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By Andrew Stanton
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James Hankins, a professor who taught at Harvard for decades, said he left the university after a “brilliant” student was rejected from graduate programs.
Newsweek reached out to Harvard University’s media relations team for comment via email.
Why It Matters
Hankins’ essay, published this week in Compact Magazine, reflects ongoing debate in academia about diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies. Advocates have pushed universities to work to increase diversity, but critics have argued that the policies are unfair to others. President Donald Trump’s administration has targeted DEI programs in colleges and universities.
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What To Know
Hankins, who taught history at Harvard since 1985, explained his reasoning for leaving the university in a December 29 essay. He wrote that he will be moving to the University of Florida’s Hamilton School for Classical and Civic Education, where he believes he can “make far better use of my time and experience at my new institutional home.”
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He signed a four-year retirement contract in 2021 after he decided that he no longer wanted to teach at Harvard. The decision came after the university’s “strict Covid regime” and practices that never “accorded with my idea of liberal education,” he wrote. It also came after the Black Lives Matter movement fueled DEI efforts in universities across the country.
"In reviewing graduate student applicants in the fall of 2020 I came across an outstanding prospect who was a perfect fit for our program," he wrote. "In past years this candidate would have risen immediately to the top of the applicant pool. In 2021, however, I was told informally by a member of the admissions committee that ‘that’ [meaning admitting a white male] was ‘not happening this year.'"
He also highlighted an instance of another student not being accepted into graduate programs despite a superb academic record.
“In the same year a certifiably brilliant undergraduate I had tutored, who was literally the best student at Harvard—he won the prize for the graduating senior with the best overall academic record—was rejected from all the graduate programs to which he applied. He too was a white male,” he wrote.
He said he asked friends at other universities why he had been rejected and was told the “same story” about graduate admissions committees “following the same unspoken protocol as ours.”
What People Are Saying
Elon Musk, on X: “The deal was an even playing field, not extremely tilted in the other direction. They broke the deal. Therefore, there is no deal.”
Education Secretary Linda McMahon, in a statement in March: “Students must be assessed according to merit and accomplishment, not prejudged by the color of their skin. We will not yield on this commitment.”
The ACLU, in a February 2025 press release: “Across the country, right-wing groups are working to dismantle long-standing anti-discrimination protections and statutory mandates by targeting what they broadly refer to as diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA). These attacks on DEIA are not new. Rather, they’re part of a broader strategy to discredit DEIA and weaponize the term itself, expanding its definition to encompass any ideas right-wing politicians disagree with under the guise of opposing identity politics.”
What Happens Next
Hankins is set to begin teaching at the University of Florida. Debate over DEI in higher education continues.
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