harvard university phd leadership

PhD in Public Policy

In this section.

• Economics Track
• Judgment and Decision Making Track
• Politics and Institutions Track
• Science, Technology and Policy Studies Track
• Current Students
• Doctoral Student Handbook
• Dissertations & Job Placements
• PhD Student Life
• Faculty & Research

As an exceptional scholar, you want an exceptional graduate program.

The PhD in Public Policy (PPOL) program provides the advanced graduate training you need to successfully launch yourself into a research or related position in academia, government, a nongovernmental organization, or the private sector. 

You will get the training you need to conduct analytical research, help shape and execute policy, and teach the next generation of educators, researchers, and practitioners. The program encourages scholarly research that empowers public policy practitioners like you to make informed decisions and be leaders in their fields. 

Finding firm grounding for research in environmental economics

PPOL PhD alumnus Todd Gerarden’s fascination with bike mechanics mingled with his love of cycling and the outdoors; what emerged was a budding interest in energy and environmental policy. An undergraduate professor suggested he read  Economics of the Environment,  a collection of selected readings edited by HKS professor  Robert N. Stavins . That suggestion changed the course of his career.

Todd Gerarden PPOL PhD 2018

The complete phd.

The PPOL admits students to one of four tracks: Economics ; Judgment and Decision Making ; Politics and Institutions ; and Science, Technology and Policy Studies .    

PPOL graduates enter the workplace prepared to teach, carry out research, and make a profound impact in academia, while for others the degree leads to productive careers in think tanks, multinational organizations, NGOs, or the private sector.

"I've joined two research labs at HKS: Jennifer Lerner's and Julia Minson's. The brainstorming, feedback, and mutual pursuit of important research that comes from working in the labs is truly fulfilling."

Brad dewees ppol phd 2019, doctoral program admissions, funding your doctoral education.

Doctoral Programs

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New Ideas for a Changing World New Ideas for a Changing World    

Phd programs  , accounting & management, business economics (includes finance), health policy (management), organizational behavior, technology & operations management, admissions  , unlock your phd journey with full financial aid  , placement  , research community  .

Hila Lifshitz-Assaf

Filippo Mezzanotti

Sarah Wolfolds

Patricia Satterstrom

Anastassia Fedyk

Alexandra C. Feldberg

Rohan Kekre

Do Yoon Kim

Talia Gillis

Erica Moszkowski

Sagar Saxena

Aurora Turek

A Jay Holmgren

Evan DeFilippis

Kala Viswanathan

Ahmmad Brown

Ximena Garcia-Rada

Patrick Ferguson

Byungyeon Kim

Ta-Wei "David" Huang

Mengjie "Magie" Cheng

Omar Olivarez

Dafna Bearson

Justine Murray

Celia Stafford

Olivia Zhao

Rowan Clarke

Jaylon Sherrell

Elliot Tobin

Fanele Mashwama

Maria Roche

Charles Wang

Student Research  

Investor influence on media coverage: evidence from venture capital-backed startups.

• 02 JUN 2024
• Faculty Research

Moral Incoherence During Category Emergence: The Contentious Case of Connected Toys

• 29 MAY 2024

The Value of AI Innovations

• 21 MAY 2024

Find a Current Student

Education Leadership, Organizations, and Entrepreneurship

Contact Information

Connect with program staff.

If you have program-specific questions, please contact ELOE Assistant Director  Karen Bottari .

• Connect with Admissions

If you have admissions-related questions, please email [email protected] .

Admissions Information

• Application Requirements
• Tuition and Costs
• International Applicants
• Recorded Webinars
• Download Brochure

Develop the tools to lead with impact and strategic vision, manage change, and nurture thriving, equity-focused organizations across today’s complex learning landscape. 

Whether you seek to manage a complex learning organization or team, launch an entrepreneurial venture, or drive an initiative that sparks new possibilities within an existing school, district, or network, the Education Leadership, Organizations, and Entrepreneurship (ELOE) Program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education will help you become an effective, strategic, and innovative leader within the field. Our program prepares you with the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to lead with impact in diverse roles, including preK–12, higher education, the nonprofit sector, government, and philanthropy. With a focus on change management, organizational leadership, and entrepreneurial principles, this program equips you to envision, enact, scale, and transform. For individuals who want to expand their preK––12 school leadership skills, ELOE offers the School Leadership Pathway , which includes a Principal Licensure option.

