No one I’ve known has personified Boston’s heart and soul, its drive and its resilience, more than Tom Menino. I have been privileged to call him a mentor and a friend. He lived a life full of purpose, always guided by a devotion to improving the lives of the people he served. He was a…

Dear Members of the Harvard Community, “What we lose in flowers,” Samuel Butler wrote of autumn, “we more than gain in fruits.” With another autumn upon us, I write to note some first fruits of the academic year now in full swing and some thoughts on what’s ahead. As September began, our newest undergraduates assembled…

Dear Colleagues and Friends, As he announced today, David Ellwood has decided to step down next summer as dean of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, after eleven years of outstanding leadership. From the outset of his deanship, David has embodied and amplified the spirit of service that infuses the School he leads.  With his…

A statement by President Drew Faust The reenactment of a ‘black mass’ planned by a student group affiliated with the Harvard Extension School challenges us to reconcile the dedication to free expression at the heart of a university with our commitment to foster a community based on civility and mutual understanding. Vigorous and open discussion…

Dear Members of the Harvard Community, Tomorrow marks the anniversary of last year’s Boston Marathon tragedy. The occasion offers us a moment to remember and reflect on the lives so terribly lost and the incalculable pain suffered by the victims and their loved ones. It is a moment to recognize and marvel at the survivors’…

Dear Members of the Harvard Community, Worldwide scientific consensus has clearly established that climate change poses a serious threat to our future—and increasingly to our present. Universities like ours have produced much of the research supporting that consensus, as well as many of the emerging ideas helping us to begin confronting that challenge. Yet we…

Dear Members of the Harvard Community, A University community must foster the respect and civility that nurture exploration, learning, and discovery. Sexual assault is an affront to the personal well-being and dignity that rest at the heart of what Harvard seeks to be. In its threat to safety, sexual assault not only damages individuals but…

In March 2013, I convened a University-wide task force to develop recommendations for “policies regarding access to, and confidentiality of, electronic communications that rely on university information systems.” After nearly a year of deliberation and consultation, the Electronic Communications Policy Task Force, led by David Barron, the Honorable S. William Green Professor of Public Law…

Academic boycotts subvert the academic freedoms and values necessary to the free flow of ideas, which is the lifeblood of the worldwide community of scholars. The recent resolution of the ASA proposing to boycott Israeli universities represents a direct threat to these ideals, ideals which universities and scholarly associations should be dedicated to defend. Cambridge,…

Allston is a crucial part of our efforts to create a campus for Harvard’s next century. We have made important progress with the recent approval of the Institutional Master Plan, the opening of Tata Hall, and last week’s groundbreaking at Barry’s Corner, and I write now to update you on plans to articulate our ambitions…