Provost Manning
On August 15, less than two weeks after the Corporation removed “interim” from his title, President Alan M. Garber made the logical move, announcing that former Harvard Law School Dean John F. Manning, who became interim provost in March, would henceforth serve as provost proper. With that, the senior leadership team in Massachusetts Hall is in place through the planned end of Garber’s service in June 2027. Alongside the provost’s myriad academic and policymaking roles, and oversight of affiliated institutions ranging from the Art Museums and Arnold Arboretum to the libraries and Harvard University Health Services, Manning has led University task forces on defining institutional voice and on fostering civil discourse and academic freedom. Read more at harvardmag.com/provost-manning-24.
After Affirmative Action
The self-reported proportion of U.S. black students in the College class of 2028—the first admitted since the Supreme Court outlawed consideration of race or ethnicity in holistic admissions reviews in June 2023—declined to 14 percent from 18 percent in the prior year. The share of Hispanic or Latino students increased by two percentage points, to 16 percent, and Asian American enrollment remained level, at 37 percent of the 1,647 matriculants. Peer institutions Princeton and Yale, which like Harvard enroll the large majority of those they offer admission, reported a lesser decline, and none, respectively, in the proportion of black students in this year’s entering class. Results varied widely at other institutions, with MIT and Amherst reporting sharp declines in black student enrollment, making for an uncertain sense of the longer-term prospects for sustaining diverse student bodies. And many schools’ data for this initial year after affirmative action are unusually uncertain, as the share of students not identifying a race or ethnicity increased: in the College’s case, to 8 percent of class members—twice last year’s percentage. Read more about the College at harvardmag.com/harvard-admissions-demographics-24 and other institutions at harvardmag.com/affirmative-action-admissions-24.
Application Evolution 2024
In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision outlawing consideration of race in college applications, Harvard—like many other institutions—revised its essay prompts to ask candidates how their life experiences might bear on their prospective contribution to the College. And after the campus turmoil following the terrorism and war in the Middle East, and wide concern about students’ ability to discuss controversies civilly and productively, applicants to the class of 2029 have a new prompt to ponder: “Describe a time when you strongly disagreed with someone about an idea or issue. How did you communicate or engage with this person? What did you learn from this experience?”
Then There Were Four
With the sudden, if not unexpected, resignation of President Minouche Shafik of Columbia on August 14, leadership of half the eight Ivies is in transition: Harvard, with Alan M. Garber as president through the 2026-2027 academic year; Cornell, whose president retired in June, at the end of the academic year; plus Columbia and Penn, whose presidents resigned, like Harvard’s Claudine Gay. Columbia was severely shaken by protests over the Middle East war. Shafik had taken a hard line in April, when she testified before Congress, and twice summoned New York City police to arrest student protestors, prompting a no-confidence faculty vote. In addition, the three Columbia student-affairs deans put on leave in June for sending text messages deemed to border on antisemitic tropes (News in Brief, September-October, page 20) resigned their positions in August. The multiple presidential vacancies make governing boards’ searches for permanent successor appointees even more challenging.
Goodheart Goes
Marc Goodheart, Secretary of the University since 1998—and thus chief administrative officer of the Harvard Corporation and the Board of Overseers—will relinquish that post following Commencement this May. He will remain a senior adviser to President Alan M. Garber and others. Goodheart has played a central role in Harvard governance, staffing presidential searches and, at presidents’ behest, many searches for decanal and other senior appointees. He has also been deeply involved in planning Commencements (where he hands honorands their diplomas after the president reads their citations—written by Goodheart), presidential installations, and other major Harvard events. Read more at harvardmag.com/goodheart-24.
Retaining the Sackler Name
The first formal review of a request to dename a Harvard property or title, using the process adopted in 2021, has resulted in a decision not to dename the Arthur M. Sackler Museum and Building. Sackler family members’ Purdue Pharma marketed the opioid painkiller OxyContin, a factor in hundreds of thousands of deaths, but Arthur, a leader in developing techniques to advertise and promote use of pharmaceuticals, died nine years before the drug was introduced. The review committee was “not persuaded” that proponents’ arguments satisfied the University’s criteria. Review of a separate request challenging the name of Winthrop House continues. A full report is available at harvardmag.com/sackler-building-24.
