Harvard University: Legacy, Innovation, and a Legal Battle for Academic Freedom

Harvard University, established in 1636 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is America’s oldest degree-granting institution, named for benefactor John Harvard. An Ivy League charter member since 1954, it boasts a $53 billion endowment that underwrites groundbreaking research, scholarships, and global initiatives.

Its faculty includes Nobel and Pulitzer laureates, and its library is the world’s largest academic collection. With an acceptance rate below 5%, Harvard cultivates leadership across fields—from eight US presidents and Supreme Court justices, to tech pioneers, to Oscar winners.

This legacy of excellence now underpins Harvard’s lawsuit against the Trump administration, which threatened to cut federal funding over campus disputes—an action the university says undermines academic governance and freedom.