The Harvard Crimson The University Daily, Est. 1873 | Volume CXLV, No. 130 | Cambridge, Massachusetts | tuesday, november 27, 2018
editorial PAGE 4
news PAGE 3
sports PAGE 6
Institutional channels at the IOP must change to increase diversity.
Students recall loss, hope, and fear after California wildfires.
Men’s hockey defeats Cornell at Madison Square Garden.
Rep. Neal May Not Repeal Tax By alexandra a. chaidez Crimson Staff Writer
Even after the Democratic takeover of the U.S. House of Representatives in this month’s midterm elections, Harvard may still contend with a tax on its multibillion dollar endowment for years to come. A congressman from Harvard’s state will almost certainly lead the committee charged with overseeing tax policy once Democrats officially take power in January — but his ascension might not bring about the policy overhaul the University has hoped for. The endowment tax, enacted as part of the 2017 Republican-led Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, requires Harvard and other institutions with endowments greater than $500,000 per student to pay a 1.4 percent excise tax on endowment returns. The tax is set to take effect for the 2019 fiscal year — and according to University estimates, it will likely cost Harvard between $40 million and $50 million per year. Harvard sought to prevent the tax for years before it became law, and the University has spent the year since its passage lobbying for its repeal. In March, former University President Drew G. Faust joined 48 other higher education leaders in penning a letter to congressional leaders to express “deep objections” to the federal endowment tax. University President Law-
rence S. Bacow traveled to Washington, D.C. soon after taking office in July to urge legislators to end the tax. In a September 2018 interview, Bacow said the tax will increase the cost of higher education and threaten funds available for financial aid. In an interview last month, Bacow, who said he was “talking to people on both sides of the aisle” about the issue, said his future lobbying efforts would depend on the results of the midterms and new legislation from the incoming Congress. “Depending upon how the elections turn out, I may be speaking to different people because there may be different people in Congress,” Bacow said. “There will certainly likely be different chairs of major committees, so that’s likely to change.” After the midterms delivered Democrats a sizable majority in the House, Congressman Richard E. Neal (D-MA) — a veteran Democrat representing south central Massachusetts — is now poised to become chair of the House Ways and Means Committee. The post will make him the new face of tax issues on Capitol Hill, and he has already begun outlining his priorities.Among them: chipping away at the Republican tax bill. Neal told CQ Magazine in an April interview that repealing the tax law wholesale will prove difficult with a Republican
See tax Page 5
Successes for Grad Student Unions Columbia University
Harvard University
Universities that Voted to Unionize
Universities whose Unions Ratified First Contract
Universities that Recognized the Union
The New School Georgetown University Tufts University
Brown University
Brandeis University
Margot e. Shang—Crimson Designer
By Shera S. Avi-Yonah and Molly C. McCafferty Crimson Staff Writers
Immediately following Harvard graduate students’ vote to unionize, some experts predicted the move would have a ripple effect on other universities. Months after the April election, that prediction appears to have come to fruition as unions at peer institutions have won elections and bargaining rights. Eligible graduate and undergraduate teaching and research assistants voted to authorize Harvard Graduate Students Union-United Automobile Workers’s petition to bargain on their behalf last April. Eleven days later, Harvard adminis-
trators announced they would bargain in good faith with the union, breaking with leaders at peer institutions that chose not to recognize graduate unions on their campuses. Now — after an uncertain start at the beginning of the academic year — several unions have followed in HGSU-UAW’s footsteps, securing historic gains in their own fights for better wages and benefits. At three universities — Tufts University, the New School, and Brandeis University — graduate student unions successfully negotiated their first contracts this month. And at two other schools — Brown University and Georgetown University — eligible student employees vot-
See BGLTQ Page 3
BGLTQ Grad Students Seek Support BGLTQ graduate students at Harvard say the University has failed to offer them sufficient support — and some students are attempting to fill the gap. By Shera s. avi-yonah Crimson Staff Writer
Last May, Ph.D. student Madeleine F. Jennewein sat for hours, remaining mostly quiet, at a Harvard student fair held in cobblestoned Dudley courtyard. She was there to tell new Graduate School of Arts and Sciences admits about the resources available to BGLTQ students on Harvard’s campus. Jennewein noticed that every other table at the fair was manned by a paid staffer or student. She was unpaid. Suddenly, she realized she couldn’t do it anymore. “I kind of reached my breaking point,” Jennewein said. “Every single other table was like a paid person who had an office, and then
there’s me, trying to make it seem like we have resources.” Jennewein and other BGLTQ Harvard graduate students say they have long sought more help and resources from University administrators, with little luck. Specifically, students say the Harvard lacks paid staff, events, and advising targeted to BGLTQ-identifying graduate students — and fails to keep up with peer Ivy League institutions who do offer these services. The push to improve the situation for BGLTQ GSAS affiliates began well before Jennewein arrived at Harvard, when leaders of LGBTQ@GSAS — the student group that serves BGLTQ graduate students
— first asked administrators for more funding and dedicated resources. In 2016, the group released an open letter describing problems they said they faced in Cambridge including “homophobia and transphobia,” “implicit bias,” and “attrition.” “Across Harvard there is an unspoken assumption is that everyone is cisgender and fits into the gender binary, which means that departments often fail to integrate students who do not,” the statement read. “We understand anecdotally that a disproportionate number of students who have left their programs are queer, female, minorities, or some combination thereof.” The letter made several asks of GSAS administrators,
chief among them the installation of a Dudley fellow to serve BGLTQ students. Dudley House — which assists both graduate students and undergraduates — employs 26 graduate fellows in fields including “athletics,” “arts,” and “food literacy” to organize events for Harvard affiliates interested in their dedicated areas. Though Dudley hired two diversity fellows last semester, it has never employed a fellow focused on BGLTQ issues. A Harvard spokesperson did not directly respond to a question asking whether GSAS plans to hire a BGLTQ-focused fellow. LGBTQ@GSAS leaders emailed Dudley House Faculty Deans James M. Hogle and Doreen M. Hogle in
ed to unionize. Avram L. Reisman, an organizer for the Georgetown Alliance of Graduate Employees, wrote in an email that GAGE’s past successes and future plans have been influenced by the work of unions at peer institution. “GAGE will work to ensure that the first contract represents the movement that has coalesced in support of unionization,” he wrote. “We will certainly look to the examples of successful first contracts for guidance moving forward.” “As more and more stories like GAGE get attention, more unionization efforts will start and, hopefully, succeed,” Reisman added.
