Abbott Lawrence Lowell (January 1, 1856–January 6, 1943) was a U.S. educator, historian, and President of Harvard University (1909–33).
Abbott's siblings included poet Amy Lowell, astronomer Percival Lowell (Harvard 1876), and early activist for prenatal care Elizabeth Lowell Putnam. They were the great-grandchildren of John Lowell (Harvard 1760) and, on their mother's side, the grandchildren of Abbott Lawrence.

Life
Lowell served as president of Harvard University for 24 years, a span only surpassed by his predecessors Charles William Eliot (40 years) and Edward Holyoke (32).
As president, Lowell continued pressing for the evolution of "concentrations" (Harvard's name for academic majors), which he had begun to develop while still a professor. His predecessor, Charles W. Eliot, had replaced the single standardized undergraduate course with a plethora of electives; Lowell encouraged, and eventually required, students to concentrate the bulk of their studies in one academic field. Although headed in very different directions, both Eliot's reforms and Lowell's had wide impact on higher education throughout the US.
Lowell is remembered for establishing the Harvard Extension School and creating Harvard College's residential house system (see Harvard College#House system), which today remains a central part of the undergraduate experience. He also co-founded the Harvard Society of Fellows.
Among the new campus buildings of Lowell's tenure is the President's House (today Loeb House) at 17 Quincy Street, which Lowell commissioned from his cousin Guy Lowell (Harvard 1892); it remained the residence of succeeding Harvard Presidents until 1971.

Harvard Presidency
In recent years, many have denounced Lowell for a wide variety of actions and statements which reflected his apparent bigotry towards homosexuals, Jews, African-Americans, and other ethnic minorities. In 2005, a small group of students, calling themselves the Lowell Liberation Front, lobbied unsuccessfully to have two likenesses removed from Lowell House, a Harvard house named for Lowell's family. [1]

Criticism
In Lowell's own day, probably the biggest controversy surrounding him concerned his involvement in the execution of Sacco and Vanzetti. The guilt or innocence of these two men, convicted of murder, had become a cause celebre and in 1927 the Governor of Massachusetts in considering clemency appointed an advisory committee with Lowell as chairman.
One author describes the result thus: "The committee...concluded that the trial and judicial process had been just, 'on the whole', and that clemency was not warranted. It only fueled controversy over the fate of the two men, and Harvard, because of Lowell's role, became stigmatized, in the words of one of its alumni, as 'Hangman's House.'" [2]

Support for a quota on Jewish enrollment
In a 1922 letter to a black undergraduate, Lowell confirmed that he would not be permitted to live in the freshman dormitories: "I am sure you will understand why, from the beginning, we have not thought it possible to compel men of different races to reside together." [3]

Homosexual students and the "secret court" of 1920

Lowell family
First Families of Boston
Lowell Institute