Building Boom, Continued
Atop the already booming activity around campus (“Crimson Construction,” September-October, page 14), the Harvard’s “town-gown” report to Cambridge indicates that work on the Pritzker Economics Building—the new home for that large department, scheduled to rise behind Littauer Center—may begin this fall, with construction scheduled for next spring. Grafton Architects, of Dublin, is in charge of the design. And in an intriguing partnership, the University proposes to work with the Harvard Coop to renovate and repurpose its Annex building, 12-30 Palmer Street, yielding an “active” first floor with institutional and office uses above. The Baker Design Group, in charge of the project, has worked for the Business, Kennedy, and other schools, including renovating the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences’ offices at 114 Western Avenue in Allston.
On Other Campuses
Yale provost Scott Strobel unveiled a five-year, $150-million-plus investment in artificial intelligence, comprising hardware for research, a secure AI platform for campus use, 20-plus new faculty positions focused on AI research, curriculum grants, and more.…Following his $1-billion gift to Johns Hopkins in support of financial aid for medical and other graduate and professional school students (News in Brief, September-October, page 20), Michael R. Bloomberg, M.B.A. ’66, LL.D. ’14, has made endowment gifts of $175 million each to the Meharry, Morehouse, and Howard University medical schools—the principal historically black medical schools—and a further $75 million to Drew University of Medicine and Science and $5 million to help start a medical school at Xavier University of Louisiana.
College Change
On August 29, Rakesh Khurana announced that this academic year, his eleventh as Harvard College dean, will be his last. A sociologist who studies organizations and leadership development, Khurana launched diverse institution-changing initiatives with varying outcomes. With vigorous support from President Drew Gilpin Faust, he championed sanctions to discourage students from joining unrecognized single-gender social organizations (final clubs, sororities)—a measure adopted by the Corporation when a divided faculty did not act, but subsequently set aside for legal reasons (see harvardmag.com/harvard-club-rules-20). In contrast, his educationally focused intellectual vitality initiative (see harvardmag.com/academic-freedom-23) has proved an essential way forward for a campus riven by the divisive reactions to the Hamas attack on Israel last year and the resulting war. As head of the Administrative Board, Khurana was at the center of the punishments meted out to pro-Palestinian protestors who encamped in the Yard last spring (punishments later reduced by the Faculty Council; see “Own Goals,” September-October, page 5). His final convocation remarks, on September 2, deepened his familiar emphasis on students’ pursuit of a “transformational” education with a set of principles aimed at assuring “the success of our shared project” as an academic community (see “Smooth Start,” this issue). FAS Dean Hopi Hoekstra will organize a search for his successor.
Around Higher Ed
Vanderbilt University has announced plans to build a $520-million second campus, in West Palm Beach, focused on graduate training in computer science, technology, and finance.…The three-year-old University of Austin, with a core curricular focus on great books from the Western canon (the president is a former president of St. John’s College) and an expressed concern about “the rising tide of illiberalism and censoriousness prevalent in America’s universities,” welcomed its inaugural class September 2. Scott Malkin ’80, J.D.-M.B.A. ’83, is a trustee; members of its board of advisors include Eliot University Professor Lawrence H. Summers and Kenan professor of government emeritus Harvey C. Mansfield.…In August, Illinois became the fourth state to enact a ban on legacy preferences in admissions to public colleges and universities, joining Colorado, Virginia, and Maryland (which also prohibits the practice at private institutions—as would legislation enacted in California).…U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana) asked the Department of Education to investigate college and university use of federal funds to support diversity, equity, and inclusion work, arguing that such programs and policies “[do] not actually promote inclusivity.”
