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Kennedy School’s Campus Makeover
The Harvard Kennedy School ’s (HKS) light and airy new campus, unveiled at a ribbon-cutting ceremony this morning, looks like an intentional antithesis to its older, stuffy buildings. As architect Graham Wyatt put it, “When we came to your campus, we …
Wisdom of the Sages
The spring of 1933 was a trying time: the depths of the Depression, a new president scrambling to reverse systemic disasters and lift shattered spirits. Sound familiar? During that Commencement week, the Phi Beta Kappa Orator was Connecticut governor …
Issue: May-June 2021
Priscilla Chan Grants $12 Million for Public Service
When last seen on campus, during her tenth reunion, pediatrician Priscilla Chan ’07, poncho-clad, was applauding her husband, Mark Zuckerberg ’06, LL.D.’17 , Facebook’s co-founder and CEO, as he finally got his Harvard degree and delivered the address at …
Point of No Return
Soon after the Harvard community was upended and scattered around the world by the COVID-19 evacuation, I called my two roommates. Pre-move-out, whenever I felt like my world was falling apart, I could always depend on returning to our room in Adams. The …
Issue: July-August 2020
“My Name is Bono, and I Am A Rock Star”
Graduating seniors chose U2 lead singer Bono to give their Class Day address. Born Paul Hewson, he allegedly picked up his nickname from Bono Vox, bad Latin for "good voice." He spoke of how he reached a new personal level of "unhip." Excerpts follow. …
Resolve
I have responded to many outpourings of disappointment and anger during my time in higher education, but the reaction to the events of January 6 was exceptional. Spurred by an attack on the legitimacy of our electoral process and a disgraceful act of …
Issue: March-April 2021
Dues to the Past
MCMLVI masks. For their sixty-fifth reunion, whatever form it may take, members of the College class of 1956 conceived of a custom mask subtly emblazoned with a golden MCMLVI. Design and manufacturing were overseen by the inimitable Daniel J. McCarron, …
Issue: March-April 2021
Class-Scheduling Conundrums
With regulatory approval in hand for the Allston facility that will house much of its engineering and applied sciences teaching and research , the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) now faces a diplomatically delicate challenge to all its professors: …
Spring Sports, Spider Man
Spring , and young men’s thoughts turn to…exercise. The New Yorker ’s ever-young Roger Angell ’42, acclaimed for his baseball writing, summoned another sport, from his undergraduate days, in a 2011 letter included in his most recent collection, This Old …
Issue: May-June 2017
Cruel and Unjust
For a nation “conceived in Liberty,” as Abraham Lincoln emphasized with a capital L in hand-writing his Gettysburg Address, it should be shocking that the United States has locked up almost a quarter of the prisoners in the world despite having less than …
Issue: March-April 2025
A Ministry of Presence
On Thursday afternoon at exactly 3 o’clock, a small white van emerged from the swirl of traffic in Harvard Square and pulled over next to the Cambridge kiosk. Five people climbed out—three wearing winter coats over their long brown robes—and began setting …
College Admits 14.5 Percent of Early Action Applicants
The College admitted 14.5 percent of early-action applicants this fall, down from 14.8 percent last year, the University announced today. Of the 6,473 students who applied through the program, 938 were admitted (up from 6,167 and 914 last year, …
Do-Overs
Last April 27, toward the end of an academic year when protests about racial inequity and inclusion disrupted routines on many campuses, especially his own, Yale president Peter Salovey announced, “The name of Calhoun College will remain.” His letter to …
Issue: November-December 2016
Biggest Loser Contestants Share Tips
Two former contestants on the popular television show The Biggest Loser, in which obese men and women compete to lose the most weight and win a prize of $250,000, came to the Malkin Athletic Center on January 19 to give motivational speeches on health …
Harvard Loves Hard Hats
The crimson couture of choice this summer—for buildings and those engaged with them—was the shroud and the hard hat. In a frenzy of construction, the former Holyoke Center (being refurbished and transformed into Smith Campus Center) and Gordon Hall (at …
Issue: September-October 2016