“So many people hear the word ‘organization’ and think ‘business.’ But students who want to improve education and become education leaders – either at the school level, state level, or national level – have to understand how schools work. Recognizing the importance of organizational dynamics, the role of leaders, and the potential impact of entrepreneurship, is critical, and these concepts are at the heart of our program.” Ebony Bridwell-Mitchell Faculty Co-Chair

The ELOE Program will help students prepare to lead for impact — to bring greater access, equity, agency, and excellence to education. The program is centered on the core belief that a connected, collaborative, and committed community of students, supported by faculty experts, and guided by the ELOE program model, will successfully transform the field of education across a variety of sector roles and careers. The program's curriculum is anchored in five core competencies:

• Lead change and think strategically 
• Foster productive organizational conditions 
• Navigate politics and practice political inclusion   
• Communicate effectively 
• Develop self and others 

Curriculum Information

The ELOE Program is designed to provide a set of scaffolded learning experiences helping students to grow along the five ELOE core competencies , gaining the knowledge, skills, and dispositions needed to have impact in professional roles as education leaders, organizational innovators, and entrepreneurs. A minimum of 42 credits are required to graduate with an Ed.M. degree from HGSE.

The main elements of the 2024–25 academic year curriculum are: 

• This program commences with How People Learn, an immersive online course that runs June–July and requires a time commitment of 12–15 hours per week.
• You will continue Foundations with Leading Change, Evidence, and Equity and Opportunity on campus in August. 
• Your Equity and Opportunity Foundations experience culminates in an elected course, which will take place during terms when electives are available.

To fulfill the program requirement, students must take a minimum of 12 credits specific to ELOE, including the following:

• The ELOE Program Core Experience (4 credits) is a yearlong set of experiences, including field-oriented panels, case discussions, simulations, skills-based workshops, and peer-supported professional development opportunities in micro-learning communities. This also includes the ELOE Self-Assessment and Individual Development Plan , which allows you to reflect on and track your development over time, across key indicators for each of the ELOE core competencies. Students must enroll in their first fall semester.  
• ELOE Course Distribution List (a minimum of 8 credits), which is a curated set of courses specializing in one or more of the ELOE core competencies. At least one selected course must fall on the ELOE continuum of field-based learning . There are over 80 distribution courses to choose from, which cover subject matter including leading organizations; education sector nonprofits; educational innovation, social entrepreneurship; and race, equity, and leadership.
• The remaining credits are taken via elective coursework , which includes the opportunity to specialize in a Concentration  if you are not pursuing the School Leadership Pathway. 

Explore our course catalog . Note, a ll information and courses are subject to change.

School Leadership Pathway and Principal Licensure

There is great demand across the education system for school leaders and principals who are effective – and will help their schools and its students thrive. If you are interested in pursuing leadership and entrepreneurial roles in preK-12 schools and have a minimum of 4 years full-time professional experience in an education setting, you should select the School Leadership Pathway, where you will also have the option to apply to the Principal Licensure strand. As part of the School Leadership Pathway, you will participate in an intensive internship with the support of an experienced mentor and a distinguished leader coach, while also building a strong leadership network and the necessary skills to lead and implement change. Learn more about the School Leadership Pathway and Principal Licensure option.

Program Faculty

Students will work closely with faculty associated with their area of study, but students can also work with and take courses with faculty throughout HGSE and Harvard.  View our faculty directory for a full list of HGSE faculty.

Faculty Co-Chairs

Ebony N. Bridwell-Mitchell

Ebony Bridwell-Mitchell’s research is on leadership, management, and organizations, exploring how organizational factors affect the success of public school reform. 

Jennifer Perry Cheatham

Jennifer Cheatham focuses on leading for equity and transformational change in urban school districts, with expertise that includes creating instructional coherence and cultivating strong teams.

