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Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean Hopi E. Hoekstra told faculty on Tuesday that the school was “on stronger footing” after taking steps to tighten its budget in the face of an unstable financial climate under the Trump administration.

She said at Tuesday’s monthly meeting that the FAS was in the process of redesigning its administrative model to “serve students and faculty more effectively and efficiently” as a task force on workforce planning develops recommendations for staffing changes. The group, convened by Hoekstra in April, was charged with drawing up proposals that could include reorganizations and reductions.

Hoekstra also nodded to Harvard’s court victory against the Trump administration — which won back billions of dollars in federal funding, though much of the money has yet to return — and recent efforts to encourage students to prioritize academics. She added her voice to a chorus of concerns about academic rigor at Harvard, saying that undergraduates’ grades had risen over the years and the quality of classroom discussion had fallen.

“Extracurriculars, athletics, and House life are absolutely vital of course. But the classroom must remain the center of gravity for our students,” Hoekstra said. “Recentering academics will be a defining feature of the year.”

The past several months have seen the University dismantle its diversity programming, suspend a student organization over hazing investigations, and remove a Black Lives Matter sign from a lab window — all with the possibility of a deal with the White House still looming over campus. But faculty largely did not push Hoekstra to address the controversies, and Hoekstra avoided wading into them, even when pressed.

After Hoekstra concluded her remarks, Walter Johnson, a professor of History and of African and African American Studies, stood during the question period to say that he was “meeting this moment in a slightly different way.”

Johnson said several recent developments — including the BLM sign removal, the cancellation of an education journal’s special issue on Palestine, and the dismissal of faculty leaders at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies — suggested that the University was shrinking away from its commitment to protect academic freedom and free speech.

“Faculty, students, and staff at this University are scared of speaking their minds, of telling the truth,” Johnson said. “And the fears that haunt them, I venture to say, are that the University will not defend them when they are attacked and, further, that they will be punished by this University for taking actions that they and many others believe are honorable, truthful, and just.”

In her response, Hoekstra did not directly address the events Johnson mentioned, instead saying that new expectations established by a report from a faculty committee on classroom norms had addressed some of those concerns. The report, released last spring by the Classroom Social Compact committee, focused on many of the same concerns about academic engagement that Hoekstra highlighted at the start of the meeting. It prompted the College to adopt a nonattribution rule that bars students and instructors from attributing remarks in the classroom to the participants who delivered them.

“Clearly speech and academic freedom are big issues that are being dealt with not only in the FAS but Harvard and society writ large,” Hoekstra said. “I think we have tackled some issues of academic freedom in particular through the Classroom Social Compact Committee report, which nicely articulated expectations and norms for students and faculty.”

Hoekstra added that the FAS would address faculty doxxing concerns by recirculating an online harassment resource document with department chairs. She also pointed faculty to the Office of Faculty Affairs, which she said could provide individualized advice for affected professors.

Harvard College Dean David J. Deming, who took office in July, made his first faculty meeting appearance as dean on Tuesday. Deming, who only recently gained an FAS appointment, told faculty that he was excited to work with them.

He also reminded attendees of an initiative launched this semester that allows faculty to eat at undergraduate dining halls up to three times a week for free. The initiative expands dining hall access for faculty, who previously had access to only 10 free dining hall meals each semester.

The change, Deming said, would help promote a sense of belonging among students and faculty.

“It is important to foster a sense of engagement and belonging in the community, especially now when Harvard is facing a time of real challenge,” Deming said.

Tuesday’s faculty meeting, one of the main venues for professors to directly question FAS and University administrators, was markedly less heated than last semester’s meetings. An April discussion was particularly contentious, with faculty grilling Hoekstra on the dismissals at CMES and the University’s decision to cut ties with Birzeit University in the West Bank.

Beside Johnson, only two other professors asked questions on Tuesday. English professor Elaine Scarry requested that the FAS meeting minutes be made available online. Classics professor Richard F. Thomas asked Hoekstra to acknowledge the role that a faculty group — the Harvard chapter of the American Association of University Professors — recently played in notching key legal victories against the Trump administration.

Hoekstra said she intended to thank all those involved in advocating for Harvard.

“I think that was part of my remarks — to commend everyone who is standing up for Harvard, including the AAUP,” she said.

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

—Staff writer Veronica H. Paulus can be reached at veronica.paulus@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @VeronicaHPaulus.