Talk:Harvard College

Harvard University and the Adams family

 * Samuel Adams, Class of 1740
 * John Adams, Class of 1755
 * John Quincy Adams, Class of 1788
 * Charles Adams (1770–1800), Class of 1789
 * George Washington Adams, Class of 1821
 * John Adams II, expelled prior to 1823 graduation
 * Charles Francis Adams, Sr., Class of 1825
 * Henry Brooks Adams, Class of 1858
 * Roger Adams, Class of 1909 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 134.53.145.72 (talk) 00:27, 17 July 2008 (UTC)


 * Why does this list appear on the Talk page? It ought to be in the article. Valetude (talk) 10:42, 17 November 2018 (UTC)

First Indian in the colonial period
Twenty-three years later, in 1665, Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck, "from the Wampanoag...did graduate from Harvard, the first Indian to do so in the colonial period".[1]

I think he was just "the first Indian to do so.[period]" The phrase 'in the colonial period' would only make sense if there was some history prior to the colonial period and therefore the citation needed qualification. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.105.72.67 (talk) 20:46, 1 November 2010 (UTC)

Material salvaged from John Harvard (clergyman)
I've removed this material from John Harvard because it's not really about the man but about the school. Maybe it will be of use here.


 * In honor of this gift, the New College at nearby Cambridge, which had been founded on 1636 and to his friend, the first schoolmaster of this college, Nathaniel Eaton. Eaton's records indicate that the building of the new college began immediately in 1638 with the assistance of the carpenter Thomas Meakins and/or his son, Thomas Meakins, Jr. of Charlestown. It was completely constructed of wood, with a stone foundation and cellar, had its own apple orchard, and was apparently equipped with live-in accommodations for some 30 students, as there were at least that many attendant within the first year.


 * The school was renamed "Harvard College" on March 13, 1639. Harvard was first referred to as a university rather than a college by the new Massachusetts Constitution of 1780.


 * The College's Harvard Hall burned in 1764, destroying all but one of Harvard's original 400-volume donation.

— Preceding unsigned comment added by EEng (talk • contribs) 00:32, 20 September 2011 (UTC)

Material removed from Harvard University
This edit reflects my removal, from Harvard University, of an enormous block of text headed "student activities", giving one or two sentences on each of dozens of student groups. Aside from the drearily superlative tone (oldest, largest, premeire, oldest, largest, premeire.. OK, OK!) this material is too detailed for any kind of list-in-main-article-of-things-which-have-their-own-articles i.e. it doesn't belong here at Harvard College much less at Harvard University, but in articles on the individual groups. (A spotcheck suggests that most or all of this material is already in those articles alrady.) — Preceding unsigned comment added by EEng (talk • contribs) 19:03, 5 October 2011 (UTC)

No more House Masters, now Heads of House, right?
The article still says that each House has a "Master", but I am reasonably sure they changed the title to "Head of House". Right? Source: Original research, but this was a big deal. 146.115.179.89 (talk) 23:05, 4 September 2016 (UTC)


 * "Faculty Dean". Been meaning to get around to this. Stand by. (I probably won't have the energy to do the various individual House articles, so feel free to pitch in.) Honestly I have to wonder if they've got their thinking caps on in University Hall, since a while ago they renamed Allston Burr Senior Tutors to Resident Deans, so now each house now has a Faculty Dean and a Resident Dean, and guess what -- they're both "resident" in the house.  E Eng  00:56, 5 September 2016 (UTC)

External links modified
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Category discussion
Editors here may perhaps be interested in the discussion at Categories for discussion/Log/2017 December 30. --Tryptofish (talk) 22:02, 30 December 2017 (UTC)


 * It really would be helpful to have input from editors who actually understand how the College works. --Tryptofish (talk) 20:30, 3 January 2018 (UTC)


 * This discussion has been reopened at Talk:The Harvard Crimson. --Tryptofish (talk) 23:13, 10 January 2018 (UTC)


 * And now, the same categories are being discussed yet again, at Categories for discussion/Log/2020 January 2. --Tryptofish (talk) 20:59, 3 January 2020 (UTC)

Bringing Notable alumni under control
I'm probably going to regret this, but does anyone want to help come up with an inclusion criterion? EEng 17:00, 27 June 2020 (UTC)


 * I agree that the section needs a complete overhaul and I trust your judgment in doing so. I strongly recommend that the section be rewritten as prose to provide readers with more context. I also caution anyone who rewrites this section to not use language that suggests that Harvard College is responsible for or can take significant credit for the success of people who have been associated with the institution; unless there is specific evidence that supports that assertion for particular people, it's POV (and likely untrue as it seems highly likely that most or all of these people would have found similar success if they went elsewhere). ElKevbo (talk) 21:36, 27 June 2020 (UTC)


