The Harvard Crimson - Volume CXLVI, No. 92

The Harvard Crimson The University Daily, Est. 1873 | Volume CXLVI, No. 92 | Cambridge, Massachusetts | Friday, September 27, 2019

editorial PAGE 6

news PAGE 3

sports PAGE 8

Can the crisis in the humanities be solved?

Sai Shanthanand S. Rajagopal ’20 runs for Canadian Parliament

Harvard hosts Ivy League foes in games leading up to championship.

Divest Alumni Hire Activists

Canyon S. Woodward ‘08. Camille G. Caldera—Crimson photographer

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

The Ad Hoc Committee for Harvard Divest — a group of Harvard alumni advocating for the University to divest its endowment from fossil fuels— raised $60,000 to hire two coordinators for alumni activities through the Cambridge climate group Better Future Project.

The committee raised money for Better Future Project to hire former College students and divestment organizers Canyon S. Woodward ’15 and Chloe S. Maxmin ’15, who is also a Maine State Representative, according to former United States Senator and Ad Hoc Committee member Timothy E. Wirth ’61.

Wirth said the group is continuing to push the University to divest from fossil fuels through the creation of these new positions.“Now’s a critical time, you know why, there is nothing to wait for,” Wirth said. “We ought to get going and do everything we possibly can to get Harvard to grow up.”

University spokesperson Jonathan L. Swain referred to ­

University President Lawrence S. Bacow’s previous statements about divestment. Bacow has said that while he agrees with concerns about climate change, he disagrees with divestment as the best mechanism. Bacow has argued that the University should use its scholarship and engage with fossil fuel companies to address the issue.

Both Woodward and Maxmin officially work for the Better Future Project — headed by Executive Director Craig S. Altemose — but focus their efforts specifically on Harvard. The pair is involved with the group’s Divest Ed project, which works to expand the fossil fuel divestment campaign on college campuses.Altemose said Wirth had the idea for Better Future Project to hire Woodward to work exclusively on divestment at Harvard.

“So he works for Better Future Projects, not explicitly for the Ad Hoc Committee, though certainly works very closely with them,” Altemose said. “But I think ultimately, we really see the students as his supervisor, in the grandest sense that we want to make sure the work that he is doing is very much in line with what the students believe is strategic for the campaign.”

As undergraduates, Woodward and Maxim were both co-directors of Divest Harvard — a student-led group that organizes for fossil fuel divestment. During their time at the College, the group organized a week-long blockade of Massachusetts Hall, which houses the offices of the University President. Current Divest Harvard

See Divest Page 4

Pedestrians cross Massachusetts Avenue in groups, while car traffic waits for the light. A pedestrian was killed in Harvard Sqaure last week while walking outside a crosswalk. Camille G. Caldera—Crimson photographer

City Rethinks Pedestrian Safetly Following last week’s fatal accident, Cambridge residents and city officials reimagine Harvard Square’s pedestrian safety measures.

By declan J. Knieriem Crimson Staff Writer

Cambridge residents and city officials have started to question the state of pedestrian safety after 67-year-old librarian Sharon Hamer was struck and killed last week crossing the street in Harvard Square outside of the crosswalk.

Several days later, during Monday’s City Council meeting, Vice Mayor Jan Devere-

ux introduced a policy order calling on her colleagues to commit to studying how pedestrian safety can be improved during the upcoming redesign of the Harvard Square Kiosk.

As Out of Town News, the kiosk’s longtime occupant, prepares to leave its space ahead of major renovations, Devereux said in an interview that there is a clear opportunity and obligation to evaluate how the Square

can become more pedestrian-friendly.

I really want to ask our staff to just take a second, third, fourth, look at the design, and how it’s going to improve the conditions because we have so many people crossing the plaza now,” she said. “I just think we’re obligated to really scrutinize it very carefully.”

“I think this crash is really a wake up call that we can’t simply ignore,” she added.

Wendy Landman, executive director of WalkBoston — a pedestrian safety group that is working across the state to make cities safer and more convenient for walking — said her organization is cused on improving “everyday walking” such as travel to schools and transit hubs.

In terms of safety, she said she is most concerned with distracted driving.

See Safety Page 3

Grad Students Debate on Union Behalf of Candidates Holds Elections

By Shera S. Avi-Yonah and Delano R. Franklin Crimson Staff Writers

By James S. Bikales and Ruoqi Zhang Crimson Staff Writers

Harvard’s graduate student union announced two new members of its bargaining committee on Thursday, adding new faces to the body responsible for contract negotiations with the University.

Statistics Ph.D. candidate Cory W. McCartan and Biostatistics Ph.D. candidate Lee Kennedy-Shaffer were announced as the two new members of Harvard Graduate Students Union – United Automobile Workers’ bargaining committee, according to an email sent to union members by the union’s elections committee. There are now 10 members on the bargaining committee.

McCartan and Kennedy-Shaffer were the only two students to run for five open positions. No vote was held and they won the election by acclamation, according to returning bargaining committee member Rachel J. Sandalow-Ash ’15. As a result, three committee seats remain unfilled.

McCartan wrote in an email that before coming to Harvard, he organized Grinnell College’s Union of Grinnell Student Dining Workers and negotiated three contracts while he was an undergraduate there.“Now, at Harvard, I hope to use my bargaining experience to help negotiate a strong and fair first contract,” McCartan wrote.

Kennedy-Shaffer said the 2016 strike by the Harvard ­

See Union Page 5 Inside this issue

Harvard Today 2

­ ipping their toes into the naD tional political scene for an evening, six representatives of Harvard groups supporting Democratic candidates for president sparred over policy ideas and platforms at a debate held in Harvard Yard Thursday evening.

Roughly 200 undergraduates packed into a Sever Hall classroom for the event, hosted by the Harvard Political Union.

Despite the debate’s intent to persuade, some attendees appeared to have made up their minds before coming, donning campaign gear for the candidates represented on stage.

HPU President Matthew S.

Miller ’21, Institute of Politics Director of Diversity and Outreach Jasmine N. Hyppolite ’21, and Institute of Politics Director Mark D. Gearan ’78 introduced the debaters and laid out the event’s format.Each debater had the opportunity to give an opening and closing statement; answer an audience question; respond to common campaign criticisms; and articulate their candidates’ position on climate change, health care, foreign policy, and education. If a candidate went over the allotted time, Miller interrupted them with loud bangs of his gavel.

Groups of Harvard College Democrats favoring Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), former Vice President Joe Biden,

See Debate Page 4

Harvard undergraduates argued on behalf of several Democratic presidential candidates in a Harvard Political Union-sponsored debate Thursday evening. Delano R. Franklin— Crimson photographer

EPS Professor Awarded McArthur Fellowship

SEE PAGE 5

By Juliet E. Isselbacher Crimson Staff Writer

Harvard Earth and Planetary Sciences professor Jerry X. Mitrovica was one of 26 individuals awarded the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship Wednesday.

