At Harvard, some wonder what it will take to stop the spiral
There is evidence of reputational damage: a 17% drop in the number of students applying to Harvard for early admission decisions this year.
The Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., Dec. 12, 2023. Faculty and students at Harvard are looking for some signal from the governing board, the Harvard Corporation, about the university's future direction. (Adam Glanzman/The New York Times) When 70 university presidents gathered for a summit at the end of January, the topic on everyone’s mind was the crisis at Harvard University.
The hosts of the summit treated the university, battered by accusations of coddling antisemitism, as a business-school case study on leadership in higher education, complete with a slide presentation on its plummeting reputation.
Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a professor at Yale University’s School of Management, organized the summit. “Despite near 400 years of history, the value of brand equity is nowhere near as permanent as Harvard trustees think it is,” he said in an interview.
Many presidents attending the summit saw the erosion of Harvard’s brand as a problem not only for the school, but also by extension for the entire enterprise of higher education. If Harvard could not protect itself, then what about every other institution? Could Harvard’s leadership find an effective response?
Share
