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On Campus Information Sessions & Tours

Registration instructions.

• Registration for a campus visit is required .
• To sign up, please select an available date from the calendar below. Multiple events may pop up when you select an available date. Click on the event labeled "On-Campus Visit" at the time that works for you, and then complete the registration form on a new page.
• Once your registration is complete, we will be in touch via email with helpful information to plan your visit and visit reminders.
• If you arrive on campus without registering, a member of our visitor team will help you to determine your best options including providing information about a self-guided tour and helping you to register for an open tour date and time.
• Sign up for an online session here  - this is a 1 hour live session with an admissions officer. 
• Click here to do a self-paced virtual tour  of Harvard's campus. 
• If you are in the area, you may stop by our office at 5 James Street from 9am-5pm Monday to Friday (11am-5pm on Wednesdays) and pick up a self-guided tour map and ask questions of the Visitor Center staff. 

COVID-19 Precautions

Group visits/tours, important information for your visit.

• Special Accommodations - there will be space on the registration form to request special accommodations. Please note that we require 21 days advance notice in order to secure ASL interpreters. We cannot provide interpreters for other languages at this current time. Those requesting the use of a wheelchair must leave a current driver’s license or state ID with our Visitor Center personnel until the chair is returned. 
• Most buildings are closed to the public. Public restrooms will be available in the Elizabeth Cary Agassiz House before/after the information session, and at the end of the tour at Smith Campus Center.
• At this time, it is not possible to store luggage or other personal property during your visit. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, especially for families who have traveled long distances to join us.
• Your registration and attendance have no bearing on the admissions process should you decide to apply.
• Guests are not permitted to record any part of the information session and/or tour. 

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Introducing the visit harvard mobile app.

By Amy Kamosa

The Harvard Visitor's Center has launched a new Visit Harvard mobile app that will provide free, self-guided, self-paced themed walking tours of the University. The first tour released on the app is a historic walking tour of the Cambridge Campus. It incorporates 14 locations throughout campus that highlight some of the most important buildings and events of the University's nearly 400-year history.

In 2019, approximately 8 million people visited Harvard Square, and more than 35,000 visitors took part in public and private tours of the Harvard Campus. When the campus shut down in early 2020 due to the pandemic, Robin Parker, Associate Director of Harvard's Visitor Center, worked with colleagues and a small team of undergraduate tour guides led by Fari Mbaye '22 and Madi Fabber '22, to create a series of live, student-led online virtual tours as an option for would-be visitors who were no longer able to come to the Square.

The mobile app tour builds on the content developed for those virtual offerings, but provides a more accessible option that visitors can use to guide themselves while they visit campus in-person, or from the comfort of their own couch anywhere in the world.

"Our student tour guides really led the charge on the creation of these tours. Some of the images they've included have never been seen before, and the content weaves a really compelling story through Harvard's history," said Parker.

It was that storytelling aspect of the mobile tour that Mbaye said was the most challenging and important aspect of translating the live tour content to the app. "When we, as tour guides, give live tours, we're really just working off bullet points and we weave our own details and jokes in as we go. With the app, we had to turn the content into a complete story that people would want to read and listen to," she explained.

If app users choose to visit the campus, they can follow the geo-location tags on the app to travel point-to-point. The total distance of the tour is approximately one mile and should take approximately one hour to complete—including travel between stops, but the self-guided nature of the app means that users can complete this circuit at their own pace.

According to Visitor Center Manager Maggie Dawson, the ease of use and simplicity of design was an intentional choice to ensure that the app was as accessible as possible. Additional features like geo-location tagging, audio tracks with transcript, and image alternative text for visually-impaired users, all enable a large range of users to interact with the app in their own way, and according to Dawson, inclusion will continue to be a priority as more content is added. "Our hope is to tell many parts of the Harvard story to as many audiences as possible. Not only are additional tours in development, including a Black History Tour, and Arts Walk, and a Women's History tour, but we are expanding the tour languages as well," she explained.

The Visit Harvard App is available for download through the Apple Store and Google Play . There is also a desktop version of the app you can access here .

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Can I take a tour of the Harvard campus?

Apr 15, 2024 • knowledge.

The Harvard University Visitor Center offers in-person tours daily. Additional tour offerings include the self-guided historical tour on the Visit Harvard mobile app, available to download on  iOS  and  Android  devices. During business hours you may purchase a Self-Guided Tour Map for $3 available in multiple languages.

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Harvard Campus Tour: 15 Best Places to Visit at Harvard

From lofty libraries to picturesque walks, from Harvard Square to Charles River, here are the 15 best places to include on your Harvard campus tour!

Whether you’re a new Harvard student starting your school year, or visiting Harvard University on a campus tour, there is so much to discover. My lovely university is a heaven for students, tourists and photographers alike. During my time at Harvard, I got plenty of visitors, both friends and family. And for everyone, it was an overwhelming experience taking in all the beauty of our breathtaking campus.

Harvard University is one of the most visited places in Boston, and even all of East Coast. A Harvard University tour is a memorable experience, since every visitor has seen parts of the campus either in movies, pictures or places that have been inspired by Harvard architecture.

Harvard Campus Tour – Where to Go

Harvard University is full of new and old buildings, beautiful architecture and iconic spots to take your pictures. Of course, some of the best places at Harvard are reserved for the students, so if you aren’t one, it’s best to visit with a student or during the Open House.

But whether you have a Harvard ID or not, Harvard University will have a lot to offer you if you’re visiting. From hallowed libraries to historic dining halls, busy dorms to picturesque riverside walks, here is my list of the 15 best places to visit at Harvard.

Harvard Square and the Coop

Harvard Square may not be the most iconic place at Harvard if you’re just googling images of the university. But for every student and visitor, this is where the tour starts. Harvard has a whole T station (metro, subway or underground) dedicated to it, called Harvard Square, which can be the starting point of your Harvard university tour. It’s also the meeting point if you ever lose your tour partners!

Located at the junction of John F. Kennedy Street and Massachusetts Avenue is the building of Cambridge Savings Bank, which has become something of a landmark over the years. Along with this building, other structures and shops such as bookstores, toy stores, and a Bank of America also surround Harvard Square.

Harvard Square is unmissable, central and is the congregation point, where students run into old friends, meet new acquaintances and grab a bite to eat. The most popular and central spot is Starbucks, below the Cambridge Savings Bank, which is right at the corner of Mass Ave, and opened while I was a student at Harvard. Right outside is the Cambridge Visitor’s Information Center booth.

Some other popular spots next to it are the Au Bon Pain, next to Starbucks, and The Coop, across the road, where you can buy all possible books and official Harvard merchandise.

Harvard Yard & John Harvard statue

The green space between undergraduate dormitories is called Harvard Yard, which is enclosed by iron fences, walls and gates. Harvard Yard is the most iconic place at Harvard University, and is a must on any Harvard campus tour.

It is one of the oldest areas that became a part of Harvard University in the late 1600s, housing Harvard College dorms. Now it is also home to the famous John Harvard Statue, where you can see throngs of tourists taking pictures every time, everyday, touching his shoe to take pictures.

However, Harvard students would never touch it, because we all know that urinating on John Harvard’s shoe is one of three traditional deeds some Harvard College students strive to complete. It still remains the most touched spots of Harvard University. Sigh.

Harvard Yard is spread over 25 acres (10 ha) and it’s boundaries have 25 gates, opening at Mass Ave, Science Center. The yard is also home to libraries and memorial church, where the Harvard graduation ceremony takes place annually.

The Yard is the best place to soak the sun and read, be around College students. If you’re traveling in the fall season, it’s a beautiful place to take pictures. Here, you can see the New England fall colors in their full glory.

Widener Library

This is right in the part of Harvard Yard that is behind the John Harvard statue (called Tercentenary Theater). Widener library is the oldest one at Harvard University. And it’s the largest private and university-owned library in the United States. It is home to 3.5 million books, countless stacks and all types of reading spaces.

