The Harvard Crimson - Volume CXLVI, No. 116

The Harvard Crimson THE UNIVERSITY DAILY, EST. 1873 | VOLUME CXLVI, NO. 116 | CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS | FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2019

EDITORIAL PAGE 6

ARTS PAGE 7

SPORTS PAGE 8

We feel that the Smith Campus Center is a valuable communal space

Book Review: David Owen makes his voice heard in ‘Volume Control’

Crucial game against Dartmouth to compete in Ivies

Pulse Harvard Alumni Demand Divestment Again Survey Results Issued

By ALEXANDRA A. CHAIDEZ CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

A group of alumni and faculty supporting fossil fuel divestment penned a letter to University President Lawrence S. Bacow and Senior Fellow of the Harvard Corporation William F. Lee ’72 last week asking for a meeting with members of the Corporation — the University’s highest governing body — to discuss divestment.

“The world is already awash in reserves of fossil fuels, and if we are to have any chance for a sustainable future for life on the planet, it is suicidal to continue to support the exploration for or development of even more fossil fuel reserves,” the letter reads.

Members of the Ad Hoc Committee on Harvard Divestment — which includes former United States Senator Timothy E. Wirth ’61, former Overseer Kathryn “Kat” A. Taylor ’80, and former Environmental Protection Agency administrator and School of Public Health Professor Gina McCarthy — previously met with Bacow and Lee early this year.

The letter recommends that the Corporation instruct the ­

By ALEXANDRA A. CHAIDEZ and AIDAN F. RYAN CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

Fifty-two percent of respondents to Harvard’s pilot Pulse Survey on Inclusion and Belong said they agree or strongly agree with a statement inquiring whether they feel they belong at Harvard, according to the survey results released Wednesday.

Stemming from a recommendation made by the University-wide Task Force on Diversity and Inclusion in 2018, the pilot launched in the spring and aimed to get a sense of the campus’s “pulse”— which the survey results described as the broad sense of how people who work and learn on campus feel about diversity and inclusion at the University.

Open to faculty, students, and staff, the administrators said the project was the largest optional survey in Harvard’s history with more than 20,000 affiliates — roughly 44 percent — filling out the questionnaire.

The survey comprised nine questions that asked respondents to rate how strongly they agreed or disagreed with statements like, “I feel like I belong at Harvard” and “I receive meaningful recognition for doing good work,” as well as one open-ended question about how to improve campus climate.

In addition to the 52 percent of respondents who said they agree or strongly agree that they belong at Harvard, 25 percent said they “somewhat agree.”

The survey also included a demographics questionnaire that asked respondents to answer questions about their race and ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, and other categories.

Students dissented most strongly with the statement “I believe Harvard leadership will take appropriate action in response to incidents of harassment and discrimination.” Thirty-four percent of students disagreed

SEE SURVEY PAGE 5

SEE DIVEST PAGE 5

A group of alumni and faculty sent University President Lawrence S. Bacow a letter in favor of divesting Harvard’s endowment from fossil fuels. KATHRYN S. KUHAR—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

House Committee Approves Bill Imperiling Sanctions

By SAMUEL W. ZWICKEL CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

A Congressional committee has approved a bill tying federal education funding to students’ freedom of association, threatening Harvard’s ability to enforce its controversial penalties on single-sex social organizations.

House Committee on Education and Labor members voted 28-22 to approve the College Affordability Act — a Democrat-led reauthorization of the Higher Education Act of 1965 — on Thursday. A section of the legislation entitled “Freedom of Association” sets forth a policy mandating “non-retaliation against students of single-sex social organizations,” according to Christina Carr, a spokesperson for Ruben M. Gallego ’02 (D-Ariz.). Should the act find support in Congress at large, it

could eventually force the College to choose between significant sums of federal funding and implementing its contentious social group sanctions.

“An institution of higher education that receives funds under this Act shall not … take any adverse action against a student who is a member of a single-sex social organization based solely on the membership practice of such organization limiting membership to only individuals of one sex,” the provision reads.

Harvard’s sanctions — which took effect with the Class of 2021 — forbid undergraduate members of single-gender final clubs and Greek organizations from captaining athletic teams, leading student groups, and receiving College endorsement for prestigious fellowships like the Rhodes.

The section threatening the sanctions is a brief passage in a

more than 1,000-page bill that is largely focused on making higher education more affordable through expanded Pell Grant funding, lower interest rates for student loans, and support for tuition-free community colleges, among other initiatives.

At a mark-up session for the legislation Wednesday, United States Representative Elise M. Stefanik ’06 (R-N.Y.) — who is a member of the Committee on Education and Labor — lambasted Harvard’s social group policies, calling them “deeply discouraging” and “harmful.”

Harvard spokesperson Rachael Dane wrote in a statement Wednesday — while the legislation was still being marked up — that the College is implementing “a measured and lawful policy” that is not discriminatory.

