The Harvard Crimson THE UNIVERSITY DAILY, EST. 1873
|
VOLUME CXLIX, NO. 54
| CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS
| FRIDAY, APRIL 15, 2022
EDITORIAL PAGE 4
NEWS PAGE 5
SPORTS PAGE 6
Harvard’s core values remain hidden behind hollow panels
HIV drug may help delay the progression of cancer, per study
Women’s golf places 2nd at Hoya Invitational, men’s golf places 13th
Khurana Discusses Fall of the UC HSPH Launches Cancer Website By VIVI E. LU and LEAH J. TEICHHOLTZ CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS
Dean of the College Rakesh Khurana called on former members of the Undergraduate Council and proponents of the newly formed Harvard Undergraduate Association to find “common ground” in a Thursday interview. Earlier this month, undergraduates voted overwhelmingly to disband the 40-yearold UC in favor of the HUA — the brainchild of former UC president Michael Y. Cheng ’22 — in a controversial referendum that saw over 75 percent of students vote in favor of the HUA. Cheng’s tenure was marked by infighting and acrimony that divided members of Harvard’s student government. When asked about tension among the College’s student representatives, Khurana urged members of both coalitions to find ways to collaborate on shared “aspirations.” “We all care about having the best Harvard College we can, and we can find common ground on that,” Khurana said. “Building and leading any type
SEE KHURANA PAGE 3
By RYAN H. DOAN-NGUYEN, EMILY Y. FENG, and DORCAS GADRI CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Harvard and Dana-Farber researchers launched a website called Cancer FactFinder, which aims to provide vetted information about the causes of cancer, on this year’s World Health Day, April 7. The project — led by Harvard School of Public Health professor Timothy R. Rebbeck — began as a joint effort between his school’s Zhu Family Center for Global Cancer Prevention and the Center for Cancer Equity and Engagement at the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center. Cancer FactFinder synthesizes “the best scientific evidence-based information available from studies in humans” to remedy misconceptions about cancer, according to the site’s homepage. Rebbeck, who serves as the director of Zhu Family Center, said in an interview the site’s goal is “to empower people to start making better choices.”
Harvard College Dean Rakesh Khurana, pictured in his office during an interview with the Crimson on Thursday. PEI CHAO ZHUO—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER
Upon reaching the site, a visitor can learn about possible cancer risk factors using the search function. Color-coded symbols indicate whether sufficient evidence exists to support each cause, with a green circle denoting “most likely or definitely true,” a red circle for “false/misinformation,” and a gray circle for “we’re not sure yet.” For each topic, the site also presents common claims, relevant scientific findings, and methods of risk reduction. Mingyang Song, an epidemiology professor at the School of Public Health who worked on the project, characterized the process of labeling risk factors as “evolving.” “When we make the judgment, we try to be very, very cautious,” Song said. “Science is a moving field.” Lorelai A. Mucci, an epidemiology professor at the School of Public Health and project collaborator, said Cancer FactFinder aims to combat “fatigue” surrounding conflicting cancer
SEE HSPH PAGE 5
HLS Affiliates Call for Financial Support to Adjust for Inflation By SARA DAHIYA CRIMSON STAFF WRITER
More than 100 Harvard Law School students and alumni signed onto a letter last week calling on the school to adjust its Low Income Protection Plan to rising inflation rates. The Low Income Protection Plan is a program that offers financial support to HLS graduates pursuing careers in public interest law. Rolled out in 1978, the program covers a part of the graduates’ annual loan repayment in an effort to ease financial obligations for students working in public service jobs, which are often lower-paying than corporate law positions. In an April 8 letter to Law School Dean John F. Manning ’82, 136 HLS affiliates wrote that the program “is not providing the level of support that was
Harvard Law School’s Langdell Hall is located at 1545 Massachusetts Avenue. JULIAN J. GIORDANO—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER
