Harvard University

Cambridge, MA

D
Score: 477/1400
7,938
Undergraduate students
85%
Retention rate
$57,261
Annual tuition
0.56
Diversity Index
Data submitted by: 7756, abbytheodd
Medium Campus
Medium Campus
private
Private University
Urban Campus
Urban Campus
Four-Year College
Four-Year College
Northeast Region
(Neo)Liberal Campus
(Neo)Liberal Campus
Sports Culture
Sports Culture
Noisy Campus
Noisy Campus
Graduate Students Unionized
Graduate Students Unionized

Description

A student tells us, "The university, with all of its wonderful resources and incredible community, is severely lacking in its mental health support execution." This thought is echoed by other Harvard students in The Harvard Crimson, Harvard University's student-run newspaper, which reports that, "For the past 10 years, students have called for [Counseling and Mental Health Services (CAMHS)] to reform its care timeline, which provides only short-term counseling with sessions spaced out every two to three weeks." Wait times for appointments at CAMHS can be a month or longer, though in 2022, Harvard partnered with an outside vendor, TimelyCare, to offer a telehealth counseling option for Harvard students in an attempt to reduce wait times.

Harvard does not have a Student of Concern reporting page. However, this does not make its approach to "handling" students in distress any less draconian. As The Harvard Crimson reports, Harvard's leave policy places a heavy burden on students to "prove" they are stable when the administration should instead be reaching out to offer support. For example, during their time away, students must work a "full-time, paid, non-academic job in a non-family owned or run business for at least six consecutive months before petitioning for readmission to the College." When they return, some students are required to sign a contract mandating psychiatric treatment and attendance at University Health Services workshops.

One positive development we're seeing at Harvard is the new emphasis on providing training and resources to help Harvard students support each other, though one can't help but wonder if the weight of the student mental health crisis has simply crushed most university health services to their breaking point. One such resource is peer support, which is actually not a new thing. Harvard students have been running a peer support group since 1971.

Still, a student tells us, "Though there are lots of active resources to support students at my university, I oftentimes feel burdened to ask my professors for help. Even with the resources available at my school, it's at my professor's discretion to decide how to apply my accommodations." Another student tells us that it's not just the ableism on campus. "Unfortunately, when I think of my personal, adverse experiences with Harvard University, racism comes to mind before ableism, although the organization has its fair share of both."

Are all campus buildings physically accessible to students who use wheelchairs or other mobility aids?

NO

The Harvard Crimson reports that "[a former Harvard University Information Technology employee] said he chose to resign from his job with HUIT because the University has 'no plans' to make the building wheelchair accessible. He said he met with the property manager and building manager multiple times, but they would not add a ramp or elevator to the building."

The Harvard Crimson also reports that Harvard Yard is "really physically inaccessible" and "a key example of the campus’s hostility to those with disabilities."

Are class session recordings readily available for lecture courses?

NO

Are students required to provide documentation of disability to qualify for receiving initial accommodations?

YES

Is there required diversity and inclusivity training for faculty/staff/and students, and does training include recognition of neurodivergence and disability?

NO

What types of student-run peer support groups exist on campus?

Disability Cultural Center

NO

Mutual Aid Networks

YES

Peer Support Groups

YES

Other

NO

Have you experienced ableism, discrimination, or witnessed stigmatizing language?

YES

A student says, "My advisor [redacted] looked me in the eyes as a sophomore and told me that I was a bad student.

"He didn't know that I had multiple mental illnesses; he never asked. He never made any attempt to get to know me as an individual or refer me to the resources that I desperately needed. He didn't know that I had been raped right before college or that I had seen my mom attempt suicide in high school. He didn't know how deeply I grappled with suicidal ideation and how I struggled with visions of my trauma. All he knew was that I was a B/C student, and he didn't care about anything else.

"I cried all the way back to my dorm, and then I changed my concentration because of him."

Are police involved in responding to student mental health crises?

YES

A student says, "While I have never personally experienced police intervention for my mental health (I have for racist reasons!), I cannot confidently say that this does not happen."

