The Harvard Crimson - Volume CXLV, No. 138

The Harvard Crimson THE UNIVERSITY DAILY, EST. 1873 | VOLUME CXLV, NO. 138 | CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS | MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2018

EDITORIAL PAGE 4

NEWS PAGE 5

SPORTS PAGE 6

Harvard should keep its research free of undue corporate influence.

Harvard graduate students are petitioning for greater ESL support.

Women’s basketball falls to Rutgers after hoping for a comeback.

University Opens Second Probe Into Fryer Title IX Rules a Worry for Gay bally sexually harassed female staffers in EdLabs. Fryer is the subject of at least two Title IX complaints. Typically, Harvard opens one ODR investigation per Title IX complaint.

The Crimson reported the existence of Harvard’s first investigation — as well as a separate probe conducted by the state of Massachusetts — in May. At the time, lawyers for one of the complainants alleged in a statement that Fryer had committed “egregious” acts of verbal sexual harassment. The attorneys also alleged that the professor “objectified and sexualized” other female staffers in EdLabs.

Fryer, a rising star in the Harvard Economics department before the launch of the investigations, denied all charges of misconduct in a May interview with The Crimson. Fryer, contacted via Clark, did not respond to a request for comment Sunday.

University spokesperson Jonathan L. Swain declined to comment on behalf of Harvard and ODR. “The University will not comment on whether there is

By SHERA S. AVI-YONAH and ANGELA N. FU CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

Harvard is pursuing a second Title IX investigation into Economics professor Roland G. Fryer, Jr. after concluding an earlier probe into the professor this fall, according to two individuals with knowledge of the situation.

Last month, Fryer spokesperson Harry W. Clark said Harvard investigators had completed a Title IX investigation into Fryer’s treatment of employees at the Education Innovation Labs, the research group he founded in 2008. But two sources with knowledge of the matter — who requested anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss confidential Title IX proceedings — said the University’s Office for Dispute Resolution is still looking into the Economics professor’s behavior as part of a second investigation. ODR examines allegations of sexual misconduct at Harvard.

The first investigation was based on at least one formal Title IX complaint detailing allegations that Fryer had ver­

Economics Professor Roland G. Fryer, Jr., pictured in 2006. CHRISTOPHER KWOK — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

SEE FRYER PAGE 3

GOV PAGE 3

Gov. Places Focus on Data and Tech

Number of Concentrators Between 2008 and 2017

Amid falling popularity, the department is diversifying to attract students.

CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

Priscilla W. Guo ’18 did not want to concentrate in any of Harvard’s 50 undergraduate programs.

Instead, she took classes in the Government, Computer Science, History of Science, Philosophy, and Statistics departments to construct her own, College-approved curriculum on Technology, Policy, and Society. She graduated with a special concentration degree, completing her thesis on biases in machine learning algorithms used in the criminal justice system.

Now, the Government

Department is using Guo’s academic plan as a prototype for its new Tech Science track, which explores issues associated with technology and society. A second track introduced this fall, Data Science, allows students to study the intersection between government and computer science by teaching them advanced quantitative methods used to solve societal problems.

The department hopes that the two new tracks will not only widen the scope of what its students can study, but provide something of an antidote to its diminished popularity.

In 2008, there were 477 Government concentrators

Statistics

Computer Science

600

400

200

2008

2010

2012

2014

ELENA M. RAMOS—CRIMSON DESIGNER

By AIDAN F. RYAN CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS ­

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Harvard Today 2

By ANGELA N. FU and LUCY WANG CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Claudine Gay said in an interview Wednesday that she is currently reviewing proposed changes to federal Title IX policy and would be “concerned” about any alterations that make it more difficult for people who have experienced sexual misconduct to report it.

The proposed regulations — released last month alongside a statement from U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos — provide a new framework for interpreting Title IX, an anti-sex discrimination law that shapes the way universities address sexual harassment.

Under the new proposed rules — which could take effect in 2019 following a notice-and-comment period — universities would choose what standard of evidence to apply to cases of sexual misconduct, complainants and respondents of formal investigations would have the opportunity to question each other in a live hearing, and complaints of misconduct could not center on incidents that take place outside the bounds of a school “program or activity.”

Gay said she is still reviewing the proposed rules and that any changes that make it more difficult for people to come forward with allegations of sexual misconduct will be “of concern” to her.

“One of the things that I’ve come to recognize is how difficult it is for people who feel like they’ve experienced sexual and gender-based harassment or discrimination to come forward, and tell their stories and to seek help,” Gay said. “Any kind of guidelines that would make that even more difficult are reasons to pause.”

Gay said she will also remain wary of any changes that “pull Title IX away from its civ-

SEE CHANGES PAGE 3

HLS Pipeline Project Cheers Policy Shift

By SHERA S. AVI-YONAH and AIDAN F. RYAN

SEE TEALUXE PAGE 3

2016

Year

Tealuxe To Leave Harvard Square Brattle Street mainstay Tealuxe will not be around to quench Harvard students’ and Cantabrigians’ thirst for Lapsang Souchong and Genmaicha much longer. The cafe will close on Dec. 23, according to a sign hanging on its door Sunday.

Tealuxe first opened in Harvard Square in 1996; at the time of its debut, the Harvard location offered 140 different types of tea ranging from Lady Londonderry to Strawberry Sencha. The tea chain’s other store stands in Providence, R.I., near Brown University.

Tealuxe also opened a store

Economics

800

Number of Concentrators

By SONIA F. EPSTEIN and SAM E. SHARFSTEIN

Government

The FAS dean said she is “concerned” about the proposed changes.

CS50 FAIR

News 3

CS50, Harvard’s largest undergraduate computer science course, held its 11th annual project fair in the Smith Campus Center on Friday. QUINN G. PERIN—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

Editorial 4

Sports 6

TODAY’S FORECAST

SUNNY High: 35 Low: 21

The Pipeline Parity Project — a Harvard Law School student group that has pushed law firms to remove controversial arbitration policies — celebrated again Friday after the firm Kirkland & Ellis announced it was removing the mandatory agreements for all of its employees.

The decision comes after the student group began pressuring Kirkland & Ellis — the world’s highest-grossing law firm — to remove the agreements last month. Almost three weeks ago, the firm announced it was ending the policy for associates, but it remained in place for non-associate employees.

Mandatory arbitration agreements require employees to settle disputes through a private arbiter rather than bringing their concerns to the courts.

The Pipeline Parity Project claims these contracts “silence victims of sexual harassment,

assault, and discrimination,” according to their website. In an interview last week, Pipeline Parity Project Member and second-year Law student Alexandra “Vail” Kohnert-Yount said that though the firm had dropped its mandatory agreements for associates, the group continued its efforts to convince Kirkland & Ellis to drop the agreements for all employees.

