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Nov 7, 2025 50 min

S2 - Episode 2: The Harvard Plan

from On the Media Hosted by Ilya Marritz

Millions of dollars in federal grants have been terminated, throwing cutting-edge research at American universities into crisis. On this week’s On the Media, meet the two men at the center of the fight over the future of academia. [0:00] Harvard president Alan Garber and National Institutes of Health director Jay Bhattacharya are at the heart of the national fight over the future of academia. Alan Garber has been cast as the defender of academic freedom and democracy; Jay Bhattacharya is Donald Trump’s pick to lead the NIH, the agency withholding billions of dollars in research grants from Harvard. Oddly enough, the two men go way back: Garber was Bhattacharya’s undergraduate thesis adviser and mentor in the late 1980s. This episode tells the story of how the two men found themselves adversaries — and what it means for the future of science. On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Bluesky, TikTok and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing [email protected].

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S2 - Episode 2: The Harvard Plan

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