On the Media

Harvard and the Battle Over Higher Ed

Apr 4, 2025

Ilya Marritz, a reporter focused on American higher education, digs into the funding battles facing Harvard under the Trump administration. Alongside him, Randall Kennedy, a Harvard Law professor and author, sheds light on the historical evolution of diversity within academia. They discuss the implications of recent Supreme Court rulings on affirmative action and the broader societal impacts. The conversation reveals how political influences challenge academic autonomy while raising critical questions about the future of diversity in schools.

50:32

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Episode guests

Randall Kennedy

Ilya Marritz

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Quick takeaways

The resignation of Harvard's first Black president highlights the backlash against decades of diversity efforts under increasing political scrutiny.

Political leaders are actively targeting universities for their DEI initiatives, threatening funding and reshaping governance to reflect specific ideologies.

Deep dives

The Backlash Against Diversity Initiatives

The resignation of Harvard's first Black president, Claudine Gay, underscores a mounting backlash against decades of diversity efforts in higher education. This backlash is rooted in a broader political climate where diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives are increasingly scrutinized and targeted. Critics assert that Harvard's and similar institutions' focus on DEI compromises academic integrity, raising questions about the value of diverse hiring practices within academia. The fallout from Gay's presidency reflects how anti-DEI sentiment is a vehicle for attacking broader diversity measures, illustrating a pivotal shift in American higher education's approach to race and inclusivity.

Intro

2min

The Evolution of Diversity at Harvard

19min

Racial Affirmative Action Unraveled

5min

Navigating DEI at Harvard

6min

The Political Overhaul of Higher Education and Accreditation

5min

The Political Struggle in Higher Education: A Historical Perspective

5min

Political Influence on Higher Education

11min

The Trump administration has pulled funding for universities like Columbia and the University of Pennsylvania, and is threatening to withhold federal dollars from public schools with diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Harvard is also fighting to retain its funding. On this week’s On the Media, hear how the distinctly American idea of “diversity” has fallen out of favor—from higher education to the Supreme Court.

Reporter Ilya Marritz explains how the Trump administration is cracking down on universities by pulling funding. Plus. how the history of Harvard and the concept of “diversity” is the hidden subtext for the Trump administration’s education policies. In the past half-century, the academy (and the business world) embraced the idea of diversity as a social good–an idea developed at Harvard and endorsed by the Supreme Court, until the latter ended race-based affirmative action in 2023.

You can find earlier installments of Ilya’s reporting for The Harvard Plan, a collaboration with The Boston Globe, here.

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On the Media

Harvard and the Battle Over Higher Ed

Episode guests

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Deep dives

The Backlash Against Diversity Initiatives

Historical Perspectives on Diversity

The Political Landscape and Higher Education

The Future of College Admissions and Diversity Efforts

Remember Everything You Learn from Podcasts