Harvard University President Alan Garber Is Committed to Keeping Religion out of School Policy

In early April 2025, Harvard University president Alan Garber received a letter from individuals working for the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Federal Acquisition Service. It was a list of demands the university had to meet in order to continue receiving federal funding. Two days later, Alan responded, writing that while some demands were aimed at fighting antisemitism, most were about regulating "intellectual conditions" at Harvard.

This reply was not one of acquiescence, and Alan took the time to point out exactly what steps Harvard has taken to fight the rise of antisemitism on campus. In the past, Alan has criticized at least one pro-Palestinian organization while maintaining that his personal beliefs weren't coloring his professional decisions. This has led some people to question the Harvard University president's own religious beliefs. Is he a man of faith? Here's what we know.

According to the Atlanta Jewish Times, Alan is Jewish but keeps a pretty tight lid on his personal life, including how he might engage in his own faith. In October 2024, he condemned statements made by the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee, which described the Oct. 7 Hamas attack as the day "Gaza broke through Israel’s blockade," per The Harvard Crimson.

In an interview with the outlet, Alan reminded everyone that the organization speaks for itself. He opted not to respond with an official message from the University but did say he didn't agree with the statement. The Harvard University president went on to say there were aspects of it he found "personally offensive."

Three weeks after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, Alan and Dean of the College Rakesh Khurana attended a Harvard Hillel Shabbat dinner, which was part of an "effort to demonstrate support for Harvard’s Jewish affiliates," reported The Harvard Crimson. "In general, if you look at the national statistics, the other forms of hate had not grown as rapidly over that period," said Alan. "So there was a sense of great urgency about addressing antisemitism."

While we don't know Alan's net worth, The Boston Globe reported that his salary was $946,000 for the 2021-2022 academic year. At the time, he served as Harvard's provost and chief academic officer. Around that time, he was also a board member of Vertex Pharmaceuticals and the California-based Exelixis Inc., for which he earned $963,000 in the 2022 fiscal year.

It's unclear if Alan stepped down from his board member duties after his promotion to Harvard University president. Carolyn Becker, a retired associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, told The Globe that staying on would be a little sticky. "To put someone in as president, even in the interim, who has some major conflicts of interest that take him away from his all-encompassing role — they need his full attention focused on the job at hand."