The official, university-central-administration-published Harvard Gazette has an interview with the outgoing and incoming presidents of Harvard Board of Overseers, the university governing board that is larger than the other governing board, the Harvard Corporation. This section (emphasis added) seemed highly newsworthy to me:
GAZETTE: What do you see as challenges for the University in the years ahead?
CHOI: I think the challenges for Harvard reflect many of the challenges facing higher education today. There are many, but three come to mind: First, the climate of political polarization, which affects our campus as well as the nation. Related to that is how we preserve and promote open and civil discourse as well as academic freedom. A third challenge is the growing skepticism in the public about the value of higher education and some loss of public trust in higher education. How do we let people know about the important work that research institutions like Harvard perform in the world and how Harvard advances important societal goals?
HODGES: I do think that the challenges are growing. The board has been hearing from faculty and students about a kind of self-censorship happening in the classroom, more so than in the past. Harvard is taking this very seriously, because of its belief that knowledge is produced through free exchange of competing ideas. It's central to Harvard's educational mission. As a board, we've been hearing testimony directly from faculty and directly from students — having this access allows the board to see the challenges in the most clear-eyed way.