President and Fellows of Harvard College

The Harvard College seal

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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

The Corporation and the Board of Overseers exercise institutional roles that, at most other colleges and universities, are more commonly consolidated into a single board of trustees.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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".<ref name="GoverningHarvard">Template:Cite news</ref>

Structure

The Harvard Corporation is a 501(c)(3) and the owner of all of Harvard University's assets and real property.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

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.<ref name="gazette" />

History

Harvard presidents Josiah Quincy, Edward Everett, Jared Sparks, James Walker, and Cornelius Conway Felton each served as members of the Harvard Corporation at various times.

17th century

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.<ref>Template:Cite thesisTemplate:Pn</ref>

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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> These men had, in perpetual succession, the duties of managing the College.

18th century

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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

19th century

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.Template:Clarify<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

21st century

In December 2023, the Corporation came under scrutiny by the United States House of Representatives, after a House Committee hearing on antisemitism.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The following month, in January 2024, the House Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over university tax status and endowments, probed the tax status of Harvard and three other universities, over allegations of inadequate responses to antisemitism.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

On May 22, 2024, one day before the annual Harvard Commencement ceremony, the corporation refused to give diplomas to thirteen seniors of Harvard College involved in pro-Palestinian protests, overruling a vote of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences that included the students on the list of graduating students.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Critics called it an attempt "to kill faculty governance" from a body that is usually "publicity-shy".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Current membership

As of May 2024, there are currently thirteen members of the Corporation, including the University president, who sets the agenda but does not vote.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Name	Harvard Degree(s)	Year appointed	Occupation
Alan Garber	AB 1976, AM 1977, PhD 1988	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>|| President of Harvard University
Timothy R. Barakett, Treasurer	AB 1987, MBA 1993	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || former CEO of Atticus Capital
Joseph Bae	AB 1994	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>|| co-CEO of KKR & Co. Inc.
Kenneth Chenault	JD 1976	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || former CEO of American Express, chairman and managing director of General Catalyst
Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar	AB 1993	2019<ref name="Two elected to Harvard Corporation" />	President of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and former Justice of the Supreme Court of California
Kenneth C. Frazier	JD 1978	2024<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>	former CEO of Merck & Co.
Richard P. Lifton	None	2025	President of Rockfeller University
Carolyn Martin	None	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || President Emerita of Amherst College
Karen Mills	AB 1975, MBA 1977	2014<ref name="Harvard University"/>	former Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration
Diana L. Nelson	AB 1985	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || chair of Carlson Holdings
Penny Pritzker, Senior Fellow	AB 1981	2018<ref name="Harvard Corporation elects two new members"/>	former United States Secretary of Commerce
Tracy Palandjian	AB 1993, MBA 1997	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || co-founder and CEO of Social Finance
Kannon Shanmugam	AB 1993, JD 1998	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	partner at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison

List of Senior Fellows

The Corporation's senior fellow is the lead trustee within the board.

Name	Term
Penny Pritzker	2022–<ref name="Pritzker">Template:Cite press release</ref>
William F. Lee	2014–2022<ref name="Pritzker"/><ref name="Lee">Template:Cite press release</ref>
Robert Reischauer	2010–2014<ref name="Lee"/><ref name="Reischauer">Template:Cite press release</ref>

External links

• Harvard Corporation website