Harvard University became the first institution to resist the Trump administration when it publicly refused federal demands and filed a lawsuit in response to its threats to withdraw billions of dollars in funding. However, Harvard’s image of resistance began to diminish in the eyes of some members of its community when it renamed its “Office for Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging” to “Community and Campus Life” and said it would no longer fund, staff or provide space for affinity graduations, according to internal emails. Renaming the office was based upon findings in a campus survey on inclusion and belonging called the “Pulse Survey,” according to official communications from Harvard.

In an article discussing the survey’s findings in the Harvard Gazette, Harvard’s official news outlet, it was revealed that it was President Alan Garber’s decision to rename the office. But some at Harvard believe the recent decisions are tied to recent federal pressures, including an April 11 letter to Harvard with a direct demand to end its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs. “Harvard as an institution has a repeating history of using covers to make changes that they know may be controversial.

I absolutely believe that the survey was a cover and part of a greater effort to kind of capitulate to the demands that the Trump administration has been making recently,” said Eli Johnson, a Harvard junior and LGBTQ student. Harvard’s primary goal is to protect itself and its reputation, Johnson said. On the other hand, Paulette Granberry Russell, president of the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education, said that changing the name of the office doesn’t necessarily mean Harvard is kowtowing to the Trump administration — as long as it continues to uphold a mission of supporting a diverse campus community.

Read more: Harvard hands over foreign student info to feds amid threat from Trump admin Harvard isn’t the first institution in Massachusetts to rename its DEI office. After President Donald Trump signed an executive order ending federal DEI programs and placing federal DEI staffers on paid leave, Northeastern University changed the name of “The Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” on Northeastern’s website to “Belonging at Northeastern.” It also scrubbed much of its DEI language from its website. Is Harvard caving to the Trump administration?

Harvard senior Victor Flores was more excited to celebrate his upcoming graduation this month with other Latinx students at Harvard than to attend the main graduation. “There’s nothing like celebrating in community, especially with peers of similar backgrounds and similar experiences,” Flores said. But that has become more difficult following Harvard’s decision to stop providing space and funding for affinity group graduation celebrations.

To have Harvard take back a tradition that Flores said has been going on for many years was disheartening. Now he is helping to organize one for Latinx students independently. “With only a month left to do so and as full-time students about to enter our finals season, the bandwidth is tight.

But this is important to us and we’re going to make it happen whether or not Harvard gives us the resources to do so,” he said. Flores sees the renaming of the DEI office and the elimination of support for affinity celebrations as signs of Harvard caving to the Trump administration’s demands. Harvard further gave in to federal demands on Wednesday, when the institution announced Wednesday evening that it had provided the Department of Homeland Security “information required by law” about foreign students’ illegal activity and records.

“I, of course, am part of the collection of students that is all incredibly happy at the way that Harvard has said that they will take a stand, but I also knew that that was a promise that was going to be conditioned in some way,” Flores said. He pointed to other ways he sees the university giving way to Trump and outside voices, including the Harvard School of Public Health cutting ties with Birzeit University in the West Bank amid repeated claims that the university was tied to Hamas — and the dismissal of faculty at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies as critics claimed they failed to adequately represent Israeli perspectives. “It’s clear that whether it’s a Trump administration or individual and vocal private donors, the university is willing to capitulate,” Flores said.

Cornell William Brooks, a Harvard University professor and former president of the NAACP, was among the speakers to address a crowd of demonstrators at the school's Cambridge campus, April 29, 2025. (Will Katcher/MassLive) When Cornell William Brooks, a professor at Harvard Kennedy School, heard about the recent Harvard decisions, his reaction was one of both surprise and “even greater disappointment.” While he commended the institution for fighting back against Trump, he believes the recent decisions were “political missteps.” “Why do you need to rename and rebrand that what you have long said is right as though it were wrong? Harvard has long said that it supports diversity,” said Brooks, who was the former NAACP president and CEO.

Harvard became a place of prestige when it focused on diversifying its student body outside of New England, into the U.S. and outside of the country, Brooks said. By renaming the DEI office, the institution is playing into the rhetoric of DEI being a “vice,” when DEI offices are the “first line of defense” for students, according to Brooks. “The administration has literally painted DEI offices in a kind of political Black face,” Brooks said.

