The Harvard Crimson - Volume CL, No. 19

THE HARVARD CRIMSON

Undergrads Flock to First Day of Classes

‘GREAT TO BE BACK.’

Students fillled the Yard on the first day of fall classes Tuesday, with freshmen shaking off first-day jitters and seniors approaching their final year on campus with a sense of comfort.

SEE PAGE 5

Mather D-Hall Shifts Schedule Amid Heat

‘BOILING.’ After student outcry over workers exposed to extreme heat, HUDS closed Mather dining hall for lunch Thursday and Friday and served dinner “without the use of warmers” Thursday.

SEE PAGE 8

METRO

Friendly Toast Pops Up in the Square

TOAST OF THE TOWN.

Friendly Toast, an all-day brunch restaurant and bar, set up shop in Harvard Square in late July after a prolonged opening process delayed by supply chain and permit issues.

SEE PAGE 11

SPORTS

Women’s Soccer Eyes Postseason

BACK IN ACTION. Off to a 2-1-1 start, Harvard women’s soccer is looking to improve upon the success of last season, which ended in a second-round NCAA tournament game. But it will be no easy feat.

SEE PAGE 16

Harvard Isn’t Fun Enough. That’s No Laughing Matter.

The Arctic Monkeys Light Up Boston (Yes, There’s a Mirrorball)

PAGE 8

Harvard’s Tenure and Discipline Policies, Analyzed, Amid Lawsuit by HBS Professor Gino

BY RAHEM D.

AND

After allegations of data fraud by Harvard Business School professor Francesca Gino came to light in 2021, the school changed its research integrity policies to explicitly place termination on the table as a possible consequence.

Gino’s discrimination lawsuit against the University filed in August has brought Harvard’s little-known discipline and research policies into the limelight as exhibits in the filings. The Crimson reviewed the University policies surfaced by the complaint: Harvard’s Third Statute, its discipline policy, and HBS’ previous and interim research misconduct policies.

CONVOCATION

BY J. SELLERS HILL AND NIA L. ORAKWUE CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

Dean of Harvard College Rakesh Khurana

and University President Claudine Gay welcomed the Class of 2027 to Harvard at Convocation during a ceremony Monday marked by tradition, speeches, and activism.

As has been the case in recent years, the ceremony — which was hosted in Tercentenary Theatre — was punctuated by shouts of protest by members of the Harvard College Palestine Solidarity Committee, who also held banners during the ceremony.

Gay, addressing freshmen at her first Convocation as president, opened the ceremony with an anecdote about her childhood frustration with — and eventual acceptance of — her lack of a middle name.

“Probably at several points between now and your Commencement, you will

In addition to alleging discrimination, Gino accused Harvard of violating her contract by failing to adhere to its own policies when it placed her on unpaid administrative leave, stripped her of her named professorship, and barred her from campus, among other penalties.

As part of the suit, Gino’s attorneys released the Business School’s policies on research misconduct. Both the prior policy and an interim policy instituted after the allegations against Gino were brought to Harvard’s attention, according to the lawsuit.

The old policy, released as a two-page exhibit, was titled the “Research Integrity Policy” and detailed the procedures for investigations of allegations against faculty for research misconduct.

The policy defined research misconduct as “fabrication, falsification, or pla-

giarism in proposing, performing, or reviewing research, or in reporting research results.”

Per the document, the school’s dean could “attempt to resolve the matter through informal process or discussion” or if that is not “appropriate” for the situation, “appoint an individual or a committee to investigate the allegation.”

Following this process, a member of the investigating committee would report their findings to the dean, and after the accused party has a chance to review and comment on the findings, the dean would make the final decision.

According to the previous policy, it would be up to the dean whether to brief other parties at the University depending on the case — which could include the University President or officers of affiliated institutions with “an interest in the

research.”

Per Gino’s complaint, the Business School replaced this policy with an interim policy in August 2021. The complaint alleges these rules were “created solely for” Gino.

The interim policy expands on the definition of “a finding of research misconduct” and adds that “individuals subject to this policy found to have committed research misconduct may be subject to sanctions up to and including termination.” The detailing of specific sanctions that may be levied in the case of a research misconduct finding is a key difference between the interim policy and the one that preceded it.

According to the complaint, HBS determined that its investigation committee

SEE PAGE 8

HARVARD KENNEDY SCHOOL

feel insufficient,” Gay said. “When that happens, I hope you remember this story and my parents’ wisdom. You have been given a name and it is all that you need to make a name for yourself.”

In his address, Khurana took aim at what he described as an increasing mistrust of and narrowing focus on the benefits of higher education.

“We can see evidence of the decline in confidence in higher education all around us — in attacks on academic freedom on campuses, and deep cuts for liberal arts and sciences programs, most recently at West Virginia University,” Khurana said of the public university that in August moved to eliminate 169 faculty positions.

Khurana also seemed to indirectly allude to the national conversation about the merits of affirmative action and diversity in college admissions — discussions that have found a battleground at Harvard. Over the summer, the Supreme

SEE PAGE 5

Harvard Kennedy School Dean Douglas

W. Elmendorf will step down at the end of the academic year, University President Claudine Gay announced in a Thursday morning email to HKS affiliates.

Elmendorf, who began his tenure as HKS dean in 2016, is the first Harvard dean to depart since Gay began her tenure as president in July. Before joining the Kennedy School, Elmendorf served as the director of the U.S. Congressional Budget Office and as an assistant professor in Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences Economics Department.

Elmendorf, who was one of the longest-serving deans at the University, was appointed the role in 2015 by former University President Drew G. Faust.

In a Thursday email to HKS affiliates, Elmendorf wrote that he “decided during

the summer that it will soon be time for the next chapter for the Kennedy School and for me.”

Elmendorf will officially step down as dean in June 2024 but said he plans to remain at the Kennedy School as a faculty member.

“I look forward to playing a different role here — that of a faculty member — and to having much more time to learn and teach about economic policy,” he told the Harvard Gazette, a University-run publication.

Elmendorf’s tenure at times was plagued with controversy and turmoil, facing calls to resign as dean at two separate points last semester.

In January 2023, Elmendorf faced widespread backlash for allegedly vetoing a Carr Center for Human Rights fellowship for former Human Rights Watch executive director Kenneth Roth over his past criticisms of Israel. Elmendorf’s

SEE PAGE 5

Little Amal Comes to Harvard

Tibetan Culture Org Travels to India

Salata Launches Methane Initiative

LITTLE AMAL. Hundreds of Harvard faculty, students, and Cambridge and Boston residents gathered in Harvard Yard Thursday evening to greet Little Amal, a 12-foot-tall puppet of a 10-year-old Syrian refugee, on the first day of her two-month journey across the United States.During the event, which was supported by the American Repertory Theater and the Harvard University Committee for the Arts, Amal — the product of the Handspring Puppet Company — arrived in Science Center Plaza just past 7 p.m. to an enraptured crowd, some of whom cried out, “Welcome!” and “Have a safe journey!”BY AZUSA

LIPPIT AND ELIAS J. SCHISGALL—CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

AROUND THE IVIES

POLICE UNION TURNS TO STUDENT OUTREACH AMID STALLED CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS

The Yale Police Benevolent Association made headlines last month by distributing flyers to new students warning them of a crime ridden New Haven. “Some Yalies do manage to survive,” the pamphlet read. The Yale Police Department Chief Anthony Campbell called the pamphlets “fear-mongering.” The move was a marked escalation in ongoing contract negotiations that have already dragged a month past the last contract’s June 30 deadline. Both the negotiation timeline and key provisions within the contract are still disputed. Talks will resume Sept. 13.

THE YALE DAILY NEWS

BROWN ANNOUNCES INCREASE IN ANNUAL PAYMENTS TO PROVIDENCE

After months of negotiation between the city of Providence and its four private colleges, Brown agreed to pay an average of $8.7 million to the city under two voluntary agreements. Should the city council approve the agreement, more than $174 million will be transferred from Brown to Providence between 2024 and 2043. Brown — a non-profit organization — is exempt from paying property taxes, which a 2022 report found would otherwise cost them nearly $50 million annually. Providence Mayor Brett Smiley said the increase will set a “national example for how to better define the relationship between institutions of higher education who happen to be property tax-exempt, but are so vital to the success of our city.”

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

MISSING CORNELL GRADUATE FOUND DEAD IN SAN FRANCISCO BAY

Yohanes Kidane, a 2023 graduate of Cornell University, was found dead in San Francisco Bay two weeks after was last seen Aug. 14 traveling in a rideshare service.. He was identified days later and his death was ruled a suicide. In college, Kidane was a math teaching assistant, described by friends as positive and motivated. “He’s a great student, a great peer, a very bright individual,” said his brother, Yosief Kidane. “He has a very bright future ahead of him.” Kidane had just begun a job as a software engineer at Netflix on Aug. 7, a week before he went missing.

THE CORNELL DAILY SUN

AUTHORIZES

Columbia’s postdoc union voted to authorize a strike with 98 percent approval Aug. 28 before they met with University representatives three days later for the 19th time during the negotiations period. Union president Cora Bergantinos-Crespo said the university did not “want to talk about anything other than the salary, so what we are hoping is that the strike authorization vote—and you know, if necessary, a strike itself—would move them into accepting, or at least discussing.” The University published their most recent offer Aug. 31, which included a $65,000 minimum salary and a $66,600 “hardship fund,” according to the union. Bergantinos-Crespo said will prepare for a strike and hopes the authorization vote will build momentum among members.

THE COLUMBIA SPECTATOR

TIBETAN DIASPORA. Nine Harvard students from the Harvard Undergraduate Tibetan Cultural Association traveled to India this summer break, marking the first time a campus group has been awarded a grant by the Harvard University Asia Center to learn about Tibetan culture and history. From Aug. 7 to 17, students visited the Tibetan community and the Central Tibetan Administration — sometimes referred to as Tibet’s government in exile — in Dharamsala and received an audience with the Dalai Lama. Tibet came under Chinese control in 1951, resulting in a diaspora and an independence movement. BY JOYCE E. KIM—CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

METHANE REDUCTION. Harvard’s Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability launched a major initiative in July to lower global methane emissions as part of its Climate Research Clusters Program.The methane emissions initiative is the largest of the five research clusters announced by the Salata Institute last semester and brings together more than a dozen faculty researchers across five of the University’s schools, including the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, School of Public Health, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and Harvard Kennedy School. BY ISABELLA G. SCHAUBLE AND SABRINA R.

HU—CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

In Photos: The Paw-pular Residents of Lowell House

BY JENNIFER SU—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

FROM MISCHIEVOUS KITTENS TO ENERGETIC DOGS, embark on a journey through Lowell House’s diverse pet community. Welcome to the world of cuddles, purrs, and wagging tails, guaranteed to make your day a little brighter!

GRIFF takes a moment to bask in the sunlight during an evening walk along the Charles River. As Griff’s owner and a resident tutor at Lowell House, Kyle Hildebrandt plays with him and takes him on a walk by the river every day after getting off from work.

LILITH intently studies the cat food that her owner, Chance, is holding up in front of her. A shy rescue kitten who previously lived in Matthews Hall with her parents, Anca Wilkening and Chance Bonar, this past year was her first time in Lowell House, with many more to come.

MOOSHOO and

chill out in a hammock in Lowell’s courtyard. Mooshoo is an energetic bichon who loves to run around and jump on strangers.

M.

NEXT WEEK 3

What’s Next

Start every week with a preview of what’s on the agenda around Harvard University

AS BLINKEN VISITS KYIV TO SHOW SUPPORT, RUSSIA MAKES A DEADLY ATTACK

A Russian missile strike killed 17 people in an eastern Ukrainian city near the frontlines on Wednesday, as U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken ’84 made a surprise visit to Kyiv. The trip marked Blinken’s fourth since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year. The top U.S. diplomat met with Ukrainian President Voloydmyr Zelensky during his visit to Ukraine’s capital and pledged more than $1 billion in new aid. Blinken’s unannounced trip showed support for the war-torn nation amid doubts among American and European lawmakers as Ukraine’s counteroffensive drags on.

PROSECUTORS PLAN TO SEEK HUNTER BIDEN INDICTMENT THIS MONTH

David Weiss, the U.S. attorney for the district of Delaware, filed court documents on Wednesday indicating that he intends to indict President Biden’s son, Hunter, by the end of the month. U.S. Attorney General Merrick

B. Garland ’74 appointed Weiss a special counsel after Hunter Biden’s guilty plea deal fell apart at the last minute in June. The filing suggests that Weiss will seek an indictment related to an illegal gun possession charge. Under the terms of the original plea deal, Biden would have admitted to the facts of the gun charge, but not actually plead guilty.

AMID HEALTH CONCERNS, MITCH MCCONNELL SAYS HE WILL FINISH TERM AS LEADER

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said on Wednesday that he has no plans to step down, amid increased concerns about his health. McConnell, 81, experienced two freezing episodes over the summer, raising questions about his ability to serve the remainder of his Senate term. During a news conference at the Capitol, McConnell froze for 28 seconds before his staff and Senate colleagues escorted him away from the lectern. Brian P. Monahan, the attending physician of the U.S. Congress, wrote in a letter Tuesday that McConnell did not have a stroke and does not have a seizure disorder.

Friday 9/8

CRIMSON JAM

Old Yard, 5:30 - 9:00 p.m.

All Harvard College students are invited to congregate in the Old Yard for a concert featuring headliner Nicky Youre, as well as a barbeque-themed dinner. The concert is annually hosted by the College Events Board and the Dean of Students Office.

Saturday 9/9

HARVARD MEN’S SOCCER VS.

SETON HALL UNIVERSITY

Jordan Field, 5 - 7 p.m.

Harvard Men’s Soccer will host Seton Hall on the Jordan Field at 5 p.m. The game can also be streamed on ESPN+.

Sunday 9/10

OFFICE FOR THE ARTS OPEN HOUSE

74 Mount Auburn St., 1:30 - 3:30 p.m.

The Office for the Arts (OFA) will host an Open House for students of any level interested in artmaking on campus to drop by to meet staff members, ask art-related questions, and receive OSA merchandise including a “make art” t-shirt. The OFA offers programs in art fields including but not limited to dance, ceramics, theater, working with professional artists from a range of disciplines, orchestral participation, choral work, and jazz ensembles.

Monday 9/11

A UNIFIED FRAMEWORK FOR ROBUSTNESS, FAIRNESS, AND COLLABORATION IN MACHINE LEARNING SEMINAR

150 Western Ave. Allston, 11 a.m. - 12 p.m. Dr. Nika Haghtalab will lead a seminar as part of the CRCS Social Impact Seminar Series introducing multi-objective learning as a tool for machine learning.