At Columbia University — where the original 2016 National Labor Relations Board precedent which allows graduate students to unionize was decided — the graduate union has also made recent headway. Columbia administrators refused to recognize the union after a successful vote held in Dec. 2017. At the time, they said the teaching and research assistants included in the proposed bargaining unit were primarily students, not workers, and thus did not have the right to collectively bargain over wages and benefits — an argument which several universities, including Harvard, have repeated in the
See union Page 5
Management Corp Appoints New COO By Andrew j. Zucker Crimson Staff Writer
Harvard Management Company announced Sanjeev Daga will take the management of the University’s $39.2 billion endowment as the firm’s chief operating officer starting in February. Daga comes from Columbia University Investment Management Company, the group that oversees Columbia University’s endowment, where he holds the same position. The chief operating officer is one of HMC’s three most senior leadership positions. N.P. “Narv” Narvekar, CEO of the Harvard Management Company, also previously managed Columbia’s endowment, working directly with Daga for more than a decade. Robert A. Ettl, the current COO of HMC, is retiring after 10 years at the firm. H, served as interim CEO of HMC prior to Narvekar’s arrival in December
2016. “I am excited for the opportunity to join HMC and build on the work that Narv and the team have undertaken over the last two years,” Daga said in a Harvard Gazette article. “I look forward to meeting with members of the team in the coming months and learning about the challenges and opportunities ahead, so that I can hit the ground running in February.” The move comes as HMC announced in September that it returned 10 percent on its investments in fiscal year 2018, a gain Narvekar announced he was “not pleased” with. Harvard’s returns lagged behind its Ivy League peers, finishing only ahead of Columbia. Daga graduated from Rutgers University and received his MBA from New York University. He previously worked in risk management for two international banks.
See HMC Page 3
Harvard Law School Affinity Groups Call for New Diversity Committee By Aidan f. ryan Crimson Staff Writer
A coalition of 10 Harvard Law School student affinity groups called on Dean John F. Manning ‘82 to establish a Committee on Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity in a letter published Monday in the Harvard Law Record, the school’s student publication. The coalition wrote that they would ultimately like to see the school open a distinct office to address concerns about diversity, inclusion, and equity, created by this committee. “We call on Dean Manning to
Novo amor
Inside this issue
Novo Amor, a Welsh singer, songwriter, and producer, plays the keyboard during a live set at the Sinclair. amanda y. su—contributing photographer
Harvard Today 2
News 3
Editorial 4
Sports 6
Today’s Forecast
rainy High: 55 Low: 51
establish a Harvard Law School Committee on Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity (“Committee”) charged with designing an Office of Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity (“Office”); tracking implementation and progress on the Office; and monitoring the wellbeing of students until one year after the operation of the Office,” the letter states. The letter was signed by the Affinity Group Coalition, a group of Law School student affinity groups including the Black Law Students Association, the Executive Board of the Women’s Law Association, and
La Alianza — the Law School’s Latinx student organization. The coalition criticized the administration’s response to student recommendations made in an addendum to a 2017 report from the Task Force on Academic Community and Student Engagement. Commissioned by former Law School Dean Martha L. Minow following protests in 2016, the task force looked at Law students’ experience at the school in four areas: institutional culture, curriculum, mentoring, and
See HLS Page 3
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THE HARVARD CRIMSON |
NOvEMBER 27, 2018
Page 2
Harvard Today
For Lunch Chicken Vindaloo Philly Cheese Steak Sub White Bean Ragout
For Dinner Coq Au Vin Red’s Best Mussels w/ Pesto Vegetable Quinoa Paella
Today’s Events
in The Real World
Black Panther Screening Brattle Theatre, 7-9:30 p.m. If you’re still not over Black Panther (and let’s be real who is), head to the Brattle Theatre for a free screening this evening. This screening will include a livestream Q&A with director Ryan Coogler. Tickets will be available first come, first serve. Is Medical AI Possible in LowResource Settings Harvard Global Health Institue, 12-1 p.m., 6:30 p.m. MireliBooks will be combining their coloring pages with Alan Feldman’s poetry reading at the Cambridge Public Library to promote mindfulness and provoke discussion. The event is free, but space is limited. Gallery Talk: 18th Century Ceramics Harvard Art Musuems, 12:30 - 1 p.m. According to the Harvard Art Museums, their galleries are full of stories. Today, Casey Monahan, a curatorial assistant at the museum, will be highlighting some such stories, specifically focusing on 18th century ceramic pieces. The talk is free with museum admission (which is free with HUID), but get there a little early since the talk is capped at 15 participants.
General Motors to lay off 15 percent of workers, shutter five plants in North America General Motors is laying off 15 percent of its workers, which will lead too approximately 14,000 layoffs in North America. It is also closing five plants in North America. The company seems to be reacting to weaker demand in China and the United States, and so is preparing for a potential downturn in the near future now.
Lewis Zerter-Gossage ‘19 celebrates a goal in the team’s recent win against Cornell at Madison Square Garden. Timothy r. o’meara—Crimson photographer
Daily Briefing Harvard may still contend with a Republican-backed tax on its multibillion dollar endowment for years to come. Massachusetts Congressman Richard Neal will almost certainly lead the committee charged with overseeing tax policy once Democrats officially take power in January — but his ascension might not bring about the policy overhaul the University has hoped for. In other news, BGLTQ Harvard graduate students say they have long sought more help and resources from University administrators, with little luck.
Mexico says it will deport nearly 100 migrants who tried to cross U.S. border More than 100 federal officers circled the Benito Juarez shelter and sought the deportation of over 100 migrants who had tried to cross the U.S.Mexico border illegally. Schools in the area of the shelter were also shut down.
Manafort Breached Plea Deal by Repeatedly Lying, Mueller Says Lawyers for the special counsel have accused Paul Manafort — the former chairman of the Trump campaign — of breaching his plea deal by lying. Currently, Manafort is being held in solitary confinement in a detention center in Arlington, Va.
Around the Ivies upenn According to the Daily Pennsylvanian, Penn’s Computer and Information Science department faces “painfully high” demand going into the spring semester. The university will offer 35 CIS courses, a number which Penn administrators say is not enough to accomodate the number of prospective students. Last spring, there were 377 waitlist entries to a single applied machine learning course — a class with a cap of 150 students. The waitlist system also favors graduate students and CIS majors, a preferentiality that concerns some non-majors who want to learn about CISrelated topics.
