The Harvard Crimson - Volume CXLVI, No. 102

The Harvard Crimson The University Daily, Est. 1873 | Volume cxlvi, No. 102 | Cambridge, Massachusetts | friday, october 11, 2019

editorial PAGE 4

news PAGE 3

sports PAGE 4

The issue of vaping deserves more research and attention

Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy III discusses his U.S. Senate campaign at IOP

Football hopes to get revenge for past losses to Cornell Saturday

Bacow Will Female Athletes Form New Group Reply to Senator

By Devin B. Srivastava Crimson Staff Writer

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

University President Lawrence S. Bacow said in an interview Monday he would respond to a letter penned by United States Senator Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) last week asking him to explain the College’s decision not to renew the appointment of former Winthrop Faculty Dean Ronald S. Sullivan, Jr. In his letter, Grassley asked Bacow to respond to a series of questions about how the College made its decision not to renew Sullivan and the state of academic freedom at the University.

Bacow said it is Harvard’s practice to “always respond” to letters from senators and said he would send speeches he and Dean of the College Rakesh Khurana have made that address academic freedom and the meaning of the University motto, Veritas.

“I’m going to send him a copy of the speech I gave at convocation, send him a copy of the remarks I delivered at morning prayers,” Bacow said. “We continue to advise — not just advise

— but speak to our students and say that we stand for Veritas, for truth.”

Student calls for Sullivan’s removal began in January 2019 after Sullivan announced he was representing former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, who is facing allegations of rape and sexual assault. Khurana announced Sullivan would not return as faculty dean of Winthrop House after months of campus-wide controversy and student activism.

After Sullivan announced he would represent Weinstein, students protested in Harvard Yard, held a sit-in in the Winthrop dining hall, and circulated petitions calling on administrators to remove him from his faculty deanship.

Student protests prompted the College to launch a climate review into Winthrop House, and they eventually decided not to renew Sullivan due to findings that he and co-Faculty Dean Stephanie R. Robinson fostered an “untenable” climate within the house.

The College’s announcement came a day after The

Three senior varsity athletes founded the Women of Harvard Athletics club this fall, in response to what said is an “underrepresentation” of women in athletics at Harvard. More than 100 women from 19 different varsity teams have joined the club, which aims to support athletes in part through workshops, panels, and wellness classes.

Madison Earle ’20, Olivia M. Ostrover ’20, and Mackenzie B. Barta ’20 — the group’s co-founders — wrote in a statement to The Crimson that women’s athletics teams at Harvard do not receive the same media coverage, funding, or game attendance compared to their male counterparts.

“There continues to be a difference in energy in the way that people talk about and support men and women’s sports,” they wrote. “Even in cases where a woman’s program may be having more success than the men’s program, there tends to be more excitement and engagement with the men’s events.”

In addition to these structural challenges, they added that female athletes face

See bacow Page 1

See athletics Page 3

Students Push for Survey Results

Pusey Minister Announces Memorial Pilgrimage Theme

By MAtteo N. Wong Crimson Staff Writer

Crimson Staff Writer

See HLS Page 3 Inside this issue

Harvard Today 2

Divinity School Professor and Interim Pusey Minister Stephanie A. Paulsell announced that during her tenure, Memorial Church will focus on the theme of pilgrimage.

Paulsell, who was appointed to her new role this summer after former Minister and Professor Jonathan L. Walton left Harvard, has been a faculty member since 2001 and served as an affiliated minister of the church prior to taking on her new post.

Paulsell will lead the church as the University searches for a permanent minister.

Paulsell said in an interview that the concept of pilgrimage seemed well suited in characterizing the church’s leadership transition. ­

By MICHELLE G. Kurilla

After years of student activism urging Harvard Law School to publish the results of a 2017 student mental health survey, Student Government Co-Presidents Princess Daisy M. A. Akita ’15 and Daniel M. Egel-Weiss are joining calls to pressure the school to share the information Akita and Egel-Weiss said in an interview Monday that mental health has remained a priority during their tenure and they hope the school will commit to fulfilling this request.

“We had a very productive meeting with Dean Manning about this very issue that lasted for over an hour, and we’ve spoken with him on this topic, numerous other times,” EgelWeiss said. “And as I’ve said, we’re very excited to see the package of reforms that he has promised, and that the administration generally has shown interest in pursuing.”

Harvard Law School Spokesperson Jeff Neal wrote in an emailed statement Thursday that the data was presented at a March 2018 meeting after data collection concluded in January 2018.

“In the fall of 2018, the School created the HLS Student Well-Being Working Group, which includes student, staff and faculty members, to further analyze the survey data and make recommendations on how we can even more effectively support students’ mental health needs,” he wrote.

While there was an open invitation for students, faculty, and stakeholders to attend the 2018 event, the mental health survey results are not online.

Therefore, students who did not attend the 55-minute question and answer session cannot access the results.

Dean of Students Marcia Sells wrote in an email to students Tuesday — ahead of the American Bar Association’s Law School Mental Health Day

Many of Harvard College’s athletes practice in facilities across the Charles River. Kathryn M. Kuhar—Crimson photographer

Harvard Divinity School professor Stephanie A. Paulsell speaks about the state of religious life on campus. quinn G. Perini—Crimson photographer

She said that she considers pilgrimages to be “transformative” since they enable people to think about themselves and their relationships.

“My job, in part, is to help people enter that liminal space of transition and think about not just what they want the next minister to be, but who they want to be as a community,” Paulsell said. “Because it’s such a transitional year, I thought pilgrimage would be a good theme.”

Paulsell said she hopes the theme of pilgrimage will enable the congregation to consider the atmosphere it wants to cultivate, especially during a politically fraught moment in which people around the world are “on the move” seeking refuge to a safer place.

Many of the church’s events and services throughout the

year will center around this theme.

For example, the church has organized a reading group, trips to various places including Walden Pond, and sermons that highlight topics about social justice, according to Paulsell.

Paulsell said she wants to continue Walton’s legacy in fostering a more welcoming church environment and improving the church’s role as a space for people, regardless of their religious or nonreligious backgrounds.

To work toward this goal, the church’s staff is fostering connections with other religious organizations on campus, Paulsell added.

“The reform congregation of Hillel has been worshipping [in the church],” she said. “Khalil

See Paulsell Page 3

Rep. Kennedy Talks About Senate Campaign By isabel L. isselbacher Crimson Staff Writer

United States Representative Joseph P. Kennedy III (D-Mass.) discussed his recent decision to challenge Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) for his seat in 2020 at the John F. Kennedy Jr Forum at Harvard’s Institute of Politics Thursday.

Kennedy — in conversation with Swathi R. Srinivasan ’21 and IOP Director of Student Programs Robert C. Watson Jr. ’09 — touched on a wide range of issues including political polarization, impeachment, structural reform, and the urgency of his campaign for Senate. Kennedy, who formally announced his plans to run for Senate last month, responded to criticism from several audience members who questioned his attempt to unseat the incumbent Markey — a longstanding Massachusetts political figure who has supported progressive environmental legislation. One audience member asked Kennedy about his family’s investments ­

News 3

Editorial 4

in Exxonmobil, to which he firmly defended his record on advancing climate policy.

