Harvard University

Overview

Harvard University is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, founded October 28, 1636 by vote of the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony — the first college in the American colonies, per Harvard’s own account (Harvard University). It is best understood as two coupled machines: a $56.9 billion endowment run by a dedicated investment company — the largest of any university in the world — and the institution whose undergraduate admissions system triggered the 2023 Supreme Court decision that ended race-conscious college admissions nationwide (Reuters).

What it is known for

In fiscal 2025 the endowment grew nearly $4 billion to $56.9 billion on an 11.9% return, beating Harvard’s 8% target (fiscal 2024: +9.6% to $53.2 billion). The portfolio favors alternatives: 41% private equity, 31% hedge funds, 14% public equities, per Harvard Management Company chief executive N.P. Narvekar. A record $600 million in unrestricted gifts was also reported that year (Reuters).

Institutional role and schools

Harvard counts 24,317 undergraduate and graduate students and more than 400,000 alumni worldwide (Harvard University). It comprises Harvard College — the original undergraduate college — plus twelve degree-granting graduate and professional schools across three greater-Boston campuses: Cambridge (most schools, including Law, the Kennedy School, and Design), Allston (Business School), and Longwood in Boston (Medical School, Dental Medicine, Public Health) (Harvard University).

The “College” vs “University” distinction matters legally: the respondent in the 2023 Supreme Court case was the “President and Fellows of Harvard College” — the Harvard Corporation, the university’s senior governing body — and the challenged program was Harvard College’s undergraduate admissions system, not graduate admissions (Faegre Drinker).

Governance/leadership

Harvard is governed by two bodies: the Corporation (President and Fellows) and the Board of Overseers (The Harvard Crimson). Alan M. Garber became interim president in January 2024 after Claudine Gay, the university’s 30th president, stepped down, and was named president that August (Harvard Gazette). In December 2025 the governing boards extended his presidency indefinitely amid intensifying political pressure from the Trump administration (The Harvard Crimson).

Finances/endowment (verified only)

The endowment is not a bank account. In fiscal 2025 it distributed $2.5 billion — 37% of operating revenue. Its ~14,765 funds are overwhelmingly donor-directed to specific programs; only about 20% is unrestricted. The general payout rate is 5.0 to 5.5% of market value, and each of the twelve schools “owns” its share (Harvard University). The endowment is managed by the Harvard Management Company, a nonprofit wholly-owned subsidiary formed in 1974, governed by a board appointed by the President and Fellows (HMC). A forward-looking risk: a new federal bill passed in 2025 increases the excise “endowment tax” on net investment income for institutions like Harvard (Harvard University).

The 2023 admissions case and aftermath

On June 29, 2023, the Supreme Court struck down Harvard’s and UNC’s race-conscious admissions programs (Nos. 20-1199/21-707) as violations of the Equal Protection Clause and Title VI: 6–2 in the Harvard case (Justice Jackson took no part, having served on Harvard’s Board of Overseers) and 6–3 in the UNC case (Faegre Drinker).

The Roberts majority held that a race-conscious program must (1) satisfy strict scrutiny, (2) never use race as a stereotype or negative, and (3) eventually end — and that both programs failed all three: the asserted interests (training leaders, diverse outlooks, marketplace of ideas, engaged citizens) were not “sufficiently measurable to permit judicial review”; zero-sum admissions meant race operated as a “negative”; and tying the programs’ end to demographic representation was racial balancing by another name. Harvard’s own system was unusually detailed in the record: every application went to a “first reader” scoring six categories — academic, extracurricular, athletic, school support, personal, overall — with race considered at every stage, proving “a determinative factor for a significant percentage of all admitted African American and Hispanic students” (Faegre Drinker).

The first post-ruling class (2028) was 14% Black, down from 18%; the Hispanic share rose 14% to 16%; the Asian American share held steady at 37%. MIT saw a steeper drop; Yale and Princeton showed little change (Reuters). BET reported, citing the New York Times, that the class of 2029 moved further to 11.5% Black and 11% Latino, with Asian American enrollment at a record 41% (BET).

Timeline

• 1636 — Founded October 28 by vote of the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony (Harvard University).
• 1721 — Thomas Hollis endows a purpose-restricted Divinity professorship, establishing the restricted-gift norm (Harvard University).
• 1974 — Harvard Management Company formed to manage the endowment (HMC).
• 2023 — Supreme Court strikes down Harvard’s and UNC’s race-conscious admissions programs, 6–2 in the Harvard case (Faegre Drinker).
• 2024 — Claudine Gay resigns; Alan Garber becomes interim then president; first post-ruling class is 14% Black, down from 18% (Harvard Gazette; Reuters).
• 2025 — Endowment hits $56.9 billion; Garber’s presidency extended indefinitely amid federal funding battles (Reuters; The Harvard Crimson).

Related entities

• Harvard Law School — one of Harvard’s twelve schools; distinct from Harvard College’s undergraduate admissions system.
• Harvard Kennedy School — the public-policy school, likewise distinct from the undergraduate college.
• U.S. Supreme Court — decided Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College (600 U.S. 181, 2023).
• Princeton University — Ivy League peer with comparatively little post-ruling enrollment change.
• Stanford University — where Alan Garber spent 25 years on the faculty before joining Harvard as provost.

What this profile does not claim

The class-of-2029 figures (11.5% Black, 11% Latino, 41% Asian) come from BET citing the New York Times — treat them as provisional. Endowment gains are not spendable cash: only ~20% is unrestricted. The ruling’s longer-term effects are not settled. This profile takes no position on the causes of Claudine Gay’s resignation beyond Harvard’s own announcement, and it does not claim to have read the full slip opinion — the legal framing rests on a major law firm’s close reading of it.