Universities were not always so vulnerable to the whims of politics. The whole system of taxpayer-funded, university-led scientific research came about at the end of World War II, and was the brainchild of a man named Vannevar Bush. He felt the partnership of government and academics had to be equal in order to yield breakthroughs. Today, the Trump administration is proposing a new “compact” that would make the President the dominant partner. We speak with one of the authors of the Trump compact, May Mailman.

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Harvard president Alan Garber and National Institutes of Health director  Jay Bhattacharya are at the heart of the national fight over the future of academia. Alan Garber has been cast as the defender of academic freedom and democracy; Jay Bhattacharya is Donald Trump’s pick to lead the NIH, the agency withholding billions of dollars in research grants from Harvard. Oddly enough, the two men go way back: Garber was Bhattacharya’s undergraduate thesis adviser and mentor in the late 1980s. This episode tells the story of how the two men found themselves adversaries — and what it means for the future of science. 

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What happened at Harvard after Donald Trump’s inauguration? Three main characters, all Harvard insiders, tell the story from their perspective: politics professor Ryan Enos, genetics professor and cancer researcher Kamila Naxerova, and Kit Parker, a colonel in the United States Army Reserve and professor of bioengineering and applied physics. Their personal perspectives interweave with the dramatic timeline and unfolding news.

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Season One of The Harvard Plan anticipated what could happen to Harvard and academia once the new Trump administration came to power. Season Two picks up where the story left off. Host Ilya Marritz investigates the pressure Harvard's been under since January 2025, through the stories of some of the key players.

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In part three of this collaboration with WNYC’s On The Media, the deep history of Harvard and the distinctly American idea of “diversity” is the hidden subtext for much of the recent strife. For most of the past half-century, the academy (and the business world) has embraced a concept of diversity as a social good.That concept, was developed at Harvard and endorsed by the Supreme Court, until the high court ended race-based affirmative action in 2023. This episode also looks at what’s in store for universities as the incoming Trump-Vance administration promises to pressure them to change curricula.  

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In part two of this collaboration with WNYC’s On The Media, Claudine Gay is accused of academic plagiarism, just days after giving testimony to Congress. The drip-drip of new allegations keeps the story in the headlines. It also reinforces critics’ allegation that Gay is a “diversity hire,” unworthy of the job. We hear from two of the writers who broke that news, and from a defender of Harvard’s diversity efforts.

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In part one of this collaboration with WNYC’s On The Media, Claudine Gay’s history-making inauguration as Harvard’s first Black president in September 2023 is seen by many as an inspirational moment for the university. 

But by December 2023, that hope sours as her presidency becomes a proxy battleground for American culture wars 

After war breaks out in the Middle East, Gay struggles to navigate  bitter campus  protests over war, anti-semitism, free speech, and the proper role of the university. The tensions are on full display when Gay testifies under oath, providing legalistic answers to outraged members of Congress. 

Claudine Gay’s short tenure as Harvard’s 30th president, a job she started two days  after the Supreme Court struck down Harvard’s program of race-based affirmative action, is seen by some as a symbol of what’s wrong with diversity efforts. 

It’s also a warning to all colleges and universities, who face a hostile incoming administration which has pledged to use its power to bring them into line.

This series slows down the whipsaw chain of events to bring listeners direct eyewitness accounts of what happened, from professors, wealthy donors, and spiritual leaders.

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Universities have become a battlefield in the American culture wars in a way that’s dramatic and new. In the past year, Congress subpoenaed and investigated the inner workings of private colleges for the first time; four ivy league presidents quit their jobs amid mounting pressure and many institutions rolled back their commitments to be welcoming places for all. Meanwhile, President-elect Trump campaigned to “reclaim” universities from the “Marxist maniacs and lunatics.” This series brings all of that into focus by examining the short, troubled tenure of Harvard’s 30th president, Claudine Gay. She started the job two days after the Supreme Court struck down Harvard’s program of race-based affirmative action. By the time Gay resigned, she had been tarred as a symbol of what’s wrong with diversity efforts.

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