The Harvard Crimson THE UNIVERSITY DAILY, EST. 1873 | VOLUME CXLVI, NO. 122 | CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS | MONDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2019
EDITORIAL PAGE 6
NEWS PAGE 3
SPORTS PAGE 8
The union’s decision to authorize a strike was necessary.
Keezer’s Classic Clothing owner Len Goldstein dies at age 67.
Football falls to Columbia 17-10 in overtime play.
UC Candidates Debate Platforms By CAMILLE G. CALDERA and MICHELLE G. KURILLA CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS
A head of the one-week voting period, which opens Nov. 11, candidates for the Undergraduate Council President and Vice President discussed their campaign platforms in debates on Saturday. The five candidate tickets — James A. Mathew ’21 and Ifeoma E. White-Thorpe ’21; Andrew W. Liang ’21, representing himself and his running mate Aditya A. Dhar ’21, who did not attend the debate; Prashanth “PK” Kumar ’21 and Michael O. Raji ’22; Sanika S. Mahajan ’21 and Rushi A. Patel ’21; and Thor Larson ’21 and Case McKinley ’21 — participated in a debate Saturday night co-hosted by Harvard Political Union and Harvard College Act on a Dream. HPU Chair Matthew Miller ’21 and Leo A. Garcia ’21 — one of the intersectionality cochairs of AOD — moderated the debate. To kick off the debate, candidates opened with two-minute remarks explaining their major campaign platforms. Larson and McKinley said their campaign has three focuses, including “making sure that everything at Harvard stays accessible, affordable and available to all students,” according to McKinley. Mahajan and Patel said their campaign is focused on “bridging systemic gaps” on campus,
CSL Approves, Rejects Clubs
By SAMUEL W. ZWICKEL and SANJANA L. NARAYANAN CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS
The Committee on Student Life voted to approve 45 and reject 11 new student organizations at its monthly meeting Thursday. After prospective student organizations apply for provisional recognition by the Dean of Students Office, a 10-member faculty and staff committee makes a preliminary recommendation to approve or reject them, according to Assistant Dean for Student Engagement and Leadership Kate Colleran. The Undergraduate Council Rules Committee also votes on whether or not to grant recognition to each prospective club — the second year in which the UC has provided input on new student groups. The CSL took both the staff committee’s and the UC Rules Committee’s decisions into account when making the final determination. The CSL is a student-faculty committee created by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences to oversee the rising sophomore housing lottery, to discuss residential policies across Houses, and to grant College recognition to student organizations. Several Undergraduate Council members, DSO administrators, and House Faculty Deans sit on the body.
The Harvard Political Union and Harvard College Act on a Dream co-sponsored a debate Saturday afternoon for the candidates running in the Undergraduate Council presidential election. AMANDA Y. SU—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER
including areas of student life such as mental health, sexual assault prevention, and academics. Kumar and Raji described themselves as the “outsider ticket” because neither has served on the UC before, adding that they have a “good finger on the pulse of the student body.” They also said they wanted to boost school spirit and im-
prove mental health resources on campus. Liang said his campaign platform revolves around abolishing the UC, abolishing the $200 student activities fee to pay students a “freedom dividend,” and raising money to “B.R.I.B.E.” members of the Harvard Corporation — the University’s highest governing body. B.R.I.B.E., according
to Liang and Dhar’s campaign website, stands for Be Responsible Investing Bacow’s Endowment. Liang added that he and Dhar will accomplish their campaign goals by sitting on University President Lawrence S. Bacow’s desk. Current Undergraduate
SEE DEBATE PAGE 3
UC President Sruthi Palaniappan ’20 said in an interview Thursday that when deciding which organizations to approve, the CSL aims to avoid “a proliferation of student organizations” that do not add to the range of activities on campus. She suggested “maybe doing some review” in the future to consider combining smaller student groups under larger “umbrella organizations.” Of the 58 total organizations applying for recognition, 44 were unanimously approved by both the staff committee and the UC Rules Committee, four were unanimously rejected, and 10 were contested by the two bodies. At the meeting Thursday, the CSL debated the 10 contested student groups, ultimately voting to approve one, reject seven, and delay two for a final vote in December. Colleran wrote in an email that discrepancies between staff committee and UC recommendations are “ironed out in the CSL process where both groups are represented.” “The student (UC) voice is crucial, but neither group alone has the full picture of the student organization scene that new groups are entering which is why both groups are part of the process,” Colleran wrote.
SEE CSL PAGE 3
UC Gay to Lead Athletics Supports Search, Survey Act on a Dream By JONAH S. BERGER and MOLLY C. MCCAFFERTY CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS
Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Claudine Gay will soon launch a nationwide search for Harvard Athletics Director Robert L. Scalise’s successor, she said in an interview Wednesday. Scalise, who has served in his position for 18 years, announced in October that he would retire at the end of the academic year. Gay declined to offer specifics on what qualities and qualifications she would look for in a new athletics director, saying it is too early to say more about the direction of the search. “I feel my mind is mainly focused on really reflecting on Bob’s legacy,” Gay said. She said Scalise has agreed to serve as a “senior advisor” to
By KEVIN R. CHEN CRIMSON STAFF WRITER
H arvard’s Undergraduate Council voted to pass a statement at its meeting Sunday in support of immigration advocacy group Act on a Dream’s concerns about The Harvard Crimson’s news policies and made recommendations to make reporting policies more transparent. The statement, passed 1513-4, comes after The Crimson covered Act on a Dream’s “Abolish ICE” protest in September. After the protest, Crimson reporters contacted a United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson for comment. More than 900 people and several student groups have since signed an Act on a Dream petition condemning The Crimson’s decision to reach out for comment. The council’s vote approved its own statement regarding the issue to be sent out to students in its weekly email. “The Undergraduate Council stands in solidarity with the concerns of Act on a Dream, undocumented students, and other marginalized individuals on campus,” the statement reads. “It is necessary for the Undergraduate Council to acknowledge the concerns raised by numerous groups and students on campus over the past few weeks and to recognize the validity of their expressed fear and feelings of unsafety.” Members of several campus groups including Act on a Dream and the Harvard College Democrats have instructed their members not to speak to The Crimson unless it changes its policies. Crimson President Kristine E. Guillaume ’20 wrote in an emailed statement that the publication seeks to hold itself to
SEE UC PAGE 3 INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Harvard Today 2
Gay over the course of the next year, even after he leaves his post. The announcement of Scalise’s departure comes as Harvard undertakes a study of the culture and structure of its Athletics department. Gay acknowledged the challenges of coordinating the search and the study, but said the study would be an “exciting” tool to “inform the work ahead” for the next Athletics director. “I think people are excited as they contemplate the future, recognizing that, you know, we are very fortunate to be building on, frankly, a very long record of success across so many different dimensions,” Gay said. “How do we build on that, in some ways, to kind of renew our commitment to the mission and
SEE ATHLETICS PAGE 3
Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Claudine Gay, poses for a photo in her office in University Hall. ALLISON G. LEE—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER
Sex Week Climaxes in Revealing Event Series
SEE PAGE 8
By ARTEA BRAHAJ and CALLIA A. CHUANG CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Students spoke about sexual health and intimacy during Sex Week events last week, attending panels and workshops with topics ranging from sex toys to gender identity. For the ninth year, the student organization Sexual Health Education and Advocacy Throughout Harvard College, SHEATH, hosted the wide array of events. This year’s programming included 13 discussions throughout the week, such as “Reproductive Justice with RAD,” and “What, What, In the Butt?: Anal Sex 101.” Andie E. Turner ‘20-’21, one of SHEATH’s co-presidents, said the group’s main goal was to enable Harvard students to make educated decisions regarding their own sexuality
Columbia defensive back Ben Mathiasmeier intercepts a pass intended for Crimson receiver James R. Batch ‘21 to seal Columbia’s 17-10 win, the Lions’ first over Harvard since 2003. TIMOTHY R. O’MEARA—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER
News 3
Editorial 6
Sports 7
TODAY’S FORECAST
PARTLY CLOUDY High: 49 Low: 42
and relationships. “A lot of students come into Harvard maybe with not the best sex education from their high schools or middle schools,” Turner said. “We try to give them the empowerment, the education, the information to go off and have meaningful, happy, healthy sex lives.” At several sessions, Harvard students discussed their past sexual experiences. Eric J. Cheng ’20, one of the panelists at “Swipe Right: Racial Preferences and Dating,” talked about the effects of dating apps on aggregating existing racial biases in society. “When you’re on an app just for a hookup, like, you really don’t care about someone’s personality,” Cheng said. “I do think that racial preferences can be more solidified, and that
SEE SEX WEEK PAGE 3
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THE HARVARD CRIMSON |
NOVEMBER 11, 2019
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HARVARD TODAY
For Lunch Chicken a la Plancha Pork Fajita Sandwich Stuffed Peppers with Beans
For Dinner Beef Fajita with Fettuccine Shrimp and Monterey Jack Quesadilla with Peppers
TODAY’S EVENTS Uncut: Saweetie x Eesean Smith Campus Center, 4:30-6:30 p.m.
IN THE REAL WORLD Hong Kong Police Shoot At Protestors
Rapper, singer-songwriter, and entrepreneur Saweetie will be discussing her road to fame in the hiphop world.
Protests in Hong Kong have continued for six months, and police fired shots at protestors once again early on Monday. The conflict caused havoc among commuters and is likely to cause further tension between the government and the people of Hong Kong. More updates regarding injuries resulting from the shooting are likely to follow.
Remembrance Day Widener Steps, 7-8 p.m. Join the Harvard Canadian Club to remember those who serve or have served Canada. The service will include music and speeches from Canadian Club board members. The event will take place on the Widener steps. ‘Desserts and Chocolate’ Science Center C, 7 p.m.
Bolivian President Resigns Amid Protests
Forward Gabriella A. DelPico ‘23 heads the ball during a women’s soccer matchup at Columbia Saturday night. TIMOTHY R. O’MEARA—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER
DAILY BRIEFING
Join the Harvard Canadian Club to remember those who serve or have served Canada. The service will include music and speeches from Canadian Club board members.
Candidates from the five tickets vying to lead the Undergraduate Council explained their policy proposals at a pair of debates on Saturday. The five candidate tickets participated in a debate Saturday night co-hosted by Harvard Political Union and Harvard College Act on a Dream, discussing topics including accessibility on campus, mental health, and — in one case — abolishing the UC itself. In other news, the Committee on Student Life voted to approve 45 and reject 11 new student organizations at its monthly meeting Thursday.
After the results of Bolivia’s election were called into question through allegations of manipulation, protestors have called for president Evo Morales to resign. Though Morales agreed to call for a redo of the elections, it was not until Sunday that Morales announced he would resign.
Broadway Actress Dies At 13
This past week, Laurel Griggs died at the age of 13 from complications of an asthma attack. Griggs appeared in “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” on Broadway at the age of 6 and went on to appear in Tony award-winning musical “Once” along with many commercials and television shows.
