HARVARD ELECTIONS: For Board of Overseers elections, we recommend: Salvo Arena, Nisha Kumar Behringer, Trey Grayson, Alfredo Gutiérrez Ortiz Mena, and Philip Harrison. For Harvard Alumni Association (HAA) Elected Director elections, we recommend: Mia Esther Alpert, James P. “Jimmy” Biblarz, Allison Charney Epstein, Medha Gargeya, David Lefer, and Jakob Haesler.
Announced last month, Harvard’s latest change to first-year advising reflects a broader shift: the College is breaking advising into its component parts after several iterations on a model that tried to do too much at once.
Advising serves two distinct needs. Students need a way to receive accurate, timely information — for example, when mapping prerequisites onto their prospective course selections. They also need a relationship with someone they trust enough to actually turn to for support, academic or otherwise.
Harvard’s longstanding 1:1 student-to-advisor model attempted to deliver both through a single assigned advisor, drawn from a pool of volunteer graduate students, dorm proctors, staff, and non-tenure-track faculty. In practice, the system struggled to deliver either consistently.
It expects these part-time, volunteer advisors — who might not be experts in the College (even with Harvard’s training) — to provide wide-ranging and sometimes quite technical guidance. It also expects them to develop organic, meaningful relationships with students they may rarely see outside structured meetings.
For many years, students have reported cases of receiving incorrect information, or barely knowing their advisor at all. Even in 2024 when Harvard consolidated first-year and sophomore advising after shifting course registration earlier, it still left the 1:1, volunteer nature of the system intact. It kept asking one person to do two very different jobs.
The new “unbundled” model takes a different approach. It redistributes those core functions to the parts of the College best positioned to handle them:
Incoming first-years will receive standardized guidance on course selection through Office of Undergraduate Education online modules, supported by an AI chatbot.
Once on campus, guidance flows through proctor-led entryway group advising sessions, with the entryway’s Peer Advising Fellows (PAF) helping facilitate.
Relationship-centered support is anchored in proctors and PAFs, who are already embedded in students’ residential lives and are often the people they turn to for advice.
Concentration- and field-specific questions are routed to departments and divisional deans.
Harvard is betting that a clearer division of labor within advising can provide students with more consistent and correct information without losing the human elements of advising students look for. That bet builds on a willingness from College leadership to revisit and refine a system that hasn’t always worked as intended.
Whether the model actually feels coherent and supportive may hinge on execution details. For example, how will first-years connect with departments and deans for specialized information? Who is responsible for making that happen? Because students are new to campus, an information gulf may persist unless departments conduct outreach through channels first-years already use, like the Yard bulletin newsletter.
If Harvard gets these details right, the unbundled model could turn a system that has tried to do too much into one that does its core jobs well: delivering consistent, baseline guidance to all students, routing specialized questions to the right experts, and strengthening the relationship-based support first-years already rely on.
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Q: How has the Yale report been received by other universities?
According to Harvard College Dean David Deming (PhD ‘16), Yale’s report on declining trust in higher education has been broadly well-received by the deans of other Ivy League schools. Deming said that at an annual conference of Ivy League deans, “there was broad approval of the idea of this [report], and buy-in to the idea that this is a problem that we collectively need to work on solving.” Deming noted that while he agrees with Yale’s diagnoses, he wouldn’t necessarily endorse all of its recommendations — for example, to lower Yale College’s mean GPA to 3.0.
Events
San Francisco, CA — June 10 from 6:00-8:30 pm PT: Meet HKS Dean Jeremy Weinstein at this HKS on the Road series event. Register here.
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FYIs
The Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS), Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), Harvard Business School (HBS), and Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) will provide pay increases in FY27, and a University spokesperson said other schools have also been authorized to offer raises “at their discretion.”
At HKS, Executive Dean Josh McIntosh told staff that eligible non-union employees will receive a 3% base salary increase effective July 1, and some HBS staff were also told the school approved 3% merit increases for FY27 (though who exactly hasn’t been specified).
The move comes as the University remains under a non-essential personnel hiring freeze and schools continue to manage financial pressure through layoffs, position control, and administrative restructuring.
Second Week of Harvard Graduate Student Strike Disrupts Visitas and Studying as Harvard Adjusts Offer
The Harvard Graduate Students Union-United Auto Workers (HGSU-UAW, or HGSU) strike entered its second week, with picketers continuing weekday demonstrations in the Science Center Plaza and nearby Harvard Yard walkways. They also protested as President Alan Garber’s (AB ’76, PhD ‘82) arrived for his Visitas (admitted students weekend) welcome address, chanting “Sit down and negotiate!”
