Harvard Board of Overseers

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Template:Short description The Harvard Board of Overseers (more formally The Honorable and Reverend the Board of Overseers) is an advisory board of alumni at Harvard University. Unlike the Harvard Corporation, the Board of Overseers is not a fiduciary governing board, but instead "has the power of consent to certain actions of the Corporation",<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> including elections and removals of board members.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Formed in 1642, the Board of Overseers predates the Corporation's 1650 incorporation.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Overview and function

The Board is composed of more than 30 overseers, all directly elected by alumni.<ref name=crim>Template:Cite web</ref> The treasurer and the President of Harvard University are included as ex officio members of the board.<ref name=gaze>Template:Cite web</ref>

Each year, Harvard alumni elect five new overseers<ref name=crim/> to serve six-year terms.<ref name=gaze/> Most overseer candidates are nominated by the Harvard Alumni Association (HAA);<ref name=crim/> those not nominated by the HAA must gather signatures from Harvard alumni to appear on the ballot as petition candidates.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

According to the Harvard website, the Board of Overseers complements the work of the President and Fellows of Harvard College:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

[T]he Board exerts broad influence over the University’s strategic directions, provides counsel to the University leadership on priorities and plans, and has the power of consent to certain actions of the Corporation. The Board’s chief functions include superintendence of the visitation process, the principal mechanism for periodic external review of the quality and direction of the University’s schools, departments, and selected other programs and activities. The Board carries out this responsibility largely through the operation of more than fifty visiting committees, whose work is overseen by and reported to the Board.

History

Originally the overseers were self-perpetuating,<ref>Template:Cite thesis</ref> and included, ex officio, the public officials and Puritan clergy of Cambridge and the neighboring towns, hence the "honorable and reverend" of the title. From 1851 to 1865, the fellows were appointed by the Massachusetts Legislature.

Ambassador Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. quipped famously of the election of John F. Kennedy, his son, to the board in 1957: "Now I know his religion won't keep him out of the White House. If an Irish Catholic can get elected as an Overseer at Harvard, he can get elected to anything."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Petition candidates

In the late 1980s, a group calling for a withdrawal of Harvard's investments in apartheid South Africa helped nominate petition candidates for overseer elections. Known as the Harvard-Radcliffe Alumni Against Apartheid (HRAAA), this group supported the first petition candidate to win an overseer's seat.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The HRAAA backed South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu in his successful bid to join the board in 1989,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and future U.S. president Barack Obama's unsuccessful petition bid in 1991.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

In 2020, Harvard Forward, an alumni NPO calling for increased attention to climate change, including fossil fuel divestment, and representation of younger alumni on the Board, put forward a slate of five petition candidates.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Three of the five were elected to the board: environmental scientist Jayson Toweh, civil rights attorney Thea Sebastian, and professional soccer player Margaret Purce,<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> despite HAA leaders circulation of a letter calling climate concerns "special interests", and suggesting that it was inappropriate for overseers candidates to state their views on university issues.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Following the election of the three Harvard Forward candidates, the Board of Overseers and the Harvard Corporation changed the election rules in order to make it harder for petition candidates to be elected.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Board members

As of June 2025,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the Harvard Board of Overseers members are:

*Denotes president of the board

References

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