The Harvard Crimson - Volume CXLVI, No. 110

The Harvard Crimson The University Daily, Est. 1873 | Volume CXLVI, No. 110 | Cambridge, Massachusetts | thursDAY, october 24, 2019

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Navigating affirmative action may be tough, but we must defend dialogue.

Researchers discussed technology and social justice at the Law School.

From here on, all Ivy games count for conference standing.

$600,000 $500,000

Exelixis

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Vertex

$400,000

University Provost Alan M. Garber ’76 has collected more than $2.7 million serving on the board of directors for two pharmaceutical companies since being appointed as the University’s chief academic officer in 2011, according to company filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Exelixis, Inc. and Vertex Pharmaceuticals confirmed that they paid Garber in cash, stocks, and options, which they indicated are normal compensation for board members. They wrote in emailed statements that Garber did not provide any additional services to the firms beyond his board duties.

Garber acknowledged the

Crimson Staff Writer

$300,000

Crimson Staff Writer ­

Athletics Dept. To Examine Culture By devin b. srivastava

$200,000

By jameS s. bikales

Compensation from Pharmaceutical Companies to Provost Garber

$100,000

Garber Earns $2.7M Payout

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The ongoing study of Harvard’s Athletics Department will largely examine the department’s culture, Athletics Director Robert L. Scalise said in an interview Friday.

The review, first announced last month by Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Science Claudine Gay, is being conducted by outside consulting firm Mercer.

Scalise and other top administrators including Dean of the College Rakesh Khurana are on the advisory committee overseeing the study, which will also include input from students and staff.

Harvard is pursuing the study this year in light of the “rapidly approaching” centennial anniversary of the first Athletics director being named, which will take place in 2026, according to a joint interview between Scalise and Gay published in the Harvard Gazette, a University-run publication.

Gay has previously denied that the study stems from the controversy surrounding for-

mer fencing head coach Peter Brand, who sold his home to the family of a prospective student.

Scalise said Friday that Gay told coaches that the review is unrelated to the scandals.

Scalise also said the main topic of the study will be athletics culture, which can be positive or negative.

“With respect to the culture, there are some very powerful, positive things that get created when people work together to try to accomplish a common goal.

There’s a bonding that takes place,” Scalise said. “Sometimes, that can go a little bit sideways and there can be some negative elements.”

“What makes it go right?”

Scalise asked. “What do we do if things are not on track?”

The review will work to determine how the Athletics Department can ensure its culture does not mirror athletics culture as it is depicted in pop culture, he said.

“The pop culture in our society has depicted — I’ll call it frat

See ATHLETICS Page 5

FYRE Swartz Hall To Program Rebuild Sustainably Made Official

By AHAB CHOPRA

Crimson Staff Writer

By ELIZABETH X. GUO Crimson Staff Writer ­

Harvard College officially institutionalized the pre-orientation program First-Year Retreat and Experience, which aims to orient under-resourced incoming students to life at the University, FYRE leadership announced Tuesday.

FYRE was first piloted as a pre-orientation program for the Class of 2022 after being introduced at a College town hall in spring 2018. The program features activities like “FYRE Family Time” and an opening dinner in Widener Library during which students receive personalized books from Harvard faculty and alumni. The program garnered praise from its inaugural class of participants.

“We’re incredibly thankful to all the students, alumni, and administrators who tirelessly vouched for the necessity of a pre-orientation program specifically designed for our community,” FYRE Co-Chairs Alyssa J. Britton ’21 and Lisette Leon ’21 wrote in an email sent over the FYRE listserv.

Britton and Leon declined to comment for this story.

One of the changes that comes with FYRE’s official institutionalization is a permanent source of funding.

“Previously, the money for FYRE had been coming out of the College dean’s special accounts, essentially,” said James A. Bedford ’20, a co-founder and former FYRE co-chair. “But now, it’s fully institutionalized and will be part of Harvard’s permanent budget as dictated by the Corporation.”

Bedford said that during its two pilot years, FYRE’s status was “not very much guaranteed at all.”

“We were really on tenterhooks for the first year to see whether it would be approved for the second, and then in our second year, to see if it was going to be successful enough,” Bedford said.

Because FYRE is designed

See FYRE Page 3

Inside this issue

Harvard Today 2

Scientific research from Harvard’s Healthier Building Materials Academy is being used to reduce chemical presence in the building formerly known as Andover Hall, according to a blog post from the Divinity School Director of Operations Ralph DeFlorio.

The century-old building, now called Swartz Hall, is currently being renovated with an expected completion date in 2021.

The HBMA is a partnership between Harvard’s Office for Sustainability, public health, medical, and engineering faculty. Soliciting HMBA’s expertise was meant to ensure that renewed space is developed in a way that is sustainable and healthy for the school community, according to the same blog post.

“The Divinity School has long had a strong tie with the environment. Going back a

number of years, we have had seminars about the physical environment and how that relates to spirituality,” DeFlorio said in an interview last week.

The renovations to Swartz Hall are projected to surpass baseline environmental standards set by the Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers.

The improvements will reduce energy consumption by 18 percent, indoor water use by 35 percent, and outdoor water use by 50 percent, according to DeFlorio.

DeFlorio also emphasized the school’s commitment to using healthy materials in order to create a more sustainable building. He noted the Divinity School’s efforts to find materials that meet accepted environmental standards.

“Something that has really emerged in the last few years has to do with healthy materials,” he said. “We’re taking a lot

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Swartz Hall, located at the Harvard Divinity School, is undergoing serious renovations with the goal to create a more sustainable building. aiyana g. white—Crimson photographer

Panel Talks Changes in Conservatism By benjamin l. fu and AUSTIN w. li contributing Writers

Hundreds of students, faculty, and alumni filled the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum to listen to panelists discuss the transition from traditional to modern American conservatism at an event hosted by the Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics on Wednesday evening.