“The Kirkland campaign is sort of ongoing because they haven’t actually dropped forced arbitration for their no-lawyer staff — they haven’t totally capitulated either,” Kohnert-Yount said last week. With Friday’s announcement, Kohnert-Yount commended the changes in a statement posted to the Pipeline Parity Project’s website.

“We’re glad that firms like Kirkland & Ellis and Sidley Austin are doing the right thing by dropping forced arbitration for all of their employees, not just

SEE HLS PAGE 5

VISIT THECRIMSON.COM. FOLLOW @THECRIMSON ON TWITTER.

kettlecorn

THE HARVARD CRIMSON |

DECEMBER 10, 2018

PAGE 2

HARVARD TODAY

For Lunch Popcorn Chicken Tomato Beef Macaroni Tofu Scramble

For Dinner Beef Stew Turmeric Haddock with Rice Noodles, Scallions, and Dill Barley Risotto

TODAY’S EVENTS

IN THE REAL WORLD

Harvard Summer School Hong Kong Info Session 12 - 1:30 p.m.

Macron to Meet with Union Leaders

Interested in studying abroad in Hong Kong this summer? Do some productive procrastination and learn about this Harvard Summer School program. The event is in CGIS Knafel, room 262.

French President Emmanuel Macron will meet with trade unions on Monday morning ahead of a nationwide address later in the day, in order to address solutions to the crisis. President Macron has been criticized for his silence on the protests thus far, one month into demonstrations in reaction to fuel tax hikes.

Porter Square Pop Up Holiday Market 2 - 8 p.m.

U.S. Joins Resistance to Global Climate Efforts

Check out this fun exhibit (opening for its ninth year!) at 9 White St. today or any day until December 13th Mixed media, etchings, and Russian handicrafts will be on sale. Hosted

by From Russia With Art Gallery and Porter Square Books.

A group of santas congregates outside a Boston pub. BRENDAN J. CHAUPIS—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

DAILY BRIEFING Harvard is pursuing a second Title IX investigation into Economics Professor Roland G. Fryer, Jr. after concluding an earlier probe into the professor this fall, according to two individuals with knowledge of the situation. The first investigation was based on at least one formal Title IX complaint detailing allegations that Fryer had verbally sexually harassed female staffers in EdLabs. In other news, FAS Dean Claudine Gay said she is “concerned” about proposed federal Title IX regulations, and the Government Department is adding tech and data science tracks to attract students with interdisciplinary interests.

At the global climate summit in Poland, the Trump Administration signed a report which downplayed the severity of global warming. This was a setback to an ongoing effort to reach a consensus among countries on how to combat rising global temperatures.

Prosecutors Examine President Trump’s Role in Campaign Finances President Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, implicated President Trump and the Trump Organization’s chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg in his testimony, stressing that President Trump himself greenlit the reimbursement for paying off one of the women who had claimed to have an affair with him.

AROUND THE IVIES YALE The Yale Police Department arrested 43 undergraduates for trespassing during a sit in at the Yale Investments Office Friday, the Yale Daily News Reported. The students — who were joined by two graduate students, one faculty member, and two other people, all of whom were also arrested — were protesting the university’s investments in the fossil fuel industry and Puerto Rican debt.

The senior member of Yale’s Board of Trustees Catharine Bond Hill said at the time that the Yale Corporation is not currently considering any divestment proposals.

UPENN Syrian journalist Zaina Erhaim —The University of Pennsylvania’s 2018 Writer at Risk — was denied a visa as a result of the Trump Administration’s travel ban, the Daily Pennsylvanian reported.

Erhaim, who was slated to speak at the university during fall 2018 after receiving the the award, has applied for a visa waiver in hopes that she can come to UPenn next semester.

CORNELL A man was stabbed several times near Ithaca Commons Friday evening, the Cornell Daily Sun reported. A helicopter transported him to a regional trauma center, where he is currently in “serious condition.” The man was “bleeding profusely from the face and back,” according to a police department press release. Investigators are analyzing the scene and interviewing witnesses.

The police have declined to comment on the man’s age or where he is being treated.

THE UNIVERSITY DAILY, EST. 1873

The Harvard Crimson Derek G. Xiao President Hannah Natanson Managing Editor Nathan Y. Lee Business Manager

Associate Managing Editors Mia C. Karr ’19 Claire E. Parker ’19 Associate Business Managers Dahlia S. Huh ’19 Max W. Sosland ’19 Digital Strategists Jamie D. Halper ’20 Caroline S. Engelmayer ’20 Editorial Chairs Cristian D. Pleters ’19 Emmanuel R. R. D’Agostino ’19

STAFF FOR THIS ISSUE Arts Chairs Mila Gauvini II ’19 Grace Z. Li ’19

Design Chairs Morgan J. Spaulding ’19 Simon S. Sun ’19

FM Chairs Marella A. Gayla ’19 Leah S. Yared ’19

Multimedia Chairs Amy Y. Li ’20 Ellis J. Yeo ’20

Blog Chairs Lydia L. Cawley ’20 Stuti Telidevara ’20

Technology Chairs Nenya A. Edjah ’20 Theodore T. Liu ’20

Sports Chairs Cade S. Palmer ’20 Jack R. Stockless ’19

Copyright 2018, 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.

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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.

PAGE 3

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | DECEMBER 10, 2018

FRYER FROM PAGE 1

CHANGES FROM PAGE 1

Harvard Opens Second Probe Into Prof Fryer

FAS Dean ‘Concerned’ Over Proposed Title IX Changes

or on the status of an ODR investigation,” Swain wrote in an email.

During its first Title IX investigation into Fryer, Harvard took “interim measures” against the professor. In March, five University administrators visited EdLabs and informed employees that Fryer and his chief of staff, Brad Allan, had been barred from setting foot in the lab. Harvard officials also told staff that Susan E. Cook had been installed as Interim Director of EdLabs, and that Fryer was now required to copy Cook on all emails to employees.

Cook is still listed as “Executive Director (FAS FCOR EdLabs Staff )” in an internal Harvard directory.

In addition to the two Harvard inquiries, Fryer is also the subject of a state-level investigation based on a complaint filed with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination.

The Commission enforces

civil rights context.” She said revisions that apply a “criminal procedures framework” to Title IX are “not appropriate.”