“I’ll put my environmental record in Congress up against anybody’s,” Kennedy said.

“Those assets are family assets that have been held for an awfully long time, well before I was born — I exercise no control over them whatsoever.”

Kennedy also discussed his efforts to dismantle the filibuster system, which he said inhibits efficient political action against climate change. “I was, and am, an original cosponsor of The Green New Deal. I was on it from day one,” Kennedy said of the liberal climate action proposal. “And if you want to deliver on what the promise of what the Green New Deal is, Mitch McConnell ain’t gonna let you do it.” With regard to issues with the filibuster, Kennedy said he is the only candidate who has undertaken meaningful work toward tackling this structural barrier to environmental

See Kennedy Page 3

Sports 8

Congressman Joseph P. Kennedy III (D-Mass.) speaks at the JFK, Jr. Forum at the Institute of Politics. Kai R. Mcnamee —Crimson photographer

Today’s Forecast

rainy High: 56 Low: 52

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THE HARVARD CRIMSON |

OCTOBER 11, 2019

PAGE 2

HARVARD TODAY

For Lunch Red Spiced Chicken Red’s Best Fresh Catch Garbanzo Falafel Sandwich

For Dinner Kale and Goat Cheese Pizza Mesquite Rotisserie Chicken Five Cheese Tortellini

TODAY’S EVENTS Bach Society Orchestra Season Premiere Paine Hall, 8 p.m.

IN THE REAL WORLD New Developments in President Trump Ukraine Scandal

Join the Bach Society Orchestra for their first concert of the year at Paine Hall for the perfect free event to round off your week.Tickets can be reserved online.

Two associates of President Trump’s personal lawyer have been arrested in the growing scandal surrounding the president’s alleged attempts to pressure the Ukrainian president into gathering damaging information about his political enemies

Asian-American Allyship Leverett Library Theater, 6-8 p.m.

The Asian American Womxn’s Association is hosting a discussion on Asian-American allyship and the meaning of being an Asian American, an ally, and a social change advocate.

This engaging event will take place in Leverett Library Theater — all are welcome!

UC Grants 101: A How To Isaacson Room, 4:30-5:30 p.m.

Did you know that the Undergraduate Council has over $300,000 in grants to distribute to students? If you’re at all curious about how grants are given out, the requirements for each, and important timelines, head on over to the Isaacson Room of the Smith Campus Center to learn more.

Thousands of Syrians Flee Homes as Turkish Militia Prepares to Invade

The Murr Athletic Center is located on North Harvard Street in Boston, Mass. KATHRYN S. KUHAR— CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

DAILY BRIEFING University President Lawrence S. Bacow said in an interview Monday he would respond to a letter penned by United States Senator Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) last week asking him to explain the College’s decision not to renew the appointment of former Winthrop Faculty Dean Ronald S. Sullivan, Jr. In his letter, Grassley asked Bacow to respond to a series of questions about how the College made its decision not to renew Sullivan and the state of academic freedom at the University. In other news, three senior varsity athletes founded the Women of Harvard Athletics club this fall, in response to what they said is an “underrepresentation” of women in athletics at Harvard.

Thousands of Syrians have fled their homes as Turkish troops prepare to invade Syria with the hopes of eliminating Kurdish militias from the area. President Trump recently agreed to remove United States troops from this area of Syria in preparation for the invasion, even though the U.S. and the Kurdish militias of the Syrian Democratic Forces have long been allies in the fight against the Islamic State.

Officials Struggle to Contain Wildfire Ravaging California Mobile Home Park

A wildfire raging through a mobile home park in Calimesa, Calif. continued to rage into the evening Thursday night. An unknown number of homes have been destroyed and people injured.

The fire is thought to have been caused by a trash truck dropping burning trash, which spread to vegetation.

AROUND THE IVIES YALE The Yale College Council announced a new shuttle stop that would connect dormitories and cultural centers on Yale’s campus, the Yale Daily News reported. The new bus stop was built near the Asian American Cultural Center, Native American Cultural Center, La Casa, and the Center for Collaborative Arts and Media. The Council’s University Services director said that the bus stop was created to increase the centers’ accessibility to students, especially those who live in the newest residential colleges.

COLUMBIA

Columbia will offer a linguistics major for the first time in 36 years, according to the Columbia Daily Spectator. In 1965, linguistics was first approved as a major, but due to a lack of resources and financial support, the major was discontinued in 1983. Linguistics then became offered as a “special concentration” and later as part of an “independent major” option before becoming officially approved by the New York State Department of Education as a major again. The linguistics major will be offered beginning in the spring of 2020.

BROWN

Brown University hit a record high yield rate for the class of 2023, the Brown Daily Herald reported. This year’s yield rate — at 62.3 percent — comes as the University’s yield rate has been steadily increasing over the past three years.

The Dean of Admission Logan Powell said that new programs within Brown’s Admissions and Financial Aid Office has encouraged more students to matriculate at the University. One program, the Brown Promise, eliminated student loans from the financial aid agreements starting with the class of 2022.

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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.

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THE HARVARD CRIMSON | October 11, 2019

Bacow From Page 1

Athletics From Page 1

Bacow To Write Female Athletes Create New Group Sen. Grassley Crimson reported allegations from a dozen current and former Winthrop affiliates that Sullivan and Robinson created a toxic environment stretching back years.Sullivan has since left Weinstein’s legal team.

Grassley wrote that his letter was not concerned with the College’s decision not to renew Sullivan and Robinson due to “individual or human resources-related reasons,” but rather about what it means for higher education more broadly.

“To be clear, it is generally Harvard College’s business as to what faculty members it employs and how it employs them,” Grassley wrote. “But this episode raises significant concerns that have implications for the state of tax-exempt higher education in the United States and how it is preparing the next generation of our Nation’s leaders.”

Bacow repeated his defense of Khurana’s decision to not renew Sullivan’s contract as faculty dean of Winthrop House

during Monday’s interview.

“This was not about Professor Sullivan’s representation of Harvey Weinstein,” Bacow said. “It had to do with the way in which the faculty deans at Winthrop House were discharging their responsibilities as faculty deans.”

Bacow has also spoken previously about the University’s efforts to support freedom of expression on campus. He cited his speech at freshman convocation in September, when he endorsed student activism and balanced arguments.

“I choose my words intentionally when I say standing up and speaking out are actions.

They are often the most difficult when they are most worthwhile,” Bacow said at the time.

“You will not regret the time you spend articulating your argument and pushing for change over the next four years.”

paulsell From Page 1

Kennedy From Page 1

alexandra.chaidez@thecrimson.com aidan.ryan@thecrimson.com

distinct cultural challenge based on their gender.

