The Harvard Crimson - Volume CXLV, No. 21 by The Harvard Crimson

The University Daily, Est. 1873 | Volume CXLV, No. 21 | Cambridge, Massachusetts | thursday, february 15, 2018

The Harvard Crimson Blocking groups are not indicative of a freshman’s social group for the next three years. editorial PAGE 6

Women’s Tennis caps off weekend tournament with a victory over Yale. sports PAGE 8

Groups Release Sanctions Plans

Bacow, 66, Is Oldest PresidentElect

By michael E. xie

By william l. wang

Crimson Staff Writer

Some College-run advising and mentorship programs tailored to freshmen recently published guidelines outlining how they may be affected by the College’s social group penalties, though the Office of Student Life has yet to release an official enforcement plan for the sanctions. The policy—which took effect with the Class of 2021—bars members of single-gender final clubs and Greek organizations from holding student group leadership positions, varsity athletic team captaincies, and from receiving College endorsement for prestigious fellowships. In an interview in early February, Dean of the College Rakesh Khurana declined to give a timeline for the release of a final enforcement plan for the

See sanctions Page 5

Lawrence S. Bacow was announced Harvard’s 29th president on Sunday afternoon. At 66, he will be the oldest individual ever to assume the University presidency come July 2018. Casey M. Allen—Crimson photographer

35 Women

Men

Non-Binary

Number of Representatives

By jonah s. berger and paula m. barberi

Crimson Staff Writers

20 17

17 15 13

5 1

2014

1 2016

2015

1 2017

Year elena M. ramos—Crimson Designer

HMS Exceeds $750 Mill. Goal

Students Fight for Cultural Center

By luke w. vrotsos

By ruth a. hailu and olivia c. scott

Crimson Staff Writer

For almost half a century, students have been calling on the University to build and fund a multicultural center. For nearly half a century, Harvard has said no. Calling for a physical space for students of marginalized backgrounds, generations of campus advocates for a multicultural center have argued the building represents a necessary means to foster inclusion for Harvard’s increasingly diverse student body. After a September draft report from the University-wide task force for diversity and inclusion recommended the creation of centers for “Identity, Politics, and Culture” and “Inclusion and Belonging,” and after Harvard has created more offices and administrative positions for work on diversity, some students say they are hopeful that now—after years and years of frustration—a multicultural center will come to fruition.

See HMS Page 5

See Multicultural Page 7

Inside this issue

Harvard Today 2

Twenty-one years after the first woman assumed the presidency of the Undergraduate Council, many current representatives say the UC continues to grapple with issues of gender equality and inclusivity. During last Sunday’s UC general meeting, Quincy House representative Wyatt M. Robertson ’18 said the Council can sometimes take male representatives more seriously than other UC representatives. “A lot of times when men are up here, they’re not questioned as much about their experiences and the research that goes into it,” Robertson said. “A lot of times when other people are up here, a lot of non-men, whether it’s queer people, genderqueer people, or women presenting up here, a lot of the research and experiences do get called into question.” Over the past several months, multiple representatives said the Coun-

cil has made strides towards ensuring women are represented in leadership roles and feel comfortable speaking up at meetings. Many non-male representatives said improvements this year in female representation in leadership and on the Council at large have served as a first step in overcoming the lingering effects of a historically male-dominated student government. But some representatives said the Council must continue to focus on issues it has long failed to address. “Whenever a woman comes to the front of the room... it’s almost like ‘unqualified until proven qualified’ instead of the other way around,” Crimson Yard representative Sonya Kalara ’21 said. In an emailed statement, UC President Catherine L. Zhang ’19 wrote she is committed to ensuring all members of the Council are given an equal voice. “[Council Vice President] Nick [Boucher] and I are both extremely dedicated to making sure the UC is

See UC Page 5

Crimson Staff Writers

Harvard Medical School’s capital campaign reached its $750 million goal earlier this month, administrators announced Wednesday. The campaign, titled “The World Is Waiting: The Campaign for Harvard Medicine,” was publicly launched in Nov. 2014 after the school had already raised about $375 million during the “quiet phase” of their efforts. The campaign has the third-largest goal across all of the University’s 12 schools, trailing only targets set by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and the Business School. Lisa Boudreau, dean for alumni affairs and development at the Medical School, announced the achievement of the goal in an emailed statement Wednesday. “We are enormously grateful to the many supporters who have embraced our mission and who are investing in the lifesaving work of HMS,” Boudreau wrote.

See bacow Page 5

UC Grapples With Gender Discrepancies

Representatives Elected in Fall 2014 - 2017

At 66, incoming University President Lawrence S. Bacow will be the oldest president ever to take charge of Harvard when he moves into Massachusetts Hall this summer—experts, though, say his age is unlikely to determine the length of his tenure. Bacow will be the first president since Charles Chauncy—Harvard’s second president—to begin his tenure at an age above 60. Bacow’s predecessor, current President Drew G. Faust, was inaugurated at age 59. Judith A. Wilde, a professor at George Mason University’s School of Policy and Government, cited a study from the American Council on Education that found five percent of university presidents were over the age of 70 in 2011, but 11 percent were over the

News 3

Editorial 6

Sports 8

Datamatch destination

Zinneken’s, a restaurant in Cambridge that makes Belgian waffles, among other things, is a destination for Datamatch meet-ups. Casey M. Allen—Crimson photographer

Today’s Forecast

cloudy High: 56 Low: 47

Visit thecrimson.com. Follow @TheCrimson on Twitter.

heart cookies

HARVARD TODAY

thursday | february 15, 2018

FOR Lunch

FOR DINNER

Deconstructed Sloppy Joes

Chicken Francais

Salmon and Green Garbanzo Cakes with Tahini

Fried Calamari RI Style

Grilled Portobello and Goat Cheese Sandwich

Farfalle Pasta with Cannelini and Basil Pesto

around the ivies Princeton Senior Launches Dating App Princeton senior Paddy Boroughs created a dating app exclusively for Princeton undergraduates, according to the Daily Princetonian. The app, similar to Tinder, is dubbed “Prospect: Find Your Tiger.” The app allows students to search other profiles and mark them as interested. If a pair marks each others’ profiles as interested, they are each notified. Some students said they were concerned about privacy issues since the app automatically includes profiles for all undergraduates, created by information available on Princeton directories. Though Boroughs launched the app about two weeks ago, it had already garnered over 250 downloads and nearly 200 matches.

Yale Grad School Union Leaders Withdraw NLRB Petitions Union leaders at Local 33 have remained silent after the union withdrew eight National Labor Relations Board petitions Monday night, according to the Yale Daily News. By withdrawing the petitions, Local 33 has effectively ended its campaign to represent students in Yale’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences who voted to unionize last February. Several members said they were not consulted when their leaders decided to withdraw the petitions. In December, 80 members signed a petition calling for the formation of a new group, Union We Want, due to their distrust of Local 33’s leadership.

Harvard Men’s Hockey at Beanpot Jack T. Badini ‘21 prepares to face off against a Boston College player on Monday evening. Kathryn S. Kuhar— CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

Happy Thursday harvard! To Datamatch, who somehow managed to match a gay man (me) with a straight woman: GREAT job. In the Atmosphere… An even higher 56 degrees. Even though the forecast is cloudy, this is a gift. Take it.

EVENTS Grand Plans in Intl. Relations: U.S. Responses to China’s Rise In what is sure to be an interesting conversation, Nina Solve (a Fellow in the International Security Program) is speaking on America’s response to China’s rise. Hosted by the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, the even truns from 12:15-2 p.m.

The Public Policy Challenges of Artificial Intelligence Jason Matheny—the director of the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity—speaks on how artificial intelligence will affect public policy in the future. Also sponsored by the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, this event will be held at 6 p.m. Lorenzo F. Manuali Crimson Staff Writer

Committee Recommends Changes to Brown Student Employment A group composed of Brown undergraduates, faculty, staff, and administrators recommended several changes to the school’s student employment practices, according to the Brown Daily Herald. They surveyed 18 peer institutions and analyzed internal data to reach their conclusions. The group suggested increasing the amount of funding for community service jobs from seven percent of the money allocated to federal work-study funds to 10 percent. They also recommended that the university use scholarships, not federal work-study, as criteria for preferential treatment in hiring.

in the real world swan in the sun

17 Killed in Tragic Florida School Shooting

A swan drifts along the Charles river in the sunlight on Wednesday afternoon.

