Harvard Admissions vs. Ethereum Governance: The Power Struggle Behind Quota Limits

[Crypto World] An interesting perspective: Harvard University’s admissions system looks like Bitcoin—rules are clear and the total supply is fixed—but its underlying operational logic is actually more similar to Ethereum governance.

It sounds a bit convoluted, but once you think about it, it’s clear—Harvard packages its admission quotas tightly, as if they are rules engraved in stone. But in reality? There is a lot of room for human adjustment, with various social consensus and layered policies constantly at play, which is somewhat like how the Ethereum community adjusts protocols through governance.

What’s the most ironic? Harvard desperately claims “we just follow the quotas,” using this number as a shield, but in fact, it masks a truth—the entire admissions decision process is fully programmable and entirely mutable. The real issue isn’t the total limit itself, but who holds the decision-making power behind these limits, and whether that power is accountable.

This kind of “excuse mechanism” to evade transparency is actually rare in Web3. Perhaps traditional institutions still have something to learn.