“On the one hand, they want to be beautiful, elegant, and polite, but on the other, strong, physical, and competitive,” they wrote.The club hopes to address the challenges of athletic commitment and academic rigor at Harvard, coupled with issues specific to women.

“We are balancing those two [athletic and academic] aspects,” they wrote. “On top of that, we also face challenges related to mental health, body image, nutrition, and sexual harassment that come with being a female athlete.”

“The most challenging aspects of being a female athlete at Harvard are the combination of all of the above, amounting to an immense weight to carry around everyday,” they added.

Kathy Delaney-Smith, head coach for Harvard’s women’s basketball team, said mental health is a challenge for female athletes in particular.

“I think mental health is a huge consideration,” she said.

“I think the whole body image piece — from nutrition, which

would involve things like eating disorders, and the whole sexual identity, sexual harassment — that’s all part of a parcel of things that have a huge impact on men and women, but in particular women.”

In 2017, The Crimson reported that coaches for the women’s track and cross country teams allegedly directed athletes to overtrain and miss meals in order to lose weight. In 2016, The Crimson reported that male varsity soccer players had secretly evaluated female freshmen recruits on their physical appearances — in sexually explicit terms — for years in a document circulated between the male players via email.

Athletics Director Robert L. Scalise wrote in a statement that fostering an inclusive environment for female athletes is among the department’s “highest priorities.”

The athletics department responded to some student-athlete concerns last year, creating the Crimson Mind and Body Program after results from endof-year athlete surveys showed a need for additional mental

health and overall wellness resources.

The Mind and Body Program — a collaborative project between Harvard University Health Services and the athletics department — entered its

There continues to be a difference in energy in the way that people talk about and support men’ and women’s sports.

Madison Earle ‘20, Olivia M. Ostrover ‘20, and Mackenzie B. Barta Founders of Women of Harvard Athletics

second full year this fall.

The program received an anonymous donation over the summer to expand on the services provided in its inaugural year.

Before the start of WHA, the Harvard Radcliffe Foundation for Women’s Athletics — found-

ed in 1981 — focused primarily on fundraising efforts for female varsity programs, according to chair Deborah Goldfine ’85.

“In the last 15 years, [HRFWA] really focused on the fundraising side, and helping these teams be financially solvent so that they can create the opportunities for our women athletes that they do,” she said.

Goldfine added that she hopes WHA, which is led by students, will help direct efforts towards more relevant issues for current team members.

“They are going to push for things that are important to the student athletes, not what we think is important,” she said.

The club seeks to serve “women of all fitness levels,” not just those on varsity sports teams, according to Earle, Ostrover, and Barta.

“Regardless of where women are in their fitness journey, we want to support them and provide the resources to enable them to have the best possible experience with athletics,” they devin.srivastava@thecrimson.com

Paulsell Rep. Kennedy Sets Her Speaks at IOP Forum Tenure’s Theme Abdur-Rashid, our Muslim chaplain at Harvard, came and preached two weeks ago on pilgrimage.”

In addition to these initiatives, Paulsell said she also wants to provide the members of the congregation an opportunity to “exercise their own

My job, in part, is to help people enter that liminal space of transition and think about not just what they want the next minister to be, but who they want to be as a community.

Stephanie A. Paulsell Divinity School Professor and Interim Pusey Minister

leadership” rather than placing too much importance on the minister.

“There’s a lot of emphasis on the minister,” Paulsell said.

“But an interim year is a good time for a congregation to kind of claim its own power,” she added. matteo.wong@thecrimson.com

action. Attendee Luke D. M. Albert ’22 said he was initially critical of the Kennedy’s decision to run against Markey, but was reassured by his comments Thursday about his commitment to advance climate policy.

“I’d say I think the elephant in the room going in tonight was obviously a Senate primary challenge against Senator Markey, which I will say I was certainly one of the people skeptical of at first,” Albert said. In the face of questions about his candidacy, Albert said he found the Kennedy’s responses to be direct and impressive. “I certainly have sort of tempered my original position on it,” Albert said.

Srinivasan, who had previously worked with the Kennedy through the IOP Policy Program, said she also appreciated the straightforwardness and honesty with which she believes

Kennedy responded to questions from her and the audience.

With regard to the approaching Democratic Primary for the 2020 presidential election, Kennedy voiced his support for Senator Elizabeth A. Warren (D-Mass.). Kennedy concluded his talk by urging audience members to vote in the 2020 election.

“This country is at a tipping point, and you all have it in your hands to actually send a message to every single other person in the United States, and every single other person around the world about what kind of nation we are, and what kind of country we will be, and what it means to be part of the United States in this moment of a vacuum of world leadership,” Kennedy said. isabel.isselbacher@thecrimson.com

Congressperson Joseph P. Kennedy III (D-Mass) speaks at the JFK, Jr. Forum at the Institute of Politics Thursday night. Steve S. Li—Crimson photographer

HLS From Page 1

Law School Students Call for Mental Health Survey Results — reiterating the scope of Harvard Law School’s mental health programs.

“In recent years, the ABA, the legal profession, Harvard Law School, and law schools across the nation have rightly focused new attention on the important mental health challenges that many law students and lawyers

experience,” she wrote.

Sells neither mentioned the survey results nor described upcoming Law School mental health initiatives, which Akita and Egel-Weiss said Monday they had expected to be included. Neal wrote in his statement that the mental health working group plans to share survey

Harvard, from the Law School to Longwood.

The Crimson thecrimson.com

findings and suggestions for future programming later this year.

“The Working Group is expected to share with the HLS community in December both a summary of survey findings as well as recommendations,” Neal wrote.

Akita and Egel-Weiss wrote

in an emailed statement Thursday that they felt the Oct. 8 email was “inadequate.”

“First, after two years of analyzing the Fall 2017 survey data, the school has not released a full and anonymized report of the data, failing to deliver on promises made to our predecessors, and their predecessors,” Aki-

ta and Egel-Weiss wrote. “This data should be accessible to all students, and not simply students who are able to attend an in-person presentation. An email to students establishing a timeline for this full release would have been a good start.” michelle.kurilla@thecrimson.com

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | OCTOBER 11, 2019

PAGE 4

EDITORIAL THE CRIMSON EDITORIAL BOARD

COLUMN

More Research is Needed on Vaping

The World is Not Kind, But Your Daughters Are Not Weak

I

n late September, the state of Massachusetts issued a ban on the sale of nicotine and marijuana vaping-related products. The ban, set to last four months, comes in the context of a notable uptick in vaping-related illnesses and even deaths in otherwise healthy, mostly young people. It has also faced pushback for being inconsistent with allowing the sale of cigarettes and for its adverse effects on local businesses.

While we appreciate the concerns of those who view this ban as paternalistic and inappropriate, we believe that, as otherwise healthy individuals are falling ill and dying, the issue demands immediate attention. Scant medical research on these devices deepens the considerable uncertainty about their risks.

Therefore, we support this limited ban insofar as it will allow authorities to assess the sources of the problem and determine appropriate regulatory solutions.