The library is named after Harvard College alumus and book collector Harry Elkins Widener, who died in the sinking of the RMS Titanic in 1912.

Although Harvard has many beautiful libraries, Widener is my favorite one. With high ceilings, chandeliers and royal chairs, it’s easy to forget Widener can also have so many hidden low-lit spots in its depths too. I used to spend all my free time there as much as possible, discovering new reading spots and books. My favorites were the comfy high-backed chairs that face the tall windows opening into Harvard Yard.

Memorial Church

Situated right across Widener Library, this is another iconic building in Harvard University and one of the best parts of Harvard. Most Harvard students see and pass by it daily, whether on their way to their dorms, dining halls or classes. And of course, almost all Harvard students graduate here, although not every student has been inside it!

The interiors themselves are often used for ceremonies, commemoration, etc. For example, the only time I ever went inside was for a candlelight vigil for Japan’s 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

Although every year, the Church is home to bittersweet memories for everyone. The area in front of Memorial Church, the central green of Harvard Yard, is known as Tercentenary Theater. This is where the Harvard commencement ceremony takes place every year. Many celebrities and famous Harvard alumni have delivered graduation speeches on its porch, such as Steven Spielberg, Mark Zuckerberg, J.K. Rowling and John F. Kennedy.

Memorial Hall & Sanders Theater

Memorial Hall is yet another iconic building in Harvard University. The building is located near the Yard, at the junction of Cambridge, Kirkland, and Quincy Streets. It has high Victorian Gothic architectural style. Constructed in 1878, the building has many stained glass windows, ribbed vaults, spires and pointed arches.

Also called Mem Hall or just ‘Mem’, the building used to be the background of the John Harvard Statue in the early 1920s and before. Mem Hall houses three parts: Sanders Theater, Annenberg Hall and Memorial Transept.

Memorial Transept is a vault that anyone can enter, and is serves as the congregation space for Sanders Theater. It has a high vaulted ceiling and large stained-glass windows above the entrance on either side. Great place to take pictures, if only it were better lit. Either way, it’s an important one to include in your Harvard campus tour.

The Sanders Theater is Harvard University’s largest indoor space. Used for lectures, concerts and most notably, the annual graduation ceremony for Harvard College students. Sanders is where they receive their diplomas.

Even Harvard students aren’t allowed inside, unless it’s for a mandatory lecture or they have a pass for a particular lecture or ceremony. Most lectures that take place in Sanders are by celebrities or famous alumni, such as Winston Churchill, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Theodore Roosevelt have spoken there. One of the times I have attended a lecture there was when Bill Gates came to speak.

Although if you are accompanied by a Harvard student and you request, they may allow you to take a peek inside when the theater is not in use.

Annenberg Hall

Located inside the Memorial Hall, Annenberg Hall serves as the dining hall for freshmen of Harvard College. When it was constructed in 1874, people from all over the country came to visit, since it was one of the largest indoor meeting spaces ever constructed in the US.

It is also breathtakingly beautiful, and serves a large selection of food (yum!). With its large expansive, unobstructed space, Annenberg Hall is designed in Gothic style. It has stained glass windows, wooden trusses and vaulted ceiling. The hall is decorated with large hanging candelabras. Its walls have paintings of benefactors and presidents and its ceiling is so high I’m not even sure it exists!

Originally meant to be a place for alumni meetings, Annenberg was soon converted to a dining commons. Now it is used for the freshmen students only. And as a grad student, I only got the opportunity to eat there during the days my own dining hall was closed. (Of course, then my dorm mates and I loved it, because we were treated to their desserts, ice-cream and beautiful entrées.)

It is also used for dances, banquets, examinations and more. Also, Annenberg is what inspired the Great Hall in Harry Potter movies. Only Annenberg Hall is more beautiful.

Read more: Annenberg Hall & Harvard Memorial Hall: All You Need to Know

Science Center

Located north of Harvard Yard, Science Center is home to the computer labs, classrooms and science library for undergraduates. The first floor also houses a nice cafe where I frequently lunched.

To someone expecting the classic Harvard style of architecture, Science Center is not much to look at. In fact, not even many Harvard students find it pretty. That’s because it was constructed in the ’70s, amid the modernist movement, when designers sought to do something different than the existing antiquated Georgian architectural style.

The plaza in front of the Science Center is home to the beautiful Tanner fountain, where kids are often found playing and water-splashing! Students often put up Yard sales, College club events and protest rallies there. Oftentimes, you can also find food-trucks, farmers’ markets and even Quidditch practices there.

Harvard Graduate School of Design

Graduate School of Design or GSD is my alma mater, which is mainly located on 48 Quincy Street in a building named Gund Hall. The Gund is also constructed in glass, steel and concrete (just like the Science Center) and is different from the iconic Harvard architectural style.

Gund Hall has a stepped design, where different studios form the levels, called trays. The building has a lot of clear glass, allowing natural lights into the trays, where students have their drawing boards or desks.

GSD also has a yard where student works are often exhibited, including those using 3D printing, robotic machines, CNC machines, etc.

The area near the entrance at the first floor of GSD is used to exhibit student work throughout the year. These exhibitions are specifically designed to give a new “interior look” to the space with each exhibit, often theme-based or interactive. This space also houses temporary events, student performances and the spillage from the events happening in cafeteria called Chauhaus and the Piper Auditorium.

Harvard Law School & HLS Library

Harvard Law School (HLS) is located near the northwest of the Harvard Yard. The HLS library is a beautiful old building with a big yard in front of it. Named Langdell Hall, it is immediately recognizable with its large windows, columns and Harvardian architecture style.

HLS library has a large, high-ceilinged chandelier-lit reading space with countless stacks filled with law-books. But they serve free hot-chocolate at night, so it’s a good place for non-law-students to study, too. You can get in with a Harvard ID, and discover their chessboard coffee tables, too! HLS library is my second favorite library after Widener, and was also my first workplace after my Harvard graduation, where I worked for a whole year to create digital learning spaces.

Wassterstein Hall Harvard Law School

Take a secret underground passage from the HLS library and it takes you to the newly built Wasserstein Hall. (You can also get to it from above the ground, tho, but where’s the fun in that?) It is one of the newest and most beautiful buildings in all of Harvard University, and was opened when I was a student.

The Wassterstein houses a large fireplace-lit study space with the coziest high-backed chairs, two cafeterias and a bar, pool table and the most gorgeous toilets you can find on-campus. Even balconies and a grand semi-circular staircase. What more reason could there be to include it in your Harvard campus tour? I used to lunch here everyday when I was an employee at the HLS library, and the first-floor cafe is great for an evening snack (they have great fries).

Natural History Museum

Located north of the Science Center and near the graduate dorms, the Natural History Museum is a great place where many students don’t even go throughout their time at Harvard! Although admission is open only to Harvard community.

It is such a hidden gem within the university, especially to go if you’re visiting harvard with kids. In fact, the only time I went here was when I was showing my parents around the campus the day before my graduation ceremony (they loved it!).

The museum is home to many permanent and temporary exhibits that any student will love. These include a paleontology exhibit, which has the fossils of Kronosaurus, a 42-foot-long prehistoric marine reptile. Also, there’s exhibits of birds, wildlife microbes and a famous glass-flower exhibition.

Radcliffe Quad

Located north of the Harvard campus, the Radcliffe Quad, or just “Quad”, is not much of a touristy spot, but is a great place to visit if you’re a Harvard graduate student and looking to explore the campus. The Radcliffe Quadrangle houses the Quad green and undergraduate dormitories, including the oft-photographed Cabot house and Pforzheimer house.

The walk from Cambridge Commons to Radcliffe Quadrangle is a beautiful one, and depending on the season, you’ll see brilliant tulips or fall colors.

