Coalition for Diverse Harvard Releases Endorsements for Overseers Election

An alumni coalition focused on increasing diversity at Harvard endorsed five candidates in this year’s Board of Overseers election and four alumni vying for an elected director position on the Board of the Harvard Alumni Association.

The alumni group—dubbed the Coalition for a Diverse Harvard—was formed last year in opposition to a controversial slate of candidates that ran under the two-pronged platform of abolishing tuition at the University and advocating more transparency in the undergraduate admissions process.

None of the members of the slate, which included former presidential candidate Ralph Nader and conservative provocateur Ron K. Unz ’83, won spots on the Board of Overseers.

Former Board of Overseers candidate Ron K. Unz '83 displays campaign materials in Feb. 2016. By Thomas W. Franck

Though this year’s election does not feature any outsider candidates, the Coalition still endorsed five of the eight individuals nominated by the Alumni Association for the Board of Overseers, the University’s second-highest governing body.

The 30-member Board of Overseers works with the Harvard Corporation, the University’s highest governing body, to advise the University President on major institutional decisions. Its members serve for six-year terms, and Harvard degree holders vote every spring to elect five new members.

The Coalition threw its support behind the following candidates: Darienne B. Driver, Paul L. Choi ’86, Carla Harris ’84, Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar ’93, and Leslie P. Tolbert ’73. The group also endorsed four candidates for elected director of the Board of the Harvard Alumni Association: Nathaniel Q. Belcher ’92, Paola A. Peacock Friedrich, Sangu J. Delle ’10, Sachin H. Jain ’02.

Tolbert, one of the nominees for an Overseers position and a professor at the University of Arizona, wrote that she was “delighted” to receive the endorsement.

“Throughout my academic career I have championed diversity among students and faculty and staff,” she wrote in an email. “Working with Harvard as a member of the Board of Overseers would give me a chance to help expand opportunities for success at Harvard, at the same time broadening the scope of the academic conversation.”

A candidate for an elected director position, Delle said he is committed to “playing [his] role to make sure that Harvard continues to be a welcoming place and an inclusive place.

Delle referenced Harvard’s admissions and financial aid program—one of the most expansive amongst higher education institutions in the nation—as a point of focus in his candidacy.

“I’ve been volunteering with the capital campaign for financial aid, and that’s one of the key things,” Delle said. “To try and make sure that when we talk about diversity, we’re including socioeconomic diversity, making sure that we have people from the most marginalized groups. I think it’s important.”

Ballots for the election were sent to Harvard degree holders at the start of the month, and must be returned to the Harvard Alumni Association by May 16 to be counted.

—Staff writer Brandon J. Dixon can be reached at brandon.dixon@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrandonJoDixon.