At Harvard University today, professors who teach Western history are history. Harvard — long considered a flagship of American higher education — has all but abandoned courses focused on Western civilization in favor of “global history” and identity-focused curricula.
One of the most dramatic voices in this discussion is James Hankins, a 40-year veteran Harvard history professor who recently left the Ivy League and accepted a position at the University of Florida’s Hamilton School of Classical and Civic Education. He is blowing the whistle, revealing Harvard’s history department has not hired, with tenure, a historian in a Western field — ancient, medieval, early modern, or modern Europe — in a decade and that eight senior Western historians have been lost through retirement or departure and have not been replaced. Hankins warns of the serious consequences of this shift for the education of young Americans. As he puts it, “When you don’t teach the young what civilization is, it turns out, people become uncivilized.”
Harvard’s move away from Western Civ isn’t accidental, but reflects a larger trend in elite universities: prioritizing identity politics and global narratives over the foundational ideas that shaped Western institutions, law, science, and culture. When students are no longer grounded in the Western canon — in thinkers from Plato to Locke to Jefferson — they lose an understanding of the religious and philosophical roots of liberty, civic responsibility, and the constitutional order that sustain this country.
This matters because Western Civ isn’t just historical trivia; it’s the story of the ideas and traditions that have forged our nation. Removing these tenants from core academic commitments destroys younger generations’ appreciation for the principles that undergird our republic.
Harvard’s directional changes are but a microcosm of the crisis in higher education. Merit and shared heritage are now replaced with division and identity categories. Harvard may still claim to offer Western history in some form, but the loss of genuine Western Civ curriculum — and scholars committed to it — and will inevitably lead to the loss of our freedom and prosperity. Preserving Western civilization study is not optional; it’s essential for sustaining the values and knowledge that will maintain our nation.
It’s no secret that globalists are bent on destroying Western culture. Whether the threat comes from inside or outside our borders, America must be protected from cultural Marxism and those who would deny our American heritage. We’re seeking your insight at PhyllisSchlafly.com. That’s PhyllisSchlafly.com. Thanks for listening and join us again for the Phyllis Schlafly Report.