The panel consisted of a variety of conservative figures including Kennedy School Professor Arthur C. Brooks, former senator and IOP Fall 2019 Resident Fellow Jeff L. Flake (R-Arizona), and political commentator George F. Will.

CNN political commentator and IOP Fall 2019 Resident Fellow Alice M. Stewart moderated the panel.

The panelists opened the discussion by defining conservatism in their own words. Will began by outlining the government’s role in protecting natu­

U.S. Senator Jeff Flake speaks with George F. Will (Washington Post), Arthur Brooks, and Alice Stewart to discuss the role of conservatism and its new connotations in today’s politics. quinn g. perini —Crimson photographer

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Editorial 4

Sports 6

Today’s Forecast

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ral rights as well as stating the importance of maintaining a separation of powers within the federal system.

Brooks expanded on the importance of protecting natural rights and said he believes opportunity stems from American conservatism.

“What attracted me to American conservatism was two basic concepts: one is the belief that there’s a radical equality of human dignity, and that there’s a limitlessness of human potential,” Brooks said.

Will said that these are the basic principles that have traditionally influenced conservative domestic and foreign policy.

Flake said that President Donald Trump’s recent foreign policy move to withdraw remaining U.S. troops from Syria reflected poorly on traditional conservatism.

Flake reiterated that he did

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maximalism

THE HARVARD CRIMSON |

OCTOBER 24, 2019

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Harvard Today

For Lunch Grilled 3 Cheese Sandwich Spicy Chicken with Chilies Spicy Tofu with Green Beans

For Dinner Baked Meatloaf Chicken Piccatta Farfalle Pasta with Cannelini

Today’s Events Adams House Drag Night Adams Dining Hall, 8-11 p.m.

in The Real World

Who doesn’t love drag? Adams is holding its annual Drag Night in Adams dining hall tonight. The reception is from 8-9 p.m., and then drag performances will follow from 9-11 p.m.

Study Shows Rats Can Learn to Drive Tiny Cars Think rats are dumb? Think again. Scientists have trained rats to drive tiny cars by rewarding them with Froot Loop cereal pieces, pushing the boundaries of what scientists previously thought were the limits of rats’ brains.

Soul Searchin’ with Jamila Woods Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 7-9 p.m.

If you feel like getting off campus for a bit, head to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum for some live music. Chicago-born artist Jamila Woods will be performing songs that explore cultural homage and rhythmic reflection.

United States-Israel Relations in the Trump-Netanyahu Era Wasserstein Hall 1010, 5:30-7 p.m.

Former Israeli diplomat Navdav Tamir will be speaking about trends in relations between the U.S. and Israel.

The event is free and open to the public at Wasserstein Hall, Room 1010.

Large Turnout of Volunteers to Clean Up Oil Spill on Coast of Brazil

Harvard Rugby player Cassidy Bargell ‘22 tosses the ball to her teammate as the opposing team rushes towards her. timothy r. o’meara —Crimson photographer

Daily Briefing University Provost Alan M. Garber ’76 has collected more than $2.7 million serving on the board of directors for two pharmaceutical companies since being appointed as the University’s chief academic officer in 2011, according to company filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Exelixis, Inc. and Vertex Pharmaceuticals confirmed that they paid Garber in cash, stocks, and options, which they indicated are normal compensation for board members. In other news, the ongoing study of Harvard’s Athletics Department will largely examine the department’s culture, Athletics Director Robert L. Scalise said in an interview Friday.

After an oil spill of unknown origins washed up on the northeastern coast of Brazil, thousands of people have come out to help clean it up.

The source of the spill is currently unknown.

Volunteers are braving the sludge in an effort to help clean up the mess.

South Carolina Republican State Senators Remove Rape and Incest Exceptions in Abortion Bill

A piece of legislation that would ban abortion without exceptions for rape and incest is moving through the South Carolina Senate. Said bill would ban abortions from the moment a heartbeat is detected.

Around the Ivies YALE A Yale student group is challenging Yale’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought against the University and nine campus fraternities for gender discrimination, the Yale Daily News reported Tuesday. The lawsuit was originally filed in February by three Yale students who have since been joined by Engender, a student activism group that has called for gender integration in fraternities. In court filings, Engender has alleged gender discrimination and accused fraternities of creating a sexually hostile environment. After Yale brought multiple motions to dismiss the suit, the court heard arguments last Tuesday.

princeton

A Facebook group used by Princeton students, “Tiger Confessions,” was shut down by its creator just days before the first anniversary of its creation, according to The Daily Princetonian. The group’s creator, who goes by the alias Ty Ger, took down the group Monday and deleted every post. The Facebook group had enjoyed high popularity among the student body, boasting 5,175 members and nearly 12,000 posts. In her reasons for shutting down the page, the creator cited a lack of fair evaluating process for posts and the time strain of administering the group.

BROWN

Providence’s ban on plastic bags came into effect Tuesday, according to the Brown Daily Herald. The ban, which was signed into law on May 1, exempts certain plastic bags — such as those used for laundry, dry-cleaning, produce, meat, or fish — but requires most businesses to offer either reusable or recyclable bags instead. Businesses that violate the ban will receive an initial warning, and thereafter are subject to fines. The ban is part of Providence’s sustainability plan to implement a zero waste strategy by 2033.

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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

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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

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.

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Story Editors Shera S. Avi-Yonah ’21 Angela N. Fu ’20 Ruth A. Hailu ’21 Jamie D. Halper ’20 Molly C. McCafferty ’21 Andrew J. Zucker ’20

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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.