Brown Brown University President Christina H. Paxson sent a University-wide email affirming Brown’s commitment to creating equitable procedures for reporting, investigating and resolving sexual misconduct allegations, according to the Brown Daily Herald. The email comes after the U.S. Department of Education released potential changes to Title IX regulations, which would alter how universities define and investigate sexual misconduct allegations. The proposal is currently in a 60-day public comment period, after which the DOE will issue final guidelines.
Princeton A task force deputized to examine the relationship between Princeton’s eating clubs and the University reported the eating clubs should increase inclusivity, health, and transparency, according to the Daily Princetonian. Although eating clubs are not directly part of the university, the task force acknowledged the “interdependent relationship that is ongoing, cohesive, reciprocal, transparent and candid” between the eating clubs and the university.
The University Daily, Est. 1873
The Harvard Crimson Derek G. Xiao President Hannah Natanson Managing Editor Nathan Y. Lee Business Manager
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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.
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THE HARVARD CRIMSON | november 27, 2018
Loss, Fear, and Hope Follow California Wildfires By ruth a. hailu Crimson Staff Writer
Two historically deadly wildfires began to devastate cities in Northern and Southern California in early November, worrying undergraduates from throughout the state as they watched the unpredictable firestorm wreak havoc from thousands of miles away. The most recent reports indicate that both the “Camp Fire” in Northern California and the “Woolsey Fire” in Southern California are 100 percent contained, after raging for several weeks.Brenden T. Rodriquez ’20, a native of Agoura Hills, said his family lost their home to the Woolsey Fire in Southern California. A day after the fire started, his family was forced to evacuate, asking Rodriquez what he wanted from the house and bringing all they could carry, but ultimately not taking a lot. “Growing up in California, you’re used to wildfires. I’ve seen some from my house off in the distance where you can see the flames,” he said.
“But you were never really worried that it was actually going to come through, so I think that subconsciously they were like ‘We’re going to evacuate and then we’re going to come back eventually,’ and that just didn’t happen.” Rodriquez said it was difficult being thousands of miles away during the storm. Though, he noted he was grateful to travel back to California this Thanksgiving and sift through what was left of his childhood home. “That was actually really soothing, getting to go through everything.” “I wanted to find at least one thing that was recognizable that I could take with me” he said. The wildfires have damaged more than 250,000 acres of land and destroyed tens of thousands of structures in both parts of the state, leaving thousands of Californians homeless. In Northern California, 85 people have died and hundreds more remain unaccounted for. Suffering some of the most extreme damage, the city of
Paradise was leveled, making the Camp Fire California’s deadliest and most destructive wildfire to date. In Southern California, the Woosley Fire forced residents throughout the region to evacuate immediately. Rodriquez said he was grateful for the administrators and professors who reached out to him, as well as his fellow students who provided support throughout the past couple of weeks. In a discussion with a blockmate, Rodriquez said he offhandedly mentioned that he wished he had brought his record player to Cambridge before the fire. Soon after, his blockmate organized a fundraiser to replace the record player he had lost. “I’ve been very thankful to have found families here that were very helpful,” he said. “It was just nice to know there were people here too as well as back home.” Air quality throughout California has also deteriorated due to the blaze. In recent weeks, Northern
California had the worst air quality in the world, according to Purple Air, an air monitoring network. Olivia A. Sison ’21 said while no buildings have burned down in her hometown of Sacramento, the extremely hazardous air quality worried her family. Due to the wildfires, the Bay Area issued public health warnings, residents were urged not to go outside, and many schools, businesses, and universities shuttered their doors. “It was pretty traumatic seeing how smogy the air was and that you couldn’t even see the buildings anymore,” Sison said. “That was really really frightening because my whole family is there and I obviously don’t want them breathing in these particles that are carcinogenic.” “It was a very hopeless feeling just being here and not being able to physically be there,” she continued. As Thanksgiving break approached, the fires began to abate, but Sison and Justin D. Mack ’22 both did not spend Thanksgiving at their homes
HLS From Page 1
in Northern California. Mack, a Los Altos native, said instead of going back home for Thanksgiving, members of his family came to Boston to celebrate with local relatives and escape the smog. “The closest fire [to Los Altos] was the Camp Fire, which is 200 miles to the north almost, and it still had a huge disruption of daily life for them,” Mack said. The wildfires have served as flashpoints for numerous national debates, including climate change, California’s housing crisis, inmate labor, and the ethics of hiring private firefighters for personal protection.
It was just nice to know there were people here too as well as back home. Brenden T. Rodriquez ’20 Student from California
In relation to the housing crisis, Sison pointed towards
the amount of fundraising she has seen on Facebook. “It was incredibly sad to see all the GoFundMe’s on Facebook trying to make up for what had been lost.” she said. “It’s sad that we don’t have anything in place to actually help these people other than GoFundMe accounts.” When discussing the aftermath, Rodriquez said that his family is planning to rebuild. “I think the the community is going to come back even stronger than it was before, and it’s kind of a tough time to be in the Valley right now with the shooting and the fire right after, but I was blessed to not have lost anyone,” he said. “Family comes first, you can replace things, like every physical thing is going to be replaced, but you can’t replace family.” Rodriquez said he optimistically points to a favorite movie quote — from the 2008 film “Bottle Shock” — when he thinks about the disaster. “We’re all a little stronger in the broken places,” he said. ruth.hailu@thecrimson.com.
