Khurana Says Students Who Resell Harvard-Yale Tickets Must Live With Their Decisions

Dean of the College Rakesh Khurana declined to directly comment on whether students who sell their Harvard-Yale tickets will be referred for disciplinary action but urged students to “do the right thing” in a Thursday interview with The Crimson.

In what has become a biannual black market, some Harvard students — who each receive one ticket to The Game for free — sell them for up to $150 despite the College’s insistence that doing so could result in disciplinary consequences.

Khurana reminded students that “nobody will ever know whether we did the right thing or not,” but that ultimately, “one has to decide for oneself what that is and live with that.”

“I believe in the honor of our students,” Khurana said during the interview. “I believe they are incredibly good people, and I would ask — that just like there’s so many things that we have to do in society based on the honor system — that we honor the expectations of each other.”

According to the Student Handbook, selling non-transferable tickets is “strictly prohibited” and can result in referrals to the Office of Academic Integrity and Student Conduct. These include tickets for events such as Commencement, athletic events like the Harvard-Yale football game, and other Harvard-sponsored programs.

While House deans and academic coordinators have circulated frequent warnings to undergraduates, many students have continued to openly advertise and solicit ticket sales over House email lists, in GroupMe chats, and the anonymous messaging platform Sidechat.

Some students have even made light of the warnings by sending satirical emails, and described the policy as “non-enforceable.”

While Khurana declined to comment on “prospective” disciplinary action, he said that the College, including the Administrative Board is “built around an educational philosophy” and the belief that habits students develop now stay with them for the rest of their lives.

Khurana urged students to develop and practice habits that reflect “the person you want to be.”

“I am very confident in our students. I think they’re the most amazing people I’ve ever met,” he said. “I hope that when they find themselves in a gray space, or their foot near the chalk line, they choose to move away from it.”

—Staff writer Michelle N. Amponsah can be reached at michelle.amponsah@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @mnamponsah.

—Staff writer Joyce E. Kim can be reached at joyce.kim@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X at @joycekim324.