The Harvard Crimson - Volume CXLVI, No. 82

The Harvard Crimson The University Daily, Est. 1873 | Volume CXLVII No. 82 | Cambridge, Massachusetts | FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2019

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Black Ink is a reminder that an affordable Harvard Square does not exist.

AI expert Milind Tambe joined the Computer Science faculty.

A Harvard junior ran nearly 70 miles to reach campus.

Harvard Will Donate Unspent Epstein Gifts Epstein By alexandra a. chaidez and aidan f. ryan Crimson Staff Writers

­ arvard is conducting a review H of all donations made to the University by billionaire and convicted sex offender Jeffrey E. Epstein, University President Lawrence S. Bacow announced in an email to Harvard affiliates Thursday evening.

“Epstein’s connections as a donor to this University, and other institutions, raise important concerns. With that in mind, two weeks ago I asked for a review of his donations to Harvard. Our decentralization makes such a review more complicated than it would be at some other institutions,” Bacow wrote. “I want to emphasize that this review is ongoing.”

In his email, Bacow wrote that Epstein made multiple gifts to the University between 1998 and 2007, the largest being a $6.5 million gift to support Har-

vard’s Program of Evolutionary Dynamics. Bacow wrote the University also received roughly $2.4 million in other gifts from Epstein, based on the University’s current information.

Epstein, who died by apparent suicide last month while in a Manhattan prison, faced multiple allegations of sexual abuse of underage girls. A December 2018 Miami Herald report identified around 80 women who say Epstein molested or sexually abused them before 2006.

Bacow wrote that most of the money Epstein gifted to Harvard over the years has already been spent. Bacow identified a $186,000 unspent balance designated to the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, however, that he said would be directed to organizations that support victims of human trafficking and sexual assault.

“This is an unusual step for

See epstein Page 3

Facilitated Hillel Donation By mOLLY c. mCcafferty Crimson Staff Writer

iela J. Castro ’22, led rally attendees in chants between each speech.

“The main thing we were hoping people would take away was the contextualization of the Abolish ICE movement,” Act on a Dream Co-Director Diego Navarrete ’21 said.

ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday night.

During his speech at Thursday’s rally, Christian B. Tabash ’21, co-president of the Harvard College Palestine Solidarity Committee, affirmed that the PSC stands “in unwavering solidarity with Act on a Dream.”

“It is about time that we hold our government accountable towards the suffering of the immigrants domestically here as well as halfway around the globe in Palestine,” Tabash said.

Speakers from the Student Labor Action Movement and the Prison Divestment Campaign also criticized the Harvard University Police Department’s response to an anti-ICE rally at Amazon’s Kendall Square office last week, where protesters condemned the company’s business ties with ICE.

­ Harvard donor and convicted sex offender Jeffrey E. Epstein “facilitated,” but did not contribute money to, the leading donation that funded the construction of Harvard Hillel’s building, according to Hillel Executive Director Rabbi Jonah C. Steinberg.

Epstein — whose arrest and trial on sex trafficking charges made national headlines this summer — was previously believed to have helped finance the construction of the building.

In 1991, the New York Times reported that four men, including Epstein and billionaire and major Harvard donor Leslie H. Wexner, pledged to raise $2 million for the construction of Hillel’s new building.

The building — which cost roughly $3.6 million in total — was completed in 1994 and named Rosovsky Hall. In 2003, The Crimson reported a plaque at Hillel listed Epstein as a donor of the “Rosovsky Naming Gift” alongside Wexner and his wife, philanthropist Abigail S. Wexner. Epstein was Wexner’s financial manager at the time.

Henry A. Rosovsky, who is a dean emeritus of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, did not respond to requests for comment on the funding and dedication of his namesake building. Wexner reportedly connected Epstein and Rosovsky in 1991, and Rosovsky later attended several discussions held in Epstein’s Cambridge office.

Wexner also did not respond to requests for comment.

Commenting for the first time since the allegations against Epstein surfaced, Steinberg wrote in an email Wednesday that Hillel’s records show Epstein himself never contributed funds to the project. Steinberg added that Hillel replaced the plaque bearing Epstein’s name with signage excluding him “several years ago.”

“Mr. Epstein facilitated a leading gift toward the construction of Harvard Hillel’s building, and his name was associated with that gift at the time – however, that gift itself

See protest Page 3

See hillel Page 3

Lorem Ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean commodo ligula eget dolor. First M. Last—Crimson photographer

Harvard Affiliates Rally to Protest ICE

By ELIZABETH X. GUO and AMANDA Y. SU Crimson Staff Writers

Act on a Dream members attend Thursday rally.

AMANDA Y. SU—Crimson photographer

At the “Abolish ICE” rally, roughly 100 attendees hoisted signs and chanted in unison. AMANDA Y. SU—Crimson photographer

Roughly 100 Harvard affiliates protested in front of Memorial Church on Thursday night, calling for the abolition of the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Act on a Dream, a student-led immigration advocacy group at the College, hosted the rally immediately before their first general meeting of the semester and a few days after Temporary Protected Status ended for individuals from El Salvador.

“We thought it would be a great crescendo just to start the energy rolling, first of all for a new semester with Act on a Dream, and to start talking about a new issue, but it’s definitely an issue that needs to be put into conversation here at Harvard and connected nationwide,” Act on a Dream Advocacy Co-Chair Mariana L. De Leon Dominguez ’21 said.

The rally featured speeches from various campus organizations, including the Temporary Protected Status Coalition and Divest Harvard. De Leon Dominguez, along with her fellow Advocacy Co-Chair Dan-

Wrongful Death Freshmen Athletes Disproportionately White Lawsuit Will Proceed

By DELANO R. FRANKLIN CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

­ 2018 wrongful death lawsuit A against Harvard and several of its employees will proceed after Middlesex County Superior Court ruled against Harvard’s motions to dismiss Monday.

The suit alleges the University and some of its employees were negligent in their care of an undergraduate, Luke Z. Tang ’18, who died by suicide on campus in 2015. Each of the defendants denied culpability or asked to dismiss the case in motions filed in January.

Superior Court Judge Michael D. Ricciuti ’84 refused those motions and wrote in a memo Monday that Harvard’s interpretation of previous case law was “erroneous” and that the suit would be allowed to continue.

Harvard previously argued that a 2018 decision in another case — Nguyen v. MIT, involving the suicide of a graduate student — demonstrates that the University fulfilled its legal duties Inside this issue

Harvard Today 2

by initiating suicide prevention protocols in Luke Tang’s case.

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court determined in Nguyen v. MIT that universities must take “reasonable measures” to prevent student suicides in certain circumstances.

Ricciuti rejected that part of Harvard’s argument Monday.

“Harvard’s argument to dismiss this case reduces Nguyen to a check-box, and that once a university checks one of three boxes — a protocol, or if there is none, clinical care, or if that is refused, reaching an emergency contact — its duty ends regardless of how well or poorly the university fulfills its duty,” he wrote in the Monday memo.

“That interpretation cannot be correct.”

Wendell W. Tang, Luke Tang’s father, filed the suit on behalf of his son on Sept. 11, 2018 arguing that the University and its employees’ “negligence and carelessness” directly resulted in Luke Tang’s death. The case

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Editorial 6

By DEVIN B. SRIVASTAVA and sanjana l. narayanan Crimson Staff Writers

A midst controversy over athlete admission practices and team culture, Harvard has launched a review of its Athletics Department. A look at the makeup of freshman athletes reveals discrepancies between this year’s class of recruited athletes and the class of 2023 more broadly.

Though 47 percent of freshmen respondents identified as white, among athlete respondents, that figure is 76 percent.

Athletes also come into their four years at Harvard knowing more of their classmates than non-athletes. Roughly 35 percent of recruited athletes — compared to just 15 percent of non-athletic recruits — knew 10 members of the Class of 2023 prior to admission.

