Category: Harvard College

On February 27th, three dozen students and Harvard affiliates gathered in the Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics for a roundtable discussion with Eve Driver ‘20 and Tom Osborn ‘20, authors of What We Can’t Burn: Friendship and Friction in the Fight for Our Energy Future. Having met while attending Harvard College, Eve and…

Citizenship has been a core aspect of the American Dream for centuries, promising anyone who immigrates to the United States – and their posterity – a certain quality of life. In recent times, questions about the meaning of citizenship have become increasingly salient as governmental policies shift. Though this change may seem unprecedented, historical exploration…

Intellectual vitality – a spirit of open and rigorous dialogue and a commitment to curiosity over certainty – can often feel like an abstract ideal that is difficult to put into practice. While the classroom might appear to be the most direct application of these skills, one can also engage in intellectual vitality through light-hearted…

Launching in Spring 2024, “Books Open, Gates Unbarred”, is a dinner and dialogue series so named as an allusion to the poem Seamus Heaney wrote for Harvard’s 350th anniversary. The series will consist of monthly dinners at the Faculty Club, where students will gather to hear two faculty discuss an issue of current concern and…

Harvard has always drawn national interest, but last year presented an especially challenging and emotional time for our students, faculty, and staff. As the community found itself at the forefront of national political conversations, the College’s Intellectual Vitality Initiative sought to create a space for meaningful discussion through the insights of Harvard’s own faculty. As…

Why do people fight along ethnic lines? How do scholars explain and study ethnic conflict? As the world continues to be shaken by ongoing ethnic conflicts, the College’s Intellectual Vitality Initiative brought students together for the fourth Books Open, Gates Unbarred, for an evening of interdisciplinary conversation with Government professor Melani Cammett and Psychology professor…

On Sunday, April 28, actor Paul Giamatti and author and philosopher Stephen Asma recorded a live episode of their award-winning podcast, Chinwag, in Sanders Theater. The show’s focus is anything and everything – offering the podcasters the opportunity to discuss diverse topics in-depth.   The duo opened the show with Paul playing the theremin and…

The Council for Academic Freedom catalyzed a broad re-examination of assumptions dominating campus culture for over a decade. Among them was whether Harvard University administration should adopt institutional neutrality. On Monday, April 8, 2024, James Bryant Conant University Professor Danielle Allen, and Harvard Medical School Professor of Psychobiology, Bertha Madras, came together to share their…