AROUND THE IVIES DARTMOUTH
The Dartmouth reported Dartmouth is seeking a tax refund. The college, which is the largest property owner in the town of Hanover, has appealed to Grafton Superior Court seeking a refund that totals more than $500,000, according to Hanover town manager Julia Griffin. The tax bill for the college increased after the town’s reassessment of property values in 2018. The college applied for the abatement of taxes for 38 out of 122 “taxable parcels” in Hanover.
CORNELL
The Cornell Daily Sun reported that Cornell experienced a university-wide network server outage. The outage lasted for most of the day and it impacted various aspects of student life including the campus Wi-Fi and Cornell Dining. It also disrupted an examination and student’s ability to use on-campus printing resources. The cause of the network server outage has not yet been reported.
PENN
Conservative filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza will be allowed to speak at an alternate venue on campus Tuesday, days after university officials cancelled the event at the original location due to unspecified security concerns, the Daily Pennsylvanian reported. Neo-Nazis were planning to attend D’Souza’s talk, according to the Pennsylvanian, but it will now only be open to Penn students. The Penn College Republicans had originally planned to hold the event at the university’s cultural center, but it will now be held in Houston Hall. The event had drawn criticism because of controversial comments D’Souza has made in the past.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY, EST. 1873
The Harvard Crimson Kristine E. Guillaume President Angela N. Fu Managing Editor Charlie B. Zhu Business Manager
STAFF FOR THIS ISSUE
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Copyright 2019, The Harvard Crimson (USPS 236-560). No articles, editorials, cartoons or any part thereof appearing in The Crimson may be reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the President. The Associated Press holds the right to reprint any materials published in The Crimson. The Crimson is a non-profit, independent corporation, founded in 1873 and incorporated in 1967. Second-class postage paid in Boston, Massachusetts. Published Monday through Friday except holidays and during vacations, three times weekly during reading and exam periods by The Harvard Crimson Inc., 14 Plympton St., Cambridge, Mass. 02138 Weather icons made by Freepik, Yannick, Situ Herrera, OCHA, SimpleIcon, Catalin Fertu from flaticon.com is licensed by CC BY 3.0.
Night Editor Brian P. Yu ’19
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Story Editors Lisa G. Ashkinos ’89 Simone C. Chu ’21 Alexandra A. Chaidez ’21 Jonah S. Berger ’21 Delano R. Franklin ’21 Gil R. Gideon ’79 Ruth A. Hailu ’21 Sanjana L. Narayanan ’21
Photo Editors Sung Kwang Oh ’21 Timothy R. O’Meara ’20 Editorial Editor Kristine E. Guillaume ’20 Sports Editor Eamon McLoughlin ’21
CORRECTIONS The Harvard Crimson is committed to accuracy in its reporting. Factual errors are corrected promptly on this page. Readers with information about errors are asked to e-mail the managing editor at managingeditor@thecrimson.com.
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THE HARVARD CRIMSON | NOVEMBER 11, 2019
Former Keezer’s Classic Clothing Owner Goldstein Dies at 67 By REBECCA S. ARATEN CRIMSON STAFF WRITER
Former Keezer’s Classic Clothing owner Leonard I. “Len” Goldstein died Oct. 22 at the age of 67, after devoting nearly four decades of his life to offering elegant suits and ties to countless Harvard students and Cambridge residents. Keezer’s Classic Clothing was a hallmark of Harvard Square for nearly 70 years and offered formal wear at affordable prices from its location on Massachusetts Ave. Goldstein’s death, from gastrointestinal cancer, marks the end of a life that employees and customers say was devoted to making beautiful clothing accessible to all. The store opened its doors in 1895, under Max Keezer, who sold clothes to Cambridge residents of all stripes, including faculty members and prominent Harvard students, like fu
ture President John F. Kennedy ’40. The store’s original goal was to buy high-quality used suits and offer them at bargain prices. Goldstein once speculated that Keezer’s was the oldest second-hand clothing shop in the country, as well as the oldest specifically dedicated to formal wear. “A lot of the Harvard students grew up in the mining camps out west or the railroads, and the fathers wanted to send them east for a gentleman’s education, but they wouldn’t give them a lot of money to spend on drinking,” Goldstein told the Crimson in a 2016 interview. He said students with depleted their drinking funds historically resorted to selling their clothes. Goldstein took over the business in 1978. Goldstein — a recent college graduate who had racked up sizable debt — decided to purchase the shop where
he would spend the next four decades working six-day weeks. By the time Goldstein took over, Keezer’s had already moved to Concord Avenue due to high rent prices. Under Goldstein’s leadership, the shop moved once more before finding its current home near Porter Square. David P. Soodak, a longtime Keezer’s employee, said the moves have not greatly affected business or clientele and Harvard students continue to shop at Keezer’s despite the greater distance. “I think Harvard folks have always been a big part of Keezer’s business, I don’t think any of the locations lost the Harvard customers,” Soodak said. “I think that Harvard guys have more formal parties than maybe any other school,” he added. Carlos A. Vega, who received his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1984,
recalls going to Goldstein for help finding outfits for formal events. “You had to wear white tie — it was not black tie,” Vega said. “Where do you get something like that? Well, you got it from
I think Harvard folks have always been a big part of Keezer’s business, I don’t think any of the locations lost the Harvard customers David P. Soodak Longtime Keezer’s Employee
Len.” Goldstein did not, however, limit his conversations with customers to just clothing advice, according to Soodak. “Len has always had the gift
of gab and would very often talk to people for long periods of time,” Soodak said. “Len was a really smart guy, and knew a lot about a lot of things, so people would come in and he would strike up a conversation, and they could go for quite a while. So he had a good relationship with all the customers.” Soodak said he and Goldstein developed a “working friendship” outside of the business and that he would often join in on Goldstein’s family outings. He said Goldstein’s hobbies included going on walks and fishing during the summer, and that Goldstein was also fond of eating, cooking, and cross-country skiing. Goldstein valued his ability to provide affordable formal wear to those who might otherwise have trouble paying for it, according to Soodak. “I think that he was very proud of owning a store that
provided everybody with good clothing at very reasonable low prices,” Soodak said. “The clientele in the store has always been incredibly varied. Harvard students and professors shop at the store, and also people with very little money, who need clothing at something they can afford.” Vega said Goldstein’s career was a product of a bygone era of dressing sharply. “In the past, clothing was a stronger part of somebody’s budget, and now it’s just sold by the pound,” he said. “I think that was a little bit sad for Len because these were beautiful things, and the idea of people dressing up was really something that I thought he was facilitating.” Goldstein is survived by his wife, Susan K. Sklover, as well as three children and three grandchildren. rebecca.araten@thecrimson.com
DEBATE FROM PAGE 1
CSL FROM PAGE 1
ATHLETICS FROM PAGE 1
UC Candidates Debate Policy Proposals
CSL Approves, Rejects Groups
Athletics Director Search to Begin
Council leadership did not respond to a request for comment. Harvard University Spokesperson Jonathan L. Swain declined to comment on campaign platforms. Mathew and White-Thorpe said their campaign ticket is the most diverse, as it is the only ticket that differs in both “background and gender.” After their opening statements, the candidates engaged in 12 minutes of debate on two questions addressing the recent Pulse Survey and student mental health on campus. The recently released Pulse Survey, which found that 19 percent of Harvard students felt they did not belong, also found that a larger percentage of Hispanic/Latinx and African American students answered that they do not feel they belong. The moderators also asked the candidates to respond to two round-robin style questions — each ticket had the opportunity to speak only once on each issue. “How would you protect undocumented students on campus through the UC and what do you think of The Crimson’s decision to contact ICE and then The Crimson’s subsequent response?” Garcia asked. The Crimson reported on a Sept. 12 protest by student-led
immigration advocacy group Act on a Dream and quoted several students’ criticisms of ICE, including calls for its dissolution. The article notes that ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Following the article, a petition — started by Act on a Dream — criticized The Crimson for requesting comment from an ICE spokesperson for its Sept. 13 article, “Harvard Affiliates Rally for Abolish ICE Movement.” On stage, all five tickets said they disagreed with The Crimson’s decision to request comment. “We believe that the Crimson was fundamentally wrong in what it did. Listen, that’s why we’re all here on the stage right now,” Mathew said. He and White-Thorpe released a video earlier in the week denouncing The Crimson and refusing to participate in its annual debate. Raji said his first act on the UC would be to “condemn The Crimson for their actions.” Mahajan and Patel said they will work with Harvard Public Affairs and Communications to put together “teaching documents” to inform students how to “interact with Crimson reporters.” Crimson President Kristine E. Guillaume ’20 wrote in
an emailed statement responding to the candidates’ criticisms that The Crimson asks all parties criticized in a story to comment in order to maintain fairness in its coverage. “This policy demonstrates a commitment to ensuring that the individuals and institutions we write about have an opportunity to respond to criticisms in order to ensure a fair and unbiased story,” Guillaume wrote. “We welcome feedback from our readers and from those we cover. In this case, we met with representatives of Act on a Dream to hear their concerns and explain our approach. For this story and all others, The Crimson strives to adhere to the highest standards of journalistic ethics and integrity.” The second round-robin question asked the tickets to explain what was “unique” about their platforms. Larson named the “fun fund” — funding for small student outings — as a novel aspect of his and McKinley’s campaign, while Kumar mentioned his desire to work with student-athletes in light of recent articles in The Crimson about struggles with isolation. camille.caldera@thecrimson.com michelle.kurilla@thecrimson.com
Palaniappan said she thinks that when in doubt, the UC Rules Committee was inclined to vote in favor of approving groups, while the CSL leaned toward a cautious rejection. “The Rules Committee of the UC were much more of the opinion that we should approve groups and be less critical about how different they are from other ones, and maybe allowed for a bit more overlap than what the CSL staff were allowing for,” Palaniappan said. UC Rules Committee Chair Conner P. Williams ’21 also said that the Rules Committee generally gave student groups they were unsure about the benefit of the doubt. “I think largely we’re just more optimistic about students, is really the difference,” Williams said. “I think during the meetings the reason that a lot of sway was given to CSL rather than UC was mostly because they actually had a lot of great points,” Williams added. “They’re really worried about the fact that we have a lot of clubs currently, and we’re going to need to stem that growth eventually.” After the CSL grants provisional recognition to a student organization, that group is subject to supervision by the Col
lege for a period of one year. After this stage, the UC evaluates the groups along a standardized rubric and works with DSO administrators to determine which should become formally recognized independent student organizations. Last spring, the CSL voted to bar about half of provisionally recognized clubs from full recognition — primarily because of poor engagement with the approval process. Student organizations reap certain privileges from full College recognition. Among other benefits, these extracurricular groups can reserve on-campus facilities, publicize events and recruitment, receive UC funding, and use the Harvard name, according to the Harvard College 2019-2020 Recognized Student Organization Guide. In addition to evaluating newly proposed clubs, auditing the comp processes of existing student organizations is a top priority for the CSL this year. Some CSL members have described comps — vetting and training procedures mandated by many undergraduate clubs at Harvard — as unnecessarily exclusive and harmful to campus culture. sanjana.narayanan@thecrimson.com samuel.zwickel@thecrimson.com
ensure that we continue to be, frankly, a model for Ivy League athletics?” Mercer, the external firm Harvard has tapped to conduct the review, has already interviewed “various stakeholders,” including coaches and student athletes, Gay said. She adding that a survey of all student athletes is “taking shape right now.” Thus far, Gay has provided only a broad outline of the content of the review, rather than delving into specifics. She reiterated Wednesday that the study will consist of “understanding” the student athlete experience at the College and culture of the Athletics program, as well as examining the Athletics department “organizationally.” “All of it is guided by a really deep commitment to the mission of the department, which is education through athletics and building commitment, community, and pride in Harvard,” she said.
