In the early 20th century, there was a wave of antisemitism in the undergraduate admissions process of Harvard University which reflects the nature of power struggle on the campus more typically. Scanning at this phase of history from three aspects: field, legality and power, you can discover that in the whole American society there was an antiimmigration wave in the early 20th century. The antisemitic movement experienced a transition from culture to politics and it eventually spread to Harvard’s admissions system. This promoted the organization homogeneity between Harvard and Yale, Princeton, Columbia and other universities. As two different types of cultural capital, Academic Capital and Class Capital provide the legality mechanism for Harvard’s stakeholders. The former is good for Jewish students to get equal education rights which can become their main weapon in the competition for Harvard admission. The latter provides the main legality basis and concrete operational space for antisemitism. The admissions process is also a power struggle process. Not all power is mandatory. In exchange relationships between different actors, there are different governing alliances. A variety of strategies have been adopted. Finally, it pushed to change Harvard’s admissions system.

Harvard University; admissions institution; undergraduate admission; antisemitism; Pierre Bourdieu