As Supreme Court Affirmative Action Ruling Looms, Top Harvard Dean Still Unannounced

Days before Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean Claudine Gay ascends to the Harvard presidency — as the Supreme Court appears on the verge of striking down the school’s race-conscious admissions policies — the University’s largest academic school still doesn’t know who its next leader will be.

The search for Gay’s successor as FAS dean has been ongoing since February. Gay was named Harvard’s 30th president in December 2022, giving her half a year to transition into her new role. With Gay set to vacate the FAS deanship on July 1, her successor will likely not have that luxury.

The lack of announcement comes at a precarious time for the University, as the Supreme Court prepares to rule in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard in the coming days. The court is widely expected to declare affirmative action in higher education admissions unconstitutional, which may fundamentally alter Harvard’s admissions practices and those of universities across the country.

University leaders have not said publicly how they are preparing for the ruling, insisting that it would be premature to predict the Court’s decision. But should the Court rule affirmative action unconstitutional, the FAS dean — who oversees the faculty of Harvard College — is certain to play a critical role in the University’s response.

Harvard spokesperson Rachael Dane declined to comment on the timing or status of the dean search, or how the new dean would be involved in the response to the court’s ruling.

The FAS position is the most consequential of four deanships that Gay was tasked with filling, with the other three being top posts at the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, which itself is an FAS division, the School of Public Health, and the Divinity School.

Since early May, Gay selected former FAS dean Michael D. Smith to serve as the interim dean of SEAS, tapped professor Jane J. Kim to serve as interim HSPH dean, and announced that HDS dean David N. Hempton would continue through Aug. 31 while searches to permanently fill the three positions continue.

But neither Gay nor the FAS have made any substantial announcements about the progress of the FAS search, except to say it was still ongoing and to solicit input from FAS affiliates.

Gay and University Provost Alan M. Garber ’76 formally launched the search in February, convening a 14-person advisory committee of mostly FAS professors to provide input and guidance.

In an April interview, Garber said a selection was “not imminent,” adding that he and Gay would spend as much time as it takes to find the right candidate.

In Gay’s first sit-down interview with The Crimson as president-elect late last month, she further declined to comment on whether a new dean would be in place by July 1 — when she becomes president — saying she is “not setting any kind of artificial timetable” for the search.

“While I recognize that the sooner the better for me personally, my focus really is on identifying the right person, so I don’t have a calendar in mind,” she said in May.

Gay’s 2018 selection as FAS dean came just four months after Smith, her predecessor, announced he was stepping down. Smith was chosen by then-President-elect Drew Gilpin Faust after an 18-month vacancy.

In that search, chemistry professor Jeremy R. Knowles — who himself served as FAS Dean in the 1990s — returned as an interim FAS dean while the search was ongoing. In an interview, Gay would not commit to appointing an interim while the search for her successor continued.

FAS dean tenures have roughly coincided with presidential administrations for five straight Harvard presidencies: Knowles’ term coincided almost exactly with that of then-President Neil L. Rudenstine, with both starting in their positions in 1991 and Knowles stepping down in 2002, eight months after Rudenstine’s tenure ended.

His successor, William C. Kirby, was fired in 2006 after a falling out with then-President Lawrence H. Summers, sparking faculty outcry that led to Summers’s resignation less than a month later. Smith served for the entirety of Faust’s tenure, from 2007 to 2018. Gay herself is stepping down from the deanship — which Bacow appointed her to — to succeed him as the University’s 30th president.

—Staff writer Rahem D. Hamid can be reached at rahem.hamid@thecrimson.com.

—Staff writer Elias J. Schisgall can be reached at elias.schisgall@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @eschisgall.