Harvard renames DEI office amid fight with Trump administration
The DEI office will be renamed “Community and Campus Life.”
Harvard University is renaming its diversity, equity and inclusion office amid an ongoing fight with the Trump administration and a lawsuit over cuts to its federal funding.
The DEI office will be renamed “Community and Campus Life,” Harvard announced Monday.
“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,” wrote Sherri Ann Charleston in an email, whose title as Harvard’s chief diversity officer changed to chief Community and Campus Life officer.
She also noted that a recent campus survey showed a smaller percentage of students created relationships with people that have differing opinions.
“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,” Charleston said, according to The Hill news outlet.
The Trump administration cut $2.2 billion in federal funding that Harvard was receiving after the university refused to eliminate DEI and reform programs with a history of antisemitism. Harvard filed a lawsuit last week against the Trump administration over the federal funding cut.
“There is so much at stake,” Harvard President Alan Garber said regarding the federal funding. “People leave their jobs. We have patients whose treatment in clinical trials might be interrupted. Animals that are used in research sometimes cannot continue to be maintained when the funding stops.”