SEE SANCTIONS PAGE 3

MEMORIAL CHURCH

Memorial Church is dedicated to the University’s World War I servicemen. JOSHUA A. NG—CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

Professor Awarded in Biomedical Sciences

Athletics Reviews Equitable Funding

By DEVIN B. SRIVASTAVA CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

The Athletics department has taken several measures this semester to combat challenges that women in athletics face structurally, including conforming to new standards established by the Massachusetts Equal Pay Law. The department recently underwent a review to ensure that it followed standards established by the law, according to Athletics Director Robert L. Scalise. The law prohibits wage discrimination, preventing employers from paying employees who do comparable work differently based on their gender.

“We’re under more stringent guidelines than our other Ivy peers,” Scalise said in an October interview. “We’ve been working with our folks in Human Resources and the General Counsel’s office to make sure that we have a rubric or an algorithm that explains how we’re paying people.”

Scalise said Harvard must ­

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Harvard Today 2

constantly monitor the pay for coaches and staff in women’s athletics programs, as well as funding for the program itself.

He said the review is an “initial step” but that there is always “room for improvement.”

The department not only strives to meet the standards in the Massachusetts Equal Pay Law, but also to meet the department’s “own internal feeling of fairness,” Scalise said.

Softball Coach Jennifer L. Allard said she works directly with the department to ensure there is equity between her program and the men’s equivalent, baseball.

“I may go to my program manager with goals and objectives for the year, and she’s going to the program manager for baseball to make sure that their goals and objectives are kind of their equal,” Allard said.

In deciding how to allocate money to individual team programs, the department analyzes nationwide trends and

SEE ATHLETICS PAGE 3

News 3

Editorial 6

By JULIA A. KENDALL CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Rockefeller University named Harvard Chemistry Professor Xiaowei Zhuang as the 2019 recipient of the Pearl Meister Greengard Prize — an international award celebrating women in biomedical science — according to a press release Tuesday.

The university, a graduate biomedical research institute in New York, awarded Zhuang the prize for her work on the development of super-resolution and genome-scale imaging techniques. Through her work, she found new structures in cells, clarified molecular processes, and discovered new types of neurons.

Charles M. Lieber, chair of the Harvard chemistry and ­

Harvard’s men’s and women’s basketball teams play in Lavietes Pavilion for their home games. JONATHAN G.

SEE AWARD PAGE 5

YUAN—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

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Harvard Today

For Lunch Asian BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwich Red’s Best Fresh Catch Eggplant and Tofu

For Dinner Sausage Jambalaya Za’atar Roasted Chicken Drumstick

Today’s Events Robert Coles PBHA Call of Service Lecture & Award First Parish Church, 5:30-8 p.m.

in The Real World U.S. and China to Move Forward in Trade Deal Decision

Each fall the Phillips Brooks House Association chooses to honor an individual committed to lifelong public service. This year, join PBHA in celebrating Cristina Jiménez Moreta, co-founder and Executive Director of United We Dream, the largest immigrant youth-led organization in the country.

President Trump and President Xi were originally expected to meet in Chile later this month, but are now planning a new meeting location to sign a trade deal. This phase one deal is expected to avert currency manipulation and include propositions preventing the stealing of intellectual property.

House to Move Forward with Impeachment Inquiry

M. Lu—Contributing photographer

The U.S. House of Representatives has voted to formalize the impeachment inquiry of President Trump and proceed to a more public phase. This resolution lays out the groundwork for future proceedings including public hearings.

Daily Briefing

Decline of Insects and Spiders

M. Butterfly Loeb Ex, 7-9:15p.m.

Head over to see a play loosely based on the life of a French diplomat posted in China. Admission is free, so go support your classmates and take in some theater!

Three Letter Acronym Annual Improv Festival Adams Pool Theatre, 7-9p.m.

Tonight, groups from Georgia Tech, Boston University, and our very own Harvard will be performing.

Tourists take photos of the John Harvard statue, which stands in front of University Hall. Jenny

Fifty-two percent of respondents to Harvard’s pilot Pulse Survey on Inclusion and Belong said they agree or strongly agree with a statement inquiring whether they feel they belong at Harvard, according to the survey results released Wednesday. Stemming from a recommendation made by the University-wide Task Force on Diversity and Inclusion in 2018, the pilot launched in the spring and aimed to get a sense of the campus’s “pulse”— which the survey results described as the broad sense of how people who work and learn on campus feel about diversity and inclusion at the University. of the Corporation — the University’s highest governing body — to discuss divestment.

While you may be frightened at the sight of an insect or spider in your room, they are a critical part of our ecosystem. In a new study by German scientists looking at data collected from over a million different insects and spiders, the rapid decline they saw in population and species was frightening. The decline is linked to pesticide use in the agricultural industry, as well as climate change.