Many vape product users turn to them as an alternative to cigarettes, believing that switching would help them ease off of a cigarette addiction, or that vape products were less dangerous. Others have turned to vaping as first-time users whose adoption of this technology coincides with the relaxation of marijuana laws in states across the country and the associated rise in such products’ availability.

While individuals have the freedom to engage in acts which solely harm themselves, the lack of information that exists on vaping prevents individuals from making an informed decision. Both

those who have transitioned from other drugs and those who picked up vaping for the first time are relying on information, popular belief, and advertising that is dubious at best.

The companies producing and marketing some of the most popular nicotine e-cigarette and vaping products appear to have only worsened this informational asymmetry. Some companies have come under congressional investigation and scrutiny for their tactics – producing the vapes in flavors and styles that

In the end, we should all strive to be a healthier, more informed population, and this temporary ban on the sale of vaping devices provides the foundation for meaningful study of the issue. many claim are marketed toward younger demographics. Whether or not this is the goal of these companies’ marketing, research suggests that these devices have successfully taken hold in college and even in high school demographics, breaking decades-old trends of decreasing levels of smoking and introducing younger markets to highly-addictive chemicals.

Particularly because this issue significantly affects college-age students, Harvard should spearhead research efforts into vaping and work to better under-

stand the health effects of these devices.

Only when we gain a more complete understanding of the risks and benefits surrounding the use of vaping devices will people be empowered to make informed decisions about their use.

This ban will not only affect those who use vape devices, but will also significantly affect small business owners and entrepreneurs whose businesses purchased their inventories under the assumption that their sale would remain legal.

Given that the ban has severely and suddenly disrupted the livelihoods of many people selling vaping-related goods, the state government should consider a plan to support affected businesses.

In the end, we should all strive to be a healthier, more informed population, and this temporary ban on the sale of vaping devices provides the foundation for meaningful study of the issue.

However, the ban will only be meaningful if the pace of research — and eventually of public health education — accelerates to address the knowledge gap between popular opinion and the emerging medical consensus.

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.

Submit an Op-Ed Today!

@thecrimson OP-ED

Harvard’s Vision for Ethnic Studies: Almost There, But Not Yet

I

n Judge Allison D. Burroughs’s decision to uphold race conscious admissions at Harvard, she reaffirmed the importance of thinking about how race affects our individual experiences.

As her opinion acknowledges, race continues to be salient in students’ lives as “time marches on and the effects of entrenched racism and unequal opportunity remain obvious.”

Fittingly, the study of race also illuminates aspects of the case itself, including the plaintiffs’ motivations, media coverage, testifying students’ stories, and the statistics presented during the trial. The dynamics surrounding the case can be better understood through interrogations of how race has been constructed in the United States.

It is this same need for examination of race that has driven students and alumni like us to call for the creation of an ethnic studies department at Harvard for almost 50 years.

This past summer, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Claudine Gay responded to our call. In June, she announced that FAS will hire three or four faculty studying ethnicity, indigeneity, and migration, across the areas of Asian American Studies, Latinx Studies, and Muslim American Studies, this academic year.

Several peer institutions like Princeton and Stanford are conducting similar searches. Harvard’s faculty search committee has now begun reviewing applications and expects to bring final candidates to campus for a lecture series in the next couple of months.

After five decades of student and alumni advocacy, this is an exciting and promising step.

However, there is still work to be done. To ensure that the hires will provide the foundation for an ethnic studies department that can flourish at Harvard, we urge the university and the faculty

search committee to prioritize hiring academics with a powerful and pioneering vision for the study of race and ethnicity.

The search committee should take particular care to hire faculty whose work fits within an ethnic studies framework, and not just scholars who coincidentally study racial inequality or disparity more broadly. Academic work that broadly studies marginalized groups, though significant to the understanding of race and ethnicity, cannot be characterized as ethnic studies.

In order to articulate the difference between ethnic studies and the study of race and ethnicity, Gary Y. Okihiro — a visiting American Studies professor at Yale University — wrote in 2010 that ethnic studies addresses “power and how it articulates around the axes of race and ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class, and nation.”

He worried that the field of ethnic studies was being derailed from its goal to examine “the nation-state and its particular history and formations of conquest and extermination, land appropriation and labor exploitation, regimes of inclusion and exclusion, and expansion and imperialism.” These are the lenses that he feared were being de-centered at Columbia but that we hope will be re-centered in Harvard’s iteration of ethnic studies.

At its core, ethnic studies requires a deep criticism of how we traditionally produce knowledge. It challenges how we know what we know, forcing us to question what we consider to be the “truth,” and instead finds diverse forms of meaning through interdisciplinary inquiries. Only by subverting conventional understandings of history, which often omit the lived realities of people of color, can we come to a new understanding of the world, which can only happen at Harvard if the search committee hires the right faculty.

Given their expectation that these faculty will come together to build an ethnic studies department, the faculty

H

ere’s the thing people won’t tell you about travel: it is difficult.

If you’re on your own, that’s one obstacle. If you’re a woman, that’s another. If you’re a woman of color on your own, well, you might just want to stop and reconsider this whole “adventure” thing.

At least, that’s what I was thinking as I sat in the back of a musty Uber at 10:36 p.m. on a Friday where nothing had gone as planned. Against the backdrop of the humid night, a foreign city stared back at me through the car windows, seeming to challenge me as the roads stretched on. I tightened my grip on my phone, tried to still my nervous heartbeat, and told myself that I had wanted to do this.

It started with my summer internship in San Francisco — which in itself was already testing the limits of dorming life for my parents.

See, in the community that I grew up in, it is not common to send your daughters to college out of state, and even less so to agreeing to letting them spend nine weeks in a place a whole time zone away.

I remember while growing up I’d vow to see the world one day, and often, my statements would be met with teasing comments that I would need to wait until I married and got a husband to travel with. Before I started college, several members of our neighborhood community came to my father and advised him against sending me so far from home — to which my father evenly replied: “She can do this, insha’Allah — God-willing.”

If it was a question of my abilities to go out into the world, my parents have no doubts. They know me, but they also know the world, and it’s a place that can be harsh and cruel, having no qualms about hurting even the most prepared of those who pass through it.

Every uncle and aunty, family members, and acquaintances, know of this same world, if only because they’ve experienced the worst of it in their home countries and even here — let’s not pretend the United States is any better to women, their bodies or their rights.

Any woman on her own is vulnerable — for a

We will hold close to these moments of vulnerability and rise with them.

Believe in us, that’s the only strength we need.

The Crimson

By LIANA E. CHOW, ZAINAB KAHLOON, and ALONDRA PONCE

Tajrean Rahman ON THE EDGE OF THE ELITE

search committee should also hire people who are committed to actually building this department.

Ideal candidates include senior faculty that have built similar programs at other universities. Faculty appointed to and siloed in their “host departments” will already face challenges in program-building. If they lack the experience necessary to build an ethnic studies department, we worry that these hires will become like rocket blueprints: While they show promise as scholars, they won’t be enough for an ethnic studies program to properly launch.

