People in the News: Elizabeth Murray

Elizabeth Murray was an unlikely member of the class of 2003.

Born to drug-addict parents, Murray spent much of her childhood on the streets of New York, shuffling between friends’ houses and children shelters.

When the AIDS-related death of her mother inspired her to take her education more seriously, Murray entered the Humanities Preparatory Academy, a small high school in Lower Manhattan. While working her way through high school, Murray slept on the subway or on the street, estranged from her family.

At the encouragement of her high school principal, Murray decided to go to college and won a New York Times Scholarship. After a year at an internship at The Times, Murray matriculated at Harvard in the fall of 2000.

She lived in Canaday Hall, but left for a year after a difficult semester. Upon returning to Harvard, Murray lived in Currier House—but she never fully adjusted to Harvard, and left again last winter.

Although friends say that Murray was clearly intelligent, they suggest that she had problems with the new culture and the administration. Murray herself says that she found that the problems of her past—her troubled family life and chaotic childhood—caught up to her and made Harvard difficult for her. She also landed a book deal and filmed an autobiographical movie, Homeless to Harvard, which aired on Lifetime in April.

Since Murray left Harvard, she has been living in New York, where she is editing her book and taking care of her ailing father. She is considering returning to college, and maybe pursuing a career as a documentary filmmaker.

“It wasn’t the right time for me,” Murray says, saying that she had too much on her mind to focus at Harvard. “When I put my head down on my pillow, I want to hear my own voice in my head.”