The MacArthur fellowship is a $625,000 “no-strings-attached” award, granted to “extraordinarily talented and creative individuals as an investment in their potential,” according to the MacArthur Foundation’s site.

Foundation president John G. Palfrey ’94 wrote on the site that this year’s cohort of fellows “give us reason for hope.” ­

The Office of Career Services, at 54 Dunster St., is starting to use Interstride to aid international students in their job searches. Camille g. caldera—Crimson photographer

News 3

Editorial 6

Sports 8

Today’s Forecast

SUNNY High: 76 Low: 57

“From addressing the consequences of climate change to furthering our understanding of human behavior this year’s 26 extraordinary MacArthur Fellows demonstrate the power of individual creativity to reframe old problems, spur reflection, create new knowledge, and better the world for everyone,” he wrote.

Mitrovica runs a lab group that studies sea level changes on time scales ranging from seconds to millions of years. He said his group is most often associated with glacial “fingerprints” — the idea that melting ice sheets do not raise s­ ea levels uniformly,

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THE HARVARD CRIMSON |

september 27, 2019

Page 2

Harvard Today

For Lunch Buffalo Pizza Falafel Sandwich French Fries

For Dinner Italian Sub Rosemary Chicken Zucchini Rings

Today’s Events UC Career Closet Smith Campus Center, 2-4 p.m.

in The Real World

As job interviews get underway, it might be helpful to pick up some new professional clothing. Today and tomorrow, the Undergraduate Council is providing an opportunity to pick up, donate, or exchange business clothing for free! The clothing event will occur at the UC office on the second floor of the Smith Campus Center (outside Collaborative Commons).

Military Suicide Rates Reach Record High

A Department of Defense report released yesterday showed that in 2018, the suicide rate for active duty service members was 24.8 per 100,000.

This rate is the highest it’s ever been recorded; for comparison, the same rate in 2013 was 18.5 per 100,000. The army intends to continue developing resources to help those at risk for suicide.

Super Bowl Headliners Announced

Arabic Night 7 p. m., Adams Upper Common Room Unwind this evening at Arabic Night with the Society of Arab Students!

They’ll be providing all the essentials: snacks, music, board games, card games, and good company. You and your friends can find this event at 7 p.m. tonight in the Adams Upper Common Room.

Cambridge saw sunshine and a light breeze on Thursday during the first official week of fall.

Next February, Shakira and Jennifer Lopez will headline the Super Bowl halftime show in Miami.

The show will be produced by Roc Nation, a company founded by Jay Z. Shakira and Lopez expressed their excitement to play the show.

Shera s. avi-yonah—Crimson photographer

Trump Calls Whistleblower ‘Almost a Spy’

Daily Briefing The Ad Hoc Committee for Harvard Divest — a group of Harvard alumni advocating for the University to divest its endowment from fossil fuels— raised $60,000 to hire two coordinators for alumni activities through the Cambridge climate group Better Future Project. Divestment organizers Canyon S. Woodward ’15 and Chloe S. Maxmin ’15, who is also a Maine State Representative, are involved with the Better Future Project’s Divest Ed project, which works to expand the fossil fuel divestment campaign on college campuses. In other news, Cambridge residents and city officials have started to question the state of pedestrian safety after a pedestrian was struck and killed last week crossing the street in Harvard Square.

After this week’s whistleblower complaint came to light, President Trump was recorded discussing the whistleblower at an event in New York. Trump called the whistleblower “almost a spy” and suggested that their actions had been treasonous.

His statements drew criticism from national security figures and whistleblower advocates.

Around the Ivies BROWN As Purdue Pharma — the pharmaceutical company tied to the Sackler family — continues to receive more scrutiny for its role in the opioid epidemic, Brown University has started redirecting the donations it has received from the Sackler family to Rhode Island charities. The Sackler family’s foundation gifted the university $1 million dollars in 2015 to endow an arts event series. The university did not spend the gift in 2017 and 2018 because of the controversy surrounding the family.

princeton

Following protests surrounding Princeton’s Title IX administration process, a joint committee will release the results of an external review surrounding the university’s policies with the goal of improving resources and student support systems related to Title IX policies. The committee has already supported the launch of a web portal and discussed expanding sexual and mental health advising staff.

CORNELL

Students have been resisting proposed changes to Cornell’s College of Human Ecology, which administrators are considering renaming the College of Public Policy to improve social science education at the university. Cornell students fear that the proposed name-change would diminish the emphasis on human and health education that the College of Human Ecology represents.

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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

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

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

Night Editor Abigail L. Simon ’20

Design Editor Margot E. Shang ’21

Assistant Night Editors Meena Venkataramanan ’21 Michelle G. Kurilla ’22

Photo Editors Shera S. Avi-Yonah ’21 Camille G. Caldera ’22

Story Editors Angela N. Fu ’20 Jamie D. Halper ’20 Luke W. Xu ’20

Editorial Editor Daniel Kim ’21

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.

Sports Editor Joseph W. Minatel ’21

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 27, 2019

Student Runs for Parliament

By Camille G. Caldera Crimson Staff Writer

Sai Shanthanand S. Rajagopal ’20 was doing research in Chennai, India in June when the city reached “Day Zero” — the day that all four reservoirs ran dry and left almost no water.

“You would see women, especially, lined up on the streets, and they’d be arguing and fighting because water tankers had to be bused in to bring in water,” Rajagopal said. “And I realized that the climate change issue isn’t an ‘in the future’ thing. We have to hit these targets now.”

Witnessing first-hand the drought’s effects on the local population prompted Rajagopal — a second-generation Canadian from Winnipeg, Manitoba — to run for office. He is the Green Party candidate for the parliament race of his riding — the Canadian term for district — Winnipeg North.

Rajagopal is currently running against five other candidates, including the incumbent from the Liberal Party, Kyle Lamoureux. The Conservative Party candidate, Cameron Ogilvie, left the race after making racist remarks and has yet to be replaced.

The election is scheduled for Oct. 21, just five and a half weeks after the campaign period kicked off on Sept. 11.

Rajagopal said he turned to the Green Party because he believes Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s liberal government has failed to take meaningful steps toward meeting its climate change targets including reducing emissions 30 percent from 2005 levels by 2030.

“I started volunteering with the Green Party of Manitoba, because they were the only party that had very actionable policy changes that would lead to the drastic reduction in carbon emissions that we need,” he said.

Rajagopal put himself into consideration as the Green Party candidate over the summer and found out he was selected in mid-August. ­

Sai Shanthanand S. Rajagopal ‘20 has spent the last moth in his hometown of Winnipeg, Manitoba while campaigning for a seat in Canadian parliament. cAMILLE c. cALDERA—Crimson photographer

Apart from environmental policy, Rajagopal’s platform focuses on working with First Nations people to rework the Indian Act and combatting his riding’s growing substance abuse and opioid epidemic.