A 19-year-old former student of a high school in Florida fired on students at the school yesterday afternoon. At least 17 have been confimed as dead. The gunman had been expelled from the school previously for disciplinary reasons, and has been held in custody.

casey m. Allen — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

USA Men’s Hockey Falls in First Contest to Slovenia in Olympics If you’ve been paying attention, Harvard junior Ryan Donato is playing on the American men’s hockey team at the 2018 Winter Olympics. Though Donato tallied an assist on the team’s first goal, the Americans gave up a lead and fell to Slovenia 3-2 in overtime.

Senators Finally Agree on Something A group of 17 senators reached agreement Wednesday to rewrite legislation on immigration policy. The group, which calls itself the Common Sense Coalition, consists of eight Republicans, eight Democrats, and one Independent. The measure would offer a path to citizenship for 1.8 million young undocumented immigrants and appropriate $25 billion for border security. President Trump, however, has said that he would veto any plan that does not adhere to his much stricter approach to immigration.

The Harvard Crimson The University Daily, Est. 1873 Derek G. Xiao, President Hannah Natanson, Managing Editor Nathan Y. Lee, Business Manager Copyright 2018, The Harvard Crimson (USPS 236-560). No articles, editorials, cartoons or any part thereof appearing in The Crimson may be reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the President. The Associated Press holds the right to reprint any materials published in The Crimson. The Crimson is a non-profit, independent corporation, founded in 1873 and incorporated in 1967. Second-class postage paid in Boston, Massachusetts. Published Monday through Friday except holidays and during vacations, three times weekly during reading and exam periods by The Harvard Crimson Inc., 14 Plympton St., Cambridge, Mass. 02138 Weather icons made by Freepik, Yannick, Situ Herrera, OCHA, SimpleIcon, Catalin Fertu from flaticon.com is licensed by CC BY 3.0.

WAIting at the dot

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Staff for This Issue

“If you say that you care about diversity when you’re admitting students, but not when they actually attend the University, that shows an inherent conflict.” Sonya Kalara ’21, UC Representative

Night Editor Alison W. Steinbach ‘19

CORRECTIONS The Harvard Crimson is committed to accuracy in its reporting. Factual errors are corrected promptly on this page. Readers with information about errors are asked to e-mail the managing editor at managingeditor@thecrimson.com.

Brian P. Yu ‘19 Graham W. Bishai ’19

Assistant Night Editors Design Editor Elena M. Ramos ’19 Angela N. Fu ’20 Sanjana L. Narayanan Editorial Editor ‘21 Lorenzo F. Manuali ’20 Story Editors Photo Editors Mia C. Karr ’19 Casey M. Allen ‘20 Hannah Natanson ’19 Joshua J. Florence ‘19 Iulianna C. Taritsa ’20 Sarah Wu ‘19 Brittany N. Ellis ‘19

Sports Editor Jack R. Stockless ’19

The Harvard Crimson | fEBRUARY 15, 2018 | page 3

Thousands Sign Up City Councillors Launch Podcast for Datamatch By patricia j. liu

Crimson Staff Writer

By simone c. chu Crimson Staff Writer

Thousands of students across the campuses of Harvard, Brown, Columbia, and Wellesley started their Valentine’s Day mornings with a pink-accented message in their email inbox: Datamatch 2018 results were in and matches were waiting. This year’s iteration of the program marked the first year that Datamatch, the Harvard Computer Society’s 24-year-old digital matchmaking program, expanded to other schools based on popular demand. In total, nearly 9,000 students completed and submitted surveys, though

Given the size of Brown, it’s easy to go through college here and not meet everyone that you might end up connecting with. I think people were excited about the prospect of doing that. Cashen Conroy ‘19 Brown University Student

many students waited to do so until just minutes before the deadline Tuesday night, according to Datamatch team members. Datamatch’s expansion beyond Harvard brought increased participation, with an estimated 4,400 more students looking for digital love this year compared to last year. “We actually extended the deadline by an hour,” Datamatch lead staffer and “Supreme Cupid” Larry Zhang ’18 said. “So many people were just trying to update their profile last minute, or sign up last minute, so we were like, ‘Okay, you know what? We’re going to give you guys one more hour, we know you guys were procrastinating. We’re going to

help you guys out here.’” When Datamatch results first came out Wednesday morning, the number of students trying to check their matches overwhelmed the site’s servers, leading to error messages and student complaints, according to Datamatch “Stats Cupid” Sara Valente ’19. “We actually had to expand the capabilities of our tech, and pay extra money this year,” Valente said, speaking about the Computer Society’s need to handle the increased amount of traffic on the server. While HCS has not yet finalized statistics, Valente said Datamatch at Harvard saw roughly 4,300 participants. This year, in addition to regular incentives from Harvard Square vendors like Berryline and Zinneken’s, Harvard Datamatch participants have the chance to receive one of 60 tickets to three showings of Intermission Impossible, the spring show put on by the Hasty Pudding Theatricals. Bringing Datamatch to multiple schools presented new challenges for the Datamatch team, according to team members, including a restructuring of the login interface for each school. Despite these challenges, team members said Datamatch found success at other institutions—Brown had about 3,000 participants, Columbia had about 1,000, and Wellesley had about 500, according to Valente. Brown student Cashen Conroy, who worked with Datamatch to bring the algorithm to Providence, said the novelty of Datamatch excited Brown students. “Given the size of Brown, it’s easy to go through college here and not meet everyone that you might end up connecting with,” Conroy said. “I think people were excited about the prospect of doing that.” Wellesley Computer Science Club President Andrea Jackson said Datamatch generated a buzz on campus. She noted that half of all Wellesley participants signed up on the first day Datamatch opened. “A lot of people were happy to do it even though it was a lot of platonic matching happening,” Jackson said, though she noted that plans to pair Wellesley with another school are in the works. Staff writer Simone C. Chu can be reached at simone.chu@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @simonechu_

Newly elected Cambridge City Councillors Alanna M. Mallon and Sumbul Siddiqui launched a podcast titled “Women Are Here” on Jan. 24 with a conversation that touched on subjects ranging from Cardi B to public works. In the podcast, Mallon and Siddiqui shared their experiences as women legislators. The idea for the project emerged while the two were campaigning last year and started talking “jokingly” about producing a podcast, Siddiqui said. But after Mallon and Siddiqui both won positions on the council last fall, they approached Cambridge Community Television to make the podcast a reality. “Both of us being elected for the first time and being women in this wave of women legislators that are running and winning,” Mallon said. “We just wanted to catalogue that journey together, and hopefully people can come along with us.” The title of the podcast came from the words of poet Eileen Myles, who Siddiqui quoted in a speech at the Cambridge Women’s March in January. Mallon and Siddiqui said the event resonated with them.

By angela n. fu Crimson Staff Writer

Harvard’s Faculty Council voted in favor of a new engineering concentration and discussed proposals concerning the Neurobiology department and the Asia Center at its biweekly meeting Wednesday. The Council, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences’ highest governing body, followed up on a proposal it first heard at its Jan. 24 meeting by voting to support the creation of a new concentration in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. The proposal suggests changing the environmental science engineering track within the engineering sciences program to a formal concentration. Council member David L. Howell said the plan garnered “a lot of support” from other members and that he believes the proposal is “very straightforward” and “logical.”

The Crimson on Facebook.

Facebook.com/ TheHarvardCrimson

Facebook.com/

people feel less connected to politics, Mallon said. “We thought, it’s kind of an ageless thing—Sumbul’s generation, my generation, everyone listens to podcasts,” Mallon said. “We just felt like it’d be a good, easy way for people to stay engaged if we made it fun and interesting.” Mallon and Siddiqui said they hope the podcast will help Cantabrigians better understand issues the council is working on in an “easily digestible” way. The podcast allows them to communicate with the public so residents can see them as “real people,” Siddiqui said. As city councillors, Mallon and Siddiqui are in a position to see the inner workings of the municipal government, Mallon said. With the podcast, the two hope the public will be able to better see the work the city accomplishes, she said. “For us, we get to see it everyday, but we want to make sure it translates to our residents,” Mallon said. “I think it’s really about highlighting these amazing women but also the amazing things our city is doing that’s not really seen by the general public.” Staff writer Patricia J. Liu can be reached at patricia.liu@thecrimson.com.