jonah.berger@thecrimson.com molly.mccafferty@thecrimson.com
SEX WEEK FROM PAGE 1
UC FROM PAGE 1
Harvard Sex Week Arouses Thoughtful Discussions
UC Votes to Support Act on a Dream, Expand Resources for Media Training
it just feels, like, that much more hurtful.” Audience member Taylor D. Shirtliff-Hinds ’21 said she appreciated the honesty and au
It’s not so often that you feel like you can walk into a room of perfect strangers and talk about, you know, oral sex or the things you do when the lights are off. Andie E. Turner ‘20-’21 SHEATH Co-President
thenticity of the five panelists, who also talked about colorism, fetishization, and racial diversi-
ty in mainstream media. Another event, “Bae-Watch: STI Safety with SHARC,” where Sexual Health Awareness and Relationship Communications members addressed common misconceptions about sexually transmitted infections answered audience questions regarding protection, and directed students to free sex resources available on campus and in the greater Boston area. SHARC educator and panelist Hannah A. Eckstein ’21 said SHARC distributes sex supplies in first-year dorms, upperclassman house, and during their office hours. “We are here for you if you ever need supplies, if you ever want to talk about an issue, or a concern that you have,” she said. The events were held in various lecture halls and common spaces across campus.
“I appreciate that we have events that are big – we’ll have, like, over 100 people – and then we have little tiny, intimate events,” said Victoria Scott ’20, co-president of SHEATH. “I think it’s nice because it caters to different people’s levels of comfort.” Turner said she hopes that Sex Week has fostered a welcoming environment for students and continues to destigmatize discussions around sex. “It’s not so often that you feel like you can walk into a room of perfect strangers and talk about, you know, oral sex or the things you do when the lights are off,” she said. “They will not feel embarrassed or ridiculed by their questions, and they can get to the answers that they need to continue having a fruitful sex life.”
the “highest standards” of journalistic practice. “Fundamental journalistic values obligate The Crimson to allow all subjects of a story a chance to comment,” Guillaume wrote. “This policy demonstrates a commitment to ensuring that the individuals and institutions we write about have an opportunity to respond to criticisms in order to ensure a fair and unbiased story.” “We welcome feedback from our readers and from those we cover. In this case, we met with representatives of Act on a Dream to hear their concerns and explain our approach,” she added. Oak Yard Representative Ethan J. Johnstone ’23 and Currier House Representative Fernando Urbina ’22 sponsored the council’s legislation. S even freshman Yard rep-
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resentatives signed on as co-sponsors. Johnstone said he and Urbina wrote the legislation in response to student requests for a UC statement in support of undocumented students. “We think it’s really important that we amplify student voices on campus, especially those that are often marginalized,” Johnstone said. “We’re not attacking The Crimson at the same time. We just think they need to come together and come up with a sensible solution.” Urbina said that the council’s statement is not a call to boycott The Crimson. “This statement does not mention the boycott whatsoever,” Urbina said. “It is simply a stepping stone that we recognize the concerns of Act on a Dream and undocumented students on campus,
and we can begin and continue having conversations with these groups and finding solutions.” Some council members, such as UC Vice President Julia M. Huesa ’20, said they are concerned the vote may be construed as “commenting on what the press does” and an attempt at censorship. Other students, such as Elm Yard Representative Phillip Meng ’23, called the statement “vague” and said they are not sure exactly what stance the statement is taking. In addition to statements directed at The Crimson, the UC’s statement includes actions that the council may review to formalize and expand its support for undocumented students, including leveraging media interaction training resources. kevin.chen@thecrimson.com
THE HARVARD CRIMSON |
NOVEMBER 11, 2019
PAGE 4
Mahajan and Patel Cite Experience Mathew and White-Thorpe Bid By FIONA K. BRENNAN and SIXIAO YU CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Sanika S. Mahajan ’21 and Rushi A. Patel ’21, one of several tickets vying for the Undergraduate Council presidency and vice presidency, hope to fix perceived gaps in the undergraduate experience and empower student activists, according to their campaign platform. Mahajan has represented Mather House on the UC for two years and has chaired both the Health, Safety, and Wellness Committee and the Women’s Caucus. A junior in Quincy House, Patel has been on the UC since his freshman year and is chair of the First-Year Class Committee. In their roles, Patel piloted the UC Summer Storage Initiative, which gave 400 students access to summer storage at 15 dollars for four boxes, and Mahajan instituted the inaugural Excellence in Support Student Mental Health Award given to faculty, according to their campaign site. Mahajan and Patel declined
We think it’s important for everyone from house deans to proctors and tutors to be better informed and trained on supporting student activism. Sanika S. Mahajan ’21 UC Candidate
to comment for this article. UC Representative Phiroze K. Parasnis ’21 said he admires Mahajan and Rushi’s experience and supports their ticket. “I think that the UC works best when it integrates the advocacy work and the project-based work and I think that they are the ticket that — the only ticket that — combines the two,” he said. Mahajan and Patel have focused their campaign on “Bridging Harvard,” which is their campaign slogan. It is premised on five main issues: identity and accessibility, student advocacy, mental
health, academic life, and sexual violence prevention. Mahajan and Patel’s campaign site indicates that they aim to increase support for student activists and provide opportunities for undergraduates to push for institutional changes on campus, according to their campaign materials. “If student government isn’t going to stand behind students, then who is?” Mahajan said in a video on the campaign website. To bolster student advocacy, the two plan to set up a “Change ‘Hack-a-thon.’” The proposal would give students access to administrators, faculty, and UC members “to formulate and pitch their ideas revolving around institutional change,” according to their website. Mahajan and Patel also want to create a “third branch of the UC” that includes a member from each student organization, allowing for greater representation of student groups within the body. “What they would be given the ability to do is combat and endorse legislation, as well as inform longer-term policy projects,” Patel said in a video on their campaign website. The pair plan to establish further support for student activists by instituting a point person among residential staff who focuses on student activism and advocacy. “We think it’s important for everyone from house deans to proctors and tutors to be better informed and trained on supporting student activism, as well as be more a part of the conversations that occur on campus,” Mahajan said in the video. In addition to student advocacy, Mahajan and Patel said in campaign videos they think more work is necessary in order to expand measures for mental health and sexual violence prevention on campus. The pair said they want to do this by looking beyond current institutional practices and services. “To address these issues, we need to take a look at every single step in the mental health journey, from accessing [Counseling and Mental Health Services], to referrals to outside providers, to informing policy,” Patel said in a campaign video.
Mahajan said she has attempted to improve the leave of absence policy through her work on the UC’s Health, Safety, and Wellness Committee by working to increase mental health support in an effort to decrease the number of men-
The biggest gap of all is the gap between the change students deserve and the change administrators are willing to give them. Rushi A. Patel ’21 UC Candidate
tal health-related leaves of absence. One part of their plan includes personalizing CAMHS access by assigning each student a personal CAMHS counselor whose information will be in the student’s advising tab. Mahajan and Patel have also said that they want to improve the accessibility of external providers by facilitating connections through videos, subsidized Uber and Lyft transportation, and sponsoring events that bring external providers onto campus. At the Harvard Political Union’s UC Presidential Candidate Debate Saturday evening, Mahajan and Patel also said that they are committed to preventing sexual violence on campus. On their website, they highlight methods such as providing a free “date rape drug test chip” and institutionalizing UC-funded bystander training to enforce community standards on sexual assault. “Ways that Rushi and I will continue to do that is to think about how we can bridge the gap between students and the resources that are already available to make them better and more student-facing,” Mahajan said at the debate. In addition to advocacy, Mahajan and Patel said they will seek financial and institutional independence for the UC from the University administration in order to fully implement their suggested changes on campus.
The pair said that it is currently difficult to get UC projects through the administration’s constraints. “The biggest gap of all is the gap between the change students deserve and the change administrators are willing to give,” Patel said at the debate. Mahajan and Patel pointed to their plan for a multicultural center as an example of how they are advocating for the UC to accomplish its goals, even without the support of the administration. Students have been fighting for a multicultural center for nearly fifty years. College spokesperson Aaron Goldman pointed to comments Dean of the College Rakesh Khurana has previously made about working with many students to solicit opinions about building a multicultural center. “If you really respect people’s participation, then you have to listen to them. You have to make sure all voices are heard,” Khurana said last year. Mahajan and Patel said they want to temporarily rent property near Harvard Square to
We no longer want to take no as an answer because we don’t need their permission. Sanika S. Mahajan ’21 UC Candidate
house the center and then use student involvement and support to push for a long-term solution. The pair hopes to fund this project and others like it through sources outside of the University. “That’s why we are proposing to take actions in our own hands: leverage alumni donations, use UC money, as well as external partnerships, and carry out the projects themselves,” Patel said. Mahajan and Patel have said they believe an independent UC would be able to institute its long-term goals, because it will not need to wait for approval from the administration. “We no longer want to take no as an answer because we don’t need their permission,” Mahajan said.
Kumar and Raji Make Outsider UC Push By MARGARET M. HYLTON and ANDY Z. WANG CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Prashanth “PK” Kumar ’21 and Michael O. Raji ’22 say that their position as outsiders to the Undergraduate Council situates them to best deliver solutions representative of the entire student body. The candidates — who have never served on the UC — are campaigning with the slogan “One Harvard” and on a platform of transparency and school spirit. Kumar and Raji — who hail from Atlanta, Ga., and League City, Texas, respectively — argue the Council’s decisions are poorly communicated to the student body at large and lack appropriate input from the undergraduate population. Though they have not been involved with student government at Harvard, the pair say their extracurricular experiences on campus make them qualified contenders for UC leadership. “He does a great job of leading by supporting the people around him,” Annika Bassey ’22, who serves on a Holworthy Peer Advising Fellow entryway team with Kumar, said in an interview Saturday. “I think he’ll bring that to the UC — just being there for all the students of Harvard and representing all of our interests the best way he can.” The duo aims to use the UC presidency to bring the student body closer together. They say this entails opening more lines of communication between the UC and students, as well as bolstering policy to improve sexual assault prevention, social inclusivity, and school spirit.