Ultimately, we believe that the ongoing faculty search is the first step in building an ethnic studies department at Harvard. Yet much more has to be done in order to fully execute this vision.

Upon their arrival to campus, the new faculty need to be supported with the proper resources to build a new academic program.

Such resources include adequate funding to create a new department, paid time for faculty to work on its development, and an intergenerational community of students and scholars dedicated to ethnic studies. Race consciousness must expand beyond admissions and into classrooms where ethnic studies is fully supported by students, faculty, and most importantly, administration.

We are optimistic that if this search selects the right faculty, Harvard can eventually set its aims far beyond catching up with our peer institutions, and instead become a pioneer in the fields of Asian American, Latinx, and Muslim American Studies.

—Zainab Kahloon ’20 is a Social Studies concentrator in Currier House. Liana E. Chow ’21, a former Crimson Arts executive, is a History and Literature concentrator in Quincy House. Alondra Ponce ’21, a Crimson Business editor, is a Neuroscience concentrator in Lowell House. They are members of the Harvard Ethnic Studies Coalition.

hijab-wearing woman like myself, I understand the fear. I see why it might be “safer” for me to have a male companion to dissuade leering eyes and aggressive harassment. It’s a twisted thing, but that’s how society works for women.

But I could not deny the sense of wanderlust that brought me to San Francisco last summer — this burning desire to see new places and meet new people. Itchy feet had me heading to the West Coast, and that same invisible pull convinced me to check out Los Angeles while I was there.

And it was at that point that everything caught up to me with an abrupt vengeance, reminding me that I am in fact, not invincible.

Irony would have it that five minutes after my plane landed, I was abandoned by my traveling companion. I should clarify this was a guy acquaintance from my internship cohort, which should render all arguments for the security of male companionship moot.

With a sudden farewell, I was on my own in a city I’ve never been in at night time no less, with the skies black and getting darker with every minute that ticked by.

There were no limos or luxury accommodations — in the throng of sweaty and impatient people crowding near the airport entrances and trying to get home, there wasn’t a friendly place in sight.

For perspective, I’ll share that the rest of the weekend followed the same theme, concluding finally with a broken down bus engine on the way back that delayed my return home to an unfortunately late time given I still had work the same morning.

Without a doubt, it was one of the scarier and more difficult experiences I’ve had to deal with so far. But I don’t find myself regretting the trip, rather I look back on the weekend with appreciation for the victory of being an individual traveler who managed to hold my own.

I confess that I have not yet shared the grittier details of this story with my parents, and I imagine many daughters hold a similar silence for the harder experiences they encounter.

Not because we don’t want to share our lives with our mothers and fathers, but because we know they would worry and their first instinct is to protect.

There needs to come a moment however, where our parents have to trust us, not a future man or some male guardian, but us, as people who can go out into that big, scary world and not only survive it, but thrive through the challenges and tribulations that come with it.

I know there are no promises for safety: Your daughters may get hurt, we may feel pain and be struck with grief, exposed to all the terrible things you’ve always wanted to shield us from — but we will hold close to these moments of vulnerability and rise with them. Believe in us, that’s the only strength we need.

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

Page 5

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | October 11, 2019

Naomi Klein Speals at Harvard Square Book Talk

By Dohyun Kim and Charles Xu contributing Writers

Journalist Naomi Klein called for immediate action on climate change and discussed her recently released book, “On Fire: The (Burning) Case for a Green New Deal,” at a sold-out event at First Parish Church in Harvard Square Thursday evening.

In a talk lasting more than an hour, Klein said it was necessary to declare an “all-out war on pollution and poverty and racism and colonialism and despair, all at the same time.”

Klein described the challenge of mitigating climate change as not only a natural fight, but a political fight.

“We have these very real fires of climate disruption, not just those literal fires but the droughts and the storms and on and on,” Klein said. “But we also have these political fires, these fires of hate that are also beginning to rage out of control, that are also jumping the flames from country to country.”

With regard to political threats to climate change efforts, Klein pointed to the rise of political demagogues and politicians who use natural resources for their own benefit.

“They’re tapping into that feeling of profound unease, building walls, waging war on ­

their political opponents and the press, and this allows them to get to the real business at hand, which is plundering the last remaining wildernesses on this planet from the Amazon to the Arctic,” Klein explained.

Klein said the key to fighting climate change and the political forces driving it is in part intergenerational cooperation. She referenced the work of Greta Thunberg, a 16-year-old Swedish climate activist who began a worldwide school strike campaign a year ago and has since spoken before the United Nations about climate issues.

Klein said she sees Thunberg as leading a new generation that embodies another, more constructive source of fire: the “fire of our movements coming together at last.” That movement, Klein argued, is uniquely inclusive of climate justice, youth activism, indigenous rights, and fossil fuel divestment.

Fossil fuel divestment has gained increasing traction among Harvard students and faculty in recent years. Divest Harvard, the primary advocacy group on campus, has held rallies and conversations with administrators about the topic, but has repeatedly faced pushback from University President Lawrence S. Bacow. Bacow has argued that Harvard is best positioned to address climate

change if it works with fossil fuel companies, rather than divesting its endowment from the industry.

Audience member Anjali Mitra, a high school student from Brookline and member of the youth climate action group Sunrise Movement, said she believes political mobilization is a key to social change.

“The most important things are to organize, and to vote, and I guess also to strike,” Mitra said. “Everybody here has a network of people that they know and that they can help become passionate about this issue, and if every single person in this room told 10 other people to get involved, we’d start a movement.”

“I’m also an organizer for the Boston Youth Climate Strike, and so I think that leaving work, disrupting business as usual and showing our politicians and our society that we want change and we want it now is a powerful way to make a statement,” she added.

Attendee Dauro Aquino of Reading, Mass. waited in line after the event for a book signing. He said he hoped to pass on the message of climate activism to his 11-year-old daughter.

“This is one of her fights,” he said. “I hope I can catch her attention on this, and I’m in line to dedicate this [book] to her.”

Author Naomi Klein (left) discusses her new book “On Fire” with Boston College professor Juliet B. Schor at an event at the First Parish Church Thursday evening. sydney r. mason—Crimson photographer

Biologist Barbara A. Schaal Discusses Artificial Selection

By Jeromel D. R. lara and Olivia C. Scott contributing Writers

Washington University in St. Louis professor Barbara A. Schaal speaks about plant domestication at a lecture Thursday. Kai R. Mcnamee—Crimson photographer

Veggie Grill Sprouts New Location in Harvard Square

By Ellen M. Burstein and Sydnie M. Cobb Crimson Staff Writers

Plant-based, fast-casual eatery Veggie Grill invited a number of Cambridge residents to sample menu offerings Thursday in advance of its opening on Oct. 13.

