Harvard Names Conservative Legal Scholar as Permanent Provost
Harvard University appointed on Thursday a conservative legal scholar as provost, the university’s second-highest leadership position. The move comes as Harvard faces a congressional investigation into campus antisemitism while bracing for a new season of student protests against the Israel-Hamas war.
In announcing John F. Manning as the new permanent provost, Harvard’s president, Alan M. Garber, described him as “the right person for the moment in which we find ourselves,” adding that he had demonstrated “both humility and wisdom” in his current role.
Mr. Manning has been the university’s interim provost since March. He and Dr. Garber, who was named as president this month, have longstanding ties with Harvard, beginning at the school as undergraduates. Their appointments appear to be an attempt at stability after Claudine Gay resigned as president in January, amid heavy criticism over her handling of pro-Palestinian protests and accusations of antisemitism on campus.
Their appointments also come in an election year marked by severe partisan division. Mr. Manning’s reputation for diplomacy and conservative credentials might prove advantageous in his role as provost, the university’s highest academic position, as Harvard continues to face immense pressure from congressional Republicans who have criticized it for not doing enough to protect Jewish students during protests.
Before becoming interim provost, Mr. Manning was the dean of Harvard Law School, where he earned plaudits for being engaged with students. As interim provost, he oversaw a working group on “institutional voice,” which led to Harvard’s decision in May that it would avoid taking positions on matters that were not “relevant to the core function of the university.”
Mr. Manning is considered a top contender to succeed Dr. Garber as president. Dr. Garber is set to serve in the role through the 2026-27 academic year, and the search for his replacement will begin in 2026.
Mr. Manning’s habit of studied neutrality could serve him well with Republicans who have made a point to target America’s top universities. In May, the Republican-dominated House Committee on Education and the Workforce sharply criticized Harvard’s efforts to combat antisemitism, accusing it of suppressing the findings of its antisemitism advisory group and not enacting its recommendations.
But Michael J. Klarman, a professor of legal history at Harvard Law, said that Mr. Manning was not a pushover and that he stood for “the standard liberal values of the university.” Although Mr. Manning had voted Republican for most of his life, Dr. Klarman said, “the takeover of the party by its MAGA wing led him to quit the party.”
“If the vile Elise Stefanik thinks she has gotten one of her own kind installed in higher academic administration at Harvard, she and her ilk will be sorely disappointed,” Dr. Klarman said in an email, referring to the New York congresswoman whose harsh interrogation of Dr. Gay put her on the path toward resignation.
“The faculty has hired numerous women and people of color to tenure-track positions” during Mr. Manning’s deanship, Dr. Klarman continued. “I have heard him defend in a faculty meeting the right of students to choose how they are called upon in class in terms of gender identity.”
In the 1980s, Mr. Manning clerked for Robert Bork, a conservative federal appeals court judge who was nominated but not confirmed to the Supreme Court, and for Antonin Scalia, the Supreme Court justice. Mr. Manning became a Harvard faculty member in 2004 and was hired to teach law by Elena Kagan, the Supreme Court justice who was then the law school dean, as part of a drive to add ideological diversity to the largely liberal faculty.
Peter Lake, a professor at Stetson University’s law school and Mr. Manning’s friend from their time as Harvard undergraduate and law students, said that Mr. Manning was conservative but “never a proselytizer, and probably more to the center.”
“I can’t see it being a disadvantage to have someone who’s had a longstanding connection with more conservative forces,” Mr. Lake said.
Mr. Lake noted that Mr. Manning had been a child actor and could have chosen a career in acting rather than law. Mr. Manning’s mother, Sheila Manning, who died in 2019, was a casting director for commercials who gave early career breaks to Farrah Fawcett, Michael J. Fox and River and Joaquin Phoenix.
“I think he could have had a Hollywood career if he wanted to do it,” Mr. Lake said.
Stephanie Saul contributed reporting. Kirsten Noyes contributed research.