Malkin Athletic Center & Harvard Stadium

Harvard stadium.

The Malkin Athletic Center (MAC) and the Harvard Stadium are located at completely different parts of the campus, but I have to include them together here.

The Harvard Stadium is south of the campus, across from HBS. The world-renowned stadium was built in 1903, and is a National Historic Landmark. It’s an essential part of any Harvard campus tour.

The Stadium is primarily a College football stadium, but they also use it for music festivals and other sports. It’s next to the humongous Blodgett Pool (one one that you see Robert Langdon swimming in in the Da Vinci Code movie).

Malkin Athletic Center (MAC)

The MAC is my favorite gymnasium at Harvard and is the perf spot for all Harvard students to work out. The gym is located south of the Harvard square, and is a large five story facility.

In the center is a large pool, and the upper floors have the cardio rooms with a view of the pool. Actually, I find the group exercise mezannine space overlooking the pool even prettier! This is where I discovered my passion for Zumba (miss it!). The building also houses many weight rooms, strength training equipment, basketball court and what not.

Charles River

The Charles river is an iconic body that divides the main Harvard campus. The north part of the campus on the north of Charles is the Cambridge campus, that borders at Memorial Drive. And the southern one is Allston campus, that starts at Soldiers Field Road. These two are connected by the Anderson Memorial Bridge, which is the perfect spot to take pictures and view both sides. It’s a must-see spot when visiting Harvard and MIT.

The space next to Memorial Drive is where you’ll see the bike path, students lounging around after classes, and skateboarders. The John F. Kennedy Memorial Park is right next to it, featuring a fountain. And while you’re here, also walk around to discover tiny lanes, tree-lined avenues. If you’re on a self-guided harvard tour, walk west, and enjoy a quiet cappuccino at Darwin’s, or go up north to have a cup of tea at Pete’s Cafe.

Harvard Business School

Harvard Business School is the top-pick for MBA tourists or student-visitors who like business management. Located in Allston, the HBS campus is a bit separated from the main campus by the Charles River. However, it’s a beautiful campus that all students and visitors should check out on their Harvard campus tour.

Right from across the river, you’ll see the iconic Baker Library, a world-famous building. It has the best place to take a picture at Harvard – in the HBS yard, with Baker Library forming the backdrop. And if you want one with the Harvard sign, check out the HBS sign at the back entrance.

The next spot to check out is Spangler Center, which is the student center. A relatively new building, Spangler has the same Georgian architecture style that the old Harvard buildings have. Inside is a massive student lounge that’s actually the last place I can concentrate in, because it seems a bit daunting.

The HBS cafeteria is inside too, which is rather nice and serves different cuisines everyday. The dining hall is gorgeous with large tables and chandeliers (although nobody joins you if you’re eating alone). Step underground to their bar and also check out their underground passages while you’re at it. (It leads to the library).

– Experience the Harvard Student Life with Me: How is Life at Harvard – Is Harvard Worth It? Analyzing Costs to Benefits for a Degree – What Kinds of Students Get into Harvard?

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Where can i find a tour of harvard’s campus.

A tour is a great way to get to know the campus! Harvard Information Center, located in the Smith Campus Center, offers free student-led walking tours through Harvard Yard. Tours are one hour and provide a general overview of the main Cambridge camps and University history. The Information Center also has maps for self-guided walking tours. For details and schedule, as well as links to tour information at the graduate schools go here . The Admissions Office offers separate tours for prospective students.

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9 Things to See On Your Campus Visit to Harvard

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When you’re making your college list, it’s always a good idea to visit colleges in person if you’re able to do so. You can learn a lot about a college online and by speaking with students or alumni, but actually visiting campus can give you a much better idea of what it’s actually like to live, learn, and work there for four years of your life.

If you’re thinking about visiting Harvard University and possibly applying to the school, you’re not alone; the college is not only an educational powerhouse, but also a popular destination for visitors from around the world. Attending an information session and taking a guided tour through Harvard’s Office of Undergraduate Admissions is a good idea, but those activities may not tell you everything you want to know.

In this post, we’ll go over some options you may want to add to your agenda for your Harvard visit, both on campus and off. These sights and activities can give you a uniquely valuable perspective on whether Harvard is truly a good fit for your college plans.

Want to learn what Harvard University will actually cost you based on your income? And how long your application to the school should take?  Here’s what every student considering Harvard University needs to know.

A Brief Introduction to Harvard

As we describe in greater detail in our Ultimate Guide to Applying to Harvard , Harvard University is possibly the most recognizable institution of higher learning in this country, and is widely know as an exceptionally prestigious and accomplished school. It also holds the title of the oldest university in the United States, so it’s been a fixture of the American educational scene for a very long time.

Harvard’s main campus is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, just across the river from the city of Boston. Most of its undergraduate facilities and resources are nestled into this campus, which is both a historically significant site and a center of cutting-edge resources. Its ornate architecture is reminiscent of the venerable colleges of England, or, as some recent students have noticed, of J. K. Rowling’s Hogwarts.

As you would imagine, such a well-known and well-regarded school receives a huge number of applicants — nearly 40,000 per year in recent years. Consequently, its admissions rate is very low, and currently hovers around 5%. Still, many students dream of heading to Harvard after high school, and some number of them eventually will become students there.

Since Harvard is such a popular choice among college applicants, we’ve covered issues specific to the Harvard application process several times before on the CollegeVine blog .

In addition to our Ultimate Guide to Applying to Harvard , you may be interested in the following posts:

• What Does It Take to Get Into Harvard?
• How to Write the Harvard University Application Essays 2016-17
• Harvard College Sample Essay 2016-2017
• The Harvard Interview: What It’s Like From a Harvard Student
• Should You Submit the Harvard Optional Supplement Essay?

Things to See on Campus

Before we begin our list of things to see on Harvard’s campus, it’s necessary to mention a few items about how Harvard responds to and accommodates visitors, including prospective applicants touring the school. While, as we’ve said, Harvard is itself a tourist destination, it’s also a functioning university and community that has a lot going on besides entertaining guests.

One factor to keep in mind when visiting Harvard is that many campus buildings aren’t open to the public. For example, Annenberg Hall, the ornate first-year dining hall, is among these private facilities. Harvard’s libraries, while fascinating, are also very strict in their admission policies, with even some visiting scholars having to jump through hoops to get access. For some facilities, if you’re visiting with a current student, you can be admitted as a guest, but that isn’t true everywhere.

Another important reminder is that Harvard’s campus is a place where people live and work year-round, so as a visitor, you’ll need to be respectful of those who call the school home. In the past, students have complained of visitors blocking important pathways — a real hassle when you’re rushing to class — or even taking pictures through dorm windows. New policies posted on campus make the rules clear , but it’s mostly a matter of common sense.

Now that we’ve dispensed with the practical advice, here are a few things you may like to add to your agenda while you’re on Harvard’s campus.

Harvard Yard

It may seem like a bit of a cliché to start with Harvard Yard, as it’s arguably the most recognizable part of the Harvard campus. However, this area is genuinely important for you to see as a prospective applicant, not least because it’s the area in which all first-year students live. If you attend Harvard, you’ll spend a lot of time in Harvard Yard that year — there’s no way around it.

After the first year, Harvard’s students enter residential colleges that are scattered across the campus, but they still have plenty of reasons to go back to the Yard. Not only do student events take place there, but it’s a great place to kick back and read a book. It’s also centrally located, so walking through the Yard is often the most convenient way to get somewhere you need to be.

Allston Campus

Right across the Charles River from Harvard Square, you’ll find Allston, a neighborhood that’s technically part of Boston. This area has long had a Harvard presence — it’s the location of the Harvard Business School campus, as well as Harvard’s stadium and other athletic facilities.