Across the country, the admission of recruited athletes to elite universities has come under fire. In July 2019, Harvard dismissed head fencing coach Peter Brand after he was ­

47%

Freshman respondents who identify as white

76%

Freshman athlete respondents who identify as white

See survey Page 4

Sports 8

Today’s Forecast

ELENA M. RAMOS—Crimson Designer

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Harvard Today

For Dinner For Lunch Kale and Goat Cheese Pizza Red Spiced Chicken Mesquite Rotisserie Chicken Red’s Best Fresh Catch Five Cheese Tortellini Green Garbanzo Falafel Sandwich

Today’s Events Harvard Dance Center Open House Cypher Harvard Dance Center, 5-5:45 p.m.

in The Real World Scores of American Executives Come Together to Denounce Gun Violence

Come to the Harvard Dance Center’s annual open house cypher! Meet students and faculty across campus and learn about the Dance Center.

Plus, eat free pizza!

Dozens of executives have come together to demand immediate action from lawmakers concerning the United States’s current gun violence crisis though a letter. Prominent CEOs who signed the letter include Dara Khosrowshahi of Uber, Jack Dorsey of Twitter, and many more.

Jay Wexler at Harvard Book Store Harvard Book Store, 3-4:15 p.m.

Join the Harvard Book Store in welcoming Jay Wexler, professor at the Boston University School of Law, for a discussion of his latest book, “Our Non-Christian Nation: How Atheists, Satanists, Pagans, and Others Are Demanding Their Rightful Place in Public Life.”

Harvard Horntails Present: Open Practices JFK Park, 4-6 p.m.

Interested in playing Quidditch in real life? Join the Harvard Horntails at JFK Park for an open practice and relive the magic from your favorite childhood book series!

Chinese Dominance in American Drug Manufacturing Becomes Growing Concern for U.S. Officials Mariana L. De Leon Dominguez ‘21 speaks at an Act on a Dream-sponsored rally Thursday.

Amanda Y. Su—Crimson photographer

Daily Briefing Harvard will donate $186,000 in unused gifts from Jeffrey Epstein to organizations that support victims of human trafficking and sexual assault, University President Lawrence S. Bacow announced Thursday evening.

Harvard is also conducting a review of all gifts given by Epstein. So far, the University has identified $9.8 million in donations from Epstein between the years 1998 and 2007. In other news, Harvard Hillel Executive Director Rabbi Jonah C. Steinberg has publicly commented on Epstein’s involvement with Hillel, stating that he “facilitated” — but did not fund — a donation towards the construction of the Hillel building, contrary to previous media reports.

United States national security officials are worried about the fact that most of the key drug ingredients in medications in the United States are manufactured in China. In light of rising tensions between China and the United States, the U.S. pharmaceutical supply chain is under heavier scrutiny.

U.K. PM Boris Johnson Denies Lying to the Queen

On Thursday, United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson stated that he did not lie to Queen Elizabeth II when he gave her advice about a bill suspending Parliament. Recently, Johnson has had trouble getting his Brexit plans through Parliament.

Around the Ivies PENN Virginia M.Y. Lee, the director of the Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research at the University of Pennsylvania, was recently awarded the $3 million Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences for her work with Alzheimer’s, Lou Gherig’s, and Parkinson’s Diseases, the Daily Pennsylvanian reported. Dubbed the “Oscars of Science,” the Breakthrough Prize is awarded to researchers who strive to cure unmanageable diseases. The grand prize — the $3 million award — is extended to the researcher who has made a scientific discovery that will ultimately extend human life.

Columbia

The Columbia Spectator reported that History professor Charles Armstrong will retire in 2020 after his sabbatical during the 2019-2020 academic year. In 2016, professor Balazs Szalontai of Korea University filed a formal complaint to Columbia University citing 76 cases of academic misconduct, a number later raised to 98 in 2017 after Szalontai found additional evidence. Though Columbia’s Institutional Policy on Misconduct in Research claims a 120 day maximum for completion of their investigations, the University declined to comment on the case for two years.

Brown

Peter Cohen, the director of Development for Computer and Data Science Initiatives at Brown University, has been placed on administrative leave after the university discovered he allegedly helped secure funds from Jeffrey Epstein for the MIT Media Lab, the Brown Daily Herald reported.

Cohen, who worked in the MIT Media Lab until 2018, is accused of working to ensure that Epstein remained an anonymous donor to both the public and those who worked within the Media Lab. This alleged coverup occurred while Epstein was considered a “disqualified” donor in the MIT donor database. Brown University asserts that the institution has never accepted funds from Epstein.

THE UNIVERSITY DAILY, EST. 1873

The Harvard Crimson Kristine E. Guillaume President Angela N. Fu Managing Editor Charlie B. Zhu Business Manager

Staff for This Issue

Associate Managing Editor Jamie D. Halper ’20

Arts Chairs Kaylee S. Kim ’20 Caroline A. Tsai ’20

Design Chairs Elena M. Ramos ’20 Akhil S. Waghmare ’20

Night Editor Eliya Smith ’20

Design Editor Elena M. Ramos ’20

Associate Business Manager Amy E. Zhou ’20

FM Chairs Norah M. Murphy ’20 Abigail L. Simon ’20

Multimedia Chairs Kathryn S. Kuhar ’20 Kai R. McNamee ’21

Assistant Night Editors Ahab Chopra ’21 Sydnie M. Cobb ’22 Samuel W. Zwickel ’21

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Editorial Chairs Jessenia N. Class ’20 Robert Miranda ’20

Blog Chairs Lorenzo F. Manuali ’21 Trula J. Rael ’21

Technology Chairs Nenya A. Edjah ’20 Theodore T. Liu ’20

Sports Chairs Joseph W. Minatel ’21 Henry Zhu ’20

Copyright 2019, 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.

Story Editors Caroline S. Engelmayer ’20 Angela N. Fu ’20 Jamie D. Halper ’20 Jordan E. Virtue ’20

Editorial Editor Emily Romero ’21 Sports Editor Henry Zhu ’20

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

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THE HARVARD CRIMSON | September 13, 2019

hillel From Page 1

protest From Page 1

Epstein ‘Facilitated’ Hillel Harvard Affiliates Call for Building Donation the Abolition of ICE was donated by the Wexners,” Steinberg wrote. “Given that, and in view of Mr. Wexner’s having severed connections with Mr. Epstein, we were glad to list only Leslie and Abigail Wexner as having donated the naming gift for Harvard Hillel’s building.”

The only contribution Hillel has on record from Epstein himself is a $50,000 donation he made at a Hillel fundraising dinner in 1991, “long before his criminal activities became known,” Steinberg wrote. He did not respond to questions about whether Hillel planned to return or review the donations.

St ei n b er g ’s s t a t em ent Wednesday came shortly before University President Lawrence S. Bacow announced in an email to Harvard affiliates Thursday that Harvard would review Epstein’s donations to the University.

Bacow wrote Thursday that Harvard received at least $8.9 million in donations from Epstein between 1998 and 2007.

Though the University has spent most of those gifts, it still has an unspent balance of $186,000, which will be donated to organizations that support victims of human trafficking and sexual assault.

Bacow also wrote in the

email that Harvard would also review any donations made to the University at Epstein’s “suggestion.”

Wexner hired Epstein as his financial manager in 1987 and gave him power of attorney through a legal document, granting him the ability to “do all the acts, take all the proceeding; and exercise all the rights, powers, and privileges which I might do, take or exercise with respect to any of my assets.”

The Times reported in July that Epstein grew more involved in Wexner’s charitable pursuits in the 1990s when he became a trustee of a Wexner family foundation.

Wexner recently wrote in a letter to employees that he cut ties with Epstein in 2007, after the allegations against him surfaced and Wexner discovered he “misappropriated vast sums of money from me and my family.”