OUTSIDERS’ PERSPECTIVE
Kumar and Raji are not shy to admit that in a field of candidates who tout UC experience, they have never sponsored legislation at Harvard. But they say they believe distance from the Council’s work is an asset that
has helped them to recognize a lack of transparency. “As UC outsiders, we have a niche perspective into how the UC has failed to inform changes being made to Harvard at large,’’ Kumar said at a Harvard Political Union debate Saturday night. “We want to crack open the idea of the UC bubble, so that the voices of all students can be elevated, not just those who attend the town halls.” Raji said the duo would address the lack of information about the UC decision-making conferred to the student body at large. “We’ve learned a lot about how the UC functions, and we believe that you shouldn’t have to run for the highest office in UC to understand that many changes are going on,” Raji said at the HPU debate. “There’s many different mechanisms that dictate many of your lives.” Kumar also disputed the idea that UC experience is an essential qualification for the UC President and Vice President. He cited his PAF mentorship as an example of the work he’s done to impact his peers. “I can’t say I’ve written legislation or anything like that, but I’ve fought for every single one of my freshmen as though they’re my little siblings,” Kumar said. “So if we’re talking impact, I think I’ve made just as much impact as anyone on the UC.” The pair also say that their position as outsiders allows them to be the most effective at connecting with all facets of the Harvard College campus. Raji added they would create a website for the student body to submit feedback to UC leadership and focus on communicating changes to the student body as a whole.
SOCIAL CONNECTIONS AND STUDENT SUPPORT
Kumar and Raji said they aim to address social divisions they see on campus by boosting school spirit and pride, a priority they say is unique to their
campaign. The duo, who participate in athletics on campus, cite their plan to improve the social scene for student athletes as an example of their plans to advocate for campus cohesion. To address student-athletes’ social isolation, the two say they would co-host special events with the athletics department to create an “inclusive space.” “I think that the UC should be focusing on improving school spirit as a whole and solving social spaces,” Kumar said. “A unique feature we have is talking to the athletics department, and they are willing to host parties and tailgates.” Raji also highlighted the importance that multicultural social spaces play in giving students from diverse backgrounds a space to feel welcome. “Creating a space for different affinity groups to have can create a de facto multicultural center and a sense of belonging for students who feel disadvantaged,” Raji said. On the topics of sexual assault and mental health, the two said UC advocacy could drive campus-wide change. They said they would advocate for more same-day counseling appointments at Counseling and Mental Health Services, while simultaneously bolstering funding for student peer counseling groups like Contact and Indigo. “[CAMHS] is a great resource for nonemergency appointments, and we need to tell the administration we want more of those,” Kumar said. “Mental health is urgent and it requires resources that are there for you.” Citing his familiarity with Office of Sexual Assault Prevention and Response and Drug and Alcohol Peer Advisor training as a PAF, Kumar argued mandated training for all upperclassmen would improve safety in the Houses. “If you train every entryway, those are the people who are throwing the events, usual-
ly. And so upperclassmen need to be trained for OSAPR,” Kumar said. “And it’s not going to be perfect, not going to save every case, but it can make a difference. “
EXTRACURRICULAR ENGAGEMENT
Though the two are not involved with the Undergraduate Council, both Kumar and Raji are active in several other facets of campus life. In addition to serving as a PAF, Kumar — an Applied Mathematics concentrator — is manager of the men’s varsity tennis team and tutors local high school students through College High-School Alliance: A Nexus for Creative Education at Phillips Brooks House Association. “Working closely with him, I’ve seen how great he is with our first-year students that we advise,” Bassey said. “He is always showing up for them and doing anything he can to make sure that they’re thriving.” Bassey — a member of the women’s varsity tennis team — lauded Kumar’s commitment to Harvard athletics as well. “He spends a lot of time with the team. I see him at all their practices,” said Bassey. “He even goes to lift with them in the mornings.” Raji currently serves as the social chair of the Club Tennis team, works on accessibility-related projects for Harvard Common Spaces, and is a member of the Black Students Association and Black Men’s Forum. In addition, he is a research assistant at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Kumar and Raji say that their ability to connect with others on campus empowers them to shape a UC decision-making process that includes unheard voices from the student body. “We’re outsiders. But I think this is our best benefit,” Kumar said. “We need to focus on the groups aren’t voting that we can get engaged with. That’s where we start, and that’s why voting for outsiders is the best bet.”
By STEPHANIE H. ASHKAR and BENJAMIN L. FU CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
James A. Mathew ’21 and Ifeoma E. White-Thorpe ’21 are running to be Undergraduate Council President and Vice-President, respectively, because they believe “Harvard Can’t Wait” to empower students to make change on issues like diversity and student life. Mathew, a junior in Mather House, is concentrating in Sociology with a secondary in Global Health and Health Policy. He currently serves as Chief of Inclusion and Belonging on the UC Executive Cabinet. White-Thorpe, a junior in Leverett House, is concentrating in Government with a secondary field in Human Evolutionary Biology. Having served on three UC committees, she is currently the UC’s head of communications and chair of its Black Caucus. During their campaign, Mathew and White-Thorpe organized a “Music and Mingle” event, featuring performances by student artists. They also attended the UC Presidential Debate hosted by the Harvard Political Union on Saturday evening. Mathew and White-Thorpe declined to comment for this article. The pair’s campaign aims to improve several areas of the undergraduate student experience at Harvard, including supports for students from underrepresented backgrounds and first-generation, low-income students; sexual assault prevention and response; and health, safety, and wellness.
DIVERSITY ALONG ALL LINES
A portion of Mathew and White-Thorpe’s campaign seeks to foster inclusion among the student body and empower students of different genders, races, and socioeconomic backgrounds. In his opening statement at the HPU debate, Mathew said his and White-Thorpe’s ticket promotes diversity across multiple lines and will encourage inclusion and belonging on campus. “As an Indian-American man, alongside Ify, an African-American woman, we are the only ticket on this stage that identifies differently in our cultural background as well as our gender,” Mathew said. “Now, provided that we are the most diverse ticket, we can begin to reimagine what inclusion, belonging, and diversity might look like on this campus.” Mathew also called for institutional support for undocumented students. “We want to expand inclusion and belonging, so not just culture and race, as we feel the UC mostly focuses on, but also socioeconomic inclusion, inclusion for LGBTQ+ students as well as institutional support for undocumented students,” Mathew said at the debate Saturday. On their campaign website, Mathew and White-Thorpe detail a plan to support first-generation, low-income students by adding a permanent director of the First-Year Retreat and Experience program and allocating funding for unexpected financial emergencies. The plan also includes subsidizing daily expenses for first-generation and low-income students and increasing the current start-up grant — a subsidy given to low-income families in addition to existing financial aid — to $1000 per semester.
DISCUSSION AND DECISION-MAKING
Mathew and White-Thorpe have also focused their campaign on fostering student participation in UC initiatives. The pair has proposed forming a Unity Caucus, a group within the UC that would include members of the Council and outside students to help form legislation and collaborate on other projects. “Our proposal for the Unity Caucus is essentially the first proposal that really brings students outside of the UC en masse into the folds of the UC,” White-Thorpe said at the HPU debate. “It presents more seats at the table and amplifies student voices so that they can advocate for themselves.” Mathew and White-Thor-
pe put forward a proposal for a Community Conversation series where members of campus affinity groups can discuss challenges their members face. “This caucus would be composed of students from various affinity groups, various communities,” White-Thorpe said at Saturday’s debate. The pair also supports turning a floor in the Smith Campus Center into a “multicultural floor,” with the ultimate goal of creating a standalone multicultural center. At the HPU debate, White-Thorpe said she has already been in conversation with administrators about designating a floor in the center. Students have pushed the University to create a multicultural center for decades, though Harvard has rejected the idea time and time again. Only in recent years has the University accepted proposals to research the feasibility of a multicultural center on campus; former Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III believed such a center would create a division among students. At the HPU debate, other UC candidates questioned the practicality of a multicultural center. “The reality is that students have been working for years to get the administration to have a multicultural center in the Smith Center — dedicated students — and it hasn’t happened, so I just don’t believe that’s an achievable goal for a UC administration,” UC vice presidential candidate Case McKinley ’21 said.
‘INNOVATIVE’ SOLUTIONS FOR CHALLENGING PROBLEMS
Mathew and White-Thorpe have centered their campaign around solving persistent campus problems with more “proactive” and “innovative” solutions. “We intend to create solutions wherever there is a need, whether it be around academic advising, internship opportunities, or wellness,” their website reads. “If a solution already exists, our goal is to make it more accessible.” At the HPU debate, Mathew and White-Thorpe highlighted their experiences creating student organizations. Mathew is the president and co-founder of 21 Colorful Crimson, a student music group, and White-Thorpe founded the Black Premedical Society, a student organization that aims to expose its members to opportunities in health and medicine. Mathew and White-Thorpe have also proposed solutions to combat issues of mental health and sexual assault on campus. Mathew said the duo are advocating to shorten appointment waiting times at Harvard’s Counseling and Mental Health Services. “We feel that CAMHS needs to improve its policies,” Mathew said. “There shouldn’t be the type of waiting times that there are in the current administration to get an appointment at their most dire hour of need, and so we want to advocate to change that.” HUHS spokesperson Michael Perry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The pair also proposed promoting initiatives that encourage social connections to prevent mental health issues. Mathew and White-Thorpe have proposed providing more rape kits through HUHS or other organizations on campus, granting money to House Committees to plan programming to discuss sexual assault prevention, and institutionalizing April as sexual assault awareness month, according to their website. Results from a climate survey by the Association of American Universities regarding sexual misconduct revealed that around a third of Harvard undergraduate women experienced some form of nonconsensual sexual contact in their time at the University. White-Thorpe said at Saturday’s debate that they are the best ticket to tackle some of the University’s most enduring problems. “As you’ve seen and as we’ve seen, there are many changes that need to take place on this campus, and that’s why we say that Harvard can’t wait,” White-Thorpe said.
