Excellence Without a Soul: Does Liberal Education Have a Future

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In Excellence without a Soul, Harry R. Lewis, a Harvard professor for more than thirty years and Dean of Harvard College for eight, draws from his experience to explain how Harvard and our other great universities have abandoned their educational mission. Harvard is unique; it is the richest, oldest, most powerful university in America, and so it has set many standards-for better or worse. Lewis evaluates the failures of this grand institution, from the controversy over Harvards handling of date rape cases to the turbulent tenure of President Lawrence Summers. He also provides an intimate history of these struggles at Harvard, showing how its mission evolved from education to consumer satisfaction-and makes an impassioned argument for change. The loss of purpose in Americas great colleges is not inconsequential. Harvard, Yale, Stanford-these places drive American education, on which so much of our future depends. It is time to ask whether they are doing the job we want them to do.

Author Bio

Harry Lewis, Gordon McKay Professor of Computer Science and Harvard College professor, has been on the Harvard faculty for thirty-two years. He was Dean of Harvard College between 1995 and 2003 and chaired the College's student disciplinary and athletic policy committees. He has been a member of the undergraduate admissions and scholarship committee for more than three decades. Lewis lives in Brookline, Massachusetts.