Tuesday 9/12

BGLTQ IN THE YARD Harvard Yard, 4 - 6:00 p.m.

The Office of BGLTQ Student Life will host an ice cream social with ice cream from the Cool Cow Creamery for students to make new friends and meet The Office of BGLTQ Student Life team members On Tuesday, the BGLTQ Office hosted a similar ice cream celebration in the Radcliffe Quadrangle.

Wednesday 9/13

RANDALL KENNEDY, ‘DEPLOYMENTS OF VIOLENCE BY AFRICAN AMERICANS IN THE SECOND RECONSTRUCTION’

104 Mount Auburn St., 12 p.m.

Harvard Law School professor Randall Kennedy will discuss “Deployments of Violence by African Americans in the Second Reconstruction” for the W.E.B. Du Bois Research Institute Colloquium Series. The event is hosted by the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research.

Thursday 9/14

CAREER CONNECT: Q&A WITH HARVARD EXPERTS

224 Western Ave., 4:00 p.m.

The Harvard Ed Portal will host a panel with Harvard University Talent Acquisition and HR professionals in administrative and technical roles about how to plan a career for long-term success.

Friday 9/15

MICROBIAL SCIENCES INITIATIVE CHALK TALK: ADNAN SYED

24 Oxford St. Room 375, 8:30 a.m.

All MSI community members are invited to attend an informal seminar led by Adnan Syed about the question “Should I stay or should I go?” with only a chalkboard as a visual aid.

Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled to decriminalize abortion nationwide on Wednesday, in a decision that called the criminal code criminalizing abortion “unconstitutional.” The ruling made abortion legally accessible in all federal health institutions in Mexico and eliminated bans on medical providers who perform abortions. The ruling continues a recent trend of countries in Latin America that have decriminalized or legalized abortionThe ruling leaves in place local laws on abortion, still banned in 20 of Mexico’s 32 states, though residents can seek an abortion in federal hospitals.

THE HARVARD CRIMSON

Associate Managing Editors

Leah J. Teichholtz ’24

Meimei Xu ’24

Editorial Chairs

Eleanor V. Wikstrom 24

Christina M. Xiao ’24

Arts Chairs

Anya L. Henry ’24

Alisa S. Regassa ’24

Magazine Chairs Io Y. Gilman ’25

Amber H. Levis ’25

Blog Chairs

Tina Chen ’24

Hana Rehman ’25

Sports Chairs

Mairead B. Baker ’24

Aaron B. Schuchman ’25

Associate Business Manager Derek S. Chang ’24

CLAIRE YUAN—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

STAFF FOR THIS ISSUE

Night Editors Andy Z. Wang ’23-’24 Eric Yan ’24

Design Chairs Sophia Salamanca ’25

Sami E. Turner ’25

Multimedia Chairs

Joey Huang ’24

Julian J. Giordano ’25

Technology Chairs

Kevin Luo ’24

Justin Y. Ye ’24

Assistant Night Editors Miles J. Herszenhorn ’25

Elias J. Schisgall ’25

Michelle N. Amponsah ’26

Natalie K. Bandura ’26

Cam E. Kettles ’26

Azusa M. Lippit ’26

Dylan H. Phan ’26

Story Editors Brandon L. Kingdollar ’24

Leah J. Teichholtz ’24

Meimei Xu ’24

Design Editors Toby R. Ma ’24

Nayeli Cardozo ’25

Sami E. Turner ’25

Laurinne P. Eugenio ’26

Photo Editors Joey Huang ’24

Julian J. Giordano ’25

Addison Y. Liu ’25

Nathanael Tjandra ’26

Editorial Editors Cara J. Chang ’24

Christina M. Xiao ’24

Arts Editor Zachary J. Lech ’24

Sports Editors Mairead B. Baker ’24

Aaron B. Shuchman ’25

Y. YAO—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

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Students File in for First Fall Classes

FALL BEGINS. As students descended on Cambridge for the first day of the fall semester, they describe their firstday jitters and excitement to reunite with friends.

BY

On the eve of the fall semester Monday, Jessica P. Chen ’25 was feeling prepared for her early morning classes. But a late-night coffee bean mishap threw Chen’s first day of class into disarray.

“My roommate offered me Trader Joe’s chocolate-covered coffee beans, and I didn’t know those had caffeine,” she said. “I was so wired through the entire night.”

Chen said she stayed awake until 5 a.m. and slept through her first day of classes, but added that she is looking forward to being in attendance for her junior year academic debut on Wednesday.

Most Harvard undergraduates — unlike Chen — filled the University’s lecture halls for the first day of fall classes on Tuesday morning, which officially marked the end of summer and the start of a new semester.

“It was really great to be back in the Yard to see it back alive,” said Ted J. Sunshine ’26.

Aissatou B. Diallo ’25 had mixed feelings about her first day of class.

“It was just more of an awkward first day than I anticipated,”

CONVOCATION FROM PAGE 1

she said. “But it was nice to see people and say hi to people on my way to class.”

For freshmen, Tuesday marked both the beginning of a new semester and the first day of their college career.

Summer Z. Sun ’27 said she was “super excited” for her first day of classes after managing to overcome first-day jitters.

Sun said she had to call her mom because she was “so anxious” about starting College classes, homework, and extracurriculars after a week of “fun events” for orientation.

B. Nimet Yesil ’27 said nervous excitement kept her up late into the night, but she woke up ready to begin the day.

“I actually woke up 30 minutes before my alarm, which never happens. So yeah, I guess you could say I was pretty excited,” she said.

Other freshmen were pleasantly surprised by a lighter slate of first-day classes to begin the year.

Teodor G. Malchev ’27 described his first day as “pretty chill.”

“I didn’t expect it to be actually that easy,” he said.

Meanwhile, Tuesday marked the beginning of seniors’ last year on campus, which felt “bittersweet” to Hallie C. Zenga-Josephson ’24.

“I think I will miss Harvard, and this — being the last first day of class — makes me really nostalgic and appreciate everything extra,” said Alice Chen ’24.

Still, seniors said their fi-

nal year on campus came with a sense of comfort and opportunity.

Emma T. Zuckerman ’24 said she is excited for the chance to take classes that have been on her wishlist for years. Zuckerman — a Mechanical Engineering concentrator — said she finally had space in her schedule to take a creative writing class that she had wanted to take throughout her undergraduate career. “I think that coming back just feels very comfortable since we’ve done it so many times — a few times,” said Arik Katz ’24-’25.

ella.jones@thecrimson.com john.pena@thecrimson.com

Gay, Khurana Welcome Class of 2027 at Convocation Amid Protest

HKS DEAN FROM PAGE 1

HKS Dean to Step Down in June 2024

move — which was later reversed

— triggered a petition calling for his resignation that was signed by more than 360 affiliates and co-sponsored by 19 student organizations.

Elmendorf came under scrutiny again in February 2023 after ending a research project led by misinformation expert Joan M. Donovan at the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy. Donovan departed the Kennedy School at the end of August for a tenure-track position on Boston University’s faculty.

In addition, Elmendorf presided over a period of controversy for the Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics.

In February 2020, Caroline B. Kennedy ’80 — the daughter of President John F. Kennedy ’40 — resigned as honorary chair of the IOP’s Senior Advisory Committee amid concerns over the IOP’s governance. A 2021 Crimson investigation, which first reported the reason for Caroline Kennedy’s resignation, revealed that Elmendorf exercised unprecedented control over the IOP as HKS dean.

Shortly before Caroline Kennedy’s resignation, Elmendorf had presented her with a proposed IOP governance structure that wrested much of the control over the IOP’s administrative functions from the Senior Advisory Committee.

The IOP, which was founded as a living memorial to President Kennedy, had been managed with direct involvement of the Kennedy family on the Senior

Court ruled against the use of affirmative action, and Harvard is currently facing an investigation from the Department of Education over its legacy and donor preferences.

“In a society with such deep economic inequality, it is not unreasonable to ask what role higher education and liberal arts and sciences education plays in social and economic mobility, and to ask what role they ought to play,” Khurana said. “Despite our multi-year efforts, we still need to do much more to broaden the socioeconomic diversity of our institutions.”

As Khurana concluded his remarks, a raised voice pierced the quiet.

“Dean Khurana, you talk about equity, you talk about jus-

tice, you talk about truth,” Asmer A. Safi ’23-’24 shouted following Khurana’s address. “Here’s the real truth — Harvard supports, upholds, and invests in Israeli apartheid, and the oppression of Palestinians.”

In an emailed statement, College spokesperson Jonathan Palumbo declined to directly address the interruption.

“Freedom of expression is essential to a liberal arts and sciences education,” Palumbo wrote.

Clyve Lawrence ’25, an organizer spearheading the movement to wipe the Winthrop name from an upperclassman house and a Crimson Editorial editor, also shouted “Dename Winthrop” following the ceremony’s land acknowledgment.

Activists have called on Har-

vard to remove the Winthrop name due to its namesakes’ connections to slavery and treatment of Indigenous peoples.

In her address, Dean of Undergraduate Education Amanda Claybaugh underscored the importance of protecting academic freedom, referencing recent moves from state leaders in Texas and Florida to restrict curriculum and limit tenure at state universities.

“As we watch the governors of some states eradicate tenure and outlaw the teaching of certain subjects,” Claybaugh said. “We stand in solidarity with our colleagues in those states.”

Claybaugh also called upon the incoming class to take part in uncomfortable intellectual experiences within and outside of

the classroom, including reading books they may “find offensive” and living alongside students whose worldview is “fundamentally opposed” to their own.

Also speaking at the ceremony was Dean of Students Thomas Dunne, Alumni Association President Tracy “Ty” Moore II ’06, and Harvard Undergraduate Association Co-Presidents John S. Cooke ’25 and Shikoh Misu Hirabayashi ’24, who presented the class banner.

The pageantry concluded with a singing of “Fair Harvard” — the school alma mater — and thunderous shouts from freshman students celebrating their freshman dorms.

wrote that she has “deep gratitude” for Elmendorf’s commitment to “principled, effective public policy and leadership in the face of considerable challenges to those ideals.”

“Leading a school of government during times of political turmoil has not been easy, but Doug has approached the challenge with boundless grace, good humor, and an unwavering commitment to rigorous scholarship for the betterment of society,” she wrote in the email.

Over his eight years as dean, Elmendorf launched a variety of initiatives, including establishing the school’s first Office of Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging in 2018. During Elmendorf’s tenure, the Kennedy School also launched the Bloomberg Center for Cities with a $150 million gift from Bloomberg Philanthropies in 2021. The Bloomberg Center brings together experts on cities to train leaders around the world and produce urban-centered research.

Gay wrote that she and Provost Alan M. Garber ’76 will provide additional information about the search for Elemdorf’s successor in the coming weeks.

With Elmendorf’s departure, Gay — just months into her tenure — will be tasked with overseeing the fifth dean search of her presidency. The University recently announced deans for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and the Harvard Divinity School. The search for the next dean of the Harvard School of Public Health is

ELLA L. JONES AND JOHN N. PEÑA CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS Students stroll past Widener Library on the first day of classes for the College’s

Harvard College Dean Rakesh Khurana snaps a selfie with students at the Class of 2027 Convocation Monday. FRANK S. ZHOU — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

Student demonstrators hold a signs at the Class of 2027 Convocation Monday. FRANK S. ZHOU — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

Harvard President Claudine Gay speaks at the Class of 2027 Convocation in Tercentenary Theatre. FRANK S. ZHOU — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

Douglas W. Elmendorf has served as dean of the Harvard Kennedy School since 2016. JULIAN J. GIORDANO — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

How an HLS Grad Became A Trump Co-Defendant

ferred to Chesebro’s citation of his work as a “gross misrepresentation” of his scholarship.

some of the others” and “didn’t have the same kind of judgment,” Tribe said.

BY

IIn 2000, long before Kenneth J. Chesebro entered the limelight as “Co-Conspirator 5” in the Justice Department’s indictment of Donald J. Trump, he worked under the tutelage of Harvard Law School professor Laurence H. Tribe for another high-profile presidential candidate: former Vice President Al Gore ’69.

Chesebro, who began working with Tribe as a student in the Law School, continued as one of his research assistants well after graduating from HLS in 1986. Two decades after he worked with the liberal legal scholar — on cases Tribe described as “mostly for the victims of corporate greed and of government abuse” — Chesebro joined Trump’s legal team.

Six days after the 2020 presidential election, Chesebro was contacted by Trump’s legal team, and soon after, he became a central player in the campaign’s efforts to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election. He outlined a plan to appoint false electors in states Biden won with the goal of using then-Vice President Mike Pence’s ceremonial role overseeing the electoral vote count on Jan. 6, 2021 to instead declare Trump the winner.

In the Aug. 1 federal indictment of Trump, special counsel Jack Smith described Chesebro — without naming him, instead referring to him as Co-Conspirator 5 — as “an attorney who assisted in devising and attempting to implement a plan to submit fraudulent slates of presidential electors to obstruct the certification proceeding.”

On Jan. 6, Chesebro was seen outside the Capitol wearing a red “Trump 2020” hat as rioters amassed around the building, according to CNN — though he did not appear to illegally enter or engage in violence himself.

Two decades earlier, in Gore v. Bush, Chesebro worked extensively under Tribe to craft a legal justification to recount votes in Florida. He later cited his former mentor in a series of confidential memos for the Trump campaign that conveyed his plan to use an “alternate slate of electors” to stop the Biden campaign from reaching 270 electoral votes.

Tribe has since publicly re -

“From the very first memo, he was twisting the research and making it clear that there were no limits of honesty or principle that would prevent him from basically scheming to overturn the election,” Tribe said.

“It’s not as though you can make a legal argument for having a fake elector,” he added.

Chesebro and his attorney did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Chesebro currently faces seven criminal charges in Georgia relating to the effort to overturn the election along with Trump and 17 other co-defendants. He has since pleaded not guilty on all counts and requested his trial be expedited and severed from proceedings for the other defendants.

On Wednesday, Georgia Judge Scott McAfee denied Chesebro’s motion to sever his case, ruling that he will be tried alongside co-defendant Sidney K. Powell, who also requested a speedy trial. The court is still weighing whether all 19 defendants must be tried together.

Chesebro’s trial alongside Powell is scheduled to start Oct. 23. It will likely be televised.