“Understanding that this is a civil rights issue is something that really we can’t lose sight of frankly not just as a university but as a society — that this is what it means for every single person, especially for the women, to be able to participate equally and fully in society, that they need to be able to do that without fear or the distraction of harassment or discrimination,” Gay said. Though Gay recognized Title IX policies are different across universities, she said “understanding of Title IX in the civil rights context is something that seems to be common.” University President Lawrence S. Bacow addressed DeVos’s proposed changes and a University report reviewing current Title IX policies in an email to Harvard affiliates Thursday. Gay followed Bacow’s statement with an email

Massachusetts anti-discrimination laws, which prohibit discrimination on the basis of “membership in a protected class, such as race, color, creed, national origin, age, disability, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, and more,” according to the MCAD website.

MCAD investigations can lead to punishment ranging from dismissal of the complaint to imposition of damages possibly amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Because Fryer is a Faculty member, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Claudine Gay will receive ODR’s final report on any investigations it conducts — and she will have ultimate say over what punishment, if any, the professor receives. It is unclear if Gay will wait until Harvard has closed all investigations into Fryer before making her final decision.

Gay could take any action against Fryer ranging from a “verbal warning up to and in-

cluding termination,” according to FAS’s Sexual and Gender-Based Harassment policies.

Only the Harvard Corporation — the University’s highest governing body — can vote to revoke a professor’s tenure.

In an interview Wednesday, Gay preemptively declined to speak about Fryer.

“Obviously I’ve been reading the paper and the things you’ve been covering including Professor Fryer,” Gay said at the start of the interview. “I should tell you now that I’m not prepared to comment or discuss [Fryer].”

As Harvard and MCAD continue to investigate Fryer, several prestigious economics associations recently chose to honor him. Earlier this fall, the American Economics Association elected Fryer to its Executive Council. The Econometrics Society selected Fryer as a fellow last month. shera.avi-yonah@thecrimson.com angela.fu@thecrimson.com

GOVERNMENT FROM PAGE 1

of her own, highlighting three of her priorities in considering FAS policy.

One of the issues, Gay wrote, is the need for “good data.” Gay wrote she supports the Title IX Policy Review Committee’s recommendation to be more transparent in how investigations are conducted. Gay also addressed the “power imbalance” of the academic institution. “The particular role of tenured faculty in assessing academic and other work can make other members of the community more vulnerable to harassment and more reluctant to report for fear of negative professional or academic repercussions,” Gay wrote. “To my tenured faculty colleagues, I would say that this reality means that we have a particular responsibility to speak up and to drive the changes we want to see in this institution.”

The new proposed Title IX rules must remain open for 60 days to receive feedback from the public. After the 60-day

notice-and-comment period ends, the Department of Education must wait approximately three months before officially changing federal policy. With the comment period underway, students at the College, Harvard Law School, and Harvard Kennedy School have already begun mobilizing against the proposed changes. Gay said it remains unclear whether FAS will need to modify its policies in response to the proposed regulations. For now, FAS policies will remain the same, she said.

“It could actually be awhile before there’s any guidance, and then we need to decide whether or not the guidance has any implications that requires us to change anything about what we’re doing,” Gay said. “It could be that at the end of the day we’re in large part in compliance with the guidelines. It’s just hard to say at this point.” angela.fu@thecrimson.com lucy.wang@thecrimson.com

TEALUXE FROM PAGE 1

Government Department Turns to Tech Tea Fans Dismayed at Tealuxe’s Closing at Harvard. That number has since dropped, stabilizing around 324 by 2017. This year saw 10 more students declare government than last year, according to Coordinator of Undergraduate Studies Karen Kaletka, and the department expects that number will further increase when students can declare joint concentrations with Government in the spring.

There is no denying, though, that the department is engaging fewer undergraduates than it once did. Several years ago, Harvard decreased the number of courses that Government faculty are required to teach from four a year to three a year in order to remain competitive with the offers other universities were making new faculty members. As a result, there are now fewer undergraduate courses taught by faculty members.

Jennifer L. Hochschild, chair of the Government Department, noted that the drop in the department’s concentrators is part of a nationwide trend.

“The social sciences and humanities within Harvard, but also outside Harvard, have more or less declined at least relatively, if not absolutely, in comparison with STEM fields,” Hochschild said.

At Harvard, the number of Computer Science concentrators has boomed in the past decade: in 2008, there were 86 concentrators; in 2017, there were 394.

“Statistics is rising, computer sciences is rising,” Hochschild said. “It is a fairly common phenomena around the country that political science is much less appealing to people.”

Now, the Government department is reacting to these shifts with a more cross-disciplinary program.

’A BETTER WAY OF SOLVING PROBLEMS’

Latanya A. Sweeney was an MIT-educated computer scientist before she began teaching in the Government Department at Harvard in 2012. In 2014, she spent a year as the Chief Technologist for the Federal Trade Commission, studying issues at the intersection of technology and society.

“It was really clear that I could get undergraduates to do this,” Sweeney said. Since then,

It is a fairly common phenomena around the country that political science is much less appealing to people.

Jennifer L. Hochschild Governement Dept. Chair

she has taken dozens of students from her class Government 1430: “Data Science to Save the World” to Washington, D.C. so they can present their analyses of issues relating to government and technology to FTC regulators. Now she’s piloting the new Tech Science track, in which

Gov 1430 is a required class.

Sweeney advised Guo’s thesis, and described her course of study as a major inspiration for the new program.

“She really was not only a pioneer for us, but also a model,” Sweeney said. “We had this prototype to look at, which was the curriculum that she had put together.”

The new Tech Science track draws on existing courses from the Computer Science, Statistics, Government, and Economics departments, and culminates with a practicum, in which students focus on identifying and solving a technology-society problem in lieu of writing a thesis.

“The way that my cours-

There are concrete, real skills that you can get in a government department or political science department.

Matthew L. Blackwell Assistant Gov. Professor

es talked to each other very much fundamentally shaped the way that I think about problems now,” Guo said. “It’s really nice to have a curriculum and professors who are really genre-bending…they are basically taking the best of each field and supplanting them in order to think about what is a better way of solving problems.”

The new track in Data Science, spearheaded by assistant Government Professor Matthew L. Blackwell, is similarly focused on targeting governmental and societal issues.

It is built around the “Foundations of Data Science” requirement, which is intended to give students advanced analytical skills. The requirement can be satisfied by taking Government 2000: “Quantitative Research Methodology,” along with Statistics 139: “Linear Models,” or by taking Computer Science 109: “Data Science 1: Intro to Data Science,” giving students greater flexibility within the program.

“The study of government will be benefited by people who really know how to take advantage of analyzing big data,” Hochschild said. “We provide the really interesting questions, the really deep and normative philosophical concerns, the power dynamics. They provide the lens through which to analyze those things, so intellectually it is an obviously good match.”

“We hope to pick off a few of those computer science concentrators, no question of that,” she added.

‘MORE POROUS, MORE FLEXIBLE, MORE OPEN’

The decline in the number of Government concentrators is not due exclusively to students’ mass-migration to STEM fields.

