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Harvard Kennedy School professor Khalil Gibran Muhammad, who taught the school’s flagship “Race and Racism” course, will leave Harvard at the end of the year to become a tenured faculty member at Princeton University.

Muhammad, a vocal critic of the University’s administration, was just one of two tenured Black professors at HKS and his departure marks another setback for the school as it struggles to increase diversity among its faculty and student body.

Muhammad said in an interview he primarily chose to join Princeton because he lives closer to New Jersey, but added that his departure should be a “moment of reflection that Harvard can and should do better” to protect its faculty who study and teach about race.

“What could be more relevant than defending your own faculty against bad faith actors, and people who completely distorted, mischaracterized, and lied about what people like me do on campus,” Muhammad said.

Muhammad, who has taught about race at the Kennedy School since 2016, faced public criticism from Republican lawmakers during former Harvard President Claudine Gay’s n0w-infamous congressional hearing about antisemitism on college campuses.

During the hearing, House Committee on Education and the Workforce Chair Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) criticized Muhammad’s “Race and Racism” course as an example of “race-based ideology” that allowed antisemitism to fester at Harvard.

Muhammad said that while diversity is a growing focus at Harvard, the University “can and should do better” to safeguard its faculty from such external criticism.

“People are gonna wonder if the next political leader comes for them, if Harvard will have their back,” he added.

University spokesperson Jason A. Newton wrote in a statement that Harvard “is deeply committed to supporting all members of our community and fostering an environment where everyone can thrive.”

Muhammad will join Princeton in January 2025 with an appointment in its African American Studies Department and at its School of Public and International Affairs, but will stay at HKS as a visiting professor through at least spring 2025.

Douglas W. Elmendorf, who stepped down as HKS dean at the end of June, lauded Muhammad's contributions to the school in a statement.

“I am very sorry that Professor Muhammad is leaving HKS, and I wish him the best,” Elmendorf said. “In his time at the Kennedy School, Professor Muhammad’s knowledge and insight have significantly strengthened our teaching, research, and public engagement on race and public policy.

Muhammad has been a vocal advocate for expanding racial studies at HKS, leading the Institutional Antiracism and Accountability Project and collaboration with students to make “Race and Racism” a required course for the master’s in public policy degree.

Muhammad called on new HKS Dean Jeremy M. Weinstein to continue to improve diversity within the school’s faculty, saying that it has “been hard at times” to be among the only Black tenured faculty at the Kennedy School.

“I hope that they will very quickly find someone to take my place and will add to the ranks of senior faculty there who are not just Black, but also people who are of color who study race and racism,” he said.

He also urged Weinstein to ensure that the study of race remains a focus of the Kennedy School in his absence, saying that courses like his have “always been vulnerable to faculty like me leaving.”

“The new dean should sit down and come up with a blueprint to make the course offering sustainable by investing some faculty resources in terms of FTE, actual people recruited to support the teaching of that material,” he said.

Several HKS faculty members said they would miss Muhammad’s contributions to the school, but were eager to continue to work with him.

“I’ll miss you and so will @HarvardAsh,” wrote Archon Fung, a professor of democracy, in a post on X. “Look forward to continuing to do stuff together, though with some more miles of separation.”

Muhammad said he already has plans to continue working with Fung on “the work of protecting and building a multiracial democracy” and also anticipates working closely with HKS professor Sandra Susan Smith — the other tenured Black professors at HKS — to research criminal justice reform.

Muhammad added that the IARA and likely a few staff members affiliated with it would accompany him to Princeton, where he plans to research similar issues.

“I'm going to a place where some of my former Harvard colleagues are doing great work, and I look forward to building out my work and learning from them in that new space,” he said.

—Staff writer William C. Mao can be reached at william.mao@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @williamcmao.

—Staff writer Dhruv T. Patel can be reached at dhruv.patel@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @dhruvtkpatel.