Out of Sync Online
Bowing to the inevitable, 2U, the education company that purchased edX from Harvard and MIT for $800 million in July 2021, at the height of pandemic-driven online learning (“edX Exit,” September-October 2021, page 25), filed for bankruptcy reorganization in late July, crushed by the debt it took on to effect the deal. The Harvard-MIT Axim Collaborative, founded to apply the sales proceeds to nonprofit educational purposes, remains responsible for maintaining the Open edX technology platform on which university partners offer courses (see harvardmag.com/axim-edx-23).
Esteemed Environmental Scientist
Butler professor of environmental studies Michael B. McElroy has been awarded the American Geophysical Union’s William Bowie Medal, its highest honor for a senior scientist’s contributions to earth and space science. An atmospheric scientist who also works on climate change and energy, McElroy has chaired the University’s Committee on the Environment, was the first director of the Center for the Environment, and founded the Harvard-China Project on Energy, Economy, and Environment. He has written several times for this magazine, on subjects such as ethanol and wind power, and been featured repeatedly in its reporting on climate and energy issues.
Headlines
Former women’s hockey coach Katey Stone, who retired in 2023 following news reports of fierce criticism about abusive behavior leveled by multiple players and alumnae, sued Harvard in July, alleging gender discrimination in the scrutiny that led to her departure. She is also suing unnamed defendants for defamation. Details are available at harvardmag.com/coach-stone-sues-24.…John Comaroff, professor of anthropology and of African and African American studies, who was placed on administrative leave in 2020 and sanctioned in 2022 following investigations of sexual harassment (and subsequently sued by three graduate students) has retired (see harvardmag.com/sexual-harassment-lawsuit-22). He is no longer listed among active faculty—nor, as of this writing, among the department’s emeriti (a status denied Jorge I. Domínguez and Gary Urton, professors who were stripped of emeritus status following investigations of similar charges). His wife, Jean Comaroff, Whitehead research professor of African and African American studies and of anthropology, has also retired but is listed as emerita. The Crimson reported subsequently that the three graduate students who sued Harvard in 2022 alleging harassment by Comaroff (described at harvardmag.com/mishandled-comaroff-22) agreed, after mediation, to a dismissal of the case without costs.
Arts Arranger
Fiona Coffey has become director of the Office for the Arts at Harvard, succeeding Jack Megan, who retired in June (see harvardmag.com/chapter-arts-24). She comes to Cambridge from Wesleyan University, where she was most recently associate director and curator for performing arts and visiting assistant professor in the theater department. A Stanford graduate, Coffey earned a master’s degree in Irish drama and film from Trinity College Dublin, and a Ph.D. in theater and performance from Tufts. Harvard College Dean Rakesh Khurana said she would help foster “creative expression and engagement across the College, University, and beyond.”
Newsmakers
Cheryl Chen and Sean Kelly, Dunster House faculty deans for the past seven years, will step down next June—not unexpectedly, given Kelly’s appointment to major new responsibilities as FAS’s dean of arts and humanities.…Klein professor of Chinese history and anthropology Michael Puett has been appointed director of the University’s Asia Center. He succeeds James Robson, Kralik and Lou professor of East Asian languages and civilizations, who became director of the Harvard-Yenching Institute, with its internationally renowned library, on July 1.… After service as associate director and interim executive director, Sol Carbonell, M.P.A. ’10, a native of Argentina, has been appointed executive director of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, the focus of Harvard’s extensive scholarship, teaching, and field-office network throughout the region.…Laurie H. Glimcher ’72, M.D. ’76, chief executive of the Harvard-affiliated Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, has stepped down, concluding eight years of service; her successor is Canellos professor of medicine Benjamin L. Ebert, who has led DFCI’s medical oncology department for the past seven years—and is the first oncologist trained there who has become CEO.…Harvard sciences and arts benefactor David E. Goel ’93—the quantum science center on Oxford Street and the American Repertory Theater center being built in Allston bear his name and that of his wife, Stacey L. Goel—announced in August the closing of Matrix Capital Management, the hedge fund he has run for 25 years, citing unspecified health issues.…Anna Cowenhoven, associate dean for communications in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences before serving as vice president for university communications at Penn, has returned as FAS’s dean of communications and chief communications officer.