Page 3

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | October 24, 2019

Students Hear About Physics Advances By maria g. gonzalez and KAVYA m. shah contributing writers ­

California Institute of Technology professor Sean M. Carroll discussed recent advances and unsolved questions in the field of quantum mechanics, addressing a packed lecture hall Wednesday evening.

Harvard philosophy professor Edward J. Hall introduced Carroll, who researches theoretical physics. Carroll gave his talk as part of a promotion for his new book, “Something Deeply Hidden: Quantum Worlds and the Emergence of Spacetime.”

In his introduction, Hall highlighted Carroll’s ability to communicate his work to a general audience. “I think his brilliance as an expositor comes not just from the fact that he knows the physics cold, and not just from the fact that he’s quite skilled in the use of thought experiments to draw out the impli-

cations of the physics, but from a motivation that he brings to the study of physics,” Hall said.

Carroll began his remarks by citing a lack of understanding of quantum mechanics among the general population, and a lack of motivation among physicists to understand quantum mechanics at a higher level.

“Professional physicists use quantum mechanics, as it’s the center of all of modern physics,” Carroll said. “And yet, they haven’t done all the work, not only to explain it to the rest of the world, but to even understand it in its own right.”

Carroll also discussed specific and current technical issues in modern quantum mechanics. He said there are many questions associated with the Schrödinger equation — a mathematical formula thought to govern most of the field of quantum mechanics — that remain unsolved.

“There are, these days, perfectly good answers to all these

questions,” Carroll said. “Sadly, there is more than one set of perfectly good answers to these questions, and we don’t know which is right.”

Carroll concluded the talk by discussing the “many worlds hypothesis,” the idea that multiple worlds exist concurrently.

The hypothesis is one of several concepts Carroll explores in his book, which is aimed at explaining physics to readers without a scientific background.

“The world is not duplicating, like in a Xerox machine, it’s being subdivided. It’s being differentiated,” he said. “But the width, weight, or the thickness of the universe is conserved over time.”

“I hope, if nothing else, this talk has lowered your amount of incomprehension when it comes to quantum mechanics,” he added.

After the lecture, several attendees noted Carroll’s ability to communicate complex ideas straightforwardly.

“He made it quite simple, easier to grasp, and that was his specialty,” Prabidhik Kc ’23 said. “I really liked it, and then some topics I really wanted to understand, I got to learn about today.”

Artist and Massachusetts College of Art and Design professor Barbara Bosworth also praised Carroll’s ability to synthesize information.

“I think it’s important to learn and talk about all sorts of things about the universe,” Bosworth said. “Sean is just someone who’s able to put that in a really understandable format.”

Albert X. Zhu ’23 said he admired Carroll’s efforts to further understand the intricacies of quantum mechanics.

“Even though — as Professor Carroll said — it’s probably almost impossible to understand it completely, it’s in our best interest to figure out as much as we can to understand the fundamentals of how our world operates,” Zhu said.

forum From Page 1

building From Page 1

Swartz Hall To Go Greener of the research that has been done.”

“If something is not healthy, we are moving on until we find a

The Divinity School has long had a strong tie with the environment.

Ralph DeFlorio Divinity School Director of Operations

product that is,” he added.

Swartz Hall’s renaming came after a $25 million donation from James and Susan Swartz to the Divinity School, which amounted to the largest donation in the Divinity

School’s history. James Swartz is the co-founder of the global venture capital firm Accel.

Amirah Fadhlina, a student at the Divinity School, said she is unsure whether the renovations will maintain the building’s historic character.

“I personally love the classic old characteristic of Andover, the building,” she said. “Now that it’s under construction, I kinda feel all over the place and I’m not sure how I’m gonna feel about it being modernized.”

DeFlorio said that the Divinity School tried to incorporate Harvard’s values into the renovations.

“What we’ve done in the area of sustainable design is very much in alignment with the values of the school,” he said. ahab.chopra@thecrimson.com

fyre From Page 1

Panelists Discuss Changes in Conservatism Two Years Later, FYRE Made Official not support Trump when he ran for office in 2016 because he believes that Trump does not embody traditional Republican ideology.

“I’m glad that there has been the pushback ... perhaps I just wish that the President had listened to it beforehand,” Will said.

Stewart then asked the panelists to discuss modern conservatism and how it relates to populism.

Brooks said that populism can be found across ideologies and that he believes today’s rise in populism can be attributed to the most recent financial crises.

Flake said the rise of populism could be dangerous for the Republican party because of changing demographics.

He cited Arizona’s recent election of a Democratic senator — the first Democrat to be elected to this office in 30 years — as an example of this change.

“I think the conservative message plays well for immigrants and every American, but you’ve got to get in the door,” Flake said.

“The problem is politics today, for Republicans, the harsh tone and rhetoric and language used doesn’t allow conservatives or Republicans to actually get that message.”

Before the event transitioned to a question and answer session with the audience, Stewart asked the panelists what advice they would give to young conservatives who are navigating today’s political environment.

Brooks said people must distinguish between political theory and party politics.

“What I would recommend to young conservatives is the same thing that I would recommend to young progressives, which is to stay close to first philosophical principles and not core party principles.”

Attendee Benjamin A. Landau ‘23 shared his thoughts on

the panel at the discussion’s conclusion.

Landau — who said he is unsure of his political identity — said that one of his primary motivations for attending the forum was his interest in the development of American politics in recent years.

He cited a lack of conservative discourse as another reason to why he wanted to listen to the speakers.

“I think on this college campus and on most college campuses you don’t really hear conservative points of view, and [the panelists] having this opportunity is great to just get them in the spotlight,” he said.

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and led by students, the program faced distrust from administrators in its early days, according to Bedford.

