Harvard Board of Overseers

The Harvard Board of Overseers (more formally The Honorable and Reverend Board of Overseers) is the second of Harvard University's two governing boards. Although its function is more consultative and less hands-on than the President and Fellows of Harvard College, the Board of Overseers is sometimes referred to as the "senior" governing board because its formation predates the fellows' 1650 incorporation.

Today there are 30 overseers, all directly elected by alumni; at one point the board was self-perpetuating. Originally the overseers included, ex officio, the public officials and puritan clergy of Cambridge and the neighboring towns (hence the "honorable and reverend" of the title).

Each year, Harvard alumni elect five new overseers to serve six-year terms. Overseers candidates are nominated by the Harvard Alumni Association, and those not nominated by the HAA (petition candidates) must gather signatures from Harvard alumni to appear on the ballot.

In the late-1980s, a group calling for a withdrawal of Harvard's investments in Apartheid South Africa helped nominate petition candidates for overseers elections. Known as the Harvard-Radcliffe Alumni Against Apartheid (HRAAA), this group supported the first petition candidate to win an overseers' seat. The HRAAA also backed South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu in his successful bid to join the board in 1989. Since Tutu's election in 1989 (and the altering of election rules), no petition candidate has been successful, including Barack Obama, who lost in 1991.

The 2009 election features two petition candidates - Harvey A. Silverglate and Robert Freedman - who are campaigning for overseers seats.