Despite remaining enrolled at the College, Rajagopal has spent the whole semester in Winnipeg up until this week, when he traveled back to campus for a midterm.

“My professors have been so understanding. They’ve been able to move deadlines for me, just exempt me from a lot of attendance things, and that’s been very helpful,” Rajagopal said. “I likely would have done it anyway, and just taken the penalty, but it’s nice to have a little bit of leeway.”

While in Winnipeg, Rajagopal has been running his campaign out of his bedroom — where he has taped maps of the riding all across his walls —

UC Explores Bringing Robots

By Kevin R. Chen and Laura C. Espinoza Crimson Staff Writers

The Undergraduate Council is currently working to bring to campus small robots powered by artificial intelligence that can deliver food to students, according to Dunster House Representative Noah Harris ’22.

Starship Technologies, the company that manufactures the robots, aims to “make local delivery faster, smarter and more cost-efficient.”

Weighing in at under 100 pounds, the robots operate autonomously on streets and sidewalks. Ordered food stays locked inside the machine until the buyer unlocks it with a smartphone app.

According to Harris, Starship’s robots already operate on the campuses of George Mason University, Northern Arizona University, Purdue University, and the University of Pittsburgh. Turbotax’s employees on their corporate campus also use these robots.

Harris said he got the idea to bring the robots to campus after seeing a news story on the news about Starship robots delivering food on other college campuses. He then contacted Starship Technologies to plan to bring the robots to Harvard.

“I was just like, this would be a really cool thing to implement at Harvard,” Harris said. “Harvard’s like a really open kind of campus and large sidewalks and a lot of space.”

Sean Eckard, senior manager of business development at Starship Technologies, said the project is awaiting approval from the Cambridge City Council. Eckard said he believes student support will help the ap­

proval process.

“We engaged with the city of Cambridge, and the idea is, I think it would be good if there’s a request from the student body to the city, that we would like to have these robots here,” Eckard said.

According to Eckard, when the company and the UC proposed the project to Harvard University Dining Services, HUDS declined to participate because it wanted to focus on community dining experiences inside of student dining halls. “[The University has] been supportive, of course,” Eckard said. “In this instance, we’re going to need to sign on neighboring restaurants, so private restaurants. This requires us to drive on the City of Cambridge’s sidewalks.”

Harris said he hopes the UC will be able to hire student workers to operate the robots, as the robots require personnel to place the food inside them.

“They’re going to the various restaurants to get the food to put in the robot or going to HUDS and working with their staff because someone has to put the food in the robots,” Harris said of the student workers.

The University does not oppose this new project and is waiting on approval from the city, according to an email from University spokesperson Brigid O’Rourke.

“If and when private vendors obtain all required approvals to operate on City sidewalks, we don’t anticipate any material obstacles to allowing them to operate on the sidewalks within campus as well,” O’Rourke wrote in an email.

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with the help of four volunteers.

“I would say the most engaging moments I’ve had are actually just the door-to-door canvassing I do,” he said. “When I do that, I’m able to talk face to face with voters.”

Paul E. Adams, a veteran political reporter and current professor of journalism at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, said he believes it is unlikely that Rajagopal will win the seat.

Though Adams has not been following Winnipeg North closely in this election, he said he knows its history well.

“I would be very, very surprised to hear that the Greens were to win that seat,” he said.

“It’s not one that’s often in the discussion as a target riding for the Greens.”

Still, Adams said things can change rapidly in parliamentary systems.

“The parties like to say ‘we have a candidate running in all 338 seats,’ and sometimes what happens is that there’s a wave towards one party,” Adams said. “A high tide lifts all ships and you get people getting elected who you wouldn’t have expected to.”

Rajagopal said if he wins, he will drop out of his master’s program and leave at the end of the term. He is an Advanced Standing student. If not, he plans to work in the non-profit or service sector and is “more than willing” to run again.

“For the Green Party, they’re looking for some continuity of candidates who keep running, so that way people can get more recognition for the Green Party, as well as the individual candidate in the riding,” he said. “I would probably try to run again in four years. camille.caldera@thecrimson.com

Safety From Page 1

City Discusses Pedestrian Safety “When you walk down the street, whether you’re in Cambridge, or Boston, or rural towns in the Berkshires, it feels like half the drivers are looking at their phones,” she said. “The number of fatalities has been growing across the country, and there are a lot of people trying to figure out what all was going on.”

While crashes involving motor vehicles in Cambridge have dropped since 2000, the number of crashes involving pedestrians has stayed “generally consistent,” according to a 2017 Cambridge Police Department report. The report attributes this fact to the city’s rising population and associated rising number of pedestrians on Cambridge’s streets. Crashes involving either pedestrians or cyclists make up an average 17 percent of total crashes annually.

Patrick C. Braga, a student at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, said the Square has several “shortcomings” with regard to ensuring the pedestrian and cyclist safety. Among the most significant are narrow sidewalks and a street design that gives priority to cars, he said.

“I’m almost punished through the streetscape design of having to constantly have to reassert just my human presence to others and hope that I can get empathy from the people who are driving to not endanger me and not see me as an obstacle in their way, but just somebody trying to get somewhere,” he said.

“Distracted walking should not be punishable by death in a highly walked dense area like Harvard Square,” he added.

Devereux said that there is no “magic bullet” to solve the problem, but that the city is taking steps to improve safety. She cited decreased speed limits and

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improved street design as part of an ongoing effort to address deadly crashes.

“Street design is key — looking for ways to continue to make the street infrastructure reflect that pedestrians and cyclists have equal, if not greater, right, to be using the street and need to be protected and separated and very visible,” she said.

Landman said that Cambridge’s city government has been a strong partner with her organization in improving pedestrian safety. She added that “concerted efforts” by the city have helped to improve overall safety, though it still has its issues.“A great many Cantabrigians walk to transit, walk to their cars, walk in general,” she said. “[City officials] have been hard on it, but it has obviously not been fully successful.”

Braga said he proposed a design overhaul for the Square that would include a roundabout with smaller lanes and “prioritize safety.” He added that additional measures like changing the number of car lanes in certain areas and relying less on traffic lights could alleviate some of the dangers throughout Cambridge.

“It shouldn’t be that kind of rigid, over-engineered control,” he said.

Braga also said the possibility of eliminating car traffic entirely from the Square posed an “extraordinarily promising” solution so long as it were to be sufficiently studied. Both Devereux and Landman agreed.

Cambridge resident Heather M. Hoffman said that while she believes many approaches must be considered when addressing pedestrian safety, she believes walkers must be more “assertive” in order to help prevent crashes. declan.knieriem@thecrimson.com

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | September 27, 2019

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Divest From Page 1

DEbate From Page 1

Alums Hire Divest Activists

Undergraduates Hold Proxy Debate

members hosted “Heat Week” last April, a modified version of the original protest featuring rallies and panels about divestment, but no blockade.

