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Harvard invited 1,305 admitted students to its campus over the weekend as it attempts to persuade the Class of 2028 to attend a University experiencing its most tumultuous period in decades.
Interim University President Alan M. Garber ’76 directly addressed the controversy surrounding Harvard during a welcome event for admitted students on Sunday morning. In his remarks, Garber insisted that Harvard was aware of its shortcomings and was actively working to make things better.
While Visitas maintained its usual programming dominated by student organizations and academic offerings, senior Harvard officials did not attempt to whitewash the turmoil on campus as they sought to demonstrate how the University will move past former President Claudine Gay’s resignation and heal a divided campus.
Garber emphasized issues of free speech and “openness” to new ideas during a question and answer session with Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid William R. Fitzsimmons ’67 on Sunday.
Garber said he felt that “there has been a change” in the culture around free speech at the College.
“There is a feeling that if you say the wrong thing, it will have major negative consequences,” he added. “But it’s a change we intend to reverse here.”
Garber’s comments came as issues of institutional neutrality and academic freedom have risen to the forefront at Harvard and were a rare instance of top University leadership directly addressing concerns around freedom of speech.
In a Monday interview with The Crimson, Fitzsimmons said that the inclusion of such topics in his discussion with Garber was deliberate.
“We looked at the things that seemed to be most on students’ minds,” he said. “That’s exactly where the questions came from.”
While many students said that they were aware of the controversy faced by Harvard, their decisions to visit campus or commit to attending the College were largely unaffected.
Muhammed U. Khan, a newly admitted student, said he appreciated the way in which groups on campus are uniquely able to voice their opinions at Harvard.
“I think that seeing all of protests and things like that on campus has made it clear that political activism is something that the students value, so it made me eager to join groups like that,” Khan said.
Taylor M. Thorne, an admitted student who is Jewish, said that despite being initially unsure about applying to Harvard “after everything that happened,” she ultimately decided to go ahead with her application and later enroll.
“I think that the solution isn’t to not have Jewish students be here,” Thorne said. “The solution is to have Jewish voices be on campus during this time.
“If I can be one of those, I think that's a great thing,” she added.
Figures detailing the Class of 2028’s yield — the statistic measuring what percentage of the admitted class chooses to enroll — have yet to be released, but they will be a vital metric for student interest in the University as it charts its path ahead.
“It’s just been like a lifelong dream of mine to go to Harvard,” admitted student Eve C. Weiner said. “This school is old and has so much history.”
“In my mind, I didn’t think that recent events of one year can kind of counteract all those amazing things that this institution is,” Weiner added.
—Staff writer Elyse C. Goncalves can be reached at elyse.goncalves@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @e1ysegoncalves or on Threads @elyse.goncalves.
—Staff writer Matan H. Josephy can be reached matan.josephy@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @matanjosephy.