‘A Yes Man’

When Chesebro arrived at the Law School in 1983, Tribe — just 41 years old at the time — had already argued before the United States Supreme Court six times and had attained tenure at age 30. A seat in one of Tribe’s classes, let alone on his research team, was highly coveted.

“Everyone wanted to take his class,” said Jack H. Cleland, a 1987 Harvard Law School graduate and member of the Harvard Law Review alongside Chesebro.

For his part, Chesebro — nicknamed “the Cheese” both in reference to his Wisconsin roots and his surname — was described by many of his classmates as an extremely hard worker. When Chesebro offered to be one of Tribe’s research assistants after taking his constitutional law class, Tribe agreed and said Chesebro “could be counted on” for thorough legal research.

Working for Tribe, Chesebro joined a high-powered group of law students, including Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan and former President Barack Obama, in which Tribe said Chesebro “held his own in terms of intellectual acumen and thoroughness.”

Still, “it was pretty clear that [Chesebro] was less mature than

Unlike the other apprentices, Chesebro spent time on the Law School’s campus and worked for Tribe long after he graduated. Tribe would go on to argue 29 more cases before the highest court, of which at least one — Bush v. Gore — intimately in-

in Bush’s favor in December 2000, Chesebro continued to work with Tribe on a range of cases that were “mostly on the liberal side of things,” according to Tribe.

“I think I took a number of things for granted because the cases on which he worked so enthusiastically were cases that I felt committed to both legally and morally. I somewhat assumed

From the very first memo, he was twisting the research and making it clear that there were no limits of honesty or principle that would prevent him from basically scheming to overturn the election.

volved Chesebro.

Bush v. Gore arose out of the 2000 presidential election. Gore won the popular vote, but the electoral college count came down to Florida, where the margin of victory for George W. Bush was less than 0.5 percent. After a machine recount, Bush led by just 327 votes.

The Florida Supreme Court ordered an immediate manual recount in four counties, but the Bush campaign petitioned the Supreme Court to prevent it. Tribe, assisted by Chesebro among others, served as lead counsel on Gore’s legal team in the wake of the contested election.

In a 7-2 decision, the Court ruled that the recount violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, confirming Bush’s victory.

that he was on the same page,” Tribe said.

“He was always, if anything, too much of a kind of a yes man,” Tribe added.

During their last conversation, Chesebro tried to convince Tribe to invest in Bitcoin after its launch in 2009.

“When I told him I wasn’t interested, I think that was the last I ever heard from him,” Tribe said.

‘Guilty of Being Just a Committed Lawyer’

The same man who was recently indicted for the fake electors scheme to keep Trump, a Republican, in the White House appeared for most of his career — at least, outwardly — to be a Democrat.

In addition to working on

It’s not uncommon, in my experience as a lawyer for 35 years, that people sometimes lose sight of true north — meaning, in my vocabulary, some sort of moral direction.

Importantly, the Court also ruled that a recount could not take place because the “safe harbor” deadline — the final cutoff for resolving presidential elector disputes — had passed.

After the Supreme Court ruled

mostly liberal legal causes with Tribe, Chesebro was a registered Democrat until 2016 and appeared committed to the party through his political contributions, donating to the likes of former President Bill Clinton and

former Secretary of State John Kerry early in his career. Chesebro also expressed enthusiastic support for Obama when he was a political candidate.

Law School classmate Jeffrey R. Toobin ’82, another of Tribe’s former research assistants, said Chesebro aimed to “push the envelope” by making “creative, aggressive legal arguments.”

Toobin said he believes Chesebro applied these tactics in his recent work for Trump.

“It’s just that he did it here for a politically contradictory goal to all his goals for the rest of his life,” said Toobin, a former Crimson editor. “His views, at least according to the state of Georgia, were not just aggressive, they were criminal.”

Chesebro dropped his affiliation with the Democratic Party to become an independent voter in 2016, marking the start of his public transformation to a staunch Republican. He began working with former judge and Trump campaign attorney Jim R. Troupis and began donating to the party’s candidates — including Trump.

The timing coincided with both his divorce from his wife of more than 20 years and communication with Tribe boasting a several million dollar profit from investing in Bitcoin through digital asset management firm Grayscale Investments.

Marc S. Mayerson, one of Chesebro’s first-year section mates at Harvard Law School, disagreed with the characterization of Chesebro as a liberal in his earlier years.

“Working with Tribe who was super famous and everything is sensible, but I didn’t think it really reflected his political commitments, per se,” Mayerson said.

“Ken was guilty of being just a committed lawyer and being lost in the technical interests of the question,” he added. “It’s not uncommon, in my experience as a lawyer for 35 years, that people sometimes lose sight of true north — meaning, in my vocabulary, some sort of moral direction.”

Tribe described Chesebro as a people pleaser and said he was “sure” that was connected to “how he glommed on to the Trump cult when he did.”

‘An Alternate Slate of Electors’

On Nov. 18, 2020, Chesebro sent a confidential memo to Troupis, a fellow Trump attorney, titled “The Real Deadline for Settling a State’s Electoral Votes” — an early document detailing key aspects of the fake electors scheme.

In the memo, Chesebro argued that the true deadline for courts to settle electoral vote disputes in the 2020 election was not the Dec. 8 “safe harbor” deadline — by which states must choose electors and resolve disputes over their choices — or the Dec. 14 voting deadline, but instead Jan. 6 — when Congress meets to count the votes.

The question of elector deadlines was one that Chesebro worked on while advising Gore and his campaign under Tribe and in at least two of his memos — including the Nov. 18 memo — Chesebro cited Tribe directly.

Tribe responded to the memo in a piece written in online blog Just Security, calling Chesebro’s citation of his work as a “misuse of what I had written.”

“Under Florida law, there was really no requirement to get the counting done until the very last minute — until January 6 of the next year in which the new president would be inaugurated in Florida,” Tribe said in an interview.

“He took that and more or less deleted the parts of the sentence that made it all about Florida and pretended that I had somehow reached the conclusion that you could disregard deadlines, including the deadlines set in the Electoral Count Act,” Tribe added. “That, I had never remotely thought.”

HLS professor emeritus Alan M. Dershowitz — who previously publicly feuded with Tribe over matters concerning Trump — disagreed with the characterization of Tribe’s work as having a completely different meaning from Chesebro’s argument.

“No two cases are ever the same. No two elections are ever the same. No two protests about elections are ever the same,” Dershowitz said. “But there is a striking similarity between some of the arguments made by Laurence Tribe on behalf of Al Gore and some of the arguments made by Chesebro and some of the other defendants in the Trump case.”

“There are differences, too, but there are similarities,” he added.

In a second public memo, from Dec. 6, 2020, Chesebro wrote to Troupis with the subject line “Important that All TrumpPence Electors Vote on December 14.” Chesebro wrote the memo as

CAM E. KETTLES AND NEIL H. SHAH CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

Marc S. Mayerson HLS Classmate of Chesebro

Laurence H. Tribe Harvard Law School professor

Kenneth J. Chesebro, a Trump co-defendant in Georgia, was spotted outside the Capitol on Jan. 6 in a red “Trump 2022” hat as rioters surrounded the building, according to CNN. JULIAN J. GIORDANO — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER ‘THE ARCHITECT.’ In late 2020, Harvard Law graduate Ken Chesebro devised a strategy to overturn the election for Trump.

a follow-up to his Nov. 18 memo, writing about the possibility of enacting an “alternate slate of electors” in support of the Trump campaign. Chesebro wrote in this document that he was “not necessarily advising this course of action” but that “it is important that the alternate slates of electors meet and vote on December 14 if we are to create a scenario under which Biden can be prevented from reaching 270 electoral votes.”

He also wrote that prior to Dec. 14, “there should be messaging that presents this as a routine measure that it is necessary to ensure that in the event the courts (or state legislatures) were to later conclude that Trump actually won the state, the correct electoral slate can be counted in Congress in January.”

In the Dec. 6 memo, Chesebro also referenced Tribe’s Harvard Law Review article that he cited in his Nov. 18 memo — saying that Tribe “has likewise noted that the only real deadline for a State’s electoral votes to be finalized is ‘before Congress starts to count the votes on Jan. 6.’”

He also argued that Pence, in his role overseeing the electoral count, would have the option to “both open and count the votes and that anything in the Electoral Count Act to the contrary is unconstitutional” — in essence, allowing Pence to count the Trump electors and discard the lawful Biden electors from the contested states.

In a third memo, from Dec. 9, 2020, Chesebro wrote to Troupis about instructions for creating an alternate slate of electors in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. The memo was titled “Statutory Requirements for December 14 Electoral Votes.” In the document, Chesebro details requirements in federal and state law for the alternate electors, at times raising doubts about the feasibility of the plan.

A Speedy Trial

Chesebro is one of six unnamed co-conspirators in the federal Jan. 6 indictment — with the possibility of future charges in that case — and one of 19 defendants in the Georgia indictment brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis.

With their requests for a speedy trial approved, Chesebro and Powell will almost certainly be the first of Trump’s co-defendants to face a jury.

According to Toobin, Chesebro’s former classmate and a former CNN legal analyst, “the central issue” in Chesebro’s case in Georgia is “the line between aggressive lawyering and instructing clients to break the law.”

“We don’t want to criminalize aggressive lawyering but at the same time, we don’t want to give lawyers immunity from conspiracy charges just because they’re lawyers,” Toobin said.

According to Dershowitz, the choice to prosecute Trump, Chesebro, and their co-defendants in the Georgia case was an example of “a double standard” and that in both the Gore and Trump cases, there

should not have been criminal prosecution.

Dershowitz added that while a lawyer cannot knowingly advise a client to break the law, “a lawyer can advise a client to take actions which are later determined to be in violation of the law as long as he had a good faith and reasonable belief that he was acting within the law.”

“You have to judge it at the time he made the recommendations and you have to judge it through the prism of his own reasonable beliefs,” Dershowitz said. In both the state and federal cases, there is widespread speculation that one or more of Trump’s alleged accomplices may agree to cooperate in exchange for a plea deal.

The possibility of “flipping” a co-conspirator could explain why Smith, the special counsel, chose not to name Chesebro and the five other co-conspirators referenced in the indictment — though any could still face federal charges.

“Prosecutors live to flip co-defendants,” Dershowitz said. “That’s why they named them as unindicted co-conspirators.”

Dershowitz, a former member of Trump’s legal team during his first impeachment trial in 2020, said he predicts at least one of the six co-conspirators will flip.

According to the indictment, Chesebro and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani — one of the former president’s longtime personal lawyers who is referenced by Smith as “Co-Conspirator 1” — discussed the use of fraudulent electors at length. The indictment alleges Giuliani instructed Chesebro to distribute his memos to state governments.

Tribe speculated that if Chesebro had any useful information for prosecutors, it would be in relation to Guliani or ex-Trump attorney John C. Eastman, who is referenced in the indictment as “Co-Conspirator 2.”

Harvey A. Silverglate, Eastman’s co-counsel and a 1967 graduate of the Law School, said in any case with multiple defendants, there is “always a fear” that other co-conspirators will make a deal.

“They can make up things that Eastman said that he didn’t really say. It’s not that hard,” said Silverglate, who is a member of the Dunster House Senior Common Room and staged a longshot Board of Overseers campaign earlier this year.

For his part, Silverglate said Eastman will not make a deal with prosecutors and hopes his case will get severed “so that we can try the case months from now rather than years from now.”

Unlike Chesebro, Eastman has not filed a request to have his case be tried separately.

At least in the Georgia case, Tribe said Chesebro’s actions so far do not indicate any intention to flip; as Tribe observed, “he certainly hasn’t been cooperative with Fani Willis so far.”

Tribe said that even if Chesebro wanted to take a deal and provide information to Willis, he doubted Chesebro would have “anything terribly valuable to say that would make him worth accepting a guilty plea from.”

“He’s so much the architect of the whole plan that I think it’s very hard to imagine him getting off without a multi-year sentence,” he added.

Tribe added that he was shocked when he first learned of the nature of Chesebro’s involvement with the Trump campaign.

“Part of me felt sorry for him.

Part of me felt angry that he would betray the country and the Constitution in that way. Part of me felt it was such a terrible waste,” Tribe said. “He had a good mind, and he was putting it to use for obviously evil purposes.”

Law School professor Laurence H. Tribe, left, with Kenneth J. Chesebro, his former student and research assistant. COURTESY OF LAURENCE TRIBE.

LABOR

Mather Changes Meal Schedule Amid Outcry

HEAT TROUBLE.

Following student outcry over Harvard dining working conditions, Mather House modified its dining schedule.

BY CAM E. KETTLES CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Amid an intense heat wave in Cambridge, Harvard senior Matthew Nazari ’24 sent an email Wednesday evening to Mather House’s internal mailing list and University President Claudine Gay. “HUDS workers are overheating in the Mather kitchen and Harvard is just giving them fans and telling them to shut up,” Nazari wrote, instructing students to request an air conditioner for dining workers by texting the Harvard University Dining

Services’ feedback number.

Following student outcry over Harvard dining working conditions, Mather House modified its dining schedule for Thursday and Friday. Harvard Undergraduate Dining Services closed the house’s dining hall for lunch Thursday and Friday and served dinner Thursday “without use of warmers” for the food.

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu ’07 declared a heat emergency Thursday morning before temperatures reached 94 degrees Fahrenheit that afternoon.

Though the heat emergency brought attention to the lack of air conditioning for dining staff, dining workers said the problem of overheating is nothing new.

Mather’s dining hall is particularly prone to overheating because of its large wall of windows on one side. While the dish room

TENURE POLICIES FROM PAGE 1

is air conditioned, its serving and dining areas are not.

Mather resident Rachel E. Zhou ’24 said when they went to eat dinner Wednesday night with their blockmate, Nazari, it was “boiling.”

“We’re standing in front of these fans, but the fans are just recirculating hot air. There’s really just no ventilation circulation at all,” Zhou said. “It was just extremely uncomfortable.”

Zhou and Nazari then asked a few of the dining workers if they were able to tolerate the heat. “I was like, ‘How do you guys stand this?’” Zhou recalled.

According to two dining hall workers, at least 20 Mather residents texted the HUDS feedback number. On Thursday morning, Shannon Poppe Aruba — Mather’s house administrator — informed residents of the schedule

changes.

“We have been actively working in partnership with HUDS to address the concerns raised about the heat impacting our dining hall team,” she wrote.

Several HUDS workers in Mather and Dunster houses — which share a kitchen — said they believed managers only responded to concerns raised by students.