Though FYRE steering committee leaders lobbied for institutionalization from the start, the decision to permanently fund the program was ultimately in the hands of administrators.

Associate Dean for Student Engagement and Acting Associate Dean for Inclusion and Belonging Alexander R. Miller wrote in an emailed statement that the College is “delighted” to offer FYRE as a permanent pre-orientation program.

“The First Year Retreat and Experience (FYRE) is one of many programs that offer new students at Harvard College a chance to engage with their peers, begin to build community, and strengthen the skills they will utilize during their time here at Harvard,” Miller wrote.

Though he is “thrilled” that the pre-orientation program he co-founded has now been institutionalized, Bedford also said he looks forward to expanding the program.

He said he believes that some of the program’s greatest lim-

itations are that it is restricted to a three-day program, lacks the funding to run in-semester programming, and can currently accept only about 100 incoming freshmen per year.

“I’m proud that the adminis-

We were really on tenterhooks for the first year to see whether it would be approved for the second, and then in our second year, to see if it was going to be successful enough.

James A. Bedford ’20 FYRE Co-Founder and Former Co-Chair

tration has made this one of its major commitments on diversity and inclusion over the last 10 years,” Bedford said.

“I hope that administrative decisions will continue to push for more programs and larger programs like this.” elizabeth.guo@thecrimson.com

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THE HARVARD CRIMSON | October 24, 2019

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Editorial The Crimson Editorial board

column

Navigating the Affirmative Action Debate

Essentialism: The Case for Less is More

A

t a Harvard Law School event earlier this month, Adam K. Mortara — the lead attorney for Students for Fair Admissions — the plaintiffs in the recent Harvard admissions lawsuit, spoke publicly on the ruling for the first time. Mortara challenged the ruling’s lack of explanation for how Asian American applicants receive lower personal scores in admissions ratings.“I guess there’s just something more personally appealing about African American and Hispanic applicants,” he said at the event.

After at least a dozen students in the crowd shouted their agreement, conflict ensued in student group chats, touching upon the comments’ legitimacy or lack thereof in the broader context of systemic racism and efforts to eliminate affirmative action. This conflict led Law School affinity groups to plan several joint discussion fora to promote further dialogue.Both sides of this debate harbor legitimate and deeply felt concerns. We have previously urged Harvard to understand the implications of its internal studies on personal scores and have repeatedly defended affirmative action.

But in order to fully understand the debate, we must acknowledge that arguments on both sides in this case are deeply personal. Feeling discriminated against and ascribed a personality on the basis of racial origin is a terrible experience, just as much as having one’s very existence at the University or other places of higher learning threatened and delegitimized.

Such feelings understandably evoke

strong emotions, and when so much is at stake for both groups, conversation can be difficult.

This difficulty is only exacerbated by the bad faith associated with the past political actions of individuals related to SFFA. Fisher v. University of Texas, a lawsuit that attempted to end affirmative action in 2016, was also brought by Edward Blum, SFFA’s president. Blum’s true aim, in this case as in Fisher, is clear — to end affirmative action in its entirety.

But by portraying its goal in SFFA v. Harvard as helping Asian American students

Part of the critical work of affirmative action is precisely to preserve the place for students of diverse backgrounds to have these conversations, and that is why we must protect it. while working to undermine the mechanisms that empower racial minorities in the face of existing inequalities, SFFA conceals its aims under the benign cover of an imagined equality under meritocracy.

It is thus hardly surprising that this conversation has at times veered beyond the pale of open dialogue and good faith, with mistrust seemingly on all sides. Regardless, comments like those from the audience at the Law School event are unacceptable. Furthermore, explicit-

ly saying so is a critical part of the difficult work of maintaining productive, respectful dialogue.

In light of this issue’s high potential for conflict, the extent to which the ongoing discussions have largely been facilitated within the institutional context of the Law School, should be hugely encouraging for those committed to defending such dialogues. In fact, the very existence of these respectful dialogues between students of both sides, each with deeply held beliefs but engaging with others in good faith, is itself a compelling argument for diversity on campuses of higher education. When we share an institution, we have the opportunity to come together and engage each other in meaningful conversations.

But without institutions that are comprised of students from different backgrounds, it is impossible for a diversity of viewpoints — each the product of a unique background — to accumulate at the same place and inform one another.

Part of the critical work of affirmative action is precisely to preserve the place for students of diverse backgrounds to have these conversations, and that is why we must protect it.

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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Bubbles and Other Child’s Play

By Guillermo S. Hava

T

hat’s the thing about living within a bubble: the light rays reflect off its soapy exterior, triggering a concave distortion of one’s perception. If you live in a bubble, you lose perspective.

Harvard is a bubble — that much we know. A mirage of wealth and opportunity, of blurry vision and questionable decisions.

Not that one could expect moral clarity from this place (which has investments related to private prisons and fossil fuels, and accepts applicants based on their family’s wealth) nor from the students who chose to come here, many of whom, perhaps even yours truly, will spend years shouting radical rants against the administration before quietly shifting to an equally unethical (but rather more lucrative) career in the socalled real world.

Suburban real estate, Nantucket in the summer, bleached picket fence. Socially liberal but fiscally conservative. So it goes.

And yet, occasionally, our Garnier reality feels slightly too egregious, an overdone satire of itself.

Something crosses the boundary from passive to active hypocrisy, from standard to excessive shamelessness.

Something like Harvard’s Class of 2023 Day of Service.

Conceptually, the Day of Service is remarkably solid and progressive in character. It takes the vast majority of the incoming class (1,500 students this year) and sends them off to do a day’s worth of volunteering around the Boston area, aiming to help them develop a “civic orientation” that will guide them during their stay at Harvard and beyond.

