NRI Anurima Bhargava, Lawyer, named as year’s chief marshal
by Harvard Alumni Association (HAA)

Los Angeles, March. 19, 2021
NRIpress.club/Ramesh/ A.Gary Singh

The Harvard Alumni Association (HAA) has announced that Anurima Bhargava ’96 will serve as this year’s chief marshal, following a tradition that goes back more than 120 years.
“What an honor and gift to be chosen to reflect the magic and light that emanates from the mighty Class of 1996,” said Anurima Bhargava, the director and president of Anthem of Us, a strategic advisory firm that helps institutions and communities center equity and belonging in what they do
In December 2018, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi appointed Bhargava to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, where she now serves as vice chair.

In Obama presidency, she was chief of the Educational Opportunities Section in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, leading federal enforcement of civil rights laws in schools and institutions of higher education. Bhargava also served on the White House Task Force to Prevent Campus Sexual Assault as well as other national advisory councils.
Elected by her classmates, Bhargava will play a number of ceremonial roles to help her class celebrate their 25th reunion. She described her classmates as “lifelong” companions who strengthen each other with spirit and wisdom, and she offered words of praise to the Class of 2021, soon to join the alumni ranks. “You have persevered with honor,” she said. “We can’t wait to witness what will grow from the seeds you have planted, and how you will enrich the soil — and together begin to fill the cracks and divides — for all of us.”
“Anurima Bhargava is an uncompromising and tireless advocate for so many of the students in our country who need a fighter on their side,” said HAA President John West, M.B.A. ’95. “She has turned her vision for equity and opportunity for all into a life committed to service to those in need and those who want a better life for themselves. We welcome her to join the long line of alumni like her who have made a difference.”

Prior to working in the Justice Department, Bhargava was a member of — and then led — the education practice at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Her team litigated educational equity and justice cases in front of the U.S. Supreme Court.
In her latest role, at Anthem of Us, she advises foundations, media, and arts, and civil and human rights organizations to address harassment and discrimination and promote social justice and make policy and practice recommendations.
Bhargava came to Harvard from a predominantly Black public school on the south side of Chicago, where she found her desire to work on law, civil rights, and education.

As a member of the Student Advisory Committee at the Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics, Bhargava began to see “that civil rights and justice were situated at the very heart of democracy and community, and politics generally.”
She was fighting on behalf of students’ civil rights (including undocumented students) and helping survivors of sexual and racial violence.

Bhargava served as a fellow at the Open Society Foundations and at Harvard University. Before attending law school, she worked in India assisting women elected to local government. She has been a member of the Truman National Security Project and the Council on Foreign Relations.

Anurima Bhargava was appointed to the Commission on December 11, 2018, by Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, for a term ending on May 19, 2020.

Bhargava earned her law degree from Columbia Law School and graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College. She was born and raised on the south side of Chicago.