“If you guys make noise, something will get done,” Mather-Dunster HUDS worker Prisco A. Mancaniello said. “If we make noise, nothing will get done.”

“Once students said something, that’s when we saw some movement from management,” Mather-Dunster HUDS worker Oscar Castillo said.

Dining hall workers in Mather and Dunster said extreme heat in their workplaces has existed for years without sufficient recourse.

“There is AC, but it does nothing once you turn on the machines. There’s way too much steam,” Mather-Dunster HUDS worker Jeremy N. Fernandes said.

“I had to — every few minutes — just step away and dry myself off and come back to work,” Castillo said.

When temperatures reach extreme levels, HUDS recommends substituting dishes with paper products to avoid using the dish room entirely. But outside the dish room, workers only have fans to cool down.

“Once you step out of the dish room, there is a prep area and then the grill — the Mather grill. That whole area is really hot. So the cold air from the dish room is not enough,” Castillo said.

HUDS spokesperson Crista Martin wrote in a statement

that the food service is using “a range of solutions” including “closing dish rooms, reducing hot food preparation, giving staff frequent breaks and lots of hydration, and encouraging employees to work together to keep everyone — including students — safe.”

Martin did not comment on whether student outreach was the deciding factor in the schedule change.

Dining hall workers said HUDS management acknowledged the long-standing problem of overheating in a pre-shift meeting Thursday.

“I do believe they are trying. Just in practice, we haven’t really seen anything just yet. But hopefully they are being serious about it,” Fernandes said.

cam.kettles@thecrimson.com

Harvard’s Tenure and Discipline Policies, Analyzed, Amid Lawsuit

had made a finding of research misconduct — a fact contested by Gino.

“The investigation committee failed to make the requisite, specific findings of intent, supported by a preponderance of the evidence, yet concluded that [Gino] was responsible for ‘research misconduct,’” per the complaint.

The complaint also alleges that “the investigation committee ignored exculpatory evidence, failing to consider or give credence to credible witness testimony, in violation of the Interim Policy’s mandates that it diligently pursue all leads and conduct a thorough and fair investigation.”

Through the lawsuit, University-wide discipline policies have also received new attention.

Harvard’s Third Statute — relating to the “Officers and Staff of the University” — specifies that “professors and associate professors are appointed without express limitation of time unless otherwise specified.” This is essentially the definition of the University’s tenure policy. The statute does set a bar for firing tenured professors, however. According to the document, tenured professors can be fired “only for grave misconduct or neglect of duty.”

“ONLY FOR GRAVE MISCONDUCT OR NEGLECT OF DUTY” (p. 2)

According to an attorney for Gino, the University notified Gino on July 28 that it had initiated proceedings to review her tenure. These proceedings will be governed by the Third Statute and the University’s discipline policy.

In her complaint against the University, Gino alleges she was punished “absent a finding of ‘grave misconduct,’ pursuant to the Third Statute.” The Third Statute, however, only requires this finding for removal from teaching and administrative positions.

A document formally called “Discipline of Officers, Tentative Recommendations,” Harvard’s discipline policy lays out procedures for the “discipline of officers of instructions.” The policy is invoked, among other cases, in instances “involving grave misconduct or neglect of duty arising under the Third Statute of the University.

Per the policy, a complaint will trigger an inquiry by the Screening Committee, which will make recommendations about what should be done and also may try to resolve the situation “by mutual agreement.”

The case moves to a Hearing Committee if either the Screening Committee recommends they take next steps or Harvard’s president determines “that it is advisable to have the case further considered.”

If the subject of the complaint, or the “respondent” has tenure — as Gino does — all members of the Hearing Committee will be tenured faculty members. Members of the previous Screening Committee are not allowed to serve on the Hearing Committee.

“THAT IT IS ADVISABLE TO HAVE THE CASE FURTHER CONSIDERED” (p. 2)

According to the policy, the Hearing Committee is not bound by “strict rules of legal evidence,” and may admit any evidence of “probative value” to the inquiry.

“THE HEARING COMMITTEE WILL NOT BE BOUND BY STRICT RULES OF LEGAL EVIDENCE” (p. 7)

The Hearing Committee, after reviewing the case, then sends its recommendations to Harvard’s President and the Harvard Corporation, the University’s highest governing body.

Per the policy, the respondent should be allowed to provide their own arguments in response and should have a “full hearing and fair representation before an impartial tribunal” — which Gino’s attorneys allege she was not provided.

“FULL HEARING AND FAIR REPRESENTATION BEFORE AN IMPARTIAL TRIBUNAL” (p. 4)

The discipline policy was amended in 1972, adding considerable detail to the procedures of the Hearing Committee specifically. It puts the burden of proof of finding “grave misconduct or neglect of duty” under the Third Statute on the complainant. It also notes that the burden will be satisfied “only by clear and convincing evidence in the record considered as a whole.”

“GRAVE MISCONDUCT OR NEGLECT OF DUTY” PT.1 (p. 6)

The policy also establishes in most cases that “public statements, and publicity about the case by either parties or members of the Hearing Committee will be avoided” until the proceedings are finished, “including consideration by the Corporation.”

“PUBLIC STATEMENTS, AND PUBLICITY ABOUT THE CASE BY EITHER PARTIES OR MEMBER OF THE HEARING COMMITTEE WILL BE AVOIDED” (p. 7)

In the lawsuit, Gino’s attorneys wrote that “Harvard is obligated to keep information related to the complaint and impending disciplinary proceedings against a tenured faculty member confidential.

Gino’s case is the first known in which the University’s tenure review policies will come into action.

rahem.hamid@thecrimson.com

neil.shah@thecrimson.com

A paper sign announces dining hall closures in Mather House on Thursday and Friday. JULIAN J. GIORDANO—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

Harvard’s AI Guidance: A Lesson in Binary Thinking

AI IS HERE TO STAY. Instead of issuing an administrative rubber stamp, Harvard should start a thoughtful conversation.

Nearly sixty years ago, a revolution hit American classrooms: the portable calculator. A Science News article from 1975 claimed that for every nine Americans, there was one calculator in service. While the public rushed to purchase the new product, teachers had to grapple with a much more difficult question: How would these handheld devices change the mission and practice of education?

The answers were mixed. As Science News noted in 1975, the number-crunchers had the potential to “make tedious math fun, fast, and accurate,” and when used for “creative problem solving,” student motivation appeared “spontaneous.” At the same time, the piece echoed widespread worries that the “mechanization of fundamental classroom skills” might leave kids “unable to do simple math on paper.”

Given this technology’s seemingly-inevitable expansion, students should understand the rationale behind AI-related classroom policies, and the onus should fall on Harvard to pave the way to understanding. Over the summer, the University’s Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning released its own suggestions for faculty, which involved a two-pronged approach to AI in the classroom: first, acknowledging the power of AI tools (for example, the ability to connect two different sources together), and second, explaining the pedagogical implications of these tools (such as banning AI tools on essays for the reason that the course is designed to teach these abilities). This guidance, importantly, recognizes that ChatGPT doesn’t serve a singular function: Just as much as it can instantly bang out a discussion post, it also can effectively proofread

Harvard’s approach to date — both at the administrative and class level — has been too reactive.

The question of calculators in classrooms, then, was not just a question of technology, but rather of the fundamental methods of education. In turn, the response could not just be a technical question of regulating the devices (although some certainly tried). Rather, the calculator spurred the so-called “math wars” a decade later, which interrogated the basic building blocks of a mathematical education. These debates have continued to wage on; technology has always forced us to reevaluate education, and the recent meteoric rise of generative artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT has proven to be no exception. Indeed, through issuing new guidance on AI, Harvard clearly recognizes its power in these discussions of the proper role of AI in the classroom.

But Harvard’s approach to date — both at the administrative and class level — has been too reactive. The right response to the advent of calculators was not blind acceptance or blanket prohibition, but rather a proactive conversation about how these devices would forever change math education, both for good and bad. Likewise, as generative AI enters the education landscape, students must learn the strengths and weaknesses of this new technology — not just whether or not they’re allowed to use it.

Unfortunately, Harvard’s guidance misses an opportunity to incite this conversation.

Issued by the Office of Undergraduate Education, the guidance does not set out a universal Faculty of Arts and Sciences-wide policy; rather, it encourages instructors to explicitly include an AI policy within their syllabi, suggesting either a “maximally restrictive” policy that treats use of AI as academic dishonesty, a “fully-encouraging” policy that encourages students to use AI tools provided they properly cite and attribute, or a “mixed” policy that lands somewhere in the middle.

and suggest initial directions for research.

Unfortunately, suggestions of this nature did not make their way to the OUE’s final guidance. In neglecting these pedagogical questions within its University-wide suggestions, the OUE missed an opportunity to partner with students in navigating these new tools.

In the absence of official OUE guidance on providing reasoning for AI-use policies, individual instructors should push students to understand the strengths and limitations of this technology while acknowledging that students will almost inevitably use it. Though rare, a few syllabi I have reviewed do exactly that, going beyond the question of prohibition versus permission to provide students an opportunity to learn in a different way and see if it works for them.

In its two exams, HEB 1305: “The Evolution of Friendship” requires students to correct output generated by ChatGPT in response to an essay prompt. Using just lecture notes and readings, students demonstrate that they have mastery of the material, correcting the nuances that AI systems might miss. In this manner, students can see firsthand that generative AI tools often hallucinate information, especially on more technically advanced topics.

Jennifer Devereaux, the course head, wrote in an email to me that she believes “AI will inevitably become an integrated part of the learning experience.” Through her assignments, she hopes that students will learn “how invaluable critical thinking and traditional forms of research are to improving the health of the rapidly evolving information ecosystem they inhabit.”

COLUMN

You Need to Leaf Lamont

STEP INTO DUDLEY GARDEN. Even though you’re smack in the middle of Harvard Square, it is as if you’ve stumbled into a secret realm.

BY ANEESH C. MUPPIDI

As the first week of classes begins, so does the relentless grind. Syllabi in hand, many undergraduates will make their way to a beloved study spot — Lamont Library. Trudging past Wigglesworth Hall, mentally preparing for the ascent up the steep staircase, most people keep walking, eyes on the prize (or looming deadline). In their hurriedness, students often miss the hint of green in their periphery — the verdant clue that just a stone’s throw away lies Dudley Garden.

Now, I get it. Lamont Library, with its allure of caffeine and the promise of productivity, often overshadows this hidden gem. Nearly a decade ago, a Flyby article beckoned students to this green haven. But years have passed, and the garden remains an enigma. These days, speaking of “Dudley Garden” is more likely to elicit an image of the Dudley House kitchen. Though famed for its vegetarian delights, the co-op eatery is not quite the oasis I am referring to.

Now, when you step into the garden, you’re greeted by walls etched with history and a bench that’s just begging you to take a load off. But here’s a pro-tip: skip the bench. Plop down on the grass. It’s there, amidst the greenery, that the world seems to fade away. Even though you’re smack in the middle of Harvard Square, it is as if you’ve stumbled into a secret realm, where time slows, and the weight of deadlines and assignments just fades.

Surrounding Dudley Garden are the formidable walls of Harvard Yard. Clamber up those walls and voilà, you’re perched up high, with a bird’s-eye view of Mass. Ave. From this vantage point, the world unfolds in a whirl of color and motion. Students sprinting to classes, kids chasing after their runaway tennis balls, and of course, that one audacious BlueBike causing a mini traffic jam. Oh, and let’s not forget the occasional squirrel, plotting its next acorn heist. This elevated perspective, more than anything, is

Dudley Garden is one of my sanctuaries, a site of clarity. Right in our backyard, there is a pocket of serenity waiting to be discovered.

In 1949, Harvard decided to tip its hat to Thomas Dudley, one of the College’s founders, by establishing the space. However, before this serene spot became the garden we know today, it was home to the Dudley Gate. That gate, erected in 1902, was bulldozed in 1947 to make room for — wait for it —Lamont Library. Dudley’s spirit, resilient as ever, bloomed back in the form of an ornamental terrace and sundial.

Today, the garden’s inscribed walls serve as a nostalgic nod to the past. Still, Dudley Garden wasn’t always the hushed hideaway it is today. About a decade after the garden’s inception, the Bacon Gate — which looks into the garden from Mass. Ave. — was shut tight. But, as they say, when one gate closes, another... becomes a work of natural art?

With the Bacon Gate’s closure, nature took over. English ivy ran wild, wrapping around the brickwork and offering a vibrant green contrast to the gate’s deep red. This once functional gate transformed into a work of leafy beauty, sealing off Dudley Garden from the hustle and bustle of Mass. Ave.

what makes Dudley Garden truly special.

For many of us Lamonsters, the daily grind can be a relentless cycle: class, eat, study, sleep, study, repeat. But amidst this chaos, Dudley Garden is one of my sanctuaries, a site of clarity. Right in our backyard, there is a pocket of serenity waiting to be discovered.

Dudley Garden isn’t just a place; it’s a reminder. No matter how towering the pile of problem sets, how crucial that upcoming interview, or how intense those club comps, there’s always a moment to be found for pure, unadulterated joy. And sometimes, that joy is as simple as sitting in a quiet garden, letting the world fade away.

The next time you’re drowning in problem sets or papers, take a detour, and venture into Dudley Garden. It’s not just a garden; it’s a slice of Harvard’s history, a quiet sanctuary, and perhaps, the perfect antidote to the Lamonster life.

Harvard’s stance on AI in the classroom should be more than a binary decision — it should be an open dialogue.

While the outlining of these options may appear convenient, in effect, the OUE’s guidance to instructors does little more than provide administrator-approved wording to state “AI Yes,” “AI No,” and “AI Sometimes Yes, Sometimes No.” In doing so, the OUE sidesteps an opportunity for students, instructors, and administrators to work together to understand the role of generative AI in the classroom.

Open discussions around AI usage are especially crucial when we consider that the genie is already out of the bottle. A March survey revealed that one in five college students have used ChatGPT or other AI tools on their schoolwork, a figure that is sure to have risen in the months since. A blanket ban on the usage of AI systems seems futile, as the OUE guidance acknowledges: Instructors are told to try plugging their assignments into ChatGPT and then “assume that if given the opportunity, many of the students in your course are likely to do the same thing.”

Moreover, the OUE recognizes that employing AI-detection tools results in “something of an arms race.” Clever students have already found methods to circumvent AI-language detection, rendering a full ban on generative AI tools counterproductive.