Fac. Council Votes for Concentration

Don’t stop there.

“The woman turning, that’s the revolution. The room is gigantic, the woman is here,” Myles wrote in the statement, which became the titular inspiration for the podcast. In this election year, a record number of women are running for public office across the U.S., according to TIME Magazine. Locally last fall, four out of nine councillors elected to the Cambridge City Council were women. The two candidates that received the most votes were also women. “I think there’s a real appetite right now to see women leading and working together and seeing what it would look like to have more women in politics,” Mallon said. The latest episode of the podcast included guest speaker Police Superintendent Christine A. Elow, who discussed Cambridge policing practices with the councillors. “We want to focus on women leaders and community members so that more people know about the important work that’s being done and the important women who are doing it,” Siddiqui said. The podcast also strives to keep residents up-to-date with the proceedings of the city, especially during periods like non-election years, when

“In engineering, they have different tracks within engineering, and the new environmental science and engineering concentration sort of brings that into line with the other concentrations that they have in engineering,” he said. The proposal will likely come up for discussion at the next full Faculty meeting in March. Barring major changes, the Faculty will vote on it at their April meeting. Executive Director of the Asia Center Elizabeth Liao presented a proposal to the Council on behalf of Professor Karen L. Thornber and advocated the dissolution of the Council on Asian Studies, a FAS standing committee. Howell, an East Asian Languages and Civilizations professor himself, said he supported the proposal because the Asia Center already fulfills the main functions of the Council on Asian Studies, rendering the Council “redundant.” According to Howell, the Asia Center acts as an umbrella or-

ganization and a forum for scholars studying Asia. “The Council on Asian Studies had done a lot of that previously, but now those sorts of functions of bringing people to work on Asia together throughout the University has gone over to the Asia Center,” Howell said. “That’s why we don’t need the Council on Asian Studies anymore.” The Council also heard from Professor Jeff Lichtman on a proposal to change the name of the Neurobiology concentration. The proposal advocates adopting the name Neuroscience in order to better reflect the term used by scientists in the field. The Council will likely vote on the suggested name change for the Neurobiology department and the dissolution of the Council on Asian Studies at their next meeting on Feb. 28. Staff writer Angela N. Fu can be reached at angela.fu@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @angelanfu

Page 4 | february 15, 2018 | The Harvard Crimson

Hot off the presses! The latest on Harvard.

In your dining hall on weekday mornings or online 24/7.

The Crimson thecrimson.com

The Harvard Crimson | february 15, 2018 | page 5

UC Grapples with Gender Parity Issues UC From Page 1 upholding our community norms of respect, inclusion, diversity, among many others, and a huge part of that is ensuring that all of our female representatives feel as if this council is just as much theirs as anyone else,” Zhang wrote. NOT ‘IN WITH THE BOYS’ When the Undergraduate Council was officially established in 1982, Harvard College was still disproportionately male. While the College had instituted sex-blind admissions in 1977—when the ratio of men to women at the College stood at four to one— the process of moving the needle on female representation at Harvard was slow. As late as 1988, males still outnumbered females roughly 60 percent to 40 percent, and not until 2004 did the College achieve gender parity. The first years of the Council were dominated by male leadership. In fact, at least its first 12 chairmen—a position replaced by the presidency in 1996—were male. While the Council was by no means conservative on gender issues—voting to urge administrators to hire more female faculty members in 1988 and condemning all-male final clubs in 1989, among other examples—the lingering effects of a largely male-controlled body continue to affect the UC, according to some current Council members. “For a long time, the leadership has primarily been male,” Pforzheimer House representative Rainbow Yeung ’19, an inactive Crimson blog editor, said. “And there’s some sort of established role, some unintentional biases that may have been passed on to today.” Still, there have been internal efforts to increase female representation on the UC. In 2010, the Council passed legislation increasing outreach to prospective female candidates. In 2013, the Council almost reached gender parity among declared candidates and elected representatives; but one year later in 2014, only one in three members of the UC were women. Current representatives say structural barriers continue to pose obstacles for women trying to attain leadership roles on the Council. Female representatives cited the informal process of grooming leadership—in which a committee chair chooses a younger member to mentor and eventually take over as chair—as particularly difficult to overcome. Sruthi Palaniappan ’20, who served as the only female committee

HMS Reaches $750 Million Campaign Fund Goal hms From Page 1 The school reached the $750-million mark on Feb. 6 but did not publicly announce the state of the campaign until Wednesday evening. The school’s campaign will continue until the end of June. The campaign focuses on four core causes: Discovery, Education, Service, and Leadership. Donors can choose which part of the campaign to donate to when they give money on the school’s donation page. The goal for “Discovery,” the campaign’s research arm, was the largest, at $500 million. Progress toward each of the four goals has not been even. Last December, Medical School Dean George Q. Daley said “the financial aid and education bucket” was lagging behind the rest of the campaign. The “Service” branch of the campaign, by contrast, had already surpassed its goal of $50 million by Oct. 2015. According to Boudreau, over 10,000 donors contributed to the $750 million total. The Medical School reached its goal amid difficulties balancing its budget in recent years. Last fiscal year, HMS ran a $44 million deficit, the ninth year in the last decade that the school has closed in the red. “We have very, very strong plans to bring the budget into balance. It does require some significant belt-tightening, which we’ve asked for across our staff administration and faculty,” Daley said. In response to the budget deficit, the school has decided to sell some of its property at 4 Blackfan Circle on its Longwood campus. The University as a whole has raised over $8 billion since its capital campaign began in 2013, exceeding its goal of $6.5 billion in April 2016. This campaign has included some of the University’s largest donations in history, including a $350 million gift to the School of Public Health and a $400 million donation to the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, both of which prompted Harvard to rename the schools.

chair out of seven total chairs last semester, said she had to “navigate” the grooming process in order to earn her position as education committee chair. “The committee chair oftentimes will have certain people in mind that they are trying to groom for this position, that they’re supporting on a more individual basis, and providing structural support,” Palaniappan said. “That same support is not equally provided to a female member within that committee.” Kalara echoed these concerns, saying the selective nature of the “grooming” process can hinder women’s ability to move up within the Council. “If you are a woman who is participating in a committee but you feel like you will never make leadership because you’re not ‘in with the boys,’ it can be very exclusionary,” Kalara said. Some female representatives said they are often hesitant to speak up at Council meetings. Others said members of the UC disproportionately tune out during female representatives’ speeches as compared to their male counterparts’ speeches. Robertson pointed to quotes in articles written in The Crimson as a sign of the gender disparity on the Council. “We looked at every single one of the [UC] Gen[eral meeting] articles that came out in the entire calendar year,” Robertson said. “79 percent of the articles quoted more men than women.” ‘A BREAKING POINT’ Several representatives pointed to a UC meeting held Oct. 15 as a defining moment in the Council’s efforts to combat gender imbalances. The meeting came a few weeks after U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos implemented a policy raising the standard of proof in sexual assault cases. The new policy, which replaced an Obama-era guideline making it easier for schools to punish accused abusers, met with resistance from many UC representatives. Two female Council members, Julia M. Huesa ’20 and Salma Abdelrahman ’20, decided to present a resolution condemning DeVos’s policy change and calling on College administrators to maintain the lower burden of proof they had instituted in 2014. Yet the resolution faced opposition from several male representatives and sparked controversy during the meeting. Multiple UC representatives then called for a roll-call vote—in place of a typical hand or voice vote—in order

to identify exactly who opposed the legislation. “It was a breaking point,” Student Relations Committee Chair Nicholas P. Whittaker ’19 said. “For the first time, vocally, identities came into play on the Council.” In an email to UC members after the meeting, former UC Vice President Cameron K. Khansarinia ’18

