Harvard rebrands diversity offices, emphasizing ‘community’ language instead

Harvard University has renamed or shut down several of its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) offices in recent weeks, shifting toward language focused on “community,” “belonging” and “pluralism,” the Harvard Crimson reports.

The Harvard Divinity School on July 1 replaced its DEI office with the new Office of Community and Belonging, according to an email from Associate Dean Melissa Bartholomew. The Harvard School of Public Health announced a similar change last Friday, renaming its diversity office to the Office for Community and Belonging.

The move was “in alignment with the evolution” of diversity work across Harvard, Bartholomew wrote, adding the office’s fifth anniversary “presented us with a timely opportunity to reflect on our past as we shape our future.”

The Harvard Graduate School of Education also laid off its chief diversity officer, Jarrod Chin, and is closing its diversity office.

The Harvard Business School removed language and web pages promoting support for minority, LGBTQ and women students. Staff whose titles previously included “diversity and inclusion” now work in roles related to “community and culture.”

At Harvard Medical School, a similar restructuring of the diversity office took place earlier this summer.

The university has not released many details on the changes.

Some schools are creating new offices in place of the old ones. The Faculty of Arts and Sciences is launching an Office for Academic Culture and Community. Harvard College has taken down web pages for centers that previously claimed to support women, LGBTQ students and racial minorities.

Some of the new offices at Harvard emphasize “viewpoint diversity.” Dean Andrea Baccarelli of the Harvard School of Public Health announced a working group focused on “constructive engagement” and whether the school welcomes different perspectives.

However, some DEI-related positions remain in place.

At the Harvard Kennedy School, Robbin Chapman continues to serve as dean for diversity, inclusion and belonging, though she will leave the position in late July due to “pressing family obligations,” according to an email from Dean Jeremy Weinstein. Sarah Wald, a senior advisor to the dean, will serve in the role on an interim basis.

The school’s website still features a statement in support of diversity and so-called inclusion.

“While we celebrate the diversity of community of undergraduate researchers and future fellowship recipients whose experiences and contributions shape not only their Harvard community, but the world beyond Harvard, we are very aware that so much more needs to be done to further cultivate, expand, and support this diversity and to create spaces where all lived experiences are affirmed,” it says.