Harvard’s public health school is changing leaders at a center focused on human rights, which had been targeted by the Trump administration as part of a broad campaign to pressure the university over allegations of antisemitism.
Mary T. Bassett will leave her role as director of the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights, or FXB Center, which she has led for seven years. Andrea Baccarelli, dean of the T.H. Chan School of Public Health, made the announcement in a note to the school community on Tuesday.
The FXB Center was cited last spring in a report by Harvard’s task force on antisemitism and anti-Israeli bias for allegedly focusing “heavily on Palestinians” in course offerings and guest lectures, “which also rarely presented Israeli points of view except those of the state’s harshest critics.”
Dr. Baccarelli’s note praised FXB’s “high-impact work” under Dr. Bassett, but did not explain the change in directors. The change in leadership has led to criticism by some on campus, including a petition to reinstate Dr. Bassett.
The center became part of the Trump administration’s focus on Harvard early this year, as government officials targeted the school over allegations that it had not done enough to combat antisemitism on its campus.
In a letter to Harvard in April, the Trump administration demanded that the university hire an outside expert to audit the FXB Center for signs of antisemitism, along with other centers and programs. The demand was part of a longer list that included asking Harvard to overhaul hiring and admissions practices, discontinue diversity, equity and inclusion programs, and revamp student discipline policies. Harvard refused and filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration instead.
The leadership change comes as the center adjusts its mission, from covering a range of issues to a specific focus on children, Dr. Baccarelli said.
The school will look in particular at children’s health “during early development, when children are most vulnerable — and bring its unique, human rights perspective to this area of critical importance to public health.”
Kari C. Nadeau, a pediatrician and chair of the Department of Environmental Health, will be interim head of the center, Dr. Baccarelli said.
The change in leadership at FXB, first reported by The Harvard Crimson, has drawn significant opposition.
By Friday, more than 1,500 people had signed the petition calling for Dr. Bassett’s reinstatement. The petition stated that her removal “sends a chilling message that critical scholarship on racial justice and Palestine is unwelcome.”
The executive committee of Harvard’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors said Dr. Bassett’s removal “continues a pattern at Harvard with grave implications for academic freedom.” It pointed to the removal of leaders at the Center for Middle East Studies in March, as well as other recent changes “demanded by outside critics.”
Dr. Bassett will remain a professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, according to Dr. Baccarelli. Dr. Bassett did not immediately return a request for comment Friday.
The Trump administration and Harvard officials have been in talks to negotiate settling their conflict in recent months, which has involved financial penalties for the school and long-running legal battles.
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