It purports to be a transformative educational experience that helps commu-

nities in need, a chance to create a more close-knit and socially conscious community.

It fails miserably.

Let’s start with the name, “Day of Service.” One would expect a university that takes such pride in its beloved honor code to resist the urge of deceptive mar-

Engaging with these issues superficially, having the privilege to find in them only a fun little field trip rather than an intractable problem, is, to say the least, tone deaf. keting phrasing. So much for Veritas.

For the “Day of Service” cannot be considered, by any reasonable standard, a day. Its very webpage asserts that students were only expected to “volunteer” for a grand total of (gasp) four hours, from 12 to 4 p.m. Even that, however, is a significant overstatement — my own trip ended up returning to campus an hour early, after a half-hour journey to the site itself each way, leaving us with two hours worth of volunteering — just as long as the “post-service dinner and ice cream party” lasted (you really can’t make this up). Not that the volunteering itself really needed a longer time commitment.

Aside from a handful of groups who were assigned to something vaguely meaningful (such as unevenly weeding urban farms), most students had to perform tasks so ludicrous that they bordered on satire. In my case, that meant dragging dusty desks from on room to the one right across the hall as a school supervisor, painfully aware of the performative pointlessness of it all, chuck-

led and shrugged at our every attempt to figure out what to move and where to place it.

Yet the sheer inanity of the day wasn’t, in and of itself, the worst part. After all, in spite of the time constrictions, the absurdity of the trips, and the undeniable pollution created by aimlessly driving over a thousand people around Boston, the actions themselves probably had a neutral or even (slight) positive effect.

The real issue with the Day of Service, the thing that hinted damningly at its corrupt chore, was its self-congratulatory nature. The free t-shirts, “Harvard Serves” plastered on the back that we had to wear (God forbid that a single pedestrian fails to learn about our divine charity).

The local news coverage, fawning over how participants “rolled up their sleeves and went to work.” The emails (before and after the fact) urging us to document our day, to “use the hashtag #HarvardServes,” because nothing says selfless like a selfie.

Parading our student body around Boston to satisfy some fetishized version of Victorian charity is not serving.

For that matter, making a social event — a damn ice cream party — of urban poverty and homelessness isn’t either.

Engaging with these issues superficially, having the privilege to find in them only a fun little field trip rather than an intractable problem, is, to say the least, tone deaf.

Harvard may be a bubble — that much we have settled. But perhaps we should, when engaging with the real world, make some attempt at regaining a distortion-free perspective.

Cancel the Day of Service.

—Guillermo S. Hava ’23, a Crimson Editorial comper, lives in Wigglesworth Hall.

Mohib A. Jafri Redesigning Harvard

T

he world is noisy. As students, we are tasked with juggling classes, extracurriculars, friends, family, a crumbling political landscape, and questions of our future — all at the same time.

For every item worth our attention, there seem to be ten tantalizing pieces of junk that seek to win over our focus. How do we differentiate the two? And even when we can, how do we pick the right important items to focus our time and energy on?

Communication engineers have found the intuition to solve this dilemma over a hundred years ago without even knowing it.

Say you want to load up a YouTube video on WiFi. A router is trying to send your phone electromagnetic waves with all the relevant data.

However, there are millions of other electromagnetic waves going through the air at the same time, from cellular networks, to AM and FM radios, to Bluetooth. How do you find your wave?

Introducing the bandpass filter.

Most WiFi communications send signals out

For every item worth our attention, there seem to be ten tantalizing pieces of junk that seek to win over our focus. at a frequency of 2.4 Gigahertz (2.4 billion cycles per second). FM radio is at around 100 Megahertz, and Bluetooth at 2.45 Gigahertz. You can use a bandpass filter to select a specific frequency and throw away all the other information so that your phone will focus on just the WiFi signal.

Only then can your cat video on YouTube play.

I’ve used the concept of the bandpass filter in many areas of my life.

In the fall of my sophomore year, I grinded away at countless summer internship applications online — totaling over 150 submitted applications.

Of the 25 employers that even responded to me, I managed to get an interview with six, and an offer from one.

But those 150 applications were not top quality — they were good ways to fill up my time and convince myself I was doing something productive. The fact and feeling of progress are entirely separate.

It wasn’t until my junior year that I changed my strategy by applying the simple rules of the bandpass filter. I reached out to five people, interviewed with four, and signed an offer. Less of the bad, more of the good.

Admittedly, this elegant framework for life often bites me back when I’m overzealous with the cutting. Harvard’s acquaintance scene can be summarized in one hollow, empty promise: “Let’s grab a meal.” The phrase still makes me cringe today.

For a while, I vowed not to even suggest grabbing meals with others because I didn’t want to be that Harvard kid meeting with 50 “friends” each for 30 minutes on alternating weeks. I wanted a small group of deep, intimate friendships to make the backbone of my social life. Less of the bad, more of the good, right?

But bandpass filters don’t have clean cutoffs.

Engineers struggle to design filters that perfectly reject 2.39 GHz, and perfectly accept 2.4 GHz. In reality, some of the noise from the fringes will make it through.

Now, I see this as a feature instead of a bug.

Nonideal bandpasses allow us to focus our energy on the things that matter most, but they also bring in just the right amount of excess to allow us to see something new.

I’ve made some of my closest friends from a thirty minute lunch. And I’m willing to take in some noise if it means a shot at something new.

The rules of the bandpass are seen most clearly in my dorm room. My walls are bare, my windowsills empty, and my desk holds only what I’m working on at the time. My bed intentionally rests at the far end of the nook, blocking me from

A life of essentialism — or minimalism, or intentionalism, call it what you want — is not a life of deprivation, but rather a life of intentionality. viewing the work on my desk. Physical spaces are manifestations of our inner state of being, but I’ve discovered that this is a two-way function: physical spaces also have the power to change our state.

