The Instagram Idealism of Rakesh Khurana

Rakesh Khurana’s 11th year as Dean of Harvard College will be his last. Last Thursday, Khurana announced he will step down at the end of the 2024–25 academic year.

As might be expected, reactions have varied. There’s no consensus on how to remember Khurana’s deanship and none is forthcoming, but one thing cannot be denied: He served in interesting times. Affirmative action, Covid, Oct. 7 — Dean Khurana has been one of precious few constants through the most tumultuous, trying decade in Harvard’s modern history.

A look back at Rakesh Khurana’s 10 years at the head of Harvard College reveals an idealism that was as uncommon and laudable as it was, at times, incomplete.

Let’s begin with the good. Khurana championed civic engagement and intellectual vitality long before they became campus buzzwords. He streamlined the College’s bureaucracy by consolidating a host of offices into the Office of Student Services and the Dean of Students Office. And he fought the good fight for affirmative action, traveling to Washington D.C. to defend Harvard’s noble commitment to diversity.

But Khurana is perhaps best-known for his work outside his office.

Khurana — by far the most visible administrator on campus — attends nearly every College event, each time posting a half-dozen smiling selfies with students on his trademark Instagram account. He welcomes students when they arrive on campus and stays behind to snap pictures when they leave.

Here, though, we would offer a nugget of wisdom from Generation Z: Instagram isn’t real life. The smiling faces on Khurana’s instagram belie the times in his tenure when he has been far less popular.

Despite — and sometimes because of — his sunny idealism, Khurana in several cases fell short.

He dared to take on final clubs and other single-gender organizations — a noble goal — but his efforts inadvertently resulted in the shutdown of, at one point, every Harvard sorority, while the wealthy men’s clubs survived by lawyering up. Years later, the final clubs remain, and, after the court ruling that brought the saga to its unhappy end, hopes of moving against them again appear dim. And from restricting tailgates before big football games to strictly regulating student parties, under him the College took what we have called an “abstinence-only approach to fun.”

More recently, the draconian sanctions levied against student protesters by the College Administrative Board, which Khurana leads, have — rightfully — provoked ire. To some, the image of Khurana standing, hands in his pockets, on the edge of the encampment, says it all.

Khurana’s tenure speaks to a tension that even the best administrators with the best intentions cannot wish away: In roles like his, you can be nice oftener than you can be kind. At his best, Dean Khurana has exemplified engaged, approachable leadership. He cares deeply about the students of Harvard College. But on the few occasions that his positions stood at odds with the students they affected, “Khuranagram” could feel saccharine.

While we would be remiss to ignore Khurana’s failures, we recognize that he led under untold constraints. Harvard is a behemoth. Balancing the interests of alumni, his superiors, faculty, and students is no easy task. Many of his decisions were not made alone.

The College’s next dean should emulate the best of Rakesh Khurana — our approachable, jovial, kind champion — and improve on his shortcomings. Like Khurana, they will, in the end, be judged on what they did, good and bad alike — not how they seemed.

Goodbye, Dean Khurana. We look forward to one last year of selfies in the Yard and dining hall conversations over Lucky Charms.

This staff editorial solely represents the majority view of The Crimson Editorial Board. It is the product of discussions at regular Editorial Board meetings. In order to ensure the impartiality of our journalism, Crimson editors who choose to opine and vote at these meetings are not involved in the reporting of articles on similar topics.

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