Commentary
In-depth perspectives and critical analysis from faculty, editors, and readers on public affairs, higher education, and Harvard’s evolving mission.
Harvard Football: Villanova 52, Harvard 7
The Crimson’s inaugural playoff appearance is nasty, brutish, and short.
Excerpt from “Higher Education,” by Derek Bok
Derek Bok on curriculum reform
Michael Sandel’s “The Tyranny of Merit” reviewed by Spencer Lenfield
Michael Sandel makes the case against meritocracy.
Calhoun-Fall
The rise and fall of Charleston’s John C. Calhoun statue, a monument to white supremacy
Harvard’s COVID-19 lessons, and new challenges
What Harvard has already learned from the pandemic—and strategic challenges to come
The Undergraduate faces life without handrails
The Undergraduate faces up to a postgraduate life without handrails.
by Julie Chung
Nicholas Burns on diplomacy’s role in fostering U.S. standing in the world
On restoring American leadership through diplomacy
Letters from our readers
Health care, St. Louis, pioneering astronomer
The View from Mass Hall
President Bacow on Harvard’s history of confronting—and helping conquer—pandemics
Letting Go of the “Ideal” Classroom
“The ‘ideal’ classroom never existed anyway, at least not in a perfectly equitable manner,” writes Julie Chung ’20.
by Julie Chung
Zoom and the zero commute
“The biggest obstacle to our collective learning is the elephant in the room: a global pandemic, taking place amid existing inequalities,” writes Drew Pendergrass ’20.