Metadata
Title
Administrative Board
Category
general
UUID
46feb6f9a3ed460280c888b14d010cc9
Source URL
https://oaisc.fas.harvard.edu/administrative-board/
Parent URL
https://college.harvard.edu/guides/harvard-terms-and-acronyms
Crawl Time
2026-03-23T04:38:42+00:00
Rendered Raw Markdown

Administrative Board

Source: https://oaisc.fas.harvard.edu/administrative-board/ Parent: https://college.harvard.edu/guides/harvard-terms-and-acronyms

The Administrative Board, also known as the Ad Board, oversees student academic regulations and social conduct standards.

Formed in 1890, it is one of Harvard College’s oldest committees and follows long-standing procedures to further our educational mission. The Administrative Board’s main goal is supporting student growth, both as individuals and academic community members. The Board follows the rules in the Student Handbook and makes every effort to give each student a fair process relative to their peers.

On This Page:

Responsibilities

Membership

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Responsibilities

  1. Evaluate student requests (called petitions) for exceptions to academic policies, like changing class after the add/drop deadline.
  2. Review academic records to confirm that students are fulfilling degree requirements and doing well in their classes.
  3. Handle disciplinary issues like rule violations and breaches of community standards.
  4. Work with partners across Harvard College to improve the undergraduate experience.

Membership

The Administrative Board is composed of two committees:

  1. Disciplinary Committee, chaired by the Dean of Harvard College; and
  2. Petitions Committee, chaired by the Assistant Dean and Secretary of the Administrative Board

FAS faculty members and administrators create the voting membership of the Board. In addition, both the Disciplinary Committee and the Petitions Committee may regularly invite a number of non-voting guests to its meetings to serve as advisors on student welfare or who maintain student records, including:

The Assistant Dean of Academic Integrity and Student Conduct handles the duties of Secretary of the Administrative Board and coordinates the work of the Administrative Board committees with the Associate Dean of Academic Integrity and Student Conduct.