Read more: Harvard hands over foreign student info to feds amid threat from Trump admin The name of an office is more than just a name — it is what it symbolizes, Brooks said. “Harvard gives a great deal of thought to its name. We have lawyers who protect our name.

We have lawyers who prevent copyright infringement of our name. Names symbolize values and virtues, and to change your name in response to political pressure, represents some sacrifice of identity,” he said. Johnson, who is a junior at Harvard, said the DEI office name change showed that the university is “covering all of their bases to kind of limit the scope of future attacks that Trump can do,” Johnson said.

“It’s signaling that if they’re willing to capitulate on some demands, then they’re likely to capitulate in the future. This kind of sends confused, mixed signals to students,” Johnson said. Johnson, who is the co-president of Harvard College Queer Students Association, said the organization is meeting with the Harvard Foundation director and BGLTQ office director on Friday to talk about the future for students, if they’re going to continue to have funding and what might change under the new name.

What’s in a name? Paulette Granberry Russell, president of the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education, doesn’t see Harvard’s decision to change the name of the DEI office as retreating from its work. “A change in the name of an office or a title of a role in and of itself is not evidence of retreat from its mission, its values or commitment to a diverse student body or campus experience,” Granberry Russell said.

The National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education is a lead plaintiff in a lawsuit against the Trump administration’s anti-DEI executive orders. Offices doing DEI work have had a range of names at different institutions, including offices of multicultural affairs or affirmative action offices, she said. The renaming of DEI offices isn’t new and has been going on for years, as states have passed legislation attempting to weed DEI work out of education.

While she disagrees with how the acronym of DEI has been “demonized” and “weaponized,” she said the turn to “Community and Campus Life” at Harvard makes sense because the key to building diversity on campus includes creating a sense of community and supporting campus life through programming. What matters more than a name is its actions, she said. “Words that we use in our daily lives include community, and people understand community more than they do an acronym,” Granberry Russell said.

How Harvard’s decision could affect other colleges Across the state, at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, women, gender and sexuality studies professor Laura Briggs doesn’t want to theorize whether Harvard’s decisions were a result of what is happening federally. Briggs said DEI is important in higher education, even though she doesn’t think Harvard’s decisions will impact UMass Amherst directly. “At the end of the day, many, maybe most of us who teach in non-elite universities recognize the extent to which race, class, and — in certain fields — gender are markers for systematic forms of discrimination and disadvantage, beginning in preschool and certainly a factor by the time students are applying for college,” Briggs said in an email.

“We at UMass care about serving all the taxpayers and residents of the Commonwealth who pay our salaries, and so are not inclined to readily relinquish the principles that ensure fairness in how the university treats students.” Briggs, who received a master’s in theological studies from Harvard, pointed to a resolution passed by the faculty senate on April 10 about attacks at the federal level against DEI. In it, the UMass Amherst faculty senate reaffirmed its dedication to DEI as part of the institution’s mission. “We will not be deterred in the pursuit of our mission,” the faculty senate said.

“We want all members of our community to be welcomed and supported by the university, especially in the current climate,” the senate said. Brooks, the Harvard Kennedy School professor, disagreed with Briggs, saying what Harvard does will have systemic impacts across higher education. To Brooks, it “opens the doors to substantive retreat,” because if Harvard changes its DEI name, it implies DEI work is unlawful or immoral.

The change sets a “scary precedent for higher education and the respect for freedom of speech on college campuses,” said Flores, the Harvard senior. Harvard, unlike other institutions, is shielded by its massive endowment, name brand and alumni network, he said. “When Harvard is willing to capitulate even on what may, on its surface may seem like small things like affinity graduations, I think it does set a terrible precedent for other universities moving forward in terms of their appreciation for diversity, equity and inclusion on campuses, for its support of marginalized communities and minoritized communities on these campuses and for its appreciation for descent and the expression of freedom of speech on this campuses,” Flores said.

MassLive reporter Tréa Lavery contributed to this story.