For a long time, the leadership has primarily been male. Rainbow Yeung ‘19

Pforzheimer Representative urged representatives to consider the perspectives of their fellow Council members. “We cannot assume others’ intentions when we work together in this Council and cannot boil down our votes to our identities,” Khansarinia wrote in the email. “This has now been said a few times by a few different people and I think it’s time to close the book.” Multiple representatives—including Zhang—declined to speak about the October meeting, citing fear that it could reignite divisions of the past semester. Amid tensions and continued unequal representation on the Council, female representatives said they have relied on each other for support, both informally and through more structured channels such as the Council’s Women’s Caucus. “We met up one evening in Catherine Zhang’s room and just talked,” Ivy Yard representative Swathi R. Srinivasan ’21 said. “And we realized that a lot of these experiences were shared and I think that was the first thing to building a community and a shared voice.” SETTING THE TONE Though female Council members said there is still room for improvement, many said they were encouraged by changes they have seen since Zhang assumed the UC presidency in Dec. 2017. Multiple representatives pointed to the marked increase in female representation in leadership roles as particularly important. With more non-male UC members in leadership,

some female representatives said they felt more confident speaking up at general meetings and committee forums. Last fall, non-male representatives encouraged each other to run for higher office within the Council, with several representatives saying the efforts bore fruit. “I definitely sensed an active effort by members of the Council in order to encourage more female leadership,” Palaniappan said. “Whoever is in leadership has the ability to set the tone of the Council and to really create an environment that respects and values every member within it.” UC Treasurer Nadine M. Khoury ’20 said she personally worked to level the playing field and provide an avenue for women and other underrepresented minorities to ascend the ranks of Council leadership. “I think now, as treasurer, one of my biggest goals is to make the financial realm of the Undergraduate Council so much more acceptable to women and to take a lot of people under my wing and make them feel like there’s no barrier to entry,” Khoury said. “Even if it seems like legislation on the Finance Committee has a lot of jargon, even if it seems kind of distant and esoteric, I want to break down that barrier.” This semester, out of the 13 members on the UC’s executive committee—comprising the Council’s president, vice president, committee chairs, and other Council leaders—six are women and one is non-binary, according to UC Secretary Jackson C. Walker ’21. Those figures represent an increase from last year, when only three members of the executive committee were non-males, according to Palaniappan. In addition, seven of the ten winning candidates in this month’s midterm election were female. Whittaker also said he feels the Council has begun to make progress on gender-related issues. “We’re talking about stuff on the Council we’ve never talked about before,” Whittaker said. “So while I know a lot of people are kind of frustrated by the anger that seems to be on the Council, frustrated by the vitriol by these kind of scenarios, I think they’re quite a good thing because I think it means we’re addressing things that weren’t addressed before.” Staff writer Paula M. Barberi can be reached at paula. barberi@thecrimson.com. Staff writer Jonah S. Berger can be reached at jonah. berger@thecrimson.com.

Bacow Is Oldest President-Elect at 66 bacow From Page 1 same age in 2016. A survey of over 1,500 American colleges and universities revealed that 58 percent of college presidents are above the age of 60, according to the Council. Wilde said age is unlikely to be a strong factor in determining the length of a presidential posting. “This is just a personal opinion, but I think more and more are seeing themselves as vibrant and active,” Wilde said. “If I feel like I still can be of benefit to a university, why should I stop just because I hit a specific age?” In addition to setting a historical record at Harvard, Bacow will soon be the second-oldest president among the presidents currently leading all eight Ivy League schools. He will trail only University of Pennsylvania President Amy Gutmann, who enters her 14th year at the school’s helm at age 68. If Bacow serves a 12-year term—the

average tenure length of Harvard’s 28 presidents—he will be 78 years old at the end of his time in office. The last president to serve into his seventies was Abbott Lawrence Lowell, who served from 1909 to 1933, at which point he stepped down, aged 76. Raymond D. Cotton, an attorney specializing in higher education leadership, said he was “very pleased” by Bacow’s selection. “Larry is exceptional. It’s not just because of his interactions with me, but with everybody,” said Cotton, who noted that Bacow often went running with undergraduates during his Tufts tenure. “I would not judge him strictly by his age.” Cotton said the typical tenure of a university president would include a three-year contract followed by a fiveyear contract. For a president with prior experience—like Bacow— a tenure can last up to ten years, according to Cotton.

When Bacow stepped down from the Tufts presidency in 2011, he said a decade formed the ideal time period for a presidential tenure. The longest-serving Harvard president to date is Charles W. Eliot, who served 40 years, from 1869 to 1909. “I have often said that 10 years is about the right term for a university president,” Bacow said at the time. “It is long enough for one individual to have a substantial impact but not so long that the institution, or the president, becomes comfortable.” Cotton said he hopes that Bacow will indeed pursue a ten-year tenure. “I hope he stays at least ten years,” Cotton said. “With an institution like Harvard, it takes time to change the culture because you have to bring everyone on board.” Staff writer William L. Wang can be reached at william. wang@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @ wlwang20.

Transformative coverage.

The Crimson thecrimson.com

Groups Release Sanctions Plans sanctions From Page 1 penalties, instead tasking the Office of Student Life with formulating implementation guidelines. He said in February that the Office is currently working to finalize the details and will take as long as it needs to “get this right.” Nonetheless, some recognized student organizations have begun taking matters into their own hands. Both the First-Year Outdoor Program and the Peer Advising Fellows program posted interpretations of how the sanctions may affect them on their respective websites. The website for FOP—an initiative that sends incoming freshmen and undergraduate “leaders” on camping trips ahead of the start of school— states that, as of now, all students will be eligible to serve as FOP leaders, no matter whether they are also members of sanctioned organizations. The website adds, though, that—beginning with the Class of 2021—students who join unrecognized single-gender social groups “should not expect to also be able to serve on FOP’s Steering Committee,” the undergraduate body that governs the program. FOP Director Paul R. “Coz” Teplitz ’03 said the Office of Student Life is “aware” of the online announcement. But he added the statement itself comes only from the leaders of FOP and the Freshman Dean’s Office. Teplitz emphasized FOP is still awaiting an official enforcement policy from the College. He said FOP released guidelines ahead of the final plan given its timeline for recruitment; students interested in serving as FOP leaders were required to submit applications by Dec. 6, 2017. “We are still waiting for guidance from OSL and we also felt the time pressure… about wanting people in the Class of 2021 to be able to make informed decisions,” Teplitz said. “So we decided to move forward with this plan as the plan that we thought would be consistent with the descriptions of the policy as has been written.” Asked whether FOP would change its policy if future guidance from the OSL conflicts with the current guidelines posted online, Teplitz said he does not think so. He said FOP plans to hold students “accountable” only to the information they possessed at the time the undergraduates applied to join FOP. “If there are students of [the Class of ] 2021 who are members of USGSOs who are still interested in becoming FOP leaders and we choose them as leaders, but in two or three months we learn guidance from the OSL that that is not with the ideal, we would fight pretty hard to allow those students to participate as leaders for a year, and then we would change for the following years,” Teplitz said. The Peer Advising Fellows program, a campus student mentorship system that pairs freshmen with other undergraduates, has also recently sought to interpret the sanctions. The Advising Programs Office, which administers the PAF program, posted on its website that all students—regardless of social group affiliation—will be eligible to apply to become a PAF. The statement notes, however, that this does not mean all applicants will earn PAF offers. In the online posting, the Advising Programs Office added it is currently working with the Office of Student Life to determine how—exactly—the sanctions may affect the PAF initiative. “As the OSL considers implementation of the policy, OSL will offer guidance about how the policy relates to the PAF program,” the website reads. “Members of the Class of 2021, especially, should note that clarification of the PAF program policy will be issued before official offers are made.” Brooks B. Lambert-Sluder ’05, the director of the Peer Advising Fellows program, did not immediately respond to comment Wednesday. Katherine W. Steele, the director of pre-orientation programs at the Freshman Dean’s Office, said in an interview Wednesday that she has met with the directors of all freshman pre-orientation programs—including FOP—to discuss the role of the sanctions in their respective recruitment processes. “In the same way that you’re seeing FOP communication about this in their application process, ideally this same thing would happen with all the programs,” Steele said. “The language you see with FOP is likely to be very similar to language that you will see for other programs.” Steele said more announcements will come along with the “natural application cycle and process.”