Uche B. Amaechi

Bianca J. Baldridge

Whitney Benns

Candice Bocala

Kathryn Parker Boudett

Elizabeth City

Sarah Dryden-Peterson

Shawn Ginwright

Debbie Heller Goldstein

Houman Harouni

Monica C. Higgins

James P. Honan

Angela Jackson

Raquel Lynne Jimenez

Lisa Laskow Lahey

Richard J. Light

Karen L. Mapp

Timothy Patrick McCarthy

Richard Melvoin

Sebastian Munoz-Najar Galvez

Mary Grassa O'Neill

Gabrielle Oliveira

Francesca Purcell

Alexis Redding

Fernando Reimers

Paul Reville

Irvin Leon Scott

Gillien Sarah Todd

Christina "V" Villarreal

Career Pathways

The ELOE Program prepares you for a variety of career pathways, including:

• Education nonprofit CEO/COO
• Entrepreneur/organization founder
• College or university administrator
• Principal or head of school
• School district or network leader
• School designer and developer
• Educational advocate and organizer
• Public official or administrator
• Education consultant

Cohort & Community

The ELOE experience is not only about strengthening knowledge, skills and dispositions but also about building a community of colleagues who can provide support during the program and for years afterwards as you work together to transform the field. The ELOE Program purposefully works to honor and build on the diverse backgrounds and experiences of students — from countries and regions around the world – by providing a varied set of cohort-based, community-building experiences. The aim of these experiences is to build a network of current students and future alumni united by a shared commitment to leading for excellence, equity, and impact in the field of education. 

Introduce Yourself

Tell us about yourself so that we can tailor our communication to best fit your interests and provide you with relevant information about our programs, events, and other opportunities to connect with us.

Program Highlights

Explore examples of the Education Leadership, Organizations, and Entrepreneurship experience and the impact its community is making on the field:

Breaking the Cycle

Alum Aria Mustary's Mai Soli Foundation aims to empower young girls through mentorship, unlock their potential, and shift societal perceptions that lead to child marriage

Truth, Be Told

Why one student’s work to combat media misinformation is personal

Nurses are a force for global health. You can lead the way.

Around the world, the need for nurse leaders has never been greater. Explore a powerful new certificate and Master’s of Public Health degree designed to put you at the forefront of care through foundational understanding and field experience in public health and population health management.

It’s time to empower nurses to lift the health of entire populations.

Now more than ever, nurses play a critical role in shaping global public health. The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the fact that nurses are at the center of public health crises and are critical to global health security. Nurses’ leadership and advocacy also shape public policy around disease prevention, health promotion, and population health.

Still, the nursing profession faces a number of threats, including a shrinking and aging workforce, an insufficient role at the policy table, and a struggle to meet the global demand, especially in low- and middle-income countries.

With these challenges in mind, the Harvard Global Nursing Leadership Program brings a renewed commitment to supporting, educating, and strengthening the nursing and midwifery workforce worldwide.

more nurses will be required by 2030 to meet global demand

of that shortage affects low- and middle-income countries.

According to the World Health Organization

Discover the Harvard Global Nursing Leadership Program.

By bringing education and training to national-level nurse leaders around the world, we can build global capacity for integrated population health, disease prevention, health promotion, and the provision of high-quality health care.

As the first public health-focused program of its kind, the Harvard Global Nursing Leadership Program will expand nurses’ roles in shaping not only health care, but also global public health. The program combines leadership education and in-field training with networking and international collaboration.

The Harvard Global Nursing Leadership Program offers a competency-based education plan that affords nurses and midwives career progression in public health, leadership, and management and regulatory sciences. The program started in Africa and will expand in Academic Year (AY) 2024-2025 to include nurses and midwives from Africa, Asia, Latin American, the Caribbean, the Eastern Mediterranean, Canada and USA.

Nurse-led strategies with a curriculum for leadership.

The Harvard Global Nursing Leadership Program builds on Harvard’s unparalleled expertise in education and experience in leadership programming with curricula and educational materials that align with the World Health Organization’s (WHO) work relating to nursing and midwifery, directed by the World Health Assembly resolution WHA74.15 (2021) which calls on WHO Member States and WHO to strengthen nursing and midwifery through the Global Strategic Directions for Nursing and Midwifery (SDNM) 2021–2025.

Knowledge and skills gained will help national chief nurses, midwives, regulators, professional nursing and midwifery association executives, and academic deans and faculty excel in:

Health Systems Strengthening

Population Health Management

Human-Centered Design for Health and Wellness

Health Financing

Strategic Communications

Reforming Policies and Regulations

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Leadership Institute for Academic Librarians

Gain a deeper understanding of the leadership skills and strategies needed to lead and manage the contemporary academic library through challenging contexts.

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HGSE Professional Education

What you'll learn.

