Harvard founding

 September 8, 1636: Massachusetts Puritans found Harvard College, America's first higher education institution, a mere six years after arriving from England. Two years after its founding, the college was named after John Harvard, a learned English Protestant minister who had emmigrated to America and who helped to found the institution. On his deathbed Harvard bequeathed half his estate and his entire library (400 volumes!) to the fledgling college.

Harvard was founded in the image of Oxford in England to train pastors for early churches:

And today

The New York Times   (8/26, Goldberg ) reports that Harvard University’s organization of chaplains “has elected as its next president an atheist named Greg Epstein, who takes on the job this week.” Epstein, 44, “author of the book ‘Good Without God,’ is a seemingly unusual choice for the role.” He will “coordinate the activities of more than 40 university chaplains, who lead the Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist and other religious communities on campus.” Yet many Harvard students “-- some raised in families of faith, others never quite certain how to label their religious identities – attest to the influence that Epstein has had on their spiritual lives.” Said Epstein, “There is a rising group of people who no longer identify with any religious tradition but still experience a real need for conversation and support around what it means to be a good human and live an ethical life.”