The Harvard Plan

The Endless Frontier

Universities were not always so vulnerable to the whims of politics. The whole system of taxpayer-funded, university-led scientific research came about at the end of World War II, and was the brainchild of a man named Vannevar Bush. He felt the partnership of government and academics had to be equal in order to yield breakthroughs. Today, the Trump administration is proposing a new “compact” that would make the President the dominant partner. We speak with one of the authors of the Trump compact, May Mailman. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

Jay & Alan

Harvard president Alan Garber and National Institutes of Health director  Jay Bhattacharya are at the heart of the national fight over the future of academia. Alan Garber has been cast as the defender of academic freedom and democracy; Jay Bhattacharya is Donald Trump’s pick to lead the NIH, the agency withholding billions of dollars in research grants from Harvard. Oddly enough, the two men go way back: Garber was Bhattacharya’s undergraduate thesis adviser and mentor in the late 1980s. This episode tells the story of how the two men found themselves adversaries — and what it means for the future of science.  https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/08/11/metro/alan-garbers-former-student-now-holds-keys-harvards-future/. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

And so it begins...

What happened at Harvard after Donald Trump’s inauguration? Three main characters, all Harvard insiders, tell the story from their perspective: politics professor Ryan Enos, genetics professor and cancer researcher Kamila Naxerova, and Kit Parker, a colonel in the United States Army Reserve and professor of bioengineering and applied physics. Their personal perspectives interweave with the dramatic timeline and unfolding news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

Season Two Trailer

Season One of The Harvard Plan anticipated what could happen to Harvard and academia once the new Trump administration came to power. Season Two picks up where the story left off. Host Ilya Marritz investigates the pressure Harvard's been under since January 2025, through the stories of some of the key players. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

“The Universities Are The Enemy”

In part three of this collaboration with WNYC’s On The Media, the deep history of Harvard and the distinctly American idea of “diversity” is the hidden subtext for much of the recent strife. For most of the past half-century, the academy (and the business world) has embraced a concept of diversity as a social good.That concept, was developed at Harvard and endorsed by the Supreme Court, until the high court ended race-based affirmative action in 2023. This episode also looks at what’s in store for universities as the incoming Trump-Vance administration promises to pressure them to change curricula.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]