HMC From Page 1
HLS Students Seek Diversity Comm. Management Corp. sions,” Sells wrote. “We will continue to meet with all students, faculty, and staff to further deepen our sense of community.” In their letter, the coalition also outlined how they envision the committee to be structured. They proposed that the committee be made up of a combination of faculty, staff, and students and focus on issues like diversity, pedagogy, and culture. Demarquin D. Johnson, a second-year Law student and one of the letter’s authors, said the Law School needs to do a better job understanding these issues. “Currently, the Law School is unable to recognize the importance of diversity, inclusion, and equity in every aspect of it,” Johnson said. “It’s not only important in the recruitment side, it’s also
important in the way that faculty are teaching in the classroom, it’s important when you
HLS has failed to implement a majority of the recommendations. Coalition Letter
think about the alumni, it’s important when you think about the finances, it’s important when you think about the Law School experience.” Johnson added that it was critical that a new office be devoted to these issues. “It can not be simplified into just like a back office in the Dean of Students Office because it needs its own office,” Johnson said.
bqltq From Page 1
Dudley Calls for BGLTQ Staff April, renewing their call for the Hogles to add a fellow for BGLTQ students. They cited the event Jennewein staffed without pay as one of the reasons Dudley needs to pay someone to focus on challenges confronted by BGLTQ graduate students.“Unless the fellows have, in their job description, specific requirements that they implement programming for LGBTQ students or other minorities as the case may be, simply having queer or other minority students as fellows is not going to effectively support these populations,” group leaders wrote in the email. “Instead, it places those fellows in the position of potentially not serving the minority community they are a part of or the GSAS community as a whole well.”In a chain of emails LGBTQ@GSAS later posted publicly on Facebook, Hogle responded by arguing that the Dudley Fellows program is not the right medium to accomplish the BGLTQ group’s goals. He wrote that “a few concrete examples of our working model for Fellows” help explain why he believes GSAS should not create a fellow position specifically for BGLTQ students.In one email, he compared the students’ request for a BGLTQ-focused fellow to a previous request that Harvard hire a fellow focused on jazz. “A[t] various time points an applicant said ‘I want to direct a jazz band,’ so we created a position within the Music Fellow group whose primary responsibility was to organize and conduct a jazz band, rather than created a position called a Jazz Band Fellow,” he wrote.Hogle and GSAS administrators ultimately worked with LGBTQ@ GSAS to deploy a sticker campaign aimed at BGLTQ graduate students. The stickers read: “You Are Welcome Here.” Ph.D. student Sa-kiera T. J. Hudson, who is a member of the DuBois Society, a GSAS groupfor underrepresented minorities, agreed with Jennewein’s characterization of the issues
BGLTQ students face.“There are a lot of departmental issues, and the question becomes: where do you go when you have issues and the DGS is not particularly helpful,” she said. Asked about criticisms of the Hogles, a Harvard spokesperson pointed to recent steps GSAS has taken to improve the overall graduate student experience. In addition to adding the new diversity fellows, the school has organized workshops on diversity and inclusion and launched an outreach campaign to student affinity groups. GSAS Dean for Academic Programs and Diversity Sheila Thomas — who Jennewein and Hudson both called an ally within the administration — wrote in an emailed statement that the school is currently working to better support its BGLTQ students. “The GSAS Office of Diversity and Minority Affairs (ODMA) regularly meets with underrepresented minority students, including student groups. ODMA is determining how to expand this model to the LGBTQ community so that we can better support their particular needs,” Thomas wrote.Hudson said that, while these changes are positive, serious problems linger. She called Harvard “a toxic space” for some graduate students — especially those identifying as BGLTQ.“You have some resources, but then you go into the lived experiences of some people and they don’t match up. That’s harder to advocate for and harder to talk about, when you say, ‘I don’t feel like I belong at Dudley House,’” Hudson said. “It gets to a point where people don’t go to Dudley House because they feel like there’s nothing there for them.”Leaders within LGBTQ@GSAS have noted that Harvard trails behind peer institutions when it comes to supporting BGLTQ affiliates. Harvard’s Office of BGLTQ Student Life serves only undergraduates, while similar offices at Brown, Cornell, MIT, Princeton,
Lauren D. Williams, a thirdyear Law student and president of the Black Law Students Association, said her organization’s main concern was the lack of a consistent faculty position dedicated to teaching critical race theory. “I have been here for three years and there hasn’t been someone on staff consistently teaching a course like Critical Race Theory and we’ve definitely been pushing,” Williams said. Williams also said that other schools have similar committees, pointing to the University of Chicago Law School’s Diversity Committee as one example. “As kind of a pioneering space in the academy, HLS — there’s no reason why they shouldn’t get in front of this too,” Williams said.
Appoints New COO “I had the pleasure of working with Sanjeev for more than 13 years at CIMC and we are thrilled that he will be joining the team,” Narvekar told the Gazette. “His experience buil-
We are thrilled he [Daga] will be joining the team .
of a finance executive search firm, said HMC’s chief operating officer position involves “middle office” tasks like risk management, as well as “back office” duties like administrative oversight.“In Harvard’s case in particular, you’ve got back and middle office relationships,” he said. “You have an awful lot of due diligence and review, because every manager that you put money with you have to review that manager.” Skorina also said it is common for endowment heads to bring over people they have previously worked with. As part of the announcement, HMC also said Kevin F. Shannon, the group’s chief financial officer, is retiring.
BLACKLISTED? BLACKLISTED? BLACKLISTED?
institutional supports. “HLS has failed to implement a majority of the recommendations, including the development of a Critical Race Theory program and hosting public town halls to address HLS norms and culture,” the letter states, in references to the addendum’s recommendations. Law School Dean of Students Marcia L. Sells wrote in an emailed statement that the school has created a number of new mentoring and advising initiatives in the past year such as a new online platform to help students connect with each other, a pre-orientation course for incoming first-year students, and a preferred lender program for student loans. “The Law School has long had an unwavering commitment to creating a strong and inclusive community that is diverse along multiple dimen
UPenn, and Yale serve both college and graduate students. Several of these centers also employ paid graduate fellows tasked with focusing on BGLTQ issues. Hudson and Jennewein said the resource gap at Harvard leaves BGLTQ graduate students without a place where they can seek help, given many graduate students do not want to use resources meant for undergraduates.As BGLTQ graduate students continue to call for more support, GSAS student life is undergoing a broader series of changes. The Hogles announced earlier this year they plan to step down in 2019, a move GSAS Dean Emma Dench said prompted her to consider reorganizing the way the school approaches student life. Currently, some College students — in particular those living outside the 12 upperclassman residential Houses — and GSAS students are both served by Dudley House.Under Dench’s new system, debuted in October, Dudley House will cease to exist and undergraduate and graduate students will be served by two separate bodies. One — dubbed the “Dudley Community” — will serve undergraduates living outside the Houses, College students living in the Dudley Co-Op, visiting students, and students who live on campus during the summer. The other will serve only GSAS students.“Since Dudley House broadened its mission to include GSAS students in 1991, thousands of students have benefited from intellectual and social activities organized by their peers,” Dench wrote in an email announcing the change. “We now have the opportunity to enhance these opportunities, enabling our students to make life outside the library or lab a priority.” Jennewein said she is “optimistic” that, under the new system, BGLTQ students will find Lehman Hall more welcoming. shera.aviyonah@thecrimson.com.
aidan.ryan@thecrimson.com.
