Harvard University has announced it will no longer fund community-based events during commencement ceremonies. It has also revamped and renamed its diversity and inclusion office.

The news comes as the Trump administration recently cut $2.2 billion in funding to the Ivy League institution and Harvard filed a lawsuit claiming the decision was unconstitutional.

Harvard will no longer host or fund affinity group celebrations during graduation

The university announced the news in an email sent on Monday to affinity groups. This includes the annual Black Commencement celebration.

The university indicated the groups would no longer receive “funding, staffing, or spaces for affinity celebrations,” according to The Harvard Crimson. The email was sent by the address that belongs to Harvard’s Office of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging. However, the office was renamed the same day. It now goes as the office of Community and Campus Life.

CAMBRIDGE, MA - MAY 23: Graduates listen to the master of ceremony as they take part in the Black Commencement at Harvard University in Cambridge, MA on May 23, 2017. 170 students attended the university-wide ceremony for black students at Harvard, designed to celebrate their unique struggles and achievements at the elite institution that has been grappling with its historical ties to slavery
Graduates listen to the master of ceremony as they take part in the Black Commencement at Harvard University in Cambridge, MA on May 23, 2017. 170 students attended the university-wide ceremony for black students at Harvard, designed to celebrate their unique struggles and achievements at the elite institution that has been grappling with its historical ties to slavery. | Photo by Keith Bedford/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

“We stand ready to address questions or concerns you may have during this transition,” the email read.

The U.S. Department of Education had threatened additional funding cuts if graduation celebrations based on race weren’t canceled. Harvard’s email did not specify if it would also stop hosting and funding celebrations for affinity groups for LGBTQ+, Jewish, veteran and disabled students.

In 2024, race-based Commencement events gathered over 1000 people from across Harvard’s community. The university hosted celebrations for Arab, Black, Indigenous, Latinx, first-generation, low-income, and Asian American, Pacific Islander and Desi students. 

CAMBRIDGE, MA - MAY 8: From left, Harvard graduate students Michael Huggins, Courtney Woods, and Jillian M. Simons pose for a portrait on the campus of the university in Cambridge, MA on May 8, 2017. The graduate students will take part in a Harvard Black Commencement Ceremony.
From left, Harvard graduate students Michael Huggins, Courtney Woods, and Jillian M. Simons pose for a portrait on the campus of the university in Cambridge, MA on May 8, 2017. The graduate students will take part in a Harvard Black Commencement Ceremony. | Photo by Keith Bedford/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

The Trump administration recently cut $2.2 billion in funding to Harvard for not complying with its demands

Two weeks ago, the Trump administration sent a list of demands to Harvard which included abolishing D.E.I. efforts on campus, appointing an external overseer to monitor the campus community for “viewpoint diversity,” banning international students who are hostile to “American values” and eliminating activist faculty, according to The New York Times.

Harvard filed a lawsuit against the administration, claiming that the move was unconstitutional.

“No government, regardless of which party, should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue,” Harvard’s president, Alan M. Garber, wrote in a statement.

The Trump administration then cut over $2.2 billion in university grants and contracts.

“Harvard remains committed to building a community where individuals who bring a broad array backgrounds, experiences and perspectives come together to learn, grow and thrive, and equally committed to complying with the law,” university spokesperson Jason A. Newton said in a statement, according to The Harvard Crimson.

Newton said the school “is reviewing the FAQs that were issued on February 28 by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.”

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