Last Year’s Write-in Candidates for the Board of Overseers Will Not Run Again in 2025

At least six of the seven candidates who launched write-in bids for the Board of Overseers last year will not enter the upcoming election cycle, backtracking on previous pledges to run again for the University’s second-highest governing body.

In the wake of former Harvard President Claudine Gay’s resignation last January, the Board of Overseers election enjoyed a rare spotlight as seven alumni candidates including former Facebook executive Sam W. Lessin ’05 attempted to gain enough write-in petitions to appear on the official ballot, though none were successful.

In the 2025 election to fill five seats on the 30-member alumni board, voters will likely only choose between candidates nominated by the Harvard Alumni Association. Neither Lessin nor the slate of “Renew Harvard” candidates backed by billionaire Bill A. Ackman ’88 will run this year.

Outsider bids for this election cycle will be accepted until Jan. 30. No external Harvard affiliates have publicly announced a bid or endorsed a candidate for the Board of Overseers. HAA nominations will be announced in January or early February before the ballot is finalized Feb. 15.

Lessin, who was just 337 petitions shy of appearing on the Overseers ballot last year, said he will focus on building his “1636 Forum” alumni network instead of campaigning for the board a second time.

“When you think about alumni and community engagement, the problem is there’s a lot of people who really care about Harvard and want to help and make a difference. But candidly, the alumni associations are just completely out of touch,” he said.

"We’re not super interested in dealing with the HAA bureaucracy and what it’s become,” Lessin added. “We think it’s far more powerful to kind of operate on the outside.”

HAA spokesperson Cameron Wolfsen did not comment for this article.

Since his last campaign, Lessin has emerged as a particularly influential Harvard donor, launching a Harvard-specific newsletter that now reaches more than 20,000 University affiliates. Lessin said he is focused on working with Harvard donors to direct funding to specific “values-aligned” projects instead of making unrestricted gifts.

After the ballot was announced last February, Lessin pledged to run an even more aggressive campaign in 2025.

“As soon as the process for voting opens up in the fall, we will hit it hard — and we will win,” he told supporters at the time.

On Tuesday, Lessin said he “probably will” launch a bid in the future after his “independent efforts are fully set up.”

Logan Leslie ’15, A. Zoe Bedell, and Julia I. Pollak ’09 will also not run for a board seat this year. They had run outsider bids under the “Renew Harvard” slogan last year with Ackman’s backing and a platform of addressing antisemitism and free speech issues.

Bedell said in an interview with The Crimson in February that the Renew Harvard candidates would run in 2025.

“We learned the lessons this year, and we’ll be able to start earlier, and we hope we’ll be able to succeed next time around because these issues are too important to give up on,” Bedell said at the time.

Leslie declined to explain his decision not to run, Bedell said her time was dedicated to other responsibilities, and Pollak cited family obligations.

Alec D. Williams, the fourth member of Renew Harvard, did not respond to a request for comment about his plans for the upcoming election cycle.

Two other 2024 candidates — Harris L. Hartz ’67, a judge on the U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, and Harvey A. Silverglate, a Harvard Law School graduate and the founder of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education — also said they would not run again. Silverglate, who has run for Overseer three times, said he will instead focus on an upcoming book project.

Hartz said he chose not to run because he did not think his election to the governing body would be enough to make a meaningful difference at the University.

“I’ve been watching developments since then, and I just don’t think the fundamental change that’s necessary is going to take place without a major shock, and my candidacy, even my election, would not be enough,” Hartz said.

—Staff writer Dhruv T. Patel can be reached at dhruv.patel@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @dhruvtkpatel.

—Staff writer Grace E. Yoon can be reached at grace.yoon@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @graceunkyoon.