While some students, like Guo, are looking to combine the social sciences and STEM, oth-

ers are seeking interdisciplinarity within the social sciences themselves.

Social Studies, for example, advertises itself in the Harvard Student Handbook as a field that promotes “an integration of the disciplines of history, political science, economics, sociology, and anthropology” — a mix that attracts dozens of students each year.

Alternatively, more upperclassmen have decided to broaden the scope of what they can study within the Government Department by pursuing joint concentrations. In 2008, 11 out of 477 Government concentrators were pursuing a joint concentration, while in 2017, that number was 18 out of 342.

Hana Seita ’19, for example, is completing a joint concentration in Government and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations.

“Gov is a very interdisciplinary concentration. It doesn’t sound like one, and that’s not what [the department] sells [itself] as, like social studies does,” she said. “But you need to learn the history of certain countries in order to understand the theory.”

The Government Department has not traditionally allowed students to count courses outside of the department toward their concentration requirements, which partially explains the appeal of joint concentrations.

“Often, people might petition for a course in American history to count for the American politics subfield, and I usually say no because it’s not from the point of view of political science,” Director of Undergraduate Studies Cheryl B. Welch said. “What you’re trying to say to someone who concentrates in Government or History or Sociology is that when they graduate, we are testifying that they have learned something about this discipline in this kind of disciplinary lens.”

Still, Welch said she is aware that there are gaps in the education it is providing for its concentrators.

“We don’t teach enough courses in this department on say, race and ethnicity in politics. We have people who specialize in that, but they have so many other demands on their time that they can’t teach these courses. One is our chair,” said Welch, referring to Hochschild.

“We are aware of that, and so we are more open to counting courses, say, in AAAS [African and African American Studies], as gov courses, which we have done more in the past couple years,” Welch said.

While Hochschild said the department as a whole is not shifting unilaterally to a more interdisciplinary approach, it is taking student demand for this into account in the hiring process.

“The students themselves want the boundaries of what we call government department courses to be more porous, more flexible, more open,” Hochschild said.

SHIFTING LANDSCAPES

Both the rise in joint concentra-

tors and the two new tracks in the Government Department reflect a change in what students are seeking from their college education. According to Blackwell, there has been a shift away from the traditional perception of the Government Department as a feeder for law schools.

“A lot of the decline in political science departments came around the time that the big law schools had a decline in enrollment and the law market was falling through,” Blackwell said. “There is a long term reputation in political science departments in general, and this one in particular, that it is a good training to get a law degree. When fewer people are interested in going to law school, that is going to affect our enrollment.”

In 2014, there were 37,924 law students in the United States, a 30 percent decrease from the peak enrollment of 52,488 students in 2010.

To Blackwell, the new programs signal that there are alternative benefits in choosing Government as a concentration.

“We wanted to signal... that there are concrete, real skills that you can get in a government department or political science department that are beyond just getting you ready to go to law school,” he said.

The current political climate may be affecting concentration numbers as well. Hochschild noted that while some may be drawn to the discipline because of its ability to create change, other students may pursue other pathways because of the negativity surrounding contemporary politics.

“I think some students are turned off of politics. It’s nasty, it’s zero sum, it’s not constructive,” Hochschild said. “Other students find it somewhat the opposite. It’s exciting, it’s important, it really matters.”

Kaletka maintains that the

on Newbury St. in 1999, but closed the Back Bay establishment in 2010 after losing its lease.

TheProvidence-based Tealuxe is now the chain’s only surviving location.

The 19 year-old cafe’s closing comes after a series of Square businesses have shut their doors in the face of rising rents in Cambridge.

Assessed property values in Harvard Square nearly doubled between fiscal years 2012 and 2017.

Crema Cafe, a Harvard Square fixture for the past 10 years, announced last week it will also close its doors on Dec. 23.

Clothing store J. Press closed this summer after 86 years in business.

Last year, bookstore Schoenhof’s did the same after 161 years.

Other restaurants, though, are just starting their Harvard Square careers. Saloniki Greek — a casual Greek restaurant — and Blackbird Doughnuts opened inside the brand-new Smith Campus Center this fall.

Tea fans around Harvard said they are dismayed by Tealuxe’s impending departure from the Square. Dasha E.

Bough ’21 wrote in a Facebook message that she feels “sad” and “confused.”

Kennedy School Professor Joshua S. Goodman ’00 agreed with Bough.

He wrote in an email that he made many memories in the cafe.

In 2003, Goodman proposed to his wife — Anna E. Lumelsky ’00 — in Tealuxe, hiding a ring amid sugar packets at “the table in the back, the one closest to the counter.”

Goodman wrote that, while Tealuxe’s closing “shouldn’t come as a surprise,” he hopes the Square “continues to have comfy places for people to sit and have long, meaningful conversations.”

“We still live in Cambridge and have three kids,” he wrote.

“It’s only a slight exaggeration to say that Tealuxe led to the existence of three wonderful people who otherwise might never have been. For that, I’ll be forever grateful to Tealuxe,” he added.

Harvard Square Business Association director Denise A. Jillson could not be reached for comment. shera.avi-yonah@thecrimson.com aidan.ryan@thecrimson.com

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The Crimson on Facebook.

The way that my courses talked to each other very much fundamentally shaped the way that I think about problems.

Priscilla W. Guo ’18 College Alumnus

Government Department can still provide its students with a relevant education for this moment.

“As with anything, as the world changes we’re just trying to see how we can keep up with educating students about it,” she said.

For Sweeney, this means an increased emphasis on technology.

“Not only technology as a tool in that discipline, but also technology as a part of that study,” she said. “In many ways, I do see this school moving towards the technology science program, and that’s kind of cool.

It’s a space to watch out for.”

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THE HARVARD CRIMSON | DECEMBER 10, 2018

PAGE 4

EDITORIAL THE CRIMSON EDITORIAL BOARD

COLUMN

Harvard Should Keep its Research Free of Undue Corporate Influence

The Limits of Representation

I

n recent years, researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health have increasingly relied upon private corporations for funding, as federal support for research has stagnated. With the support of for-profit companies, however, comes concern about potential conflicts of interest between the source of monetary support and the research itself.

While we understand the need for securing private funds, we also believe that Harvard academics should exercise great caution to ensure that donors who fund research have no misaligned incentives or conflicts of interest and that funding sources are as transparent as possible.

As corporations such as Google and Aetna have signed partnerships with the School of Public Health, the possibility of donor influence on research results has risen considerably. For instance, the Aetna partnership, which aims to study employee happiness and health, will give researchers access to a wealth of data from voluntary surveys taken by Aetna’s employees over the next five years — but also comes with millions of dollars in funding. Such partnerships in research studies raise very serious questions about the potential for mismatched incentives.

