Harvard University, one of the world’s most prestigious academic institutions, is facing a quiet but profound crisis in its classrooms. According to a recent faculty report highlighted by The New York Times and Newsmax, a growing number of Harvard students are skipping lectures, coming unprepared, or focusing more on their devices than on academic discussions. This shift in classroom culture has sparked debate among faculty, students, and education experts, raising urgent questions about the very purpose of a Harvard education.
The Classroom Social Compact Committee, a group of seven faculty members, began its work in February 2024, just as Harvard and other universities were grappling with divisive protests over the war in Gaza. Tasked with examining the state of classroom engagement, the committee’s findings were released in January 2025. Their report, which has since generated intense scrutiny, paints a sobering picture: despite Harvard’s reputation for academic rigor and selectivity—after all, the university turns away about 97 percent of applicants every year—many students are simply not showing up or engaging when they do.
The reasons for this absenteeism are complex. The report notes that grade inflation is rampant. Amanda Claybaugh, Harvard’s dean of undergraduate education, revealed that the proportion of A grades has soared from about 40 percent in 2015 to roughly 60 percent today, with half of that increase occurring during remote instruction. As she explained, “Students are very worried about their future, and the faculty sympathize with that,” leading professors to make courses less stressful. But this well-intentioned leniency has had unintended consequences: students can now coast through classes, earning high marks without fully participating or even attending.
“If they can get good grades without attending class, they stop,” observed Omosefe Noruwa, a junior in pre-med classes. She noted that recorded lectures make it easier to skip in-person sessions. “My first two years were very politically charged,” she added, reflecting on how the campus climate can make it uncomfortable for those with mixed political views. Liberal perspectives dominate, and students with differing opinions may feel unwelcome or even silenced.
This chilling effect is reflected in the numbers. In the spring of 2024, only a third of Harvard seniors said they felt completely free to express personal feelings and beliefs about controversial topics, a sharp drop from 46 percent the previous year. The report attributes this decline to a combination of social and academic pressures. Students fear social ostracism, embarrassment, or aligning their viewpoints too closely with their professors just to secure good grades. As a result, classroom conversations are often monopolized by a handful of well-prepared students, while many others miss out on the chance to hone their critical thinking and debate skills.
Faculty members are acutely aware of these issues. David Laibson, an economics professor and co-chairman of the committee, remarked that some of these problems are nothing new. “Procrastination and over-scheduling have characterized learning at Harvard, and I think at most schools, for living memory,” he said. But the digital age has made things worse. Students now rely heavily on multitasking and video lectures, which, according to the report, can erode their ability to sustain attention and read deeply—skills essential for academic and professional success.
Harvard’s own policies may be contributing to the problem. The university allows students to enroll in two classes that meet at the same time, a practice meant to accommodate packed schedules but which can encourage absenteeism. “If we didn’t allow simultaneous enrollment, we’d be giving a lot of students heartburn,” Dr. Laibson admitted. Yet he also insists that in-person learning is superior to watching recorded lectures. To make classroom discussions more open, he now includes a caution in his syllabus reminding students that others may hold different beliefs and warning against sharing in-class comments outside the lecture hall in ways that could identify the speaker.
To address disengagement, faculty are experimenting with a range of interventions. Some professors now take attendance, encourage students to take notes by hand rather than on laptops or phones, and adopt confidential discussion rules to foster a safer environment for debate. Harvard has even added a new essay question to its 2024 undergraduate application, asking prospective students to describe a time when they strongly disagreed with someone—a move intended to gauge applicants’ openness to diverse viewpoints.
Despite these efforts, the challenges remain daunting. As the report concluded, skipping class and avoiding intellectual engagement undermines the very purpose of a Harvard education, leaving students less prepared to confront challenging ideas both inside and outside the classroom. The social and political climate in 2025, described by sophomore Joshua Schultzer as “extremely polarized,” only adds to the difficulty. “It’s the state of the world,” he said, suggesting that Harvard’s problems are a reflection of broader national trends.
Indeed, absenteeism, hardened partisan views, and lagging achievement are not unique to Harvard. Chronic absenteeism in public schools soared during the pandemic, and academic achievement, as measured by national tests, has fallen to its lowest levels in decades. At public universities like the University of Kansas, students often skip classes because they are working to support themselves. Lisa Wolf-Wendel, a professor of higher education there, put it bluntly: “You’ve got to make it worthwhile for people to show up. It has to be something you couldn’t just do in your dorm room by yourself.”
At Harvard, the competition for internships and jobs in elite fields like law and finance can be ferocious. Students invest significant time in clubs, multiple courses, and even double concentrations to distinguish themselves in an environment where high grades are the norm. “We’ve been raised on balancing extracurriculars and academics,” said Schultzer, who was his high school valedictorian. For many, the juggling act that got them into Harvard continues once they arrive, sometimes at the expense of genuine intellectual engagement.
Some students, like sophomore Nora Koutoupes Guessous, are trying to push back. She recalled her first year as a “treadmill” of commitments, staying up late for club obligations and skipping morning classes to catch up on homework—then watching the lecture she missed on video. This year, she’s aiming to do fewer things better, but the top priority remains: “The top priority is obviously always grades.”
Harvard’s faculty and administration are under no illusions about the scale of the challenge. Hopi Hoekstra, the dean of the faculty of arts and sciences, acknowledged that the committee’s report told “some hard truths about our learning culture.” The university’s current push is to reshape the undergraduate experience, making students more open-minded and academically engaged. Yet, as the report makes clear, deeply ingrained habits and a polarized social climate won’t be easy to change.
As Harvard grapples with these issues, the outcome will likely serve as a bellwether for elite education nationwide. The stakes are high—not just for Harvard students, but for the broader question of what it means to be truly educated in a rapidly changing world.