N.P. Narvekar CEO of HMC
ing and managing an extraordinary operations and IT effort at a leading endowment will be a great asset as we continue our organizational transition.” Charles A. Skorina, the head
andrew.zucker@thecrimson.
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THE HARVARD CRIMSON | November 27, 2018
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Editorial The Crimson Editorial board
op-ed
Institutionalizing Diversity at the Institute of Politics
Divest Harvard’s Endowment
T
he undergraduate members of the Institute of Politics recently elected its first all-female executive board in more than a decade. Anna L. Duffy ’21 and Maya Jenkins ’21 won their uncontested race for president and vice president, respectively, while Olivia M. Ferdinand ’21 was elected treasurer and Grace K. Bannister ’21 won the election for communications director. We are glad to see the diversity that this new executive board represents, as the current IOP executive board is poised to represent female voices on our campus. Still, for true diversity to reach the IOP, institutional channels must change so the presence of members of historically underrepresented groups in leadership is not an anomaly, but a norm. Institutions — particularly academic ones — tend to uphold short-lived examples of diversity while not altering the processes that have historically blocked women and minorities from holding leadership positions. We hope that students, particularly those on this campus and in the IOP, change their organizations such that increased diversity in leadership no longer makes headlines. The problem of diversity within the IOP specifically has been longstanding; the one once-in-a-decade election of an all-female board does not change this fact. That being said, Duffy has stated that the new executives will conduct
outreach to on-campus groups to promote diversity within the IOP. We hope the new executive board follows through on this promise, in addition to taking other concrete steps to promote greater representation within the IOP. Still, change can only occur if those in power are determined to make it. While the symbolism of an all-female executive board is significant, we are concerned the day-to-day operations of the IOP may not significantly alter to welcome members of more diverse backgrounds and
Institutions — particularly academic ones — tend to uphold short-lived examples of diversity while not altering the processes that have historically blocked women and minorities from holding leadership positions. identities — and concrete change surely requires more than symbolism. Student leaders at the IOP should take initiative to make their organization a more supportive place for students from historically underrepresented groups in particular.
One of the more promising features of this new executive board is its commitment to, as Ferdinand said, “strengthen pathways to careers in public service.” As we have previously opined, public service has been largely overlooked at the College over the years. Even University President Lawrence S. Bacow has recognized the need for more resources for students seeking public service careers by promising to fund public service internships for every undergraduate interested in such a position. We commend the IOP’s new executive board for taking steps to improve the accessibility and feasibility of public service to students. We congratulate the IOP on its all-female leadership and await the plans that the new executives have in store for the organization. And we hope that one day, we will no longer need to call such an election newsworthy. We hope that one day, greater representation will simply be the status quo. 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.
Column
By jacob a. fortinsky
T
wo weeks ago, the Harvard College undergraduate body voted overwhelmingly in favor of two referenda urging the University to divest its endowment from holdings in the fossil fuel industry and the “prison-industrial complex.” These two industries are among the most heinous imaginable, benefiting from the burning of fuels that severely exacerbate the warming of our climate and excessive incarceration, respectively. Harvard should sever all ties from these industries and should follow the voices of its students. Fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas are by far the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States and in the world. Aside from possibly deforestation, there is nothing humans have ever done that comes close to fossil fuels in the massive harm wreaked on our planet. Though recycling and buying local produce are important, climate change cannot be stopped by consumers. It can only be stopped by targeting and punishing those directly responsible for it. The burden ought to fall on the unethical corporations that have benefited from destroying our climate. Similarly, the prison-industrial complex profits from and contributes to one of the most odious problems in our country, and it ought to be vigorously opposed. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, the number of incarcerated people has increased by around 600 percent to 2.3 million since 1970 and, according to a report by the Brennan Center for Justice, there is no evidence of a correlation between crime rates and incarceration rates. The criminal justice system at almost every level — policing, pretrial detaining, plea bargaining, convicting, sentencing, and releasing — disproportionately impacts blacks and Latinos. Incarcerated people often work in conditions reminiscent of slavery, such as when inmates recently worked as firefighters in the recent California wildfires. For these reasons and many more, activists have begun to call the Amer-
Fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas are by far the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States and in the world.
Isabella C. Aslarus—Crimson illustrator
Facing Off Against Artificial Artists By isabella c. aslarus
L
ast semester, one of my professors mentioned Google’s Deep Dream within a list of computer programs that use artificial intelligence to do normal human activities — like playing chess, Go, or Atari Breakout — better than any human can. It’s been decades since a world-class chess player first lost to a computer, so I’m not surprised by computers that can predict winning moves based on the rules of a game. But Deep Dream stood out from the list. Instead of winning games, or doing anything else that I’d expect from a computer, it creates art. I’ve always thought of art as inherently human, tapping into undefinable emotions and experiences, something that can’t be replicated by an unfeeling machine. Computers may have the same or greater capacity than people for applying game theory to develop strategies, solving math problems, recognizing faces, and even driving cars — but creativity seems untouchable. At best, I believed, a computer might become a feeble impersonation of a human artist. Deep Dream is far from a feeble impersonation, though. It doesn’t copy human art, or try to imitate a particular artistic style. Instead, it’s trained to identify specific patterns (the way facial recognition software can identify faces), and it alters images by repeatedly enhancing any qualities remotely similar to those patterns. For example, a version of Deep Dream trained to identify dogs saturates the starting images with thousands of dog-like features — tails, ears, snouts, fur, legs — until they’re almost unrecognizable, transformed into endless canine fractals, sprouting from the skeletons of the original images. This program doesn’t seem like a flimsy ruse of creativity. Deep Dream’s outputs are psychedelic, innovative, and entirely unlike art produced by humans. It’s a form of genuine creativity that exploits the pattern recognition processes computers are good at, uncovering wildly inventive interpretations of an input, with very little human control over how the output will look. And the world is beginning to recognize such computer programs as art. Paintings generated by artificial intelligence have sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars, and studies have