While Wexner’s gift to construct Rosovsky Hall was made directly to Hillel — which receives no funding from the University — he has also donated more than $19 million to the Harvard Kennedy School over the years. Some of those donations occurred while Epstein still served as his financial manager and had power over his as-

sets.

The allegations against Epstein received renewed attention beginning in November 2018, when a Miami Herald investigation found he allegedly ran an underage sex ring out of his Palm Beach, Fla. home from 2001 to 2006.

The Herald identified around 80 women who say Epstein molested or sexually abused them before 2006, when a team of lawyers — including Harvard Law School professor emeritus Alan M. Dershowitz — struck an extraordinary plea deal with the District Attorney’s office.

Epstein was arrested on new charges in New York in July.

In August, he died in the Manhattan Correctional Centerr in what authories said was an apparent suicide.

Beyond facilitating Wexner’s donation to Hillel, Epstein boasted deep, longstanding ties to Harvard, despite not being an alumnus of the University.

He was associated with several administrators and faculty including Dershowitz, Rosovsky, former University President Lawrence H. Summers, and Mathematics and Biology professor Martin A. Nowak. molly.mccafferty@thecrimson.com

Convicted sex offender Jeffrey E. Epstein facilitated donations to build Rosovsky Hall, the Mount Auburn Street building that houses Harvard Hillel. Ryan n. gajarawala—Crimson photographer

epstein From Page 1

Harvard Will Donate Unspent Gifts from Jeffrey Epstein University, but we have decided it is the proper course of action under the circumstances of Epstein’s egregiously repugnant crimes,” Bacow said.

Bacow said the University decided to donate this money after consulting with FAS Dean Claudine Gay. Bacow also noted in his email that all of Epstein’s donations were received prior to his 2008 conviction for soliciting prostitution.

The December Miami Herald report found that Epstein operated a sex ring out of his Palm Beach, Fla. house for years. As the result of an extraordinary plea deal – arranged by former U.S. Secretary of Labor R. Alexander Acosta ’90 who resigned in July after federal prosecutors brought forth a new case in New York – Epstein spent only 13 months in a county jail.

“Each of these gifts from Epstein and his affiliated foundations to Harvard University predates his guilty plea in June 2008,” Bacow wrote. “To date, we have uncovered no gifts received from Epstein or his foundation following his guilty plea.”

In addition to Epstein’s financial ties to the University, Psychology professor emeritus Stephen M. Kosslyn designated Epstein as a visiting fellow in the Department of Psychology in 2005, according to Bacow’s letter. The Crimson has previously reported multiple, longstanding ties between Epstein and prominent Harvard affiliates including former University President Lawrence H. Summers, Harvard Law School professor Alan M. Dershowitz, and Dean Emeritus of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Henry Rosovsky.

“We are seeking to learn more about the nature of that appointment from Dr. Kosslyn, who no longer works at the Uni-

versity,” Bacow wrote.

While Harvard accepted many contributions from Epstein over the past few decades, Bacow wrote that the University rejected a gift from Epstein following his 2008 conviction.

Bacow did not indicate the nature of the proposed gift.

In an interview with The Crimson in December 2018, Harvard Kennedy School professor David R. Gergen described how he was approached

by Epstein to inquire about making a donation in roughly 2004 or 2005. Gergen said the donation was ultimately never made after “serious questions” came to light about Epstein’s past.

When initial allegations against Epstein arose in 2006, the University refused to return the $6.5 million gift to endow the University’s Program for Evolutionary Dynamics, citing “important research” the donation funded.

As recently as an interview with The Crimson in May 2019, Bacow said he was not aware of any details of Epstein’s donations or his connection to Harvard.

“I don’t know the specifics of the Jeffrey Epstein donation or his relationship to the University, actually,” Bacow said at the time. “I’m not going to speculate.”

Bacow wrote in his Thursday email that the University will also review any gifts that may have been given at Epstein’s behest.

The Crimson reported Thursday that contrary to previous media reports, Epstein did not contribute to the donation that funded Harvard Hillel’s building. In his first public comment about Epstein to the press, Hillel Executive Director Rabbi Jonah C. Steinberg wrote that Epstein “facili-

tated” the donation, which had come from billionaire Leslie H. Wexner. Epstein was serving as Wexner’s financial adviser at the time.

In his letter, Bacow pledged to work with “peer institutions” and people within the University to more closely review and vet donors to “prevent these situations in the future.”

“Epstein’s behavior, not just at Harvard but elsewhere, raises significant questions about how institutions like ours review and vet donors,” Bacow wrote.

“We can all learn from each other,” he added.

The University currently maintains a Gift Policy Committee that is tasked with reviewing certain donations.

Harvard has previously declined to comment on what gifts the committee reviews and who serves on the committee.

Just up the river from Harvard, MIT has also been grappling with their ties to Epstein.

The school’s President L. Rafael Reif wrote in a letter to MIT affiliates Thursday that he signed a letter thanking Epstein for a donation to the school in 2012.

Reif’s message came days after Joichi Ito — former director of MIT’s Media Lab — resigned from the post after the New Yorker reported the lab concealed its relationship with Epstein.

Bacow closed his missive with an apology.

“Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes were repulsive and reprehensible,” he wrote. “I profoundly regret Harvard’s past association with him. Conduct such as his has no place in our society.”

“Harvard is not perfect, but you have my commitment as president that we will always strive to be better,” he added. alexandra.chaidez@thecrimson.com aidan.ryan@thecrimson.com

At that event, HUPD helped Cambridge police officers arrest 12 of the protesters on trespassing charges.

HUPD spokesperson Steven G. Catalano said Harvard assisted the Cambridge Police Department because they were dealing with an “extraordinarily large protest” of approximately 300 people. “[Cambridge PD] requested our assistance, and we provided that assistance as we have done in the past at different incidents that represent a public safety concern over the years,” Catalano said.

Liren Ma ’19, who attended the rally, said he was heartened by the protest’s turnout, particularly the large number of freshmen.

“I think I’ve been a little dismayed by the general inactivity of Harvard students around a lot of things, but I’m hopeful that we’re trending upwards with the new class,” he said.

Act on a Dream plans to hold a future symposium that will bring together University affiliates and other activists for a conversation about immigration reform. They also intend to organize a letter-writing cam-

paign to people in detention centers.

Act on a Dream Co-Director Emily A. Romero ’21 said she hopes to dispute the idea that “a rally leads to a point and doesn’t really go anywhere from there.”

“We felt like this is the beginning of just building more coalition with different organizations to show how intersectional all these movements are and the power that we have in all coming together to advocate for one thing,” Romero said. elizabeth.guo@thecrimson.com amanda.su@thecrimson.com

lawsuit From Page 1

Motion to Dismiss Wrongful Death Lawsuit Denied implicates the Harvard Corporation — the University’s highest governing body — as well as residential dean Catherine R. Shapiro, Lowell House Resident Dean Caitlin Casey, Harvard University Health Services mental health counselor Melanie G. Northrop, and HUHS psychiatrist David W. Abramson.

The original complaint accused each defendant of negligence and argued they were responsible for damages of at least $20 million.

The complaint stated that the College sent Luke Tang to McLean Hospital in Belmont, Mass. for treatment after a first

on-campus suicide attempt in April 2015.

Ahead of his return to campus, administrators required Luke Tang to agree to a “contract” laying out terms — including that he receive regular counseling — during his time at the College.

After failing to schedule follow-up appointments with a therapist, Luke Tang left campus for the summer and then returned in August. A month later, he died by suicide in Lowell House after going months without counseling, according to the complaint.

The complaint alleged that Harvard and its employees

failed to uphold the contract — and consequently are culpable for Luke Tang’s death — by not ensuring that he received treatment.

