THE HARVARD CRIMSON THE UNIVERSITY DAILY, EST. 1873
| VOLUME CL, NO. 12
| CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS
STUDENT GROUPS
INSIDE THE CLINIC
OPINION
SPORTS
Harvard, Take the Money Without the Values
Harvard Athletics Celebrates 50 Years of Title IX
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FRIDAY, APRIL 21, 2023
DSO Weighs Pause on New Orgs CLUB FREEZE. Harvard College’s Dean of Students Office has proposed a temporary pause on the creation of new clubs, citing limited resources. SEE PAGE 4
HOUSE RENEWAL
Bow & Arrow Press Set to Depart Adams MOVING OUT. Historic Bow & Arrow Press is set to leave Adams House after renovations conclude. SEE PAGE 8
MARATHON
Advocating for Animal Rights at Harvard Law ANIMAL LAW. Harvard Law School’s Animal Law and Policy Clinic is set to enter a new chapter after the departure of its director at the end of the semester. The clinic has seen a rapid rise to prominence in an emerging field of legal advocacy, with faculty and students working to improve the treatment of animals through the courts. SEE PAGE 7 SAMI E. TURNER—CRIMSON DESIGNER, ANTHONY Y. TAO–CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER
SACKLER PROTEST
Students Stage ‘Die-In’ at Harvard Art Museums, Demand Denaming of Sackler Buildings BY J. SELLERS HILL AND NIA L. ORAKWUE CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS
H Harvard Students Run Boston Marathon ‘NEVER FELT MORE PROUD.’ Harvard students joined tens of thousands of runners from across the globe to compete in the 127th Boston Marathon on Monday, with most running on behalf of charitable causes. SEE PAGE 11
arvard students and organizers staged a protest and “die-in” at the Harvard Art Museums Thursday to condemn the University’s connections to Arthur M. Sackler and his family, whom they charge with enabling and profiting from the opioid crisis. More than 50 protesters called on Harvard to remove the Sackler name from all University sites and departments — including the Arthur M. Sackler Building and Arthur M. Sackler Museum. In addition, some protesters urged the school to
SEE SACKLER PAGE 4
Faculty Disapprove of Comaroff Returning
Black Orgs Condemn Response to Swatting
BY RAHEM D. HAMID
CULTURE
SEE PAGE 11
Purdue Pharma’s pain relief drug OxyContin was highly addictive, but they downplayed its dangers when marketing it to doctors. In 2020, Purdue Pharma pleaded guilty to three federal criminal charges related to its promotion of OxyContin and reached a $8.3 billion settlement with the Department of Justice — a move that dissolved the company. In 2022, members of the Sackler family agreed to pay as much as $6 billion in a settlement related to the opioid crisis, though they have never admitted criminal wrongdoing. Speakers at the protest cited examples of other neighboring institutions who
LEVERETT LETTER
CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS
YOUTUBE CHEF. Renowned pastry chef and author Claire J. Saffitz ’09 discusses her time at Harvard and the experience of discovering her passions for cooking and teaching, and reflects on her career.
Arts and Sciences Process for Denaming Spaces, Programs, or other Entities. “The university has established a process for considering de-naming spaces, programs, or other entities. A proposal to de-name the Arthur M. Sackler Museum and the Arthur M. Sackler Building has been submitted and is currently under review,” Newton wrote. The protesters are part of a larger group of activists who argue that members of the Sackler family who largely owned the multi-billion dollar drug company Purdue Pharma began the ongoing nationwide opioid crisis. Since 2007, local, state, and federal governments have claimed in an extensive series of lawsuits that members of the Sackler family knew
FACULTY SURVEY
AND ELIAS J. SCHISGALL
Chef Claire Saffitz ’09 on Passions
invest in a more available supply of the opioid overdose reversal drug naloxone. The protest, which started at 12:30 p.m., took place in the atrium of the Harvard Art Museums and included chants such as “Shame on Sackler,” “Take Down the Name,” and “No More Drug War.” Protesters also dropped empty pill bottles onto the floor as bloodied paper money and palm cards rained down from the second floor balcony. In an emailed statement Thursday, Harvard spokesperson Jason A. Newton confirmed the school is reviewing a proposal to dename the two buildings, which was submitted last fall by members of the Harvard College Overdose Prevention and Education Students to the Faculty of
More than 50 percent of Harvard faculty who responded to The Crimson’s annual survey of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences indicated they felt Harvard should not have allowed professor John L. Comaroff — who has been publicly accused of sexual harassment and professional retaliation — back into the classroom. The results come amid campus activism calling for the embattled African and African American Studies and Anthropology professor to resign. Allegations against Comaroff are also at the center of an active federal lawsuit against Harvard by three Ph.D. candidates in Anthropology, who allege the school mishandled years of complaints against the professor. Comaroff has repeatedly denied all allegations that have been made against him.
The Crimson distributed its survey to more than 1,300 members of the FAS and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, including tenured and tenure-track professors, non-tenure-track lecturers, and preceptors. The survey collected demographic information and opinions on a range of topics, including Harvard’s academic atmosphere, life as a professor, and political issues. The anonymous 124-question survey received 386 responses, including 234 fully-completed responses and 152 partially-completed responses. It was open to new responses between March 23 and April 14. Responses were not adjusted for selection bias. The first installment of The Crimson’s survey centers around faculty views on the controversy surrounding Comaroff, as well as Harvard’s Title IX policies and procedures and departmental culture surrounding sexual harassment.
SEE SURVEY PAGE 7
BY J. SELLERS HILL AND NIA L. ORAKWUE CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS
Forty-five Harvard organizations cosigned a letter to administrators detailing a list of demands following the University’s response to a “swatting” attack that saw four Black undergraduates ordered out of their rooms at gunpoint by Harvard University Police Department officers earlier this month. According to the letter, which was sent Wednesday, members of co-signatory organizations will stage a demonstration during Visitas — the College’s admitted students weekend — if the University does not respond to the demands by April 23. This year’s Visitas will take place from April 23 to April 24. The letter follows a wave of student and alumni outrage following the April 3 swatting attack, which prompted at least five HUPD officers to enter the students’
Leverett suite at approximately 4:15 a.m. with riot gear and assault rifles. The officers were responding to a false 911 call about an armed individual in the dormitory and later deemed the situation safe. The letter, which was predominantly signed by Black student organizations, levies a series of criticisms of the University’s response to the attacks and makes five specific demands. The letter calls for a University-wide statement recognizing the “significant racial impact” of the swatting, a “thorough investigation” by HUPD, increased transparency and accountability in campus policing, a “proactive” mental health response, and an in-person town hall with administrators. “We condemn the University’s failure to, at large, protect its Black community’s emotional and physical wellbeing in the aftermath of such trauma,” the letter reads.
SEE LETTER PAGE 5
