This article needs additional citations for verification .(December 2012) |
The President and Fellows of Harvard College (also called the Harvard Corporation or just the Corporation) is the smaller and more powerful of Harvard University's two governing boards. It refers to itself as the oldest corporation in the Western Hemisphere. [1] At full capacity, as of 2024, the corporation consists of twelve fellows as well as the president of Harvard University, for a total of thirteen members. [2]
Together with the Board of Overseers, the two boards exercise institutional roles that, at most other colleges and universities, are more commonly consolidated into a single board of trustees. [3]
Although the institution it governs has grown into a university of which Harvard College is one component, the corporation's name remains "The President and Fellows of Harvard College". [4]
The Harvard Corporation is a 501(c)(3) and the owner of all of Harvard University's assets and real property. [5]
As a governing board, the Corporation traditionally functioned as an outside body whose members were not involved in the institution's daily life, meeting instead periodically to consult with the day-to-day head, the President of Harvard University, whom it appoints, and who also serves as a member. The Corporation is self-perpetuating, appointing new members to fill its own vacancies as they arise.
For most of its history, the Corporation consisted of six fellows in addition to the president. But after the presidency of Lawrence Summers from 2001 to 2006, and a large endowment decline after the Great Recession in 2008–2009, a year-long governance review was conducted. In December 2010, it announced that the Corporation's "composition, structure, and practices" would be altered: the number of fellows would increase from six to twelve, with prescribed terms of service, and several new committees would endeavor to improve the group's integration with the activities of the University as a whole, especially its long-term planning. [6]
Starting in 1636, the affairs and funds of Harvard College were managed by a committee of the Great and General Court of Massachusetts. In 1650, at the request of Harvard's first President Henry Dunster, the Great and General Court of Massachusetts issued the body a charter. [7]
The Charter of 1650 established the Harvard Corporation board which consisted of seven members: a President, five Fellows, and a Treasurer. The Corporation had the authority to manage the College's finances, real estate, and donations, act as a legal entity in courts of law, select officers and servants, and create orders and bylaws for the College, with the approval of the Board of Overseers. [8]
The founding members of the Harvard Corporation were respectively: Henry Dunster as President, Samuel Mather, Samuel Danforth, Jonathan Mitchell, Comfort Starr and Samuel Eaton as the five Fellows and Thomas Danforth as the Treasurer. [9] These men had, in perpetual succession, the duties of managing the College.
The 1780 Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts reaffirmed that, despite the change in government due to the American Revolution, the corporation would continue to "have, hold, use, exercise and enjoy" its property and legal privileges. [10] However it further noted that "nothing herein shall be construed to prevent the legislature of this commonwealth from making such alterations in the government of the said university." [11]
In 1805, the election of Henry Ware as Hollis Professor of Divinity placed the Corporation, then politically Federalist and religiously Unitarian, at odds with Massachusetts politics that was increasingly Democratic-Republican and still Trinitarian. [12]
In late 2023, the Corporation came under scrutiny by the House of Representatives. After a House Committee hearing on antisemitism, House members called for the presidents of Harvard and two other universities to resign. [13] [14] In January 2024, the House Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over university tax status and endowments, challenged the tax status of Harvard and three other universities, over allegations of inadequate responses to antisemitism. [15] [16]
There are currently twelve members of the Corporation, including the University president, who sets the agenda but does not vote. [17] [18]
Name | Harvard Degree(s) | Year appointed | Occupation |
---|---|---|---|
Alan Garber | AB 1976, AM 1977, PhD 1988 | 2024 [19] | interim President of Harvard University |
Timothy R. Barakett, Treasurer | AB 1987, MBA 1993 | 2019 [20] | former CEO of Atticus Capital |
Kenneth Chenault | JD 1976 | 2014 [21] | former CEO of American Express |
Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar | AB 1993 | 2019 [20] | President of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and former Justice of the Supreme Court of California |
Paul Finnegan | AB 1975, MBA 1982 | 2012 [22] | co-CEO of Madison Dearborn Partners |
Carolyn Martin | None | 2018 [23] | President Emerita of Amherst College |
Karen Mills | AB 1975, MBA 1977 | 2014 [21] | former Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration |
Diana L. Nelson | AB 1985 | 2018 [24] | chair of Carlson Holdings |
Penny Pritzker, Senior Fellow | AB 1981 | 2018 [23] | former United States Secretary of Commerce |
Tracy P. Palandjian | AB 1993, MBA 1997 | 2022 [25] | co-founder and CEO of Social Finance |
Shirley M. Tilghman | LLD 2004 (Honorary) | 2016 [26] | former president of Princeton University |
Ted Wells | JD 1976, MBA 1976 | 2013 [27] | partner at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison |
vacant | Since 2023 | David Rubenstein stepped down in June 2023, but the position has not yet been filled as of January 2024. [28] |
Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard College is Harvard University's traditional undergraduate program, offering AB and SB degrees. It is highly selective, with fewer than four percent of applicants being offered admission as of 2022.
The Harvard Crimson is the student newspaper of Harvard University and was founded in 1873. Run entirely by Harvard College undergraduates, it served for many years as the only daily newspaper in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Henry Dunster was an Anglo-American Puritan clergyman and the first president of Harvard College. Brackney says Dunster was "an important precursor" of the Baptist denomination in America, especially regarding infant baptism, soul freedom, religious liberty, congregational governance, and a radical biblicism.
