The Harvard University Alumni Affairs and Development (AA&D) maintains a number of online platforms for Harvard alumni. These online platforms include alumni.harvard.edu, a suite of online services provided by AA&D to serve as the online community for Harvard alumni and to facilitate communication both among individual members of the Harvard alumni community and between the alumni community for personal or University-related purposes. They also include the @post.harvard.edu and @alumni.harvard.edu email forwarding addresses and pages and groups on social media platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn. These terms of use apply to all such platforms, collectively referred to as "AA&D online platforms," but they do not apply to the AlumniMagnet platform.

All alumni information is strictly reserved for use by individual alumni and AA&D for personal and University-related purposes only.

Certain event programming and functionality of this website may be restricted to some or all members of the Harvard alumni community. Membership definitions are as follows:

  • Alumni (AL) – An alumnus/alumna is defined as an individual who has received a degree from any school at Harvard University or Radcliffe College, including honorary degrees.
  • HAA Associate Members (AM) – An HAA Associate Member is defined as an individual who has not earned a degree from Harvard University or Radcliffe College but has enrolled in a degree program and completed at least one credit-granting course with a passing grade; or a non-degree individual who has completed a certificate program or programs of at least nine weeks cumulative duration. AM-qualifying programs must also have a qualified admissions process.
  • Program Participants (PT) – A Program Participant is defined as a non-degreed individual who does not meet the University’s criteria for designation as HAA Associate Member, but whom a particular school will be able to designate as a Program Participant under its own defined criteria.

I. Policy and Guidelines for Proper Use

To safeguard the operation of AA&D online platforms, AA&D has adopted some basic guidelines and policies to govern proper use and conduct, particularly conduct that occurs in an online environment. Users of all AA&D online platforms must abide by the following specific Policies and Guidelines:

A. You may download or copy any downloadable materials displayed on alumni.harvard.edu for home, noncommercial and personal use only; provided, however, that you maintain all copyright, trademark and other notices contained in such material and you agree to abide by all additional copyright notices or restrictions contained in any material accessed through alumni.harvard.edu. Unauthorized copying, reproduction, republishing, uploading, downloading, posting, transmitting or duplicating of any of the material is prohibited.

B. Information available through alumni.harvard.edu may be used for personal and University-approved purposes only. Use of information or communications available through alumni.harvard.edu for any commercial, public or political purposes is strictly prohibited.

On all AA&D platforms, prohibited activities include, but are not limited to: (1) activities that are illegal or fraudulent; (2) use that inaccurately implies endorsement, approval, or sponsorship by Harvard University or AA&D (or any individual officer of Harvard or AA&D); (3) use that can be confused with official communications of Harvard University, AA&D or their officers; (4) use that can be confused with official communications of Harvard Clubs, class officers, official HAA Shared Interest Groups, or other authorized alumni leaders; (5) "spamming," which includes print or electronic mass mailings, repetitive or excessive posting, solicitations for commercial services, or cold-calling; (6) use to impersonate another user, Harvard alumnus/a, or other person; and (7) activities that violate any additional terms of use governing the particular platform in use.

Posting of obscene or vulgar materials or use of obscene or vulgar language, or use of abusive, defamatory, profane, or threatening language of any kind, will constitute a violation of these policies governing the use of alumni.harvard.edu and other AA&D online platforms. Determination of whether specific postings violate these policies shall be at the sole discretion of AA&D. Users shall also not upload, transmit, distribute or otherwise publish any materials containing a virus or any other harmful component.

AA&D may block, remove, or deny further access to these services to those who engage in these or similar practices. AA&D may also delete or remove posts and messages that it finds to be in violation of this policy. These terms also apply to any message boards and class notes functionality, which are provided by alumni.harvard.edu as another means of alumni communication.

C. User accounts may not be shared, transferred, or sold to other parties, nor are they to be used by or made available to any person or entity except the registered alumni user. Additionally, users shall not restrict nor inhibit any other user from enjoying any service on alumni.harvard.edu.

D. All email forwarding aliases adopted by alumni.harvard.edu users are subject to approval by AA&D. Furthermore, Harvard alumni email forwarding addresses should not be used as official business addresses.

E. AA&D is not responsible for screening communications in advance, and will not routinely monitor the use of the alumni.harvard.edu or other AA&D online platforms. AA&D, however, reserves the right to reorganize or delete any postings or add and remove message board topics. Notes posted to the alumni.harvard.edu message boards will remain for 30 days, after which they may be deleted. Alumni users may report any abuses or misuse of AA&D online platforms by contacting the Help Desk. If AA&D determines that a user's participation in any AA&D online platform creates a risk of liability for AA&D or the University, or that the user has violated the policies set forth herein or any applicable laws or regulations, AA&D reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to expel a user and deny further access to said online platform.

F. If you believe that any content posted to alumni.harvard.edu infringes your copyrights, please click here: http://www.harvard.edu/reporting-copyright-infringements.

II. Liability and Indemnity

The reliability of the information available through alumni.harvard.edu is dependent upon the actions of its users. AA&D can make no representations about the accuracy, reliability, completeness, or timeliness of this information.

AA&D does not warrant that the alumni.harvard.edu web site will operate error-free or that the site and its server are free of computer viruses or other harmful material. To the fullest extent permitted by the law, AA&D disclaims all warranties, including the warranties of merchantability, non-infringement, and fitness for particular purpose. In no event shall AA&D or the University be liable for any damages whatsoever, including, without limitation, incidental, consequential, or punitive damages, resulting from the use of or inability to use information or materials available on alumni.harvard.edu.

Please note that AA&D may revise these policies and your continued use of the site constitutes your agreement to comply with such modifications. You should review the policies periodically to ensure that you are familiar with them.

AA&D expects users to exhibit the same level of respect for others in these forums as in any other AA&D-related venue (such as at a reunion event on campus or on the premises of a Harvard Club).

AA&D may deny access to alumni.harvard.edu to any individual at any time. Participation in alumni.harvard.edu is a privilege.