shown that these paintings are indistinguishable from (and even preferred over) some of the most renowned modern masterpieces. Machine creativity is an exciting development, but it’s also incredibly unsettling. The recent explosion of artificial intelligence has provoked intense debate over the possibility that robots could take over our jobs. Whether or not
Excluding non-artists from making art denies us of experiences that could shape our studies and ourselves, even if our art wouldn’t be seen as conventionally valuable. these fears are founded, they reveal a deeper insecurity about whether human skills and intelligence are unique. Even creativity, which seems like our most human characteristic, faces a stunning challenge from artificial intelligence. It’s plausible that the greatest masterpieces of the coming centuries will be made by artificial intelligence, that these works of art will fill museum walls and auction houses, that profits reaped by computer programs will outstrip human artists’ earnings. But this challenge doesn’t have to be unsettling, and it shouldn’t compel us to delegitimize machine creativity. Instead, it’s an invitation to reexamine why we value art and creativity in the first place. Machine creativity is only a threat to human art if we view art strictly as a commodity, judged by its economic value. Computers can’t compete with humans if, instead, we place value on the experience and process of making art, regardless of whether it becomes a lucrative masterpiece. In general, art is treated much more as a commodity than an experience. We only learn to appreciate art that’s expensive and famous, created by an elite group of experts. And we don’t push kids to pursue art unless we believe their innate talents compare to those of experts. Unlike math or writing, art is rarely offered (let alone required) in schools, rarely considered a fruitful way to learn and grow regardless of skill level. It’s only valuable for people with professional aspira-
tions, since the experience of making art doesn’t constitute a payoff in and of itself. Even at Harvard, a place that ostensibly celebrates art, it’s blatantly inaccessible to make art for its own sake. Studio art classes are notoriously scarce and competitive, with dozens of students vying for at most 15 slots, and priority given to those who already study art. There aren’t many non-academic opportunities to create art, either. Few clubs or organizations revolve around the visual arts. And only a small fraction of Harvard’s students can get involved in events like Arts First, which seeks to promote art in the greater Harvard community. The average student is encouraged to view and listen to the art, music, and plays, but can’t participate in creating them. Excluding non-artists from making art denies us of experiences that could shape our studies and ourselves, even if our art wouldn’t be seen as conventionally valuable. For example, an engineering student could take an art class to refine their design sense. An English student could experiment with a new medium for storytelling. Biology students could develop creative visual representations of natural processes. Anyone and everyone could become better visual thinkers and more effective communicators by studying art. We fail to do justice to human creativity when we neglect art’s ability to enrich our daily lives. By only valuing art as a commodity, by only validating the most popular artists, we inadvertently exclude the vast majority of people from participating in art, sending the message that nothing we create could be worthwhile. But human creativity stands apart from machine creativity, not because humans can generate more soulful masterpieces and steady profits, but because it’s available to everyone. We can all make art that enhances our study of other fields, spreads compassion for other people, and helps us engage with our surroundings and ourselves. Ultimately, it’s everything that we learn from the experience, rather than the outcome, that makes humans unique. And art is one of the most overlooked and powerful ways for anyone and everyone to exercise this creativity. —Isabella C. Aslarus ’21, a Crimson Design editor, is a Neurobiology concentrator in Leverett House. Her column appears on alternate Tuesdays.
ican criminal justice system “modern-day slavery,” a form of racial and socioeconomic caste system, and “the new Jim Crow.” History will not look favorably upon those who benefited from mass incarceration and climate change. By maintaining its investments in these industries, Harvard is undoubtedly placing itself on the wrong side of history. Unfortunately, there is little that any of us as individuals can do to stop these two colossal injustices. That is why radical, systemic change is necessary. And that is why Harvard should take the lead — economically as well as academically and politically — in fighting for a more just world. Critics, such as The Harvard Crimson Editorial Board, upon which I sit, argue that if the Harvard Management Corporation were to adopt divestment policies, it would effect little financial change and have “no ability to effect social change.” This line of thinking is severely misguided for several reasons. Even if it were true that the divestment of select investments from a $39.2 billion endowment does not exert serious financial pressure on the affected industries, which is indiscernible until implemented, the symbolic value of Harvard taking a stand against the private prison and fossil fuel industries cannot be understated. If Harvard were to publicly condemn, and divest from, these industries, many institutions would surely follow. It would also send an unequivocal message that Harvard “walks the walk” when it comes to protecting our planet and justice for all. Yet, even if it were true that Harvard’s potential divestment would not affect any change, either symbolic or financial, which I do not believe is the case, Harvard nonetheless ought to divest from these industries. Entanglement with fossil fuel and the prison-industrial complex taints Harvard’s moral character and such entanglement is wrong in itself. It is flawed to judge the morality of an action simply by its consequences. For example, it would be wrong for Harvard to donate money to the National Rifle Association, even if such a donation did not lead to any legislation or an increase in gun deaths. Likewise, it is fallacious to analyze Harvard’s holdings in fossil fuel or private prison corporations strictly in terms of their impact. There has been great opposition to Harvard accepting donations from unethical people, institutions, and countries. I greatly sympathize with these concerns. These donations are worrisome not just because they tarnish Harvard’s research and reputation but because accepting this money is intrinsically dubious. Yet the issue of investing in immoral industries certainly ought to be just as problematic as accepting money. If Harvard would not accept money from the fossil fuel and prison industries, then why should it essentially be giving them money? Surely, supporting immoral industries is worse than being supported by them. The endowment is not a wholly separate entity, but rather an integral component to Harvard’s mission. Harvard should strive to be a moral institution that cares for our planet and our fellow human beings. Doing so requires the complete and immediate divestment of its endowment from the fossil fuel industry and the prison-industrial complex. Harvard’s integrity is at stake. —Jacob A. Fortinsky ’21, a Crimson Editorial editor, is a Social Studies concentrator in Winthrop House.
