Harvard University is one of the oldest, most prestigious, and most powerful universities in the world. Founded in 1636, the university maintains a $40.9 billion academic endowment, the largest in the world, as of April 2021. 20
Since IIH’s founding, the initiative has published a number of left-of-center policy proposals and research. The initiative has called the detention of illegal immigrants a “broken system” and a “tragedy” and claimed that raids led by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) should be treated as “natural disasters.” 92 93 Kennedy continued by claiming, “By requiring academics to profess — and flaunt — faith in DEI, the proliferation of diversity statements poses a profound challenge to academic freedom…In addition to exerting pressure towards leftist conformity, the process of eliciting diversity statements abets cynicism.” 93 In addition, Kennedy states that, “By overreaching, by resorting to compulsion, by forcing people to toe a political line, by imposing ideological litmus tests, by incentivizing insincerity, and by creating a circular mode of discourse that is seemingly impervious to self-questioning, the current DEI regime is discrediting itself. 92
Response to National Labor Relations Act Reforms
In July 2025, Harvard University reclassified over 800 graduate students receiving research-based stipends as non-employees, thereby removing them from representation by the Harvard Graduate Students Union (HGSU-UAW). The university cited recent National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decisions, including a 2023 ruling concerning MIT, which found that students conducting academic research toward their degrees were not employees under the National Labor Relations Act. The decision reduced the union’s bargaining unit by approximately 15% and followed the expiration of HGSU-UAW’s previous four-year contract. As of July 2025, the union has indicated it is reviewing its options in response. 27Woolston, Chris. “US Government Rescinds Antagonistic International-Student Visa Policy.” Nature News. Nature Publishing Group, July 17, 2020. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02160-4.