University spokesperson Rachael Dane declined to comment directly on the case, citing its pending status.

“While we will not comment on ongoing litigation, Harvard is committed to supporting all of our students and works to connect students who are experiencing difficulties with mental health services and resources,” Dane wrote in an email Thursday. delano.franklin@thecrimson.com

From the Law School to Longwood.

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THE HARVARD CRIMSON |

September 13, 2019

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survey From Page 1

Freshmen Athletes Disproportionately White investigated for allegedly selling his home at an inflated price to a family with a prospective fencer, who went on to compete for Harvard.

Brand’s dismissal came just months after a nationwide admissions scandal implicated coaches and families of students for gaining admission into elite universities like Yale and Stanford through bribery. Though six Harvard alumni were charged as part of the scandal, Harvard itself was not implicated.

Athletics on campus also has a strong link to single-gender organizations, sororities, and fraternities, with 36 percent of recruited athletes reporting some level of interest in joining one of those organizations, while just 21 percent of their classmates reported interest.

Overall, though, interest in single-gender social organizations on campus continues its downward trend since the College launched its sanctions in May 2016 against these organizations.

The policy — which first applied to members of the Class of 2021 — bars members of single-gender final clubs and Greek organizations from serving in campus leadership positions, captaining varsity teams, and from receiving Harvard endorsement for prestigious fellowships like the Rhodes.

As freshmen settled into their dorms and adjusted to their new lives in Cambridge, roughly 55 percent of them responded to a Crimson email questionnaire about their backgrounds, beliefs, and lifestyles.

The anonymous survey explores topics ranging from political ideology to alcohol consumption to perspectives on current campus controversies.

Of 1,666 students comprising the Class of 2023, 919 freshmen responded. The Crimson did not account for potential selection bias in its analysis of the re-

sults. Due to rounding, reported statistics may not total exactly 100 percent.

This second installation of The Crimson’s three-part series on the Class of 2023 examines students’ academic and extracurricular interests, and their experiences both in and outside of the classroom.

Academics

Harvard students’ most popular concentration choices — Government, Economics, and Computer Science — have not fluctuated over the past four years. Nearly one-third of the incoming class indicated interest in one of these three concentrations.

This trend is also roughly consistent with the most popular fall courses at the College, which have historically included Economics 10a: “Principles of Economics” and Computer Science 50: “Introduction to Computer Science.”

As the School of Engineering and Applied Science finalizes plans to expand into Allston next fall, 24 percent of the Class of 2023 reported an interest in concentrating in SEAS. Last year, that figure was 37 percent.

More than half of both male and female respondents indicated interest in science, technology, engineering, and math fields. Unlike last year, there was no significant difference in STEM interests between males and females.

• 30 percent and 37 percent of students reported that they are interested in the Sciences and the Social Sciences, respectively. Consistent with freshman survey results from two years ago, a plurality of students said they want to concentrate in the Social Sciences.

• Only 9 percent of students reported an interest in the Arts and Humanities as a concentration – which is about a quarter of the pro-

•

portion of students who expressed an interest in the Social Sciences. More students are interested in Government and Economics – the two most popular concentrations at 12 percent each – than are interested in all of the Arts and Humanities concentrations combined.

The academic priorities of the freshman class also have not changed. As was the case last year, 86 percent of respondents rated academics as their top priority in college, and 46 percent of respondents anticipate spending over 30 hours a week studying.

Social Life

The proportion of respondents from the Class of 2023 who reported some interest in joining a single-gender final club, sorority, or fraternity decreased slightly from last year’s low of 24 percent to 23 percent this year.

Just 5 percent of students said they are “very interested” in joining a single-gender club, while 18 percent said they are “somewhat interested.”

29 percent of students reported that Harvard’s social group sanctions caused them to view single-gender social organizations in a less favorable light.

• 32 percent of students who identified as somewhat or very conservative reported interest in joining a single-gender social group, sorority, or fraternity. In contrast, only 16 percent of students who identified as somewhat or very liberal said they want to join a single-gender club.

• Respondents who were aware of Harvard’s sanctions policy were almost 10 percentage points more likely than those not aware of the policy to report inter-

Harvard Affiliates Mainly Donate to Elizabeth Warren, Pete Buttigieg

By Alexandra A. Chaidez and Aidan F. Ryan Crimson Staff Writers

Harvard affiliates have never been shy about supporting liberal candidates and so far in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, they’ve opened their wallets for United States Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).

A Harvard Law School professor emerita and Cambridge resident, Warren has pinned her candidacy on a series of detailed policy proposals that aim to address issues like affordable housing, the electoral college, and social security.

In response, Harvard affiliates have given more than $42,000 to her presidential campaign — more than any other candidate — according to fundraising data from the Federal Election Commission.

South Bend, Ind. Mayor Pete P. M. Buttigieg ’04 and former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro — who attended the College and Law School, respectively — both raised significantly less money from Harvard University affiliates.

Buttegieg garnered less than half of the amount Warren raised from Harvard affiliates, coming in at $20,000 in donations. Harvard affiliates only donated $250 to the Castro campaign.

The FEC lists Harvard University as the second largest employer for donors to the Warren Campaign, behind Google.

Warren also outraised former U.S. Vice President Joseph R. Biden, whose campaign is polling at least five points above Warren’s, according to a new CNN poll. Biden raised nearly $19,900 from Harvard affiliates.

Senator Bernie Sanders (DVt.) accumulated slightly more than $11,000 from Harvard affiliates. U.S. Representative Seth Moulton ’01 (D-Mass.), who dropped out of the race in August, raised roughly $10,600 in donations from Harvard affiliates. Moulton graduated from Harvard College, Business School, and the Kennedy School.

Warren’s campaign did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Experts attribute this popularity to Warren’s many years in academia, specifically more than a decade as a full-time professor teaching bankruptcy law at the Law School.

Stonehill College professor of political science Peter N. Ubertaccio said that while many Harvard alumni run for president, it is less common for professors themselves to begin a bid for the nation’s highest office.

“You don’t often find, however, someone who made their livelihood working at the insti-

tution who’s running a presidential campaign,” Ubertaccio said. “We’ve had other law professors as president, but none who really made their career in the field.”

Ubertaccio noted that former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton both served as law professors for several years, but it is Warren that is known for her career within the halls of the Law School.

David A. Hopkins ’99, a political science professor at Boston College, said many people at Harvard and in higher education more broadly are supporting Warren because of her detailed policy proposals.

“She’s running as a wonk, that’s the sort of thrust of her campaign,” Hopkins said.

“Wonks like wonks.”

“She fits the persona of a lot of people who work in academia and work in academia,” he added.

Though Warren has served in the U.S. Senate since 2013 — she is currently serving her second term — she has sometimes waded into local Harvard issues. In 2018, she endorsed Harvard’s graduate student union weeks before their unionization election, and she called on the University to remove Arthur M. Sackler’s name from campus in May. alexandra.chaidez@thecrimson.com aidan.ryan@thecrimson.com

Presidential Fundraising Data *Seth Moulton dropped out of the presidential race

$50,000 $42,321

Money Raised

$40,000

$30,000 $22,175 $20,000

$19,850

$10,000

$0

Elizabeth Warren

Pete Buttigieg

Joe Biden

$11,134

$10,635

Bernie Sanders

Seth Moulton*

ELENA M. RAMOS—Crimson Designer

•

est in joining a single-gender social group.

26 percent of respondents who knew ten or more members of the Class of 2023 prior to admission reported interest in joining a single-gender group, compared to 18 percent of students who knew zero members of their class.

Athletics

Roughly consistent with last year’s survey results, 11 percent of the Class of 2023 are coming to Harvard as recruited varsity athletes, while 6 percent plan to walk on to a varsity sports team.

