Eric Holcomb, a Republican, was the governor of Indiana from 2017 to 2025.
In January, I completed two terms as governor of Indiana. This fall, I did what all red state Republicans do (right?): spent a semester teaching at Harvard University. As someone who believes that restoring our communities is among America’s greatest challenges, my goal was to see if the foundation of an open-minded, problem-solving community still existed in a place far removed from my own cultural comfort zone. It does.
Friends warned me that a den of woke lions would maul me or try to turn me into one of them. Neither happened. I suffered no grievous insults, surrendered none of my conservative principles and witnessed no disruptive behavior on a quiet campus.
Contrary to my side’s worst fears, I found students from a wide range of circumstances. Harvard’s freshmen hail from all 50 states; one in five is a first-generation college student; half pay no tuition thanks to Harvard’s endowment; and 16 are military veterans. The students in my “Leading Through Divisive Times” seminar shared their broad views while listening respectfully to mine and others. My fellow faculty experienced the same.
I found a community that didn’t always agree but could still talk with each other and work together toward the greater good, which in Harvard’s case includes education, discovery and the development of ideas and technologies.
To dismiss my experience, today’s online denizens at both ends of the political horseshoe will probably come to the same conclusion: “He must be a centrist squish aligned with Harvard’s elite orthodoxy.” I have long been, and remain, a low-tax fiscal conservative and supporter of free markets; highly skeptical of hyper regulation, social engineering and culture-war fads; a peace-through-strength U.S. Navy veteran; pro-life, pro-liberty and pro-faith. That’s not the elite profile of late.
Yes, Harvard offers courses that deconstruct the Western canon. It also features classes such as “Using Markets to Solve Social Problems” and “Central Challenges of American National Security,” taught by nonpartisan thinkers.
Yes, you may still find the intellectual underpinnings of Harvard’s embarrassing anti-Israel encampments in some clubs and faculty lounges. You will also find a new president, an observant Jew, who is making sure that similar disruptions of campus life and blatant antisemitism do not reappear, even as serious conservative speakers show up again.
Yes, Harvard devotes some of its large government research funding to projects that people like me might roll their eyes at. It also uses taxpayer support to study ways of reducing the trauma of war injuries, replacing humans with robots on the battlefield and developing radiation countermeasures, alongside nearly countless human-health projects. For example, the university’s “Move Lab” at its engineering school developed a robotic vest that helps restore stroke survivors’ arm and shoulder movement. The lab is using a $5 million National Science Foundation grant to transition prototypes for widespread use by patients.
What I’ve experienced may be a natural return to Harvard’s more moderate bearings, following noisy displays of intolerance by campus agitators in recent years. Or it may be due to the Trump administration’s forceful executive orders and fiscal pressure. Either way (and it’s probably both), let’s take the win and learn the broader lesson.
From Ivy League campuses to neighborhood associations, service clubs and faith-based groups, communities of all kinds can restore themselves. And they need to. An American Enterprise Institute survey of more than 6,500 Americans in 2024 found that the country’s civic life “has declined by every conceivable measure since the mid-20th century.” The survey found that Americans who still take the most basic step out of their comfort zones — walking around their neighborhoods and talking to others — are much more likely to trust people. Trust, of course, is the first step to working with others in a strong community.
To fix things we need to put down our phones, meet in person across tribal lines and seek common ground while respecting different ideas about how to get there. County by county, with Democrats and Republicans, that is how we achieved some of the nation’s largest public health investments two years ago in Indiana, despite raw memories of pandemic-era standoffs. We approved a 1,500 percent increase in public health spending, expecting that a novel set of solutions — designed and driven by people who trust each other at the community level — will better reduce overall spending on health care. It costs less to keep people healthy than to intervene when they’re sick.
Success in restoring our communities will ensure America’s ability to meet any other challenge. Failure will make us brittle and weak.
The French philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville recognized this on his famous study tour of America nearly two centuries ago. In his resulting masterpiece, “Democracy in America,” Tocqueville marveled at our country’s “spirit of association.”
Harvard convinced me that the spirit of association remains alive in unexpected places. And if any of my friends on the left want introductions at service clubs, union locals, or churches in the red states, call me. Getting out of our comfort zones to restore communities works both ways.
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