Commentary

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

A smiling elderly man in glasses sits comfortably in a striped armchair.

Jack Reardon and Walter Cabot, Remembered

Plus, veteran higher education leader Thomas Ehrlich reflects on university curricula for his 70th reunion

by Primus VI

Photograph of someone wearing a Juneteenth T-shirt

The Racial Tensions That Roiled Texas

Annette Gordon-Reed on the real history of Texas, and Juneteenth

The author and her two roommates stand in the snow in front of their future home at Harvard.

Harvard seniors and freshmen share Housing Day thoughts

The College’s annual “Housing Day” dramas, conducted online.

by Meena Venkataramanan

7 Ware Street Diverging Ivies

What Ivy institutions’ diverging paths reveal

Portrait photograph of Harvard president Lawrence S. Bacow

The View from Mass Hall

President Bacow on speech on campus

by Lawrence S. Bacow

Letters from our readers

Acupuncture, climate change, renaming

Photograph of the Tucson, Arizona, skyline and downtown taken at sunset.

The Undergraduate balances childhood and maturity

The Undergraduate balances childhood and maturity.

by Meena Venkataramanan

A large dorm room with desk, bed, lamps, and quarantine necessities, including bottled water, masks, and sanitizing supplies.

Back to campus for senior spring under COVID

What’s changed—and what hasn’t

by Meena Venkataramanan

At Home With Harvard: Editors' Favorite Stories of 2020

Our editors choose their favorite stories from the year.

Letters from our readers

The conservative, legacies, the Electoral College

Photograph of Harvard president Lawrence S. Bacow

President Bacow on innovation in Allston

As SEAS moves to Allston, President Bacow highlights the University’s newest innovation hub.

by Lawrence S. Bacow