82 percent of recruited varsity athletes said their top priority while at Harvard will be academics, while only 14 percent said athletics will be their top priority.

• 76 percent of recruited athletes identified as white, while only 47 percent of the entire incoming class identified as white.

• 35 percent of recruited athletes knew 10 or more members of the Class of 2023 prior to admission, while 15 percent of non-athletic recruits knew 10 or more members prior to admission • 36 percent of recruited athletes reported some level of interest in joining a single-gender group, sorority, or fraternity while only 21 percent of non-athletic recruits reported some level of interest.

• 97 percent of recruited athletes said Harvard was their top college choice, while 79 percent of non-athletic recruits reported Harvard as their top choice.

29 percent of recruited athletes plan to concentrate in Economics, while just 10 percent of non-athletic recruits plan to do the same.

Academics Before

Harvard

More than half of respondents said they were ranked in the top two percent of their class in high school. 32 percent, however, reported that their high school did not rank.

There was a significant association between the number of hours respondents studied in high school and the number of hours they anticipated studying in college. Generally, students said they expect to study more in college than they did in high school. For instance, all respondents who studied 11 to 19 hours per week in high school anticipated studying at least the same amount of time at Harvard. 85 percent of those respondents anticipated studying 20 or more hours in college.

• Respondents reported an average GPA of 3.95 on an unweighted 4.0 scale.

• Students who reported taking the SAT said they did so an average of 2 times. The average score was 1523 on a scale of 1600.

• Respondents who said they took the ACT also reported taking the test twice on average. Their average score was 34 on a scale of 36.

• Students who reported taking one or more AP tests took an average of 8 exams.

• The percentage of respondents who reported having cheated in an academic context decreased slightly from past years. Roughly 19 percent of each of the three previous classes – but less than 16 percent of the Class of 2023 – reported having cheated before.

18 percent of male respondents, but only 13 percent of female respondents, said they have cheated in an academic context.

Extracurriculars Before Harvard

tive outside the classroom. The most popular high school extracurriculars were community service at 74 percent of respondents, followed by athletics at 57 percent, student government at 36 percent, math clubs at 32 percent, science clubs at 32 percent, and music groups at 31 percent.

• A plurality of respondents, 26 percent, said they served as the president of two clubs while in high school.

69 percent of respondents reported being president of one to three high school clubs.

• 40 percent of first-generation respondents ranked paid employment as one of their top three priorities during their four years at Harvard. Conversely, less than 15 percent of students who said they are not first-generation ranked paid employment as one of their top three priorities.

• 12 percent of the Class of 2023 were editor-in-chief of their high school newspaper, and 18 percent were president of their high school’s student government. Compared to other respondents, high school editors-in-chief were almost 15 percentage points more likely to be interested in attending professional school immediately after graduation. High school student government presidents were 10 percentage points more likely to be interested in pursuing a government or political career.

• Similar to the Class of 2022, 8 percent of respondents from the Class of 2023 said they took a gap year before coming to Harvard.

• 64 percent of respondents reported attending a pre-orientation program, as was the case last year.

Members of the Class of 2023 were — as always — very ac-

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THE HARVARD CRIMSON | September 13, 2019

College Board Revises ‘Adversity Index’ Freshmen

By Camille G. Caldera Crimson Staff Writer

­ he Harvard College AdmisT sions Office will continue to participate in the College Board’s effort to provide colleges and universities with information about applicants’ neighborhoods and secondary schools after changes were announced in August following criticisms.

College spokesperson Rachael Dane wrote in an emailed statement that the University still participates in the program, while working to determine its efficacy.

“We remain a member of the program and continue to evaluate its relevance,” she wrote.

The College Board’s Landscape program — which was previously known as the Environmental Context Dashboard but often referred to as the “adversity score” — came under fire when it was first announced earlier this year. Some experts feared it was reductive of student experiences and could negatively impact students it was designed to help. They also criticized the lack of transparency in the score’s calculation.

“The idea of a single score was confusing because it seemed that all of a sudden the College Board was trying to score adversity. That’s not the College Board’s mission,” College Board CEO David Coleman told National Public Radio in

late August. “The College Board scores achievement, not adversity.”

The Harvard Admissions Office was one of 50 colleges and universities nationwide to use the Dashboard in its regular admissions cycle in 2019 for the Class of 2023.

While the Dashboard used a range of neighborhood and high school demographic information — excluding race — to come up with a single composite score between 1 and 100, the Landscape presents two such scores: one for an applicant’s neighborhood and one for their school.

It also comes with a clearer explanation of what components comprise the score.

The neighborhood score includes college attendance, household structure, median family income, housing stability, education level, and crime, while the school score considers factors such as senior class size and the average number of Advance Placement tests each student takes.

“We listened to thoughtful criticism and made Landscape better and more transparent,” Coleman said in a press release. “Landscape provides admissions officers more consistent background information so they can fairly consider every student, no matter where they live and learn.”

Casey D. Cobb, a professor at the University of Connecticut

and a fellow at the National Education Policy Center, said the original and modified programs are similar.

“The Landscape isn’t much different than the original Adversity Index, other than [that] the College Board [is] reporting separate scores for the high school and neighborhood indices, and students now can receive their score along with colleges,” he said. “I think the biggest change was the name. They switched it to Landscape to deflect criticism that the scores validly measure adversity.”

He said, though, that he believes the real issue is not the score itself, but how colleges use it.

Madhabi Chatterji, a professor at the Columbia University Teachers College who studies evaluation in education, said she is concerned about the College Board’s willingness to present institutions like Harvard with such a new and untested feature.

“It’s great that they are trying to provide contextual information to admissions officers in various colleges, but they have to back it up with evidence of validity and reliability and long term studies that show positive consequences for both the individuals who are admitted as well as for admissions officers at colleges,” she said.

Given the lack of evidence, Chatterji urged Harvard ad-

missions officers not to rely on the Landscape scores.

“Without adequate research studies, the amount of weight that colleges put on this data has to be cut back,” she said. “They have to approach it cautiously.”

Cobb recommended that the Admissions Office develop a common understanding of the Landscape prior to using it, and suggested performing “before” and “after” institutional analyses. “As any college or university, those that use these data should be explicit in how they are treating it in the admissions decisions,” he said.

The College Board’s “Appropriate Usage Guidelines” for Landscape — which are posted on its website — state that it is “to be used only as supplemental information” to the rest of the college application and should never be the “primary or sole determinant” of admissions decisions.

He also noted that Harvard is viewed as an “exemplar,” and could influence how other schools make use of the Landscape scores.

The College Board anticipates that between 100 and 150 colleges will participate in the pilot of the Landscape feature this year, before it becomes broadly available for free to all colleges and universities in fall 2020, according to its website. camille.caldera@thecrimson.com

Register to Vote By simone C. chu Crimson Staff Writer

­ hen members of the class of W 2023 arrived on campus, their check-in consisted of three steps: pick up student ID card, collect keys, and register to vote.

In the first year of a new effort to bolster civic engagement among Harvard students, volunteers with Harvard Votes Challenge — a student organization focused on increasing voter turnout at Harvard — helped eligible freshmen register to vote and update their voter registration status as they arrived on campus.

“We strongly believe that we should institutionalize voter engagement and city engagement as a part of life here on Harvard’s campus,” said Theodore “Teddy” N. Landis ’20, a co-founder of Harvard Votes Challenge.

“One of the most powerful ways to do that is to say, ‘When you arrive here on campus, one of the first things you do as a Harvard student is to register to vote.’”

Harvard Votes Challenge volunteers spoke with more than 1,000 freshmen and helped mail more than 600 voter registration forms, according to Landis.

Georgena M. A. Williams ’23 said she had already started the voter registration process in her home state, but that a session with Harvard Votes Challenge volunteers during her pre-orientation program

helped her confirm her voter registration status.