We’re in this total crisis mode.

Canyon S. Woodword Divest Activist

Woodward — who started in August — said he has been mainly focusing on engaging alumni on the issue of divestment. Woodward is currently planning a retreat for alumni who were involved in fossil fuel divestment activism.

“I’m still in really good communication with tons of folks from my years at Harvard, who were involved with this cam-

paign on campus,” Woodward said. “I think it was one of the most meaningful, impactful experiences that a lot of us had at Harvard.”

Working part-time for the Divest Ed project, Maxmin spends most of her time serving in the Maine House of Representatives. She did not respond to a request for comment Thursday evening.

Woodward said this is a critical time to get involved with divestment. Last week, members of the group rallied in the Science Center Plaza and at Boston City Hall Plaza as part of a worldwide climate strike.

“We’re in this total crisis moment with climate change, and we have to get meaningful action now,” Woodward said. alexandra.chaidez@thecrimson.com aidan.ryan@thecrimson.com

Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.), South Bend, Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigieg ’04, Senator Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and entrepreneur Andrew Yang were present at the debate. One student from each group participated in the debate as other members of each group cheered from the audience.

Each debater delivered an opening statement, giving a brief pitch for their respective candidates. M. Kate H. Travis ’22, representing Harvard for Warren, recalled hearing about Warren’s remarks in support of Planned Parenthood in 2015.“I’m worried about one day that I or one of my friends might need a cancer screening, or an IUD, or maybe even an abortion and not be able to get it because our government decided that that was not the kind of healthcare that we wanted to provide, and who should I see on my Facebook feed but Eliza-

beth Warren talking about this issue,” she said.

Damian L. Richardson ’20, a member of Harvard for Kamala, focused his remarks on Harris’s record as a prosecutor.

“The criminal justice system is a more just place because Kamala entered into a system she knew was steeped in oppression and reformed it from the inside out,” Richardson said. “Let me tell you, she’s ready to prosecute the case against the predator in the White House.”

During one part of the debate, the moderators asked each representative about a criticism commonly leveled at their respective candidate’s campaign.

Miller asked Diego A. Garcia ’20, a member of Harvard for Biden, about Biden’s decision to support the Anti-Drug Abuse Act 0f 1986 when he was a U.S. senator representing Delaware.“If crime were to rise under Vice President Biden’s potential presidential adminis-

tration, how would he craft a criminal justice policy that does not fuel racial inequality?” Miller asked.

Garcia responded, calling for the end of private prisons.

“Furthermore, we need to decriminalize marijuana,” Garcia responded. “Finally, we need to invest in preventive services — things like addiction therapy, mental health services, education.”

Midway through the event, Miller and Hyppolite ceded the floor to audience members.

Faced with an audience question about Booker’s record on education while serving as mayor of Newark, N.J., Harvard Law School student and Harvard for Cory representative Andrew J. Freire defended the candidate’s decision to support charter schools in the city.

Many of the debaters used part of their closing statements to invite audience members to their groups’ regular meet-

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ings. The HPU also invited attendees to sign up for “Harvard For” email lists. Other debaters included Piper W. Winkler ’21 from Harvard for Bernie, Michael B. Baick ’22 from Harvard for Pete, and Michael Zhu ’22 from Harvard for Yang.

Debate-watcher Lena Lofgren ’23 said she has a “strong leaning” toward voting for Warren or Sanders in the Pennsylvania primary, but that she attended the debate to hear other undergraduates’ rationales.

“In the democratic field can be hard to distinguish between different candidates, especially in such a competitive primary,” Lofgren said. “So I think it was important to me to hear the perspectives of the different candidates in this debate setting but also in particular hear why other students are attracted to them.” shera.avi-yonah@thecrimson.com delano.franklin@thecrimson.com

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THE HARVARD CRIMSON | sEPTEMBER 27, 2019

OCS Offers Intl. Job Search Tools

By Andrea M. Bossi and Annie C. Doris Crimson Staff Writers

­ he Harvard Office of Career T Services launched a new online platform that helps international students find jobs in the United States and aids American students in locating jobs abroad earlier this month.

The platform, Interstride, allows students to look up individual companies and see how many visas they have sponsored. Interstride also provides information on visa application processes in different countries, practical advice for living abroad, and organizational tools to help structure the job search.

OCS decided to subscribe to Interstride because international students — both in the College and in the graduate schools — have increasingly faced challenges in securing jobs in the U.S. “Last year, it was particularly difficult for our international

students, particularly our College students, to land jobs in the United States if they wanted them because our government has been making the visa process even a little more challenging,” OCS Director Robin Mount said.

International students wanting to work in the U.S. must be in accordance with F-1 student visa regulations. To work in the U.S., F-1 visa holders can apply for one of two programs: Curricular Practical Training or Optional Practical Training.

CPT must be completed before graduation and is incorporated into a student’s plan of study.

OPT can be granted initially for up to twelve months and can be used either while a student is in college or post-graduation.

Most international students searching for summer internships apply for CPT, because the timeframe for obtaining OPT tends to be lengthy.

“I have international friends who applied for OPT but didn’t get an answer on time, so they

had to cancel their summer plans in the U.S. and find something else to do,” Tunisia-native Wassim Marrakchi ’21 said.

Some international students have also reported longer processing times for OPT applications in recent years.

Students with E.U. passports have also faced new challenges in their job searches due to Brexit, according to Mount.

In the past, some E.U. citizens chose to work at multinational corporations with branches in the U.K., but those opportunities are now limited given that many companies are eliminating their British branches.

With these recent difficulties in mind, OCS chose to bring Interstride to campus and will terminate their subscription to GoinGlobal — the office’s current platform for international job searches — on Monday.

“I think GoinGlobal had been designed thinking about students who wanted to go abroad and then also happened to help students who were internation-

al students,” said OCS Associate Director of Employer Relations and Operations. “I think Interstride was instead designed by people who had been international students themselves, so it was designed with the international student in mind but also helps students who want to go abroad and has lots of country guides and things like that.”

Dimitar Karev ’21, who is from Bulgaria, said that though he believes Interstride will be helpful, there is a limit to how much the platform can be of assistance.

“Almost all the jobs that I applied to had the question, ‘Are you eligible to work in the U.S.?’ or a question like ‘Would you ever want us to sponsor you in the U.S.?’” he said. “If I ever wanted to continue full-time, I’d need to be sponsored, and a lot of companies don’t sponsor and don’t accept international students.” andrea.bossi@thecrimson.com annie.doris@thecrimson.com

gRANT From Page 1

EPS Professor Named MacArthur Fellow like in a bathtub, but rather create specificspatial patterns.

“We come up with models for how the sea level should vary from place to place,” Mitrovica said. “And that pattern looks nothing like the bathtub.

