The Ethics Exchange: Independence for Sale? Unpacking Harvard's Response to the Trump Administration

The Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics, in collaboration with the Intellectual Vitality Initiative, invites you to join us for the inaugural event of a new series: The Ethics Exchange. This first session will be on Monday, September 22 at 12:00 PM in the Edmond & Lily Safra Center and takes up a central question for our community: how should Harvard respond to the Trump administration's stance on higher education?

A short article will be circulated to all registrants three days in advance to ground the discussion. Registration is required for this event, and attendance will be in-person only. This event is currently at capacity and those interested in attending will be added to a waitlist. If you are interested in attending this event, please join the waitlist.

All attendees must agree to the Chatham House Rule: participants are free to use information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speakers may be revealed. 

Lunch will be served. 

About This Event

Many faculty have insisted that academic freedom is non-negotiable: once political authorities dictate the boundaries of inquiry, the university forfeits its independence. More than 800 signed a letter urging President Garber not to compromise in any deal with the Trump Administration. Others counter that academic freedom depends on Harvard’s service to the public good, and Trump’s confrontational posture resonates because many Americans doubt the University has upheld its end of that bargain. From this angle, compromise might be seen as a democratic gesture—an acknowledgment that even elite institutions owe something back to the public that sustains them. Still others emphasize the pragmatic costs: without federal funding, research, innovation, and financial aid would be curtailed, undermining Harvard’s mission. The tension is that independence itself rests on both public legitimacy and resources, leaving Harvard in an uneasy bind between principle and pragmatism.

Moderated by Professor Ned Hall, this Ethics Exchange will begin with a short dialogue between two Harvard faculty members offering different perspectives to set the stage. We will then open up to an informal group discussion across roles — students, staff, fellows, faculty, and community members alike. Together we will weigh these competing claims, examine what is truly at stake in Harvard’s response, and ask what this moment reveals about the future of higher education in a polarized democracy.

About The Ethics Exchange

Ideas take on a different shape when they’re shared around a table. The Ethics Exchange is a new series at the Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics that gathers our community over lunch in the Dennis F. Thompson Seminar Room to think aloud about questions that matter. Building on the traditions of Ethics in Your World and Ethics Mondays, the series alternates between two formats: some sessions are open conversations, guided by a short reading or prompt; others feature invited speakers who share their work before opening the floor for dialogue. The aim is not to deliver neat answers but to create a space for genuine exchange—of ideas, perspectives, and disagreements—in an informal and engaging setting. Come with curiosity, and leave with sharper questions, new connections, and of course, full bellies.