“No government should dictate universities what they must teach, who can enlist or hire, or what they can carry out research. On Monday, Alan Garber, president of Harvard University, responded to Donald Trump’s offensive. The American president has indeed cut $ 2.2 billion in federal subsidies to the establishment, and now wants to revise the tax exemptions from which the university benefits. Harvard should be “imposed as a political entity,” said Trump on Truth social. He continued this Wednesday, still in finesse: “Harvard is a joke that teaches hatred and imbecility”.
The reason? Alan Garber refuses to comply with the requirements of the government, which wants the end of diversity, equity and inclusion programs (DEI), the reduction in the number of international students and the dissolution of pro-Palestinian groups. Karoline Leavitt, spokesperson for the White House, added a layer: “Harvard must apologize for blatant anti-Semitism on his campus”. Faced with this direct attack, Alan Garber therefore became, almost in spite of himself, the emblem of the university resistance.
A former Stanford
Appointed president of Harvard in August 2024 for a three -year term, Alan Garber was confirmed in his functions after having performed the interim for seven months, in a context of the institutional crisis. He “did a remarkable work by conducting Harvard through extraordinary challenges since he took office as acting president,” welcomed Penny Pritzker, president of the Harvard Corporation on August 2 in a statement quoted by Challenges.
Economist by training and doctor, the one who comes from a Jewish family from Illinois graduated with an honorary mention of the Harvard College, holder of a doctorate in economics from the same university, and a doctorate in medicine obtained in Stanford. In Stanford, precisely, he stayed there twenty-five years and founded two research centers dedicated to health policies, before joining Harvard as the main academic manager in 2011.
At 70, Alan Garber flees the spotlight and never displayed himself as an activist. On the contrary, it ended the tradition of political commitment of the university by establishing an “institutional neutrality” policy.
Harvard vs Washington
A supporter of the discipline, he had also sent a strong signal by appointing a conservative dean, in an establishment where more than three -quarters of the teachers claim to be progressive, specifies The echoes.
Long anxious to appease tensions with the Conservatives, Garber recently surprised by holding up to the White House, also responding to a strong internal mobilization. More than 800 teachers signed a petition calling for defending academic freedoms. Described as copies by Barack Obama, his posture was also greeted by his predecessor Lawrence Summers on X.
But this crisis of which he is the ambassador goes beyond Harvard. Hundreds of student visas have been canceled, Propalestinian activists arrested, despite their legal status. And the debate on academic freedom is now central to the United States.