“I just turned 18, so it helps to kind of correct any misconceptions I had about registering to vote, and made the task seem a little less daunting,” she said.

Students who weren’t eligible to vote — including international, undocumented, or underage students — were engaged in conversations about other ways to practice civic engagement on campus.

Matej Cerman ’23, an international student, called the initiative a “good idea” even though he was not able to fully participate.

“I mean, I was slightly bothered by having to fill out the forms,” he said. But, he added, “It’s certainly a good thing to try to increase turnout.”

Some students said they felt that adding registration to move-in day activities increased chaos.

“I think the initiative broadly is a good one,” said William M. Sutton ’23, who had registered to vote before coming to campus. “I just think this setting in which it took place kind of made it harder for the initiative to have the impact that it wanted to have.”

Sutton cited a lack of surfaces to write on and a pressing desire to settle in and shower as concerns.

Institute of Politics Director Mark D. Gearan ’78 said he is “very proud” of the new initiative. simone.chu@thecrimson.com

Divinity School Renovation Proceeds

By Matteo N. Wong Crimson Staff Writer

The Harvard College Admissions Office is housed in Radcliffe Yard. Harvard will continued to use a revised version of the College’s Landscape program. Camille G. Caldera —Crimson photographer

Milind Tambe Joins SEAS Faculty By ruth a. Hailu and AMY L. JIA Crimson Staff Writers

­ ilind Tambe has joined the M School of Engineering and Applied Sciences’ Computer Science faculty as a tenured professor this fall and will head the Center for Research on Computation and Society at SEAS. Tambe, who earned his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University, previously served as an engineering professor at the University of Southern California.

There, he founded and co-directed the Center for Artificial Intelligence in Society — a collaborative venture between USC’s engineering and social work schools aimed at tackling

societal problems using artificial intelligence.

Tambe said he was initially unsure how to “bridge the gap” between his passion for social justice and his interest in academic research. That changed in 2005, when he got the opportunity to partner with the chief of police at the Los Angeles airport to improve public safety and security.

“I got kind of addicted to this idea of not staying in the lab but going out in the field,” Tambe said. “The work I was doing was actually contributing — hopefully — to the things that I really cared about.”

Tambe’s subsequent projects continued to utilize artificial intelligence in unexpected and “compelling” ways, according

to Computer Science professor and CRCS faculty member Harry R. Lewis ’68. Lewis pointed to one particular project, in which Tambe collaborated with conservation agencies to design AIbased strategies for preserving wildlife and natural resources — an endeavor he described as “socially important.”

Computer Science professor Krzysztof Z. Gajos, another professor at CRCS, wrote in an email that Tambe is unique among academics for his ability to combine “serious societal impact” with “rigorous academic research.”

He wrote that to do so effectively, one needs to not only apply existing knowledge towards solving a specific problem, but also design and validate a broad-

Milind Tambe, who studies artificial intelligence, joined the Harvard faculty this year after several years teaching at the University of Southern California. ryan n. Gajarawala—Crimson photographer

ly generalizable method applicable beyond a single problem instance.

“It takes major intellectual effort, commitment and creativity to design a research program that accomplishes both,” Gajos wrote.

Natural Sciences professor and CRCS Executive Committee member Barbara J. Grosz wrote that she is very glad Tambe will take over teaching COMPSCI 108: “Intelligent Systems: Design and Ethical Challenges,” a course that explores the intersection of artificial intelligence and ethics.Tambe said he also hopes to develop classes focused on artificial intelligence’s role in public health. “[I am] very much looking forward to having classes where there are students from AI and from Public Health sitting together and solving problems together,” Tambe said. “I feel this kind of interdisciplinary space is something that will be very exciting for the students.”

Tambe said the potential for interdisciplinary partnerships is what motivated him to come to Harvard. He said he is extending an invitation to collaborate with researchers from any field who “think AI could be a valuable ally” in their work.

“I feel there are some very important challenges in the world that we can address here at Harvard… that may be very difficult to address in other places,” he said.

Tambe’s colleagues also praised his character and noted the wealth of experience and passion he would bring to the SEAS community.

“I am delighted to have him as a colleague: he is an inspiring role model and he raises the bar for all of us,” Gajos wrote. ruth.hailu@thecrimson.com amy.jia@thecrimson.com

Renovations of Swartz Hall — formerly known as Andover Hall — at the heart of Harvard Divinity School’s campus began in June and have continued in the demolition phase as the school year begins.

The building is undergoing its first renovation since 1911, and was renamed following a gift from Susan S. Swartz and her husband, James R. Swartz ’64.

To adapt to temporarily losing access to the large, historic building, the Divinity School moved several administrative offices, classrooms, and other spaces to 60 Oxford St., a five minute walk from Swartz Hall.

The renovations are set to add a 200-seat event hall, more environmentally friendly facilities, and a multifaith chapel to replace Andover Chapel, which was built for a mainly Protestant community.

“It was very old and in need of renovations,” said Seth A. Castiglione, a second-year student at the Divinity School.

The 18-month construction project has necessitated some flexibility on the part of students and faculty. Ashley Y. Lipscomb, president of the Harvard Divinity School Student Association, said that knowing in advance that the school’s hub would be temporarily moved to 60 Oxford St. helped ease the transition.

“For me personally the move seemed seamless,” she said.

“We like our new classroom spaces — or at least, I do.”

She said the Student Association is also assisting with the transition by keeping students informed about changes on campus.

It was very old and in need of renovations.

Seth A. Castiglione Harvard Divinity School Student

“For example, our community food pantry — how do we inform students [the] food pantry is now moved from this location to this location? Or posters, reminding students you can post at Oxford Street in the basement — little logistical things to help the transition,” Lipscomb said.

Losing Swartz Hall and Andover Chapel, however, has posed a disruption for some.

“What I saw before during my visit last year was there were a lot of students, they were gathering in Andover Hall, and

there was more coherence,” said Yao Meng, a first-year Divinity School student. “Now, some students may be at Divinity Hall, some at 60 Oxford St., some may work at Rock Cafe, and we don’t meet each other.”

Steven S. Fisher, a second-year student at the Divinity School, said that Andover Chapel had previously served

There’s been some noise and banging and vibration and all that, bust so far, so good.

Douglas L. Gragg Andover-Harvard Theological Library Manager

as the center of the community for many students.

“I don’t think that’s a space that’s necessarily replaceable,” he said. “At the same time, a lot of the reasons these developments are happening is so we can create a new multifaith space for those kinds of gatherings, one that’s more reflective of our community.”

During the renovations, the space at 60 Oxford St. will host Divinity School community traditions, such as noon services and community tea.

“We appreciate all members of our community understanding the need to temporarily relocate offices, classrooms, and event spaces while Swartz Hall (formerly Andover Hall) undergoes its first major renewal in its 100-year history,” Divinity School spokesperson Michael P. Naughton wrote in an emailed statement.

The Andover-Theological Library, which is adjacent to Swartz Hall, will remain open during the renovation. To prepare for construction, staff relocated some documents, purchased noise-canceling headsets, and moved the library entrance, according to Douglas L. Gragg, library manager of the Andover-Theological Library.

“So far it has not been as disruptive as we feared it might be,” Gragg said. “There’s been some noise and banging and vibration and all that, but so far, so good.”

The building was overdue for maintenance, Gragg — who is on the building committee — added. He said he looks forward to the newly designed building with more spaces where members of the Divinity School community can casually interact. matteo.wong@thecrimson.com

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | september 13, 2019

Page 6

Editorial The Crimson Editorial board

column

Scratch Black Ink: Cambridge Should Think Bigger

What My Parents Taught Me

I

n yet another Harvard Square closure, Black Ink — a high-end stationery purveyor on Brattle Street for almost 20 years — will be departing by the end of the year. Like many other shops whose storefronts are owned by North Carolina-based development company Asana Partners, it can no longer keep up with rising rent prices.

