History of Harvard University "official philosophy" of the more empirical and more deistic Scottish school. Between 1830 and 1870, Harvard became "privatized". While the Federalists controlled state government, Harvard had prospered and the 1824 defeat of the Federalist Party in Massachusetts allowed the renascent Democratic-Republicans to block state funding of private universities. By 1870, the politicians and ministers that heretofore had made up the university's board of overseers had been replaced by Harvard alumni drawn from Boston's upper-class business and professional community and funded by private endowment. During this period, Harvard experienced unparalleled growth that securely placed it financially in a league of its
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;