Also see: https://camhs.huhs.harvard.edu/find-help-now

Does your college have a Student of Concern reporting page?

No

Harvard uses NAVEX's EthicsPoint® system "to report a variety of ethical, integrity, safety, security, and compliance concerns." Although members of the community can use the online form to report "Students of Concern," the website's guidance indicates that this is not the primary purpose of the reporting tool.

Harvard does have a Student of Concern page, but no online report form. Members of the community can refer students by emailing the Care Team.

Clery Report data: Number of sexual assaults reported on campus per thousand students.

3

*2021 data

Has the college published an official statement in support of racial justice movements?
Black Lives Matter Logo

Support for Black Lives Matter

YES

Support for Land Back

NO

On June 10, 2020, Harvard University President, Lawrence Bacow, issued a statement in which he said, "Black lives matter, and we must use this moment to confront and remedy racial injustice." Bacow's first official statement after the murder of George Floyd, issued on May 30, 2020, was widely criticized for not centering the Black community.

A student says, "This is lip service, mind you - As a black student, my teachers, advisors, and residential tutors made it abundantly clear that I did not matter to them."

Does your college offer a Disability Studies curriculum?

NO

Harvard offers several disability-related courses, but no formal program in Disability Studies.

Does your college offer a course on Critical Theory?

YES

SOC-STD 98PV: The Critical Theory of the Frankfurt School

Does the college engage in morally questionable research?

Animal Experimentation

YES

Cure Autism

NO

Other

YES

NAGPRA: Harvard still holds the remains of 6,200 Native Americans.

The Nock Lab at Harvard conducts research to detect people who may be suicidal using algorithms to analyze people's social media posts.

News
Submitted by:
admin
2024-05-18

Suhaas M. Bhat ’24, a Rhodes Scholar-elect, announced that he was put on probation at the start of the Class of 2024 Senior Talent Show, which he was initially slated to help judge.

“Harvard is not allowing me to graduate this semester for my participation in the encampment,” Bhat told the crowd of seniors in Sanders Theatre. “I think it’s a good time to think about what it means to go to this University and what it means to have freedom of speech and what our moral obligations are when 40,000 innocent people die.”

Bhat wrote in a statement that he was charged by the [Harvard College Administrative Board] with “participation” in the encampment and violating Harvard’s University-Wide Statement on Rights and Responsibilities.

However, Bhat wrote that while the Ad Board subcommittee responsible for evaluating his case found him not responsible for violating the Rights and Responsibilities statement, the “complete Ad Board voted to place me on academic probation, and thus prevent me from graduating.”

Source:Link

News
Submitted by:
admin
2023-04-04

At least five armed Harvard University Police Department officers raided an undergraduate suite in Leverett House in response to a false 911 call about an armed individual in the suite early Monday morning.

The four Harvard College seniors in the suite, who are Black, awoke to the sound of banging on their door. Moments later, HUPD officers ordered them into the hallway at gunpoint.

HUPD spokesperson Steven G. Catalano said in an interview that Harvard University Police were dispatched to the building after a report “threatening violence against occupants.” The officers searched the Leverett House suite with “negative results for an individual with a firearm or any persons acting in a suspicious manner,” Catalano said.

Source:Link

News
Submitted by:
admin
2022-02-15

In 2020, after Lilia Kilburn, a graduate student, filed a formal complaint notifying Harvard University that an anthropology professor was sexually harassing her, an investigation was opened, as required by federal law.

What happened next stunned Ms. Kilburn, according to her lawyers.

In the course of that investigation, Harvard obtained notes from her psychotherapy sessions, according to a federal lawsuit filed last week in Boston, and gave them to John Comaroff — the professor she had accused of kissing, hugging and groping her — who then used them to try to undermine her credibility, according to the lawsuit.

In the wide-ranging lawsuit by Ms. Kilburn and two other graduate students, Ms. Kilburn accuses Harvard of obtaining her confidential therapy records without her consent and then giving them to Dr. Comaroff, as well as to other Harvard officials.

Source:Link