For that, I opt for the bandpass in my room. I opt for less is more.

A life of essentialism — or minimalism, or intentionalism, call it what you want — is not a life of deprivation, but rather a life of intentionality.

As writer Joshua Fields Millburn puts it in the article “Essentials, Nonessentials, and Junk,” “The key, then, is to continue to question the things we bring into our lives, and to question the things we hold onto, because the stuff that adds value today might be tomorrow’s junk.”

By navigating my time at Harvard through the framework of the bandpass, I’ve found more joy in doing and thinking less, and focusing more on what matters.

—Mohib A. Jafri ’21 is an Electrical Engineering concentrator in Quincy House. His column appears on alternate Thursdays.

Page 5

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | October 24, 2019

Researchers Discuss Technology, Social Justice By sixiao yu and nathan w. zhao Contributing writers

T wo researchers discussed the potential for innovations in the use of artificial intelligence and digital phenotyping to advance social justice causes at a Harvard Law School panel Wednesday.

The panel, titled “Computational Justice,” was the latest installment of the Project on Law and Applied Neuroscience, an event series by the Center for Law, Brain, and Behavior at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School. The goal of the panel was to help legal professionals “improve their paved route to justice” by using neuroscience technology to tailor approaches to individual cases, according to moderator Francis X. Shen, the executive director of the Center for Law, Brain, and Behavior.

Panelist Rediet Abebe ’13, a computer science Ph.D. candidate at Cornell and Junior Fellow at Harvard, discussed how she uses machine learning to study the way poverty, disease, inequality, and other factors impact underrepresented groups like pregnant women. ­

“A lot of the data is very hard to come by,” Abebe said. “It’s not collected in a sort of systematic manner, it’s not comprehensive, you cannot regularly sort of rely on it.”

“And what this does is it basically makes it very challenging to identify sort of gaps in our policies in terms of existing communities and also where there might be interest that we haven’t thought about,” she added.

Later in the event, Harvard Medical School assistant professor Justin T. Baker discussed his research on psychiatric conditions like bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, explaining how he designs technological systems tailored to people’s specific behaviors and needs.

In one experiment, Baker used geospatial recording to track the locations of a patient with bipolar disorder for more than two years, monitoring when the patient ended up in the hospital and the patterns of behaviors they exhibited beforehand.

Audience member Lauren M. Chambers questioned that kind of surveillance in the discussion section of the talk. Chambers, who serves as a technology fellow with the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, referred to a hearing

she attended at the Massachusetts State House to introduce a bill that would set a moratorium on the use of facial surveillance technology by the government.

“Some of the concerns that we have about facial recognition are that, as much as we might want to bring this objective algorithm into our systems to reduce human bias in decision-making processes, the technology is not up to those standards,” Chambers said.

“How are you making sure that the things you’re measuring for these kinds of processes are free from different sorts of biases?”

Baker explained in response that researchers developing new systems for tracking and treating mental illness should strive to consider data sets “within a particular cultural context.”

“Part of the rationale for developing objective measures is to develop things that would be at least applicable across cultures,” Baker said.

He added that his tracking methods focus not on broad diagnoses, but on individual patients’ behavior and how it changes over time.

“In mental health especially, diagnosis may be of marginal value,” Baker said. “It’s really about detecting what someone’s state is, and then detecting how the state changes over time.”

Computer scientist Rediet Abebe spoke Wednesday afternoon about the promising role of artificial intelligence in the near future and its ability to create justice. melissa w. kwan—Crimson photographer

payouts From Page 1

athletics From Page 1

Garber Paid $2.7M from Pharma

Athletics Dept. to Study Culture

e payments through University spokesperson Jonathan L. Swain and reiterated that the payments were limited to his board obligations.

Garber joined Exelixis’s board of directors in January 2005, when he was a professor at Stanford, according to the filings.

He has earned a total of $2,346,579 for services on Exelixis’s board over his time with the company, with $1,602,132 of that coming since he moved to Harvard. Exelixis, which is based in Alameda, Calif., primarily develops kidney, liver, and thyroid cancer treatment medicines, according to its website.

He joined the board of Vertex Pharmaceuticals, a Boston-based company that develops cystic fibrosis drugs, in June 2017. Vertex paid Garber a total of $1,189,085 between 2017 and 2018, according to the SEC filings. Data for 2019 is not yet available.

Exelixis Executive Vice President for Public Affairs and Investor Relations Susan T. Hubbard wrote in an email that Garber has never received compensation beyond his services as a board member. In addition

to monetary compensation, Garber also received compensation for travel and expenses related to attending board meetings.

“As part of his overall compensation, he, like our other board members, have been granted equity in the form of stock options over the years, which is common practice for companies,” Hubbard wrote.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals spokesperson Heather Nichols wrote in an email that Garber receives quarterly cash payments for his board work from the company, as well as stock and option awards.

“Dr. Garber’s payments are the lowest on our board currently,” Nichols wrote.

Garber, who is a licensed physician, also serves as a professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School.

Swain wrote that Garber annually files conflict of interest forms with the Office of General Counsel that acknowledge his service on both companies’ boards.

The University requires its senior officers — including the Provost — to note conflicts that could “compromise or appear to compromise” Harvard’s ac-

ademic values or business decisions, according to the policy. Such conflicts have the potential to “discredit Harvard’s good name and reputation,” the policy notes.

Any potential conflicts are adjudicated by the Office of General Counsel, in consultation with Secretary to the Harvard Corporation Marc L. Goodheart ’81.

Allen A. Nasseh, a part-time lecturer in Restorative Dentistry and Biomaterials Sciences at Harvard’s School of Dental Medicine, wrote in an email that he also files conflict of interest forms with Harvard to disclose payments he receives from a medical device company.

