Harvard president discusses need to repair communications strategy after Trump win

Harvard University President Alan Garber has reportedly told faculty members that the institution needs to improve its communications strategy following Donald Trump’s presidential victory.

The Harvard Crimson reports that Garber made his remarks during a private Dec. 3 meeting of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, according to three anonymous faculty attendees.

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After speaking with over 40 members of Congress during recent trips to Washington, D.C., Garber reportedly told Harvard faculty that he views the 2024 election results as a rejection of elitism among the U.S. population. 

While Garber is said to not have provided specific details about how Harvard will go about revising its communications, he told meeting attendees that the university needed to address concerns using “empathy and humility.”

The Crimson also reports that Garber noted that the frustration with Harvard among lawmakers is bipartisan. Vice President for Public Affairs and Communications Paul Andrew identified the university’s concerns over possible actions by lawmakers, such as implementing a tax on university endowments.

Last December, Senator Tom Cotton introduced a bill that would impose a six percent tax on college endowments of over $12.2 billion.

“Many of America’s so-called ‘top’ universities are failing to condemn antisemitism and violence against Jewish students on their campuses,” Cotton said in a press release after introducing the Woke Endowment Security Tax Act. “We should levy this tax on these schools’ endowments. A tax on the billions of dollars these schools have amassed would be more than enough to pay for our aid to Israel or security for the southern border.”

Vice President-elect J.D. Vance also introduced Senate legislation last December to increase the excise tax on wealthy colleges and universities. 

”This bill increases the excise tax (from 1.4% to 35%) on the net investment income of private educational institutions whose assets had a aggregate fair market value of at least $10 billion in the preceding taxable year,” the Congressional Research Service explains.

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”Why is it that we allow these massive hedge funds pretending to be universities to enjoy lower tax rates than most of our citizens, people who are struggling to put food on the table and buy Christmas presents this season?” Vance said after introducing the bill. “And yet they ‘enjoy’ a far, far higher tax rate than these university endowments. It’s insane. It’s unfair. And I think we ought to fix it in this chamber now.”

A Harvard spokesman told the Crimson that the university would “continue to engage in Washington and with federal leaders to make the case for the partnership between the government and universities that supports students, vital research and innovation that fuel economic growth, as well as improvements in health and wellbeing.”