It changes from place to place dramatically. And we provide the community with those patterns.”

Mitrovica said that these patterns can be counterintuitive.

“Some scientists still scratch their heads about it, but where an ice sheet melts, sea lev-

els will actually fall,” he said.

“But you’re gonna pay the price somewhere, right? The further you get away from the ice sheet, the more of a sea level rise.”

He added that the “locations with the highest sea level rise” will include the east and west coasts of the United States.

Mitrovica said his group personalizes patterns of climate change for communities.

“For many years in sea level research, all people ever did was quote the average,” Mitrovica said. “If you do what you do in

the Boston area, you don’t really care what the average is. You want to know what what it’s doing in the Boston Harbor.”

Mitrovica said he was “shocked” to receive the award, and looks forward to harnessing it in order to promote equity and inclusion in the sciences.

“I have a great group of graduate students. They’re activists in every way,” he said. “And I think I was going to talk a lot in the next few weeks about what is a way at least to use part of this funding to address equity and

diversity issues.”

Sophie L. Coulson, a graduate student working with Mitrovica, said the professor has already sought guidance from his mentees on how he can best use the award to improve diversity within the science community.

“We’ve talked about having high school students work with us in the lab during the summer,” Coulson said. “That’s definitely something that we’re excited to participate in.” juliet.isselbacher@thecrimson.com

union From Page 1

Union Elects New Negotiators University Dining Services workers inspired him to run for the bargaining committee. “I’ve been very impressed with everyone on the bargaining committee and the work that they’ve put in so far,” Kennedy-Shaffer said.

The election came after five members left HGSU’s bargaining committee last spring following graduation or moving away from Cambridge. Of the three vacant seats, one is the spot reserved for a representative from Harvard College.

Evan C. MacKay ’19, the former College representative, graduated last spring.

Sandalow-Ash wrote in an emailed statement that even though no undergraduates ran for a bargaining committee position, College students are “heavily involved” in union organizing.“Our bargaining committee works closely with undergrad student workers, and

we are committed to winning a contract that meets the needs of undergrad and grad workers alike,” Sandalow-Ash wrote.

Sandalow-Ash added that returning members are looking forward to welcoming McCartan and Kennedy-Shaffer and will work to bring them “up to speed” on the negotiations. “We are excited to see the new perspectives that our new bargaining committee members will bring,” she wrote.

Since HGSU and Harvard began negotiations in October 2018, they have come to tentative agreements on a number of proposals including travel reimbursements, health, and safety equipment. They remain deadlocked over central contract issues such as grievance procedures, compensation, and healthcare benefits. james.bikales@thecrimson.com ruoqi.zhang@thecrimson.com

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THE HARVARD CRIMSON | september 27, 2019

Page 6

Editorial The Crimson Editorial board

column

Can the ‘Crisis in the Humanities’ Be Solved?

The Circles We Keep

A

Tajrean Rahman ON THE EDGE OF THE ELITE

mid a national debate about the utility of a liberal-arts education, wherein some universities have considered replacing some humanities departments with more career-oriented pathways, Harvard’s History department has decided to offer a set of new foundational courses and a “career course cluster” track in a bid to attract more students.

We view this “crisis in the humanities,” and the History department’s response to it, as a phenomenon best understood only by considering the ways in which our economy, Harvard, and higher education in general have changed in recent years. As the number of concentrators in the humanities and some social sciences has dwindled here at Harvard, we believe the shift away from these subjects can be explained by a tragic feedback loop between the University’s changing relationship with the economy at large, and students’ increasing academic orientation towards career-related fields, partly fueled by misconceptions about the utility of the humanities.

This phenomenon may appear appropriate and inevitable, if one believes students go to college purely to learn things that will help them find a job. This is a natural outcome of economic demand and incentives, especially as the most recent financial crisis and concerns about college affordability loom large in the minds of our generation.

This functional attitude towards higher education is only reinforced at Harvard. Through a well-oiled recruiting mechanism, our peers — 48 percent of surveyed recent grads — are funneled

into fields like consulting, technology, and financial services. The significant presence of these industries has reified a culture where students may feel as if working in these fields, and studying specific concentrations to prepare for them, are their only option. We find this trend particularly troubling for industries we believe have done relatively little to further the social good.

However, it does not necessarily follow that the humanities and social sciences fail to equip students for future

As a Board, we believe in preserving the educational philosophy of the liberal arts — studying history and the humanities has deep, enduring cultural value that goes beyond immediate functional value. careers. Rather, we believe this misconception — the failure to recognize the important communicative and qualitative analysis skills that these fields foster for their students — partly explains the crisis facing the humanities and social sciences.

But at issue here is not only the utility value of the humanities and social sciences. Instead, this functional attitude towards higher education at large seems to us at bottom a rejection of the liberal arts education. As a Board, we believe in preserving the educational philosophy

of the liberal arts — studying history and the humanities has deep, enduring cultural value that goes beyond immediate functional value. These fields prompt us with questions about meaning, contextualise our studies of the natural world, enable reflections about long-standing but biased assumptions, and define what it means to live within the dictates of empirical and mathematical rules. In a world of numbers, the social sciences and humanities help us understand the space between them.

Though practically difficult to achieve, a major reworking of the relationship between higher education and leading roles in the economy seems necessary if we hope, as a society, to bestow greater value on the modes of thinking taught in a liberal arts curriculum. Otherwise, there may not be much humanities departments can do, especially if students continue to opt for other fields of study. Therefore, we encourage affected departments and faculties to begin discussing this issue more widely, if they have not already done so — to show the great value that the traditional liberal arts curriculum can provide to all students, regardless of their career or life trajectory.

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

Bstory Chooses Disrespect, We Still Choose Love

By Chloe A. Shawah

N

ews of school shootings pierce in a uniquely nauseating way. Parents send their children, teens, and young adults off to school so that they can grow and learn for their bright futures — flawlessly innocent, perfectly defenseless. The act of robbing children of those futures, destroying that innocence, and taking advantage of such defenselessness is too evil and sickening to convey with words.

Also sickening are those who make any attempt to profit off of or sensationalize such a tragedy.

On September 15, a clothing brand named Bstroy released Instagram posts from a fashion show in New York launching some of their new items. Among the newly debuted items are four sweatshirts: one green with “Sandy Hook” written across the front, one light blue with the words “Stoneman Douglas,” one faded red with “Virginia Tech,” and one gray with “Columbine” in light blue letters.

All four sweatshirts are riddled with bullet holes.

I cannot fathom why the designers of those sweatshirts and the owners of the company, Dieter Grams and Brick Owens, thought that this stunt would be anything other than insensitive and disgusting.

Survivors and victims’ families were justifiably outraged by the sweatshirts.