Some Cambridge residents rallied around the store and its owners, writing supportive messages on a piece of paper posted in the window.

For those residents, it’s a sad farewell that speaks volumes about the changing face of Harvard Square and Cambridge more broadly — increasingly geared toward the cravings of Harvard students or visitors, and not permanent residents.

But Black Ink itself is a reminder that an

Black Ink itself is a reminder that an affordable Harvard Square is a thing of a very distant past. affordable Harvard Square is a thing of a very distant past.

Low-income Cambridge residents don’t need stationery — though if they do, they can still turn to Staples or even CVS — they need affordable grocery stores.

Harvard Square has long been at the economic mercy of students.

A Crimson article from 1985, six years prior to Black Ink’s arrival in Harvard Square, underlines just how many bookstores Harvard had at that time — an as-

tonishing 27.

What students are willing to buy has changed — fast-casual Mexican replacing Shakespeare — but the same essential principle applies: Harvard Square gets what Harvard students are willing to buy.

So first, we strongly urge people, students in particular, to support the kind of Harvard Square they hope to inhabit — to vote with their feet and their wallets.

It is not sufficient to bemoan the closing of a beloved store, as many often do, having failed for years to visit it at all or often enough to sustain the business. If you want to see more independent and local stores, shop at the ones we still have.

That said, we still view the tactics of Asana Partners, which purchased the properties housing Felipe’s Taqueria, Flat Patties, and Cardullo’s Gourmet Shoppe in 2017 for more than $100 million, with suspicion.

Denise A. Jillson, executive director of the Harvard Square Business Association, at the time told The Crimson that Asana Partners had expressed its desire to stay for a long time, and Jillson expressed hope that they would be “engaged and responsible community members.”

One year later, however, Asana Partners decided not to renew the lease of the beloved Crema Cafe, which sat a few storefronts away from Black Ink. Now, Black Ink is leaving because Asana Partners is raising its rent to a level that the store’s founder called “unsustainable.” She further alleged Asana representatives were challenging to contact, forcing her to hire a lawyer.

We condemn these business practices, and we implore Asana Partners to demonstrate a meaningful commitment to the community and a proper appreciation for the value of maintaining custom-

Harvard Square may or may not be a lost cause, but the greater city is still worth fighting for. er loyalty to locally-owned stores.

Finally, we call upon the Cambridge City Council and other local leaders to make efforts to spark a greater debate about the affordability of the city’s retail.

Harvard Square may or may not be a lost cause, but the greater city is still worth fighting for.

As the City Council approaches its upcoming election and as it continues to wage an ongoing debate about affordable housing in the city — the subject of a public forum at the Cambridge Public Library on Wednesday — current members and candidates should be thinking critically about the broader socioeconomic challenges of living in this city.

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.

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op-eds@thecrimson.com Op-ed

A Sharper Focus on Harvard’s Truth

By Griffin N. Peterson

L

awrence S. Bacow, now entering his second year as Harvard president, sent a letter out to Harvard affiliates last week, as is customary at the beginning of a new school year. As is also customary, this letter highlighted moments when Harvard’s institutional interests happen to overlap with progressive causes.

This year’s letter focused on Harvard’s commitment to welcoming immigrants from around the world. No doubt, it is important for Harvard to address this topic, particularly given that an incoming freshman was denied entry into the United States from Logan Airport on Aug. 23. It is notable, however, that Bacow framed his argument for immigration reform not along the lines of human rights but rather in service of ensuring “long-term American competitiveness” and the benefits to “U.S. national interests.”

Bacow also shared the story of his own parents, who “like most immigrants, loved this country in part because they had the experience of growing up someplace else.” Such a sentiment should not be universalized, especially in 2019, when so many refugees and migrants around the world come to the U.S. in no small part because of the U.S. For neighbors to the south, NAFTA, the War on Drugs, and a long history of overthrowing democratically-elected governments are largely responsible for creating conditions that have led so many to leave home and seek refuge in the U.S. Do Iraqi and Afghanistani refugees who have arrived this century love this country because the conditions here are better than where they grew up, or perhaps do they recognize that they are here in no small part because we were there?

The freshman whom Bacow alludes to, but never explicitly mentions, grew up in a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon.

Have the realities of his childhood at all been shaped by U.S. foreign policy?

Dislocating immigrants’ motivations

to enter the U.S. from the causes that underlie these motivation is dangerous, and often serves as the starting point for ahistorical and racist movements that Bacow is ostensibly criticizing in his letter. But these mental gymnastics are not surprising, as Harvard has a long history of uncritical self-congratulation.

Quoting his predecessor Nathan M. Pusey ’28 (who is himself remembered in part for threatening to arrest of hundreds of students who protested ROTC presence on campus during the Vietnam War), Bacow appealed to a Harvard that is not “an island severed from the broad concerns of men.” Rather, according to Pusey and Bacow, it is Harvard’s integration within broader culture that allows the University, through intellectu-

Bringing a sharper focus to this truth requires that we find solidarity with existing struggles, especially those that spill beyond academia. al activity, to bring sharp focus to society at large. This is a nice sentiment, but Harvard has always taken pains to dictate what does and does not constitute intellectual activity and, therefore, what should come into sharper focus and what should remain a blur. When Bacow calls on students and researchers to “seek and share truth,” we should remember what writer Rebecca Solnit recently wrote: “truth is whatever the powerful want it to be.”

So what is truth for Harvard?

For Harvard, truth is 450 classes on leadership alongside seven years of institutional resistance on divesting from fossil fuels. For Harvard, truth is a $40 billion endowment that successive presidents have called “apolitical,” despite investments in fossil fuels. For Harvard, truth is withdrawing Chelsea Manning’s honorary fellowship on the grounds that her conduct failed to fulfill the values of

public service, but welcoming Mohammad bin Salman (and his checkbook) a few months later. For Harvard, truth is kicking off the school year with silence on Harvard’s ties to Jeffrey E. Epstein, and then failing to connect his donations to Harvard’s long history of problematic funders.

The silence on Epstein was particularly deafening. While MIT publicly fumbled with its own relationship to Epstein over the summer, Harvard remained characteristically quiet, saying in early July only that they won’t be returning the money Epstein donated. Bacow’s letter Thursday evening — which ends with an unstartling confession that Harvard is not perfect — now joins a handful of other insufficient responses from the University, including a half-apology from George Church, a non-apology from Steven Pinker, and a recently-deleted petition in support of former MIT Media Lab Director Joichi Ito that was signed by a number of Harvard faculty, including Genetics professor George M. Church, Kennedy School professor Marshall L. Ganz ’64 and Law School professors Lawrence Lessig and Jonathan L. Zittrain.

The common denominator across Harvard’s truth is self-preservation.

Harvard will continue to push the limits of dubious partnerships so long as these relationships lead to money and access.

Harvard will continue to derive its morality through a vague commitment to future impact, rather than by improving institutional practices today. And Harvard will continue to speak in favor of progressive issues when it’s convenient, not when it’s vital.

Bringing a sharper focus to this truth requires that we find solidarity with existing struggles, especially those that spill beyond academia. Because like Harvard, resistance is not an island.

—Griffin N. Peterson graduated from the Graduate School of Education in 2014 and was a 2016-2017 Fellow at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society.

Tajrean Rahman On the Edge of the Elite

T

here are summer nights when I can’t sleep.

Sometimes, it is because of the stuffy heat that creeps in, unrelenting even in the darkest hours. Most times though, it’s the thoughts that won’t stop running through my head — like an endless loop of fears and worries about what I am doing with my life.

As I lie awake, I’ll listen to my sister’s soft breathing beside me, and if I strain my ears I can even hear the whirring of my brother’s fan from across the room the three of us have always shared. Usually when I turn on my side, I’m not surprised to see the light on in the dining room — I’m not the only sleepless one in the family.

I am the child of two dreamers — immigrants who dared to cross oceans and time zones to seek out a better life.

My father cuts a solitary figure at the table, slightly hunched over his paperwork with a cooling cup of cha beside him. Like most things in our household, the kitchen table is multipurpose: We break Ramadan fasts on its wooden surface, my mother uses it as a sewing station, and for my father, it serves as an office.

I often think of this kitchen table whenever I sit at my Harvard desk, in my Harvard house — struck with a certain kind of guilt for having the small luxury of nice furnishing when we don’t even have enough room in our apartment for my father to have a desk of his own.

The feeling is one I’m sure a lot of first-generation students can attest to — a vertigo of sorts that comes from how attending a school of such privilege and prestige splits our lives.

I remember being overwhelmed the first time a professor treated my class to food at a restaurant — nervously whispering to him that I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do.

He was too nice to tell me that there’s not really much to do, besides well, eating — and I know it may seem silly that I worried about something as trivial as a fancy lunch.

But this is just one example of so many other little things that make up the hidden curriculum that exists in a place like Harvard: navigating social hierarchies, going to office hours, knowing how to network, amongst so much more.

When you’re a first-generation student, these can be startlingly new, even foreign concepts.

What makes it even more difficult is realizing that your confusion is not shared — many of my classmates likely come into this school with a kind of preparation that went beyond extracurriculars and SAT prep.

There are students who can reference their parent’s college experiences for guidance, who have attended private schools that have groomed them to succeed in this environment, and undoubtedly these same students have access to circles that will support them in the professional world.

And I’ll admit that it would have been nice to have that existing structure, it certainly would’ve saved many tearful late night calls to my mother about the imposter syndrome that seemed to suffocate me on the harder days.

But I never felt that I was lacking, at least not in the most fundamental parts of myself.

I know from the very core of my bones that I am the producwt of generations of people who have struggled and survived, labored and lived.

I am the child of two dreamers — immigrants who dared to cross oceans and time zones to seek out a better life. And I’ve grown up learning the harsher realities of that dream: snide remarks about my mother’s accent and condescending attitudes toward my father’s work clothes.

It’s almost ironic to think that I now attend school with people who would consider themselves “superior” to my parents.

My mother even jokes sometimes that I probably hold myself to a higher esteem, thinking that I’m now smarter than them.

Being the first in the family to attend a college institution in the United States seems to invite a

First-generation students are celebrated for doing the unthinkable and pioneering a new legacy of change. But I reject this distinction. division between myself and my family. First-generation students are celebrated for doing the unthinkable and pioneering a new legacy of change.

But I reject this distinction, because I know from the very core of my bones that I am the product of generations of people who have struggled and survived, labored and lived.

My father taught me strength, my mother taught me endurance, and for them, I will not hold this guilt for being here — this is our shared accomplishment, and it will not stop with just me.

I pull back the chair and settle into my desk, hands resting for a moment on the smooth surface.

Pulling out a pen and some paper, I lean forward — there’s work to be done.

—Tajrean Rahman ’20, is a concentrator in History and Science in Currier House. Her column appears on alternate Fridays.

Page 7

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | September 13, 2019

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Sports

IN OTHER NEWS

SWIMMING

GOLF

First-year Will Grant was selected to the 201920 USA Swimming Men’s Junior National Team, where he will swim in the 100 and 200 backstroke.

First-year Adam Xiao took home first place in the Ryan T. Lee Memorial to kick off the fall campaign.

Harvard Junior Runs Nearly 70 Miles Back to School

By Ben Stern Crimson Staff Writer

Like thousands of other Harvard students, junior Brinkley Brown arrived at her dorm in late August to move in for a new school year.

But unlike the rest of her community, Brown didn’t get to Cambridge by plane, car, train, bike, or boat. She ran.

All the way from Concord, New Hampshire. In the end, she ran nearly 70 miles.

Brown, a sociology concentrator, hatched her plan after spending a summer working for the Appalachian Mountain Club and exploring the outdoors in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.

“I’d been running a bit, hiking, biking, swimming, all this stuff,” she said. “And I wanted a fun way to end the season. So I was looking for a race to do before coming back to school, but races are just honestly so expensive, and I would have had to travel a bit to get to one. And so I thought, why not run back to school?”

So Brown packed her bags into her parents’ car, hopped out of bed at 3:45 a.m. on Saturday, August 31, and took off, sporting a lightweight backpack, a red tank top, and a headlamp to light her way in the predawn darkness.

A former high school varsity cross-country runner and swimmer, Brown was wellequipped to handle an endurance challenge. She admits, though, that 69 miles was pushing it, even for her.

“The longest race I had done before was a twenty-miler, and I did that in the spring,” she said.

“I really loved it. And I thought, you know, why not do something kind of crazy? See how far I can go?”

Her route took her essentially south with a slight bend out to the east, according to a map of the run she provided to the Crimson. Much of the run tracked New England’s northsouth Route 28 highway.

Her father documented her feat on camera and compiled the footage into a YouTube video set to Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run.” ­

RETURN HOME Brown and her friends pose together upon her return back to campus. The total run took over 12 hours and was documented in a Youtube video recorded by her father.

Brown ran with a steady, bouncing gait, sometimes wearing a baseball cap to shield her from the sun, and periodically flashed an infectious smile to the videographer or waved her arms in milestone celebrations.

Friends and family joined Brown throughout the day, and she credits them with helping her persevere on her odyssey.

She had posted to Facebook in the days leading up to her run and invited friends and fami-

ly to accompany her for short stretches along the way.

“Join me in this adventure!” she wrote. “The more the merrier. I am beginning bright and early [on Saturday morning] and letting wind, love, food,

friendship, and the two best parents in the world support me the rest of the way. Here’s to living life in adventure!”

Her father even jumped in to trot alongside his daughter during a critical leg of the jour-

BORN TO RUN Brown was a long-distance runner and swimmer in high school, but had never attempted close to the amount of miles in her run back to campus at the endof August. PHOTO COURTESY OF BRINKLEY BROWN

PHO-

TO COURTESY OF BRINKLEY BROWN—Crimson photographer

ney.

“At around mile 52, I was in so much pain, and you know, it’s difficult,” said Brown. “So my dad actually got out on the side of Route 28 and ran with me for a mile, which was a lot for him.

And having him there, running with me, even though he doesn’t run, it just meant a lot. And, like, if people hadn’t joined me, I don’t know if I could have done it. That was a really important part.”

Brown’s mother also played a key role, especially in maintaining her physical energy throughout the journey.

“I had a little backpack with water, and my mom would always mix my electrolytes and salt in the water and rebuild my backpack,” said Brown.

“The minute you get thirsty or hungry, you’re already behind.

So you need to be constantly drinking, constantly eating. My parents were just like the best crew ever.”

Brown, who occasionally runs with the recreational Harvard College Marathon Challenge team, pointed out that the culture of the school help buoy her to success.

“We’re Harvard people,” she said. “When you have a goal, and you see the end, you just know you’re going to get there. I knew I was going to get to school that night no matter what. I didn’t know if I was going to be running, if I was going to be walking, if I was going to be crawling, but I knew that I was going to get there by sunset. I never doubted that moment would happen.”

Indeed, it did. Twelve hours and twenty-one minutes after she took her first step, Brinkley Brown jogged through the gates of the Leverett House courtyard along with a small entourage of fans and friends. They popped a bottle of champagne, smiled for the camera, and together closed the book on a unique move-in experience.

For a map of her journey from Concord, N.H. to Cambridge, MA., please see our online edition. ben.stern@thecrimson.com