More recently, the Allston campus has become the site of a great deal of expansion and development on Harvard’s part. Ongoing projects and those in the planning stages will move many of the university’s engineering and computer science resources to Allston under the auspices of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. These are popular and expanding fields, so you may well spend time on that side of the river as a student.

The Allston campus is still a work in progress, but if you’d like to explore it, it’s easy to get to from Harvard Square. Multiple bridges make the area accessible on foot, by bus, or by car. Students, faculty, and staff also enjoy the use of a free shuttle that runs at regular intervals throughout the day.

Graduate School Campuses

As you may know, Harvard University is made up of twelve distinct degree-granting schools , most of which are graduate or professional programs. Each of these schools, from the Law School to the Divinity School to the School of Public Health, has spaces of its own on campus, whether large or small. Some are restricted to students from those programs, but some are open to the entire Harvard community.

You most likely won’t take courses at the graduate or professional schools while you’re an undergraduate at Harvard, but you may find yourself heading there for an event or navigating that section of campus on the way to somewhere else. These less central areas of campus can also be great places to find new study spots, explore different dining options, or see some impressive architecture and landscaping.

Harvard Museum of Natural History

Tucked away on the third floor of one of Harvard’s academic buildings, this small museum is nonetheless a gem — and not just because it’s home to a wide variety of mineral samples. You’ll also find treasures like massive whale skeletons, meteorites you can touch, an interactive simulation of the process of natural selection, and a world-renown collection of incredibly delicate glass models of plant specimens.

The Harvard Museum of Natural History is open to the public, and students and other Harvard affiliates enjoy free admission. Your ticket also gives you access to Harvard’s Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology , which houses an exceptional collection of historic artifacts from around the world.

Things to See Off Campus

Though Harvard is primarily located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the city of Boston itself is just across the river, easily accessible by bus or subway. (Driving is also possible, but traffic in the area is often heavy.) Cambridge has many of its own amenities, but the proximity of the larger city opens up additional possibilities, both for you as a student in the future and for you as a visitor right now.

Harvard Square

It would be nearly impossible to visit Harvard without walking through Harvard Square, which refers to the neighborhood around the Harvard Square subway and bus station. Located right in the center of campus, the square is an entertainment hub as well as a place where the Harvard community takes care of everyday errands, so if you end up attending Harvard, you’ll spend a lot of time here.

There’s always something new and exciting going on in Harvard Square, but you’ll also find fixtures like charming cafes, eclectic shops, and restaurants across the spectrum from cheap bites to exceptional cuisine. In the center of everything, don’t miss Out of Town News, an iconic news kiosk carrying a huge variety of periodicals.

Of course, being so close to such an intellectual powerhouse, Harvard Square’s amenities tend toward the intellectual side of life. The Harvard Coop, the official bookstore, is right down the street from The Harvard Book Store, which is not affiliated with Harvard. Both, however, are interesting places to browse, buy souvenirs, and get a better sense of Harvard Square’s atmosphere.

The Charles River

As we’ve mentioned, the Charles River acts as a boundary line between the cities of Cambridge and Boston. Besides being an unavoidable geographical feature of the Boston area, the river and its adjacent green spaces are popular for recreation, with paths for pedestrians and cyclists as well as boating, sightseeing, and picnicking opportunities.

Festivals and other public events also take place along the Charles, the best-known of which may be the annual Head of the Charles Regatta . This major annual rowing competition attracts huge crowds and competitors from around the world each October. Even if you’re not particularly interested in rowing, it’s an exciting and traditional part of life in Cambridge.

The Freedom Trail

One of the Boston area’s greatest claims to fame is its long history, particularly its importance during the American Revolutionary War. Many visitors to the area are eager to see what relics remain in existence from those foundational times. The Freedom Trail , a designated path through the city that passes by 16 important historical sites, is a convenient way to get a cohesive look at Boston’s past.

The Freedom Trail, which is marked along its length with a red-painted line on the ground, is a 2.5-mile-long walking trail that winds from Boston Common on one end to the Bunker Hill Monument and the U.S.S. Constitution on the other end. Y ou can take an official walking tour with a costumed tour guide or explore the trail on your own. Either way, you’ll have a unique opportunity to see the real-life sites of the events you’ve learned about in your American history classes.

Boston Common

This lovely public park in the center of Boston is a popular destination, both for casual relaxation and for large-scale community events like festivals, rallies, parades, and performances. Across the street, there’s even more green space: the Boston Public Gardens, another public park that’s more formally landscaped than the Common. It’s easily accessible by public transit and close to many other attractions in downtown Boston.

On the Common, you’ll find a number of different features, including public art, memorials and monuments, and a playground. In the winter, it’s home to an outdoor ice-skating rink and the city’s annual Christmas tree. It’s also a great place to view the Massachusetts State House, a beautiful historical building topped with an impressive golden dome.

Newbury Street

If you’re in the mood for some retail therapy in a classically Bostonian setting, Newbury Street is the place to be. This street in the Back Bay area of downtown Boston is packed with shops, cafes, restaurants, and other destinations, many of them in charming brick-and-stone row houses built in the late 1800s and later converted into retail space. 

Newbury Street is well known as home to some of Boston’s chicest — and most expensive — shopping destinations, but there are options along this block of shops for every budget. Even if you’re just window-shopping, it’s an enjoyable place to spend an afternoon enjoying the sights and sounds of Boston.

While we can’t possibly list everything there is to see when you visit Harvard, we hope this post can get you started on planning a trip that really helps you get to know the college and the surrounding community. We encourage you to do your research, seek out more destinations that reflect your interests, and have a great time!

If you’re currently embroiled in the process of preparing for and applying to college, you know full well that it can be complex and stressful — especially if you’re applying to prestigious, highly competitive schools with low acceptance rates and high standards.

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‘You can solve anything’

“Telling people not to use ChatGPT is not preparing people for the world of the future,” said Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI.

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Did student or ChatGPT write that paper? Does it matter?

Sam Altman, CEO of firm that developed app, says ethics do matter, but they need to be rethought (and AI isn’t going away)

Harvard Correspondent

Colleges and universities have been wrestling with concerns over plagiarism and other ethical questions surrounding the use of AI since the emergence of ChatGPT in late 2022.

But Sam Altman, whose company, OpenAI, launched the chatbot app, said during a campus visit Wednesday that AI is such a powerful tool that higher education would be doing its students a disservice by turning its back on it — if that were even possible now. And some of the old rules of ethics will need to be rethought.

“Cheating on homework is obviously bad,” said Altman. “But what we mean by cheating and what the expected rules are does change over time.”

Altman discussed AI in the academy, along with the subtleties of using ChatGPT and other generative AI tools, while at the University to receive the Experiment Cup from Xfund , an early stage venture capital firm. That event was sponsored by the John A. Paulson School for Engineering and Applied Science, Harvard Business School, and the Institute for Business in Global Society ( BiGS ). It featured a conversation between Altman and Xfund co-founder Patrick Chung ’96.

Speaking to the Gazette before the Cup presentation, Altman likened the initial uproar at schools over ChatGPT to the ones that arose after the arrival of calculators and, later, search engines like Google. “People said, ‘We’ve got to ban these because people will just cheat on their homework,’” he said.

Altman, who left Stanford at 19 to start Loopt, a location-sharing social media app, said the reaction to calculators, for instance, was overblown. “If people don’t need to calculate a sine function by hand again … then mathematical education is over,” he said, with a gentle half-smile on his face.

Altman helped launch OpenAI in 2015 and its wildly influential ChatGPT — which can write papers and generate computer programs, among other things — before being removed in 2023 and then reinstated four days later as the company’s CEO.

ChatGPT, he said, has the potential to exponentially increase productivity in the same way calculators freed users from performing calculations by hand, calling the app “a calculator for words.”

He warned, “Telling people not to use ChatGPT is not preparing people for the world of the future.”