I cannot even imagine how appalling it must be for those affected by the tragedies to see their pain being marketed as a fashion statement. Beloved daughters,

sons, siblings, and friends lost their lives to real-life bullet holes through their real-life clothing. For entire communities, these shootings were not a movie scene or a distant news peg; they are a reality that people must continue to grapple with today. To even create, much less market, these sweatshirts is disrespectful to the victims and to all who loved them. Even if Bstroy did not intend to sell the sweatshirts as they so claim, attempting to gain publicity or notoriety at the expense of others’ loss is despicable nonetheless.

I want to see the images taken off of Bstroy’s and Brick Owens’ Instagrams and I never want so much as a thread of one of those sweatshirts to be produced again. I want consumers to boycott Bstroy so they can never sell another article of clothing. In my rage and in my anger, I want the producers of these sweatshirts to know even just one ounce of the pain that those affected by the tragedies have to carry with them every day of their lives.

But then I take a step back and I remember the lessons I learned growing up in the town neighboring Sandy Hook.

Their message is this: “We are Sandy Hook, We Choose Love.”

For Sandy Hook, the emphasis has never been on vengefulness, hatred, or bitterness. The community has preached, and continues to preach, kindness and empathy above all. Kindness and empathy, even in the face of evil and hatred.

For the one green sweatshirt on

Bstroy’s Instagram, there are hundreds and hundreds of “Be Kind” necklaces worn around the country as a reminder to treat others with kindness. While Bstroy might be seeking to make a profit, there are charities and funds such as the Vicki Soto Memorial Fund, the CMAK Foundation, the Jesse Lewis Choose Love Foundation, and dozens of others dedicated to spreading kindness and combating violence in memory of the Sandy Hook angels. Sandy Hook is not alone in their resilience, as the communities surrounding Columbine, Marjory Stoneman Douglas, and Virginia Tech also preach messages of kindness and love despite the suffering that they too have experienced.

I urge you, the reader, to honor the victims of these tragedies by doing as their families ask: spread kindness.

Spread kindness here at Harvard, spread it in your hometowns.

Wear it on your sleeve, and take it with you everywhere you go. Use instances like Bstroy’s insensitivity to remind you of the work that needs to be done and how little acts of kindness by you and I can help move us in that direction.

Of course I still want the images of the sweatshirts to be taken down. But more than that, I want the voices preaching kindness and empathy to be heard far louder than the voices preaching disrespect and insensitivity.

Choose love.

—Chloe A. Shawah ’22, a Crimson Editorial editor, lives in Cabot House.

C

ollege has done an alarmingly good job of making me feel like crap. Not all the time, but a substantial enough amount that it seems worth discussing.

Harvard is an elite kind of place, stating it as such almost seems redundant at this point. Perhaps we can’t fault the institution for its nature, not when its inception was based on curating the best and brightest (and by no coincidence, the most socio-economically well off ). So instead, we like to celebrate how far Harvard has come since the days its student body had largely been comprised of white men.

My theory of the modern Harvard student, however, is that we’ve held onto our continuing legacy of wanting to be different and distinct, “superior” from the rest. Smarts, spirit, and a decision behind the closed doors of the admissions office have gotten us all to this same school. But how do you distinguish yourself from people who are just as smart and spirited, if not better?

The solution comes in the form of comp processes to get into clubs that pride themselves on the numerous hoops they can make applicants jump through in the hopes of securing a spot of acceptance. It’s possible that there is substance to “merit-based” organizations like the Harvard Lampoon, which has a comp, or the Signet Society, which has an application — surely they’re justified in wanting to select who they deem as having the talent to be involved in their respective circles.

My theory of the modern Harvard student, however, is that we’ve held onto our continuing legacy of wanting to be different and distinct, “superior” from the rest.

But I’ve always found something more insidious about some social clubs on campus. For those not familiar, single-gender final clubs are select organizations that would have been easy to ignore if not for their blatantly present properties on campus, and the complicated histories tied to them. You can’t quite get to the Staples on campus without passing by at least one of these mansions, identified by some tacky flag hung from their doorstep.

Every fall, these organizations on campus invite students to join them in a semester long “punch process” — a time-consuming cat and mouse game where the priority for serious punch-hopefuls is to demonstrate their commitment to the social club by attending every punch event, no matter how ridiculous the timing or place.

Objectively, it might not seem like a bad thing to commit to: A private party place on campus, notorious prestige, and an impressively strong alumni network. My first experience even interacting with this more obscure realm of campus life was on a phone call to solicit donations on behalf of Harvard, where a very loyal alumni of an unrecognized student organization ranted for several minutes about his refusal to donate anything until the College’s sanctions are removed.

At the time, and even now, I can’t help but wonder what the purpose of a “social club” is — what are their missions and values, do they even exist?

What do they contribute to the student body beyond a gated social scene?

And a darker question — what does it mean to be rejected from such an organization? It isn’t exactly the equivalent of a failed comp process or a botched performance. Rather, the reason why one does not make the cut, is often based on that person’s social capital on campus.

Of course members of these organizations would argue that there are cuts based on commitment to the punch process, but what’s the excuse then for people who go to every event and meeting, only to still fail at achieving membership? There isn’t much insight into the metrics for deciding if a person is fit to join a social club, but the rejection is a clear statement in and of itself — you’re not good enough. For us.

It is very easy to take these superfluous decisions to a personal level — to be socially rejected is an intimately hurtful thing. But it is just as important to remember that these “elite” organizations are only as special as we let them be.

My own elite circle is made up of the best kinds of people: Art history nerds and computer science whizzes, friends who always save me a seat at lecture, and blockmates who never fail to make me laugh after a tiring day.

My network is made up of teaching fellows who offer to stay past office hours and House tutors who love to geek out over comics. I’ve been awed to know people who unfalteringly share their truths, and been humbled to be with those who are brave enough to be vulnerable.

Beyond campus, I am honored to know uncles who freely volunteer at masjids, organizers who rally to normalize mental health in their communities, and advocates who exercise utmost patience and compassion in supporting their siblings with special needs.

The people I’ve surrounded myself with are people who inspire me to strive to be my best self.

They may not have accolades and titles, and they might not even want that sort of recognition.

I certainly did not have to complete any punch process to earn their companionship. Truly great people, you see, freely and gladly share the warmth, intellect, and joy of their greatness.

And these are the kinds of circles I want to keep forever.

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

ARTS

The Harvard Crimson | September 27, 2019 | page 7

CAMPUS

In ‘LOVE IS CALLING,’ Mirrors Reflect the Instagram Era Pop artist Yayoi Kusama was born in 1929, grew up in a family of Japanese merchants, and began hallucinating polka dots when she was 10 years old.

Kusama later wrote that the dots — which became central to her art — acted as “a way to infinity.”

“When we obliterate nature and our bodies with polka dots,” she added, “we become part of the unity of our environment.”

