Harvard alum blasts DEI policies after 'woke' values drive longtime professor's exit
Shabbos Kestenbaum echoes concerns from professor James Hankins who left after 40 years over woke values
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Harvard alumnus Shabbos Kestenbaum sharply criticized Harvard University’s diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies Thursday, echoing a former professor’s sharp critique of the Ivy League school that ended with his departure after four decades.
"It’s shocking, but it’s certainly not surprising," Kestenbaum said, arguing Harvard’s embrace of DEI has sidelined merit in favor of ideology.
His remarks echoed concerns raised by former Harvard professor James Hankins, who detailed his reasons for leaving the university after 40 years in a recent essay for Compact Magazine.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Banners hanging from Memorial Church on the Harvard University campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S., on Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (Sophie Park/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
In the essay, Hankins said he chose to leave Harvard in 2021 amid what he called a surge of wokeness and strict COVID-19 restrictions, but honored a four-year retirement contract that expired weeks ago.
He criticized what he described as Harvard’s abandonment of merit-based standards, arguing DEI priorities have reshaped hiring and admissions while sidelining studies of Western civilization.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Harvard University Coat of arms (Ve Ri Tas) is displayed on the front of the Harvard Business School building in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Aaron M. Sprecher/Getty Images)
Kestenbaum agreed with Hankins, telling "Fox & Friends" guest host Dr. Nicole Saphier that a nation failing to teach its own history "does not have much of a future."
"My greatest concern is the greater societal implications and the greater societal ills, particularly the demoralization of young people in America," he said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In this undated photo, protesters in Michigan rally against President Donald Trump’s anti-DEI policies, denouncing federal rollbacks on diversity, equity and inclusion programs. (Dominic Gwinn/Getty Images)
"When you have cultural elites or professors who insist and instruct young people that their culture is not worthy of preservation, that their race is something to be apologetic over, that their history is not worth scholarship, then, of course, those young people, particularly young men, will become disillusioned and disassociated with the society they're meant to be interacting with," Kestenbaum continued.
He stressed the need to study and promote the virtues of Western civilization, saying they are values to take pride in and uphold — not replace with external ideologies.
"The anti-White discrimination, the anti-Asian discrimination, and the anti-American narratives being taught in institutions of higher learning is something that's been an open secret for decades," Kestenbaum added.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF MEDIA AND CULTURE
Harvard did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Fox News' Peter D'Abrosca contributed to this report.