Following a bit of back-and-forth about how the ethics of using ChatGPT and other generative AI may differ in various disciplines, Altman came down hard in favor of utility, praising AI’s massive potential in every field.

“Standards are just going to have to evolve,” he said. He dismissed the notion that ChatGPT could be used for writing in the sciences, where the emphasis is on the findings, but not in the humanities, where the expression of ideas is central.

“Writing a paper the old-fashioned way is not going to be the thing,” he said. “Using the tool to best discover and express, to communicate ideas, I think that’s where things are going to go in the future.”

Altman, who last month joined the Department of Homeland Security’s Artificial Intelligence Safety and Security Board , said ethics remains a concern, and one that has yet to be resolved.

“There will be a conversation about what are the absolute limits of the tool, how do we as a society … negotiate ‘Here is what AI systems can never do.’ Where do we set the defaults? How much does an individual user get to move things around within those boundaries? How do we think about different countries’ laws?”

However, that discussion should not slow the development of AI. Instead, Altman described parallel tracks.

“Generally speaking, I do think these are tools that should do what their users want,” he said, before adding an important, if less than specific, caveat: “But there are going to have to be real limits.”

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Meet the class of 2024, harvard college.

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Isabella Madrigal

Isabella’s senior thesis screenplay, a genre-bending family drama full of magical realism, centers the issues of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, and two-spirit people.

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Dora Woodruff

Dora will next pursue a Ph.D. at MIT in algebraic combinatorics, a branch of mathematics that applies methods found in abstract algebra to discrete counting problems.

Aaron Shirley

Aaron dove into the world of medieval medicine with his thesis, “Holiness to Wholeness: Restoring Medieval Surgery to its Religious Cultural Context.”

Harvard Business School

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Davida Bynum

As a dual-degree candidate studying business and government, Davida is exploring the best ways to serve the public and private sectors.

Eduardo Avalos

With a focus on social entrepreneurship, Eduardo is hoping to create more equitable opportunities for those with fewer resources and less access.

Claudia Hill

By combining a degree in biomedical engineering with an M.B.A., Claudia plans to change millions of lives by creating life-saving drugs that can be distributed equitably.

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The growth I’ve experienced at HDS, both personal and academic, has been beyond anything I expected.” Samirah Jaigirdar Master of Theological Studies Learn more about Samirah’s studies

Jude Terna Ayua

Jude says his time at HDS changed his perspective about other faith traditions. After graduation, he will work as a private attorney and also run his non-profit, Keep Hope Alive Nigeria.

Christopher Siuzdak

While studying at HDS, Christopher’s favorite class was “Trends in World Christianity, 1900-2050,” which explored shifts in Christian confessions around the globe from a historical and social scientific perspective.

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Tomas Hernandez

Extension School graduate Tomas was able to complete his Master of Liberal Arts in Finance degree while working a full-time job, being a dad to three children, and pursuing his love of karate.

Vivien Kocsis

For her Master of Liberal Arts in Data Science capstone project, Vivien had a very specific sponsor in mind: NASA.

Brian Mazmanian

Of his journey at Harvard Extension School, Brian said, “I can honestly say that I’ve loved every minute of it.”

Harvard Graduate School of Design

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For the first time, I truly felt like I was doing work that was very in touch with what GSD wants people to do, which is working with communities.” Priyanka Pillai Master in Design Engineering A joint Graduate School of Design and John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences program Learn more about Priyanka’s work

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Kavya Krishna

Kavya was recently named among Forbes’ “30 Under 30” for her dedication to empowering girls with the digital literacy skills necessary to excel in a technology-driven society.

Alria and Vyankatesh Kharage

Alria and Vyankatesh met as undergraduates, fell in love, and began building a life together when their shared passion for education brought them to Harvard.

Moriah has turned her own struggles with sobriety and recovery into an opportunity to help others seeking higher education opportunities.

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Ben Schroeder

During his internship at SpaceX, Ben talked to experts to help him finalize his design for a robotic hand to help astronauts perform tasks remotely without the fatigue imposed by a suit glove.

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While pursuing a master’s degree in data science, Maria always kept her focus on the responsibility and impact that technology can have on society.

Lachlain McGranahan

Whether on the Charles River as a skipper on the Harvard Crimson sailing team or on the ocean helping to decipher sperm whale communications, Lachlain was never too far from his love for water and engineering.

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Thomas found a way to identify otherwise unrecorded 20th-century hurricanes, laying the foundation for a new field of historical environmental seismology.

Dylan Renaud

Dylan’s Harvard Horizons project combines research in the emerging field of nanoscale photonics—how light interacts with very small objects—with practical computing applications to create novel devices that move information via light.

Juhee Kang, who studied history and East Asian languages and civilizations, explored how psychological testing and mass data collection evolved in 20th-century Japan, where they became central across society.

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Ananya Chhaochharia

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Nicholas Gonzalez

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Phoebe Kotlikoff

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Deborah Plana

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Mitchell Winkie

There are only a handful of residency positions in dermatology for the U.S. military each year. There was only one spot in the Navy open to graduating medical students, and Mitchell was selected to fill it.

It was an online search for “science internships, Boston” that set Irene on a 10-year path to Harvard where she would ultimately complete a Ph.D. in biological and biomedical sciences.

Harvard School of Dental Medicine

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Sheridan Danquah

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Jessica Latimer

Jessica turned a passion for doodling into a side job creating scientific illustrations that have landed in well-known medical and dental journals across the country.

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Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

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I heard of people who had given birth during their incarceration, and I was really shocked.” Bethany Kotlar, who studied the impact of maternal incarceration during pregnancy and after birth on child development Learn more about Bethany’s research

Irfan Chaudhuri

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James Frater

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Harvard Cuts Deal with Anti-Israel Protesters, Clearing Encampment Ahead of Graduation

Ten days before its commencement ceremony is scheduled, Harvard University cut a deal with anti-Israel protesters who created an illegal encampment on campus.

Alan Garber, Harvard’s interim president, announced on Tuesday that he will “facilitate a meeting with the chair of the Corporation Committee on Shareholder Responsibility and other university officials to address questions about the endowment.”

“In keeping with my commitment to ongoing and reasoned dialogue, the dean of the faculty of arts and sciences and I will meet with students to hear their perspectives on academic matters related to longstanding conflicts in the Middle East,” Garber added.

Now that the “disruption to the educational environment caused by the encampment” has ended, Garber said he will ask the university’s schools to “promptly initiate applicable reinstatement proceedings for all individuals who have been placed on involuntary leaves of absence.”

“I will also ask disciplinary boards within each school to evaluate expeditiously, according to their existing practices and precedents, the cases of those who participated in the encampment,” he added, acknowledging “the profound grief that many in our community feel over the tragic effects of the ongoing war.”

Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine, which goes by HOOP, organized the anti-Israel protests at the university. It claimed victory and vowed to keep fighting.

“As a precondition for decamping, administration will retract suspensions,” it wrote on Instagram. “Administration has also offered us meetings regarding disclosure and divestment with members of the Harvard Management Company and ‘conversations’ regarding the establishment of a Center for Palestine Studies at Harvard.”

“We are under no illusions: We do not believe these meetings are divestment wins,” added the group, which called Harvard “the rotten heart of a dying empire.”

“These side deals are intended to pacify us away from full disclosure and divestment,” it added. “Rest assured, they will not.”

The Harvard Crimson reported that “despite Garber repeatedly insisting that the university would not negotiate with the protesters, the outcome of the 20-day occupation of the yard demonstrated that he ultimately preferred to continue seeking a negotiated end to the encampment than sending in Harvard University police officers to clear the tents and arrest protesters.”

Dr. Jeffrey Flier, a former dean of Harvard’s medical faculty, wrote that “it is good that the encampment is coming down without police involvement.”