As a young adult, Kusama moved from Japan to New York City, where she contributed to the 1960s art scene until health problems sent her home in 1973. She has resided in a psychiatric hospital in Tokyo ever since. In 2017, she told the Wall Street Journal that there is not a single day when she does not think of suicide.

According to Institute for Contemporary Art, Boston director Jill Medvedow, Kusama’s artwork was overshadowed by her male contemporaries throughout the 20th century. Her room-sized work was too big for museums. Her colleagues got credit for innovations she had come up with.

“Her pioneering art was often first, though she did not receive the recognition, the value, or the credit that went to the men at work at the same period of time,” Medvedow said.

But today, Kusama — a pioneer of pop art and minimalism — has emerged as one of the preeminent artists of her generation. For the first time this month, one of her works is coming permanently to a New England museum — and “LOVE IS CALLING,” which opened at the ICA on Sept. 19, is launching to enormous fanfare. According to Medvedow, the first round of tickets sold out in an hour.

“I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that Yayoi Kusama is the most important artist working today,” ICA curator Eva Respini said.

The exhibit at the ICA consists of one of Kusama’s “infinity rooms,” a house-like structure of mirrors built inside a larger gallery. The structure is filled with glowing, color-changing stalagmites jutting out from all sides. The walls and ceiling are lined with glass, replicating the polka-dotted peaks to — as the name asserts — infinity. In the background, Kusama’s voice reads a poem that she wrote herself in Japanese. The piece’s title translates to “Residing in a Castle of Shed Tears.”

“When you enter the work, you’re going to immediately be in the experience — immersed in this infinite field of vividly, psychedelically colored, tentacle-like inflatable sculptures,” Medvedow said.

In a press event introducing the exhibit, both Medvedow and Respini lauded Kusama for her decades of cultural relevance.

“LOVE IS CALLING,” the two observed, is a natural fit for the Instagram era: While Kusama has made infinity rooms throughout her career, the rest of the world is only just catching up. The Boston Globe’s first article about the exhibit is titled “Here Come the

Courtesy of the institute of contemporary art

Iris m. lewis CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Selfies.” Large-scale art like Kusama’s is having a long, Internetdriven moment.

According to Respini, however, Kusama’s work represents something deeper than critically panned efforts like the Museum of Ice Cream or the Happy Place. Kusama isn’t discussing hedonism.

Instead, her work is about “obliteration.”

“What’s interesting to me is that the repeated sharing of photos online echoes the deeper themes of Kusama’s work, things ... about repetition, human connectivity, life, love, death,” Respini said. “And these ideas seem to have a hold on our contemporary zeitgeist.”

Medvedow added that the museum’s mission is to ensure that Kusama — who “was important for 50 years before there was Instagram” — is treated with the respect the artist deserves.

Accordingly, Respini said that the infinity room is paired with contemporary works to accentuate Kusama’s themes. And the background poem is printed along the wall, putting the topics Respini mentioned — obliteration, illusion, love — into Kusama’s own words.

“When the time comes around for people to encounter the end of their life / having put on years, death seems to be quietly approaching,” the poem begins. “It was not supposed to be my style to be frightened of that, but I am.”

According to Medvedow, both the poem and the infinite room express “universal themes of life, time passing, loss, and love.”

“It’s poignant,” Medvedow said. “And it speaks to her desire to express and convey a universal message of love through her art.”

Kusama’s voice, reading the poem in measured Japanese, plays in a loop whenever there are people in the infinity room. Kusama is now 90 years old. She is still creating art.

“It’s truly an amazing feat for an artist to create, from ordinary materials, a work that utterly transports the viewer to somewhere else,” Respini said. “[It takes the viewer] to another world, another reality — perhaps even another consciousness.”

Staff writer Iris M. Lewis can be reached at iris.lewis@thecrimson.com.

FILM

Renée Zellweger Delivers Dazzling, Tour-de-Force Performance in Judy Garland Biopic ‘Judy’ Courtesy of David Hindley/LD Entertainment and Roadside Attractions

After last year’s wildly successful “Bohemian Rhapsody,” summer hit “Rocketman,” and recent releases such as “Yesterday” and “Blinded by the Light,” it seems Hollywood has found great success and box office potential in the music biopic. Drawing critical acclaim for their actors’ detailed embodiments of famous icons or, at the bare minimum, pleasing fans with optimistic tributes to their favorite artists, these films are saturating the movie industry. Director Rupert Goold’s “Judy” about the Wizard of Oz darling’s tragic final year seems, in theory, to fit this hackneyed format.

Set in 1969 just months before Judy Garland’s death from a barbiturate overdose at age 47, the film provides a dark, vulnerable window into the ex-starlet’s life at a decisive low point. She fights to stay financially afloat, suffers from a pervasive addiction to pills, enters a battle for custody over her own children, and must leave them behind as she travels to London for a tour that might hopefully reignite her dying career. Renée Zellweger takes up the challenge of portraying the increasingly anxious and self-destructive Garland with absolute dedication and compassion that help her live up to the bar set by other acclaimed biopic actors like Rami Malek and Taron Egerton, while adding her own spin to Garland’s character. While Malek won an Oscar for his shockingly precise embodiment of Freddie Mercury, nailing Mercury’s every movement and gesture from the iconic Live Aid Concert, Zellweger shines due to her ability to tug on the audience’s heartstrings, not necessarily because of her uncanny ability to mimic the singer. Goold does not shy away from exploring Garland’s inner demons as she speeds towards her untimely death yet avoids a completely tragic, defeatist tone that would make the movie ultimately too painful to watch.

Striking a balance that any film based on real-life events must grapple with, “Judy” manages to sprinkle in sudden moments of elation and awe while ultimately leaving the audience with a more profound, empathetic sense of grief.

Based on Peter Quilter’s Broadway play “End of the Rainbow,” “Judy” centers around Garland’s final tour as she fights against increasingly hostile media coverage, recklessly marries a young entrepreneur, and frantically attempts to repair the damaged relationship she has with her children, but Goold also makes the decision to include flashbacks to Garland’s abusive childhood

Samantha J. O’Connell CRIMSON STAFF WRITER at MGM Studios. Bookending Garland’s tale with the tear-jerking final chapter and the brutal first pages that laid the foundations for trauma that she futilely tries to escape, the filmmaker managed to both avoid a cliché depiction of a star fallen from grace and enhance the story’s overall emotional impact. Young Judy’s (Darci Shaw) interactions with a slimy MGM executive make one’s skin crawl, highlighting the problematic power dynamics that are especially relevant in a post-Weinstein America. Overall, Zellweger’s depiction of the unstable Garland falling apart from drug addiction and insomnia is all the more gut-wrenching, once the audience also bears witness to her childhood memories of movie executives refusing to give her food and instead forcing her to take diet pills to keep off weight and “pep pills” to help her stave off exhaustion and hunger.