Learn more about the factors that improve and inhibit your leadership effectiveness

Increase your leadership effectiveness in ways that drive innovation and generate lasting impact

Develop strategies to address short- and long-term challenges within your library

Participate in meaningful personal reflection and professional renewal among a supportive community of colleagues

Course description

The Leadership Institute for Academic Librarians  applies important leadership concepts to the practical, day-to-day challenges of managing today’s academic library. Through this interactive program, you will gain knowledge, insights, and strategies that will improve your leadership capabilities and help your library succeed and thrive. 

Designed to increase your leadership effectiveness and management capacity,  the Leadership Institute for Academic Librarians  is a five-day on-campus program that addresses the following topics: Contemporary Leadership Challenges (including anti-racism, social justice, and higher-ed changes),  Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging, Leading Transformational Change in the Library, A New Culture of High Performance and High Engagement, and Transformational Learning/Immunity to Change.

Instructors

Maureen Sullivan

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Cornerstone Educator Competencies: A CEEL Module

Cornerstone Educator Competencies is a module within the Certificate in Early Education Leadership: Series 3, Learn A

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CARC provides academic webinars covering a wide variety of study and research skills you’ll need to thrive at Harvard Extension School.

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Visit the CARC website to explore all of these valuable resources and more.

Experience all that Harvard Extension Has to Offer

• Receive college credit. Harvard Extension courses are credit-bearing, can be applied to related Harvard Extension certificates and degrees , and may be transferable to other universities.
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The Division of Continuing Education (DCE) at Harvard University is dedicated to bringing rigorous academics and innovative teaching capabilities to those seeking to improve their lives through education. We make Harvard education accessible to lifelong learners from high school to retirement.

Welcome to Harvard Online

Harvard Online presents curated online courses that combine faculty and disciplines from across the University, connecting learners around the globe with the world’s most urgent issues.

Outsmarting Implicit Bias

Designed for individuals and teams, this Harvard Online course taught by preeminent Harvard Professor Mahzarin Banaji teaches the science of implicit bias and strategies to counter the impact of bias in the workplace.

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Health care leadership.

Deepen perspectives and advance insights into the strategic issues facing health care organizations today.

Harvard on Digital

Approach new digital and data strategies with an eye toward people, mindsets, and systems.

Leadership, Communication, Transformation

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Law in Practice

Keep up on moral, ethical, and legal arguments and continue your education beyond the classroom.

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Past participant discounts.

Learners who have enrolled in at least one qualifying Harvard Online program hosted on the HBS Online platform are eligible to receive a 30% discount on this course, regardless of completion or certificate status in the first purchased program. Past-Participant Discounts are automatically applied to the Program Fee upon time of payment.  Learn more here .

Learners who have earned a verified certificate for a HarvardX course hosted on the  edX platform  are eligible to receive a 30% discount on this course using a discount code. Discounts are not available after you've submitted payment, so if you think you are eligible for a discount on a registration, please check your email for a code or contact us .

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Learner Testimonials

On Data Privacy and Technology

"The course was informative on both current and future data privacy and technological innovation trends—the need for data privacy without inhibiting innovation. The team and instructors prompt critical thinking while broadening the understanding of data privacy beyond the frontiers. At the end of the course, I concluded that there was a need for a mass cultural shift towards ethical use of technology."

Joanita Nagaba Co-founder, ANJ Data Management Solutions Africa Ltd.

On Health Care Economics

“This is an amazing course. The professor did a fantastic job dissecting the complexities of healthcare into chewable chunks." 

Howard H. Dinh, MD, FACC Medical Director, Cardiac Services, Greater Sacramento The Permanente Medical Group and Chief, Cardiology Kaiser Permanente, South Sacramento

"I love the way the course is structured with real-world examples and the critical thinking sessions. It forces us to reflect upon what is happening around us. People who have an interest in cybersecurity, as well as those that would like to gain more general knowledge, would greatly benefit from this course."

Anand Narayan Account Executive, Lenovo Canada

On Data Science Principles

"This is a topic that people in any industry should have at least basic knowledge of in order to create more efficient and competitive businesses, tools, and resources."

Carlos E. Sapene Chief Executive Officer

On Data Science For Business

"This course had an amazing instructor, amazing examples, and an amazing user interface that made it easy for me to grasp the material and learn simultaneously with others around the world."