These questions are particularly timely in the wake of two federal investigations focusing on a study that was being conducted by a Harvard Medical

School associate professor. In that case, research about the effects of alcohol consumption was halted by the National Institutes of Health, after it was discovered that the associate professor leading the

These questions are particularly timely in the wake of two federal investigations focusing on a study that was being conducted by a Harvard Medical School associate professor. study had met repeatedly with alcohol industry leaders and stated that his research presented a “unique opportunity to show that moderate alcohol consumption is safe.” This is a nightmare scenario; a researcher’s intention was questioned because of his contact with donors that have a direct stake in the study’s result. It is the situation that Harvard should take pains to avoid moving forward.

As a research institution whose credibility depends on its research being independent of influence from private industry, Harvard should take concrete steps to demonstrate that it is serious about the ethical issues underlying its research projects. Because the issues re-

garding these relationships are largely unregulated by the federal government, Harvard must take the lead itself in preventing affiliated researchers from displaying any sign of possible ethical impropriety; the University’s reputation for integrity is far more important than any researcher’s ability to attract money for a study.

Additionally, we call on the School of Public Health and the University at large to study recent ethical breaches and to conduct a thorough review to update University regulations on research; these regulations should clearly prevent faculty members from putting their studies in jeopardy through collaboration with donors who could be partial to certain research conclusions. With these steps, we also ask Harvard to reject funding from donors that might potentially involve conflicts of interest in order to avoid those types of situations altogether.

ing parents spoke on behalf of the needs of millions of Americans for paid family leave?

The IOP has an opportunity here to create a new event, one that is inclusive in its guests and representative of the challenges facing Members of this freshman class. True bipartisanship is not paying lip service to advocacy and social justice in between sessions on austerity and technocratic restraint. Instead, in an era where our institution attempts to reverse the loss of civility and compromise among its elected officials, the IOP can design an orientation that represents the true ideological diversity of our country.

—Brady A. Roberts is a second-year master in public policy student at the Harvard Kennedy School.

—Jenna M. Gray ’19 is a Sociology concentrator in Leverett House. Her column appears on alternate Mondays.

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.

OP-ED

Failure of Diversity in IOP’s New Member Orientation

T

he Bipartisan Program for Newly Elected Members of Congress, founded in 1972, describes itself as the “preeminent educational and preparatory program” for new members of Congress and focuses on bringing together “experts and practitioners from a wide range of backgrounds.” However, certain new members seemed disappointed with the program’s unfulfilled commitment to inviting a sufficiently diverse range of speakers. As Representative-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (DNY) commented, “Lobbyists are here.

Goldman Sachs is here. Where’s labor?

Activists? Frontline community leaders?”

Bipartisanship should not default to the status quo.

Despite an apparent commitment to bipartisanship, the ideological throughlines of the week’s events were clear: executives of Boeing, General Motors, and Johnson & Johnson were there; labor activists were not. Lobbyists representing The Duberstein Group and CVS were there; community organizers were not.

Harvard academics and expert technocrats led many panels; activists and students protested outside Taubman Hall.

This incoming class of Congressional freshmen is one of the most diverse in history. More women were elected than ever before. More people of color, including the first ever Muslim congresswomen and Native American congresswom-

en, will soon be sworn in. However, their diversity goes deeper than race and ethnicity. This class is comprised of representatives who express views that are more pro-labor, pro-environment, and pro-immigrant than ever before.

Indeed, some sessions hosted by the Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics seemed to ignore the topic at hand, where participating members-elect instead focused on issues they ran on and planned to bring to Washington. In one session on business and government, representatives such as Congressman-elect Chuy Garcia (D-IL) and Congressman-elect Andy Levin (D-MI) made forceful arguments for passing single-payer, universal health coverage.

Other members in attendance, all Democrats, similarly argued for universal coverage through different mechanisms.

Another Congresswoman-elect used her opportunity to speak on this panel to wonder aloud if capitalism is working for young Americans.

Maybe it’s time the events meant to prepare freshmen representatives for their careers in Washington are as diverse as they are. Bipartisanship should not default to the status quo. Bipartisanship should embrace difficult policy conversations and provide space for CEOs, as well as labor leaders, community organizers, nonprofit directors, educators, and advocates, to teach our representatives what matters most. Perhaps former Goldman Sachs executive Gary D. Cohn was right when he remarked that the freshmen representatives “don’t know how the game is played.” Perhaps instead, we should entertain that is why they were elected.

I

f you’re a person of color, you’re probably familiar with the classic “diversity shot” (and you’ve very likely been in one). It’s the photo on a brochure or a website homepage that features people of various races and ethnicities, smiling and embracing one another. Universities, companies, and other organizations love featuring these photos on their publications. They intend to communicate that hey, we are diverse! If you want to interact with different types of people, come here! If you are white, you will get to inhabit the same space as exotic people, like a human zoo! If you are not white, you will be happy here, just like these smiling people!

No harm, no foul, right?

Well, such images present the reality an institution would like you to believe exists.Here, we see ethnic and racial minorities being used as pawns, tools in the organization’s marketing campaign. The diversity and inclusion is merely a superficial image.

In social justice-oriented circles, we often exclaim that representation matters. Personal experience as well as academic research confirms it certainly does. Seeing people like ourselves represented — particularly when we belong to a minority group in terms of our race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, or ability status — shows us what’s possible. It affects children’s self-esteem as well as workers’ sense of belonging and productivity.

But representation matters only to an extent.

The reasons representation matters to a marginalized person are far different from those of an organization, who are invested in image knowing that it is used as a proxy for others to judge them.

Using the exclusive, high tech tool of Google, you will find that one definition of representation is “the action of speaking or acting on behalf of someone or the state of being so represented.”

How do we decide who among a group of marginalized people will speak or act for the whole? For the organization benefiting from the representation, that doesn’t really matter; they’d take a Ben Carson or Clarence Thomas without batting an eyelash.

Having marginalized people present in a board room or in an organization doesn’t inherently do anything to change the culture of that space, particularly in terms of creating inclusivity or promoting more diversity. In part, it’s because holding an identity that makes you a “minority” doesn’t inherently mean anything; it doesn’t automatically mean that you care about the people of those group or are invested in their success. Cue the phrase “not all skin folk are kin folk.” As a minority, you could very well use opportunities reserved for people of your group for your own advantage, regardless of how you feel about them, and never do anything to promote the socioeconomic or political standing of your group. You can be a person of color, gay, or have a disability and still actively do harm to your and other communities.

The hyper-focus on representation also serves the needs of the dominant group or institution.