“But as one among many who does not view the institution at which I have lived my professional life as ‘the rotten heart of a dying empire’ (in the statement by HOOP this am), we are at a moment when Harvard leaders and faculty (or a major fraction of them) must set a path for a better future,” added the Harvard professor of physiology and medicine and a distinguished service professor. “One where the agenda is not set by those holding such disdain for Harvard and its rules and values.”

Harvard’s mission should be restated “with clarity, seriousness and integrity,” with “a deeper explanation of the agreements that were made” and “a commitment to producing a plan for response to future events with content-neutral policies linked to identified consequences for violations,” Dr. Flier added.

Carole Hooven, a nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute who recently left Harvard after being caught in a diversity, equity and inclusion “web,” wrote that she was “relieved” to see the encampment end peacefully.

She added that Harvard administrators should not “have caved in to demands and rewarded students’ disruptive, rule-breaking behavior with benefits that rule-followers aren’t entitled to.”

“I wanted to meet with Garber (when he was provost!),” she wrote. “I politely made my case, and he refused. Perhaps I should consider alternative tactics.”

Shabbos Kestenbaum, a Harvard student who has filed a lawsuit against the university, wrote that its deal with the protesters is an illustration of “Harvard’s antisemitism in real-time.”

“Harvard has agreed with almost all of their demands. I’ve never been this disillusioned than this morning,” he said. “The encampment espoused near daily antisemitism, harassed and followed Jews, called for the violent destruction of the Jewish state and violated school policy.”

“Not once has Harvard publicly condemned the objective antisemitism that we Jewish students have faced as a result. Not once has the antisemitism task force said anything. More importantly, not once have they done anything to combat antisemitism here at Harvard,” he added. “Jews here have no allies, no voice, and no advocates. The only way Harvard will ever change is sustained outside pressure. Please help us.”

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Campus Visit Programs and Tours

We are excited to once again offer in-person visits, and invite you to join us on our beautiful campus to Discover Stanford! Campus visit options are available Monday through Friday; on weekends and university holidays, visitors are welcome to take a self-guided tour. Campus tours and other sessions fill up quickly, so we recommend you wait to book your travel until after you receive a confirmation email with your upcoming reservations to visit Stanford University. . Please note: . The "Discover Stanford Campus Visit" events listed are umbrella events that encompass all of the various programs we offer (listed below). Once you have selected the number of guests in your party on the registration form, you will have the ability to plan out your day and select the specific programs you would like to attend. We offer several different programs to help you learn more about the undergraduate student experience and applying to Stanford. Please note that not all options may be available on the day of your visit:

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Stanford Athletics District

Self-guided tour of the Stanford Athletics District fields and facilities. The tour starts at the Stanford Visitor Center and ends at the Home of Champions, with suggestions for additional places to visit along the way.

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Self-Guided Tour of Stanford Gardens

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Frederick Law Olmsted planned and designed the Quad in Richardson Romanesque and Mission Revival architectural style. The Quad holds Stanford’s 12 original classrooms from its opening in 1891. Today it houses the School of Humanities & Sciences and is home to many Stanford traditions, such as Senior Dinner on the Quad for graduating seniors. Memorial Court is the main entrance to the Main Quad from Palm drive and features several sculptures by Auguste Rodin.

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The Oval and Palm Drive mark the gateway to the University. The Oval serves as a relaxing spot for students, faculty, and community members to have picnics, play volleyball, and enjoy the California weather. Palm Drive, lined with roughly 150 Canary Island palm trees, leads to University Avenue and downtown Palo Alto.

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Completed in 1941, Hoover Tower is part of the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace. It is named for Herbert Hoover, the 31st president of the United States, who graduated in Stanford’s Pioneer Class of 1895. The first nine floors of the 285-foot (87-meter) building house over 1.6 million volumes on social, political, and economic change in the 20th and 21st centuries. The Observation Platform on the 14th floor offers an aerial view of the campus and much of the Bay Area.

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Explore Stanford's Architecture and Landscape with the help of these two self-guided tour maps. Each tour should take about 60-120 minutes depending on the number of stops and your personal interest. The tour can be completed in half the time on a bike and can be split into shorter segments as well.

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Loeb Fellowship Announces the Class of 2025

From left: (top) Mariana Alegre, Pierre-Emmanuel Becherand, Dr. Leanne Brady, Shana M. griffin, Tawkiyah Jordan; (bottom) Nikishka Iyengar, Tosin Oshinowo, Sahar Qawasmi, Matt Smith, Tunde Wey.

The  Loeb Fellowship  at the Harvard Graduate School of Design (Harvard GSD) is proud to welcome the class of 2025 Loeb Fellows. These visionary practitioners and activists are transforming public spaces and urban infrastructure, rectifying health and environmental injustices, addressing housing needs, and preserving cultural, natural, and architectural heritage. They are inspired and inspiring mid-career professionals who come from diverse backgrounds around the world but share passion and purpose—to strengthen their abilities to advance equity and resilience and to harness the power of collective action.

During their ten-month residency at Harvard GSD, Loeb Fellows immerse themselves in a rich academic environment, auditing courses at Harvard and MIT, exchanging insights, and expanding professional networks. They engage actively with Harvard GSD students and faculty, participate as speakers and panelists at public events, and convene workshops and other activities that encourage knowledge sharing and creation. Throughout, Loeb Fellows consider how they might refocus their careers and broaden the impact of their work.

The ten class of 2025 Loeb Fellows are:

Mariana Alegre, founder and executive director of Sistema Urbano, Lima, Peru

Pierre-Emmanuel Becherand,  head of design, culture, and urban planning for the Grand Paris Express, Paris, France

Dr. Leanne Brady,  health systems activist and filmmaker, Cape Town, South Africa

Shana M. griffin,  founder of PUNCTUATE, New Orleans, USA

Nikishka Iyengar,  founder and CEO of The Guild, Atlanta, USA

Tawkiyah Jordan,  vice president of housing and community strategy, Habitat for Humanity, New York, USA

Tosin   Oshinowo,  founder and principal of Oshinowo Studio, Lagos, Nigeria

Sahar Qawasmi , cofounder Sakiya – Art | Science | Agriculture, Ramallah, Palestine

Matt Smith , cofounder and director, Building Common Ground, Santa Fe, USA

Tunde Wey , social practice artist, Lagos, Nigeria, and Detroit, USA.

“Every year, Loeb Fellows bring an incomparable breadth and diversity of experience to the GSD. They inspire us with their accomplishments, enrich conversation across our school, and challenge us to think critically about how designers can create a more just world,” says  Sarah M. Whiting , Dean and Josep Lluís Sert Professor of Architecture at Harvard GSD, “I could not be more excited to welcome the class of 2025 to campus next fall, and to see what they achieve during their year in residence with us.”

“The most valuable and provocative aspect of the Loeb Fellowship is who we identify and embrace as the very broad group of practitioners that shape our built and natural environment,” says Loeb Fellowship curator  John Peterson . “From writers to activists, and architects to physicians, the incoming class of 2025 is a wonderful expression of our value in diversity.” Peterson is an architect, activist, and a Loeb Fellow in the class of 2006.

The Loeb Fellowship continues its collaboration with the  ArtLab at Harvard University  to welcome Shana M. griffin as its 2025 Loeb/ArtLab Fellow. griffin will have access to studio space and will be able to engage with the ArtLab community and its intellectual resources and networks.

Bree Edwards, director of the ArtLab, a laboratory for research in the arts, says “I look forward to ways that the ArtLab’s creative community will engage with and learn from the cross-disciplinary practice of artist, activist, and scholar Shana M. griffin,” the fourth recipient of the Loeb/ArtLab Fellowship. Previous recipients are Jordan Weber ’22, Dario Calmese ’23, and Joseph Zeal Henry ’24.

After their year in residence at Harvard GSD, Loeb Fellows join a powerful worldwide network of over 450 lifelong Loeb Fellowship alumni including recognized leaders like Jordan Weber ’22, Rick Lowe ’02, Robin Chase ’05, Monica Rhodes ’22, Mary Means ’82, Eleni Myrivili ’20, Gisli Marteinn Baldursson ’15, Mark Lamster ’17, Janet Echelman ’08, and Andrew Freear ’18.

The Loeb Fellowship traces its roots to the late 1960s, when John L. Loeb directed a Harvard GSD campaign based on the theme of “Crisis.” Loeb saw the American city in disarray and believed Harvard could help. He imagined bringing promising innovators of the built and natural environment to Harvard GSD for a year, challenging them to do more and do better, convinced they would return to their work with new ideas and energy.

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Harvard University encampment comes down, ending Boston-area campus tent protests

By Neal Riley , Louisa Moller

Updated on: May 14, 2024 / 11:21 PM EDT / CBS Boston

CAMBRIDGE - The encampment on Harvard Yard, set up on campus nearly three weeks ago by pro-Palestinian protesters, is coming to an end.

The student group "Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine" announced on social media Tuesday morning that the encampment is over. It began on April 24 and was the last remaining tent encampment at a Boston-area college. SkyEye footage showed tents and other items still sitting on Harvard Yard shortly after the announcement.

"Encampments are a tactic - a big and beautiful one - in a larger strategy of divestment," the group said. "Here at Harvard, we believe the utility of this tactic has passed, and we have decided to re-group and carry out this protracted struggle through other means."

Will students at the Harvard encampment be disciplined?

The group said Harvard agreed to retract suspension notices issued to students last week and hold meetings about divesting from Israel. But Harvard says that's not quite accurate.

A university spokesperson said suspensions and discipline are up to individual schools at Harvard. And a meeting with students will cover the university's endowment - not divestment, which Harvard opposes.

"With the disruption to the educational environment caused by the encampment now abated, I will ask that the Schools promptly initiate applicable reinstatement proceedings for all individuals who have been placed on involuntary leaves of absence," interim president Alan Garber said in a message to the Harvard community. "I will also ask disciplinary boards within each School to evaluate expeditiously, according to their existing practices and precedents, the cases of those who participated in the encampment."

While HOOP says Harvard will hold meetings on divestment, the University says, “President Garber will pursue a meeting […] for a discussion regarding students’ questions related to the endowment.” #WBZ https://t.co/XeLMkAVSlh — Louisa Moller (@LouisaMoller) May 14, 2024

Harvard community split over encampment end

Harvard political science professor Ryan Enos praised the University and Harvard students for ending the encampment peacefully. 

"I think this really speaks to Harvard's values and all the things that it says it represents like looking for the truth and open inquiry," Enos said. 

Next year, Enos says the university should remain committed to open dialogue. 

"I don't think discussion and saying we're going to have discussion should ever be thought of as giving in," he said. 

But not everyone agrees. Harvard alumnus Rotem Spigler spent Monday walking outside of Harvard Yard, draped in an Israeli flag. She says the University should not have given in to the protesters. 

"Honestly, giving them more leeway and more leverage, this will just get worse next year because when you teach kids that you scream loud enough you get what you want, you're only going to get louder screams next year," Spigler said.  

Turmoil at Harvard University

Undergraduate applications to Harvard dropped 5% this year after a tumultuous period on the Ivy League campus, including the short-lived tenure of university president Claudine Gay. 

Gay resigned in January after six months on the job. She was sharply criticized over Congressional testimony she gave last fall, in which she said language that is antisemitic does not necessarily qualify as bullying or harassment. 

In April, the Anti-Defamation League gave Harvard, MIT, Tufts University and UMass failing grades for "not doing the basics to protect Jewish students."

Harvard is set to host its commencement ceremonies on campus on May 23.

• Cambridge News

Neal J. Riley is a digital producer for CBS Boston. He has been with WBZ-TV since 2014. His work has appeared in The Boston Globe and The San Francisco Chronicle. Neal is a graduate of Boston University.

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At Harvard, Greater Boston’s last campus encampment folds up its tents

CAMBRIDGE — The last of the student protest encampments in the Boston area came down quietly Tuesday, ending a tense period of demonstrations over Israel’s handling of its war against Hamas that roiled college campuses, disrupted commencement celebrations, and triggered hundreds of arrests.

Nearly three weeks after setting up camp inside Harvard Yard, the student coalition Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine said its members voted Monday to close down its encampment after the university agreed to continue dialogue with protesters and expedite reinstatement procedures for more than 20 suspended students.

The decision to wind down the encampment also comes as many students have left campus with the academic year drawing to a close. And unlike some campus encampments in the United States that ended with scenes of police in body armor confronting and arresting demonstrators, the Harvard protest ended peacefully as protesters spent much of Tuesday packing up their gear.

“The encampment is not the start or the end of our solidarity with Palestine,” the students said in a statement. “It is clear to us that the movement for disclosure, divestment, reinvestment — and above, all, for Palestinian liberation — is now a powerful force, both nationally and internationally. Harvard will have to reckon with that force until it divests.”

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Harvard interim president Alan Garber announced the end of the encampment in an e-mail to university members Tuesday morning. He acknowledged the “profound grief that many in our community feel over the tragic effects” of the war, and said there will be “deep disagreements and strongly felt emotions as we experience pain and distress over events” in the world.

“Now more than ever, it is crucial to do what we do at our best, creating conditions for true dialogue, modeling ways to build understanding, empathy, and trust, and pursuing constructive change anchored in the rights and responsibilities we share,” Garber wrote.

On one of the students’ central demands, that Harvard divest its endowment from any entities doing business with Israel, Garber has said the endowment will not be used as a tool for political means.

Harvard and scores of universities across the country were caught up in the debate over Israel’s conduct in the war, which erupted Oct. 7 when Hamas invaded Israel, killed about 1,200 people, and took 250 hostage. Fighting between Israel and Hamas has led to the deaths of about 35,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to health authorities there.

The war has polarized many college communities. Pro-Palestinian supporters accused their schools of complicity by maintaining financial and other ties with Israel, while many Jewish students reported incidents of antisemitism and harassment.

Campus protests and encampments have led to nearly 2,900 arrests at universities across the country since around mid-April, according to the Associated Press.

In the Boston area, protesters erected encampments at Emerson College, MIT, and Tufts University on the night of April 21. A few days later, Boston police arrested nearly 120 people from the encampment erected on a public walkway next to Emerson.

Hours later, protesters built an encampment on the Northeastern campus; police swept through that demonstration about two days later and arrested nearly 100. Tufts protesters dismantled their encampment on May 3 after negotiations with university officials stalled.

Beyond Boston, about 130 people were arrested at the University of Massachusetts Amherst on May 8, prompting Pulitzer Prize-winning author Colson Whitehead to withdraw as the university’s commencement speaker. An encampment at Williams College in the Berkshires was also being taken down this week, according to a letter Tuesday from president Maud Mandel.

While at some schools, such as at Brown University, the protests resulted in administrators saying they will consider divestment from Israel, that appeared unlikely at Harvard.

The Harvard student group said it had reached an agreement with the university to hold meetings. But it was skeptical they will result in breaking a relationship with Israel: “We are under no illusions that the meetings Harvard offered are material divestment wins,” they said in their statement.

A Harvard spokesperson said the meetings are intended to allow students to ask questions about transparency and how the endowment operates, not to negotiate whether Harvard should divest from Israel.

Garber and Faculty of Arts and Sciences dean Hopi Hoekstra will meet with encampment participants “for further discussion on their views and perspectives regarding the conflict in the Middle East,” the spokesperson said.