Meanwhile, the syllabus of GENED 1165: “Superheros and Power” permits students to use ChatGPT for generating ideas and drafts, but presents a major caveat: Students may be asked to “explain to us just what your argument says.” In that manner, the primary task of idea-generation and intellectual ownership still must be completed by the student.

Stephanie Burt ’94, professor of English and head of the course, explained in an email that a complete AI ban is “hard to enforce for a large class,” leading to her decision to “OK AI with strong reservations.”

“I’ve never seen a good AI-generated essay,” she adds.

Ultimately, AI is here to stay. Instead of issuing an administrative rubber stamp, Harvard should push students, instructors, and researchers alike to question, discuss, and ultimately use it in a way that advances the core research mission of the university. In an era where ChatGPT will soon be as common as calculators, Harvard’s stance on AI in the classroom should be more than a binary decision — it should be an open dialogue that empowers students to navigate the AI landscape with wisdom and creativity.

–Aneesh C. Muppidi ’25 is a Computer Science and Neuroscience concentrator in Lowell House. His column, “Leafing By,” runs biweekly on Thursdays.

Harvard Isn’t Fun Enough. That’s No Laughing Matter.

FUN IS AN INSTITUTIONAL IMPERATIVE. When we act like fun is not an essential, soul-nourishing part of the human experience, a mental health crisis fueled by record loneliness is what happens.

BY TOMMY BARONE

It has been said that Harvard is not fun.

I can’t say I fully agree. I love my time here, and that includes my weekend evenings. Harvard is no University of Alabama — nor even Dartmouth College — but you can usually find a place to crack a White Claw or cut a rug.

And when you can’t, well, at least the people are interesting. With company like theirs, a worn wooden table in a dimly lit corner of Grendel’s Den — which is, of course, every corner of Grendel’s — will do just fine.

But, even from behind my rosé-colored glasses, I have to admit: Our stein does not runneth over. Harvard has a serious fun problem.

It’s tough to get rigorous about this sort of thing, but it seems Harvard has a less vibrant social scene than peer schools. More specifically, it has fewer of the big, brash parties that have for decades created community among and offered release to overstressed college students.

In a moment where more young Americans than ever before feel hopelessly alone — and where far, far too many are dying from it — that’s a major problem.

When we talk about partying, we’re talking about

the opposite of the optimizing culture that makes so many people our age anxious.

It’s about the small act of resistance involved in rejecting the planned and the productive to revel with people you love. Indeed, watching people gather weekly to sway, sing, and raise their arms to the sky, you’d be forgiven for confusing parties with church (the sexual mores, of course, being an important discontinuity).

If your first reaction to these words is to discard them as silly or overdramatic, then you might just be beginning to grasp my point: Even those of us who love fun instinctively resist thinking of it as worthy of serious consideration.

That’s wrong. Fun is no laughing matter. It is an institutional imperative for students to be happy and socially connected. A mental health crisis fueled by record loneliness is what happens when we act like fun is not an essential, soul-nourishing part of the human experience.

So why do our fetes falter? I see two things dimming the Friday night lights.

First is that the final clubs aren’t built to spread the fun. At most schools, it is institutionalized social groups — fraternities, pre-professional organizations, and the like — that are the front-line funmakers. Regularly throwing good parties isn’t easy, so it takes formal, coordinated groups to pool the resources and gather the people.

At Harvard, it’s the final clubs that fill this role, but they have significant limitations.

Either because they’re hamstrung by their graduate boards or because they prefer not to, only some of the clubs host parties with any frequency. Of those that do party, many bar or heavily restrict at-

tendance by non-members. For the all-male clubs, which throw most of the parties, non-member men are persona non grata, freshmen especially so.

There also just aren’t that many people in final clubs. In a 2016 Crimson survey, just 17 percent of graduating seniors reported belonging to final clubs. Another survey, from The Crimson’s Flyby Blog in 2013, found that final club members are disproportionately likely to be white, straight, wealthy, athletes, or legacies.

Basically, the final club problem is a numbers problem. It is an unhappy accident of history that the organized funmakers at Harvard are small groups that throw a small number of parties for a small number of people. (At Yale College, by contrast, traditional Greek life handles the partying and secret societies, which have themselves become more accessible, cover the hoity-toity elbow brushing.)

The second redwood-sized stick in the mud is administration.

To the people tasked with regulating our social environs, it seems fun isn’t worth the trouble. Partying kids do stupid things, and that means danger for students and liability for the University. Meanwhile, fun figures as an abstract, distant consideration for administrators who aren’t privy to our collegiate social lives.

It is this imbalance — the internality of risk and the externality of fun — that helps explain how University administrators can possibly find it acceptable to crack down on drinking at the Harvard-Yale tailgate or allow midterms on Housing Day, as happened this past year on two of our most cherished days of fun.

And, often, the University’s attempts to swim upstream produce perverse outcomes. It may have intended to curb dangerous drinking at Harvard-Yale; instead, it likely drove student celebration to unofficial settings lacking resources to mitigate risk. For another example, its sanctions on single-sex social organizations were intended to advance gender equity; instead, they triggered a mass die-off of all-female final clubs while deep-pocketed all-male clubs largely lawyered up.

Between these failures and the effects of a mental health crisis on a campus where wait times for therapy can exceed a month, trying to prevent fun seems a liability far greater than the debauchery itself. Even if a more fun campus were riskier, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t want one. It would also be less risky by far to equip all students with gently lit, cushily padded, WiFi-enabled cells from which to conduct an education. But that is not a school — it is an asylum.

So, would-be partiers, resist the ennui. If your organizations don’t throw parties, convince them to change that; if they do, seriously consider whether they can be bigger and less exclusive. When administrators kill the joy, let them know that you are dissatisfied.

Far too much of the wonderful, capacious human experience is lost when we denominate every decision in terms of risk. Living fully is worth getting hurt. No more of this death by a thousand quiet nights — turn up the music.

–Tommy Barone ’25, a Crimson Editorial Comp Director, is a Social Studies concentrator in Currier House.

Does Harvard Really ‘Defend Diversity?’

BY JOSEPH W. HERNANDEZ

Each year, the University’s administration proudly declares its celebration of a multitude of marginalized groups’ heritage months, societal days of awareness, and cultural holidays, broadcasting its supposed allyship out to the world with a smile. At first glance, Harvard’s announcements sound like a nice thought; these occasions are certainly worth acknowledging. The problem is, when a nice thought is never backed up by actions, it is just that — a fleeting thought.

OP-ED

Dish Soap and Greek Myths

BY PRINCE A. WILLIAMS

What state of being is necessary to get through a semester at Harvard University? Maybe the way to be is self-indulgent career builders with our eyes on the prize. Or perhaps the means to survival till winter break is keeping our nose to the grindstone without drawing too much attention to ourselves. Ultimately, all of us want to know how to cross the finish line with our health and grades intact. I think I found the answer to this question under a bed of dish soap. And it isn’t any of the above.

A considerable amount of my vacation time from school is spent in front of the window at home, washing dishes. I feel greatly present when filling one side of the sink with bubbles while queuing up some extraordinary music.

Dishwashing reminds me of the myth of Sisyphus. As punishment from the gods, Sisyphus is forced to roll a boulder up a hill just for it to come tumbling back down when it reaches the top. Albert Camus, in his essay “The Myth of Sisyphus,” uses Sisyphus’s tedious existence as a metaphor for our own lives. Sisyphus has no conception of a better day or afterlife. He understands his task — in our case, striving in life — is always unfinished, and this grants him a kind of freedom despite his constraining fate. Camus ends the essay by propositioning us to “imagine Sisyphus happy.”

Sisyphus’s boulder rolling is quite similar to how most folks seem to view washing dishes: as a punishment. It’s work, which implies that it’s something you have to do but would not do otherwise. But it would be a mistake to conflate work and punishment.

Students too frequently fall into the trap of maligning all work as burdensome and dreary, and it affects our attitude at Harvard. Perceiving every semester as work, something to overcome or accomplish, makes school a drag.

Outside of work, we set aside time to play. Unlike work, playing is a free state of being, akin to Miles Davis’s exhilarating jazz trumpet.

While people might associate Davis’s virtuosity with the hard work required to master an instrument, his improvisations would be lifeless and incoherent without the mental freedom of a state of play. Our academic lives are similar: To thrive in our educational pursuits is to adopt a

state of play. And this requires rejecting the needless distinction between work and play. The best thing we can do is respond to what we are given and make jazz.

I realized I wanted to embody this state of being this semester by washing the dishes. If I could turn this burden of adolescence into a tire swing, then I could most certainly make a grueling term at Harvard feel like a symphony. These greasy forks and cereal bowls with cinnamon residue were just metaphors for club meetings and long-winded readings.

One of the biggest difficulties in executing this state of being is that it’s pretty contradictory to much of our educational experience. Institutional schooling, like much of modern culture, propagates a rigid separation of work and play. At school, we are to work, and work with rapidity, in order to advance and accomplish. It’s hard to catch us doing things for the sake of doing them — understanding that the point of the dance is the dance.

While difficult, it’s possible to do this, given that work and play are such blurred concepts in our lives. Concepts we associate with play can warp into work. Even Rocket League could become as redundant and burdensome as our least favorite chore. But this is a two-way street — the same goes for things we initially perceive as work. On some days, raking the leaves or shoveling the snow might even replace the fun of a swing set by showing us the same natural rhythm the swing possesses.

This is the secret to getting through a semester at Harvard. To be present, in the words of Alan W. Watts in his lecture on work and play, is to “be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now—and instead of calling it work, realize that this is play.” Or, in the language of jazz, “It don’t mean a thing, if it ain’t got that swing.”

To live a contented semester as a dishwasher is to remind yourself existence is a biological game ready to be played.

This is how I imagine Sisyphus happy — by granting that he must perceive rolling the boulder uphill as cosmic gamesmanship. Our biggest mistake is taking our own play too seriously.

I’m afraid Harvard’s money is nowhere near its mouth. The unfortunate truth is, Harvard seemingly shirks serious self-reflection and meaningful investments into progress both within and beyond the University. Instead of concrete change, it appears that Harvard gravitates toward every performative gesture it can make as long as it requires little genuine effort and demands little meaningful action.

After all, it requires acknowledging that a problem existed in the first place, something Harvard has proven unwilling to do unless its hand has been forced. Harvard has been known for many things over the years, but handing matters of race well is rarely one of them. The truth is, Harvard only began to seriously consider admitting students of color after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.

Today, the affirmative action programs that were born in the wake of Dr. King’s death have been torn to shreds by the Supreme Court, and the very same university that purports to “defend diversity” seems to have gone silent.

Months after the Supreme Court’s decision in SFFA v. Harvard striking down race-based affirmative action, countless students await changes to our admissions policy, hoping for some sort of meaningful effort to rebuild the diversity that Harvard claims to treasure so dearly. But Harvard has yet to deliver.

It appears that Harvard gravitates toward every performative gesture it can make as long as it requires little genuine effort and demands little meaningful action.

After all, where was Harvard when dozens of Black student organizations on campus wrote a letter to the administration denouncing their response to the Leverett swatting attack? And where was Harvard when their students called for the University to dename Winthrop House, a House named after the family responsible for the legalization of slavery in the Massachusetts Bay Colony? Where was Harvard when students time and time again called for it to create an Ethnic Studies concentration over the course of 50 years? And where was Harvard when students repeatedly called for a multicultural center, demanding that the University acknowledge the daily challenges that students of color face at predominantly white institutions?

Some might be quick to respond, “Harvard defended affirmative action for you, so you should be grateful.” And to some extent, I am. But the University’s record on issues of racial diversity is far messier than that retort admits. After all, in the very same case in which it defended affirmative action, Harvard fervently defended its preferences for students on the so-called Dean’s Interest List and who have legacy status — both policies well known for the fact that they heavily favor wealthy white students in admissions.

When seen in this light, it becomes clear that the University is not necessarily interested in the mission of “defending diversity.” It is certainly interested in preserving its status. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean prioritizing the wellbeing of students. If anything, Harvard has made it abundantly clear that they intend to maintain their shining public image above all else.

Unfortunately, change is rarely the best PR.

I’m afraid Harvard’s money is nowhere near its mouth.

If Harvard wants to prove to its students of color that they are more than a fleeting thought, it has a plethora of options.

Harvard could easily devote a small fraction of last year’s $406 million budget surplus to the construction of a multicultural center. Or Harvard could finally recognize ethnic studies as a valid academic discipline, offering more courses on its subject matter and enshrining it as a concentration at the College. Or Harvard could easily step away from systematically granting legacy students and those the Dean’s Interest list a bonus in admissions. Or Harvard could easily dename Winthrop House, as more than 1,000 total petitioners — including nearly 50 of Winthrop’s own descendants — have called for.

Any one of these actions could begin to show students that Harvard treats diversity as more than a statistic. But as we wait for Harvard to take its students of color seriously, remember: Without action to back it up, “defend diversity” is just a slogan.

–Joseph W. Hernandez ’25, a Crimson Editorial editor, is a Government concentrator in Adams House.

Friendly Toast Lands Butter Side Up

FRIENDLY TOAST. In late July, Harvard Square welcomed a new brunch spot with a diner atmosphere and creative fare.

Friendly Toast, an all-day brunch restaurant and bar, unveiled its new home in Harvard Square in late July.

The newly opened restaurant at 1230 Massachusetts Ave. is the sole Friendly Toast in Cambridge after the chain closed its Kendall Square location amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Harvard Square is the 11th location for the Friendly Toast chain, which was founded in 1994 and has since expanded to four states in New England. The restaurant first announced its opening via a sign on its storefront in March 2022, but supply chain issues and city permit licensing caused delays, according to Harvard Square location manager Ryan Ford.

Friendly Toast officially opened on July 24, but the restaurant welcomed customers for a soft opening two days prior. According to Ford, Friendly Toast typically avoids heavily promoting openings in the hopes of giving staff a “fighting chance” against crowds of restaurant-goers.

The menu boasts standard brunch fare, such as breakfast burritos, omelets, pancakes, and waffles, as well as an array of alcoholic beverages and flights.

Still, various menu items have their own twist — includ-

ing the “Bulgogi Steak & Cheese” sandwich, which combines Korean and American cuisine, and the “Doughnut Stop Believin,” a breakfast sandwich that uses donuts as bread.

“We’re just excited to play off

Cambridge School Committee Votes to Expand Algebra 1

BY SALLY E. EDWARDS AND DYLAN H. PHAN CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

The Cambridge School Committee voted in favor of a motion to establish Algebra 1 education in all eighth grade classrooms by 2025 on Tuesday, as students returned to classes for the 2023-24 academic year.

