Harvard makes Garber full-time president with private installation
Harvard University has formally installed Alan Garber as its full-time president after serving on an interim basis following the resignation of the controversial Claudine Gay in January.
This marked the first time since 1971 that a Harvard president was sworn in privately, The Harvard Crimson reports.
Harvard University has formally installed Alan Garber as its full-time president after serving on an interim basis following the resignation of the controversial Claudine Gay in January.
On Saturday, the university held a private installation ceremony at Menschel Hall with Garber officially beginning his full three-year term. This marked the first time since 1971 that a Harvard president was sworn in privately, The Harvard Crimson reports.
”An excessive aversion to risk is a risk itself,” Garber said during the event. “We must keep in mind, always, that the mistakes we have made—whether individually and collectively—may have been plentiful, but we have our long history to celebrate because they have never been fatal.”
”Assuming that this trend continues, our history demands that we plan – boldly – for a very long future,” he continued. “We need to think not only in years and decades, but centuries.”
Garber officially began as interim president on Jan. 2 to succeed Gay following her resignation stemming from plagiarism allegations and her inability to explicitly condemn campus anti-Semitism during a December congressional hearing.
In August, the Harvard Corporation and the Board of Overseer voted to retain Garber as president.
Garber’s tenure thus far has coincided with various anti-Israel and pro-Hamas demonstrations on Harvard’s campus.
In May, Garber played a role in ending a student activist-led encampment in Harvard Yard that lasted for 20 days.
”I acknowledge the profound grief that many in our community feel over the tragic effects of the ongoing war,” Garber wrote to the campus community at the time.
”There will continue to be deep disagreements and strongly felt emotions as we experience pain and distress over events in the wider world,” he added. “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.”