There are many kinds of Harvard alumni, but I am one in particular: the Prodigal Crimson, the graduate who makes a life away and apart from Harvard—until he comes back.
But why come back?
Because Harvard is a great American institution. Because I want to make it better. And because the task of its improvement is interesting, as well as vital.
Prodigal Crimson is a lighthouse for other alumni who think the same way, and their means to prepare for re-engagement with their alma mater. Almost no alumni understand how Harvard works, and this: (1) makes it uninteresting to them, and (2) prevents them from taking effective action.
If you’re a Prodigal Crimson, this publication is for you. You’ll:
Learn how Harvard works at a sustainable pace.
Learn Harvard’s history (and the history of higher education), which is operationally relevant today.
Find the others.
Learn what you can do together.
If you follow it, you’ll know how to do these things before too long:
Draw a basic, but robust, chart of Harvard’s governance structure.
Distinguish between the provost, deans, fellows, etc.
Answer the question “What is the law?” with regard to Harvard.
Populate a timeline with principal dates in Harvard’s history.
Name current actors, their positions, and their significance, within Harvard.
And more!
And later this year, I will be teaching a class on Harvard’s history and governance in New York City. I’ll announce it here.
Who am I?
Hello, my name is Daniel Golliher (gol-yer). I grew up on a farm in Indiana, and I graduated from Harvard College in 2014 with a degree in government. My undergraduate experience was a mixed bag, and I have many critiques of Harvard—the prestige poisoning some of its graduates have, and the broken state of its government degree—but I would do it all over again without question.
I worked for Harvard Recreation as an undergrad and for a year after I graduated, and if you went to the MAC or Hemenway, there’s a good chance you saw me behind the desk or cleaning a piece of equipment. If you have one of those “Be Crimson” CamelBak water bottles—I made those! They were from my additional, and final, 1.25 years at Harvard Rec, before I moved to New York City, my now forever-home. I also participated in Harvard admissions alumni interviews for one cycle.
Currently, I am the founder of a civics school called Maximum New York. You can also read more about me on my personal site, or find me on Twitter or LinkedIn.
If Harvard is so great, why did you disengage with it?
Sometimes you need distance from something to properly contextualize it.
Some of Harvard’s greatest scholars and alumni never really left after they enrolled in the college, but some needed to put distance between themselves and Cambridge. I’ll leave you with with this description of Samuel Eliot Morison, Harvard’s great historian (emphasis added):
With three degrees from Harvard, Morison had gained early recognition as a promising researcher, an able teacher, and a scholar whose writing reflected his confident personality. After a disillusioning period of service at the Paris Peace Conference in 1918-1919, he returned to teaching at Harvard, but there too found himself discontented. With relief he departed in 1922 for Oxford University to become the first Harmsworth Professor of American History, a post he held for three years. His chance to see Harvard from a distance (he had also taught for a time at the University of California) and his close acquaintance with an ancient English university gave him a sophistication that promised a richly contextualized, unparochial account of Harvard’s past.