“It’s actually a very nice and detailed document that aims to discover any conflict of interest in our faculty or staff doing research and making sure outside financial bias is disclosed,” Nasseh wrote.

Nasseh added that he usually receives an email requesting that he fill out the form at the beginning of each academic year. Payments from industry are then discussed regularly on speciality forums and are public knowledge on government databases.

“People in my field are well aware of it,” he wrote.

Payments from pharmaceutical companies to physicians must be reported to the federal government under the Physician Payments Sunshine Act, which went into effect in 2013.

Garber came to Harvard in 2011 after 25 years on Stanford’s faculty, where his work focused primarily on health policy economics.

He has been re-elected to the Exelixis board every three years since 2005, with his current term set to expire in 2022.

His first term on the Vertex Pharmaceuticals board will expire in 2020.

At its annual meeting in June 2017, the Vertex Pharmaceuticals board recommended to voting stockholders that they elect Garber to the board for his “extensive leadership experience and knowledge,” according to SEC filings.

“The insights he has developed as an expert in health care policy and as an advisor to government agencies will provide our board important perspectives on the issues facing our company,” they wrote. james.bikales@thecrimson.com

boy, you know, jock behavior,” Scalise said.

“We’re trying to not have that here.”

Scalise said the study will also address both the structure of the Athletics Department and the “student-athlete experience.”

Specifically, the review will examine the way varsity athletes navigate the dual identities of a student at a top-ranked university and a Division I athlete.

“What do we do that makes being a top-notch scholar and a top-notch athlete — what do we do that makes it hard to do both things?” Scalise said. “Because we believe that doing both is not mutually exclusive.”

The review will also look at how to increase interaction between athletes and other College students so that they can learn from each other.

“The beauty of Harvard is that we bring in people with all different backgrounds. There isn’t just one size fits all that gets people into Harvard,” Scal-

ise said.

“What we need to do down

The pop culture our society has depicted — I’ll call it frat boy, you know, jock behavior. We’re trying to not have that here.

Robert L. Scalise Athletics Director

the road is all to learn how to work together, to respect our differences, but then respect one another and work together to solve problems that are bigger than any one group or one of us can solve.”

Though Scalise will step down from his position on June 30, a decision he announced earlier this month, he will continue to advise Gay on the study. devin.srivastava@thecrimson.com

Proud to cover Harvard for 146 years and counting.

The Crimson thecrimson.com

Sports

WomEN’S rugby

about the team

2018 Overall Record 8-2 ______________________________________

2019 Overall Record 5-1 ______________________________________

upcoming games ______________________________________

Conference Record 5-1 ______________________________________

Conference Record 2-0 ______________________________________

Games

10 ______________________________________

Games

6 ______________________________________

Women’s Rugby vs. Dartmouth Sat. 11 a.m., at Harvard

Points For 343 ______________________________________

Points For 328 ______________________________________

Points Per Game 34.3 ______________________________________

Points Per Game 54.7 ______________________________________

Women’s Rugby vs. TBD in NIRA Semifinal TBA, at Harvard

football

Around the Ivies: Return of the Ivies... and the Jedi

By Joseph W. minatel Crimson Staff Writer

We are finally there. That familiar feeling has finally emerged from its slumber, exciting fans once again. This week marks the return of two separate yet important things that have recently been missing from my life: Emperor Palpatine to the Star Wars universe, and exclusive Ivy League conference games to college football.

I know what you’re all thinking: which one is more important? It’s tough to say. On one hand, both have already been back in theory. The Emperor made an audio appearance in previous trailers for the new Star Wars film, and Ivy League conference play has been going on for weeks.

This week, however, offers two important caveats. In the cinematic world, Palpatine finally played a central role in the trailer, with the signature voice of Ian McDiarmid finally accompanied by what seemed to be the outline of his classic hooded figure.

For many football fans, this commercial offered the most exciting event from this week’s abysmal Monday Night Football game. In the same vein (kind of ), Ancient Eight football is finally completely central as well; no Ivy League team will play anymore non-conference games for the rest of the season. From this point forward, all of the games count for the conference standings and the race for the title.

Since we only saw an outline of a hood, I have no choice but to focus this article on football instead of a galaxy far, far away.

I now only have four games to break down, so I’ll need to be accurate to keep my clearly impressive 22-4 record on weekly picks ahead of the curve. ­

COLUMBIA VS. DARTMOUTH This past weekend, Columbia’s president allowed the band to return to action, but only from the stands. Snubbed at the last second, the band was told that they were not allowed to do their field performance at the

half and must remain in the stands at all times.

While the band was annoyed, maybe this wasn’t the worst idea in the world after all.

The Lions slapped Penn around the field for a 44-6 beatdown at home this weekend, tallying their highest offensive and lowest defensive point totals on the season for their first league win.

While I admire the bravery of Columbia’s administration, it’s doubtful that any actions relating to the band will change the outcome of this game.

Dartmouth has scored over 42 points in back-to-back weeks with dominating offensive performances, and the Big Green Defensive MachineTM has not given up more than 15 points this season, averaging a miniscule 8 points allowed per game at the halfway mark. The Lions can move their band into the stands, in the press box, even on the moon, and it likely would not be enough this week.

Dartmouth by 14.

PENNSYLVANIA VS. YALE Pennsylvania is the only team to score more than 10 points on the previously described Big Green Defensive MachineTM, however, the Quakers’ poor performance against Columbia somehow saved the Eagles from having the worst weekend effort from a football team based in Philly. I would feel bad picking on the Eagles week after week, but I just can’t help myself.