College courses continue to shift online or consolidate sections as Teaching Fellows withheld labor during the last week of classes. First-year students living near the Science Center plaza have said the drumming and chants have made sleep and studying harder ahead of finals, even as several said they still support the union’s demands.
Harvard has raised its HGSU wage offer to a 2.75% increase upon ratification followed by 3.25% increases for the next two years, and proposed expanded benefits, including a subsidized legal services plan with immigration-related services, fully subsidized preventive dental for all PhD students, and a $6,500+ stipend for all PhD student-parents. The union’s wage proposal remains substantially higher, seeking 12% upon ratification plus 5% annual raises.
Separately, the Harvard Academic Workers Union-United Auto Workers (HAW-UAW), which represents non-tenure-track faculty and researchers, filed an unfair labor practice charge accusing Harvard of unlawfully increasing workloads. The charge comes after Harvard raised enrollment caps for the mandatory first-year writing course, Expository 10, from 10 to 15 students beginning in fall 2026 without bargaining.
Harvard Economics Professor Jason Furman Named New Co-Director of HKS Center for Business and Government
Professor Jason Furman (AB ‘92, PhD ‘04), has been named the new faculty co-director of the HKS Mossovar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government (M-RCBG). Furman will lead M-RCBG alongside John Haigh, who has been the co-director of the center since 2011.
Furman is a Professor of the Practice of Economic Policy at HKS and a Professor in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Economics Department, where he co-teaches Harvard’s flagship introductory economics course, Ec10. As former Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, Furman previously served as a top economic adviser to President Barack Obama (JD ‘91).
Haigh is a Lecturer in Public Policy at HKS and previously served as HKS’s Executive Dean, where he oversaw the school’s operating and financial activities.
M-RCBG’s work spans areas including healthcare, technology and innovation, labor, climate, macroeconomic policy, and global trade. In 2025, Harvard’s Project on the Workforce, a joint HKS, HBS, and HGSE initiative co-led by College Dean David Deming (PhD ‘16), was absorbed into M-RCBG, where it is now housed.
Furman’s position was previously held by former Harvard president emeritus Larry Summers (PhD ‘82), who resigned from his M-RCBG post in February and said he will also resign his academic and faculty appointments at the end of this academic year.
FAS Adds Anthropic’s Claude, Plans To Phase Out ChatGPT Edu
FAS plans to add Anthropic’s Claude, including the Claude Code toolkit, to the University’s suite of AI tools, while discontinuing its FAS-wide pilot that provided OpenAI’s ChatGPT Edu accounts to affiliates.
Physics professor Christopher Stubbs (the FAS Senior Advisor on Artificial Intelligence and former FAS Science Dean) said access to Claude would likely be granted on a course-by-course basis as faculty request the tool.
He couldn’t yet confirm a rollout timeline or which specific tools would be offered, but FAS notes after June 2026, access to ChatGPT Edu will require “administrative and budgetary approval” as the pilot winds down.
Stubbs cited financial considerations and lower than expected undergraduate uptake, which he attributed in part to student concerns about it being a way for the University to “catch people cheating.”
FAS said access to Google’s Gemini is not changing and that FAS doesn’t expect to commit to a single AI platform long-term given how quickly the space is evolving.
HSPH Launches Advanced Learning Academy, Consolidates and Expands Online Offerings
This week, HSPH Dean Andrea Baccarelli announced the launch of the Advanced Learning Academy, a new umbrella for the School’s non-degree education offerings.
The launch follows recent internal discussions at HSPH about expanding online or hybrid offerings and reassessing the School’s master’s programs.
HSPH is Harvard’s school most reliant on federal research funding. In FY25, 56% of HSPH’s operating revenue came from sponsored support.
The Academy consolidates programs including executive education, short intensive courses, online certificate programs, professional workshops, summer and winter programs, and micro-credentials, and expands customized learning programs for industry, governments, and NGOs. Baccarelli also said the Academy will expand online offerings across topics including data science, health systems, genomics, and AI.
The Academy is led by HSPH’s vice dean for non-degree education and professor Rifat Atun. Last year, Atun told Bloomberg that HSPH is looking to grow its professional education efforts in Latin America and the Middle East.