Launched in 2006, Veggie Grill currently has 34 restaurants operating along the West Coast and is seeking to expand onto the East Coast, starting with the opening of its JFK Street location. Veggie Grill, first announced its new Harvard Square location in July 2018. The menu will boast a variety of sandwiches, tacos, salads, and grain bowls, according to Veggie Grill CEO Steve Heeley.

Veggie Grill’s opening comes after a period of rapid commercial turnover in Harvard Square.

Square hallmarks including Out of Town News, Flat Patties, and Black Ink have all announced that they will close by the end of the year. The new restaurant will replace Wagamama restaurant, which shuttered in July 2017. Heeley said he is excited to extend his restaurant chain to Harvard Square and Cambridge residents.

“I’m an ex-Boston resident, and I just love this area. You have the Harvard students and faculty, and all the folks that work to support Harvard and the surrounding community,” Heeley said. “We’re excited to ­

be here because we know there’s a lot of folks looking for modern, craveable, plant-based food.”

Emmanuel S. Runes, a resident of Cambridge who attended the event Thursday, said he is excited to see more options for affordable, plant-based offerings in Harvard Square.

“I think one of the biggest things that I find frustrating about the plant-based scene in Boston and Cambridge is the lack of options,” Runes said. “To have something here that’s relatively affordable, has big variety, and has more comfort fast food options is good for the plantbased movement as a whole.”

Veggie Grill has pledged to give a portion of its proceeds to Green Cambridge, a local organization centered upon advancing environmental sustainability, according to Green Cambridge’s Executive Director Stephen Nutter. Nutter said he is excited to partner with the plant-based franchise.

“As soon as I heard what they were doing and what their mission was with bringing plant-forward food to people and showing how regular vegetables can be incredibly delicious, it seemed like a great partnership,” said Nutter. Dozens of Cambridge residents packed into the restaurant Thursday for its soft opening. Cambridge resident and event attendee Wendy Feign, a self-professed long-time sup-

porter of Veggie Grill, said she has been waiting for more than a year for the franchise to open in Harvard Square.

“I’ve been going to Veggie Grill for about 7 years now on the West Coast,” Feign said.

“When I found out it was coming, I immediately got the app and I’ve been counting down for like a year-and-a-half for it to get here.”

Matthew Ayer, a pilot and vegan Instagram influencer from Boston and Los Angeles, said he believes Veggie Grill’s offerings will appeal to vegetarians, vegans, and even carnivorous fast-food enthusiasts.

“If you’re a healthier plantbased vegan or you are into the more fast food food scene like burgers and fried chicken, Veggie Grill has everything,” Ayer said. “Veggie Grill really changes your perspective on what it means to eat vegan food.”

Denise A. Jillson, executive director of the Harvard Square Business Association, said that Veggie Grill staff have shown palpable enthusiasm for the opening.

“We know how special it is, but, you know, to have other outside people talk about how much they’re looking forward to being in the Square, you know, we were really pleased to meet them,” Jillson said. ellen.burstein@thecrimson.com sydnie.cobb@thecrimson.com

Biologist Barbara A. Schaal charted the history of animal and plant domestication and its future implications for human society in a Harvard Museum of Natural History lecture Thursday night.

More than 150 Harvard affiliates and members of the public attended the talk, hosted by the Harvard Museums of Science and Culture as part of the ongoing “Evolution Matters” lecture series. Schall’s talk, entitled “An Evolutionary Journey through Domestication,” drew on her work as a biology professor and dean of the Faculty of Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis.

She previously served as Vice President of the National Academy of Sciences and a member of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology during the Obama administration.

Schaal began her address by arguing that artificial selection is both a historical and ongoing genetic process.

“The domestication of plants and animals started about 15,000 or 13,000 years ago, and

it is actually continuing now,” Schaal said.

“Humans have a co-evolutionary interaction with plants and animals where one species as it changes influences the other species and responds to that change. [It] goes back and forth.”

Schaal primarily focused on intensified plant domestication as a practical future application of artificial selection, citing growing research on under-utilized plant species.

There is the potential for additional plant domestication providing new kinds of foods.

Barbara Schaal Biologist

“There are about 20,000 edible plant species, about 2,000 of them are economically important, and about 30 of them provide most of the world’s food,” she said.

“There is the potential for additional plant domestication providing new kinds of foods from the wild species that are

out there.”

Schaal also argued that pursuing these untapped opportunities for plant domestication could help offset climate change.

“In a global situation where more and more population is becoming urban or in parts of the earth where agriculture is suffering because of climate change, this whole idea of expanding what we use really does rest on some of these basic fundamental principles that first came out in domestication,” she said.

Event attendee Lucas Wilbur, a senior at Concord-Carlisle High School, said he found Schaal’s theories on artificial selection to be “interesting and way different than anything else we’ve learned in school.”

Iona Brightman, a biology teacher at Vassal Lane Upper School, said she gave her 8th grade students extra credit to attend Schaal’s talk, encouraging them to hear from an expert in the field.

“Evolution is one of our units, not the one that we are doing right now, but this one is on artificial selection, so it’s right up their alley of what we are talking about,” Brightman said.

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THE HARVARD CRIMSON | OCTOBER 11, 2019 | PAGE 7

BOOKS

Stephen Chbosky Returns With Lukewarm Horror Novel ‘Imaginary Friend’ CASSANDRA LUCA CRIMSON STAFF WRITER Does Stephen Chbosky know what he ended up writing, that is, did he read the final product? Did an editor read the final product? It’s difficult to say, because “Imaginary Friend,” his first novel since “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” is not a horror novel — even though that’s how it’s being marketed. It certainly asks difficult questions, but having horror elements does not necessarily make it a novel of that genre. It’s the “squares are rectangles, but rectangles aren’t squares” argument, but applied to books. It’s a shame that the novel was put in this category, because Chbosky might have been able to further develop his underlying religious themes had there been fewer distracting elements in the way.

To start with the good parts: Chbosky knows how to spin a good story. Christopher, the seven year-old protagonist, and his mother, Kate Reese, move to Mill Grove, Pennsylvania to escape her abusive boyfriend. Christopher ends up in the woods, starts hearing voices, becomes a genius overnight, and figures out that the imaginary world which he can see in his dreams is actually Hell. One character becomes pregnant despite not having ever had sex, while another woman attempts to drown herself in a gallon of paint. Both occurrences, in the larger context of the story, are deeply unsettling — in a good way.

As a screenwriter firmly rooted in the TV and movie industries, Chbosky has also been clearly taking notes from his peers: Christopher spends a good chunk of the novel with a nosebleed à la “Stranger Things” from the exertion needed to save the world.

“Carcasses of trees” was an excellent image about a quarter of the way into the book, and the idea of God as a murderer was one well worth exploring.

All these positive elements do not nearly disguise, however, the larger problems of the novel, the most significant of which is its incorrect categorization. There are certainly enough gory moments and jump scares — though the effect of the latter on the page is limited at best — to qualify it as a horror novel, but Chbosky unfortunately falls flat. Amazon.com calls it “literary horror,” which, in addition to being meaningless, seems like an attempt to dress up the genre simply because the author happens to be a respected screenwriter and wrote one of the — if not “the” — books about being a teenager in America.

