"In particular, President Trump's attack on Harvard have forced it to accelerate its focus on repairing weaknesses which were legitimately raised, but his escalating ideological intrusion into private institution decision-making over staffing and curriculum content, freedom of expression, and funding for vital objective research led to a surge of sympathetic support from across American society as well as among key constituent groups from donors and applicants to peer institutions."
"For example, Harvard donations have rebounded significantly, with fiscal year 2025 (FY25) seeing a record-breaking $629 million in current-use gifts, a 19% increase over the previous year. Despite earlier controversies, alumni and supporters rallied, leading to over 22,000 gifts in a six-week period. Total donations for FY25 exceeded $600 million. We commissioned a national survey by Morning Consult which shows a stunning resurgence of trust, while the numbers also show a record number of international student enrollments."
Harvard experienced major governance failures two years ago, including slow responses to antisemitism allegations, ideological bias, plagiarism charges against its president, a flawed succession process, declining donor support, and falling applicant numbers. President Trump's attacks prompted accelerated reforms to address legitimate weaknesses while his ideological interventions over staffing, curriculum, speech, and research funding generated widespread sympathetic support from donors, applicants, peer institutions, and the public. The university saw tangible recoveries: FY25 current-use gifts reached $629 million (a 19% increase), over 22,000 gifts occurred in six weeks, total FY25 donations exceeded $600 million, and international student enrollments reached record levels.
#higher-education-governance #political-interference #fundraising-recovery #institutional-resilience
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