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THE HARVARD CRIMSON | NOVEMBER 11, 2019
McKinley and Larson Seek to Establish ‘Fun Fund’ By KELSEY J. GRIFFIN and AUSTIN W. LI CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
M. Thorwald “Thor” Larson ’21 and Case McKinley ’21, candidates for the Undergraduate Council presidency and vice presidency, are running on a platform that aims to bring accessibility, transparency, and a “Fun Fund” to the UC. Larson, a New Mexico native, is a junior in Lowell House and serves as the Vice Chair of the Finance Committee on the UC. During the current term, he has been involved in recent legislation to provide Uber subsidies to access medical and mental health facilities. McKinley, a junior in Dunster House, currently serves as the Vice Chair of the UC’s Health, Safety, and Wellness Committee. During his term, he has urged administrators to renovate campus buildings to improve access for disabled and injured students. McKinley, who uses a wheelchair, said in a candidate debate Saturday evening that he understands the need for increased inclusion on campus. “Before being elected to the UC, I was a committed advocate for disabled students, planning events all over campus address-
ing reception for disability on campus and inclusion for those students, and working with administration, advising on house renewal to make sure that the acceptable spaces to come into existence work for students like me,” McKinley said in the Harvard Political Union’s UC Presidential Debate Saturday. In a Friday interview, Larson and McKinley outlined their three main campaign aims — campus accessibility, the Fun Fund, and financial transparency — as a means of proving to the student body that the UC can be effective. “A lot of people look at the UC as a body that doesn’t do anything, as a body that’s more concerned with politics and looking good and sounding good instead of doing good,” Larson said. “We have this healthy balance of understanding the way the UC works even at the highest levels, and yet still retaining our skepticism of, you know, the UC is inefficient, and it is not perfect, and not all paths to success at Harvard and success for students have to go through the UC,” Larson said. The duo is running under the slogan “We Do Stuff,” a motto they said captures the transparency they hope to bring to the UC, as well as their own commitment to action over ver-
bal promises. “We want the UC to be an effective, inclusive force for change,” Larson said. “‘We’ is inclusive, ‘do’ is effective and the ‘stuff’ we do is change.” Larson and McKinley said their “Access for All” platform intends to make campus life “accessible, affordable, and available” to all students. “That means making sure that every phase of Harvard is accessible, affordable, and available to all students, regardless of physical and mental health condition, regardless of financial status, regardless of whatever,” Larson said. “Ev-
We want the UC to be an effective, inclusive force for change. ‘We’ is inclusive, ‘do’ is effective and the ‘stuff’ we do is change. M. Thorwald “Thor” Larson ’21 UC Candidate
eryone should be able to go anywhere because everyone belongs here.” Larson said it was important to work collaboratively with campus affinity groups to create more accessible social spac-
es. He noted the possibility of purchasing properties or repurposing existing locations to build a new multicultural center. “I think the first thing to recognize is that we, as the UC, cannot claim to be the experts in the room on this issue. That ultimately, you know, we need to have consistent outreach with the major groups on campus for whom this is their main focus,” Larson said. Citing a University-wide survey that found that the majority of respondents felt they belonged at Harvard, McKinley called for the UC to better support students who felt unwelcome during Saturday’s debate. “Look, I’m part of the 19 percent that said I didn’t feel I belong at Harvard, and I empathize with those groups. We do need multicultural spaces now. But more importantly, we need those spaces to be permanent,” McKinley said. Larsen and McKinley’s second major policy proposal is the Fun Fund, an initiative to sponsor individual social outings and activities that do not occur within a set student organization. The goal, according to the pair, is to create valuable experiences for the student body by subsidizing small events such as MBTA rides to Boston or
brownie-baking. Larson said that, unlike DAPA grants, the Fun Fund would sponsor low-key social gatherings rather than just parties.
We do need multicultural spaces now. But more importantly, we need those spaces to be permanent Case McKinley ’21 UC Candidate
Their campaign website notes Larson and McKinley have already identified more than $15,000 in the UC’s current budget to fund the initiatives, and that they “hope to find even more.” “We’re going to fund the social scene you want,” McKinley said at Saturday’s debate. “We will go out to folks and make sure they know that funding exists and make sure we know what they want.” Larson also advocated bringing additional transparency to the UC’s budget. During his tenure on the UC’s finance committee, Larson said he came to the conclu-
sion that the UC should publicize how it spends its budget. His campaign calls for a twopronged plan to address the issue of financial transparency. In addition to making students aware of how the UC spends their $200 Student Activities Fee, Larson said he wants to ensure “that the money that is being used ineffectively is instead put into things like the Fun Fund and for clubs.” Larson and McKinley also said they aim to bring more fun to their interactions with students. They said they believe that bringing dogs to “pawfice hours” will encourage students to talk to UC leaders about their concerns and ideas. “One of the biggest problems that the UC has in outreach is that people don’t really either know how to contact us or, if they know how to contact us, they don’t want to contact us,” Larson said. “I would hope these things would have high turnout because people love dogs.” Larson and McKinley’s website states these initiatives will help students’ awareness of the UC’s $500,000 budget, develop new channels to fund more informal student activities, and help students and cubs get funding “easily, quickly, and reliably.”
Dhar and Liang Vie to Win UC Posts, Abolish the UC By NATHAN W. ZHAO and KAVYA M. SHAH CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Aditya A. Dhar ’21 and Andrew W. Liang ’21 have a tear-it-alldown attitude when it comes to fixing what they believe to be a flawed student government. Running under the slogan “a campaign to end campaigns,” the duo is calling for the abolition of the College’s Undergraduate Council. Dhar, an Applied Mathematics concentrator, and Liang, a Social Studies concentrator and an active Crimson business editor, have no previous experience on the Council, but said they have been longtime critics of UC’s presence on campus. The campaign is primarily centered on three major promises: abolishing the Council; eliminating the student activities fee, an optional sum that undergraduates pay as part of enrollment costs; and improving students’ feelings of inclusion and belonging. As the duo explained their campaign promises, they barely cracked a smile. At Saturday’s annual “Crimson Crossfire Debate,” Liang similarly remained composed as he fielded questions about the feasibility of his proposals, such as one to tax all tourists who walk through Harvard Yard. To justify their calculations, the campaign compiled a white paper, replete with complex multivariable equations — and few numbers. “We’ve heard a lot about the UC over the past three years. We’ve heard some interesting things,” Dhar said. “Everyone says they want to make a difference, but no one really makes
the difference, and we decided to be the ones who could.”
FOLLOWING IN THE ‘FOOTSTEPS OF GIANTS’
Dhar and Liang said they regard the abolition of the Undergraduate Council as viable and sorely needed. Liang referred to a predecessor of the Undergraduate Council, called the Student Council, which undergraduates voted to disband in the 1960s, in a bid to show that the duo’s proposal is not without precedent. A new body, called the Harvard Council for Undergraduate Affairs, replaced the Student Council almost immediately. The pair has purchased the domain, abolishtheuc.org, which features stick figures and a text message purporting to show an endorsement from the president of Yale’s student government, Yale junior Khalil
Everyone says they want to make a difference, but no one really makes the difference, and we decided to be the ones who could Aditya A. Dhar ’21 UC Candidate
Greene. Liang could not verify the authenticity of the endorsement and Greene could not be reached for comment. Dhar and Liang said that abolition would empower students to propose their own ideas without facing bureaucratic hurdles. “We are following in the
footsteps of giants and are part of a long tradition of civic participation in the most active sense,” Liang said. Casting themselves as “non-traditional candidates,” the duo said that the vast majority of those seeking UC leadership make promises that they never keep. The simplistic nature of the duo’s proposals distinguish them, Dhar argued. “At best, you’re pushing for some random platforms that they espouse, but we just want to be transparent and accountable,” Dhar said. “We just see this as a way to truly give the power back to the people.” Dhar said that without the UC, alternative means of implementing and advocating for policy would be more effective. “I think having more ideas is how you get the best ideas,” he said.
A ‘FREEDOM DIVIDEND’
One of the ways that Dhar and Liang promise to shift the power of the UC to undergraduates is by repealing the student activities fee. The optional sum — which increased from $75 to $200 last year — mostly accrues to the Council. In 2018, the UC received approximately $500,000 from the fee, which it in turn doled out to hundreds of undergraduate student groups on campus. Dhar argued that abolishing the fee would give financial autonomy to students. “We don’t want to be in the position of managing your money,” he said. “We want you to manage your money, and we want you to get $200 to do whatever you want with it.” The duo cited what they believe to be inexplicable in-
creases in the fee and financial mismanagement by the UC in allocating its budget. Liang specifically pointed to an article written by a former member of the Council on behalf of the Harvard College Open Data
We are following in the footsteps of giants and are part of a long tradition of civic participation in the most active sense. Andrew W. Liang ‘21 UC Candidate
Project, a student-faculty collaboration that conducts analyses of campus-related data sets. “It literally says that between 2017 and 2019, the UC either lost the receipts, or had money misspent, for $100,000 of club funding, and there was no accountability for that,” Liang said. Dhar and Liang call their proposal to abolish the fee a “freedom dividend,” even though the $200 would come off of students’ tuition bills rather than be re-allocated to them. The duo said they took inspiration from an “unnamed” Democratic presidential candidate, presumably Andrew Yang, who has proposed a universal basic income of $1,000 per month to all American adults. “We wanted to call our lack of a student activities fee a ‘freedom dividend,’ to let people know that they are getting their money back, and that we’re giving money back to the people,”
he said.
WE’LL ‘DIG’ IT UP
One aspect of the duo’s campaign is an attempt to connect the student body, both physically and metaphorically. As part of that goal, Dhar and Liang said they will advocate for the construction of a multicultural center on campus, one of their few conventional campaign promises. They also call for the College to “move the Quad back to the Yard,” which they said would likely entail purchasing the land between the two undergraduate living campuses. “Last year, the [Harvard Management Company] spent $161 million dollars on house renovations,” Liang said, apparently referring to the 2017 budget year. “We’ll use the $161 million to buy up every single building between the Quad to the Yard.” If that does not materialize, Dhar said, “we’ll dig up the entirety of the Quad and airlift it to the Yard.” In order to fund their proposals, the pair plan to levy a $1 tax on all tourists entering Harvard Yard, which will increase to $50 during Primal Scream, a biannual event at the end of reading period in which students sprint a nude lap around the Yard. Without an Undergraduate Council, though, the duo would no longer have a formal position from which to advocate for these ideas. Rather, the impetus for the enactment of proposals such as a multicultural center would come from grass-roots pressure exerted by students on administrators, such as University Pres-
ident Lawrence S. Bacow. Liang argued that the tax on tourists would provide ample revenue for the construction of a multicultural center and to pay for the proposal to move the Quad to the Yard. Dhar turns more serious when it comes to students’ feelings of inclusion. The duo will hold an event at El Jefe’s Taqueria on Tuesday in order to bring together students who harbor negative feelings about the UC. “Our campaign strategy is to make sure that people know about us, and know about how dear to our hearts the issue of abolishing the UC is, because we feel that it’s a sentiment that is common to so many people,” Dhar said. “People have different reasons for abolishing the UC, and we feel that one night at Jefe’s over a bowl of nachos can do a lot to further that common goal.” Liang said that regardless of the results of the election, he hopes that the duo’s proposals will spark a conversation on campus. “We are getting people excited for the UC in a way that neither of us has seen in our three years at Harvard,” Liang said. “I don’t think the UC has ever put out an event that has had the same kind of participation and sign-ups and excitement that we’ve had, and there definitely hasn’t been a UC video viewed 1000 times in one day, as we’ve had.” “I really just hope that we make more people interested in the UC, and learn a little more about the things they can and cannot do, so they can get their benefits with the money they give to the UC,” Dhar added.
