Overview
- Alan M. Garber made the remarks on the Shalom Hartman Institute’s Identity/Crisis podcast released Dec. 16, calling it a mistake for professors to inject personal views into classes.
- Garber said Harvard is moving to “restore balance” in teaching, emphasizing that courses should focus on facts, analytic tools, and rigor rather than promoting activism.
- He highlighted an added orientation module on handling controversial discussions and referenced reports from twin task forces addressing bias affecting Jewish, Israeli, Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian affiliates.
- Garber described a generational shift among faculty, saying younger instructors are more inclined to elevate underrepresented voices in ways that can discourage open disagreement from students.
- Separately, the university remains in a funding dispute with the Trump administration after $2.7 billion was pulled; a court ordered the money released and the administration appealed in December.