Harvard College’s yield fell this year: 80.9% of admitted students for the Class of 2030 enrolled, down from 83.6% last year and ending five consecutive years at or above 83%. The College also admitted 103 students from its waitlist — the most in any year since Harvard began reporting waitlist admissions with the Class of 2014.
Yield can change for many reasons, from competing financial aid offers to changes in peer schools’ admissions strategies, or even the weather when accepted students visit campus. The decline for the Class of 2030 also came as Harvard College was focused on “re-centering academics,” particularly through efforts to address grade inflation and restore in-person class attendance norms.
Whether or not these facts are connected, they raise a worthwhile question: if Harvard is changing the education it offers, is it also admitting students who want that education?
A concern in any year is whether admitted students are choosing other universities because they perceive stronger academic offerings elsewhere. If students are increasingly choosing other schools for opportunities in fields where Harvard wants to excel, like AI or quantum computing, that could highlight a weakness worth addressing.
But a lower yield could also mean that the students who chose to enroll are more interested in Harvard’s renewed academic direction than those who declined their offers.
Harvard’s efforts to confront grade inflation and the resulting “shadow system of distinction” weren’t confined to campus; they received national news coverage, from The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times to even Town & Country. By the Class of 2030’s May 1 enrollment deadline, Harvard faculty had spent months debating a proposal to cap A grades, which they approved later that month.
Some admitted students may have welcomed Harvard’s push for academic rigor, while others may have preferred its previous grading and attendance expectations. If those preferences influenced students’ enrollment decisions, a lower yield could leave Harvard with a class more aligned with the education it wants to provide. That’d be a win.
Re-centering academics relies on more than just the faculty. Harvard’s admissions and communications efforts help shape the match between the education Harvard aims to offer and what prospective students want from college — well before acceptance letters go out. How Harvard describes its academic expectations to the outside world — and who it recruits and admits — is part of re-centering academics too.
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Q: According to Harvard’s first-ever report on discrimination and bullying complaints, were any decisions appealed? If so, what happened?
Of the 50 discrimination complaints filed between September 2023 and December 2025, 10 were investigated, and eight reached a determination; two of those eight no-violation findings were appealed, and both appeals were denied.
In one case, a student alleged that a staff member harassed them and responded differently to their antisemitism-related discrimination concerns than to other types of discrimination complaints. Harvard investigated and found no violation of its Non-Discrimination Policy. The student appealed, but the appeal was denied.
In the other, an instructor alleged discriminatory denial of promotion. Harvard denied the instructor’s appeal.
The report doesn’t explain the grounds for either appeal or why they were denied. For more findings, read our Weekly Briefing on the report.
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Federal Judge Dismisses DOJ & ED Lawsuit Seeking Harvard Admissions Records on Procedural Grounds
On November 2, U.S. District Judge Myong Joun dismissed the federal government’s lawsuit seeking applicant-level admissions data from Harvard College, Harvard Law School, and Harvard Medical School, finding the federal government didn’t adequately demonstrate that it followed required procedures to secure Harvard’s “voluntary compliance” before filing its lawsuit against the University.
Filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) in February 2026 and amended in May to include the Department of Education’s (ED) parallel investigation, the suit sought to compel Harvard to produce admissions records for federal reviews of its compliance with the Supreme Court’s 2023 Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard (SFFA) ruling, which banned race-based admissions. The government’s lawsuit didn’t allege discriminatory conduct or seek penalties against Harvard; it sought only to compel the production of admissions records.
Joun concluded the DOJ didn’t adequately demonstrate that it notified Harvard of the University’s failure to comply with the document requests or “the action it would take—namely, litigation.” Similarly, ED didn’t sufficiently demonstrate that it made the required “additional efforts to persuade” Harvard to comply before referring the matter to the DOJ.
Joun dismissed the case without prejudice, meaning the government could bring another lawsuit after addressing the procedural deficiencies.
The ruling doesn’t determine whether Harvard must ultimately provide the requested applicant-level admissions data. In dismissing the case on procedural grounds, Joun didn’t decide whether the government’s requests were “overbroad or insufficiently relevant” or whether it acted for an “improper or retaliatory purpose.”
Harvard Graduate Student Workers Strike Again After Spring Walkout
Harvard’s graduate student union (HGSU-UAW), which represents teaching fellows (TFs) who lead discussion sections for undergraduate lecture courses, along with other student workers, began striking on October 27 after failing to reach a contract agreement with the University. The walkout follows a 40-day strike last spring that ended without a contract.
On the first day of the strike, more than 200 demonstrators marched through Harvard Yard and delivered a petition signed by more than 4,000 student workers to Massachusetts Hall.
Harvard submitted its latest contract proposal on October 22, five days before the strike. The main unresolved issues are:
Wages: HGSU seeks higher TF wages, including pay parity with research assistants (RAs), raises tied to inflation, and retroactive pay.
Noncitizen protections: HGSU seeks additional paid immigration leave, job protections for detained workers, and a larger assistance fund.
