Nadine Burke Harris Backs Diversity and Equity In Bid for Harvard Board of Overseers

Nadine Burke Harris said she would continue to champion diversity and equity if elected to the Harvard Board of Overseers this April, arguing that both are central to academic excellence and well-being at the University.

Burke Harris, one of nine candidates competing for six seats on Harvard’s second-highest governing board, defended diversity and equity as “very positive things” even as she acknowledged that the political climate has shifted sharply against the language itself.

“Equity is an issue of quality,” Burke Harris said.

“I think the way those terms have been used in a negative way doesn’t reflect the opportunity for us to lead with quality,” she added.

Her comments come amid a broader campaign by the Trump administration to curb diversity initiatives in higher education. The Department of Justice sued Harvard earlier this month, alleging the University failed to comply with an investigation into whether it continues to consider race in admissions.

“The question about how do we do that with integrity in the face of threats or potential backlash, and how do we do that in a way that strengthens the fabric of the University is something that’s really important,” Burke Harris said.

A public health advocate, Burke Harris has devoted her career to studying the long-term implications of childhood trauma and stress. She rose to prominence as California’s first surgeon general, serving from 2019 to 2022, and now leads the ACE Resource Network, which works to build healthcare infrastructure for treating toxic stress.

Burke Harris, who holds a master’s degree from the Harvard School of Public Health, said she felt compelled to serve Harvard at what she described as a “really important time in history.”

After Harvard rebuffed sprawling demands from the Trump administration, the federal government cut billions of dollars in research funding, threatening the University’s core operations. Though the funding has since been restored, Burke Harris said she would strengthen research support if elected, citing her background as both a clinical and community researcher.

Burke Harris also said Harvard, and universities around the country, would be tasked with evaluating how to “support free speech while at the same time supporting a culture of safety.”

She suggested Harvard explore clarified free speech and protest regulations, saying the University could foster discourse and “be clear about guidelines by which that discourse happens.”

Harvard adopted similar measures in 2024 in response to a 20-day pro-Palestine encampment in Harvard Yard, including instituting restrictions on chalking, unapproved signage, and protests on certain University-owned spaces. The policies proved contentious among faculty and student groups, who argued they chilled free expression.

After leaving HSPH, Burke Harris founded the Bayview Child Health Center, a clinic that aimed to reshape how pediatrics addresses childhood trauma.

Her national profile expanded further when California Governor Gavin Newsom appointed her as the state’s inaugural surgeon general in 2019. In that role, she helped steer the state through the Covid-19 pandemic while mobilizing statewide resources toward her work on childhood development and toxic stress.

Former HSPH classmate Casey L. Wright said Burke Harris stood out for her intensity and focus, both professionally and personally.

“When I think about her fierce and focused approach to friendship, that’s also how she approached her work with children and her pursuits in medicine,” Wright said. “It was sort of this dogged pursuit.”

Aziza Ahmed, another former classmate, said Burke Harris’s passion for studying childhood trauma often carried into social settings.

“She’s really so interested in what she’s doing — and even as a student, she was so interested in the questions that she was asking that you couldn’t help but be interested with her,” Ahmed said.

“I'm really not exaggerating or making this up,” Ahmed added. “You’d be at a party, and suddenly everyone would be drawn into a conversation with her.”

Wright said those qualities would serve Burke Harris and the University well if she was elected to the Board of Overseers.

“She’s going to bring that same dogged pursuit of truth and opportunity and solutions development to the myriad of challenges I can only imagine that the university is facing right now,” Wright said.

—Staff writer Elise A. Spenner can be reached at [email protected] or on Signal at elisespenner.82. Follow her on X @EliseSpenner.