President and Fellows of Harvard College
The President and Fellows of Harvard College, also called the Harvard Corporation or just the Corporation, is the smaller and more powerful of Harvard University's two governing boards. It refers to itself as the oldest corporation in the Western Hemisphere.[1] At full capacity, as of 2024, the corporation consists of twelve fellows as well as the president of Harvard University, for a total of thirteen members.[2]
Together with the Board of Overseers, the two boards exercise institutional roles that, at most other colleges and universities, are more commonly consolidated into a single board of trustees.[3]
Although the institution it governs has grown into a university of which Harvard College is one component, the corporation's name remains "The President and Fellows of Harvard College".[4]
Structure[edit]
The Harvard Corporation is a 501(c)(3) and the owner of all of Harvard University's assets and real property.[5]
As a governing board, the Corporation traditionally functioned as an outside body whose members were not involved in the institution's daily life, meeting instead periodically to consult with the day-to-day head, the President of Harvard University, whom it appoints, and who also serves as a member. The Corporation is self-perpetuating, appointing new members to fill its own vacancies as they arise.
For most of its history, the Corporation consisted of six fellows in addition to the president. But after the presidency of Lawrence Summers from 2001 to 2006, and a large endowment decline after the Great Recession in 2008–2009, a year-long governance review was conducted. In December 2010, it announced that the Corporation's "composition, structure, and practices" would be altered: the number of fellows would increase from six to twelve, with prescribed terms of service, and several new committees would endeavor to improve the group's integration with the activities of the University as a whole, especially its long-term planning.[6]