Part of the reason that “Imaginary Friend” can’t quite be considered horror is because of its pacing — which is directly tied to the novel’s length. Yes, it’s true that other successful additions to the genre are upwards of a thousand pages, but the way their plots

develop is markedly different. “Imaginary Friend” may have a climax, but there are so many little ones that the reader is left wondering if “that was it.” The result is a novel that moves slowly all the way through, rather than accelerating at precise moments. The hospital scenes, the escape scenes, and the car chase scenes blend into one another so seamlessly that their purpose is lost and the reader’s attention is gone. Horror novels should not be boring, but this one was.

Chbosky tried on a lot of hats while writing this book. There are moments in the novel when Christopher, the seven year-old who becomes almost omnipotent, thinks about God’s love and the difference between making decisions out of fear and out of love — all very cosmic stuff, and one can easily see the influences of “Perks of Being a Wallflower.” Sometimes Chbosky’s own voice comes through in moments when the narrator says quips like “the touché part was silent.” And there are larger moments of cultural commentary, like when Mary Katherine — our resident Virgin Mary — wonders, “Why was everything involving a girl’s body so degrading?”

Chbosky tried on a lot of hats while writing this book. There are moments in the novel when Christopher, the seven year-old who becomes almost omnipotent, thinks about God’s love and the difference between making decisions out of fear or out of love: all very cosmic stuff, and one can easily see the influences of “Perks of Being a Wallflower.” Sometimes Chbosky’s own voice comes through in moments when the narrator says things like “the touché part was silent.” And there are larger moments of cultural commentary, like when Mary Katherine — our resident Virgin Mary — wonders[,] “Why was everything involving a girl’s body so degrading?”

Ultimately, however, he didn’t pick one, and tried to do everything, yielding an unwieldy book that clocks in at over 700 pages.

The page length itself is not as daunting as attempting to be engaged from start to finish, which was, admittedly, not easy. Emma Watson supposedly disliked the original ending: One only wonders what it was considering the one he ended up writing was so unsatisfying. It’s a shame, because Chbosky clearly has good ideas, and is engaging with religion in fiction in a way that is not often seen in the literary world. Perhaps scaling back the page count and honing in on one specific message would have been a better idea.

Staff Writer Cassandra Luca can be reached at cassandra.luca@ thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @cassandraluca_

COURTESY OF HACHETTE BOOK GROUP

BOOKS

Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey Discuss New #MeToo Memoir with Ashley Judd Jodi Kantor can still remember the moment Harvey Weinstein arrived at the offices of the New York Times.

It was the day before the exposé on Weinstein’s alleged sexual misconduct — the beginning of the reporting that would go on to inaugurate the #MeToo movement and win the Pulitzer Prize for public service — was slated to publish in the Times. Kantor and her reporting partner Megan Twohey were finalizing the story when they got word of Weinstein’s imminent arrival.

“Megan and I are frantically doing the 10,000 things we need to do before publication,” Kantor recounted. “Megan and I are on the fourth floor of the Times. And Megan gets the message saying, ‘Harvey’s on his way to the office now. He wants to talk off-the-record and he has really important stuff you need to see before you’re going to publish.’”

In the moment, Kantor was in disbelief.

“She sends this to me and I’m like, ‘Harvey’s on his way here?’” she said. “We had already had this well-organized series of phone calls with teams of lawyers and whatnot, and I was like, ‘We’re not going to meet with him.’”

But Twohey insisted on taking the meeting, Kantor recalled, during which Weinstein presented a folder of evidence against Rose McGowan and Ashley Judd in an effort to kill the story.

“My partner was like, ‘I’m taking that meeting,’” she said. Then, smiling, she added, “Megan relished the chance to face off against him.”

The crowd at First Parish Church applauded enthusiastically — the first of many moments like it, over the course of the event.

Joined in conversation by actress and political activist Ashley Judd and moderated by NPR justice correspondent Carrie Johnson, Kantor and Twohey discussed their recently released joint memoir, “She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Case that Helped Ignite a Movement.”

Both Kantor and Twohey stressed the importance of rigorous journalistic ethics, particularly while reporting a story this sensitive.

“Journalistically, you were doing something very sound,” Kantor said to Twohey, about her willingness to give Weinstein an audience on that hectic day. “Because you were saying, ‘I want to see everything. If there’s anything he’s going to try to rebut this story, we want to see it before publication, and not after.”

The book, Twohey continued, walks readers through each step of the journalistic process.

“You can see the painstaking work we do when it comes to corroboration, when it comes to the other types of due diligence, when it comes to fairness,” she said. “At the very end, we were able to walk readers through what it was like when we finally had to go to Harvey Weinstein with all of our findings, and give him an opportunity to respond.”

Yet despite harrowing moments like these, the journalists were motivated by the potential to effect change on a large scale.

COURTESY OF CAROLINE A. TSAI

CAROLINE A. TSAI CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

“We go through all of that work, even when it involves Harvey Weinstein barging into the New York Times in the eleventh hour to try to stop us,” Twohey said. “Because we really feel like, as reporters, we have confidence in that process and feel like if you’re able to adhere to it and publish the truth, it can actually bring about change.”

Kantor and Twohey were not the only ones facing adversity, though — for Judd, the decision to come forward as one of the first named sources in the story required thoughtful consideration. It began when, while on vacation from filming, Judd received a message from Nicholas Kristof, the New York Times journalist.

“He said, ‘You know, I have a journalist friend who would like to talk to you,’” Judd said. “And I thought, ‘This is about Harvey.

Somebody’s finally going to write this story.’”

After Kantor reached out to Judd, the actress began contributing sources and possible leads. It wasn’t long before Kantor asked her to be quoted on the record.

“I ran through all possible worst-case scenarios,” Judd said.

“Harvey sues me for defamation and slander, I lose my career — little did I know that I had very much already lost the majority of my career because of his defamation and slander against me.”

But then Kantor raised an important counterargument, one that ultimately counteracted Judd’s reluctance.

“Jodi did something really wise,” Judd said. “She said, ‘What’s the best case scenario? How could this play out optimally?’”

All things considered, it did play out optimally. The publication of the story sparked a wave of sweeping sexual misconduct alle-

gations in the fall of 2017, eventually leading to the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements for gender equality and women’s rights.

Still, the journalists admitted, there is much progress to be desired, particularly in governmental institutions.

“The government really has ineffective ways of speaking out to these individuals and curbing this behavior,” Kantor said, citing the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission as an insufficient resource for addressing workplace discrimination. “That mandate that’s now, I think, over 50 years old reflects a totally different reality in which so much more is brushed under the rug.”

Despite this lack of institutional response, there were still moments of peace to be found amidst the upheaval that followed — namely, an afternoon spent in Gwyneth Paltrow’s Brentwood living room. In attendance were Kantor, Twohey, and Judd, as well as Christine Blasey-Ford, the psychologist who testified against now-Supreme Court Justice, Brett Kavanaugh.