Staff writer Michael E. Xie can be reached at michael. xie@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @ MichaelEXie1

EDITORIAL The Crimson Editorial board

Block to the Top

ousing Day is fast approaching. For upperclassmen, it provides an opportunity for a raucous outpouring of House pride. Yet many freshmen may still have reservations concerning Harvard’s system of housing and the blocking process at large. We recognize these concerns, and we believe that—from blocking to Housing Day—Harvard’s housing system provides ample opportunity for adjustment to House life, maintenance of social relationships, and exploration of new friendships. Yet despite Harvard’s efforts to make the transition to upperclassman housing seamless, blocking season can be a time of great apprehension. The stress of forming a group capped at eight people can begin months ahead of the deadline, and especially for students who feel that their friendships span multiple social groups. Upon the return from winter break, this anxiety rises to the forefront for many freshmen, adding additional pressure to the beginning of their second semester. However, blocking is often made out to be much more difficult and scary than it actually is. When freshmen select their blocking group or choose to block alone, they are not selecting their social circle for the next three years. In fact, it is important not to conflate blocking and rooming, as living situations are only determined after Housing Day. While many sophomores live with their blockmates, many more do not. Inter-House transfers are also an option for students dissatisfied with Housing Day. Yet the vast majority of seniors last year reported that they were satisfied with their House’s living situation, indicating that home can be found anywhere along the river or in the Quad. Essential to any good home, however, is its a comfortable level of noise

and cleanliness. Freshmen would thus do well to recognize that not all friends are necessarily compatible roommates, and not all compatible roommates are necessarily the best of friends. Furthermore, the housing system allows for great flexibility in who students actually live with—if dynamics within a blocking group change, there are always ways to revise arrangements.

When freshmen select their blocking group or choose to block alone, they are not selecting their social circle for the next three years. So for students worried about how to stay close with their Gregorian chant-loving friends without tearing their hair out, linking can be an excellent way to maintain close bonds as well as healthy boundaries. On that note, we strongly recommend not blocking with a significant other. In fact, we very strongly recommend against it. Though location is certainly not the definitive factor in whether relationships last, living in the same vicinity can be an important way to maintain connections, especially with friends in different classes or activities. Maintaining these relationships starts now, by having productive, honest, and occasionally uncomfortable conversations with blockmates, linkmates, or friends. Often, blocking complications arise from poor communication or lack of transparency between friends. We urge freshmen not to delay hard blocking conversations. Stringing a friend along, only to avoid blocking with

them last minute, leaves them in an unfair predicament that easily could have been avoided with a five minute chat. Of course, our words of practical wisdom are unlikely to appease freshmen currently Googling “what blocking configuration guarantees me a single in a River House that isn’t Mather” (spoiler alert: there isn’t one). There are certainly concrete ways in which the College could make upperclassman housing less stressful, and we urge House administrators to increase social programming for rising sophomores, including during spring semester, to integrate them into House life. Yet as freshmen look ahead to their awaited blocking decisions and Housing fate, they should also bear in mind that their Harvard experience thus far is only one chapter in a much longer story. The first year of navigating Harvard life can feel both underwhelming and overwhelming. It can be chaotic, confusing, and stressful. The beauty of Housing Day is that it symbolizes, in the words of Troy Bolton, “the start of something new”. The reality of college life is that communities constantly change, grow, and emerge—often for factors out of our control, and sometimes from unexpected sources (we’re looking at you, the elusive few who actually get placed in Kirkland). Somewhere among the cheesy House t-shirts, gawking tourists, and screaming upperclassmen, we hope freshmen can see a flash of that beauty. This staff editorial solely represents the majority view of The Crimson Editorial Board. It is the product of discussions at regular Editorial Board meetings. In order to ensure the impartiality of our journalism, Crimson editors who choose to opine and vote at these meetings are not involved in the reporting of articles on similar topics.

BE A CRIMSON CARTOONIST Submit a sample cartoon or any questions to Associate Editorial Editor Wonik Son ‘19 (wonik.son@thecrimson.com).

In Defense of the Arts By ABIGAILg. sage

n 2017, Republican lawmakers instituted the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which is expected to cut into Harvard’s endowment by over $40 million. Last week, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Michael D. Smith expressed concerns with regard to the tax bill’s impact upon the FAS, which receives nearly half of its income through the endowment. In this time of fiscal uncertainty, Harvard should ensure that its fine arts programs do not get left behind. President Donald Trump has repeatedly demonstrated a desire to undermine federal arts funding by eliminating the National Endowment for the Arts. Now more than ever, it is necessary for Harvard to prioritize funding for the arts. All fine arts-related departments

Until the development of the Department of Theater, Dance, and Media in 2015, Harvard lacked any formal theater department. fall under the FAS and are therefore at risk of financial strain due to the Republican tax bill. In the past, Harvard’s commitment to artistic programs has come under scrutiny. As Harvard begins its expansion into Allston and continues to devote considerable funding and energy to its STEM programs, administrators must maintain a commitment to the preservation of the arts on campus through both ac-

ademic and extracurricular programming. Until the development of the Department of Theater, Dance, and Media in 2015, Harvard lacked any formal theater department. Instead, theater classes were simply incorporated into the Department of Visual and Environmental Studies. TDM offers students the opportunity to participate in professionally directed and designed productions each semester, and it marks a welcome addition to Harvard’s support for the arts. Still, the TDM department does not necessarily serve all students involved with the performing arts on campus, nor could it. The same might be said of the VES Department, which can only do so much to support the visual arts beyond the scope of its programming. In order to preserve and promote artistic engagement on campus, the University must reach beyond the scope of its own concentrations and devote more resources directly to the performing and visual arts. Concentrations in the fine arts have never been particularly popular at Harvard. In 2015, only 16 students graduated with degrees in VES. The Music Department also remains small, with only six concentrators graduating in the Class of 2015. However, these low numbers do not reflect the vast number of students who engage with the fine arts on campus. Hundreds of people participate in theatrical productions each semester as actors, directors, designers, or technicians, most of whom do not concentrate in TDM. Still more participate in film, visual arts, choirs, orchestras, and a capella groups, with concentrations ranging from Comparative Literature to Chemistry.

Most of the funding for extracurricular theatre comes from grants from the Undergraduate Council rather than directly from the University itself. That is, while Harvard’s student

That is, while Harvard’s student body is determined to support theater, much of the University administration seems to lack a similar outlook. body is determined to support theater, much of the University administration seems to lack a similar outlook. Many House theater spaces on campus could use renovations, and performing arts on campus could vastly benefit from additional support and subsidies. Athletics, by comparison, do not face this problem. In the 2009-2010 school year, the Department of Athletics spent nearly $18 million on its teams. This contrasts sharply with the limited amount that the Office of Fine Arts grants students each semester for their various projects. 2018 is a terrifying time to be an artist in this country. From public schools to national museums, federal priorities are shifting against the arts. Harvard’s priorities must shift as well. As the Republican tax bill puts Harvard’s endowment at risk, the University must remember not to neglect the arts. Abigail G. Sage ’21 lives in Hollis Hall.

