Commentary

In-depth perspectives and critical analysis from faculty, editors, and readers on public affairs, higher education, and Harvard’s evolving mission.

a person in a gallery with a few walls of technological art on display

When Code Meets Canvas

In brushstrokes and bytes, a symposium at Harvard explores data, perception, and art.

by Olivia Farrar

Illustration of a math students gathering, 1936, in Annanberg Hall, Memorial Hall

Yesterday’s News

Including profundity and pretzels

Cambridge 02138

Readers’ views on gender gaps, freedom of speech, an editor’s farewell, the hippocampus, Alice Hamilton, standing up to the Trump administration, and more

Headstone reading "Here Lies University" in Latin

This is How Universities Die

Higher ed thrived in Berlin and Beijing. Then government stepped in. 

by William C. Kirby

Magna Carta on display in Houghton Library

An Original Magna Carta, Hidden in Plain Sight

A rare original surfaces at Harvard at an “almost providential” moment. 

by Nina Pasquini

Voices Raised about Harvard

Responses to the University’s rejection of federal proposals for intrusive regulation of academic affairs

A bride and groom in formal attire cut a tiered cake at a candlelit wedding reception table.

We Were Students Once...

Young love: the poem, plus enduring lessons from a public-health pioneer

by Primus VI

Alice Hamilton in a dark dress with high lace collar, gazing left in a sepia-toned portrait

Alice Hamilton

Brief life of a public-health pioneer and reformer: 1869-1970

by Daniel Stone

At an anxious time, c. 1940, seniors consult the crystal ball about their future; a cartoon with John Harvard statue

Yesterday’s News

Seniors’ uncertain future c. 1940, Harvard Law Review news, and more

Fond Farewell

The long-time editor signs off

Playing Offense

Making the case for higher education, diversity, the humanities, speech, and more—at a perilous time