“It was beautiful,” Judd remembered. “I was the one in my pajamas. I flew from Germany to be there. It was very special to be there, with that circle of women.”

Surrounded by others with similarly painful experiences, the women who convened in Paltrow’s home felt finally at peace, according to Judd. “The world’s good at talking, but we all need to be listened to,” she said. “There was a little bit of healing for each of us, during those two days.”

Staff writer Caroline A. Tsai can be reached at caroline.tsai@ thecrimson.com.

SPORTS

IN OTHER NEWS

WOMEN’S RUGBY

MEN’S BASKETBALL

The Crimson will play host to the Ivy League Championship against Dartmouth on Oct. 26.

The team will kick off its season with the Crimson Madness fan event next Friday at Lavietes Pavilion.

Football Hopes to Avenge Past Losses to Cornell on Saturday

By CADE PALMER CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

A s the Crimson looks to battle Cornell under the midday sun in Harvard Stadium on Saturday, history will be against the Crimson for the first time in a while.

Two years ago, Harvard entered the 2017 rendition of the contest on the flip side, boasting an 11-game win streak against the then-home team Cornell.

That year was worse for the Big Red than this one, with the team playing unremarkable, having yet to post a single victory in it’s three former games.

The Crimson took a quick 14-0 lead by the second quarter and then didn’t score again.

Cornell did though, tabbing 17 straight to break the streak.

In 2018, Harvard was again forced to make the long, winding journey to Ithaca, N.Y., for the contest. The teams looked remarkably similar to the year before, and indistinguishable to this one.

The Crimson entered 2-1, having lost a nailbiter to a strong, out-of-conference opponent in No. 20/22 Rhode Island. Also on its resume, Harvard had bested Brown and an out-of-conference opponent in San Diego.

The Big Red was 1-2, with losses to the University of Delaware and Yale, and a victory against Sacred Heart.

Remembering the loss of last season, the Crimson took a quick lead, and maintained the difference up through the fourth quarter. With 10 minutes remaining, Harvard kept a 10-point buffer, 24-14, between itself and a repeat of the year before.

As it turns out, 10 points wasn’t enough. Two quick Cornell touchdowns iced the game for the home team for the second consecutive year.

This season, the scene is much the same. The Crimson is 2-1 with an out-of-conference loss to a strong team, while the Big Red is 1-2 with a win against a weak win against Marist. For some reason, this hasn’t mattered in the past.

Cornell is unique in that over the past two seasons, it has served as the foil to the Ivy League title aspirations of Harvard.

The team hasn’t even been particularly good both of the seasons it has beaten the Crimson. It finished fifth and seventh in 2017 and 2018, respectively.

Yet, it still beats Harvard. ­

FULL SPEED AHEAD The Crimson will face off against a challenging Cornell defense this weekend as its seeks its third win of the season and second Ivy League victory. TIMOTHY R. O’MEARA— CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

“I think we’ve definitely got a chip on our shoulder this week,” said captain defensive back Wes Ogsbury. “Some of the older guys that were here for both of the losses, we have a lot of resentment for Cornell and it’s really nothing against them.

It’s just the fact that we feel we’re better every year but they’ve gotten the best of us the last two years. We’ve taken those losses as lessons and we’re preparing a different type of way so far.”

This season, the location and personnel have changed.

Saturday’s contest represents the end of a threegame home stint for the Crimson which has so far been fruitful, accounting for both of the team’s two victories thus far in the 2019 season.

At a more micro level, the duel looks similar to past years as well. By virtue of being division rivals, the two squads know each other well.

“They’re big, they’re strong, they’re very physical,” Harvard

coach Tim Murphy said. “They play a lot of defense. Some teams are pretty basic and you know exactly what you’re going to get. Conversely, Cornell is going to give you, three-down, four-down, bear defense, and some stuff in between. It’s a lot to prepare for.”

The Big Red looks similar to past seasons. They average high 100s in both passing and rushing per game, they maintain possession for just over half the time.

One stark difference is their effectiveness at fourth downs, which — being biased by the youth of the season — is 100 percent in five attempts. On third downs, however, the team is 10 percent less effective.

Harold Coles and Mike Cantanese will be familiar names for Crimson fans. The two lead the teams offensive production in the rushing department with the former averaging 111 yards per game. Cantanese serves as one of the team’s two quarterbacks, averaging 44 yards per

game on the ground and another 121 through the air. Sharing the load behind the center is Richie Kenney. He’s averaging 78.67 yards through the air each game.

“This Cornell team, if you take a play off, if you miss an assignment, it can go big,” said junior defensive back Isaiah Wingfield. “It’s just really locking in on every single rep, trying to get better.”

The two-quarterback offense is a staple of Cornell’s.

Last season Cantanese served as the secondary play caller, brought in every so often to run down Harvard’s throat — and doing so quite effectively. The now-senior tallied 75 yards and a touchdown against the Crimson last season.

The quarterbacks’ favorite target downfield isn’t even a wide out, it’s running back Delonte Harrell. The back has 135 yards and two touchdowns on the season.

Defensively, senior safety Jelani Taylor leads the squad in

tackles, with 20, while defensive lineman Nathaniel Weber has the most sacks with two for 14 yards.

“It’s championship week everytime you come up against an Ivy League team,” Wingfield said. “You have to perform.

If you lose one game in the Ivy League, now you’re depending on some other teams to lose and you want to be in the driver’s seat throughout the season.”

While the Big Red’s defense has had trouble making its way into the backfield, The Crimson’s has not. The team is first in the nation in sacks per game and second in the nation with tackles for loss per game with 4.67 and 9.7, respectively.

Leading Harvard in that defensive front is sophomore linebacker Truman Jones with a team-leading 13 tackles and four sacks. The team is also second in the nation in first down defense, sixth in rushing defense, and first in punt blocks.

Offensively, the team is equally robust, having tallied

it’s highest score since 2012, last week’s 62-17 routing of Howard put the Crimson on the national map for offensive production.

The team is third in the nation in scoring offense, averaging 42.3 points per game.

At the helm of that production is quarterback Jake Smith.

Through three games, Smith has thrown for 737 yards and eight touchdowns, with senior wideouts Jack Cook and Cody Chrest as his favorite targets.

Junior Devin Darrington leads the production on the ground with 92.3 yards per game and four touchdowns overall.

“Losing a game to Cornell, two years in a row, that early in the season, it puts you on the ropes,” Wingfield said. “It’s been a rough way to start our season for the last two years.

It’s stuck with us. We’re coming into this week with greater focus and intensity than we’ve ever had, one of the best weeks of practice we’ve ever had.” cade.palmer@thecrimson.com

CRUISING TO A W After easily defeating Howard last weekend, the Crimson will face a much tougher conference opponent on Saturday against Cornell. The Big Red have only one victory under their belt this season, against Marist. TIMOTHY R. O’MEARA—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER