1636 Forum — 2025 Board of Overseers & HAA Elected Director Endorsements

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1636 Forum — 2025 Board of Overseers & HAA Elected Director Endorsements

The 2025 election for Harvard Board of Overseers and Harvard Alumni Association (HAA) Elected Directors begins April 1 and runs until May 20. Over the last several weeks, we've carefully evaluated the candidates. We reached out to all candidates and spoke live with 3 of the 7 Overseer candidates and 6 of the 9 HAA Elected Director candidates—all those who were willing to speak. We also reviewed submissions they made to groups like the HAA, Harvard Magazine, Coalition for a Diverse Harvard, Harvard Alumni for Free Speech and FAIR Harvard Alumni+. (The Crimson is not endorsing candidates this year.)

In the Overseers election, we recommend voting for:

— Lanhee Chen (AB '99, AM '04, JD '07, PhD '09)
— Michael Rosenblatt (MD '73)
— Nathaniel Owen Keohane (PhD '01)

In the HAA Elected Director election, we recommend voting for (in ballot order):

— Allison Lee Pillinger Choi (AB '06)
— Nicholas J. Melvoin (AB '08)
— Daniel H. Ahn (AB '90, MBA '97)
— Colin J. Kegler (AB '97)
— Victoria "Vicky" Wai Ka Leung (AB '91)
— Pavlos P. Photiades (AB '88)

Note: We recommend you do not fill out all given candidate slots per race (up to 6) just because you can. Vote only for the candidates you truly support (even if fewer than 6). Doing so improves their chances, and is why we've only endorsed 3 candidates in the Board of Overseers race.

We're recommending these candidates not because they are perfect — we're recommending them because we believe they are most able to meet this critical moment. These were the candidates who were willing to engage with alumni, demonstrated openness to different perspectives and constructive dialogue, and showed thoughtfulness in how they approached Harvard's most urgent issues. In contrast, every candidate we are not endorsing either declined to speak to us or did not respond to our outreach.

That lack of engagement can make a difference. It's important for Overseers and HAA Directors to engage with the Harvard community — especially since it seems that HAA has given candidates and the alumni community limited information about the current state of campus affairs. That's a serious concern given the existential risks Harvard faces today, including yesterday's announcement of a potential suspension of roughly $9 billion in federal funding.

We're optimistic that all the candidates on the ballot care about Harvard's future — but the ones we're recommending share our vision for what that future should look like: one grounded in academic rigor and open discourse, where students can engage with difficult topics in the classroom and where viewpoint diversity is celebrated, not treated as a barrier to participating in Harvard's academic mission.

We'll work constructively with whomever is elected — but electing leaders who truly reflect these values starts with your vote.

Share our recommendations with fellow Harvard alumni who believe in academic excellence, academic freedom, student safety, and proper university governance.

Online Voting Instructions

1. Go to https://vote.escvote.com/harvard/
2. Enter your school of graduation, two-digit class year, personal Election Validation Number, which can be found in an email you received from [email protected], and click Login. (Note: You do not need a HarvardKey to vote this year.)
3. Click through the pages with candidate biographies.
4. Select the candidates you want to support.
5. Click "Submit" to finalize your vote.

Ballots must be received by 5 p.m. ET on May 20, 2025. If you prefer to vote by paper ballot, use the materials recently mailed to the address HAA has on file for you.

For more help, contact the Election Services Co. (ESC) help desk at [email protected] or by calling 1-866-720-4357 (Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm ET) or 1-516-688-7013 (international). If you email ESC for help, include your name, mailing address, degree, and graduation year.

Who Else Has Endorsed the Candidates?

Note: An asterisk (*) next to an organization’s name indicates less than a full endorsement for that candidate.

Other organizations that support our recommended Overseer candidates

Lanhee Chen (AB '99, AM '04, JD '07, PhD '09)
— Harvard Alumni for Free Speech (HAFFS)
— Harvard Jewish Alumni Alliance (HJAA)
— Harvard Buiness School Jewish Alumni Association (HBSJAA)
— Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism's Harvard Alumni+ chapter (FAIR Harvard+)
— Open letter from Harvard alumni (add your signature here)

Michael Rosenblatt (MD '73)
— HJAA
— HBSJAA

Nathaniel Owen Keohane (PhD '01)
— HJAA
— HAFFS* ('encourages voters to consider')
— FAIR Harvard+* ('encourages voters to consider')

Other organizations that have endorsed our recommended HAA Elected Director candidates

Allison Lee Pillinger Choi (AB '06)
— Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) & FIRE President Greg Lukianoff
— Harvard Club of New York City
— Harvard Varsity Club
— Harvard Alumni for Global Women's Empowerment (GlobalWE)
— FAS Professor Steven Pinker
— HLS Professor Larry Tribe
— HAFFS
— HJAA
— HBSJAA
— FAIR Harvard+

Nicholas J. Melvoin (AB '08)
— HJAA
— HBSJAA

Daniel H. Ahn (AB '90, MBA '97)
— HBSJAA

Colin J. Kegler (AB '97)
— HAFFS* ('encourages voters to consider')
— FAIR Harvard+* ('encourages voters to consider')

Victoria "Vicky" Wai Ka Leung (AB '91)
— Harvard Club of the United Kingdom
— HJAA
— HAFFS* ('encourages voters to consider')

Pavlos P. Photiades (AB '88)
— HAFFS
— HBSJAA