Harvard University Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with about 6,700 undergraduate students and about 15,250 post graduate students. Established in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, clergyman John Harvard, Harvard is the United States' oldest institution of higher learning, and its history, influence, and wealth have made it one of the world's most prestigious universities. The Harvard Corporation is its first chartered corporation. Although never formally affiliated with any denomination, the early College primarily trained Congregational and Unitarian clergy. Its curriculum and student body were gradually secularized during the 18th century, and
The Harvard Advocate and artists beyond the Harvard community. When the "Advocate" was founded, it adopted the motto "Dulce est Periculum" (Danger is Sweet) which had been used by an earlier Harvard newspaper, the "Collegian". The magazine originally avoided controversial topics, lest it be shut down by university authorities; by the time the editors were making the then-radical demand for coeducation at Harvard, the magazine had attracted the support of James Russell Lowell and Oliver Wendell Holmes, and its life was less precarious. The founding in 1873 of "The Harvard Crimson" newspaper (originally the "Magenta"), and in 1876, of the "Harvard Lampoon" humor