During a telephone conversation Monday afternoon, Penny Pritzker, senior fellow of the Harvard Corporation, talked about the governing board’s effort to engage more with the University community, its nascent work on the scheduled spring 2026 search for the next president, and its confidence in the incumbent, Alan M. Garber, among other issues.
The conversation was this magazine’s first with Pritzker, a former Overseer (2002-2008) who was elected to the Corporation in 2018 and became senior fellow in July 2022—and in fact, the first with a senior fellow since May 2022, shortly before William F. Lee concluded his service and handed the governing board’s reins to Pritzker. Her service as senior fellow has of course become highly visible: she became immediately responsible for organizing the presidential search that resulted in the election of Claudine Gay, news Pritzker announced on December 15, 2022. That presidency came to a stunningly swift end last January 2, with an announcement of Gay’s resignation and an accompanying Corporation statement. In between, many community members were left uncertain about the Corporation’s role in investigating plagiarism allegations lodged anonymously against Gay’s research, its December 12, 2023, statement backing her, and the sudden withdrawal of that support over the course of the winter holidays.
Now, the Corporation has given itself and the University some breathing room: in August, the governing boards named Garber president through the 2026-2027 academic year (he had been serving in an interim capacity since January) and announcing its intention to pursue the search for his successor beginning in the late spring of 2026.
So, there were plenty of things to talk about.
Acknowledging what had been “a challenging time for Harvard,” Pritzker was emphatic that the Corporation was “working diligently to make progress” and that the University as a whole had “good momentum” toward that end.
•Engaging the community. Focusing first on the governing board itself, she said that it was making a significant commitment to strengthening engagement with the Harvard community, in many ways. Doing so, she noted, would enable Corporation members to “continue to have a pulse on the community” as they listened intently to community members’ views—the better to support Garber and his administration. Among the avenues she cited were town halls with faculty members, like the one held last April with the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS). Less known were dinners and meetings with faculty members; with the task forces examining antisemitism and bias against Muslims, Arabs, and Palestinians; and with alumni on campus, in online sessions, and around the country. Pritzker cited her own involvement, during the past week, in meetings with both task forces, with the University’s Global Advisory Committee, and with students, faculty members, and friends during the annual hoopla surrounding the Game this past Saturday. Such consultations would continue, she indicated, in support of advancing Harvard’s academic priorities and preparing for the next presidential search.
•The presidential search. Disclosing some news, Pritzker revealed that the Corporation has organized a Presidential Search Process Committee, whose members include three Corporation fellows—Biddy Martin (former chancellor of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and former president of Amherst); Kenneth C. Frazier (former chief executive of Merck); and Diana L. Nelson (former chair of Carlson Inc.)—and three others: Sylvia Mathews Burwell (an Overseer and president emerita of American University); Patti B. Saris (U.S. district judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts and 2005-2006 president of the Board of Overseers); and Brad Bloom (a cofounder and now senior adviser at Berkshire Partners, a private equity firm).
The committee, Pritzker said, will engage with the Harvard community and with external experts (including those at other institutions of higher education) for advice on the next search. The planned 2026 launch of the formal search, she emphasized, gives the committee plenty of time to solicit ideas and then advise the Corporation about how best to proceed.
• President Garber’s work to date. Turning from the future to the present, Pritzker said of Alan Garber’s suddenly begun, and still young, administration, “I just think he’s doing an outstanding job,” proceeding in “thoughtful and intentional ways” to “strengthen and heal our community.” Her fellow Corporation members concur, she continued, as do faculty members and alumni with whom the Corporation has spoken.
After the tumultuous 2023-2024 academic year—riven by passionate protests, a Harvard Yard encampment, and a walkout from Commencement in response to the Hamas attack on Israel and resulting Middle East war—she said that Garber had helped bring the community together against hate, and had advanced open inquiry and constructive dialogue about difficult issues. Citing the work of the task force that recently weighed in on the latter concerns, Pritzker noted that faculty members were “leaning in” to its work, and that actions had already been taken to effect its recommendations (such as the “Building Bridges” grants to support student initiatives on fostering dialogue and community) and a recent gift to award five-year professorships to two FAS professors whose pedagogy and research advance the cause.