The Harvard Crimson | February 15, 2018 | page 6

In Defense of the South The stereotypes have got to go. Emilee A. Hackney Southern accented

outherners are stupid. At least, that’s what was implied. I sat in the back row of a crowded lecture hall and listened to the professor remark, with little reasoning or explanation, that Trump won the presidency because his “six-hundred-word vocabulary” resonated with poor, white Southerners. Apparently poverty is synonymous with illiteracy, and illiteracy went hand in hand with the 2016 Republican vote. I didn’t know whether to be insulted by this absurd logic, or to simply laugh at it. The American South is saturated by mostly unfounded negative stereotypes. In a place as vividly conscious of political correctness as Harvard, I didn’t expect those stereotypes to be so blatantly perpetuated, even though those stereotypes have been depicted in the media and pop culture for years. While combing through about a dozen Southern photo-essays for a research paper last semester, I found exactly what I expected: the South was almost exclusively portrayed in images of crazed religion, white supremacy, and above all, dire poverty. If you judged the South by these images, you’d think it was nothing more than a poor, wild, lawless wasteland. But we’re at Harvard, and we should know better than to take things at face value. To accept Southern archetypes is to foolishly dismiss the beautiful intricacies of the South I know. There was no doubt about the favored candidate in my town. The 2016 presidential election was contentious across the nation, but in central Appalachia, there was an overwhelming consensus: Blue Trump signs, big and small, dotted front yards, business windows, and car bumpers. Each one a sign of unintelThe American South ligence, if this prois to be beis saturated by mostly fessor lieved. Now, I come unfounded negative from a white, workstereotypes. ing-class, Southern, Trump-voting family. I didn’t support Trump in the election, but over 80 percent of the voters in my county did, and for a good reason. Appalachia’s main concern was the economy; the coal industry has been drying up for years, and Trump at least feigned interest in reviving it (an out-of-context comment Clinton made about “put[ting] … coal companies out of business” doomed her chances of election in southern West Virginia, east Kentucky, and southwest Virginia). It may seem foolish and naïve to those who have never lived there, to those who have never witnessed the hopelessness of poverty or been threatened by a possibly permanent loss of career, but in such an economically and socially depressed region, any display of concern, any ray of hope is something to cling to. Those votes were cast purposefully, despite what any Harvard professor or other Trump opponent thinks. Southerners didn’t vote for Trump because he communicates with an elementary vocabulary and they’re too illiterate to understand otherwise; they didn’t vote for Trump because they were too ignorant to know what they were voting for. They knew exactly what they were voting for. Don’t get me wrong; this means that some—a very small percentage—did vote for Trump because they’re racist and sexist and just plain scummy people with horrible, backwards beliefs. But not every vote for Trump was a vote for hatred, violence, and inequality—despite all the media coverage, there are very, very few radical racist Dylann Roofs and Charlottesville neo-Nazis. Not every vote for Trump was a vote against social justice. In truth, social justice issues aren’t a burning concern when you don’t know if you’ll be able to feed your family next month. Poverty and whiteness is not confined to the South, and neither were Trump voters. A quick glance at Southern demographics and a 2016 electoral map can show that. This professor’s statement proves that a narrative of Southern ignorance still exists. It’s time to stop perpetuating outrageous misconceptions about the South; Southerners shouldn’t have to defend against antiquated stereotypes at a college known especially for its innovation and brilliance. Insulting an entire demographic’s intelligence has no positive effect—quite the opposite, really—and proves no one’s ignorance but your own. Insults only deepen the divides, which is the last thing America needs right now. After all, intelligence is not measured by income, race, geography, or check marks on a ballot. Stereotypes will continue to survive unless we look beyond appearances and learn to question what we’ve always seen, what we’ve always been told. The South is beautiful, intricate, and relevant. The South is intelligent, and the South will overcome the old, tired stereotypes that have for far too long attempted to repress it. Emilee A. Hackney ’20 is an English concentrator living in Adams House. Her column appears on alternate Thursdays.

The Harvard Crimson President Derek G. Xiao ’19 Managing Editor Hannah Natanson ’19 Business Manager Nathan Y. Lee ’19

The University Daily, Est. 1873

Associate Managing Editors Mia C. Karr ’19 Claire E. Parker ’19 Associate Business Managers Dahlia S. Huh ’19 Max W. Sosland ’19 Editorial Chairs Emmanuel R. R. D’Agostino ’19 Cristian D. Pleters ’19 Arts Chairs Mila Gauvini II ’19 Grace Z. Li ’19 Blog Chairs Lydia L. Cawley ’20 Stuti Telidevara ’20 Design Chairs Morgan J. Spaulding ’19 Simon S. Sun ’19

Digital Strategists Caroline S. Engelmayer ’20 Jamie D. Halper ’20 Dianne Lee ’20 FM Chairs Marella A. Gayla ’19 Leah S. Yared ’19 Multimedia Chairs Amy Y. Li ’20 Ellis J. Yeo ’20 Sports Chairs Cade S. Palmer ’20 Jack R. Stockless ’19 Technology Chairs Nenya A. Edjah ’20 Theodore T. Liu ’20

The Harvard Crimson | february 15, 2018 | page 7

Kennedy School Affiliates Debate Need for Conservative Speakers By Alexandra a. chaidez Crimson Staff Writer

A recent spike in conservative speakers invited to the Harvard Kennedy School has left students divided over the issue—some say the speakers are needed to foster a more complete discussion, while others question invited individuals’ morals. In recent months, Elmendorf invited several conservative speakers to the Kennedy School, including fall Institute of Politics fellows Congressman Jason E. Chaffetz and Mark Strand. Students have criticized some of the invitations, most notably the Sept. 2017 visit of United States Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and honorary fellowships offered to former Trump Administration officials Sean Spicer and Corey Lewandowski. Dean Douglas W. Elmendorf said the Kennedy School would benefit from having “more prominent conservative voices.” “I do think about how to present a full range of views at the Kennedy

School and make sure that people who don’t agree are talking about those disagreements and not just ducking each other,” Elemedorf said. Professor David R. Gergen said the dean’s push to include conservatives at the Kennedy School is not a new initiative. Gergen said when he first arrived at the school in the late 1990s, former

I regard argument to be in its best form a truthseeking device. William H. Tobey Senior Fellow at Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs

Dean Joseph S. Nye approached him about including more conservatives in the Institute of Politics fellows pro-

gram. “Doug is not the first, but I do admire the fact that he is serious about it,” Gergen said. William H. Tobey, a senior fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and a self-identified conservative, said that, though conservatives are a “minority” at the Kennedy School, he values the discussions about ideological differences. He co-teaches a course with former Clinton Administration official Matthew Bunn on nuclear proliferation and nuclear terrorism. “I value the ability to be there with different views because I think it helps to sharpen my own ideas and arguments,” Tobey said. “I regard argument to be in its best form a truth-seeking device.” John D. Krohn, a master’s student who described himself as a moderate Republican, said that—while he thinks the administration is fostering an environment in which conservatives are welcome—he often does not see the same type of “appreciation” from his

classmates. Krohn said he was disappointed with his peers’ criticisms of the Kennedy School’s recent selection of Ohio Governor John R. Kasich as this year’s graduation speaker. “It’s sad from my perspective that here we have a man who’s championing public service for really his entire adult life, and because we live in a time where partisan gridlock is palpable and real, that people are reflexively responding to this man’s political party without fully understanding the public service that he has provided to his country,” Krohn said. “I think that’s emblactic of some of the things I see in my daily interactions at the Kennedy School,” he added. Though there is support for dialogue across the aisle, some students said they are worried some are conflating protesting conservatives with protesting those who have made poor moral choices. Jeffrey R. Rousset, a master’s student who participated in the DeVos

protest, said the Kennedy School must keep a “moral compass” when choosing conservative speakers. “In the fall, when I joined other HKS students in challenging some of the conservative speakers who were invited to speak, it wasn’t because they were conservative, it was because they were complicit what many of us saw as really unethical behaviors and sometimes even illegal behaviors,” Rousset said. He cited accusations that Lewandowski had assaulted a female reporter and allegations that Spicer had lied to the public during his time as press secretary. Amidst this type of debate, Elmendorf said universities must be a place open to dialogue. “Universities are, at their core, places to develop and transmit knowledge and that knowledge can be unpleasant or inconvenient,” Elmendorf said. Staff writer Alexandra A. Chaidez can be reached at alexandra.chaidez@thecrimson. com. Follow her on Twitter @a_achaidez

Students Continue Long Fight for Multicultural Center Multicultural From Page 1 The Undergraduate Council also recently redoubled efforts to push for this initiative with the development of the Multicultural Center Coalition. Last month, they held a town hall to hear student perspectives on the creation of a center. “If you say that you care about diversity when you’re admitting students, but not when they actually attend the University, that shows an inherent conflict in their values, and I think we need to change that going forward,” Sonya Kalara ’21, a UC representative, said at the town hall. In an interview earlier this month, Dean of the College Rakesh Khurana said Harvard is carefully considering a multicultural center and is making sure to consult all affected affiliates. “We don’t want to just rush into something without making sure that we really brought everybody along and everybody’s had a chance to participate in what way feels right to them,” Khurana said.