This motion will support Superintendent Victoria L. Greer’s plan to expand Algebra 1 across Cambridge Public Schools middle schools, which was introduced in August. The vote comes after a summer of concerns surrounding the district’s current mathematics curriculum, which does not offer a complete Algebra 1 course before high school. Tuesday’s motion marked the latest step in the district’s more than 30-year push to establish a comprehensive Algebra 1 curriculum for eighth graders.

David J. Weinstein — a School Committee member who jointly introduced the motion alongside two other members — said he believes the initiative will be more likely to succeed than its historical counterparts. He credited this to the Illustrative Mathematics

curriculum, which will standardize math preparation across the district. CPS adopted the curriculum, developed by McGraw Hill Education, in May.

“This will now be consistent across the entire district, so we can also better ensure that all kids in Cambridge have the same kind of preparation and sequencing for math by the time they get to eighth grade,” Weinstein said.

“That’s part of what I think will be different, because I think we can have more consistency in the way math instruction is happening.”

Greer presented her plan to gradually increase Algebra 1 content in the eighth grade math curriculum during an Aug. 8 school committee meeting. Under Greer’s plan, all Algebra 1 concepts will be fully integrated into the curriculum by 2025.

Hannah E. Erickson, a junior at the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, said in an interview that student involvement and engagement will be crucial to enacting the motion.

“The most important thing with implementing this is we keep talking to teachers, and getting feedback, and checking in constantly, and really talking to students — which I personally

don’t feel happens anywhere near enough,” Erickson said. “Students are aware of what’s going on around them, and a lot of the time are not able to share that.”

Erickson was unable to take Algebra 1 at her public middle school in Cambridge prior to starting at CRLS. Though she ultimately self-taught herself Algebra 1 in the summer before high school, Erickson said she believes that she entered CRLS “at a disadvantage.”

“I was having to reteach myself concepts that had been taught to my peers in eighth grade,” Erickson said. “Taking a class in school is so much more beneficial and leads to more cohesive understanding of curriculum.”

Weinstein said the district’s plan to expand Algebra 1 education to all eighth grade students will set “a high floor for our students,” which will involve “supporting them to get there.”

“I and others on the committee are really committed to seeing this through, and seeing this through in a way that is consistent with our equity and anti-racism commitments,” Weinstein said.

sally.edwards@thecrimson.com dylan.phan@thecrimson.com

different flavors and, you know, make it unexpected for people,” Ford said.

Harvard College students offered positive reviews of the restaurant, citing a variety of menu offerings and a welcoming

ambiance.

“The menu was really extensive,” Jeslyn Y. Liu ’26 said. “A lot of creative things on there.”

“There’s something for everyone,” said Nicholas A. “Nico” Vasquez ’25, who ordered a chick-

en sandwich and mango lemonade.

Namirah M. Quadir ’25 praised the restaurant’s accommodating stance toward food allergies, as well as the “friendly” nature of the staff.

Since opening a few weeks ago, Friendly Toast has consistently drawn crowds — and lines — during peak operating hours, according to customers.

“There were a lot of people sitting outside the restaurant. I think the restaurant inside was pretty full as well,” Liu said.

Upon stepping inside, customers enter into a space with a “retro” feel, according to Vasquez. Friendly Toast follows an orange and green color scheme, characterized by a “diner vibe” and “fun atmosphere,” according to Ford.

When asked whether they would return to Friendly Toast, Quadir and Vasquez responded with a resounding “yes.”

“There are a lot of things that I would want to try, so I would definitely go back,” Liu said.

As Friendly Toast settles into its new home in Harvard Square, Ford said the restaurant’s staff is looking ahead to the future with high hopes.

“Last week was amazing, being a holiday weekend,” he said. “Now that all the students are back, we’re looking forward to what that brings.

Cambridge Teachers Union Remains Without New Contract

BY SALLY E. EDWARDS AND DYLAN H. PHAN CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

The Cambridge Education Association is without a contract after negotiations with the Cambridge School Committee failed to reach a new agreement ahead of the previous contract’s expiration on Aug. 31 — meaning talks will continue into the new school year.

The CEA and School Committee have met 24 times since October 2022 to negotiate a threeyear contract for teachers across the district to replace the previous contract.After spending nearly 83 hours negotiating, the two parties have reached tentative agreements on 37 proposals, though mediation by the Massachusetts Department of Labor Relations remains ongoing.

Dan Monahan — the president of the CEA — primarily attributes the delay on a new contract to a lack of agreement on appropriate compensation for education workers.

“Our educators can’t afford to live here,” Monahan said in an interview. “Only 20 percent of our Unit A members — which are mostly teachers — only 20 percent of them live in Cambridge.

“Compare the wages for staff, for educators, to professionals with similar educational experience — master’s degree, five to 10 years of experience — those folks make a ton more money than ed-

ucators do,” he added. The School Committee has proposed to increase the salaries of all teachers by 2.5 percent, 3 percent, and 3 percent across the next three years, respectively, whereas the CEA has proposed 2.5, 3, and 7 percent increases.

Patricia M. “Patty” Nolan ’80, a member of the Cambridge City Council and former member of the School Committee, said the inability of many educators to find Cambridge housing speaks more to the lack of affordable housing in the city, rather than teachers’ wages.

“I think the city should be addressing the need for affordable housing for middle-income people,” said Nolan. “Teachers make an excellent salary in Cambridge, and yet they can’t even afford to live here.”

Monahan points to teachers’ compensation as a significant source of the recent staffing shortage within the teaching profession. Currently, the Cambridge Public Schools Job Listings website has 195 live applications for educators, administrators, and other professionals.

“Why this really matters — particularly right now — is that there’s a huge teacher shortage, and educators are leaving the profession,” Monahan said. “We’ve had higher turnover this year than we’ve ever had before.”

In addition to educators leaving the profession, fewer people are entering the teaching profes-

sion as “the pipeline for educators coming in is drying up,” according to Monahan. Nolan attributes the “inherent tension” in negotiations between the CEA and School Committee to the divergent interests of both parties.

“The Educators’ Association has a goal of supporting the educators in the district, and the School Committee has a larger charge of supporting students in the district,” she said. “There are definitely times when it can be challenging to figure out whether some particular proposal is good for students or only good for teachers.

As the two parties continue to negotiate through the start of the school year, there may be “differences” on school campuses.

“It is possible that you may notice some differences in the school buildings and classrooms as we open school in the midst of these contract negotiations,” wrote Cambridge Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui and CPS Superintendent Victoria L. Greer in an Aug. 31 statement. “You may see educators demonstrating outside the buildings before and after the contractual school day.”

“We hope we won’t have to get to that place,” Monahan said, in regards to the possibility of interrupting student learning. “If we get a good agreement, then that won’t happen.”

All-day brunch restaurant and bar Friendly Toast opened a location in Harvard Square in July. SAMI E. TURNER—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

CEA represents teachers in the Cambridge Public Schools District. FRANK S. ZHOU—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

THE ARCTIC MONKEYS LIGHT UP BOSTON (YES, THERE IS A MIRRORBALL)

BY ALISA S. REGASSA CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

English alternative rock band Arctic Monkeys stopped by TD Garden on Sep. 3, returning to Boston for the first time in 5 years. The band consists of Alex Turner as lead vocalist, Helders on drums, along with Jamie Cook on guitar and Nick O’Malley on bass. Together, the Monkeys put on a riveting performance that impressed fans both old and new.

Turner was dripping with charisma, much to the delight of the Boston fans. Stepping out to the staccato drum beat on “Sculptures of Anything Goes” from 2022’s “The Car,” Turner was dressed to the nines, donning a suit along with his signature slicked-back hair. The synth blared in tempo with the pulsating strobe lights, casting a halo around Turner’s head to the thrumming beat. The

Monkeys picked up the beat with subsequent tracks “Brianstorm” and “Teddy Picker,” emblematic of the riveting riffs and rumbling kicks of their early discography. Turner was often seen glancing back at Helders, who shined in solo moments on these tracks.

“The Car” features a more alternative offshoot from the rock-core discography the Monkeys are known for. Even 2018’s lounge-pop “Tranquility

Base Hotel & Casino” is starkly different from their latest, emphasizing the group’s constant sound evolution. As a result, the more recent tracks worked like mellow interludes to balance out the otherwise high energy set. Yet even the chill tracks, like

“There’d Better Be A Mirrorball,” were easily turned into headbangers under Turner’s conducting — quite literally he conducted the beat of the cymbals as a mirrorball with “Monkeys” written on it descended, illuminating the entire stadium with an iridescent light. Similarly, “One Point Perspective,” cultivated an intimate atmosphere with the nostalgic visuals that transported the audience to being in a studio during the recording of the track. That’s the charming charisma the Arctic Monkeys bring to a live performance. For a band that’s been touring for more than fifteen years with 7 studio albums under their belt, the concert setlist was packed with fan favorite tracks. Nevertheless, even the most mainstream of songs had flair. With Turner narrating “Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High?” along with some perplexed facial expressions, the performance

became a realistic account of an inebriated booty call. Cook kept it interesting during “505” with a swelling solo while Turner belted out the bridge. Even the chart-topping “Do I Wanna Know” came alive with the red stage lighting and Turner’s signature off-beat singing.

Still, there were some unexpected gems scattered throughout. The 2023 performance of “Cornerstone,” for example, offered a new interpretation of 2009’s “Humbug.” Turner put a new spin on the melody, elongating the chords on the lyrics “I elongated my way home,” and breathing new life into the tune. Likewise, “Pretty Visitors” stood out as a particularly impressive performance from the band; while Helders was going off on the breakneck BPM, Cook offered a refreshing modulation on the riff between the bridge and last chorus that Turner sustained vocally.

“Something for everybody. It’s a real mixed bag,” said Turner in a recent concert in Toronto. These words are emblematic of the Arctic Monkeys in concert. For those day one fans, tracks from “Favourite Worst Nightmare” were a delight to watch.

On “Fluorescent Adolescent,” Turner exaggerated the pauses between the verses, heightening the audience’s anticipation, while “Do Me A Favour” saw sassy ad-libs from the singer. More recent fans from 2013’s “AM” era were not left disappointed. “Let me tell you about a girl I met. Her name is ‘Arabella,’” Turner teased, smoldering with charm before the hard-hitting snares kicked off “Arabella.” Meanwhile, O’Malley truly shined on “Knee Socks” — not only as a bassist but as a backing vocalist.

It’s no surprise that TD Garden erupted in undying cheers for an encore. The Monkeys stepped up to the challenge, delivering an unforgettable closing act. The band exchanged solos on the breakdown of “R U Mine.” Likewise, “I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor” had everyone on their feet, ending the night with a high energy performance that did not dissapoint.

alisa.regassa@thecrimson.com

Cerise L. Jacobs: from Law to Opera

BY HAILEY E. KRASNIKOV CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

When Cerise Lim Jacobs entered Harvard Law School, she was unsettled by the Socratic method’s inquisitive nature, as the method uses argumentative dialogue to challenge a person’s beliefs.

Decades later, she committed herself to pursuing this method through White Snake Projects, an activist opera company that aims to comment on and break societal stereotypes about marginalized communities.

The Harvard Crimson sat down with the former federal prosecutor, current opera-maker, and Singapore native to discuss the meaning behind opera-based activism, as well as the origins of White Snake Projects and what audiences can expect to see in the near future.

When asked about her journey to opera from Harvard Law School, Jacobs confirmed it was “out of the blue.” However, she acknowledged that her education at HLS played a crucial component in her transition to opera.

“It was difficult for me to think independently because of my culture and the way that we are taught in Singapore,” Jacobs said. “So the whole Socratic method that the Law School used was extremely difficult for me because it was required that I think and answer questions, and that was something I wasn’t used to.”

Prior to her career in opera, Jacobs practiced law in the Greater Boston area for more than 20 years. She served as a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Boston for nearly five years.

The methods of thinking that she was exposed to at Harvard “helped cultivate” her “independent, entrepreneurial spirit” when she chose to step away

from practicing law. While Jacobs made the decision to change career paths between two drastically different industries, the skills between her fields of choice were unexpectedly highly transferable. The key takeaway: “clear, concise communication.”

“[Those] are the exact skills you need to create good opera, and I’m talking about new opera, as well as to run a company, because you really need to be able to vision clearly the steps that lead from A to Z,” Jacobs elaborated as she explained why her time as a litigator helped her shape her company in the long run.

Jacobs’s opera production career started out as a birthday present to her late husband, Charles, who was very passionate about this musical endeavor. The impromptu gift eventually became the first draft of “Madame White Snake,” a story based on the well-known Chinese folk tale, “The Legend of the White Snake.”

At first, Charles was confused about her creation, but he soon recognized its promise.

“He said, you know, maybe you have something here,” she said. “So we worked on it together and managed to partner with Opera Boston to produce it, and then it went on to win the Pulitzer Prize.”

After the success of “Madame White Snake,” Jacobs continued creating works of opera and soon founded White Snake Projects, an activist opera company. The company produces operas that aim to explore relevant issues and create social impact. It focuses on multiculturalism, as well as interaction with the communities that are the focus of their art. Their operas have been performed in New York, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and many other

locations around the world.

“I wanted something that was going to be worth me spending the last years of my life on — so I think that working to develop White Snake Projects, which is an activist opera company, is what I’ve devoted the rest of my life to,” Jacobs explained.

Jacobs criticized the “old trope” of female characters’ deaths present in many operas, and she emphasized that White Snake Projects strives to be “more representative” of women and people of color.

“We do not produce traditional repertory; we only produce new opera world premieres that we commissioned and create and develop, because that’s the only way we’re going to be able to use the company and what we do as a platform for social change,” she said. “Because that is our mission. Our mission is to marry activism and technology.”

Long-term, Jacobs envisions White Snake Projects as a platform that will create “equal footing” for people of color in a predominantly white form of artistic performance.

“And that is the ultimate goal — to desegregate the performing arts in Boston — and it’s a huge lofty goal, and we have to take it one step at a time, and maybe it’s only achieved in my lifetime, but I’m sure as heck gonna try,” she said.

Jacobs describes opera activism as listening to a “need.” She explained that the opera created in response to it aims to “explore that need, explore that issue.”

This concept is best understood by looking at previous ways White Snake Projects responded to events that had major sociopolitical impacts.

When Trump revoked the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA), the opera company “immediate -

ly commissioned” a production named “I Am A Dreamer Who No Longer Dreams.” This production explored the definition of what it means to be American in the scope of immigration. Jacobs illustrated the community’s response by explaining that they “wept” and “loved it.”