Harassment and discrimination: HGSU wants workers to be able to pursue complaints through independent arbitration, in addition to Harvard’s University-wide Non-Discrimination and Anti-Bullying (NDAB) and Title IX processes.
Benefits: The parties disagree over administration of benefit funds and whether workers can challenge denied benefits through their contract. HGSU has offered to accept University-run benefit administration in exchange for a contractual grievance process.
Union dues: HGSU seeks mandatory fees from all represented workers, including nonmembers, while Harvard wants membership and dues to remain voluntary. HGSU says Harvard has identified this as an issue it “will not move on.”
The next bargaining session is scheduled for November 5. Meanwhile, Harvard Academic Workers (HAW-UAW), which includes non-tenure-track faculty, has set a November 10 strike deadline.
Black Enrollment Falls to 9.3%, Hispanic Enrollment Edges Up in Harvard College’s Class of 2030
In Harvard College’s Class of 2030 admissions data released October 27, Black student enrollment fell to 9.3%, from 11.5% in the Class of 2029 and 14% in 2028 — down roughly one-third from the first post-SFFA class. Asian American representation rose from 37% to 41% to 43.2%, while Hispanic enrollment fell from 16% to 11% before rising slightly to 11.4%.
International students made up 15% of the class, down from 16% and 18% in the prior two years. Harvard classifies international students by home address at application, not citizenship.
Harvard’s figures reflect self-reported race among U.S. citizens and permanent residents. The College switched from reporting admitted students to reporting enrolled students with the Class of 2028 (the first post-SFFA class) and has since changed its demographic categories and rounding, complicating comparisons with pre-SFFA classes.
The share of students attending tuition-free fell from 45% to 39%, while the share attending at no cost fell from 26% to 22%. Families earning under $200,000 qualify for free tuition; those earning under $100,000 qualify for a fully covered cost of attendance. First-generation enrollment fell from 20% to 17%, while estimated Pell Grant eligibility — an indicator of lower-income enrollment — remained at 21%.
Harvard Law School Raises Record $135 Million in FY26
Harvard Law School (HLS) raised a record $135 million in fiscal year 2026 — up from approximately $73 million in 2025 and $84 million in 2024 — according to The Crimson, citing a person briefed on the figures.
The total includes a $31.4 million gift from Morgan Chu (JD ‘76) and Helen Chu, the largest in HLS’s history, which will endow six new professorships. Morgan Chu, an intellectual property attorney, served on Harvard’s Board of Overseers from 2009 to 2015, including as president in 2014-15. The couple previously endowed the HLS deanship in 2013.
The record comes amid a broader rebound in Harvard’s fundraising. As we noted in our Weekly Briefing on Harvard’s FY26 financial report (read it here), the University received more than $1.5 billion in new gifts, and philanthropy (current-use gifts and endowment distributions) now accounts for 48% of Harvard’s operating revenue.
Department of Education Finalizes New College Accreditation Rules
The Department of Education (ED) finalized new regulations on October 29 governing higher education accreditation, which determines colleges’ eligibility for federal student aid. Effective July 1, 2027, the rules impose new requirements on accrediting agencies while reducing restrictions on how they operate.
Under the new rules, accreditors must review colleges’ “written faculty performance evaluation policies” and “academic freedom protections” applied consistently to faculty “regardless of appointment classification, race or other immutable characteristics, viewpoint, or ideology.”
Accreditors must also assess student outcomes, including graduation rates, employment outcomes, and “educational and economic returns” relative to the total cost of attendance.
The regulations eliminate a two-year waiting period for new accrediting agencies seeking federal recognition, remove geographic restrictions on where accrediting agencies can operate, and make it easier for colleges to switch accreditors or use multiple agencies.
In July 2025, the federal government notified the New England Commission of Higher Education, Harvard’s accreditor, that the University might no longer meet its accreditation standards on account of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Notice of Violation finding that Harvard violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act by failing to address antisemitism-related discrimination and harassment on campus. Harvard disputed the findings and remains accredited. Its next comprehensive evaluation is scheduled for fall 2027.