A LONG-RUNNING DEBATE The recent spark in student advocacy for a multicultural center forms the latest episode in a long-running debate on Harvard’s campus and has roots in the nationwide campus protests of the 1960s. After student civil rights protests consumed college campuses across the nation in the 1960s and 1970s, students at many Ivy League schools began advocating for various forms of cultural centers. At some institutions, these centers manifested in the form of a multicul-

tural center, like the Third World Centers at Princeton and Brown, both of which opened in the 1970s and were later renamed. Yale took a different approach, building culturally distinct centers around the same time. These included the Afro-American Cultural Center that opened in 1969 and La Casa Cultural that opened in 1974. “Our center, specifically, was a result of students speaking up and wanting a center for their specific identity,” said Sheraz Iqbal, the assistant director of the Asian American Center at Yale. “A lot of the centers, not just at Yale, but in other places that have this distinction between multicultural center and cultural centers is a result of student voice, student activism.” Students pushed for the creation of a multicultural center at Harvard in the 1960s, too. The Faculty Committee on African and Afro-American Studies published a report around the time that called for the creation of a black student center, eventually resulting in the opening of the Harvard-Radcliffe Afro-American Cultural Center in 1969. The center did not receive any funding from the University, though; a lack that ultimately led to its closure in 1974. When student groups jointly submitted a proposal for a multicultural center in 1995, then-Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III opposed it, saying it would divide the student body. “It would be inconsistent with [Harvard’s] purpose to set aside space for racial, ethnic and cultural groups,” Epps said at the time. “Third-world or multicultural centers promote racial separation.” Instead, Epps pointed to the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and

Race Relations. He said the foundation served “to help students share different cultures and ethnic traditions within the College.” ‘LACK OF A COMMON SPACE’ Over 40 years later, Harvard still does not have a multicultural center. The College, though, has taken several other steps in an effort to make campus more diverse and more inclusive. “In recent years, the College has implemented several key initiatives that underscore our commitment to inclusion and belonging,” Associate Dean of Students for Diversity and Inclusion Roland S. Davis wrote in an email. Davis pointed to the Office for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, which opened in 2014, as an example. The EDI is comprised of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, the Office of BGLTQ Student Life, and the Harvard College Women’s Center. He also lauded the College’s newly renovated space in Grays Hall, which houses the Office of Diversity and Inclusion and the Office of BGLTQ Student Life. Despite these efforts, many students maintain that a multicultural center is still necessary, arguing that students of color feel they need a space for collaboration and community. “I think it’d be really nice for multicultural organizations to have one because I also think it’s something that would enforce a lot of collaboration among groups that tend to be more separate,” Simi N. Shah ’19, co-president of Harvard South Asian Association, said. “Some of it stems from lack of a common space,” she added.

Supporters of a multicultural center also argue it would create a space on campus where they would not have to continually teach their peers about the difficulties of being a person of color. Salma Abdelrahman ’20, who leads the UC’s Multicultural Center Coalition, said Harvard students often say conversations in dorm rooms or dining halls comprise the best place for learning about and from people of different backgrounds and cultures. “That’s all very coded language for, sometimes in my experience, what’s been an expectation of students of color being the sort of teachers in situations that feel very power-skewed,” she said. Abdelrahman said she believes the best solution to this problem is creating a physical center that specifically caters to the needs of students from underrepresented backgrounds. “The importance of a physical space is paramount in this discussion because it’s a space that people can go to feel that they’re not operating in a building that was built by people that don’t look like them, for people that don’t look like them, with the names of people that don’t look like them branded on the front of the building,” she said. DECADES OF ECHOING CALLS Regarding what a multicultural center might contain, some students said they envision it as a forum for events, discussion, and even research. “I think it should be a space with conference rooms, offices, and an auditorium. It should be a huge space that allows for discussion, organization, and cooperation between groups,” Di-

The inside scoop, 24/7.

The Crimson thecrimson.com

ego Navarrete ’21 said. Navarette serves as a political action chair for Fuerza Latina and as a communication co-chair for Act on a Dream, an immigrant rights advocacy group. In addition, given the longstanding push for an Ethnic Studies concentration at Harvard, Navarrete also suggested a multicultural center would be the ideal location to house a future Ethnic Studies department. “I think that one of the main things about having a multicultural center is having a space that promotes not only diversity and inclusion, but also the academic study of race and ethnicity,” he said. Many students question why this fight has taken so many decades. While the College is aware of these persistent demands, administrators say they believe a process as delicate and as important as this must not be rushed. Khurana said the College needs to hear from a wide variety of students before it can approve a multicultural center. “If you really respect people’s participation, then you have to listen to them. You have to make sure all voices are heard,” he said. Still, advocates say they are frustrated by what they call the slow pace of progress, especially after decades of echoing calls for a multicultural center have all proved unsuccessful. “A physical space might seem like a lot to do, but I think that Harvard students of color have been advocating for it for decades,” Navarrete said. “I feel like it’s Harvard’s responsibility to answer to those claims and finally put the money where their mouth is.”

Sports

The Harvard Crimson | february 15, 2018 | page 8

After Weekend Sweep, Harvard Hosts Brown, Yale MEN’S Basketball By henry zhu Crimson Staff Writer

Harvard men’s basketball is back in the driver’s seat heading into the second half of the Ivy League season. Coming off a weekend sweep against Princeton and Penn, the Crimson (1211, 7-1 Ivy League) currently shares the top spot in the Ancient Eight with the previously undefeated Quakers. Harvard’s two weekend opponents, Yale and Brown, sit tied in third with .500 conference records. Despite the Crimson’s sizable cushion from the Bulldogs (11-13, 4-4) and Bears (11-10, 4-4) in the current standings, Harvard was considerably challenged by both teams in their prior matchups this season, sneaking by with single-digit wins. The game order is also flipped compared to the last weekend series, with Brown the earlier opponent. Having a much-anticipated, nationally televised Yale game the night after, Friday night’s matchup against a young Bears team may be even more dangerous as a textbook trap game. “Brown’s our next opponent so that’s what we’ll be looking to first,” sophomore forward Chris Lewis said. “Yale is a very difficult, great team as well, but we take our games once at a time, so when we get to Yale we’ll prepare for that as well, accordingly.” Last weekend, the Crimson faced a unique scheduling anomaly with the Saturday Penn game tipping off at 4 p.m. instead of the usual 7 p.m. start time. The schedule is no less peculiar this time around, as Harvard will participate in a rare late-night affair against Yale at 9:30 p.m. Saturday night. This sacrifice in normality was likely made to accommodate ESPNU, which will be featuring No. 7 Texas Tech at Baylor during primetime hours followed by Harvard-Yale. For Amaker, this two-plus hour shift back will not affect the team’s regular routine, but some slight modifications will be made to keep the players energized prior to tip-off. “Normally we don’t have our shootaround on the second day,” Amaker said. “We feel it is at least better to get them up and doing something during the day so they are not feeling like they are just lounging and laying around all day and being sluggish. We are tinkering with our schedule to see if it can work better for a later tip-off time.” Before welcoming Yale, the Crimson will need to first contain a upstart Brown program. A significant reason why coach Mike Martin’s Bears have stayed in contention for the top four is their knack for holding onto late-game victories. Last weekend, a 23-point