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THE HARVARD CRIMSON | NOVEMBER 11, 2019
PAGE 6
EDITORIAL THE CRIMSON EDITORIAL BOARD
COLUMN
In Support of a HGSU Strike
H
arvard’s graduate student union announced that it would strike if its negotiators could not reach a contract with the University by Dec. 3. The deadline, which falls on the final day of classes for the fall term, means a potential strike would begin during reading and finals period, giving the University and union negotiators almost two months to come to an agreement before the start of spring classes. A strike authorization vote the union conducted last month garnered 90 percent support, and the union held two town hall meetings to update its members on the status of negotiations and make recommendations to student workers on how to navigate teaching and research responsibilities if a strike
We support the decision of Harvard Graduate Students Union-United Automobile Workers members to strike. were to go forward. We support the decision of Harvard Graduate Students Union-United Automobile Workers members to strike. We reaffirm our precedent in support of the union taking all appropriate action necessary to provide their members with an economically secure basis on which to live while at the University. We recognize that the decision to
strike is no casual matter. It entails a considerable economic burden for strikers and potentially serious academic disruption for non-union students. During this time, we encourage professors and classes to be transparent in making their contingency plans known to students so we can best prepare ourselves in the event the strike goes forward. Critically, we think it’s important to note that lack of progress on particularly difficult issues doesn’t necessarily mean that both sides aren’t negotiating in good faith. Even under the shadow of the potential upcoming strike, it’s important to encourage both sides to continue pursuing negotiations in good faith, even under the shadow of the potential upcoming strike. We also hope that these negotiations will not be stalled by the National Labor Relations Board’s proposed rule that could eliminate graduate student unions. A strike is a drastic measure, and the union’s decision to threaten one seems to us suggestive of a loss of trust in the University’s desire to negotiate a fair settlement. We do not have access to the private back-and-forth of the negotiations and are therefore not in a position to make that judgement for ourselves. With that said, we believe that it is incumbent upon the University in the coming weeks to offer tangible proof to the union’s bargaining committee of its
desire to negotiate in good faith and arrive at an outcome that is acceptable to both parties. We recognize that such negotiations can be fraught by nature.
A strike is a drastic measure, and the union’s decision to threaten one seems to us suggestive of a loss of trust in the University’s desire to negotiate a fair settlement. And while we expect concessions to be made on both sides, as is necessary in any such complex contract negotiations, we hope that the union will continue to faithfully represent its members in the pursuit of a fair contract. Ultimately, both sides must come together in a productive and fair manner for all involved so that union workers can be guaranteed a fair, secure livelihood for the duration of their tenure at the University. This staff editorial solely represents the majority view of The Crimson Editorial Board. It is the product of discussions at regular Editorial Board meetings. In order to ensure the impartiality of our journalism, Crimson editors who choose to opine and vote at these meetings are not involved in the reporting of articles on similar topics.
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William A. McConnell TABLE TALK
B
etween 1830 and 1930 the average U.S. fulltime workweek declined from 69 hours to 47 hours per week. Far from decreasing economic production, this trend was accompanied by substantial increases in standards of living. We were working less and enjoying more. Capitalism was working. It was at this time that the famous economist John Maynard Keynes published his essay “Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren” in which he imagined Western societies a hundred years later continuing along this trajectory and escaping the “economic problem” once and for all. He envisioned four to eight fold increases in standards of living accompanied by 15 hour workweeks. More importantly, he envisioned freedom from capitalistic principles that make a virtue of greed. We would cast off the pretensions of capitalism that we only adopted to get us over the subsistence hump, and finally reach a world where we might fully realize our human potential. Today we are all probably saddened to see this future unrealized. But what is surprising is how much more attainable this future is than we may have appreciated. Just considering changes in average productivity over time, we can start to understand how far we have come. The average U.S. worker today is about four times as productive as the average worker of the 1950s, who worked about 40 hours a week. A natural interpretation says we could work one fourth as much today and achieve the same standard of living as our forefathers in the ’50s. We would probably miss our phones, washing machines, and Amazon Prime shipping, but by working 11 hours a week we could turn the workweek into a work-weekend, leaving us plenty of time to hang out with our friends, wash our clothes, and walk to stores to buy what we need. If the 50s lifestyle doesn’t suit us, we could enjoy the 70s lifestyle of Space Invaders and mi-
Yet we are not being idealists in realizing that we are capable of an entirely different world,
The Crimson @thecrimson OP-ED
Deconstructing Activism: Reading Between the (Metro) Lines By EVELYN WONG
“Y
apo’ señora, nosotros aguantamos los palos para que a ustedes les alcance para el pan. Pase por abajo nomás señora, nosotros la cuidamos, por hoy el Metro es gratis.” (“We’ll bear the [beating of the] sticks so you can afford bread. Please pass through, ma’am, we will take care of you, for today the Metro is free.”) These words, spoken by a high school student to an elderly lady amidst ongoing protests in Santiago, Chile, sear like an invisible flame against my chest — half my mind in Lavietes Pavilion, half in Estación Los Heroes, and all my heart straddling that bittersweet border between privilege and marginality I call home. Perhaps this moment stands out so much to me because of the fondness with which I remembered Estación Los Heroes during my time in Chile. Afforded the privilege to work with under-resourced children with cancer, I frequently found myself at this Metro intersection where two worlds met: The comunas of the “haves” neatly spaced along one line, and the other world — the “have-nots-and-a-half”— sprawled across the rest. In the past two weeks, I’ve watched as Chile, whose beauties and imperfections that became dear to me during my time there, ruptured into a heightened struggle against socioeconomic inequality and political corruption. What started as groups of students jumping turnstile gates through the Santiago subway system in response to Metro fare hikes has escalated to so much more than 30 pesos. These demonstrations reflect 30 years of increasing social unrest, due to disparate income levels and privatization of basic needs such as water, inadequate public healthcare, education, and pension systems, and social injustices against BGLTQ and indigenous populations. In response to clashes between student protesters and police that ended in the destruction of several Metro stations, Chilean President Sebastian Piñera’s
government decreed a state of emergency, resorting to military patrolling, tear gas, and a curfew to reestablish control. Despite over 2,500 detainments, 1,400 injuries and 18 deaths reported due to violence, the government has framed media reports as a means of criminalizing protesters, justifying military presence against what Piñera considers “a powerful enemy, who is willing to use violence without limits.” In a country where military dictatorship has left a fresh scar on its residents’ collective psyche, the recent actions taken by the right-wing Chilean government have reawakened repression unseen since the dictatorship
Yet despite this violence, Chilean youth continue to shout louder. of Augusto Pinochet in the 1970s and 1980s. Yet despite this violence, Chilean youth continue to shout louder. Though I don’t know the name of the high school student whose words have further galvanized an enormous student-led movement for greater socioeconomic justice, I recognize the tremendous courage and class consciousness that makes his words so electrifying — and what it means for us to hear these words from such a young individual. There’s a lot to learn from these student protesters who refuse to succumb to propaganda tactics and government repression, amplifying the wave of national disobedience despite constant reminders of an excruciating past. Chilean students are taking the initiative to challenge the dysfunctional neoliberal model as well as cycles of intergenerational poverty. And our global colleagues need to be heard. As members of an institution which prides itself in seeking truth and affecting global change, we as Harvard students endeavor to make the world our palette for universal impact. Whether it’s conducting research, advocating for human rights, constructing schools and
houses, or spearheading economic development, we strive to build our resumes with the flashiest experiences. However, when we return to Cambridge, where stress manifests itself in problem sets rather than protection of basic rights, we re-engulf ourselves in the Harvard bubble, largely disconnected from what’s going on in these communities around the world which we so passionately yearn to improve and support. But our retreat into our elite academic institutions doesn’t stop the rest of the world from living these agonizing realities on a daily basis. This conversation needs to continue. While we cannot participate in these demonstrations or effect concrete institutional change from Cambridge, we can let these students know that their voices are heard across seas and encourage them to keep shouting. While part of this involves maintaining awareness of what’s reported — and by extension, what’s left out — in international media, a huge part of our support means recognizing our own privileges and appreciating our freedom to speak out against injustice. As I warm up for basketball practice or fight for rebounds beneath polished orange halos in Lavietes Pavilion, the high schooler’s words keep me grounded in faith and humility knowing that many of our generational counterparts in Chile — and around the world — are fighting tirelessly for basic necessities, for a just and equitable society, for dignity and universal human rights. For those who plan on applying for an internship or job abroad, know that your connection to their local community shouldn’t end when your work-related responsibilities do. Families and friendships forged during your stay may last far beyond a few months, just as a Metro ride can transcend far beyond a single fare — so be prepared to make these experiences lifelong. —Evelyn Wong ’21, an inactive Crimson Editorial editor, is a joint Neuroscience and Romance Languages and Literature concentrator in Quincy House.
crowave ovens while working around 18 hours a week, or the 90s lifestyle of Disney and early iMacs while working 25 hours a week, and so on. We can squabble over the details and practicalities of these hypotheticals. Yet they acknowledge the huge leaps humanity has made in a way that current discussions of the economy do not. They acknowledge the fact that today a computer or a robot or a more highly educated worker can complete a task in fractions of the time that would have been required in past eras — and they remind us of the many forms society could take as a result. Even these hypotheticals may understate the incredible capabilities of our economic system. Half of all modern work activities today could be replaced with current technology, if only those technologies were more widely implemented. Imminent technological developments will drive this proportion even higher. Our transportation industry may soon be disrupted substantially by self-driving cars. We are rapidly discovering new and better ways to harness the world’s energy. Improvements in health and education will continue to improve the skill of our workers. Service industries, including Wall Street, will continue to be reshaped by developments in AI. And these developments will only be accelerated by quantum computing, which, it is worth mentioning, Google harnessed just a few months ago to execute in three minutes a computation that would have taken a classical supercomputer 10,000 years. In almost every sector imaginable the fearless march of science and technology will create an economic system converging towards self-sustainability. To view these developments the way Keynes did is to appreciate capitalism not for what it does but rather for what it has already done. It is to see the rapid developments brought about by capitalism not so much as evidence for capitalism’s continued necessity, but rather as the building blocks for a world system that no longer needs capitalism. We can think of ourselves climbing higher and higher up the proverbial capitalist ladder. Or we can think of ourselves summiting something. We can dream of retiring capitalism and replacing it with a system that enjoys and acknowledges the benefits brought by capitalism while leaving behind its contradictions and inhumanities. Capitalism is a system of economic progress, but at a certain point, whether today or somewhere down the line, the burden of progress, of the strictly economic sort, will be best left behind. Of course, although these dreams of a future beyond capitalism are possible or nearly possible in the simple sense of resource input and output, they are miles away in today’s complicated reality. Reality carries with it broken political systems, established economic policies and the challenges of globalization, cultural obsessions with capitalistic ideals like greed and the persisting myth of functioning meritocracy, and even conceptual considerations of whether standards of living must include growth in and of itself. We should not let wistful abstraction deter us from continuing to politically and culturally navigate these daily realities.,Yet we are not being idealists in realizing that we are capable of an entirely different world, the world that the leading architect of our current economic system imagined for us almost 100 years ago, likely from some desk in London overlooking a cobblestone street. To dream of this world is to remind ourselves of the uniqueness of the 21st century, and to have an open mind about the path we are charting forward. —William A. McConnell ’21 is a Mathematics concentrator in Adams House. His column appears on alternate Mondays.