“This work is really fundamental and foundational” to Harvard’s values as an academic institution, she said—part of “moving forward to the community we want to be.” Drawing on her experience in business and public service, Pritzker said it was essential to “engage and welcome different perspectives” in order to arrive at the best solutions to problems and to get things done. Beyond whatever subject-matter education they pursue at Harvard, she said, graduates need to hone such skills to succeed and contribute in whatever work they do throughout their lives.
As part of that role, she said, Harvard must celebrate excellence among its community members—something President Garber does to highlight the academic mission. She was obviously thrilled to cite the eight students awarded Rhodes Scholarships, the Nobel Prize shared by professor of genetics Gary Ruvkun, and advances in fields from AI-assisted cancer diagnosis to community arts education announced in recent weeks. Their impact, she said, “lives well beyond the boundaries of our campus.”
•The external environment. Asked about challenges to higher education in the external environment (ranging from congressional investigations of campus antisemitism to the recent national elections), Pritzker declined to comment on specific policy issues. She did say that Washington, D.C., was not the only focus of University outreach on such matters, but hastened to emphasize that “Harvard, led by Alan [Garber], is making a significant effort to make the case for a strong, effective partnership between higher education and the federal government,” underscoring the “considerable return for the American people” (and around the world) from medical research, economically important innovations, and even contributions to national security.
Higher education, she emphasized, “offers an enormous benefit” to all Americans, and has a major role to play in expanding economic opportunity and securing well-being for all. To that end, Garber is in Washington often, she said, advocating a productive partnership and emphasizing the importance of federal research support and financial aid funds.
•On Harvard governance. Asked whether Harvard faced another moment like that during the first decade of this millennium (the abrupt end of Lawrence H. Summers’s president in 2006, the enormous financial crisis in 2008), the context in which the 2010 governance reforms were achieved, Pritzker said, “The Corporation is having many detailed and in-depth conversations about how best to serve the community.” She referred to her prior remarks on engaging with diverse external audiences, but said, as a general matter, that the governance structure established then “continues to serve us well.” The committee structure, enlarged Corporation membership, and internal succession and other procedures, in other words, function well, and the fellows’ own experiences as alumni provide “unique and valuable perspectives” in the governing board’s work as it supports the University leadership and administration.
That general conclusion, she continued, does not mean that the Corporation has stopped looking at ways to improve its work and impact. She cited the enhanced focus on planning and “financial resiliency,” with Harvard’s chief financial officer directing systematic, comprehensive financial planning integrated with the schools; academic plans—which work is reviewed by the finance committee and then the Corporation as a whole. Pritzker cited similarly synoptic planning and strategic oversight of development in Allston, including with the residents of that community, leading to the growth in Harvard’s innovation presence across the Charles, arts facilities, affordable housing, and more. And she said that through Garber and provost John F. Manning, the deans, faculty members, and leaders of programs and initiatives, the Corporation was engaged with academic matters.
Overall, she said, “I don’t think we need wholesale revision of our governance structure.” The Corporation and administration, she said, have the resources and skills necessary to react to current situations and to plan for the long term in Harvard’s best interest.
•Admissions. In the wake of the Supreme Court ruling outlawing affirmative action in admissions and recent state legislation to end legacy, donor, and other preferences, Pritzker was asked whether the Corporation members were discussing changes in Harvard’s policies. Most important, she emphasized, was the University’s compliance with the law, while sustaining its long-term “commitment to diversity” among students and faculty “in all of its forms”—in the interest of “greater learning and growth.” Diversity of demographics, socioeconomic background, life experiences, and ideology are all “beneficial,” she said, and underpin the institution’s commitment to financial aid, so people from all walks of life can attend Harvard.
“We are paying attention” to developments affecting legacy, donor, athletic and other preferences, especially in the wake of the June 2023 Supreme Court decision, Pritzker said. The effects on admissions and diversity cannot be judged after just one admissions cycle, she noted. The Corporation has an “ongoing review of admissions practices,” she continued, but declined to be more specific.
As for competitors’ recent, significant liberalization of financial aid (described in this Inside Higher Ed dispatch), Pritzker said, “It’s definitely noted by leadership” (in fact, Garber ended a recent interview on that note). “It’s top of mind for us to think that through and respond,” she said, given the fundamental commitment to making it possible for students from any circumstances to attend.
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In the Thanksgiving spirit, Harvard’s governing board and administrative leadership would obviously be most thankful for additional means to provide scholarship resources in the months and years to come—providing a way for still more learners to benefit from a community whose academic focus and commitment to reasoned discourse they believe they are restoring.