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THE HARVARD CRIMSON | november 27, 2018
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Mass. Dem to Manage Endowment Unions See Wins at Peer Schools -controlled Senate and White House.“Experience tells me it’ll be hard to repeal the law, given the Republican president,” Neal said. “I think that more likely you would try to shape it to the realities of the day.” Instead, Neal said, Democrats will focus on eliminating smaller provisions of the law. In the April CQ interview, Neal indicated the endowment tax could be one of the portions Democrats attempt to reverse. More recently, however, experts say the calculus within the Democratic party may have changed. Democrats largely oppose the endowment tax and prominent party leaders, including U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), have spoken out against it. But not all Democrats share that priority — this year, a Democratic gubernatorial candidate in Neal’s own state campaigned in favor of a tax on university endowments. Democratic candidate for Massachusetts governor Jay Gonzalez proposed his own 1.6 percent endowment tax in September that would have cost Harvard over $500 million per year. Gonzalez lost his election bid in November to incumbent Governor Charles D. Baker ’79, who garnered more than two-
thirds of the vote. Experts say these rifts among Democrats over the endowment tax issue may mean it will take lower priority when Neal ascends to the committee’s helm.Boston College political science professor David A. Hopkins ’99 said the issue of the endowment tax splits Democrats between those who are sympathetic to universities and those who want to use the revenue to redistribute wealth. Gonzalez, for instance, proposed using the funds generated from a state-level tax on Massachusetts universities’ endowments to bolster public education in the state. “There’s a debate that I suspect has the potential to be a lively one, just in terms of what the correct liberal position should be on a policy question like that,” Hopkins said. “If you’re a Democratic leader, especially if it’s to some degree a moot debate anyway in terms of potential for actual policy change, I think opening that debate is something you’d be pretty reluctant to do.”A spokesperson for Neal did not respond to requests for comment. Experts say Neal will likely face pressure to undo the tax from other Massachusetts universities. The state alone con-
tains six institutions of higher education affected by the tax — including Williams College, which is located in the district Neal represents. But experts also urged caution in lobbying, emphasized that Neal and even universities like Harvard may not want to be seen defending elite institutions with hefty endowments. Harvard’s endowment in the 2018 fiscal year was valued at $39.2 billion after returning 10 percent on its investments. Harvard Law School visiting professor and corporate tax specialist Howard E. Abrams said he expects any repeal of the endowment tax to come from a revenue-neutral bill, an act which pairs a revenue-losing measure like a possible repeal with a provision that raises money through the taxation of other sources. Abrams warned “negative spin” might come out of Harvard lobbying against the tax and said he thought any lobbying will likely be conducted “in a very creative and relatively quiet way.” “In a revenue neutral bill, we’ve got to raise taxes on somebody,” Abrams said. “Does Harvard want to be in that position and be Harvard, with the high-
est endowment of any university in the world, [who] wants to raise taxes on other people? I’m not sure they want that PR.” Kennedy School public policy lecturer David C. King said a repeal on the endowment tax would be “very bad politics” for Neal. “It makes no sense to be seen publicly allied with the elite of the elite, while the Democratic party is trying to position more believably as focused on the interests of the middle class of America,” King said. Still, Bacow said he continues to make the case to lawmakers that the endowment tax is “lousy public policy.”Speaking about Gonzalez’s proposal in a September interview, he said “I’m all in favor of additional support in the state for K-12 education…but I don’t understand why taking scarce resources away from colleges and universities which have been entrusted to them to help support your education represents good public policy.”Asked whether Bacow plans to meet with Neal to push this message, University spokesperson Melodie Jackson declined to comment. alexandra.chaidez@thecrimson.com.
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past. This refusal prompted members of the Graduate Workers of Columbia-UAW to authorize a strike, walking picket lines during the final week of their spring semester. This fall, after GWC-UAW members threatened to strike again, Columbia agreed to bargain under a framework proposed jointly by the university and the UAW. Though GWC-UAW members still have to vote to approve the framework, the proposal marks a step forward after months of tension between the union and university. William A. Herbert, who directs the National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education and the Professions at Hunter College, City University of New York, wrote in an email that the Columbia decision is part of a recent trend that kicked off at Harvard.
“The current willingness of Columbia University to commence bargaining with the union certified to represent its student assistants follows in the footsteps of Harvard, Brown, Georgetown, and other institutions,” Herbert wrote. The HGSU-UAW bargaining committee wrote in an emailed statement that they support Columbia’s union regardless of the outcome of the upcoming vote. “We know that the current proposal for negotiations has created robust debate, and we support the student workers at Columbia regardless of if they vote to approve the agreement or continue with a strike,” HGSU-UAW negotiators wrote. “We stand with them and campaigns across the nation in our joint struggle to assert our labor rights as student workers.” shera.aviyonah@thecrimson.com. molly.mccafferty@thecrimson.com.
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WOMEN’S BASKETBALL VS. CSUN W, 75-55 ___________________________________________________________
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL VS. JACKSONVILLE STATE W, 69-62 ___________________________________________________________
MEN’S BASKETBALL VS. ST MARY’S W, 74-68 ___________________________________________________________
WOMEN’S ICE HOCKEY VS. WISCONSIN L, 3-2 ___________________________________________________________
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WOMEN’S ICE HOCKEY
Karly Heffernan is Finding Herself After Ice Hockey
SHE’S KARLYING ON Senior Karly Heffernan played ice hockey all her life, growing up in hockey-crazed Canada, until her career-ending injury. Even before her time for the Crimson, she had her share of accolades, having won two gold medals with the Canadian national U18 team at the IIHF World Championship in 2013 and 2014. MARK KELSEY—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER By MATTHEW MU CONTRIBUTING WRITER
“ I think I always wanted to be an Olympian. Ever since I watched the women’s national team when I was a little girl, I knew I wanted to be there. I wanted to be at the Olympics.” From a young age, Alberta native Karly Heffernan, now a senior, had already set her sights upon a dream which many athletes aspire to achieve. Like many, she had grown up with the sport, devoting countless hours to something she loved — ice hockey. “Karly, from day one, when she was barely old enough to talk, would absolutely go crazy,” James Heffernan, her father, remembers. “She couldn’t pronounce it right, she would go ‘awkey awkey.’ When she was first learning how to skate, I would have both her and her brother in my arms, and what’s interesting is that most kids start crying when they’re on the ice. They don’t want to be on the ice. Her brother wouldn’t stop crying until I picked him up. But not Karly. You just knew she belonged on the ice.” “I grew up in Alberta, Canada,” Heffernan said. “Everyone plays hockey. I actually don’t [remember my first time on the ice]. It’s crazy. I remember morning practices at 6 a.m. in the cold small town [in] Alberta. My dad would come into my room and I wouldn’t wake up and then he would say I have hockey and then I would spring out of bed. He always tells that story, but I really don’t remember a time I wasn’t skating because we had an outdoor rink outside of our backyard and I genuinely think I skated as soon as I could walk.” In the fifth grade, Heffernan joined a sports academy, an experience she called her childhood dream. In high school, she joined the Vimy Ridge School for Athletes in Calgary, enabling her to travel throughout the United States playing