The Harvard encampment ended nearly a week after Garber met with demonstrators. He warned them they would be indefinitely suspended if the camp wasn’t dismantled that evening; involuntary leave notices went out Friday to more than 20 students.

Now that the encampment is down, Garber said he would recommend prompt reinstatement proceedings for all students who have been placed on involuntary leaves of absence. He will also ask university disciplinary boards to “evaluate expeditiously” the cases of students who participated in the encampment.

On the Harvard campus Tuesday, there were signs that life was returning to normal. Grounds crews were mowing the lawn near the camp. The university also appeared to be preparing for commencement on May 23. A white tent stood along Broadway next to stacks of folded platforms.

Yet Harvard Yard itself remained under lock and key Tuesday. Media members were not allowed on the grounds, and protesters who left the campus declined to comment.

Inside, some demonstrators were seen stopping their work to share a hug or shake hands. At one point, several were playing volleyball early in the afternoon.

As the protest ended, there were mixed feelings on campus — and division over the university’s response.

Lara Jirmanus, with Harvard Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine, hailed the student protesters in a statement.

“Their acts of civil disobedience have safeguarded our most basic freedoms of speech and association and have reminded us that our liberations are intertwined,” Jirmanus said.

Rotem Spiegler, 37, a Harvard alum who lives on campus and opposed the encampment, approached reporters gathered at one of the yard’s gates with a poster of a young boy taken hostage on Oct. 7, and then wrapped an Israeli flag around her shoulders.

“I’m speaking for myself, but I think that a lot of students, faculty, and staff feel the same way — that the university has majorly let us down by not protecting us or letting us get our voices heard,” Spiegler said.

Leandro Urbano, 27, a Harvard graduate student, praised both Garber and students. The president’s response was “firm” but “professional,” while students at the encampment also remained organized and “civilized,” he said.

“The way it was being dealt with, I really felt like we could have commencement even if the encampment was going on,” Urbano said.

Jeffrey Kwan, 21, who studies physics and math, was among the students who believed Harvard went too far in disciplining demonstrators.

“It’s important that students be able to do this sort of thing,” Kwan said. “I’m not super happy about how much the university pushed back.”

Globe correspondent Lila Hempel-Edgers contributed to this report.

John Hilliard can be reached at [email protected] . Nick Stoico can be reached at [email protected] . Hilary Burns can be reached at [email protected] . Follow her @Hilarysburns . Madeline Khaw can be reached at [email protected] . Follow her @maddiekhaw .

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Sunak to Urge University Leaders to Protect Jewish Students on Campus

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will meet with a group of British university leaders on Thursday to discuss ways to tackle antisemitism, as pro-Palestinian protests on campuses spread.

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By Stephen Castle and Isabella Kwai

Reporting from London

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of Britain will tell university leaders on Thursday to do more to combat antisemitism on college campuses, in a sign of rising dissatisfaction within government about the recent growth of encampments set up by students protesting the war in Gaza.

Vice chancellors from some of Britain’s prominent universities have been invited to Downing Street to discuss “escalating antisemitic abuse toward Jewish students in the U.K.,” Mr. Sunak’s office said in a statement issued in advance of the meeting.

Britain has so far not seen the sort of unrest witnessed on American campuses . But small-scale, largely peaceful protest encampments have sprung up recently around several universities, including Oxford, Cambridge, Newcastle, Leeds and Manchester.

“Universities should be places of rigorous debate but also bastions of tolerance and respect for every member of their community,” Mr. Sunak said in the statement released by his office ahead of the meeting. “A vocal minority on our campuses are disrupting the lives and studies of their fellow students and, in some cases, propagating outright harassment and antisemitic abuse. That has to stop.”

The prime minister’s office did not mention specific encampments in its statement, but it cited the concerns of the Union of Jewish Students, which says it represents 9,000 Jewish students across Britain and Ireland. The organization said recently that “while students have a right to protest, these encampments create a hostile and toxic atmosphere on campus for Jewish students.”

Downing Street also cited data from a charity that aims to protect British Jews from antisemitism, the Community Security Trust, which in 2023 recorded 182 college-related antisemitic incidents , triple the number recorded in 2022. Tell Mama, a government-funded group that monitors Islamophobic incidents and supports victims, said it has also noted a recent rise in anti-Muslim incidents on campuses.

While British police so far have not intervened significantly to break up student protests, they have been on the front line during large-scale pro-Gaza demonstrations, particularly in London.

Last year, Mr. Sunak and the former home secretary, Suella Braverman, urged the police to ban one march, which ultimately went ahead. Ms. Braverman was then fired after she described the tens of thousands of people who attended regular Saturday protests in London in support of Palestinians as “hate marchers,” “Islamists” and “mobs,” despite the fact that the demonstrations had mostly been peaceful.

On Thursday, the government plans to make it clear that universities must take immediate disciplinary action if any student is found to be inciting racial hatred or violence, and must contact the police if they believe a criminal act has been committed, Downing Street said.

The talks will also aim to help shape new official guidance on combating antisemitism on campus. The government says that the Office for Students, a regulator for higher education, might also be given the power to impose penalties if there were clear evidence that universities were failing to take sufficient or appropriate action to tackle harassment, including antisemitic abuse.

Gavriel Sacks, co-president of the Cambridge University Jewish Society, said in a phone interview that the group had stepped up its support for students by offering mental health events and movie nights.

Mr. Sacks, 20, said that anxiety at Cambridge had increased among some Jewish students in recent months, and especially so in the past week, after the establishment of an encampment on Monday.

But the encampment and the protests themselves had been “mostly peaceful,” he said, and though people had reasons to be anxious, he said he still felt safe and secure on campus.

“We don’t want to overplay it or make people more anxious,” he said.

Mr. Sacks said that he had been told about a few antisemitic comments made to identifiably Jewish people at rallies. Two Jewish students who were on their way to morning prayers on Tuesday were called “pigs,” he said.

“We do believe it represents the minority,” he said of the antisemitic rhetoric. Still, he said, there were concerns.

Groups representing Jewish students at Cambridge and other campuses have also been among those supporting pro-Palestinian encampments, however. The SOAS Jewish Society at SOAS University of London, for example, said on social media that it stood “shoulder to shoulder” with classmates who set up an encampment on Monday.

“We will not stand by as the media cynically employs fake concern for Jewish safety to demonize our cause,” the group said.

Professor Deborah Prentice, the vice chancellor of Cambridge, said in a statement that the university was “fully committed to freedom of speech within the law, and the right to protest.” She added that the university’s priority remained “the safety of our staff and students. We will not tolerate antisemitism, Islamophobia, or any other form of racial or religious hatred in our community.”

Stephen Castle is a London correspondent of The Times, writing widely about Britain, its politics and the country’s relationship with Europe. More about Stephen Castle

Isabella Kwai is a Times reporter based in London, covering breaking news and other trends. More about Isabella Kwai

Our Coverage of the U.S. Campus Protests

News and Analysis

Pomona College: At least one person was arrested after scuffles broke out among pro-Palestinian protesters , private security officers and police officers outside Pomona College’s commencement in Los Angeles.

U.W. Milwaukee: Protesters at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee will take down a pro-Palestinian encampment that had stood for two weeks under an agreement reached with the school , university officials said.

Duke: Dozens of students walked out  of Duke University’s commencement ceremony as Jerry Seinfeld, who has been vocal about his support for Israel, received an honorary degree.

Turning to Al Jazeera :  Students active in campus protests value the Arab news network’s on-the-ground coverage  and its perspective on the Israel-Hamas war. They draw distinctions between it and major American outlets.

Black Colleges :  The White House appears anxious about President Biden’s speech at Morehouse College, a historically Black institution. But for complex reasons, such campuses have had far less visible Gaza tensions .

A Different Approach :  University leaders in Britain have so far adopted a more permissive attitude to pro-Palestinian encampments than their U.S. counterparts. Here’s why .