Over the past few months, Harvard University has faced significant social, political, and legal turmoil, largely due to targeted challenges from the Trump administration against the school and its policies. The 2025 spring semester brought student movements and potent lawsuits against the federal government—all of which left the campus at the center of national attention. […]
As colleges prepare to welcome the class of 2029, students remain uncertain about the new admissions landscape following the Supreme Court’s landmark decision to eliminate affirmative action in higher education. After a year of adaptation and growing uncertainty, elite institutions like Harvard and Amherst College are withholding demographic data until the fall, leaving the public […]
On the evening of April 29, Harvard University affiliates gathered to protest recent executive orders jeopardizing the institution’s ability to enroll international students unless they disclose requested information on foreign students. This demonstration comes a week after University affiliates similarly resisted the Trump administration’s same warning and a day after the school announced it would […]
As America’s trade policies and fiscal stability face growing scrutiny, Harvard economics professor Jason Furman ’92 and Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) on April 23 took the stage at the Harvard Institute of Politics’ JFK Forum to discuss the future of the U.S. economy. Against a backdrop of rising tariffs, mounting national debt, and geopolitical tensions […]
In an era marked by political polarization and institutional distrust, many Americans are questioning the role of morals in public leadership. This reality took center stage during an April 14 discussion at the Harvard Institute of Politics JFK Forum, where Congressman James Enos Clyburn joined moderator Anthony Foxx to explore the importance of moral leadership […]
Dr. Akwasi Owusu-Bempah—criminologist, sociologist, and co-author of “Waiting to Inhale: Cannabis Legalization and the Fight for Racial Justice”—has long argued that cannabis policy is deeply intertwined with racial justice. In a JFK Jr. Forum at the Harvard Institute of Politics two years ago, he and Tahira Rehmatullah spotlighted the unequal impact of prohibition and the […]
The Institute of Politics JFK Forum recently led a conversation examining how democratic institutions—legislatures, political parties, and judicial systems—have been slow to adapt to a new global context marked by digital disruption and widespread public distrust in government. Hosted on April 4, the panel brought together moderator Steven Levitsky, director of the David Rockefeller Center […]
As part of a series with Harvard’s Center for International Development on global economic growth, the Institute of Politics’s John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum led a conversation on March 25 exploring the repercussions of dismantling the U.S. Agency for International Development. The event featured three panelists discussing the future of U.S. foreign aid after the […]
The Institute of Politics celebrated International Women’s Day with a conversation centered on the #StandWithHer movement, a global initiative inspired by the Academy Award-winning film “To Kill a Tiger.” Held on March 11, the event spotlighted stories of resilience, gender justice, and the role of solidarity in addressing gender-based violence. The panel brought together voices […]
On Jan. 20, President Donald Trump announced that his administration would cut over 90% of the US Agency for International Development’s foreign aid contracts and reduce overall U.S. assistance worldwide by $60 billion. Since then, headlines have captured the widespread shock among international development agencies, as many critical programs face funding cuts, directly impacting those […]
