On the Media: "The Harvard Plan is Back"

Episode 1: And So It Begins...
Date: October 31, 2025
Host: Ilya Marritz (with contributions from Brooke Gladstone, Camilla Nakserova, Kit Parker, Ryan Enos, and more)
Podcast: On the Media (OTM), in collaboration with the Boston Globe

Overview

This episode launches season two of "The Harvard Plan," a deep, reported series examining the escalating conflict between American universities—especially Harvard—and a new Trump administration wielding executive power to dramatically reshape higher education. With research funding, student visas, and academic freedoms all at stake, Harvard and its critics both reckon with existential questions about independence, democracy, and the role of universities in society.

This premiere sets the scene as Trump returns to power. Listeners hear from Harvard professors across the political spectrum as the administration targets elite campuses with unprecedented investigations and funding cuts, all under the banner of fighting antisemitism. Against this backdrop of pressure and uncertainty, Harvard chooses—unlike all others—to stand up and fight.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Backdrop: Universities Under Fire

• 2025 sees massive upheaval in higher education: presidents resign, research grants are rescinded, and foreign students detained (00:26).
• Long-running conservative critiques against universities resurface with new intensity in the Trump administration (01:42), including direct threats to end federal funding for "Marxist" universities.

2. Election Night: Quiet Before the Storm

• Political scientist Ryan Enos expected a standard election night—Trump’s win (despite predictions) alarms but doesn’t panic the liberal Harvard campus (03:26–06:19).
• Medical researcher Camilla Nakserova, originally from Communist Czechoslovakia, illustrates the naïveté many felt about the scale of looming change:
  • "Some of my more conservative colleagues...had already told me as early as November next year, ‘if Harvard's still here then.’" (08:45)

3. Inside Harvard: Contrasting Faculty Perspectives

• Kit Parker (bioengineering professor, Army Reserve colonel):

  • One of very few conservative voices at Harvard (11:02), voted twice for Trump for foreign policy reasons, but is critical of Harvard’s “leftward drift”:
    • "Harvard should be like an intellectual cage match." (11:57)
  • Aware of the contradiction:
    • "Does a Republican who's against big government want federal intervention? No...but I'm a committer. I committed to Harvard. I committed to the United States." (21:00, 26:13)

• Camilla Nakserova (medical researcher):

  • Focused on research, blindsided by consequences for lab funding and job security:
    • "Would we just have to fire people overnight?...I can't provide the security, job security that I usually aim to provide for everybody who comes to the lab." (29:06–29:29)

• Ryan Enos (political scientist):

  • Motivated by a crisis of academic independence, eventually organizes faculty resistance:
    • "It kind of seemed like it was going to happen any moment." (19:36)
    • "We cannot compromise on basic principles like defense of our First Amendment rights." (30:02)

4. Escalation: The Trump Administration’s Offensive

• Task force, letters, and threats: The government launches an intense campaign against universities, using accusations of antisemitism to justify investigations and funding freezes (14:11, 15:31, 20:12).
• Heavy-handed tactics include threatening Harvard with an $8.7 billion cut and demanding the abolition of DEI programs, installing conservative faculty, and subjection to audits (20:12, 20:42).

5. Harvard’s Choice: Stand or Surrender

• Amid mounting faculty activism (open letters, rallies) and government ultimatums, President Alan Garber announces Harvard will not comply—becoming the first school to openly resist (25:07):

  • "The university will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights." (25:07)

• Other universities, including Columbia, capitulate or strike deals; Harvard sues the government in federal court (27:30).

6. Immediate Fallouts and Personal Toll

• Research funding, especially NIH grants, is suddenly halted, forcing layoffs and plunging labs into uncertainty (28:43, 29:06).
• The administration threatens Harvard’s ability to enroll foreign students, escalating the standoff (30:19).
• Despite a few victories (a judge orders NIH money restored in September), pressure persists, and the academic community is left demoralized and divided (45:45, 43:16).

7. Bigger Questions: Principles, Power, and Pretext

• Faculty and administration confront questions about when to fight, what compromise means for democracy, and the true aims of government intervention (27:50–29:03, 36:19–37:03).
• Kit Parker’s story illustrates the costs (career setbacks, investigations) of dissent within the university (41:12).
• Camilla confronts lost faith in government; considers alternatives if government support evaporates:
  • "Maybe I would have to go back to Europe after all...I do love America, so I would probably look for a job in industry. Maybe I would become a stay at home mom. Who knows?" (45:21)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

"Harvard should be like an intellectual cage match."
— Kit Parker (11:57)

"We cannot compromise on basic principles like defense of our First Amendment rights."
— Ryan Enos (30:02)

"It's understandable people would want to say, we just want to move on. That, of course, is absolutely the nature of extortion. Right?"
— Ryan Enos (36:19)

"Does a Republican who's against big government want federal intervention and monitoring of this campus? No...but I'm a committer. I committed to Harvard. I committed to the United States."
— Kit Parker (21:00, 26:13)

"Maybe it was a little bit naive to think that just because it's the government for sure, I can like absolutely 100% count on it."
— Camilla Nakserova (44:49)

"It's a bare knuckle fight for money, prestige and power."
— Ilya Merritz (49:48)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:26–01:42 — Setting the scene: chaos and crackdown at universities
• 03:26–06:19 — Ryan Enos and Camilla Nakserova on campus post-election
• 08:45 — Early warnings from conservative colleagues
• 11:02–12:23 — Kit Parker on being a conservative at Harvard
• 14:11–15:31 — Trump task force and government escalation
• 18:26–20:12 — Organizing faculty resistance and government ultimatums
• 25:07–25:57 — Harvard publicly rejects government demands
• 29:06–29:29 — Immediate consequences for research labs
• 30:19–30:42 — Student visa programs threatened
• 36:19–37:03 — Extortion analogies, the democracy question
• 41:05–41:37 — Kit Parker on investigations and career consequences
• 43:16–44:45 — Medical researchers’ perspectives on the value of settlement and the cost of principle
• 45:45–46:19 — Uncertainty about the future for researchers
• 47:20–47:27 — Is Harvard trying to wait out Trump?
• 48:54–49:22 — The personal stakes for President Alan Garber
• 49:48 — Final framing: "bare knuckle fight for money, prestige and power"

Final Thoughts and Setup for Next Episode

The inaugural episode ends with Harvard alone at the legal barricades, other universities watching anxiously from the sidelines, and everyone—presidents, professors, students—unsure how much more pain the system can absorb. The series promises to delve deeper into the personal dynamics (especially between Alan Garber and Dr. Jay Bhattacharya), the fate of university research, and what true resistance means when both principle and livelihoods are on the line.

For Listeners

If you care about academic freedom, research, and the future shape of higher education, this episode is both a warning and a call to attention. Harvard’s standoff could define the boundaries of academic and political independence for a generation.