After George Floyd was murdered, White Snake Projects felt that simply releasing a statement was not a sufficient response to “this terrible act,” Jacobs recalled. The company proceeded to form a community “think tank” to brainstorm a possible response in the form of opera.

“We came up with an opera,

the theme of which is long-term mass incarceration, which of course, is part of racialized policing, which is what killed Mr. Floyd. And we got together, managed to acquire text from incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people and their families, and we had five Black composers set that text to music to make an opera,” Jacobs said. “And so that is opera-based activism.”

As for White Snake Projects’ upcoming 2023-24 season, the unique selection of productions will include: “Monkey: A Kung Fu Puppet Parable,” a multicultural show based on an ancient Chinese quest; “Let’s Cel-

ebrate!” which will showcase lesser-known significant holidays of diverse cultures; “Sing Out Strong,” which is based on the theme “voting as freedom”; and lastly “Opera Through The Looking Glass,” where White Snake Projects uses a traditional story — this year, “Don Giovanni” — to “dispute a traditional trope.” In closing reflection, Jacobs emphasized the importance of recognizing the privilege and platform Harvard grants its students and affiliates. “Use it to effectuate some kind of change,” she stated.

hailey.krasnikov@thecrimson.com

EDITOR’S PICK: CULTURE

HILA KLEIN ON TEDDY FRESH AND CREATIVITY

United in Battle: WGA and SAG-AFTRA Go On Strike

THE STRIKES by the WGA and SAG-AFTRA represent a crucial stand for human creativity in an industry revolutionized by digital technology.

BY RACHEL A. BEARD CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Underneath the dazzling veneer of Hollywood, a storm is brewing. As the sun casts long shadows on picket lines, writers and actors are taking a historic stand — not just for better wages and hours, but for the soul of their craft. With the dawn of the streaming era and the increasing influence of artificial intelligence in the realm of creativity, the traditional structures of residuals and human-driven storytelling are being challenged like never before.

On May 2, the Writers Guild of America initiated a strike after failed negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. The main contentions are the shifting dynamics of residual payments due to the rise of streaming services and the encroachment of AI on writing. Residual payments make up the financial compensation given to writers, actors, and directors upon the rerun, syndication, streaming, or use of their work in generative AI. In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, actress Mandy Moore said that she makes as little as a penny in residuals for her work in “This Is Us” and the issue is even more

prevalent for less established actors. Considering that writers are crucial members of the Hollywood community, the effects of the writers’ strike were immediately felt throughout the entertainment industry. The releases of new shows and movies have been delayed, late-night talk shows have been forced to pause, and award shows have been postponed. Even before the Screen Actors Guild officially went on strike, actors were seen joining picket lines in solidarity.

Actors, like writers, face challenges posed by AI. Increasing use of AI-generated images and deepfakes challenge not only job security but also the authenticity of performance. It’s not just about the potential job loss; it’s about preserving the essence of acting — the human emotion and spontaneity that no AI can replicate. Their alliance with the Writers Guild underscores a shared belief in the value of human creativity and the necessity to address these shared concerns. This unity sends a powerful message: Hollywood’s creative process must not undervalue the human touch. A recalibration is necessary, but not at the expense of the human spirit, which remains the core of resonant storytelling.

“If we don’t stand tall right now, we are all going to be in trouble. We are all going to be in jeopardy of being replaced by machines and big business,” Fran Drescher, president of SAG-AFTRA said at a press conference announcing the union’s strike.

On July 14 SAG-AFTRA offi-

cially joined the picket lines as the guild called for their own strike, as the effects of AI on became impossible to ignore as existential threats to the profession. Amongst the union’s demands are more typical, but just as important, demands for a minimum pay rate and better working conditions.

The move to streaming platforms has further disrupted traditional methods of compensation for actors. The advent of streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+ has disrupted the residual payment model, prompting calls for a fairer compensation structure. The creatives seek a model that ensures the popularity of their work on these platforms — which translates into sustained compensation. Their demand signals a crucial step towards a sustainable future in the era of streaming giants.

One might ask why actors, often perceived as an especially wealthy class, need to strike. This view is skewed by the disproportionate attention given to a select few A-list stars. The reality is that most actors aren’t wealthy; they rely on residuals from reruns and secondary uses of their work to sustain themselves between jobs. Many work in smaller roles or background parts that offer modest pay. The transition to streaming has disrupted this income stream, necessitating their participation in the strike.

While there are undeniable vast differences in the experiences of the highest paid and

the majority of actors, the entire profession is victim to the effects of AI. With the potential of eliminating background actors, those A-listers will be forced to act and convey the emotions necessary to sell the part without interacting with other human beings — a near-impossible feat. Even just having people in the background can help set the scene and make it feel less cold.

Overall, the strikes have shown a stark light on how little big studios and producers care about their employees. A grotesque example of the actions the studios are willing to take can be found on the picket lines at Universal Studios in Los Angeles: As pickets went on in the extreme Los Angeles heat, Universal had trees that picketers were using as shade trimmed in attempts to combat the strike. They did so illegally, cutting the trees without a permit. The City of Los Angeles has fined them a mere $250.

The strikes by the WGA and SAG-AFTRA represent a crucial stand for human creativity in an industry revolutionized by digital technology. Their demand is a call to recognize and value all contributors, from A-list actors to background extras, from seasoned writers to novices. As we navigate this digital era, it’s essential to find a balance where both human talent and technology can coexist and thrive. Ultimately, these are not just industry issues; they impact our cultural values and reflect on our society as a whole.

rachel.beard@thecrimson.com

COURTESY OF TATIANA BRUENING

Hila Klein is a creative, and she is unafraid to embrace every facet of that identity, wrote staff writer Hannah E. Gadway. Klein is the creator and CEO of Teddy Fresh, a growing streetwear brand which has been worn by celebrities such as Sofia Vergara, Heidi Klum, and Billie Eilish. The company boasts a wide array of artistic collaborations with brands like Marvel, Ripndip, and Looney Tunes. Outside of Teddy Fresh, Klein also co-hosts the Friday episodes of the H3 Podcast, one of YouTube’s most popular comedic podcasts.

While Klein now balances many creative endeavors, things didn’t start out this way. In an interview with The Harvard Crimson, Hila Klein expanded on the path that led to her current position.

After starting out on YouTube with her husband Ethan, the duo launched a podcast together. Diversifying her career through a podcast led Klein to explore other creative outlets. “When we launched our podcast, we also decided to launch a clothing line, which I was kind of thinking was going to be my hobby and passion project,” Klein said. “And, very quickly, [Teddy Fresh] became my full time job, and more.”

Developing Teddy Fresh wasn’t Klein’s first experience with creative pursuits. Before starting her YouTube career, Klein studied art in Israel, where she is originally from.

“I think I’ve always been kind of a creative first, but not necessarily married to one medium,” Klein said. “When I went to art school, by design they made us take all kinds of classes. I did painting, sculpture, screen printing, video art, photography, basically all of it.”

“I think that really fit my personality because I can never fully pinpoint it, like, ‘Oh, I’m a painter,’ ‘I’m a fashion designer,’ or ‘I’m going to be this one thing,’” Klein elaborated. “I mostly have this creative energy that I like to explore.”

While Klein utilized her creative energy for many years through YouTube and her personal sketchbooks, eventually fashion became her main outlet.

“It was at a time where we were making like one video a week for YouTube,” Klein said on the birth of Teddy Fresh. “And I felt like I had more time on my hands. Like I wanted more for myself, I wanted to do more. And I always had this love for fashion.”

“And it was also at a time where I felt like when I wanted to go shop for myself, I didn’t really know where to go to find the kind of stuff that I would want to find,” Klein said. “It was a combination of all these factors where I felt like I wanted another creative outlet outside of our videos.”

‘Tom Lake’ Review: Patchett’s Latest Novel Is A Warm Hug

BY SARA KOMATSU CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Ann Patchett’s “Tom Lake” may very well be the first pandemic novel that anyone actually likes. Set among the cherwry trees of northern Michigan in the summer of 2020, narrator and protagonist Lara tells her three 20-something-aged daughters a story of the time she dated a movie star named Peter Duke — while avoiding any hint of cringe.

Whether it’s Patchett’s ever-prodigious touch or the story’s determined wholesomeness, her ninth novel is reflective and mellow, though by no means prudish — it recounts a hot summer fling, after all. Most of all, it’s rich with the kind of devastatingly real depictions of humanity that readers have come to expect from Patchett.

While in the present day, Lara and her family deal with the daily hard work of the cherry farm (short a few hands because of the pandemic), the young, 24-yearold Lara in her story-within-a-story has an irritatingly perfect life. Discovered by a producer at a high school production of “Our Town,” she goes on to star in a movie, and then to perform

in “Our Town” again during summer stock at the eponymous Tom Lake. It’s there that she meets Duke, a then-unknown actor who sweeps her off her feet within the first hour. It’s one of those loves that flares bright but short, and while it yanks the reader along in whirlwind fashion, the mature Lara and her family are the ones who provide the novel’s layers of reflective insight.

Lara’s daughter Emily, named after the character her mother played in “Our Town,” has the frightening intensity of strongwilled eldest daughters, and Lara’s memories of Emily’s years of teenage “hormonal rage” paint a complex and heartbreaking portrait of parent-child relations. Though becoming convinced that your favorite movie star is your true biological father in a fit of delusion might not be a universal teenage experience, the hurt that Emily causes her parents and family is still utterly piercing. Even years later, Lara admits that she is “still somewhat afraid of her.”

Furthermore, it’s through Nell, the youngest and only daughter who inherited Lara’s desire for the stage, that the reader comprehends the significance of a central event in Lara’s story:

When she ruptures her Achilles tendon midway through the run of “Our Town.” Although the injury itself isn’t career-ending, this marks the beginning of Lara’s disillusionment with the industry (and with Duke) and the end of her acting career. “While her sisters stare uncomprehending, Nell sobs against [her mother’s] chest,” understanding, as the only other performer in the family, that Lara didn’t go on stage again that summer. It’s an absolutely devastating moment, made even more poignant by Nell’s parallel grief. While Lara has ended her career — and mostly by choice — young Nell, who wants it so badly, has yet to begin. Even worse, she’s losing precious time to the pandemic while she is “beautiful and young in a profession that cares for nothing but beauty and youth.” In these moments, one thinks Patchett must have lived a thousand lives to understand where the keystones of human experience and emotion lie, and then to describe them so adeptly, so accurately.

Though Patchett gets this crucial moment just right, there are moments where the novel falters. Emily voices some climate anxieties in a rather sudden and jarring way, and the girls protest

their parents’ occasionally “unwoke” habits in lines that feel added-on. Attempts to comment on race concern Pallace, Lara’s understudy and best friend at Tom Lake, who is seemingly the only Black character in the book. The fact that Pallace ostensibly doesn’t make it to Hollywood, unlike Duke and Lara (who are both white), seems a realistic and quiet nod to the realities of theater — yet it still feels like a half-baked attempt to talk about race.

“Tom Lake” manages to feel both wandering and organic, while maintaining a neatly progressing arc of realizations. But it’s almost too neat: The reader slowly starts to make connections — recognizing the origins of each daughter’s name, recognizing their father, and their home, all within Lara’s dream-like story. Her husband, too, is miraculously never uncomfortable with this deep dive into his wife’s past love. But what kind of pandemic novel would it be if it wasn’t a little escapist? In fact, perhaps what makes this novel so agreeable despite being set in 2020 is that it captures not just the small, hidden, somewhat guilty pleasures of being trapped at home with family, but also both narrates and embodies the longing for escap -

ism — for stories of levity, happiness, and joy.

Though it doesn’t shy from revealing moments of human suffering and sorrow, “Tom Lake” ultimately chooses cheeriness and heart, leaving readers feeling snug and content.

4 STARS

sara.komatsu@thecrimson.com

Picket line formed by writers on strike outside the location of Marvel Studio’s Disney+ TV show “Daredevil: Born Again” COURTESY OF FABEBK

FIFTEEN QUESTIONS

Catherine A. Brekus ’85 is a professor at Harvard Divinity School. She studies religion in America with a special emphasis in women’s religious history.

FM: What was your experience as an undergrad at Harvard?

CAB: So I was class of ’85 and I had a very positive experience here, mostly because I had the really good fortune to be placed with three women my first year — we were in Straus — who became lifelong friends.

All that said, Harvard has changed so much for the better since I was a student here. The whole time that I was here, I had only two courses with women professors.

FM: Do you feel like that ratio has improved a good bit?

CAB: It has improved dramat ically. I would say it’s still not 50/50. I feel like it’s affected the whole university. I feel as if there’s a much more welcoming ethos for students, or maybe I should say, I hope that’s true.

Harvard has changed so much for the better since I was a student here. The whole time that I was here, I had only two courses with women professors.

FM: How did you first get into studying religion in America?

CAB: This didn’t happen until after college. I knew by the time that I left Harvard that I was really inter ested in women’s history. And I thought I might want to go to graduate school, but I wasn’t positive. And so I taught at a prep school south of Boston for two years called Milton Academy and applied to doctoral pro grams in history and American Studies. I ended up going to Yale’s American Studies program to do women’s history. And in my very first semester at Yale, I took a course on puritanism of all things, and became absolutely fascinated by re ligion and decided that my questions about women’s lives in the past would really benefit from bringing a religious lens.

FM: What were some of those questions?

CAB: So I was really inter ested in what historians have called social his tory. For me, religion became a tool for asking questions about how women had made sense of their lives, and how they had made meaning. So really humanistic questions about what it means to be a person, what it means to be human, what makes a good life.

FM: When did you know you wanted to go into academia?

CAB: That was a slow process.

I started thinking that might be the case when I was here at Harvard. But when I looked around, all the professors were male, and I wasn’t sure. I mean I guess I had impostor syndrome — like everybody does. I had a conversation with a mentor that I’m sure he would regret now.

But a mentor who’s an advanced graduate student, where when I said to him, ‘I’m thinking I might want to get a Ph.D.’ He said, ‘You’re too nice to get a Ph.D.’ So that was kind of the ethos, like you had to be really tough, and it was very competitive and gendered male.

So I joke now with my students all the time, and I’d say it turns out, I really wasn’t very nice at all because not only did I get a Ph.D., but I’m back at Harvard, which I never would have

CATHERINE BREKUS ’85 ON WOMEN AND RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

DIVINITY SCHOOL PROFESSOR Catherine A. Brekus ’85 sat down with Fifteen Minutes to talk about women’s history and religion. “For me, religion became a tool for asking questions about how women had made sense of their lives, and how they had made meaning,” she says.

