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Today’s top stories

In a video interview with Morning Edition‘s Steve Inskeep, Harvard President Alan Garber said institutions need to double down on their “commitment to the good of the nation” and be firm in what they stand for, which he believes is education and the pursuit of truth. The university sued once when the administration cut off billions of dollars of research grants and contracts. The latest suit came last week when the administration banned Harvard from hosting international students. A judge temporarily blocked the administration’s latest action, allowing foreign students the ability to stay for now.

• 🎧 The Harvard lawsuit and Garber argue that the administration is going after something bigger than international students. Garber says he doesn’t fully know the administration’s motives. However, Garber says he knows some conservatives want to reshape higher education over issues like diversity, equity and inclusion. Garber says he wants to encourage free debate on campus and that having international students helps contribute to the university’s environment.
• ➡️ Here’s a look, by the numbers, at the impact of international students at Harvard and across the U.S., including where most of them come from.

Corporate America is distancing itself from DEI. This move showcases a significant shift from five years ago, when the racial reckoning triggered by George Floyd’s murder sent companies racing to staff up. NPR reports on the extent of job losses in this field.

• 🎧 More than 2,600 jobs in DEI have been eliminated in the last couple of years, NPR’s Maria Aspan reports on Up First. That is over 10% of the DEI jobs that existed at the start of 2023. Aspan talked with Candace Byrdsong Williams, who was laid off last summer and hasn’t been able to find a new job. Aspan says that though Williams is only one person, there are thousands of people who have been living through this very changing and politized job market.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a new group backed by the U.S. and Israel, is starting to bring limited quantities of food to Gaza, where hunger is widespread and extreme. However, the group is facing suspicion and growing criticism from the UN and other aid groups. Jake Wood, the executive director, resigned on Sunday, saying he could not abandon principles of humanity, impartiality and independence.

• 🎧 Instead of distributing food to sites in Gaza where people are starving, the new group will operate in only four new zones with Israeli soldiers guarding the perimeters, NPR’s Daniel Estrin reports. The private contractors will give out boxes of food to families once a week. A private U.S. company run by a former CIA officer is involved in the group, which won’t say where its funding comes from.

Deep dive

ears after their son left the U.S. to join ISIS, a Minnesota couple learned they had two young grandsons trapped in a Syrian desert camp. They were determined to rescue them.

Dion MBD for NPR

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Years after their son left the U.S. to join ISIS, a Minnesota couple learned they had two young grandsons trapped in a Syrian desert camp. They’re among an estimated 22 U.S. citizens still in the sprawling, primitive camps, including about 17 American children, according to the State Department. The two Minnesota boys were there until May 2024, when they were flown in a military cargo plane to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York to start a new life in the American Midwest. Read the full story here by NPR’s Sacha Pfeiffer.

Picture show

The view of the Andes from Cerro San Cristobal above Santiago, Chile.

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Brian Mann/NPR

Autumn has arrived in South America, and it’s perfect hiking conditions in Santiago, Chile, the capital, where steep hills rise above the city. At the center is Cerro San Cristóbal, with breathtaking views of wildflowers, pine forests and the Andes Mountains. NPR’s Brian Mann made the trek, where he ventured through forested hills of volcanic rock and groves of cactus. Check out photos from his journey and listen as he shares his experience from the trail here.

3 things to know before you go

Hummingbirds gather around a hummingbird feeder filled with sugar water, in a backyard in the San Fernando Valley section of the city of Los Angeles, July 17, 2014.

Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images

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1. A new study in Global Change Biology details the evolutionary change of Anna’s Hummingbirds in the western U.S., finding their beaks have grown longer and more tapered to get the most from common backyard feeders.
2. In 2016, Tulika Prasad’s non-verbal, autistic son had an outburst at a grocery store. A stranger, also a parent of a child with autism, understood what was happening. The unsung hero helped her with her groceries and offered empathy instead of showing pity.
3. Filmmaker Marcel Ophuls, who was known as one of the great documentarians of his era, died Saturday at age 97. He commanded his audience’s attention with four-hour-plus documentaries like The Sorrow and The Pity.

This newsletter was edited by Majd Al-Waheidi.