Harvard Removes DEI Websites For Women, Minority and LGBTQ Students

Harvard has quietly taken down their diversity, equity and inclusion websites that served undergraduate women, as well as minority and LGBTQ students.

This followed an earlier internal announcement from the Faculty of Arts and Sciences declaring their diversity office would be shuttered to “replace it with an Office for Academic Culture and Community”, according to The Harvard Crimson. 

This marks the continued dismantling of diversity initiatives in response to pressure from the Trump administration, which has made the termination of DEI efforts a condition for the reinstatement of the university’s federal research funding. 

By Wednesday afternoon, web pages for the Harvard College Women’s Centre, Office for BGLTQ Student Life and Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations had vanished. Their links now redirect viewers to a new page for the “Office of Culture and Community within the College’s Dean of Students Office”. Here, a University Commitment Statement is displayed, emphasizing “integrity, respect, and the pursuit of excellence”. The statement goes on to clarify “exposure to and learning from different backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences leads to intellectual and personal growth, and the betterment of the University”. Notably, there is no mention of the word ‘diversity,’ nor of any other key terms targeted for elimination by the Trump administration in its DEI purge. 

Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean Hopi Hoekstra released a memo in explanation of the removed sites.

“This new office is part of the FAS’s ongoing effort to break down silos,” the memo stated. “Ensuring all members of our community are connected, supported, and empowered to contribute to a thriving intellectual environment.”

These changes reflect a significant development in the ongoing conflict between the prestigious university and the Trump administration. They came the same day the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services claimed Harvard is “in violation of federal antidiscrimination laws and therefore may fail to meet the standards for accreditation set by the Commission”. Should Harvard’s accreditor agree, the university could lose eligibility for federal student aid. 

In response, a university spokesperson said in a statement on Thursday that Harvard “continues to comply with the New England Commission of Higher Education’s Standards for Accreditation, maintaining its accreditation uninterrupted since its initial review in 1929.”

“Antisemitism is a serious problem and no matter the context, it is unacceptable,” they continued, adding the university “has made significant strides to combat bigotry, hate and bias.”

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