BY JEM K. WILLIAMS CRIMSON MAGAZINE ASSOCIATE EDITOR

imagined.

But I just realized more and more that I loved reading, I loved writing, I loved spending time in the library, just really getting to explore ideas and think about things. And that increasingly was pulling me in the direction of maybe I wanted to get a Ph.D.

FM: You’ve talked about this concept of religious nationalism, and the idea of “American chosenness,” which suggests that America is an exceptional nation because of its connection to Christianity. What caused this sentiment to emerge and what perpetuates it to this day?

CAB: I’m interested in figuring out how it is that the United States, for some people, has taken on a kind of transcendent sacred significance.

And it turns out that this idea has roots that extend even deeper than the founding of the nation back into the early settlement of the British colonies. And even deeper than that the Protestant Reformation where Protestants were imagining themselves as being the vanguard of the one true church. Before the United States was founded, Puritans described Massachusetts Bay where we are now as being a city on a hill, that would be a model or a beacon to the rest of

the world. And you can see that idea of persisting from the revolution all the way until now. It has been at the root of ideas like manifest destiny — that the United States was supposed to continue to spread westward, in this kind of providential way. It has definitely justified imperialism and xenophobia. It had another side too, which is quite interesting, where a number of reformers in the United States, people arguing for women’s rights, people arguing against slavery, people arguing for greater rights for workers, they have often criticized the nation on the grounds that the United States does have a special destiny, and we’re not living up to it.

FM: With the concept of Christian nationalism, being so malleable as to serve, either perpetuating things like slavery, or strict gender roles, but also being a tool of abolitionists, how do we reconcile these two opposing ideas in one concept?

CAB: I think it’s a deeper question about, for Christian nationalism, the varieties of Christianity. So the term Christianity is a singular term, but what is contained within Christianity is a vast number of people who disagree about what it means or should mean to be a Christian. So

in some ways, the arguments over the identity of the nation for Christian nationalists are also arguments about, “What does it mean to be a Christian?”

FM: You’re currently co authoring a biography on Sarah Edwards. Who is Sarah Edwards and what made you want to write about her?

CAB: So Sarah Edwards is the wife of a famous 18th century theologian named Jonathan Edwards. Jonathan Edwards is still revered and much cited by Evangelical Christians today. And a few years ago, there was a woman who can trace her ancestry all the way back to the Edwards family, who got in contact with the Jonathan Edwards project at Yale, which has been digitizing Edwards’ vast manuscripts. And so apparently when people went to meet her in New Jersey at her house, they said that when they walked into her living room, there were manuscripts everywhere. Among all of these manuscripts was a manuscript in Jonathan Edwards’ handwriting. That said, “Mrs. Edwards’ Experiences.” It is an account that either he copied from an account that Sara herself wrote, or that he asked her to dictate to him of a religious experience

that she had that lasted for about 10 days.

So this document came to my attention through my former doctoral advisor, Harry Stout at Yale and the Director of the Edwards project Ken Minkema, and we were all just so fascinated by it, that we ended up publishing an article about it.

When we were finishing up the article, I said half in jest, “That was really fun. We should write a book.” So now we are on chapter seven of a nine-chapter book that is a cultural biography of Sarah Edwards, that uses her experiences to reflect on understandings of the body, and gender and religion in the 18th century, particularly among Evangelicals.

FM: According to an article published in Harvard Magazine, you specialize “in hearing

The term Christianity is a singular term, but what is contained within Christianity is a vast number of people who disagree about what it means or should mean to be a Christian. The arguments over the identity of the nation for Christian nationalists are also arguments about, “What does it mean to be a

the voices of America’s early female religious leaders nearly lost to history.” How do you find and recover stories nearly lost in their historical record?

I think people don’t realize how much material there actually is about women. Or they haven’t thought about creative ways of trying to resurface voices. That has definitely changed. I got my degree in 1993, and there’s really been an explosion of women’s history and gender history over the past 30 years. So I’m really only one of a large number of scholars who have gone into archives, into the stacks of places like Widener looking for the voices of forgotten women.

This, of course, is a very politicized topic right now in the nation as a whole: whose history gets told whose history is FM: On the topic of recovering lost voices in the historical record, what role do you believe fictionalized narratives should play in replacing voices that aren’t as well documented?

I love historical fiction, I will conSome of it is better than others.

I think it takes a lot of study to be able to really appreciate the nuances of historical voices. I think there has been a desire to move toward fictional representations, especially in places where the records are really thin.

I appreciate novelists who are trying to recover stories that we really can’t recover historically. It’s important if you’re a historian to make clear, where you can really draw from records and where you can really substantiate what you’re saying and where you are creatively reimagining the past.

FRANK S. ZHOU — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

Field Hockey Starts Off 2-0

BY MAIREAD

After a 2-0 start to the season in a pair of matches against the University of Massachusetts and the University of Connecticut, No. 14 Harvard field hockey has begun its quest toward both the Ivy League and NCAA tournaments.

However, a few things have changed since Harvard last took to Berylson Field in the spring. Its former All-Ivy goalkeeper Ellie Shahbo ‘23 hung up her Crimson cleats, a fresh set of competitive first-years has joined the roster, and the Ivy League has changed the rules of its tournament — an impactful change that may work in Harvard’s favor.

This year, the Ivy League will host its first-ever four-team postseason field hockey tournament to determine which school it will send to the highly-anticipated NCAA tournament. The four teams will consist of the top four in the regular season, with the winning school receiving an automatic bid to the NCAA, no matter its Ivy League record.

Previously, the end-of-season Ivy League tournament did not determine which team would receive a bid to the NCAA tournament, but was rather based on the team’s conference record. For instance, if both Harvard and Princeton had perfect 6-0 records and were set to face each other in the final Ivy League regular season matchup, a win from Princeton would send it to the NCAA tournament — as was the case in 2022. The team who did not win would have to wait for an at-large bid from the NCAA. In years past, for Harvard and Princeton, this meant that one bad game could lead to the end of a postseason run.

This fall, the NCAA tournament will take place in reigning champion-territory, Chapel Hill, N.C., from Nov. 17-19. In 2022, the Tar Heels edged 2021 tournament champion No. 2 Northwestern to take back the title. Just the year before, Harvard had lost to Northwestern in the final four of the tournament in a gritty overtime battle.

Though Harvard was slotted second in the Ivy League preseason poll, with archrival No. 8 Princeton in first place, the Tigers received only seven more votes than the Crimson, empha-

sizing the close competition between the two Ivy teams. For years, the Ivy League trophy has shifted back and forth between Cambridge and New Jersey, rarely seeing another state.

One advantage Princeton has over Harvard is the lineup of its early-season schedule. Though off to a 0-2 start, the Tigers have faced familiar NCAA competition like No. 12 Louisville and No. 1 North Carolina. Other top teams like No. 2 Northwestern, No. 4 Maryland, and No. 18 Rutgers loom before its Ivy season commences. Princeton’s squad may gain extra preparation and experience that Harvard’s younger team will not have before it opens its Ivy season.

Although the Crimson has its eyes set on the end-of-season prize, head coach Tjerk van Herwaarden recalled that the team is “taking it game by game.”

“We are preparing for Ivy League play, which will have a whole different meaning to share with the tournament at

play and [the] teams will be bet ger, [and] there’ll be lowering the competition to actually make the This weekend, Harvard will take a road trip south to face es that will give it a similar type of preparation that Princeton is currently receiving. Yet, the Crimson still has games against teams like No. 7 St. Joseph’s and No. 9 Syracuse sprinkled into the middle of the fall — though it may not be in time before the Ivy “That’s a level where we want sis,” reflected van Herwaarden on the upcoming games this weekend. “That’s the goal, we want to be a top-10 team. And in order to be a top-10 team, we need to beat these teams that are

In a trend similar to what it’s seen in the past few seasons, classmen have been stepping up

In her first collegiate game, first-year midfielder Lara Beekhuis scored a goal against the UMass Minutewomen, giving Harvard the lead into the fourth ward Sage Piekarski, has been a threat in the front, and returning sophomores Kittie Chapple and Bronte May-Brough are already racking up points. Sophomore midfielder Marie Schaefers even and a few things that allow us to have more threat, third circle ting ourselves tions, in better positions to score goals,” the head Having goals earlier in the son, preventing it from playing ciders as it has in the past, giving cepts in the early season may lead to the strong attacks it will

One elephant in the room is the question of which goalie will be in net after the departure of Shahbo. Harvard has the luxury of two different goalies — senior Sofia Castore and sophomore Tessa Shahbo, Ellie’s younger Castore began the season for Harvard at UMass, letting in only one of two shots faced. Shahbo faced 11 shots from the Huskies — a team Harvard has not beaten in over a decade — making four ent playing styles and come with their own strengths, the next few weeks will be important games for determining which keeper will stay in the net for Ivy League

nal goalkeepers who have been working with Ellie [Shahbo] last year in a very tight and healthy waarden said. “Right now they are competing and doing what

erty tomorrow at 4:00 PM EST in Lynchburg, Va. On Sunday, it will

“We’ll get a lot out of this weekend because either we will realize that we still have work to do and will know where the

AHEAD OF THE GAME­

With a new roster, goalies, and postseason tournament, Harvard field hockey is getting to work.

B. BAKER CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Tjerk van Herwaarden Harvard Field Hockey Head Coach

Then-freshman Kitty Chapple makes a shot-at-net against the University of Delaware in 2022. DYLAN J. GOODMAN — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

Harvard Ready to Win in 2023

back from 3-0 down against the University of South Carolina, but were unable to find a third and tying goal to remain in contention.

BY ALEXANDER

CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Harvard women’s soccer has returned to Jordan Field looking to build off of last season’s success, which ended in a second-round NCAA tournament game. Now, the Crimson is off to a 2-1-1 start. It beat Fairfield and Connecticut 3-0 and 2-1 respectively, before falling 3-2 on a California trip to Long Beach State and fighting to a 1-1 draw at Pepperdine.

“In the past four games we had a lot of positives that I’m very excited to build upon,” said co-captain and senior midfielder Ava Lung. “I think that we are still waiting to put together a complete performance.”

“While we were in California, it provided us with a really good opportunity to learn from where we fell short and I’m just really excited to do that at home,” Lung added.

Last season, Harvard won its first NCAA Tournament match since 2014. The 2-0 victory over the University of New Hampshire in front of a sold-out Jordan Field was emphatic and capped an exciting season in which the Crimson posted a 12-2-3 record — only narrowly missing out on the Ivy League title to Brown.

In the second round of the tournament, Harvard almost pulled off a miraculous come -

“I think when you realize that you have the skillset, the motivation, and the mentality to get to a grind like the postseason at the NCAA, that’s obviously something that we want to continue to push forward towards,” junior midfielder Josefine Hasbo explained.

“You can set your expectations in terms of controllables and we can believe in outcomes. It’s very important to set those kinds of goals — it needs to be specific and tangible. Our goal is, generally, to become the best team in Ivy League history. We want to win the Ivy League this season — that’s our goal and that’s what we are pushing for every day,” Hasbo added.

Hasbo is one of several Crimson players off to a strong start this season. She leads the team in points with three goals and two assists in the first four games. The Crimson co-captain returned to Cambridge this fall after playing for Denmark’s Women’s National team in its run to the round of 16 of the Women’s World Cup. Hasbo played in all four games, including in front of a crowd of 75,784 in Sydney for their matchup against Australia.

“Those kinds of exceptional experiences prepare you when you enter all environments, because you’ve been in such a high pressure environment where you learn a lot about yourself and how you handle and tackle those situations — I’m looking forward to continue contributing those kinds of experience to the team,” said Hasbo when asked about how her World Cup experience

has impacted her leadership at Harvard.

In addition to building on last year’s success, the Crimson is also working to integrate new members of the squad after the departure of seven seniors. In the season opener against Fairfield, first-year forwards Jasmine Leshnick and Ólöf Kristindóttir left their mark, with both scoring against the Stags in their collegiate debut. Kristinsdóttir added a second goal to her season tally against Long Beach State, scoring an equalizer in the 79th minute off an assist from junior midfielder Hannah Bebar to make it 2-2, before the Beach snatched the win with an 88th minute goal.

“They’re doing great so far,” Lung reflected on the first-year class. “It’s been really great to see them getting time in games re -

cently. In the past four games, most of them have gotten some really good minutes. They’re fitting in with the team really well, both on the field and off the field and I’m really excited to see how they grow throughout the season.”

Harvard’s new members are led by an experienced squad, including three juniors on this year’s Hermann Trophy Watch List, an award given to the players voted as the best male and female Division I soccer players nationwide at the end of each season. The Crimson players are Hasbo, Bebar, and junior defender Jade Rose, the 2022 Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year. Harvard will have to overcome a new twist this season if it is to reach its goal of breaking Brown’s three-year winning streak and

claiming an Ivy League Championship. For the first time in over 40 years, the Ivy League will host a bracketed end-of-season tournament. The top-four regular season teams will be invited to compete for this year’s Ivy League title, making the pinnacle of the season a single game as opposed to the traditional points system.

“We’re excited for the opportunity to have the tournament because in the past if you dropped points in an Ivy League game it is a big determinant on how your season will play out and where you fall in the standings,” Lung said.

“I think that having the tournament will really be beneficial in that it gives you kind of another shot at getting that bid into the tournament and ultimately makes the league even more

competitive than it already is,” Lung added.

The Crimson has its work cut out if it is to improve upon last season and make a run into the postseason, but with a strong class of upperclassmen and competitive group of young players, Harvard is equipped to face the challenge.

Harvard returns to home-field this week with a Thursday night matchup against Syracuse (2-4, 0-0 ACC) at 7:00 p.m. EST before facing North Carolina State (1-2-2, 0-0-0 ACC) on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. EST. The Crimson opens up its Ivy League season on Saturday, September 23rd with a highly anticipated matchup against reigning Ivy Champions Brown at 7:00 p.m. EST on Jordan Field.

alexander.bell@thecrimson.com

Then-sophomore midfielder Josefine Hasbo drives the ball up the field on Nov. 5, 2022, against Columbia. ZADOC I.N. GEE — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

WOMEN’S SOCCER

BACK FOR MORE After missing out on the 2022 Ivy League title, Harvard is ready to win it and reach the NCAA tourney again.

BELL

Distinct and subtle jewelry for the modern minimalist