Shawn Carrington, Jr. Senior Executive Officer Perspecta, Inc.

Why Harvard leadership is vowing to stay silent on controversial issues

• kanaruhalter

Harvard University leadership has had a contentious eight months since the Oct. 7 attack on Israel and the subsequent catastrophic war in Gaza. Criticism from all sides took shape after Harvard’s then-president Claudine Gay released a statement about the conflict. Some say it took too long, said too much, or not enough. 

What’s significant about Harvard’s standards is that they set a tone for higher education across the country. So when Harvard leadership released a statement earlier this week that the university would no longer take an official stance on controversial issues, the question is: Will other universities follow suit?

Harvard Professor Noah Feldman, also the co-chair of the university’s Institutional Voice Working Group , which authored the report, joined GBH’s All Things Considered host Arun Rath to discuss the reasoning behind the new policy. What follows is a lightly edited transcript.

Arun Rath : Before diving in, I have a question I’m not sure if you actually know the answer, but do we know when universities — Harvard or otherwise — started taking positions on things?

Noah Feldman: That’s a great question. What I can say is that, as early as 1967 , the University of Chicago pretty much alone decided that it would adopt what it called a policy of “institutional neutrality.” That’s because people there were worried that they might come to take positions on things.

Subsequent to that, I think most universities tried to avoid major issues. It was really with the rise of social media, and then, after that, a polarized political environment, that statements started to be more frequent, on the one hand, and more controversial, on the other.

Rath: It’s interesting that you mention the University of Chicago using the term “neutrality.” A lot of the coverage of the Harvard position has used the word and called it a “policy of neutrality.” But your report doesn’t use that term, right?

Feldman: That’s exactly right. In fact, we go out of our way to say that this isn’t a policy of neutrality. The university isn’t neutral because the university is committed to a specific goal — namely, pursuing the truth — and to specific values about the best way to get to the truth — namely, open inquiry, research, experiment, reason and argument.

Seeing through that lens, when those kinds of values are under attack, which they very much are in the world today, the university, according to our report, can and should speak out — speak out forcefully, and speak out non-neutrally, in defense of the basic values that are required to run a university and run a university well.

What it shouldn’t do is speak about the matters that it doesn’t have the expertise and that are outside of its core function, and those are sort of broader questions of foreign policy, or domestic policy, or other things where the creation of an official position doesn’t really contribute to the question of what’s true or what’s right. It’s just a formal way for a university to get behind some point of view. And our report suggests that the university is actually harming its mission when it does that rather than helping it.

Rath: So for instance, the university could still take a position on things that have to do with, say, academic freedom? Things that directly affect you?

Feldman: Can and should. Academic freedom is crucial to running a university, and so our leadership has to speak out forcefully and officially about that.

[It’s the] same if Donald Trump decides — as he’s promising to do right now — to tax, as he puts it, “billions and billions of dollars” from big university endowments to create his very own online “American Academy.” That’s a terrible idea. Our leadership needs to be able to speak out clearly and say that would not be a good use of the resources of educational institutions today.

There’s lots of things where values are implicated — values that are crucial to running a university, and the university has to speak out and it shouldn’t be neutral.

Rath: Now, is this policy just for official statements from the university? Does this apply to, say, professors making statements?

Feldman: There’s a big distinction because professors have academic freedom. So do students. That means that professors can speak out in their own names — and being identified as professors, like [how] you identified me as a professor at the beginning of our conversation — about anything we want, whenever we want.

Now, there’s a separate question of whether anyone should listen to us or not. On that question, I think my own view would be: listen to us when we know what we’re talking about. So, rely on our expertise, and maybe listen to us a little less if we’re talking about something that’s way outside of our lands. But we have the freedom to say that, no matter what.

Our report is about the very different question of people or bodies that purport to speak on behalf of the whole university — that’s the president, provost, deans, chairs of departments, and whole faculties voting together to adopt statements. We’re saying that all of those entities, which don’t have inherent academic freedom the way individual faculty do, should not speak out on matters that are beyond their zones of expertise and, in many cases, should not make official statements of any kind.

Rath: Can you talk about the forces that are at play that are kind of making universities take positions on these kinds of issues? Are you still expecting to feel that, even when this policy is in place?

Feldman: The forces come mostly from the many different strands of political preference, all of whom think that if the university could have an official statement, then it should have its position as its official statement.