Neil Leon Rudenstine is an American scholar, educator, and administrator. He served as president of Harvard University from 1991 to 2001.
The president of Harvard University is the chief administrator of Harvard University and the ex officio president of the Harvard Corporation. Each is appointed by and is responsible to the other members of that body, who delegate to the president the day-to-day running of the university.
The Harvard Board of Overseers is one of Harvard University's two governing boards. Although its function is more consultative and less hands-on than the President and Fellows of Harvard College, the Board of Overseers is sometimes referred to as the "senior" governing board because its 1642 formation predates the Fellows' 1650 incorporation.
Frances Daly Fergusson served as president of Vassar College from 1986 to 2006. A graduate of Wellesley College, Fergusson earned her AM and PhD in Art History at Harvard University before starting her teaching career at Newton College.
Dunster House is one of twelve undergraduate residential houses at Harvard University. Built in 1930, it is one of the first two dormitories at Harvard University constructed under President Abbott Lawrence Lowell's House Plan and one of the seven Houses given to Harvard by Edward Harkness. In the early days, room rents varied based on the floor and the size of the room. Dunster was unique among Harvard dormitories for its sixth-story walk-up ; these rooms were originally rented by poorer students, such as Norman Mailer.
Lawrence Seldon Bacow is an American economist and retired university administrator. Bacow served as the 12th president of Tufts University from 2001 to 2011 and as the 29th president of Harvard University from 2018 to 2023. Before that, he was the Hauser leader-in-residence at the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard Kennedy School.
Harvard College has several types of social clubs. These are split between gender-inclusive clubs recognized by the college, and unrecognized single-gender clubs which were subject to College sanctions in the past. The Hasty Pudding Club holds claim as the oldest collegiate social club in America, tracing its roots back to 1770. The next oldest institutions, dating to 1791, are the traditionally all-male final clubs. Fraternities were prominent in the late 19th century as well, until their initial expulsions and then eventual resurrection off Harvard's campus in the 1990s. From 1991 onwards, all-female final clubs as well as sororities began to appear. Between 1984 and 2018, no social organizations were recognized by the school due to the clubs' refusal to become gender-inclusive.
The history of Harvard University begins in 1636, when Harvard College was founded in the young settlement of New Towne in Massachusetts, which had been settled in 1630. New Towne was organized as a town on the founding of the university, and changed its name two years later to Cambridge, Massachusetts, in honor of the city in England. It is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States.
The Institute of Politics (IOP) is an institute of Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University that was created to serve as a living memorial to President John F. Kennedy and to inspire Harvard undergraduates to consider careers in politics and public service. The IOP works to bring the academic world into contact with the world of politics and public affairs in a non-partisan way to promote public service.
The A.D. Club is a final club established at Harvard University in 1836, the continuation of a chapter of the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity existing as an honorary chapter until 1846, and then as a regular chapter until the late 1850s. At that time, owing to the prevailing sentiment against such societies, it became a strictly secret society, known among its members as the "Haidee," the name of a college boat. The chapter surrendered its charter in 1865, and has since existed as the A.D. Club.
The Trustees of Princeton University is a 40-member board responsible for managing Princeton University's $37.6 Billion endowment (2021), real estate, instructional programs, and admission. The Trustees include at least 13 members elected by alumni classes, and the Governor of New Jersey and the President of the university as ex officio members.
Harvard Student Agencies, Inc. (HSA) is the largest student-run company in the world, employing more than 600 Harvard undergraduates each year, and paying more than $1.7M in student wages annually. Founded in 1957, HSA is a multimillion-dollar corporation that provides Harvard University students with meaningful opportunities for employment and hands-on business education. Its mission is "to educate, empower, and inspire Harvard College students with meaningful employment opportunities and hands-on business experience." Student managers lead all aspects of the operations and strategy behind HSA's 12 businesses, which range from tutoring to retail, to coding, to tours, including HSA Cleaners & Dorm Essentials, and The Harvard Shop.
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Its influence, wealth, and rankings have made it one of the most prestigious universities in the world.
The Harvard Undergraduate Council, Inc., colloquially known as "The UC," was the student government of Harvard College between 1982 and 2022, until it was abolished by a student referendum.
Dudley Community is an alternative to Harvard College's 12 Houses. The Dudley Community serves nonresident undergraduate students, visiting undergraduate students, and undergraduates living in the Dudley Co-op. In 2019, the Dudley Community was formed, reflecting the administrative split between the undergraduate and graduate programs that were under Dudley House since 1991. Affiliated undergraduates have access to Dudley Community advisers, programs, intramural athletics, and organized social events. Dudley Community administrative offices are currently housed in two suites in 10 DeWolfe St in Cambridge after moving from Lehman Hall. Lehman Hall now houses the student center for the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Science.
Alan Michael Garber is an American physician, health economist, and academic administrator. He is the interim president of Harvard University.
Claudine Gay is an American political scientist and academic administrator who was the 30th president of Harvard University, and is the Wilbur A. Cowett Professor of Government and of African and African-American Studies at Harvard. Gay's research addresses American political behavior, including voter turnout and politics of race and identity.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)