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Harvard University is ranked 3rd among national universities by U.S. News. The oldest and most prestigious university in the United States, Harvard was also ranked 3rd in 2024.
The Harvard Crimson reports that inaccessible student housing presents a persistent barrier for disabled students seeking an inclusive campus experience. "Only two of the 17 first-year dorms (Weld and Thayer) and six of the 12 upperclassman Houses are wheelchair accessible," reports The Crimson. Harvard has published an interactive accessibility map on its website, but I found navigating the map to be confusing.
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." The Harvard Crimson reported that one student "has switched out of more than 10 courses during her time at Harvard because she sensed that professors were inflexible and unaccommodating." 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."
Determined to move to a suite that fit her needs, Shang called her DAO adviser, who said that they were not working and would deal with her situation the next day. They told her not to call again and hung up.
Eventually, administrators, including her DAO officer, Faculty Dean, and Building Manager, told her they would resolve the situation within a week. For two days, Shang was left in her room, unable to unpack, unable to shower, and unable to leave her room for meals or gatherings without her PCA. Shang felt that none of the administrators acknowledged the gravity of her situation.
After many more emails urging them to fix the problem sooner, Shang finally moved into the suite that she had been promised.
“The DAO’s actions don’t reflect a genuine care for students with disabilities,” she says. “What happened to me should never happen to any student.”
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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.
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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.
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