Shaking Knees – Harvard Begins to Bow to Trump
The news that Harvard University has renamed its DEI office to the “Office of Community and Campus Life” — as reported by The New York Times — may at first glance seem like a simple restructuring. But anyone who reads between the lines, or simply knows the context, can see: this is not a policy decision. This is buckling under political pressure.
The timing says it all. The announcement came just hours after the first meeting between Harvard and the Trump administration in a lawsuit in which the university accuses the White House of unlawful interference in its academic autonomy. Meanwhile, that same White House continues to frame DEI programs as “leftist indoctrination” and demands measures that echo totalitarian control — from ‘viewpoint monitors‘ to the exclusion of international students with supposedly ‘un-American‘ views.
The attempt to depoliticize inclusion by scrapping the word “diversity” is not a solution. It’s symptom management. A new flag on the same ship — only now that ship is sailing toward conformity, fear, and compliance.
As someone who works daily on sustainable cultural change, I know: real inclusion takes courage. Not giving in to the loudest voice in the room. Renaming a DEI office is, in itself, just a name. But when that name changes under the threat of $2.2 billion in research funding being frozen, the message is painfully clear: those who work toward justice are taking a risk.
And this affects Europe too. Not because we face the same political context here — thankfully we don’t — but because we must remain vigilant to ensure that policy continues to be rooted in values, not driven by electoral pressure. Harvard is not just any university. What bends there can break elsewhere. Dutch universities, too, have already received communications from the U.S. government, as Marcel aan de Brugh reported in NRC.
The lesson is clear: diversity, equity, and inclusion are not buzzwords. They are the foundation of academic freedom, societal trust, and future-proof leadership.
Don’t be carried away by every wind. Stay on course. Resolute.
