Even if Ralph Nader isn’t running for president this year, that doesn’t mean he wasn’t involved in at least one 2016 election.

However, the 82-year-old’s campaign for Board of Overseers at his alma mater, Harvard University, failed to make the cut, according to election results released Monday.

In fact, none of the five “Free Harvard/Fair Harvard” candidates, which included Nader, succeeded in their effort to get a seat on the school’s 30-person governing board.

The consumer advocate and former presidential candidate had joined the slate, which included some affirmative action critics, campaigning to abolish tuition for Harvard undergraduates and increase transparency within the school’s admissions process.


As Politico reported last week, Nader’s inclusion in the group the Free Harvard/Fair Harvard candidates had rankled some liberals and put him at odds with the school, including Harvard administrators and athletic groups.

Despite the views of others on his slate, Nader says he “strongly support[s] affirmative action and reparations for African Americans.” In an interview with Politico, the ’58 Harvard Law graduate said he wanted to increase transparency to shed light on the impact of elitism and legacy admissions.

“I’m only signing on for disclosure,” he said. “In terms of any other stuff, they’re on their own.”

The Free Harvard/Fair Harvard candidates’ support for free undergraduate tuition also put them in conflict the current Harvard president, who said the proposal was untenable.

“The kind of program that is being proposed here funds a lot of students who we don’t think have need, from families who could and should afford to pay for their student’s education,” President Drew G. Faust told the Harvard Crimson earlier this year in response to Free Harvard/Fair Harvard’s petition to be included on the board election ballot.

With 35,870 ballots cast by Harvard degree-holders, alumni elected five candidates from a field of 13 to six-year terms on the board, according to the results Monday.


The candidates elected included Northwestern University Associate Provost Lindsay Chase-Lansdale, CVS Pharmacy President Helena Buonanno Foulkes, U.S. District Court Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, Cinépolis CEO Alejandro Ramírez Magaña, and Google Senior Vice President Kent Walker.

Vote totals for individual candidates were not disclosed, but number of ballots cast represented a 36-percent increase in turnout compared to last year.