History of Harvard University have rightly left behind" and "abhorrent and an affront to the values of our university". As late as the 1950s, Wilbur Bender, then the dean of admissions for Harvard College, was seeking better ways to "detect homosexual tendencies and serious psychiatric problems" in prospective students. History of Harvard University Harvard College, around which Harvard University eventually grew, was founded in 1636 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, making it the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. For centuries, its graduates dominated Massachusetts' clerical and civil ranks and beginning in the 19th century its stature became national, then international, as a
President of Harvard University importance in large institutions such as Harvard. Some have criticized this trend to the extent it has prevented the president from focusing on substantive issues in higher education. Each president is professor in some department of the university and teaches from time to time. Harvard's current president is Lawrence Bacow, formerly the president of Tufts University. At Harvard's founding it was headed by a "schoolmaster", Nathaniel Eaton. He was soon dismissed, however, and when in 1640 Henry Dunster was brought in he adopted the title "president". The origins of this title have been grounds for a certain amount of speculation;