Harvard President Lawrence Bacow to step down next year

Jun 8, 2022, 12:10 PM | Updated: 12:51 pm
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern speaks with Harvard President Larry Bacow on the stage du...

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern speaks with Harvard President Larry Bacow on the stage during Harvard's 371st Commencement, Thursday, May 26, 2022, in Cambridge, Mass. Ardern was the keynote speaker and received an honorary degree. (AP Photo/Mary Schwalm)

(AP Photo/Mary Schwalm)

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — Harvard University President Lawrence Bacow, who guided the Ivy League school through the coronavirus pandemic and put together a panel to examine the university’s deep ties to slavery, announced Wednesday that he plans to step down next year.

“There is never a good time to leave a job like this one, but now seems right to me,” Bacow, whose last day will be June 30, 2023, said in a letter to the university community. “Through our collective efforts, we have found our way through the pandemic. We have worked together to sustain Harvard through change and through storm, and collectively we have made Harvard better and stronger in countless ways.”

He did not announce any future plans other to say he and his wife, Adele, plan to spend more time with their children and grandchildren.

Bacow, 70, who took over as president in 2018, expanded and updated the university’s teaching and research missions, and he fostered cooperation across disciplines to address complex issues including climate change and inequality.

An economist, lawyer and environmental public policy expert by training, he has also been an advocate for the free exchange of ideas.

Under his leadership, Harvard joined the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in a legal challenge to the Trump administration’s decision to make international students leave the country if they planned on taking classes entirely online in the fall of 2020, at the height of the pandemic. He criticized the policy for its “cruelty” and “recklessness.”

Harvard became one of the first universities early in the pandemic to switch to remote learning, and Bacow and his wife tested positive for COVID-19 in March 2020.

Under his leadership, Harvard announced in 2021 that it would fully divest its $42 billion endowment of fossil fuels holdings, part a wider effort to address climate change.

Harvard also faced challenges during his tenure. The university survived a legal challenge to its admissions policies in U.S. District Court, a case that is now being weighed by the Supeme Court.

It was also disclosed that disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein visited Harvard’s campus more than 40 times after his 2008 sex crimes conviction — long before Bacow’s tenure — and was even given his own office.

The commission created by Bacow in 2019 to study how the university benefited from slavery found that Harvard’s faculty, staff and leaders enslaved more than 70 Black and Native American people from the school’s founding in 1636 to 1783.

He announced in April that the school has pledged spend $100 million to study and atone for its ties with slavery.

“Harvard could not have asked for a better, wiser, more thoughtful, dedicated, experienced, and humane leader through these times of extraordinary challenge and change,” William Lee and Penny Pritzker, senior fellows of the Harvard Corp., said in a joint statement.

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

AP

FILE - Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer speaks inside the Recorders Office, Nov. 9, 2022, in...
Associated Press

Dominion conspiracies highlighted by Fox lawsuit have election officials concerned for safety

Maricopa County officials are bracing for what could happen when it comes time to replace its contract for voting equipment.
2 days ago
A building is damaged and trees are down after severe storm swept through Little Rock, Ark., Friday...
Associated Press

Tornado causes widespread damage to buildings, vehicles in Little Rock

A tornado raced through Little Rock and surrounding areas Friday, splintering homes, overturning vehicles and tossing trees.
2 days ago
FILE - Former President Donald Trump speaks with reporters while in flight on his plane after a cam...
Associated Press

Worries grow that Trump indictment could undermine public confidence in other investigations

Trump’s attempts to overturn those results amid false claims of widespread fraud are at the heart of two other ongoing investigations.
2 days ago
(Facebook Photo/Superior Court of Arizona in Yavapai County)...
Associated Press

Arizona judge has cases reassigned following DUI arrest

The Arizona Supreme Court has ruled that all cases currently assigned to a Yavapai County Superior Court judge recently arrested on suspicion of extreme DUI will be reassigned to other judges.
6 days ago
Haitian migrant Gerson Solay, 28, carries his daughter, Bianca, as he and his family cross into Can...
Associated Press

US, Canada to end loophole that allows asylum-seekers to move between countries

President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday announced a plan to close a loophole to an immigration agreement.
9 days ago
Expert skateboarder Di'Orr Greenwood, an artist born and raised in the Navajo Nation in Arizona and...
Associated Press

Indigenous skateboard art featured on new stamps unveiled at Phoenix skate park

The Postal Service unveiled the “Art of the Skateboard" stamps at a Phoenix skate park, featuring designs from Indigenous artists.
9 days ago

Sponsored Articles

(Desert Institute for Spine Care in Arizona Photo)...
Desert Institute for Spine Care in Arizona

5 common causes for chronic neck pain

Neck pain can debilitate one’s daily routine, yet 80% of people experience it in their lives and 20%-50% deal with it annually.
(Photo by Michael Matthey/picture alliance via Getty Images)...
Cox Communications

Valley Boys & Girls Club uses esports to help kids make healthy choices

KTAR’s Community Spotlight focuses on the Boys & Girls Club of the Valley and the work to incorporate esports into children's lives.
(Desert Institute for Spine Care photo)...
DESERT INSTITUTE FOR SPINE CARE

Why DISC is world renowned for back and neck pain treatments

Fifty percent of Americans and 90% of people at least 50 years old have some level of degenerative disc disease.
Harvard President Lawrence Bacow to step down next year