performance from freshman standout guard Desmond Cambridge and double-digit numbers from four other Bears helped the team close out an overtime win against Columbia. Despite injuring his ankle late in that contest, Cambridge—who leads the Ivies in conference scoring with 21.6 points per game—stated that his ankle issue was non-serious. The freshman guard’s athleticism, which he showcased against the Lions with a fastbreak 360 dunk, bounds to pose defensive challenges for the Harvard backcourt. “For me, I think it’s taking it one step at a time with him, switching on ball screens or any action away from the ball,” sophomore forward Justin Bassey said. “A lot of times he’ll catch, wait, you’ll put your hand down, and then he’ll shoot. Or understanding that he’s a righty, he wants to go to the right. It’s more of a team effort now that we’re switching.” In the Jan. 27 contest against Brown, the Crimson took advantage of a turnover-prone Bears team, racking up nine steals and forcing 14 giveaways. This type of aggressiveness earned Harvard 18 points off turnovers, but also contributed to several easy alley-oops and opportunities at the rim as Brown put up 77 game points, the most the Crimson has allowed this season in its 12 wins. In particular, junior guard Obi Okolie and freshman forward Tamenang Choh will need to be contained as athletic rim finishers. “They are a dangerous team...very athletic,” Amaker said. “Sometimes going for steals you can gamble or over commit and open the floor up for them. That’s not the team that you want to do that against. Even if we don’t have as many steals, that doesn’t mean we aren’t playing really good defense.” While the Bears’ attacking abilities will be a point of emphasis for Amaker, the following night’s contest against the Bulldogs will be focused on limiting Yale coach James Jones’ passheavy offense. The Bulldogs lead in Ivy League in total season assists and recently combined for 48 dishes in their weekend sweep of Columbia and Cornell. In comparison, Harvard tallied just 23 total assists in its past two games. This type of ball movement has been critical for a Yale team that has largely struggled in shooting the deep ball and maintaining consistent production from its scorers. Dead last in conference three-point shooting at .317, the Bulldogs have relied on offensive spurts from players like sophomore guard Miye Oni, who combined for 36 points last weekend after a shooting slump the pre-

one giant leap Forward Seth Towns skies for a shot in last Saturday’s game versus Penn. The sophomore scored 30 points in 50 minutes of action during last weekend’s pair of contests. timothy r. o’meara—Crimson photographer

vious two weeks. Junior guard Trey Phills also had an impressive showing against Columbia, tallying 14 points off six-of-eight shooting. With Lewis coming off a career-high 25 points against Penn, the Yale frontcourt will need to improve its interior defense compared to its last outing against the Crimson. In the Jan. 26 loss to Harvard, Lewis went 7-for11 from the field and added four offensive rebounds for a total of 16 points. Freshman forward Paul Atkinson will again likely assume defensive responsibilities on the main focal point for the Crimson offense. “I thought Chris did a great job of using his body and his angles in the post,” said Amaker about Lewis’ performance against the Quakers. “We did a terrific job in terms of our perim-

eter guys looking for him and making the right pass. So we are hopeful we can continue to do that not just against Penn but get the ball inside to him and play through him.” Another important unknown about the weekend is the potential return of Yale senior guard Makai Mason, who had been sidelined with a broken foot for the entire season. Reportedly dayto-day and practicing with the team, Mason will give the Bulldogs a dangerous new weapon if he is able to suit up. However, Amaker emphasized his gameplan will remain the same regardless if Mason makes his season debut. “I anticipate they will still play the same way,” Amaker said. “They will still use the same types of actions, plays, and philosophies that they have

had without him all this season. He is a terrific player, as we know.” On Harvard’s side, sophomore point guard Bryce Aiken’s status is still unknown. Amaker stated that Aiken was able to practice on Monday, but that he could not go “full throttle.” With sophomore Christian Juzang playing essentially all 40 minutes at the point guard position in his absence, Amaker has clearly centered his trust on Aiken’s former backup. One interesting note: the Crimson’s 7-1 Ivy record is a repeat start to the 2014-2015 season and the four prior seasons. In those five years, Harvard reached the NCAA Tournament four times. Staff writer Henry Zhu can be reached at henry. zhu@thecrimson.com.

Harvard Earns Consolation Win at ECAC Championships woMEN’S tennis By ronni cuccia Contributing Writer

Over the weekend, the Harvard women’s tennis team came away from the ECAC Championship tournament with two losses against Princeton and Penn on Friday and Saturday before picking up a win against rival Yale to cap off the weekend. The tournament

took place in Princeton, N.J., and the Crimson finished the weekend in seventh place out of eight participating teams. Juniors Isabel Jasper and Erica Oosterhout were standout performers on a weekend in which Harvard got a taste of some of its Ivy League foes. In the last match of the weekend against rival Yale, Jasper came away with a fifth singles win and a 6-2 win in third doubles with freshman Neha Gupta.

Jasper and Gupta also sealed the doubles point in the match against Penn on the second day of the tournament. Oosterhout picked up an important singles win against Penn on Saturday. “I think the support of the team has really allowed me to do well in singles this year,” Oosterhout said. “We have a great group of girls on this team and the encouragement from the team while I’m playing helps me stay fired up.”

on her toes Junior Erica Oosterhout returns a ball in last year’s match against Penn. Oosterhout contributed several individual and doubles wins this past weekend. ryosuke takashima—Crimson photographer

Throughout the tournament, the Crimson was particularly strong in its doubles. All weekend, the Crimson saw a lot of its success in doubles play. Harvard was able to pick up the doubles point against both Yale and Penn. “As a team we have really been focusing on our doubles play,” Oosterhout said. “We have made it a point to try and come out of the gates strong and have high energy in the doubles matches. I think all of the doubles teams have improved significantly since the fall.”

by defeating Penn’s Marta Kowalska and Maija Curnic. The top of the Crimson’s singles lineup was dominant against Penn on Saturday. Oosterhout and captain Annika Ringblom each won their singles matches. Oosterhout beat senior Lina Qostal in two sets, 7-5, 6-1, and Ringblom won in two sets, 6-4, 6-0, over Penn’s Jimena Rodriguez-Benito. At the bottom of the singles lineup, though, the Quakers earned four straight wins to secure the victory.

HARVARD 4, YALE 1 During the last match of the tournament, Harvard came out with its first victory. Oosterhout and sophomore Natasha Gonzalez started off the match with a win against the Bulldogs’ Caroline Amos and Sunday Swett in second doubles, 6-1. The Crimson’s third doubles team of Gupta and Jasper won, 6-2, solidifying Harvard’s doubles point. The Crimson was also solid in its singles performance during the match against Yale. Freshman Anna Li defeated Swett in fifth singles, 6-2, 6-3, and Jasper topped freshman Sarah Cameron, 6-3, 6-4, in sixth singles. Gonzalez solidified the win for the Crimson by beating the Bulldogs’ Elizabeth Zordani, 7-6, 6-4, in third singles. Oosterhout was also leading her match against Valerie Shklover, 7-5, 6-5, when Harvard was declared the winner. “Our Penn match we competed really well. We showed excelled composure throughout the match,” Green said. “The result just came down to a few points at the end. As far as execution is concerned we just didn’t execute the way we wanted to. We improved the next match against Yale and we were able to close out big points when we needed to.”

PRINCETON 4, HARVARD 0 The top-seeded Tigers opened the weekend with a sweep on their home courts. The doubles team of Oosterhout and Gonzalez had a strong showing against Clare McKee and Katrine Steffinson of Princeton, but the Tigers managed to claim victories in first and third doubles to secure the all-important doubles point. The Tigers proved to be just as tough in singles Princeton’s Stephanie Schrage and Tiffany Chen defeated Crimson sophomore Irene Lu and freshman Anna Li, respectively. Gupta fell to the Tigers’ Gaby Pollner in fifth singles to solidify Princeton’s win. “Some of our team goals ride around competing at our highest level by the end of the season and also learning to control all the things that are in our control,” Green said. “If we do those two things well we know we have a shot and reaching our potential.” Gonzalez defeated Princeton’s McKee and Ringblom won her match against Nicole Kalhoun, but it was not enough. Even though the Crimson only won one of the three matches this weekend, there is still plenty of time for the team to improve before the time that Ivy matches start in March. Looking ahead, the the team’s goals include getting better one week at a time. “We have a lot of time between now and [Ivies],” Green said. “Our main focus is just to take it one match at a time so I’m not really looking at the lineup that far in advance. We just want to get a good week of rest and practice in and get ready for our next opponent and that is BC.”

PENN 4, HARVARD 3 During the second day of the tournament, Harvard was edged out in a back-and-forth match. Oosterhout and Gonzalez won their match against the Quakers’ Jimena Rodriguez-Benito and OJ Singh in second doubles. Gupta and Jasper solidified the doubles point

The Harvard Crimson

Published on Feb 15, 2018

The Harvard Crimson - Volume CXLV, No. 21

Published on Feb 15, 2018

theharvardcrimson

Go explore