For many an organization, having a leader or team member from a minority group puts them off the hook for all issues related to that group.

They might say: accusations of racism? But our president is black! We hate women? Tell that to our CEO, who is a living, breathing woman!

In order to be the representation within an organization, you have to be the appropriate type of minority — the person who is happy to appear on their promotional materials and willing to refrain from making too much noise or dissenting from their practices. This may require sacrificing your own ideals for the sake of appeasing the status quo. If you’re concerned with your own status above all else, serving as the token employee presents a clear route to success.

This attitude relates to a classic phenomenon, what I have decided just now to call “conservative or contrarian special snowflakes.” Such a snowflake belongs to a marginalized community but espouses an opinion contrary to that of most people in that community. They then would loudly argue that opinion and put their community down in the process, screaming, “I’m special! Give me a cookie!” And the people who agree with them would say, “This guy gets it. The rest of you are irrational.” Some of The Crimson’s finest opinion pieces make this case.

One of the realms in which we hear the greatest calls for representation is media and entertainment. Sometimes I prefer no representation, particularly when watching reality shows about searching for love and sex comedies about white ladies with problems.

We can still celebrate representation, but we’ll be far better off if we demand more. If anything, we can consider representation as a starting ground. Our fundamental concern can shift to the way an organization runs, the systems underlying it, and the rules governing it beyond just the faces presenting it.

We can look for differences in outcomes based on the metrics we focus on with representation — race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, ability status — and analyze whether some people have advantages that others don’t.

We can demand that people’s basic needs are being met, from healthcare to access to clean water.

We can ask who is able to participate and whether people feel and know they belong. Our top priority can become assuring that everyone has what they need to survive and succeed.

DELANO R. FRANKLIN—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

By BRADY A. ROBERTS

Jenna M. Gray BETTER LEFT (UN)SAID

Rejecting the status quo as a given should be celebrated, not derided, and the IOP can do better than a ceremonial handing over of the the reins of power in grandstanding events with an ersatz commitment to bipartisanship. Instead of solely hosting sessions run by CEOs and leaders of industry, what if the IOP hosted a panel on immigration reform, run by students whose DACA status is under threat? What if a panel of work-

The IOP has an opportunity here to create a new event, one that is inclusive in its guests and representative of the challenges facing Members of this freshman class.

PAGE 5

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | DECEMBER 10, 2018

Grad Students HLS Group Lauds Firm’s Reforms Call for Support HLS FROM PAGE 1

the ones with law degrees,” Vail Kohnert-Yount said, referencing another firm that also changed their policy recently.

She added that she hopes the firm will consider not using arbitration on behalf of their clients.

“Hopefully, the lawyers at these firms will also consider their moral responsibility not to enforce these types of coercive contracts on behalf of their clients as well, because it’s obvious that forced arbitration impedes

access to justice,” KohnertYount said in the statement.

A spokesperson for Kirkland & Ellis did not respond to a question asking whether the firm decided to drop the agreements after pressure from the Pipeline Parity Project.

The group’s advocacy around Kirkland & Ellis marks the latest in a series of projects the group has taken on this year.

In September, the group organized a walkout and protests during the contentious nomi-

nation of then-Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh, who later gained a seat on the court. The former appellate court judge spent roughly a decade teaching at the Law School before indicating he would not return to teach his course on the Supreme Court in January 2019.

More recently, the group has focused on pressuring law firms to drop the mandatory arbitration agreements — one of the main reasons the group formed last spring.

Last week, the group received praise from a coalition of women’s law associations from around the country, who announced that they stand with the Pipeline Parity Project and will no longer accept funding from law firms that require employees to settle disputes through arbitration.

The group is now targeting the global firm DLA Piper to similarly alter its contact terms. aidan.ryan@thecrimson.com

Outgoing UC Leaders Reflect on Tenure

By JONAH S. BERGER CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

With their tenure as Undergraduate Council leaders officially over, former UC President Catherine L. Zhang ’19 and former UC Vice President Nicholas D. Boucher ’19 spoke of the frustrations and successes of their time in office in an interview Thursday.

The duo said they believe they fulfilled most of their 39 campaign promises. And those the Council could not accomplish, Zhang and Boucher said, could be more easily completed in the future because of changes they recently implemented that they hope will improve the long-term viability of the Council.

“We created a new internal database that is going to be used to track institutionally what the UC has done, what’s worked and what hasn’t worked,” Boucher said.

“My hope is that this system will help to preserve these ideas...that will help to advance some of these items faster, as far as long-term projects go,” he

added.

Zhang said her proudest accomplishment as president was helping to convince the College to establish an educational studies secondary field.

“I think it’s such a long-term institutional-type change at the College and will help shape the narrative for future students,” she said.

Boucher cited the menstrual-hygiene product campaign as the Council’s most impactful initiative, calling it a “big deal” for students.

In the wake of a Council presidential election that saw a 35 percent higher turnout than the year prior, Boucher said he feels students’ engagement with the Council has increased throughout the duo’s tenure, largely due to better communication about the UC’s objectives and accomplishments — part of a March promise.

Videos the Council has posted on Facebook, including a weekly series called UC-SPAN, have at garnered over a thousand views on Facebook.

“Even if students don’t read through every email and even if

students don’t watch every episode of UC-SPAN or even haven’t seen a single episode, I think they’re still beneficial because it shows communication on behalf of the UC,” Boucher said.

“In my personal opinion, the largest amount of discontent is primarily about communication issues more so than systematic issues,” he added.

Still, the pair acknowledged more work remained to be done in engaging with the student body. In nearly every election between 2004 and 2010, over 3,500 students voted. Since then, turnout has surpassed that figure only once.

Zhang and Boucher also tried to push back against criticism from some UC members about what members feel is a disproportionate focus on issuing statements and not enough of a focus on legislation with more tangible impacts on students. In recent months, the Council has weighed in on the appointment of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, the merits of shopping week, the controversial firing of former

HUHS employee Mayli Shing, and the lawsuit against Harvard’s admissions practices.

“I will say that with every statement we’ve put out, there has been at least one or more student responses being really thankful,” Zhang said.

“And I think that if we are able to reach even just one student, letting them know that we hear them, we’re standing with them, depending on what the statement is, I think there’s something to be said about it,” she added Boucher said he continued to prefer “action-oriented legislation” over statement, but nonetheless sees statements as useful in certain instances.

“So long as putting out a statement doesn’t take away from your ability from your ability to do action, I think the statement can be warranted,” he said. “The challenge is to find a way to make sure that every time we’re talking about something, we’re actually doing something towards that goal as well.” jonah.berger@thecrimson.com

By SHERA S. AVI-YONAH CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Citing challenges in the classroom and on the job market, more than 70 graduate students whose second language is English signed a letter to Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dean Emma Dench asking for more resources dedicated to English language learning.

