Philip McHarris

Philip V. McHarris (born December 4, 1992) is an American academic and author. He is an assistant professor of Black studies at the University of Rochester.

McHarris has been a frequent contributor for The New York Times, The Washington Post, Al Jazeera, and Essence regarding issues related to race, policing, housing, and social inequality. He has appeared on HBO, CNN, PBS, ABC News, and MSNBC. His commentary has also been featured in Time, the Los Angeles Times, and MTV.

McHarris has keynoted and spoken at universities across the country, including Harvard University, Iona College, Boston College, Yale University Art Gallery, and Princeton University. McHarris was also the recipient of the Boston College 31st Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Award.

Early life and education McHarris was born in Bronx, New York, and grew up in Newark, New Jersey. McHarris' academic research focuses on race, policing, housing, inequality, and mass incarceration.

Career After completing his PhD at Yale, McHarris was awarded a Presidential Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at Princeton University in 2021.

In 2023, McHarris joined the University of Rochester as an assistant professor in the Department of Black Studies, becoming one of the inaugural faculty members of the newly established department.

In July 2024, McHarris published his first book, Beyond Policing, through Legacy Lit, an imprint of Hachette Book Group. The book examines community-based approaches to public safety beyond traditional policing. Kirkus Reviews described it as "a deeply researched, profoundly optimistic vision."

Media McHarris has frequently written and provided commentary on politics and social issues in news media outlets. He has appeared on CNN, PBS, Time, NPR, and NBC.

McHarris has been a frequent contributor for The New York Times, Al Jazeera, the Los Angeles Times, He has advocated for divesting from policing and reinvesting funds into community resources and alternative safety and emergency response systems. In 2015 McHarris was a co-founder of the NYC chapter of BYP100, an African American youth organization in the United States with the main focus on community organizing, voter mobilization, and other social justice campaigns.

Publications and works