a sport she loved with a team she grew up with. At age 16, she joined the Canadian National Team, playing in her first world championship. “It was in Finland,” Heffernan recalled. “It was the craziest experience ever because it was my first time overseas and I was the youngest member on the team. In the gold medal final, we went into overtime with the United States, which was crazy. I was put out with my teammate Hanna Bunton (Cornell ’17) and she passed me the
Most kids start crying.... But not Karly. You just knew she belonged on the ice. James Heffernan
puck and I actually scored the overtime goal. It was the coolest thing of my entire life.” In her first season for the Crimson, Heffernan earned 20 points (9–11—20) through 35 games, registering a career-best four points on two goals and two assists in the 7-1 win over Brown on Feb. 7. In the 2015 ECAC Championship game, the team felt her presence through a tally and an helper as Harvard claimed a 7-3 victory over Cornell. As a sophomore, she scored in the second ECAC quarterfinal game at Colgate, capping off the season with 24 points (8–16—24) through 32 games. CONTROLLING THE CONTROLLABLES Following that season, Heffernan was invited to a Team Canada training camp in May. Near the end of an intense day, she felt a pop in her foot. Nothing too out of the ordinary, and definitely nothing that she felt she couldn’t overcome. It was only months later, at the start of
the 2016-2017 fall season, when doctors found that her stress fracture had become into a serious fracture, leading Heffernan to decide to take a year off. “The decision was made that day by me and then the coaches were all for it,” Heffernan said. “It was an immediate yes, go for it. The entire team and all the coaches were all very supportive. They were incredible, and they are by far a family to me. Hockey is so much more than a sport to all of us. It’s 100% like family.” After her surgery, Heffernan’s mindset changed. With her first major injury and surgery, she was prepared to come back stronger than ever. “It was go time. For the first time in my life, I really felt like I was the underdog. For me, it wasn’t the end of the road, just a roadblock.” “My really good friend used to send me ‘CTC’ — control the controllables,” Heffernan said. “I think it really resonated with me because I had zero control over the situation. I focused on controlling what I could: my recovery progress and my mental state.” Heffernan knew where she wanted to be. “[Being on the ice] was just so natural to me. I felt like it was my second home. Nothing else mattered when I was on the ice and that was a huge thing for me. I was going to be back [on the ice].” Following a year off to rehab her foot, Heffernan came back prepared to play in the 20172018 season. However, continued pain required her to undertake a second surgery on her foot, once again sidelining her for the entire season. After heavy consideration with friends, family, teammates, and coaches, Heffernan decided to take a step back from hockey. “I remember the day that I told my coaches and team,” Heffernan said. “That was when it felt like my final decision. I remember getting in the car with
my dad and I broke down. In
I remember getting in the car with my dad and I broke down. In almost an instant it’s gone. It’s gone. Karly Heffernan ‘18-’19
almost an instant it’s gone. It’s gone. People always want to say to not let it be part of your identity, but [hockey] was a lot of who I was. And that was so okay with me.” LIFE’S FULL OF CHANGES “I have not really skated since August of 2016,” Heffernan said. “I haven’t been on the ice for more than a year. At first it was medical and now I’m at a point where I’m almost scared to.… But I don’t miss it too much right now, which is really strange.” After over two years off the ice, Heffernan has now embraced the other aspects of her life as a college student. “I’ve been able to take different classes because I’m not practicing all the time, which has been really cool for me,” Heffernan said. “I’ve also managed to find a job. I don’t think I would have been able to do that if I was in a sport, to be honest. I’ve just put my focus on different things this semester especially which has been huge. “However, I feel as much a part of the team as I did when I was playing. Some of my best friends are still on the team. I go to team events. Whenever I see them it’s the same feeling; the atmosphere we’ve created, the culture that we’ve created. Even if you’ve left the team, they’re still going to support you 100%. They’ve been my biggest rocks and anchors throughout this entire process.” In making the transition from hockey player to college
student, Heffernan noted that finding a new identity outside of sports was something that many athletes unfortunately experience. “I think it’s a very common thing that students experience, unfortunately,” Heffernan said. “They are left to find their new identity outside of sports while still attending college. I think it’s one thing to be done sports after college because you know it’s coming, but it’s a whole other thing to be done before when you don’t know it’s coming. Nothing can prepare you for having your routine that’s defined your life for such a long time to just simply vanish.” “I wanted Karly to know that everyone retires from a sport like hockey,” her father mentioned. “Some people play it longer than others. For some, it’s something you stop at age 20 or even at age 30. But everyone retires from hockey at some point. Luckily, Karly has been able to focus her life on new things, but hockey will always be a part of her. Hockey really prepared her for everyday life. Life is full of great achievements and great disappointments. And that’s life. And that’s what hockey is like as well.” Since retiring from hockey, Heffernan has stepped out of comfort zones and has been able to refocus her priorities onto building closer relationships with family and friends that are outside of the sports world. Her roommate, senior Jill Scyocurka, faced similar hurdles through her time at Harvard. Coming in as a lacrosse player, she had suffered several torn ligaments in her knee at the end of her high school spring. As such, she eventually shifted her focus onto sailing in her sophomore year. But after a herniated disc this summer and fall, Scyocurka realized that she couldn’t continue athletics in her final semesters. “It was hard at first to imagine what my experience at Har-
vard would be like,” Scyocurka said. “At first, I was really frustrated; it felt like I was wasting time and not appreciating my experience at Harvard. But I’ve realized how lucky I was to have such great friends. I really spent that extra time [outside of training] solidifying my friendships and relationships. It’s been so nice to focus on my friends and teachers here at Harvard. I even took an acting class that I’ve been wanting to take since freshman year. “There’s always a silver lining. If you have faith that whatever you open your life up to, you’ll find a new passion, you’ll learn more about yourself that you never knew. Sometimes devastating news can be such a blessing in disguise.” Reflecting on her experiences at Harvard, Heffernan also echoed similar sentiments.
There’s always a silver lining.... Sometimes devastating news can be such a blessing in disguise. Jill Scyocurka ‘19
“I wouldn’t take back anything,” Heffernan said. “I think what I’ve felt without [hockey] is almost relief because the pressure of it is insane. It’s allowed me to find new things and I think that’s the only way to go about things. When you’re going about a huge change, you have to focus on what life is giving rather than what it’s taken from you. Life’s full of changes and you can never expect any of them. “I grew up playing hockey for my whole life; I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t on the ice. I played it until I was 21 years old and now I’m on this new journey to find my new passions.”