More News
More News at Harvard
The Crimson: “Two-Thirds of Graduating Seniors Expressed Opposing Views on Controversial Topics, Deming Says”
Wall Street Journal: “The Brutal Harvard Class That Suddenly Everyone Wants to Take”
The Crimson: “HLS Professor Gabriella Blum To Serve as Radcliffe Interim Dean During Search for Permanent Dean” — feat. HLS professor Gabriella Blum (LLM ‘01, SJD ‘03)
The Crimson: “Harvard’s New Climate Concentration Faces Staffing Challenges After FAS Layoffs”
Harvard Magazine: “How Philosophy at Harvard Saved Itself”
The Crimson: “Harvard IOP’s Top Student Leaders Are Increasingly Skipping Public Service”
Gary King: “AI Article Reviews Dominate Human Peer Reviews at Their Best: Evidence and Policy Choices” — paper by University Professor Gary King
Harvard Gazette: “‘The Bulk of the Benefit and the Threat Is Actually Humans’” — feat. HMS biomedical informatics professor Isaac Kohane
FAS Current: “Scholars Turn a Critical Eye to How Jews and Muslims Have Misread Each Other”
Boston Business Journal: “Harvard Medical, Dental Schools to Undergo $21 Million Facelift”
John Chang’s Substack: “Learning to Run a Business Is Worth Teaching” — by John Chang (MBA ‘22) in response to former HBS professor Christopher Marquis’s New York Times op-ed calling to shut down business schools
The Crimson: “I’m a Physics Course Assistant. Here’s Why I’m Not Striking.” — op-ed by Anna Guerrini (AB ‘29)
The Crimson: “Harvard Should Adopt the Chicago Principles” — op-ed by Ava Ribaudo (AB ‘27)
The Crimson: “Have You No Shame, Sir?” — op-ed by Andrew Shlomchik (AB ‘29)
The Crimson: “Harvard Advising Needs a Guiding Philosophy” — op-ed by Khadija Khan (AB ‘28)
The Crimson: “Bad Ideas Are Escaping the Ivory Tower” — op-ed by Charles Covit (AB ‘27)
More News Beyond Harvard
The Dartmouth: “Grading Committee Hosts Student Workshop”
The Dartmouth: “Santiago Schnell Resigns as Provost of the College”
The Crimson: “‘Abusing and Threatening and Harassing’: Inside the Collapse of Leo Terrell’s DOJ Antisemitism Task Force”
Stanford Daily: “Anthropic Illegally Trained Claude With Stanford Professors’ Books”
Stanford Daily: “Stanford Offers New Courses in AI Prompting and Vibecoding”
Bloomberg: “Yale University Endowment Jumps 26% to Record $54.5 Billion”
Wall Street Journal: “Elite Colleges Can Give You an Investing Lesson”
Daily Pennsylvanian: “AI Surge Prompts More Penn Professors to Go No-Tech”
Daily Pennsylvanian: “Penn Appoints Inaugural Named Professor in Jewish Studies Following $3M Gift”
New York Times: “Students at an A.I. School Were Supposed to Learn Faster. Many Aren’t.”
Wall Street Journal: “To Get This Job at McKinsey, You’ll Need to Survive a Debate With AI First”
Brandeis University: “Antisemitism and Prejudice Among US Graduate Students” — report by the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies
Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy: “The SAT Reading Section: A Comparative Analysis of the 1980, 1987, and 2026 Practice Tests”
Yale Daily News: “Divinity School Has Lowered Enrollment to Keep Aid Under Trump Tax Hike”
National Jurist: “LSAT Format Changing in August 2027: What Prelaw Students Need to Know”
Columbia Daily Spectator: “Cambridge University Launches First International Startup Hub in West Harlem”
City Journal: “The Liberal Philanthropy Funding DEI’s Biggest Defenders on Campus” — by Manhattan Institute senior fellow John Sailer
The New Atlantis: “‘It’s a Form of Apocalypticism Applied to Science Policy’” — dialogue between New Atlantis editor Ari Schulman and AEI Center for Technology, Science, and Energy senior fellow and director M. Anthony Mills
American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA): “Learning From Leaders in Reform: Achieving ACTA’s Gold Standard for Freedom of Expression” — webinar hosted by ACTA fellow Steve McGuire feat. Daniel Diermeier, chancellor of Vanderbilt University
FIRE: “Male Students Show More Tolerance for Political Enemies Than Females Show for Their Own Allies” — by Chapin Lenthall-Cleary
New York Times: “Sound Off: A Double Standard for ‘Conservative’ and ‘Liberal’ Labels?” — feat. South Texas College of Law Houston professor Josh Blackman
Poets & Quants: “‘Business Is Good At Providing A Solution … But We Don’t Have The Only Solution’: Wharton’s Dean Answers Chris Marquis” — feat. Wharton Dean Erika James, in response to former HBS professor Christopher Marquis’s New York Times op-ed
Alex Edmans: “In Defence of Business Schools” — by London Business School finance professor Alex Edmans, in response to Marquis
Darden Report: “Don’t Burn Down Business Schools. Make Them Worthy of Their Purpose.” — op-ed by UVA Darden professors R. Edward Freeman and Michael Lenox (former visiting professor at Harvard), in response to Marquis
The Atlantic: “A Mathematician Reads the AI Future” — op-ed by Cornell mathematician Steven Strogatz (PhD ‘86)
Wall Street Journal: “The Inmates Run the Asylum at the Psychological Association” — op-ed by Manhattan Institute fellow Colin Wright and Open Therapy Institute president Andrew Hartz
The Sundial: “I Founded CODA. It Has Betrayed Its Mission.” — op-ed by Columbia Open Discourse Alliance (CODA) founder Clayton Smith
Speaking Engagement: “What’s Upstream of Why” — by Ryan Catherwood