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David Ellwood to Step Down
David T. Ellwood ’75, Ph.D. ’81, dean of the Harvard Kennedy School since his appointment by President Lawrence H. Summers in mid 2004 , announced today that he would step down next June 30. Ellwood is the longest-serving among the current decanal cohort: …
The “Upstander”
Dean Martha L. Minow has two desks in her Harvard Law School office. The one she sits at is a rosewood partners’ desk, wide enough for two people to work at face to face. It belonged to Joseph Story, A.B. 1798, LL.D. 1821, who in 1812, at 32, became the …
A Tribute to Harry Lewis
At a Wednesday event billed as “A Celebration of Computer Science at Harvard in Honor of Harry Lewis,” one of his former teaching fellows described how Lewis had “given us the license” to grade any programming assignment that “had an inline constant” with …
Sanctions Complications
The College’s impending sanctions on members of single-gender final clubs, fraternities, and sororities have engendered fierce, even bitter, disagreements over students’ rights, governance, and whether the policy will effect needed changes in …
The Lawyer Librettist
“Lucifer’s car was towed,” someone announced to the room—they’d have to start without him. The three Fates reviewed some new choreography; by the piano, Persephone, a tall soprano, nervously rolled a pencil between her fingers as she approached a tricky …
Issue: January-February 2017
John Adams at Harvard
Editor’s note: As early-action applicants to the College class of 2021 anxiously await a response, the account of an admissions ordeal in 1751 may offer perspective. Richard Alan Ryerson ’64 includes the passage in his new book, John Adams’s Republic: The …
Issue: November-December 2016
Harvard Endowment Increases 4.3 Percent to $40.9 Billion
Highlights for fiscal 2019: •The endowment’s value was $40.9 billion as of this past June 30, the end of fiscal year 2019—an increase of $1.7 billion (4.3 percent) from $39.2 billion a year earlier . •In a year when other institutions’ endowments are …
Bureau of Study Counsel, R.I.P.
The College today announced a significant change in academic counseling, including a fall-semester transition from the Bureau of Study Counsel (BSC) to a new entity, named the Academic Resource Center (ARC), which will likely result in a much-changed …
Exact Changes
In 2002—the year the Argentine peso collapsed, eliminating half the scheduled shows in their South American tour—husband-and-wife bandmates Damon Krukowski ’85 and Naomi Yang ’86 flew to neighboring Brazil to play the rest of the dates. The trip was a …
Issue: March-April 2016
In Beijing, President Bacow Affirms Academic Freedom
President Lawrence S. Bacow —on an Asian itinerary including stops in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, and Tokyo—delivered an address last night at Peking University titled “The Pursuit of Truth and the Mission of the University.” His visit comes at a time …
Capital Punishment’s Persistence
Among the reasons why the United States might be considered exceptional, there’s one that puts it in unexpected company: along with China, Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia, it ranks as one of the world’s top executioners. Because most countries have abolished …
Issue: January-February 2016
Six Harvard Students Win Rhodes Scholarships
The Rhodes Trust has announced that five Harvard seniors have been awarded American Rhodes Scholarships this fall. Among them, one is vice president of the Harvard Islamic Society and co-founder of the Ivy League Muslim Council, a second is pursuing …
Are Mushrooms the New Meat?
On the western side of Martha’s Vineyard, a dirt road winds past secluded summer homes with ocean views and then dead-ends at an eerie sight: 45,000 oak logs stacked in crosshatch formations under a canopy of trees. In the nearby lot, young men with …
Issue: July-August 2019
“Decarcerating” America
As she assumes her new role as organizing fellow for Harvard Law School’s new Institute to End Mass Incarceration (IEMI), community organizer Brittany White finds herself thinking of Bianca. She met her in 2009, when both women were serving prison …
Issue: November-December 2021
Dinner Without the Din
After spending the evening at an unnamed establishment, hollering at fellow dinner guests just to be heard, we were inspired to find a few reliably conversation-friendly haunts. A call to the Massachusetts Restaurant Association, seeking guidance and …
Issue: November-December 2015