SPORTS
THIS WEEKEND’S
SCORES
FIELD HOCKEY VS. COLUMBIA W, 2-1 ___________________________________________________________
WOMEN’S ICE HOCKEY VS. PRINCETON W, 3-0 ___________________________________________________________
WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL AT PENN L , 3-1 ___________________________________________________________
MEN’S SWIM & DIVE VS. DUKE L, 128-172 ___________________________________________________________
WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL AT PRINCETON L , 3-0 ___________________________________________________________
MEN’S SWIM & DIVE VS. NO. 7 TEXAS A&M L, 132.5-167.5 ___________________________________________________________
MEN’ SOCCER AT COLUMBIA L, 6-1 ___________________________________________________________
WOMEN’ SOCCER AT COLUMBIA
T, 1-1
MEN’S ICE HOCKEY
No. 18/15 Harvard Thumps No. 15/- Quinnipiac, 7-2 By SPENCER R. MORRIS CRIMSON STAFF WRITER
In Saturday night’s duel between the Harvard men’s hockey team (3-0-0, 3-0-0 ECAC) and conference foe Quinnipiac (4-4-1, 0-1-1), the No. 18/15 Crimson built leads and defended them. The No. 15 Bobcats responded to Harvard’s surges with early-period goals in both the second and third frames, but the hosts were able to mitigate the comeback efforts and secure the 7-2 victory. The Crimson’s 3-0-0 start to the campaign is the best it has posted in the 16-season tenure of coach Ted Donato ‘91. “It’s good to see our depth clicking right now,” sophomore forward Casey Dornbach said. “It’s good to see us able to get off to a good start…. We know every one of these [standings] points, especially at home, is huge. In the ECAC and the Ivy, one point at the end of the year can mean everything.” Harvard owned the lead for most of the game thanks to its solid first period that saw the hosts put three tallies on the board. The ice tilted back to even in the middle frame, as Quinnipiac quickly cut its deficit to two scores. In the waning minutes of the second, however, the Crimson put home two pucks and rendered the contest out of reach for the Bobcats. First, slippery skating and puck-handling from freshman forward Nick Abruzzese created a weak-side chance on which Dornbach capitalized. Just several shifts later, rookie defenseman Henry Thrun flipped the puck over goaltender Evan Fear on the rush. The strike, which was upheld after video review for an offsides call, put a comfortable distance of four pucks between the two ECAC adversaries.
In the third, Harvard added another two goals to Quinnipiac’s one, but the result was inevitable after the Crimson doled the deflating two-score blow at the end of the second period. “We gave up a goal early, and we were able to hold them off,” freshman forward John Farinacci said. “That second period was all over the place with all the penalties. It was definitely good to get a couple goals at the end of the second, but…we still had to come out and have a good first five and finish it off.” To close out the first frame, sophomore forward R.J. Murphy found twine for the first time this season and extended the lead to three. Senior Justin Szeto earned his first career point on the play, as he slipped a pass to Murphy from behind the net to set up the strike. Murphy’s tuck turned out to be the game-winner in Saturday’s clash and was just one element of a strong opening 20 for the crimson and white. It was also a prime example of the healthy contributions Harvard received from skaters throughout the lineup. “What’s a real positive for me is that we’re getting contributions up and down the lineup,” coach Donato said. “When you have guys step up and make plays like that, it really gives a lot of confidence on the bench.” Twelve minutes into the tilt, the referees assessed Quinnipiac blue-liner Peter DiLiberatore a five-minute major penalty and game misconduct for hitting Harvard’s Jack Badini from behind. One minute into the ensuing non-releasable powerplay, the home team converted its first man-up marker of the season, courtesy of center Jack Drury. With a spinning backhand pass, junior point man Reilly Walsh worked the puck down near the goal line to Dornbach.
ICY The Crimson picked up its first four-point weekend of the season and should expect a bump in its national ranking come next week. The Crimson’s 3-0-0 start is its best ever in the 16 years since Ted Donato took charge of the program. QUINN G. PERINI—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER
The sophomore found his classmate at the top of the right circle, where Drury ripped a one-timer over the left pad of Bobcats goaltender Keith Petruzzelli to give his team a two-score lead. “[The powerplay] is something we have to clean up a little bit,” Dornbach said. “But it’s good to see us getting offense in multiple ways.” The penalty played a significant role in tilting the ice in the Crimson’s favor through 20 minutes. The squad’s first-period performances in its two games leading up to Saturday left something to be desired — defensive-zone turnovers and a failure to possess the puck in the offensive zone defined these two opening frames. Against Quinnipiac, though, Harvard thoroughly dominated the tilt’s incipient stanza. “Quinnipiac is notoriously
one of the best teams in the neutral zone…and they’re a really good transition team, so you have to be good with the puck,” coach Donato said. “I thought we were better with the puck today, and I thought we were able to get some pucks in their zone and get plays stopped up and use all five guys offensively.” Looking to ignite his group, Bobcats coach Rand Pecknold replaced Petruzzelli (3 GA, .571 SV%) with Fear (4 GA, .750 SV%) when the teams rejoined for the middle frame. Quinnipiac responded before the period was two minutes old. Sophomore forward Wyatt Bongiovanni fired one past freshman net-minder Mitchell Gibson (2 GA, .941 SV%) on a successfully executed faceoff play. The goal marked the first blemish on Gibson’s young but
promising NCAA resume. So initially, the goalie swap seemed to work — that is, until the Crimson’s late-second-period surge. Junior forward Henry Bowlby broke open the scoring on Saturday. The Harvard winger darted through the slot and picked up a feed from Murphy before placing the puck right under the bar on Petruzzelli. The tally added to Bowlby’s productive weekend (2–1—3), as well as to Murphy’s career-best night (1–1—2). Early in the campaign, Bowlby has shown that his top-end speed will be an asset for the Crimson all year. Bowlby and Murphy are two of the many significant Harvard contributors through three contests this season. Abruzzese (2–4—6), Dornbach (1–5—6), and sophomore blue-liner Jack Rathbone (3–3—6) sit tied for
the team lead in points. Dornbach’s three-point effort on Saturday paced all skaters. Badini (1–4—5), Farinacci (2–3—5), and Thrun (2–2—4) have also played large roles in the high-octane Crimson offense through the squad’s first two weekends. All six of these players inked the score sheet on Saturday night. After a four-point weekend, Harvard’s national ranking is set to improve by next week, when it will hit the road for the first time this season for Ivy League rivals Brown and Yale. The schedule ahead will provide more adversity than the undefeated Crimson has seen to date, but the team’s young, skilled core has assimilated quickly to college hockey and should continue to deliver ample firepower moving forward. spencer.morris@thecrimson.com
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Harvard Mounts Comeback vs. Cal in 56-53 Victory By EMA R. SCHUMER CRIMSON STAFF WRITER
With under a minute left to play, sophomore guard Maggie McCarthy dished a backdoor pass to sophomore forward Tess Sussman, who laid the ball in off the glass. The Friday night crowd at Lavietes Pavilion cheered as McCarthy and Sussman embraced at half court, while a demoralized University of California at Berkeley team called a timeout to regroup. Sussman’s layup solidified Harvard’s lead against the Bears as the Crimson successfully mounted a 56-53 come
back win in its home opener. The game marked Harvard’s second consecutive victory over Cal. To senior co-captain and guard Mackenzie Barta, backto-back victories over the Bears is no small feat. “It’s huge. Beating them once is like, okay, it could have been a fluke. We just had a good shooting night. They maybe didn’t play their best,” Barta said. “But beating them twice. I think it’s a statement.” The Crimson’s “statement” victory, however, was far from inevitable. In fact, coach Kathy Delaney-Smith called Friday
night’s victory an “ugly game.” “I couldn’t be more proud of this team, because I don’t think we did a lot of things well, other than play our hearts out on the defensive end,” she said. Early in the first quarter, Harvard got out ahead, but California chipped at the Crimson’s lead, hitting a fluke three point shot at the buzzer to tie the game at 14 going into the second quarter. California’s man-to-man defense stifled Harvard’s players. Repeatedly, the Crimson players were forced to throw up desperate attempts to score as the shot clock wound down to
its last seconds. In the second quarter, Cal held Harvard to score only five points and led by 10 at the halftime intermission. Harvard’s weak offense was compounded by turnovers. The squad looked out of synch; at their worst, players were unable to complete passes to each other under the slightest defensive pressure. As a result, Harvard ended the first half with a whopping 15 turnovers. “Inexperience was our demon,” Delaney-Smith said. “We’re either young or coming back from an injury. So everything we’re doing is rusty. And I expect it to be ugly, because we
GOLDEN VS. THE GOLDEN BEARS The Crimson celebrates after knocking off the Golden Bears for the second straight season. Freshman guard Lola Mullaney led the team for a second consecutive game, finishing the night with 14 points. HENRY ZHU—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER
don’t know each other very well on the offensive end..there’s no quick road to experience.” Though the team lacks experience, it oozes with character. “There’s such heart and selflessness on this team right now. It’s very selfless. I felt it since we started practice,” Delaney-Smith said. This selflessness proved vital to the Crimson’s comeback effort in the second half. It manifested in critical plays down the stretch, like the back door pass from McCarthy to Sussman. “Maggie and Tess didn’t play a lot last year. And now they’re the heart and rock of our team. They’re both phenomenal players,” Delaney-Smith said. On offense, Sussman added fuel to the Crimson’s comeback effort. Twice in the fourth quarter, from the position of right wing, the versatile guard/ forward drove middle past her defender and finished at the hoop with her left hand to tie the game. Sussman finished with 13 points, 5 rebounds, 2 blocks, and 2 steals. Though McCarthy does not usually play point guard, she looked like a floor general in Friday’s game. The guard was ubiquitous on the court; she chased down rebounds, tussled on the ground to get possession of the ball, and swarmed her opponents by playing help defense. McCarthy made herself essential to the Crimson on both ends of the floor, tallying 38 minutes of game time play. In that time, she grabbed 7 rebounds, dished 3 assists, and scored 4 points. “She’s become our floor leader,” Barta said. McCarthy is “doing all of the...intangible things, and I know that might not show up on the scoresheet, but we definitely all appreciate it. I think she’s one of the most
gritty players that we have for sure, very consistent too.” In addition to the sophomores, standout freshman guard Lola Mullaney led both teams in scoring with 14 points in only three quarters. Her prolific scoring performance was cut short due to an ankle injury that forced her to be carried off the court by her teammates. Despite her injury, Mullaney made a statement of her own in her Harvard debut against Northern Illinois on Tuesday by scoring 25 points. The second leading scorer for the Crimson was senior forward Jeannie Boehm. Boehm, who grinded in the post against Cal’s formidable forwards, scored 10 points. Though she looked frustrated in the first half, she came out determined in the second half, scoring buckets in the paint to give the Crimson needed momentum. Senior co-captain Mackenzie Barta recorded the first double-double of her career. In 32 minutes of play, she grabbed 12 rebounds and scored 10 points. Missing from the team’s lineup in the Crimson’s first two games of the season is junior forward Jadyn Bush. Bush, who led the Crimson in rebounds last year, is recovering from a shoulder surgery she underwent in the offseason. Delaney-Smith is confident that Bush will be back in the rotation by the time Harvard begins its league play. Barta said Friday night’s win was a testament to the team’s mentality this season. “The team culture, I don’t know how to explain it, but it’s different,” she said. “It’s new, it’s fresh. I think we’re ready to do big things this year. It’s gritty. That’s my word of the day. Grit. This team has a lot of grit.” ema.schumer@thecrimson.com
SPORTS
WEEKLY RECAP IN OTHER SCORES NEWS
WOMEN’S RUGBY VS. BU MEN’S BASKETBALL W, 18-17 ___________________________________________________________
WOMEN’S SWIMMING 2ND MEN’S WATER POLOIVY LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHP ___________________________________________________________
Harvard downed Dartmouth 23-22 in the NIRA L WOMEN’S HEAVYWEIGHT CREW VS. YALE ___________________________________________________________
Harvard closed out its regular season GOLF VS. PRINCETON W ___________________________________________________________ Semi-Final at Mignone Field on Saturday. The with wins against No. STATE 18 Brown and FOOTBALL VS. UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT L, 42, 36 MEN’S WRESTLING VS. PENN L, 42, 36 ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ Crimson will take on Army in the NIRA Final on MIT, 10-4 and 14-5. The wins propelled FENCING NEW ENGLAND CHAMPIONSHIP 15TH ___________________________________________________________ Sunday at Mignone Field. Harvard to a perfect 27-0 on the season.