Despite exploring dark topics like drug and child abuse, the film also celebrates the singer’s untamable artistic passion and has moments of joy that shine in contrast to the general gloomy tone. Zellweger’s performances of nostalgic, powerful numbers like “By Myself” and “The Trolley Song” are, without a doubt, highlights of the film, and when she’s not playing a Judy who is strung out on drugs or extremely drunk on stage, her infectious energy and all-encompassing exertion are virtuosic — not to mention, she actually sings all the songs in the movie herself. While her deft physicality and intensity make her performance Oscar-worthy, Zellweger even manages to convey musical passion and love of the spotlight just through the wide-eyed, awe-filled look that made Judy Garland so famous.

The song “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” is an American classic cherished for its resonant message of hope in the face of adversity, but never has it been as heart-breaking and fragile as Zellweger’s version is in the final moments of the film. The audience chiming in once Judy’s damaged, weathered voice struggles to hit the notes might typically seem cheesy, but the buildup of all Garland’s trials and tribulations, mixed with her genuine happiness in this moment, make it an absolute tear-jerking finale to a bittersweet story.

Staff writer Samantha J. O’Connell can be reached at sam.o’connell@thecrimson.com.

Sports

Weekly Recap

SCORES

Men’s water polo vs. Mercyhurst W, 18-5 ___________________________________________________________

men’s Soccer vs. merrimack t, 3-3 ___________________________________________________________

Men’s water polo vs. salem w, 23-4 ___________________________________________________________ field hockey vs. maine w, 4-1 ___________________________________________________________

football

Around the Ivies: ‘All It Takes Is a Little Push’

By Joseph W. Minatel Crimson Staff Writer

“Let the games begin.” — Bane, The Dark Knight Rises While Brown might be the team that gains the most from an exploding playing surface, as anything that deviates from the game of football helps their cause, this is not the reason I chose Bane’s quote from the clearly second-best of Nolan’s Batman films to open this column. Yes, the Ivy League football teams opened up play last week against non-conference opponents. Yes, those were official games that are in the final, overall standings. No, they do not affect the Ancient Eight winner whatsoever.

This week, four teams finally play games that will determine the conference champion, with Harvard and Yale each hosting Ivy League foes. Since I feel that I snubbed the best movie of the trilogy in the first paragraph, I will make sure to devote the rest of the article to The Dark Knight, especially with the possibility that the new Joker movie coming out next weekend doesn’t hold up. I have faith, though. Excited for October.

CORNELL VS. YALE

“If you’re good at something, never do it for free.” — Joker Yale athletics definitely understand this principle better than Gotham’s gangsters and thugs, judging by its central involvement in the recent college admissions scandal. Kudos to being the only Ancient Eight school, which are barred from granting athletic scholarships, to spin the cash flow in the other direction.

The football team, however, did not violate a single NCAA rule. The Bulldog squad that trots out Saturday will be a completely legal opening to Yale and Cornell’s Ivy League debut.

Even Harvey Dent has no dirt on a squad that somehow retained 21 of 22 starters from last year’s team. Should help them out.

Yale by 10

GEORGETOWN VS. COLUMBIA

“You complete me.” — Joker, to Batman Fun fact: Columbia and Georgetown have a dual degree program between their engineering schools, despite the fact that they are approximately four hours away. You spend three years in the nation’s capital and two in the Big Apple

UNDER THE LIGHTS For the second straight season, Harvard will face off against Brown under the lights for the second overall game of the season, a game the Crimson won 31-17­. This will again be the first Ivy matchup for both teams TIMOTHY R. O’MEARA—Crimson photographer

and end up with an A.B. from Georgetown College and a B.S. from Columbia University.

Hopefully this weekend’s game doesn’t jeopardize the engineering schools’ relationship.

If Vegas is correct, the Gotham Knights shouldn’t have much trouble with the Hoyas.

Columbia by 14.

PRINCETON VS. BUCKNELL

“It’s simple. We kill the Batman.”

“If it’s so simple, why haven’t you done it yet?” — Joker and Maroni.

The Ancient Eight is so ex-

citing because any team can beat any other team in any given week. For Princeton, however, this doesn’t seem to hold true, as the Tigers haven’t been defeated since 2017. In last week’s ATI, I favored Princeton by 35 points. They went out and won by 42.

It’s gonna take a lot to stop this juggernaut. Even the National Guard couldn’t stop Bane, and that was only the second-best Nolan Batman villain, including Liam Neeson. Bucknell is no Batman.

Princeton by 28

PENN VS. LAFAYETTE

“Madness, as you know, is like gravity. All it takes is a little push.” — Joker Nobody understands this quick descent into madness better than the University of Pennsylvania Dean of Undergraduate Admissions. Eric Furda, who’s been in the position since 2008, was filmed during the recent Eagles-Lions game voicing his profane frustrations with the Eagles. To be clear, I am in

no way criticizing Dean Furda.

If I were an Eagles fan this year, I would react similarly. In fact, he seems abnormally sane to me. Luckily for Furda and others, the Quakers are not the Eagles.

Penn by 14

COLGATE VS. DARTMOUTH

“This is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object.” — Joker Over the past two seasons, the Big Green Defensive Ma-

chine™ (eventually it’ll catch on) has looked like an immovable object. Last week Dartmouth kept Jacksonville in the single digits, allowing only six points. Crimson style mandates that I must write out the text for any number under 10. The way Dartmouth has been playing, my ATIs are going to turn into arthritis.

No one ever goes to Hanover (at least by choice). But for the very few who do, you rarely leave with a lot of points under your belt. Same goes for Colgate.

Dartmouth by 17

HARVARD VS. BROWN

KICKING HIS WAY TO HISTORY Last week in San Diego, senior kicker Jake McIntyre booted a late kick through the uprights to become Harvard’s all-time leader in field goals. TIMOTHY R. O’MEARA—Crimson photographer

“You know what I’ve noticed?

Nobody panics when things go according to plan.” — Joker It would very much be according to plan for Harvard to defeat Brown this week. The first game of the week is under Friday Night Lights, and the Crimson haven’t needed Coach Taylor’s inspiration to dominate the Bears in recent matchups.

“Everyone loses their minds!

Introduce a little anarchy.” — Joker Brown would almost definitely have to produce at the very least a bit of Ancient Eight anarchy this week to upend Harvard. The Bears squeaked

by Bryant and will be looking for its first Ivy League win since 2016. It hasn’t topped the Crimson since 2011, getting used to losing its sharpied-in second game of the year.

“Upset the established order, and everything becomes chaos.”

— Joker For a conference whose academic institutions represent the very idea of established order in higher education, everything often truly does become chaos. Maybe Brown has more of a chance than everyone is giving them, and maybe the Bears’ first game is a sign of true success to come.

“Let’s not blow things out of proportion.” — Joker Harvard by 24 joseph.minatel@thecrimson.com