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. . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jay & Alan

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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.   . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Harvard Plan is about the fight for the soul of America’s oldest and most prestigious university. Hosted by award-winning reporter Ilya Marritz, the podcast is a co-production of The Boston Globe and WNYC’s On The Media. Season One explores the chaos at Harvard University in 2024, with the rise and fall of its first Black president, Claudine Gay. Season Two  reveals the broken friendships and knotty moral quandaries caused by the Trump administration’s pressure campaign on higher education.

The Harvard Plan

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