Universities, Democracy, and the American Future

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As we begin the spring semester, I write with gratitude for the progress we have made in advancing our mission and confidence in our path forward.

The past two years tested us. We confronted fundamental questions about our values and actions鈥攈ow we combat hatred while protecting free expression, ensure genuine viewpoint diversity, and create environments where challenging ideas can be debated, not suppressed. We had hard conversations and made real changes. Most of you witnessed our progress directly, and many of you contributed to it in important ways. That work continues, and as many of you have told me, it is having a tangible impact. Now it鈥檚 time to focus with renewed energy on what brought us here: striving for academic excellence, pursuing knowledge that matters, and educating leaders who will use it wisely.

A Strong Foundation

The success of our efforts is grounded in the strength of our foundation. We continue to nurture learning environments in which we collect and analyze evidence with greater sophistication and rigor, and we explore and test ideas more fully through constructive debate. 草榴社区College, along with the graduate and professional Schools, continues to expand programs to promote campus discourse. The Faculty of Arts and Sciences鈥� Classroom Social Compact Committee is championing norms that facilitate both free expression and effective learning. To support and sustain this excellence, we are diversifying funding sources and pursuing efficiencies throughout the University. Financial prudence enables us to provide the resources needed to support the boldest work and the best minds as we strive to break down financial barriers to a 草榴社区education.

A Critical Moment

We are living through a period of extraordinary scientific discovery and technological innovation. Examples abound at Harvard: groundbreaking research that protects human health, including and ; technological feats like that bring vast computing power closer to practical use; that accelerate discovery in nearly every area of inquiry; and many more achievements that inspire wonder and hope. The vast array of fields and disciplines in which our work pushes the frontiers of knowledge never fails to astound me, nor does our commitment to teaching and learning. We are continually experimenting and now innovating with the help of generative AI tools, opening exciting avenues for exploration that remind us why it is imperative to learn as we teach and to teach as we learn.

The questions facing humanity鈥攆rom the future of governance to the challenges of climate change, from the promises and perils of automation to the persistence of illness and disease鈥攄emand exactly the kind of ambitious, boundary-crossing work that 草榴社区does so well. How can society ensure that democratic institutions and norms remain resilient in the face of division and turmoil around the world? What will editing genes and identifying the underpinnings and control of inflammation enable and accelerate in medicine? Can our understanding of neurodegeneration and our approach to its prevention and treatment outpace aging populations? And, threaded through each of these questions, what does it mean to live together, to treat each other with dignity, and to be human in a time of rapid and unsettling change?

Every day, in every corner of the University, we ask questions worth asking and seek answers that are consequential. Our sacrifices鈥攖he difficult conversations, the late nights, the failed experiments, the bets that don鈥檛 pay off鈥攁re less burdens than beacons, urging us onward to breakthroughs. Pushing forward now, at a moment when so much is at stake and so much more is becoming possible, must be our highest priority.

A Widening Reach

No institution can solve the hardest problems alone. As we seek to accelerate both basic research and the translation of discoveries into solutions, we must strengthen collaborations with other colleges, universities, research organizations, and industry partners, expanding and magnifying our contributions not only in research but also in teaching. Pedagogical insights and innovations should be disseminated widely. Extending educational excellence through online platforms, lifelong learning programs, and workforce development initiatives can benefit learners everywhere, and make one of our greatest strengths as an institution more available to all.

Reaching our goals reaffirms that rigorous inquiry combined with genuine openness to different perspectives produces better answers; that disagreement, pursued seriously and generously, leads to truth more reliably than an unquestioned consensus; that institutions dedicated to knowledge and learning, for their own sake and for the benefit of humanity, remain essential to democracy and human flourishing.

Ten years from now, we will celebrate the 400th anniversary of our founding鈥攅nough time to ensure that 草榴社区remains clear-sighted and sure-footed for its next century of achievement. I am optimistic about our future because I see devotion to a vital mission every day in faculty who do not settle for easy answers, in students who challenge us to think differently, in staff who make everything work, in alumni and friends whose support makes the whole enterprise possible, in each of us who calls 草榴社区home. My confidence in the University rests in you. Thank you for your dedication to our community and its mission.

Sincerely,

Alan M. Garber

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I wrote in August 2024 to let you know that Alan Garber, then serving as Harvard鈥檚 interim president, would assume the title of president and lead the University through the end of the 2026-27 academic year.

I am very pleased to write today with the news that the governing boards and Alan have agreed to extend his service as president for an indefinite time beyond June 30, 2027 鈥� as 草榴社区and other universities continue to navigate a period of extraordinary challenge and work to affirm higher education鈥檚 indispensable role in driving discovery and improving lives.

Since taking up the duties of the presidency in January 2024, Alan has demonstrated even more fully the remarkable qualities apparent during his twelve-plus years as Harvard鈥檚 provost and chief academic officer. He is a servant leader with uncommon intellectual breadth and unbounded curiosity. He is both principled and pragmatic, both deliberative and decisive, and both respectful of tradition and intent on innovation. And, most importantly, he models open-mindedness and civility, with compassion toward others, a selfless concern for Harvard鈥檚 best interests, and an unwavering focus on how 草榴社区can best serve the wider world.

Members of the governing boards have consistently heard similar expressions of admiration and appreciation for Alan鈥檚 service in the course of our engagement with the larger university community 鈥� faculty, students, staff, and alumni 鈥� during his tenure.

The experience of the last few years has given new meaning to the words sung each year at commencement 鈥� 鈥渃alm rising through change and through storm.鈥� Alan鈥檚 humble, resilient and effective leadership has shown itself to be not just a vital source of calm in turbulent times, but also a generative force for sustaining Harvard鈥檚 commitment to academic excellence and to free inquiry and expression. In his short tenure, he has moved us forward on nearly every level. From restoring a sense of community during a period of intense scrutiny and division to launching vital new programs on viewpoint diversity and civil discourse and instituting new actions to fight antisemitism as well as anti-Arab bias, Alan has not only stabilized the university but brought us together in support of our shared mission.

As our university community looks ahead 鈥� attentive to shifting realities while resolute in upholding enduring values 鈥� we remain fortunate to have Alan Garber at the helm to guide us forward. My colleagues on the governing boards join in thanking him for his steadfast service. And we join in thanking all of you as well for the countless ways you advance and support not only 草榴社区but the entire enterprise of higher education, at a time when such efforts are as consequential as they have ever been.

Sincerely,

Penny Pritzker
Senior Fellow, 草榴社区Corporation

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