Alan Garber May Be Harvard’s New Hope

When I received the email from Senior Fellow Penny S. Pritzker ’81 announcing Alan M. Garber ’76 will drop his interim title and serve as Harvard’s 31st president, I was, ironically, finishing up a letter of my own to the Harvard Corporation with my thoughts on the presidential search.

While the letter will forever remain unsent, I can’t help but notice several ways in which the outcome aligns with my own recommendations.

Let’s not mince words: Harvard is in choppy waters, and the Corporation bears ultimate accountability for bringing us to this point and navigating these turbulent times. The past year has been a perfect storm of controversies, leaving our beloved institution’s reputation battered and its community divided. To emerge stronger from the current parlous state, the Corporation must undertake a deep and honest assessment of the nature and causes of its past failures. In the meantime, pending such a necessary review, Harvard needs a steady hand at its helm.

Enter Alan Garber. I am delighted that the Corporation has given him the opportunity to operate as president with full authority. He has the essential characteristics required of any Harvard president — academic distinction in an important discipline, a reputation for integrity, and success in his prior leadership roles, including 12 years as Harvard’s provost.

In the few short months of his tenure as interim president, Garber has proven his mettle and leadership skill. He approved a much-needed set of policies on “institutional voice” — directing the University and its leadership to refrain from taking official positions on controversial public policy issues — which could easily have been consigned to years of delay and internal dispute had a leader not taken the reins and stood behind it, as Alan Garber did.

Garber has also demonstrated his commitment to academic freedom and the related requirements for a vibrant academic culture characterized by open inquiry, intellectual diversity, and constructive disagreement. In his message to the community, he wrote that “excellence is made possible by the free exchange of ideas, open inquiry, creativity, empathy, and constructive dialogue among people with diverse backgrounds and views.”

While these values might seem to be fundamental and unobjectionable at Harvard, they have often been absent,undermined, or weakened without clear and visible support from the Corporation and the president.

The importance of these values became glaringly apparent in the wake of Oct. 7. Their absence fueled a campus crisis, in which many faculty feared expressing unpopular views, and discourse among students holding differing perspectives was severely chilled. This atmosphere of intellectual fear and timidity suppressed scholarly advancement and must be addressed head-on.

That’s why I was so thrilled to see Garber vociferously endorsing these values, and I am hopeful that his statement reflects the Corporation’s similar views.

As Garber said: For Harvard to lead — in both research and pedagogy — we must address these current problematic cultural realities and stand up with vigor and passion for open inquiry and constructive dialogue among people with diverse opinions.

Achieving these goals will require a president with a deep understanding of the issues, dedication to effectively countering expected opposition from various quarters, and willingness to exert leadership.

Garber’s skills will soon be tested. New campus protests over the war in Israel and Gaza, demands for politically motivated divestments, congressional investigations into campus antisemitism, and the concerns of many alumni and donors that Harvard has lost its way will invariably continue plaguing his tenure. But by seizing the moment to set Harvard on a path to regain its reputation as preeminent among the world’s universities, these same tests create a unique opportunity for Garber to emerge as a great leader.

The clock is ticking, President Garber. You have three years to leave an indelible mark on one of the world’s great institutions. Make them count.

Jeffrey S. Flier is the Higginson Professor of Physiology and Medicine and was the dean of Harvard Medical School from 2007 to 2016.