Lots of these folks — whether inside or outside the university — are very well motivated. They believe there’s a right and a wrong about some questions, and they think it will help their cause if the university says they’re right. So they then begin to lobby the university. Again, those could be students, faculty or staff from the inside. It could be forces from the outside — not only donors but also politicians, as we’ve seen with Congress.

What those different players do is they try to force the university — try to pressure the university — to say what they want to say. If the university falls short, or doesn’t say it in the timing that they want, or in the way they want, then they intensely criticize the university.

What makes that so hard, and actually, truth be told, impossible for the university, is that these are always about very controversial topics. If somebody is happy with what the university has said as its official stance, someone else is going to be extremely unhappy.

Our universities are big, they’re global. They’ve got thousands and thousands of members from all over the world with really different positions on many, many topics — which, by the way, is good. You need that in a university so people can learn and disagree with each other. If you have that, but the university is being pressured to take a single position on a given policy issue, it’s a recipe for deep dissatisfaction both inside the university and also outside the university.

That’s why we’ve recommended getting out of that business altogether and focusing, as a matter of official statements, only on things that the leadership of the university is really expert in — namely, how to run a university according to the basic values of open inquiry and academic freedom.

Rath: Do you have a sense, from other institutions, if they might also be leaning towards adopting this kind of a policy?

Feldman: My sense, from speaking to colleagues at lots of other universities, is that there’s a kind of ferment right now in a lot of places to converge on the kind of policy that I’m describing.

I think a lot of universities accept the point that we’re not really neutral and that it’s very hard to have a “neutral position” nowadays because if you say something, that’s not neutral, and if you don’t say something, that’s not neutral either. But universities, at the same time, want to make sure that they’re not caught in the middle in the way lots of us have been.

I think the solution that people are converging on is an expertise-based account. The individual members of the faculty can speak about whatever they want, and they often have expertise. But the university — at the official level — should not speak, except on a handful of things where it is an expert. Those are things that have to do with the core functioning of the university.

Rath: So Noah, is this policy now going to sort of solve the problem right away?

Feldman: Realistically, no. I don’t think that issuing one clear report and adopting a new policy is going to convince the internet overnight that the university isn’t going to take positions. What’s going to be required is repetition. We have to say, again and again and again, in every forum where anyone will listen, that the university is no longer making official statements or taking official positions on things outside of its core mission.

Over time, as people gradually take that on board, then the pressures on the university will slowly, slowly begin to lift. But, to be realistic, that will take a little while.

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Harvard launches hbcu scholars program named after its first black ph.d. graduate.

Harvard University will soon welcome 20 students from more than 10 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to spend the summer as Fellows in the Du Bois Scholars Program.   The program is part of the Harvard College Summer Undergraduate Research Village (HSURV), which provides students with opportunities to conduct rigorous research, participate in professional development workshops, and showcase their work. 

This first cohort of Du Bois Scholars includes rising college juniors and seniors who will explore topics ranging from environmental health to immunology and infectious diseases. They will participate in a nine-week residential program, each working closely with a faculty mentor. Throughout the summer, the Du Bois Scholars will also have opportunities to engage with other students in the HSURV.  At the end of the program, the Du Bois Scholars will present their research achievements. 

Named after W.E.B. Du Bois — the first Black Ph.D. student at Harvard who also studied and taught at HBCUs — the program embodies his commitment to Black scholarship. The Du Bois Scholars Program is funded jointly by Harvard College and the Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery (H&LS) Initiative, which seeks to address systemic inequities by developing and advancing visible, lasting, and effective actions through partnerships and by leveraging Harvard’s educational and research resources. Established in January 2023 to implement the recommendations in the Report of the Presidential Committee on Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery , H&LS is launching the Du Bois Scholars program as a part of its commitment to developing enduring partnerships with HBCUs.  

“The Du Bois Scholars Program is an exciting opportunity for Harvard to strengthen its partnerships with HBCUs by fostering rigorous research opportunities,” said Sara Bleich , vice provost for special projects at Harvard University. “We look forward to welcoming our first cohort this summer and learning from their innovative research.” 

HBCUs were established to educate Black students during a time when segregation was legal and have been crucial in producing Black professionals, leaders, and changemakers who have made significant contributions to many aspects of American society, despite insufficient funding. “Since 1837, HBCUs have been pillars of empowerment and progress, fostering excellence and a legacy which fuels innovation and transforms society,” said Shahara C. Jackson , program director of HBCU Strategic Initiatives at H&LS. “I am proud to work alongside insightful leaders who are shaping a brighter future for the Du Bois Scholars.”  