The petition calls on Dench and GSAS administrators to hire English-as-a-second-language tutors at the school’s Writing Center, which “seeks to provide GSAS students with the means to enhance the clarity and depth of their communications,” according to its website. The center currently offers individual consultations, workshops, and other programming.

In the letter, the students also articulated challenges unique to attending GSAS as an international student. They wrote that increased ESL support should be “an essential part” of any “push to increase diversity and equal participation on campus.”

“We are required to articulate our ideas in a confident and sophisticated way in a language that is not our native tongue, as our personal and professional success depends upon it,” the petition reads. “Fluency is necessary for success in coursework, for becoming an appealing candidate on the job market, for contributing to the intellectual panorama of our university, for clearly asserting our needs.”

Graduates students applying to Harvard from abroad are required to submit a Test of English as a Foreign Language, or TOEFL, score. The school-wide minimum score is an 80 out of 120 — a mark that, for 2017 test-takers, was in the 40th percentile. Some degree programs require higher scores for international applicants. Ph.D. student Giulia Accornero, whose first language is Italian, said challenges with English touch “almost every part” of her time in graduate school, whether she is taking classes, conducting in-

dependent research, teaching, or forging relationships in a foreign country. “There is this kind of myth that I think all ESL students believe in — ‘Oh, I’m just going to be surrounded by English all the time, so I’m just going to absorb the language and get better,’” Accornero said.

“But it isn’t true.” Accornero and Ph.D. student Yunhyae Kim, whose first language is Korean, both said GSAS’s current programming does not suit the needs of international graduate students. Accornero said she wishes the Writing Center programs would focus on syntax rather than style. Kim said she found a GSAS summer program directed at incoming international students lacking.

“Setting aside the actual effectiveness, I think there is some signaling effect that having more resources would have,” Kim said. “It’s very difficult for us to speak up. We have less sense that we can make a claim, because we are foreigners.” GSAS spokesperson Ann Hall wrote in an email that administrators are “currently evaluating student need and what an expansion of services would entail” in response to the letter. She also pointed to programs run by the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning and the Bureau of Study Counsel directed specifically at international students.

“GSAS connects students with a number of programs offered at the University that are designed to aid students in improving their English language skills,” Hall wrote. Kim said she thinks more resources would help international students feel a greater sense of belonging at Harvard. “I can’t help but ask myself questions like, ‘isn’t it just my responsibility to maybe try harder?’ Because this is America, this is Harvard,” she said. “But if there were more help, even if they weren’t perfect, I think there will still be a message that it is not our fault we are struggling.” shera.avi-yonah@thecrimson.com

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@thecrimson on Twitter.

Catherine L. Zhang ’19 hugs her vice president, Nicholas D. Boucher ’19 shortly after they receive news of their victory in November 2017. KRYSTAL

Catherine L. Zhang ’19 hugs her successor, Sruthi Palaniappan ’20 shortly after Palaniappan is sworn in as president. CALEB D. SCHWARTZ—CRIMSON

K. PHU—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

PHOTOGRAPHER

Harvard, from the Law School to Longwood.

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You know you want to.

There’s more. @THCSports @CrimsonArts @CrimsonFlyby

SPORTS

UPCOMING GAMES

PREVIEW

MONDAY DEC. 9 ______________________________________

FRIDAY DEC. 21 ______________________________________

SATURDAY DEC. 22 ______________________________________

Track and Field Penn Dual Meet 10:00 a.m., Gordon Indoor Track Philadelphia, Pa.

Women’s Basketball vs. BU 4:00 p.m., Lavietes Pavilion

Men’s Basketball vs. George Washington 2:00 p.m., Lavietes Pavilion

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Harvard Toppled by Late Vermont Comeback, 71-65

By AMIR MAMDANI CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

BURLINGTON, Vt. — As the clock ticked under two minutes, Harvard was tied with the University of Vermont as the capacity crowd at Patrick Gymnasium rose to its feet. For a second consecutive week, however, sloppy ball security led to a late defeat for the visitors as the Catamounts (7-3) pulled away for a 71-65 comeback victory.

Despite a season-high 17 points from senior guard Corey Johnson, the Crimson (45) struggled mightily to contain junior forward Anthony Lamb, who exploded for a career-high 37 points.

In addition to scoring 37 of his team’s 71 points, the Rochester, N.Y., native knocked down 14-of-22 field goals, and was the latest in a long line of scorers to catch fire against Harvard this season.

“We certainly couldn’t defend Lamb,” said Harvard coach Tommy Amaker of the junior’s outstanding performance. “I thought he was obviously the difference and how he just was inside and out and became a difference for their team.”

Exactly a week after falling to Siena in Albany, N.Y. by a 6764 mark, Harvard came out firing early Saturday night. Making his first career start in place of the injured Christian Juzang, freshman Spencer Freedman sliced through the defense effectively in the first half, tallying nine points and catalyzing the visitors to a seven-point lead.

“He’s a great playmaker, a great point guard,” said ­

Johnson of the first-year point guard’s performance. “He really leads the team well for a freshman on the floor. Just really excited to see his growth and development throughout the season.”

In addition to knocking down three first-half three-pointers, Freedman was integral in freeing up open looks for Johnson. The Ottawa, Ontario native, who had struggled early in the season, broke free in a big way, burying five first-half threes of his own. After starring in his time at Vermont Academy, Johnson registered his most impressive game of the season thus far in his return to the Green Mountain State.

“My teammates did a great job of finding me in transition,” Johnson said of his performance. “I was just trying to make and take open shots like my role on the team.”

Johnson and Freedman’s three-point explosions helped the Crimson end the first half on a 25-9 run against a team that had won three consecutive games, after trailing by as many as nine points in the early going.

“This is obviously a really good team and program and a tough place to play,” Amaker said. “I thought we brought great effort and energy and played a tremendous first half we shot the ball pretty well.”

The three-point barrage early on was a welcome sight for Harvard, who had star forward Chris Lewis back in the lineup after missing three games.

Lewis was held mostly in check

by Lamb, who registered an impressive effort on both ends of the floor.

Ultimately, the Crimson was undone by its poor ball-handling, which has plagued the team frequently throughout the season. Despite owning a 38-24 advantage on the glass, Harvard’s shoddy ball security gave the Catamounts too many opportunities to claw their way back into the game in the second half.

The Crimson turned the ball over 21 times — on 32 percent of its possessions — while only forcing seven turnovers from Vermont. Allowing the Catamounts to register a 18-7 advantage on points off turnovers proved to be the difference in a back-and-forth game that featured three ties and seven lead changes.