FOOTBALL
Harvard Comes Close In 17-10 OT Loss to Columbia
HEARTBREAK IN OVERTIME Harvard defensive back Max Jones snatches a fourth-quarter lob by Columbia quaterback Ty Lenhart. It was an overtime interception going the other direction that sealed the win for the Lions, as Columbia defensive back Ben Mathiasmeier’s late pick secured Columbia’s first victory versus Harvard since 2003. TIMOTHY R. O’MEARA—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER By JOSEPH W. MINATEL CRIMSON STAFF WRITER
N EW YORK, N.Y. — For the second straight week, Harvard football ended its game in heartbreak. The Crimson dropped yet another walk-off contest, this time to Columbia in overtime as the Lions intercepted Harvard late to seal the game, 17-10. “Today the margin again was very thin,” Harvard coach Tim Murphy said. “It went to overtime and I thought our defense played really, really well. Obviously caught us on a big play in overtime and couldn’t reciprocate when we got our opportunity.” Columbia (3-5, 2-3 Ivy) had not beaten Harvard (4-4, 2-3 Ivy) in 15 straight matchups going into today’s game, with its last victory over the Crimson coming in 2003. For the second consecutive week, the last play of the game resulted in a clinching win for Harvard’s opponent. Sophomore quarterback Luke Emge, who was substituted late in the third quarter for struggling junior quarterback Jake Smith, lofted a ball down the right sideline intended for junior wide receiver James Batch. Junior defensive back Ben Mathiasmeier undercut the flag route and made a tip-toeing interception down the sideline to secure the Lions’ victory. Harvard won the overtime coin toss and elected to start its first overtime possession since 2016 on defense. The Crimson defense quickly made its presence felt, starting the period with a sack from sophomore defensive lineman Jacob Sykes. The Lions, however, did not waiver, as Columbia senior quarterback Ty Lenhart found senior tight end Rory Schlageter for 25 yards down to the Harvard one-yard line. Sophomore wide receiver Mike Ruossos would punch in the score on
the ensuing play to give Columbia its first lead of the day, 17-10. The Crimson offense, knowing that it needed a touchdown to stay alive, would not give itself much of a chance to do so. On the first play of the drive, Emge’s throw down the sideline was intercepted by Mathiasmeier, and Columbia celebrated victoriously. “I thought we played well defensively,” Murphy said. “We didn’t score enough points, we gotta score points. And we’ve struggled a little bit to do that the last couple of games.” The struggling offense attempted to change up its recent woes by making a personnel switch late in the third quarter, swapping its starting quarterback Smith for the backup Emge. “I just felt like we needed a spark,” Murphy said. “I couldn’t guarantee that we were going to get a spark from putting another quarterback in, but Jake just didn’t have it today, and I thought Luke came in and did a very solid job. But at the end of the day, it wasn’t a quarterback thing, it wasn’t a one person thing, we just were not consistent enough.” The second half started without much incident, as the defenses reigned supreme. Three consecutive punts to start the half kept the quarter moving along. On the third punt, a muffed punt from the Crimson led to a scramble for the ball. The fumble was eventually recovered by Harvard, seemingly ending the excitement. A late flag just outside the scrum, however, resulted in a targeting call against Columbia, but a review overturned the flag and returned the second half to its slow pace as Harvard would soon punt following a threeand-out. Discontent with the backand-forth play resulting from four consecutive punts, the Lions elected go for it on fourth
and short once again. For the third time in the game, Columbia was stuffed by the stout Crimson front for a turnover. Harvard took the turnover as an opportunity to change the script of the early third quarter. Swapping out the struggling Smith, who was 6-for-16 with 111 yards, one touchdown, and no interceptions, the Crimson entered Emge into the game. Harvard attempted to change the pace, taking three immediate deep shots through the air, connecting with junior tight end Ryan Reagan for an acrobatic 26-yard reception. The spark was just enough to push the Crimson into the red zone, taking the 10-7 lead thanks to a 25-yard field goal from senior kicker Jake McIntyre with 13:22 to play in the game. The Ivy League’s worst ranked rushing and passing offense refused to roll over, however, as Columbia finally gained its first conversion on its fourth attempt at a fourth and short. The Lions would come up just short of points, however, as junior defensive back Max Jones would secure an interception at the Harvard one-yard line, his second consecutive game with a pick. “These days in terms of relatively high scoring football our defense has been playing very well,” Murphy said. “That, clearly, coming into the season was the strength of our team, and, as we go into the last two weeks of this season, is still clearly the strength of our team.” Backed up deep into its own territory, however, the Crimson would be forced to punt, giving Columbia the ball in excellent field position at the Harvard 47yard line. The Lions slowly but surely marched down the field, running the clock inside of two minutes heading into a third and goal from the eight-yard line. Once again, Jones came up
big in the red zone and broke up a pass in the end zone to prevent the touchdown and force Columbia into a 26-yard field goal, tying the game 10-10 with 1:45 to play. The Crimson offense stalled on its next drive, with the Lions forcing a quick three-and-out. Emge was forced into a hurried throw well behind the line of scrimmage, tossing the ball directly into the hands of Columbia junior defensive lineman Oganna Oradeu, but, luckily for Harvard, the pass was dropped and the Crimson would punt. The Lions would start the drive at its own 30-yard line, but the field position would not matter. Despite calling timeouts on defense to preserve a manageable 1:22 on the clock for the offense to attempt a game-winning drive, Columbia elected to run the football twice in extremely conservative fashion and take the game into overtime as the home crowd barraged the stadium with boos. “We were into the wind, and we really would have had to get the ball down to probably the 30 to have a realistic chance,” Columbia coach Al Bagnoli said. “I think you have to take calculated risks.” As with the result, Harvard’s first few minutes of football mirrored last week’s contest as well. The offense stalled on the opening possession, quickly punting on a three-and-out. Keeping its momentum, however, the defensive front stood tough. Facing a fourth down and two to go at midfield, Columbia made the gutsy call to go for it. The Crimson defense stuffed the run and forced the ball out, with sophomore defensive lineman Chris Smith scooping up the ball and switching possession. Harvard wasted no time in capitalizing on the takeaway. A pass from junior quarterback found senior wide receiver Cody Chrest, who weaved his way down the sideline for 27
yards. The very next play, Smith dropped a ball into the back of the endzone as Batch hauled in the catch for a 22-yard touchdown, giving the Crimson a 7-0 lead less than five minutes into the contest. Harvard started its next drive right where it left off, with a blatant Columbia pass interference well downfield drawing an obvious flurry of flags, gifting the Crimson 15 free yards on its first play. Later in the drive, facing a third and seven, another obvious tackle in the secondary led to yet another pass interference call, keeping the drive alive. A later third-down sack from a pack of Lions, however, saved the drive and forced a Harvard punt. On its third drive, the Columbia offense finally showed some life. Finally moving the chains for the first time in the ballgame, the Lions quickly marched down the field. Once they moved into enemy territory, however, the miscues returned. A penalty erased a third-down conversion, and the ensuing punt was blocked by sophomore safety James Herring. The specialist used a little help from his facemask to block his third punt of the year, and the Crimson as a unit have blocked a nation-leading six punts. “That particular special teams unit has been coming up big for us many times this year, and James has a particular knack for it,” Murphy said. “I felt we put him in a good position, and it was a really big play. We needed to take advantage of it.” Following a Harvard threeand-out to start the second quarter, the Columbia offense picked up the momentum broken by the penalty and blocked punt. Recovering a lucky bounce on a fumble on a punt return, the Lions methodically marched down the field once again. This time around,
a Crimson pass interference would setup a first and goal. Lenhart took a shot from multiple Harvard defenders as he floated a ball to the back of the endzone. With no defenders seemingly in the same zip code, sophomore wide receiver Mozes Mooney had only gravity to outrace. Catching up to the pass in the corner of the endzone, the receiver extended his arm and hauled in a diving, one-handed snag to tie the game. An apparent interception from Smith seemed to keep the momentum in the Lions’ favor, however, Columbia’s fourth pass interference in the first 25 minutes of play took the turnover off the board. The Lions quickly regained steam, stopping the Crimson on fourth and two by stuffing freshman running back Aidan Borguet for a loss of 10 to switch possession. Columbia would attempt its own fourth down on the Harvard 35-yard line, once again coming up short on fourth and two. The Crimson quickly took advantage of the defensive stop, as Smith found Chrest for a 39yard gain on the opening play of the drive. An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Chrest following the play, however, would reduce the net yardage to only 22. For the third consecutive drive, a stop on fourth and short would flip possession. Both teams would head into halftime 0-for-2 on fourth down, with this recent failed conversion enough to take the game into the break and clear the field for Columbia’s recently reinstated marching band. As the final script would show, the defensive matchup continued throughout the game, with only six total points being scored throughout the rest of regulation. Fittingly, a defensive play would conclude the contest in the Lions’ favor. joseph.minatel@thecrimson.com