirected"
Well, they said it, and I have to believe it. And I've repeated it myself.
Up First from NPR
Harvard President says critics' "fire is misdirected"
If a student sits down at a dining room table and they have good conversations with other students who don't know them, and when the other students find out that that student is Israeli, if they refuse to continue to speak to them, we have a serious problem that we need to address. That has been, to me, the most disturbing aspect of what we've experienced, and it was highlighted in that report.
Up First from NPR
Harvard President says critics' "fire is misdirected"
And that is why the problem we're trying to solve requires different solutions, perhaps, than what we do throughout the nation.
Up First from NPR
Harvard President says critics' "fire is misdirected"
Exactly. We want people to be able to discuss difficult topics with one another, especially when they disagree. We shouldn't be in an echo chamber. Everyone in our community needs to hear other views. And let me add, that's one reason why it is so important for us to be able to have international students on our campus. They come from different cultures.
Up First from NPR
Harvard President says critics' "fire is misdirected"
They have different experiences, different languages. There is so much that they contribute to our environment, and they enable everyone else to open their minds.
Up First from NPR
Harvard President says critics' "fire is misdirected"
And not only other students. For the other members of our community as well. Harvard is an American institution that is engaged globally, and I wouldn't want to change that. It's in the interest of the university. It's in the interest of the nation.
Up First from NPR
Harvard President says critics' "fire is misdirected"
I would ask them to learn a little bit more, not only about Harvard, but about universities like Harvard, that is research universities. At the center of our university is teaching and learning. That's so crucial to what we do. But actually, if you look at the activities of the university, so much of this is about research.
Up First from NPR
Harvard President says critics' "fire is misdirected"
There are so many discoveries that have come from Harvard and other research universities. advances in cancer, in treatments of cancer of all kinds. A faculty member of ours just got the breakthrough prize for work that led to the discovery of GLP-1 drugs, which are now revolutionizing how we approach obesity, diabetes, and many other conditions.
Up First from NPR
Harvard President says critics' "fire is misdirected"
Another one of our faculty received the Breakthrough Prize this year for advances in gene editing, which is already being used to cure diseases. This is a huge part of what we do. Everybody benefits from the research work of universities like ours. And it is not only about Harvard, and I think that's important to keep in mind.
Up First from NPR
Harvard President says critics' "fire is misdirected"
The kinds of changes that the administration has begun and is contemplating, which include deep cuts to the National Institutes of Health and to the National Science Foundation, will affect all research universities. And will have a real impact on the ability of the United States to remain at the forefront of science and technology.
Up First from NPR
Harvard President says critics' "fire is misdirected"
I would say that the federal government has the authority through the budgeting process to reallocate funds. But the question to ask is, what problem is he trying to solve by doing that? The money that goes to research universities in the form of grants and contracts, which is almost all of the federal support that we get, is used to pay for work that we perform at the behest of the government.
Up First from NPR
New Gaza Aid Group Faces Criticism, Harvard President Speaks Out, DEI Rollbacks
We need to be firm in our commitments to what we stand for. And what we stand for, I believe, is education, pursuit of the truth. When we fail in that, then we can expect to be attacked.
Up First from NPR
New Gaza Aid Group Faces Criticism, Harvard President Speaks Out, DEI Rollbacks
And that is why, insofar as there are people who would like to see these universities brought down in some sense... I think that their fire is misdirected because we have a common interest in making the nation and indeed the world a better place.
Up First from NPR
New Gaza Aid Group Faces Criticism, Harvard President Speaks Out, DEI Rollbacks
Why cut off research funding? Sure, it hurts Harvard, but it hurts the country. Because after all, the research funding, it's not a gift. The research funding... is given to universities and other research institutions to carry out work that the federal government designates as high-priority work.
Up First from NPR
New Gaza Aid Group Faces Criticism, Harvard President Speaks Out, DEI Rollbacks
Shutting off that work does not help the country, even as it punishes Harvard, and it is hard to see the link between that and, say, anti-Semitism.
Up First from NPR
New Gaza Aid Group Faces Criticism, Harvard President Speaks Out, DEI Rollbacks
We shouldn't be in an echo chamber. Everyone in our community needs to hear other views. And let me add, that's one reason why it is so important for us to be able to have international students on our campus. There is so much that they contribute to our environment, and they enable everyone else to open their minds.
Up First from NPR
Trump's US Steel Reversal, Court Win For Harvard, Musk Leaves DOGE
Members of the class of 2025 from down the street, across the country and around the world. Around the world just as it should be.
WSJ What’s News
What’s Behind President Trump’s Trade Agenda
If the government goes through with a plan to revoke our tax-exempt status, it would, number one, be highly illegal unless there is some reasoning that we have not been exposed to that would justify this dramatic move. But tax-exempt status is granted to educational institutions. to enable them to successfully carry out their mission of education and for research universities of research.
WSJ What’s News
What’s Behind President Trump’s Trade Agenda
Obviously, that would be severely impaired if we were to lose our tax-exempt status. And I should add, it would be destructive to Harvard, but the message that it sends to the educational community would be a very dire one, which suggests that political disagreements could be used as a basis to pose what might be an existential threat to so many educational institutions.