advertised when we chose to attend HLS.” “We are writing to express our grave concern about LIPP’s failure to respond to rapid inflation rates and their severe impact on LIPP participants,” the letter said. “We urge HLS to implement an immediate adjustment to LIPP’s participant contribution scale to account for this inflation,” the HLS affiliates wrote. The annual inflation rate in the United States has stood at 8.5 percent for the 12 month-period ending March 2022 — the highest the nation has seen since late 1981. The letter called on the school “to adopt a policy formalizing and scheduling ongoing, quarterly adjustment of the contribution scale.” “Adjusting the LIPP scale for inflation, taking into account the Consumer Price Index,
would ensure that LIPP support doesn’t decrease, in real terms, year after year,” it said. In a statement, HLS spokesperson Jeff Neal wrote that the school “will continue to work with students and graduates to help them thrive in law school and to pursue career options of their choice.” “Harvard Law School invests significant resources in financial aid each year – both to make a Harvard Law education as accessible as possible to every student who decides to attend and also to preserve our graduates’ freedom to choose the job that fulfills their highest aspirations, whether that’s in the public, nonprofit, or private sector,” he wrote. Brendan Schneiderman, a 2021 graduate of the Law School who helped organize the letter
SEE HLS PAGE 3
WGS Holds Panel on Authors Advocate for Universal Voting at IOP Gender in Brazil By JONATHAN A. COSGROVE and TARAH D. GILLES
By DARLEY A. C. BOIT CRIMSON STAFF WRITER
The Harvard Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Department hosted a virtual event discussing gender diversity and minority rights in Brazil on Thursday. The event, titled “Gender Nonconforming Activism in Brazil,” featured Alvaro Jarrín, an associate professor of women, gender, and sexuality studies at the College of the Holy Cross, and Moises Lino e Silva, an associate professor of anthropology at the Federal University of Bahia. The discussion was moderated by Robert F. Reid-Pharr, the chair of Harvard’s WGS Department. Jarrín said gender played an important role in Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s 2018 election. “[Bolsonaro] plays into this kind of gender scare. He strived to make people be afraid of gender diversity, and anything associated with queerness in ways that sort of play into his political base,” they said. “Bolsona
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Harvard Today 2
ro used what people are calling ‘politics of disgust’ or ‘politics of hate.’” Jarrín said Bolsonaro took a homophobic approach that helped him politically among Christian voters. Jarrín closed his portion of the panel by discussing “artivism,” or the practice of using artwork and the performing arts as a method to push for trans rights and equality. Lino e Silva, who spoke second, discussed his book, “Minoritarian Liberalism: A Travesti Life in a Brazilian Favela,” which came out this month. The book explores his experience living in a shantytown in Rio de Janeiro. “Shantytowns are connected to long-term political movements and ideas of autonomy and resistance to the state,” he said. Lino e Silva said his time in the shantytown changed his perspective on liberalism. “Liberalism — as an political aim, or as a theory — has a deep history in European phil-
SEE BRAZIL PAGE 3
News 3
Editorial 4
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Political columnist E.J. Dionne Jr. ’73 and former Connecticut Secretary of State Miles S. Rapoport ’71 laid out the case for universal voting at a Harvard Institute of Politics forum on Thursday evening. During the panel, which was moderated by IOP fellow Christine Chen and HKS professor of the practice Cornell William Brooks, Dionne and Rapoport discussed their new book, “100% Democracy: The Case for Universal Voting,” which came out last month. “We think this is just the next step to say we want to consult everybody and we think if we consult everybody, we will have a more representative electorate,” Dionne said of a universal voting requirement. The authors pointed to Australia as a country that has successfully mandated voting. “We lean a lot on the experience of Australia,” said Dionne, a longtime journalist who now serves as a columnist for the Washington Post.
SEE IOP PAGE 5
Sports 6
Pictured from left, Christine Chen, E.J. Dionne Jr., Miles Rapoport, and Cornell William Brooks spoke at a Harvard Institute of Politics Forum on Thursday. COURTESY OF THE HARVARD INSTITUTE OF POLITICS
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