In Photos: Dean Khurana’s 10-Year Tenure
By Crimson Multimedia StaffIn the email announcing his departure in June 2025 after more than a decade Harvard’s top administration, Rakesh Khurana wrote that serving as dean of the College “has been one of the greatest honors and joys of my life.”
While Khurana’s tenure was marked by backlash surrounding his efforts to combat final clubs and discipline pro-Palestine student protesters, the dean is also known by undergraduates for his frequent presence in dining halls and Harvard Yard, where he often stops students to take a selfie for his widely popular Instagram page.
Khurana, who is the longest-serving dean of Harvard College in more than a century, wrote in his email that what he will miss most “are the daily interactions I have been so privileged to have with our wonderful undergraduates.” In this photo essay, The Crimson looks back on some of the highlights of Khurana’s tenure.
Newly appointed College Dean Rakesh Khurana sits down at lunchtime to chat with freshmen in Annenberg Hall in October 2014. In a Crimson interview that year, Khurana said he spent three-fourths of his time talking to students.
Khurana speaks on behalf of protesters holding a silent demonstration during the Dec. 2014 Primal Scream, a biannual naked run around Harvard Yard. The protesters were attempting to hold a four-and-a-half minute period of silence before the run for Michael Brown of Ferguson, Mo. and Eric Garner of New York, two unarmed Black men who were killed by white police officers earlier that year. Khurana and other administrators were present, and Khurana attempted to quiet the students with a megaphone — at one point on the shoulders of a half-naked man.
Khurana joins students throwing paint powder as part of a 2015 Holi celebration. Holi is an Indian celebration of spring where participants douse each other with vibrant colors. Dharma, Harvard’s Hindu Student Association, hosts an annual Holi celebration.
As part of the 2015 Arts First festival in May, faculty members joined members of the Hasty Pudding Theatricals in a parody performance of Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake.” Above, Khurana, playing the Prince, prepares to kill the Sorcerer, played by professor Steven A. Pinker.
Anthony J. W. Kenny '20 and Sebastian A. Schwartz '20 carry Khurana on their shoulders through the stands of the Yale Bowl during the 2017 playing of The Game.
Khurana shares a laugh with President Joe Biden during Biden's speech at the 2017 Class Day Exercises.
“Me and the Dean in one place—it’s time to break the internet,” Biden cracked, alluding to his and Khurana’s online fame before pausing to snap a selfie with the dean.
Khurana is held up by two Cabot House students during early-morning Housing Day festivities in March 2018. Khurana and his wife Stephanie R. Khurana served as Cabot House faculty deans from 2010 to 2020.
Khurana wears a mask during a January 2022 interview with The Crimson. Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean Hopi E. Hoekstra praised Khurana for his leadership throughout the Covid-19 pandemic following his announcement that he was stepping down.
During the 2022 Commencement Exercises, Khurana holds up a photo he took of students to ask permission to post it on his Instagram page. Khurana is known by undergraduates for frequently posting selfies with students on Instagram, which is known among the student body as the “Khuranagram.”
In November 2023, students from Harvard Hillel and Harvard Chabad assembled a roughly 200-foot Shabbat table running the length of Tercentenary Theatre as a tribute to the civilians, soldiers, and foreigners held captive by Hamas. Khurana joined gatherings at the table in the morning and afternoon, conversing with visitors and supporters, and helping students disassemble the table at sundown.
Throughout the 20-day pro-Palestine encampment in Harvard Yard during the spring semester, Khurana was a frequent visitor, leaving his office in University Hall to observe students at a distance. Above, Khurana watches protesters on the third day of the encampment as they chanted “Dean Khurana you can’t hide, you are funding genocide.”
Khurana listens to speakers at the 2024 Class Day in May. Several student speakers made references to the 13 seniors barred from graduating due to their participation in the pro-Palestine encampment. Khurana was deemed responsible by some students and faculty members for the decision, which was reversed in July when the College’s Administrative Board downgraded the suspensions and probation charges of several students, paving the way for them to be granted degrees by the Harvard Corporation, the University’s highest governing body
In his own Class Day speech, Khurana largely avoided referencing the sanctions, but described the present as “a pivotal moment in history” of determining “whether an institution devoted to the pursuit of truth, veritas, can remain free from internal or external coercion.”
“We have to find common ground, and we have to remain open to changing our minds,” he said.
Correction: August 30, 2024
A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that the Harvard Corporation reversed the decision to prevent 13 seniors from graduating as part of the Class of 2024 in May. In fact, the decision was reversed when the Harvard College Administrative Board downgraded the disciplinary charges against students.