I’m sorry, but the Eagles just can’t stop doing totally Eagles things in the most Eagles ways possible. Right now, it seems the bug is being passed around the city. While Yale has emulated the Eagles’ model in its underwhelming first half after being tabbed league favorites, the Bulldogs are lucky to be far away from the City of Brotherly Love at the moment.

Yale by 3.

BROWN VS. CORNELL I caught a lot of flack last week for picking Princeton over Brown by 63 points. Firstly, the rough draft of my column orig-

FULL NELSON Sophomore defensive lineman Anthony Nelson wraps up the Holy Cross quarterback for one of five team sacks in Saturday’s contest.

The Crimson’s slight edge in the trenches contributed to its edge in the game. TIMOTHY R. O’MEARA—Crimson photographer

inally had the Tigers by 100 points.

Secondly, I wasn’t that far off, Princeton just stopped playing defense once the game was won. Through two games, Brown’s average Ancient Eight game score is 54-18.

Last time around, my only missed pick that denied me the elusive undefeated week came by picking Cornell, who fell to the previously winless Colgate.

I seemed so sure that a team with no wins could not possibly prevail.

As these two squads battle it out in what I can only as-

sume is the deep snow in Ithaca this weekend, one of them will leave the field with its first Ivy League win, while the other will leave with hypothermia.

You can never be sure of anything in football, but you can be pretty sure that it will not be Brown.

Cornell by 7.

HARVARD VS. PRINCETON Yes, I originally picked Princeton by 100 last week partially because Brown’s team is a whole different type of historic awful, but I also added to the spread because the Tigers have

a pretty good football team.

Princeton is now ranked 13 in the country, but the juggernaut has shown weaknesses. Any defense that allows 22 points to Brown clearly has some sort of deficiency, and the high-powered offense, while still first in the Ivy League, has not been perfect, being held to 21 points against an inconsistent Columbia team.

While Dartmouth has clearly excelled, Harvard has also put together an impressive mid-season resume on paper.

The Crimson offense trails only Princeton in points scored per

game, and the defense has a penchant for rushing the passer and causing turnovers, keys to slowing down the Tigers’ vicious offensive attack.

Am I nitpicking? A little.

But there’s definitely a strong chance this year that Princeton’s winning streak dating back to 2017 will not survive to the 2020 season. The upset could happen any week, now that the Tigers have already played Brown. But this is still a real good football team.

Princeton by 3. joseph.minatel@thecrimson.com

Women’s Rugby

Harvard Readies for Ivy Postseason After 5-1 Campaign

By Lucy Connor Crimson Staff Writer

This weekend, the Harvard women’s rugby team (5-1) will host the Ivy League Championship. The Crimson has won its last four games, including a shutout of Notre Dame College, ­

105-0, and a dominant win over Ivy League rival Dartmouth, 50-32.

“It was super exciting for us to win against Dartmouth the first time we saw them,” said senior Emily Prentice. “It was such a fun, fast-paced, intense game. They’re a really good

team so it was great to show everyone the feel of a competitive game.”

Last season, Harvard won the Ivy League Championship, defeating Dartmouth 12-3. But the team fell shortly after to Dartmouth in the NIRA championship, 19-14, further solid-

ifying the intense rivalry between the two Ivy League competitors.

“The past few years we’ve always had a tough rivalry, so the win against Dartmouth this season shows that we can beat them,” said senior Robyn Beese. “Especially the fact that

PLAYOFFS? After a successful 2019 regular season, the Crimson awaits its first chance at postseason play. What’s more: Harvard will host both the Ivy League Championship and the NIRA title games this year — a special opportunity for the program’s seniors. timothy r. o’meara—Crimson photographer

we beat them the first time we saw them gives us a lot of confidence for when we see them this weekend.”

The team’s only loss was its second game of the season on the road against Army West Point (5-1). The Crimson is looking to turn this loss into a teachable moment and learn from the errors made in this matchup.

“We had a really tough game against Army,” recounted Beese.

“But I think ever since that loss, we have identified a lot of key areas to improve, so that if and when we see them again, we are able to give them a more even match. I think it will go really well.”

In terms of rugby-specific skills, the team has been focusing on improving its kicking strategy and defensive intensity. But, the team’s biggest challenge will be maintaining mental toughness throughout the postseason.

“I believe that we have the skills to win an Ivy Championship and even the National Championship, but the hardest part for us is the mental game,” said Beese. “However, I think that if we come out on the same page and do what we need to do, we can play some really strong rugby and be super successful.”

Harvard has been focused on working as a cohesive unit.

The Crimson’s roster is incredibly deep, which means a lot of players see the field and the lineup is constantly changing throughout games.

“The depth of our roster has been a huge advantage,” said Prentice. “It is really exciting

that we have so many players that can come onto the field and our level of play doesn’t drop.”

The team’s level of play has remained elite and competitive from last season, even though Harvard graduated eight important seniors last year.

The fact that the team has seen this continued success is fairly remarkable and acknowledges the skills of the talented eight, new freshmen on the roster.

“We have a really large and talented freshman class this year,” said Prentice. “One of our main goals this year was just integrating them into the team and getting everyone on the same page going forward.”

Heading into a difficult and intense postseason, the team looks to maintain this integration and team cohesion.

Harvard hopes to experience a strong home field advantage in which many fans come out to support one of the world’s fastest growing sports for women.

“This is the first time ever we’ve hosted both the Ivies and the National Championship,” said Beese. “It is an awesome opportunity, especially in my senior year, so I’m really looking forward to being able to play our biggest championship games at home.”

Harvard will attempt to win Ivies for the second year in a row this Saturday, Oct. 26, and will look to improve from last year’s Bronze in the NIRA Championship the following month on Nov. 17. lucy.connor@thecrimson.com