P&Q’s Must Reads: Why Harvard Business School Denied Tenure

Hello everyone — Welcome back to Poets&Quants’ Must Reads, a quick, digestible recap of the top business school news, sponsored by CentreCourt, P&Q’s virtual admission events.

I’m your host, Kristy Bleizeffer, and I’ll be highlighting the most important P&Q stories you might have missed. So, let’s get to it.

No. 1: Why Harvard Business School Denied Tenure 

On paper, Ben Edelman was a textbook tenure candidate at Harvard Business School. Over an 11-year timeframe, his intellectual contributions were indisputable. His teaching record passed muster.

Yet his tenure case ended in rejection.

The reason, according to the business school dean, had nothing to do with scholarship or pedagogy. Edelman failed to meet Harvard’s community standards—an opaque and deeply consequential judgment that raises uncomfortable questions about how elite institutions define merit, character, and accountability.

Poets&Quants editor in chief John Byrne dives into the latest court filing in this years long case, detailing inner workings of HBS’ tenure process. You can find his report on our homepage.

No. 2: What It Costs To Get An Online MBA 

When online MBA programs first began to scale, they were widely seen as a force for democratization. They would expand access, cut costs, and strip away barriers that make full-time MBA programs out of reach for many working professionals.

But several premium programs now cost more than $100,000, rivaling costs of some quality residential MBAs.

With data from our most recent ranking of the best online MBA programs in the U.S., we break down total costs at 61 programs. You can find it in our ranking tab.

No. 3: Kellogg’s One-Year MBA Turns 60 – And The Model Has Never Looked Smarter  

The first one-year MBA in the U.S. has grown into a 4,700-alum powerhouse – and its model of speed, focus & ROI is more relevant than ever.

Read about the pioneer program now, from our homepage.

No. 4: Our Weekly Round Up of News You Can Use

No matter where you are in your MBA journey, we bring several helpful stories for you this week.

First up: Seven MBA Admissions Trends & B-School Predictions For 2026. A convergence of global, technological & institutional forces is reshaping how B-schools think about selection. Read how this could affect you

Next: The 7 MBA Application Must-Dos Before You Hit Submit. Find this helpful article in our admissions hub.

Finally, also in our admission hub: The Tutoring Startup Turning MBA Mentors Into Lifelong Role Models

And, that’s it for this week’s Must Reads recap.

I also want to alert school seekers to our events tab from our main menu. There, you’ll find all the upcoming admissions events for a range of degrees and programs including full-time and online MBAs, specialized masters, entrepreneurship and more. Registration is free.

Again, I’m Kristy Bleizeffer, and you can join me next week, right here, for a recap of what’s important in the world of business education. Thanks for listening.

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