For more information, contact Senior Associate Director of Communications, H&LS, Julita Bailey-Vasco at [email protected]  

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A fter months of turmoil and sharp criticism from some alumni and donors, Harvard University said Tuesday that it would no longer take positions on issues that are not “relevant to the core function of the university.”

In doing so, the Ivy League school has not fully embraced “institutional neutrality” but is stepping away from statements that express solidarity and empathy, such as those the university issued after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Hamas’ attack on Israel, and other potentially divisive topics that have nothing to do with education.

In other words, Harvard’s leadership has been suddenly stricken with a bout of common sense.

Cynics might say that the decision was necessary given public outcry over Harvard’s handling of student protests and the resulting withdrawal of financial support from wealthy donors like Bill Ackman and Kenneth Griffin. Even the resignation of former President Claudine Gay did little to stifle criticism of Harvard and other elite universities for enabling a climate in which antisemitism could fester. And some Republicans seized the upswell of anti-Ivy-League sentiment to argue that the schools should not have public support.

But even if the change is motivated by self-interest, in reversing course, Harvard has a chance to emerge from the turmoil as a leader, the shaper of values and thought that universities have historically wanted to be. It’s a long shot, but it also has an opportunity to win back the support of social conservatives.

It’s safe to say that wasn’t on anyone’s bingo card for this year.

In steering the public conversation toward the core function of institutions, Harvard is giving Americans something we desperately need: hope that we might someday return to a world in which our academic and corporate overlords aren’t preaching the gospel of progressivism. It’s not that big an ask, really.

The events of Oct. 7 largely overshadowed everything that happened earlier in 2023, but many of the headlines before Israel was attacked involved social conservatives pushing back against the progressive agenda that was being force-fed to them by companies determined to not just sell them stuff, but ideas.

Boycotts against Target and Bud Light had nothing to do with the quality of the goods being sold, and everything to do with the way they were being marketed. In fact, the boycotts were effective precisely because the boycotters liked Target and Bud Light; they just didn’t like companies seeming to take a stand on social issues, through relentless greenwashing, pinkwashing and bluewashing .

Similarly, for all the outcry about “elite universities” corrupting America’s youth, I’ve never known a parent who didn’t speak with pride of a child getting accepted into Harvard or Yale. There’s still a mystique about our great universities that persists despite the best efforts of the outrage machine. That’s one reason that there is something resembling relief in social media posts applauding Harvard’s decision. Book learnin’ and common sense, it seems, can coexist again.

Others approvingly noted on social media that the new Harvard policy, while not applicable to students, would apply to anyone authorized to speak on behalf of the university: “That should include the president, provost, and all deans as well as heads of departments, centers, and programs; it should also in principle extend to university governing boards and faculty bodies (such as faculty councils and the faculties of schools and departments acting collectively).”

Further, Harvard’s working group advised: “There will be close cases where reasonable people disagree about whether a given issue is or is not directly related to the core function of the university. The university’s policy in those situations should be to err on the side of avoiding official statements.”

While in retrospect, many people might wonder why “the best and the brightest” are just now figuring out this last bit of wisdom, I think we can all agree on “better late than never” and hope that this policy proves infectious.

This approach reminded me of a remark made by President Dallin H. Oaks, first counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who once said , “On contested issues, we (should) seek to moderate and to unify.”

Perhaps “avoid official statements” and “seek to moderate and to unify” aren’t exactly the same thing, but both approaches help to lower the temperature of our inflamed discourse in the public square. If Harvard wants to lead us to a place where corporate America and higher ed focus on their core missions alone, I’m all in — especially if the school can bring others along.

Earlier this year, The Free Press published an essay by Harvard alumnus and donor Bill Ackman titled “ How to Fix Harvard .” That was a remarkably hopeful headline at the time, conveying Ackman’s belief that Harvard could, in fact, be fixed, despite the “burn it all down” cries coming from so many on the right.

The statements coming out of Harvard this week suggest a welcome course correction, and despite some complaints that Harvard isn’t going all in on institutional neutrality, the turn of events deserves a grudging nod of respect, if not our full-throated applause.