More News
More News at Harvard
The Crimson: “Harvard College Admissions Dean Says South Emerging as Key Pipeline for Harvard”
The Crimson: “Harvard Visitas Draws Mixed Reviews as Students Compare Peer Admit Weekends”
Reuters: “Convicted former Harvard scientist rebuilds brain computer lab in China” — feat. former Chemistry and Chemical Biology Chair Charles Lieber, who was convicted for secretly accepting funds from China’s program to recruit non-Chinese foreign experts while receiving millions in U.S. federal grants
The Crimson: “HUCTW Slams Deming’s Plan to Cut Back-Office Functions Before Student Programming”
The Crimson: “Under Deming, Harvard’s Intellectual Vitality Initiative Takes a New Shape”
The Crimson: “Harvard Faculty Back 20-Plus-Four Formula Over Square-Root Amendment in Poll on A-Grade Cap”
The Crimson: “Harvard Promised a ‘Full’ Review of Its Epstein Ties. Its Own Files Reveal What It Left Out.”
HKS Belfer Center: “Belfer Center Announces New Fellowship Program for Senior, Experienced Technology and Scientific Innovators from the Private Sector”
The Crimson: “HMS Faculty Divided Over Removal of Diversity Language From Mission Statement”
Harvard Gazette: “New fellowship program for senior, experienced tech and scientific innovators”
Harvard Law School: “David French urges students to ‘write with regret, not outrage’”
The Crimson: “Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Concentrators Drop To Lowest Number Since 2010”
FAS Current: “The ‘atomic bomb’ of AI-driven science: Harvard scientists describe promise and peril of accelerating technologies” — feat. Harvard professors Doug Finkbeiner (astronomy and physics), Matt Schwartz (physics), Michael Brenner (applied math, applied physics, physics) and Christopher Stubbs (physics)
The Crimson: “Former Paul Weiss Chair Brad Karp Defends Settlement With Trump During Harvard Law School Class”
Chronicle of Higher Education: “Can Danielle Allen Save Academe From Itself?” — feat. University Professor Danielle Allen (PhD ‘02)
Washington Monthly: “Why grade inflation matters to everyone” — feat. Alex Bronzini-Vender (AB ‘28)
The Crimson: “Harvard Needs a Performance Review” — editorial by The Crimson Editorial Board
The Crimson: “It’s Time Harvard Indoctrinates Learning” — op-ed by Adnan Bin Alamgir (AB ’29)
The Crimson: “Harvard’s Outreach Can’t Stop With the Powerful” — editorial by The Crimson Editorial Board
The Crimson: “A Call for Consistency From the Black Men’s Forum” — op-ed by Ethan Ristu (AB ‘28)
The Crimson: “Don’t Sacrifice Critical Thinking for Efficiency” — op-ed by Olivia Nelson (AB ’29)
The Crimson: “Harvard, Jump off the AI Bandwagon” — editorial by The Crimson Editorial Board
More News Beyond Harvard
Yale Daily News: “Yale, following report, narrows its mission statement to focus on knowledge”
The Free Press: “Can Dartmouth Save the Ivy League?” — feat. Dartmouth president Sian Beilock
WHYY: “Penn does not have to turn over the names of Jewish staffers to the federal government as appeals process plays out, judge rules”
Wall Street Journal: “The College-Admissions Chess Game Is More Complicated Than Ever”
Chronicle of Higher Education: “People Are Angry (Again) About Colleges’ Donors. Will Anything Really Change?”
Jewish Telegraphic Agency: “Colleges cracked down on encampments. But antisemitism on campus hasn't gone anywhere”
Washington Post: “Campus dinners aim to repair Black-Jewish alliance, frayed by the Gaza war”
The Guardian: “US universities are seeing an influx of ‘antisemitism centers’. Some Jewish scholars are worried”
STAT News: “Growing use of guest editors has turned some journals into a ‘playground of bad science’”
Inside Higher Education: “College Students Are More Polarized Than Ever. Can AI Help?”
U.S. Department of Education: “U.S. Department of Education Finalizes Landmark Rule to Lower College Costs and Simplify Student Loan Repayment”
National Bureau of Economic Research: “How Have Universities Survived for Nearly a Millenium” — by Harvard economics professors David Cutler (AB ‘87) and Edward Glaeser
The Free Press: “Universities Have a Conformity Crisis” — by HKS & HBS professor Arthur Brooks, who is leaving Harvard for Vanderbilt this summer
eJewishPhilanthropy: “We don’t have to choose between moral courage and open inquiry” — op-ed by Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, Associate Professor of History at The New School