 * Yes, but would they still be the kind of beautiful souls Harvard produces, like Jared Kushner?
 * Rewriting as prose is probably beyond what I've got in me for an initial effort. I'll be happy to just cut the list in half. But what the criteria should be I just can't think. For 90% of schools you could comfortably list all alumni whom WP considers notable, but that's no help at all here. In my desperate moment I sometimes think we should start by saying no one gets listed unless they're dead. Wait, I have an idea: maybe their article readership should be at least X/yr? Crass, perhaps, but not completely crazy. EEng 23:08, 27 June 2020 (UTC)

Benazir Bhutto
I note that Benazir Bhutto is listed as an alumna of the College in this article. She got here degree from Radcliffe in 1973. I'm not sure how this is handled what with the semi-merger of Radcliffe and Harvard in 1977. Attic Salt (talk) 01:27, 5 October 2020 (UTC)

Discussion at Talk:Harvard University § Some substantial category cleanup needed
You are invited to join the discussion at Talk:Harvard University § Some substantial category cleanup needed. &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 23:09, 3 December 2020 (UTC)

Admissions case
We've got an editor repeatedly inserting a standalone section on the recent admissions ruling. There's no more reason to include this than any of literally hundreds of important cases Harvard's been involved with over the centuries, and the ruling reflects more on the Supreme Court and its justices than it does on Harvard, which just happened to be the defendant. If we want to start highlighting legal cases with long-term consequences, we should probably start with The Charity of Edward Hopkins and Sacco and Vanzetti. EEng 08:04, 30 June 2023 (UTC)
 * Are you an employee or an admissions officer at Harvard College protecting the image of the Wikipedia article? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.171.23.163 (talk) 08:17, 30 June 2023 (UTC)
 * No. Are you a random person dropping in to add the latest blip on the screen to the article on a 400-year-old institution? See WP:RECENTISM, WP:NOTNEWS. EEng 08:28, 30 June 2023 (UTC)
 * Why are you acting like one? Harvard President-elect Claudine Gay announced that the university will comply with the court's decision. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.171.23.163 (talk) 08:30, 30 June 2023 (UTC)
 * Then that's all the more reason not to mention it. If Gay had indicated that Harvard would not be complying, then that might be worth mentioning. <b style="color:red;">E</b><b style="color:blue;">Eng</b> 19:27, 27 April 2024 (UTC)

Affirmative Action - Harvard College loses in Supreme Court | Must be included in main article

 * Harvard consistently rated Asian-American applicants lower than others on traits like “positive personality,” likability, courage, kindness and being “widely respected,” according to an analysis of more than 160,000 student records filed Friday by a group representing Asian-American students in a lawsuit against the university. (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/15/us/harvard-asian-enrollment-applicants.html)
 * Asian-Americans scored higher than applicants of any other racial or ethnic group on admissions measures like test scores, grades and extracurricular activities, according to the analysis commissioned by a group that opposes all race-based admissions criteria. But the students’ personal ratings significantly dragged down their chances of being admitted.
 * In June 2023, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that race-conscious admission policies of Harvard College violate the Constitution, the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. This overturns all intents and purposes the high court’s 2003 ruling in Grutter v. Bollinger, which found that colleges could consider race as one factor in the admissions process to achieve a diverse student body.
 * The decision marks a departure from about 45 years of precedent for upholding affirmative action. The term dates back to a 1961 executive order from John F. Kennedy to “take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed, and that employees are treated during employment, without regard to their race, creed, color or national origin.”
 * Georgetown University ran simulations to see what would happen if race was removed from college admissions. They found that a national ban would require "a fundamental redesign of the college admissions system," which would include eliminating legacy and athletic recruitment, among other things. So this then affects Harvard College in a whole way.
 * Vijay Chokalingam (Mindy Kaling's brother), an Asian (Indian) American posed as Black to Get into Medical School. He did a racist experiment to prove what was going on in university admissions. (https://www.bostonmagazine.com/health/2015/04/06/mindy-kalings-brother-posed-as-a-black-man-to-get-into-med-school/)

-- Foregoing unsigned

Barack Obama missing in list of Notable Alumni
Was viewing the list of notable alumni and noticed the names of former US Presidents: two Adams, two Roosevelts, one Kennedy and what jumped out in a most glaring fashion was the absence of the name Obama. Dante02128 (talk) 18:37, 25 August 2023 (UTC)


 * Obama isn't an alumnus of Harvard College. AJD (talk) 21:49, 25 August 2023 (UTC)
 * I believe I was on the Harvard University page, and not the Harvard College page. If my error, apologies. I often keep multiple tabs open.
 * The Harvard College page has a list of names. The Harvard University page has a list plus photos. I know I was on the page with photos. Thank you for your reply.
 * D Dante02128 (talk) 23:07, 7 September 2023 (UTC)

"New College" (again)
Per the discussion at Talk:Harvard_University/Archive_9, and in particular the complete lack of evidence in the fundamental works on Harvard history and the definitive counter-statement at, I've again removed the nonsense about the college having been originally named "New College". Unsourced offhand statements in nonspecialist sources don't rate. <b style="color:red;">E</b><b style="color:blue;">Eng</b> 23:30, 30 June 2024 (UTC)