“They sped us up in the second half,” Amaker said of the team’s struggles. “Other players than our main ball handlers had to make decisions with the ball, and that put is in some bad spots.”

For a second consecutive week, freshman Noah Kirkwood struggled mightily with ball-handling throughout Saturday’s contest. Registering five turnovers and four fouls in his 15 minutes of action, the two-time reigning Ivy League Rookie of the Week was only able to score two points. Kirkwood’s foul trouble, along with Juzang’s injury, forced Freedman to play 35 minutes to lead all players for both teams.

Harvard will have a twoweek break before its next action, allowing its players to prepare for final exams before hosting George Washington University on Dec. 22 at Lavietes Pavilion.

The tilt will be a crucial one

FRESH FACE Freshman guard Spencer Freedman earned his first career start. HENRY ZHU—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

for the Crimson, which will look to resoundingly rebound from two tough losses, before embarking on its winter break trip to Atlanta and Chapel Hill.

With matchups against Mercer College at State Farm Arena and the University of North Carolina looming, Harvard will surely come to play with a sense of urgency against the Colonials on .

As the Crimson continues to search for its identity without

Seth Towns, Bryce Aiken, and a seemingly revolving-door of injuries to Chris Lewis, Christian Juzang, and several other players, Saturday night marked another speed-bump in a season that the team hopes will end in an Ivy League title.

If Harvard hopes to win the Ancient Eight and receive the NCAA Tournament berth that it accompanies, the team must win away from home. Narrow

losses to URI, Siena, and UVM away from Lavietes Pavilion are signs of a team that is still struggling to find its late-game form without Towns and Aiken.

To get to the Big Dance, these are problems that the Crimson must solve.

Harvard will host George Washington at 2:00 P.M. on Dec. 22. amir.mamdani@thecrimson.com

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Harvard Falls to Rutgers Despite Fourth-Quarter Rally

A STEP AHEAD Junior guard Katie Benzan talled 18 points to pace the Crimson. She is averaging 14.2 points and 4.4 assists per game this season. HENRY ZHU—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

By HENRY ZHU CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

It is a very rare occasion at Lavietes Pavilion when the coach at the visitor’s side of the bench is more tenured than the 37-season skipper of Harvard women’s basketball, Kathy Delaney-Smith.

This was the case Saturday afternoon, when Basketball Hall of Fame coach C. Vivian Stringer patrolled the opposing sideline and ultimately earned her 1,003th career win in a 6049 victory for the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. Despite the double-digit loss of 60-49 at the final buzzer, Harvard clawed its way back from a 14-point fourth quarter deficit through an invigorating 13-2 run.

A Scarlet Knights team that ­

had largely outmuscled and out-defended its hosts in the first 30 minutes of the contest seemed flustered by the Crimson’s sudden fury of high-paced offense in the final frame. Junior sharpshooter and lead scorer Katie Benzan knocked down a triple at the 7:07 mark to close the gap to seven. Junior forward Jeannie Boehm then located a cutting guard in first-year Maggie McCarthy for an easy layup.

Boehm’s dish was reciprocated on the next possession with a fast-break finish as the Scarlet Knights lead shrunk to five.

“We switched up our offense just because [Rutgers] was in the passing lanes,” Benzan said.

“We wanted to see if we could attack to the rim and see if we could create some offense in a different way. So I thought the

spacing, the court really helped us with that ball movement.”

Holding strong for two more minutes, the Crimson executed a brilliantly designed in-bounds play that saw co-captain Sydney Skinner flush a mid-range jumper to draw the game to a 46-43 scoreline heading into the final three minutes of play.

Much to the dismay of the animated home crowd, this one-possession deficit was as close as Harvard would get in its comeback campaign. Two consecutive Rutgers steals brought the margin back to double digits, and Benzan’s flurry of triple attempts was of no avail as Harvard dropped its third consecutive game as part of a four-contest homestead.

“It was a tough one and it was frustrating, especially when we

picked up the intensity and energy...and made like a really nice comeback,” Benzan added. “..It was just a bummer that we didn’t start with that intensity and energy and kept that through the entire game. But we played really hard and it was a good fight. So we can’t be too disappointed.”

Despite the late excitement, the Crimson as a whole largely struggled creating offensive opportunities in the face of its outsized opponents. From the field, Harvard shot 17-of-53 and was 27.6 percent from deep. For a three-point dependent squad, eight conversions over 29 attempts combined with 22 turnovers and 11 Scarlet Knights steals encapsulated the overall sluggish outing.

“We knew they were going to

be athletic and scrappy, but the turnovers are hardly forced by them,” Delaney-Smith said. “...

And then we didn’t hit the big shots that we should hit...Rutgers is great, athletic New York City basketball. So that’s a tough matchup.”

Rutgers redshirt sophomore Arella Guirantes and senior Stasha Carey posed serious issues for the Crimson in the interior, each tallying 19 points on 13-of22 combined shooting. Of the 10 Scarlet Knights who logged playing time, six members stand at six foot or taller.

“We were just late to [Carey],...we adjusted and then someone else would be late to [Carey],” Delaney-Smith said.

“We shut them down pretty well until you have to follow them. I was not displeased with our de-

fense, [but] very displeased with our offense.”

With the absence of co-captain Madeline Raster due to a sprained ankle, the Crimson saw some important contributions from its underclassmen.

Sophomore Maria Guramare and first-years Tess Sussman and Maggie McCarthy saw action in the contest. McCarthy in particular has stepped up with critical minutes in the past two contests, totaling 15 combined points in 48 minutes. “[McCarthy’s] toughness, resilience and just her attitude... it’s so much fun to play with her,” Benzan said. “I’m really happy to see her hard work paying off and her just seizing the day.”

Alongside Benzan’s team-leading 18 points, Skinner was the other lone Harvard player in double digits with 14 points. The remaining Crimson players did not score more than four points individually. Sophomore forward Rachel Levy dressed in the starting lineup for the first time in her short career, earning 22 minutes and three points.

Overall, this was the fourth-ever meeting between the two sides, with the Crimson falling in the two team’s last encounter at the 2014 WNIT. Between Coach Delaney-Smith and Coach Stringer, the two have completed 83 seasons in the college ranks. With Harvard having challenged two storied programs this season — Notre Dame and Rutgers — those like Benzan have appreciated the rare opportunities while also maintaining a tempered outlook.

“It’s cool, I’m not going to lie... they’re big names,” said Benzan on playing in front of Coach McGraw and Coach Stringer.

“Growing up, I’ve watched them on TV in the tournament, so it’s very cool to play against them.

But again, they’re just people so you got to go out there and just play. They have to do all the same things.” henry.zhu@thecrimson.com