Around the Ivies Dartmouth The annual six-week fraternity and sorority ban was lifted on Monday, according the Dartmouth.

The ban, instituted in the spring of 2013, was created in order to tackle the red zone, a period of time in which first-year students are most likely to be victims of sexual assault. Although some students reported that the ban might create a divide between first-years and upperclassmen, one freshmen at Dartmouth said the ban helped him ease into his classes.

penn

Fundraising efforts at Columbia University have had increasing levels of success in recent years, the Columbia Spectator reported Thursday.

Columbia’s annual Giving Day raised a recordbreaking 22 million this year. Efforts have included bolstering a central alumni network and holding events with high profile alumni such as Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who went to Columbia Law School. “You just can’t get away from the fact that Harvard has [a] $40 billion [endowment], and we have 10, 11, 12 billion dollars, and Stanford has 25,” Columbia President Lee C. Bollinger said.

dartmouth

RailRoad, a student collective on campus, created a proposal that asks Brown to make its hiring process more inclusive for people with conviction histories, according to the Brown Daily Herald. The group presented their proposal to the Undergraduate Council of Students Wednesday. In addition to suggesting changes to Brown’s hiring policies, Railroad aims “to ensure that the [University] hire and retain an impactful number of people with past convictions, and to institutionalize support and inclusion of formerly incarcerated community members.” The student collective also advocates for University partnerships with local nonprofits, such as OpenDoors RI which provides services and advocacy to people with criminal records.

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Staff for This Issue

Associate Managing Editor Jamie D. Halper ’20

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

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

Associate Business Manager Amy E. Zhou ’20

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

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

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

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

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

Night Editor Sonia Kim ’20

Design Editor Margot E. Shang ’21

Assistant Night Editors Camille G. Caldera ’22 Ahab Chopra ’21

Photo Editors Shera S. Avi-Yonah ’21

Story Editor Angela N. Fu ’20 Jamie D. Halper ’20 Aidan F. Ryan ’21

Editorial Editor Elijah T. Ezeji-Okoye ’20 Sports Editors Henry Zhu ’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.

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

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THE HARVARD CRIMSON | November 1, 2019

Sanctions From Page 1

Athletics From Page 1

House Committee Approves Sanctions Bill

Athletics Reviews Equitable Funding and Culture

She declined to comment further Thursday after the committee had approved the Act. “Harvard College seeks to build a community in which every student can thrive, and it does so on a foundation of shared values, including belonging, inclusion, and non-discrimination,” Dane wrote. “Harvard should not have to change its commitment to non-discrimination and educational philosophy for outside organizations that are not aligned with our long-standing mission.”

Though the College Affordability Act is moving forward through the legislative process, a divided Congress means the bill might have slim chances of becoming law. The Committee voted Thursday along party lines, with 28 Democrats voting in favor of the Act. The College Affordability Act differs substantially from a recent Republican-driven reauthorization attempt called the PROSPER Act — which was ultimately never put up for a vote in ­

the House despite Republicans’ majority control of both chambers in 2018, according to Terry W. Hartle, senior vice president at the American Council on Education.

“The Republican 2018 bill would have cut 400 or 500... billion dollars from federal higher-education spending,” Hartle said. “And the Democratic bill, the College Affordability Act would increase it by 400 to 500 billion dollars over the next 10 years.”

Travis J. Bristol, an education professor at the University of California, Berkeley, said in a Tuesday interview that he does not expect bills focusing on social programs to pass through Congress at this point in the Trump presidency.

“I think that we’re going to be focusing on impeachment at least until the next election,” Bristol said.

The bipartisan effort to amend the Higher Education Act with specific freedom of association protections follows a

years-long lobbying push partially bankrolled by single-sex social clubs at Harvard. The PROSPER Act also included a clause imperiling Harvard’s sanctions that drew ire from former University President Drew G. Faust. Stefanik and Gallego introduced new legislation — the College Freedom of Association Act — targeting Harvard’s sanctions over the summer.

Lawmakers’ most recent attempt to thwart the sanctions comes amid parallel state and federal lawsuits alleging the policies are discriminatory and infringe on students’ freedom of association. In August, a judge ruled that the federal case will move forward, with the discovery stage — a fact-finding period that could include review of internal administrative documents and lengthy depositions from the Harvard officials responsible for formulating and implementing the sanctions — set to begin soon. samuel.zwickel@thecrimson.com

pays close attention to how other Ivy League administrations are funding their athletics programs, according to Allard.

The department has taken additional measures to ensure that its overall environment is conducive to promoting equality between genders.

For example, the department analyzed whether the pictures on the walls of athletic buildings represented women and people of color within athletics appropriately, according to Scalise.

“Walking down this hallway [in Dillon Fieldhouse], do we have men’s teams? Do we have women’s teams? Do we have people of color? Do we have inclusion represented by what’s on our walls?” Scalise said.

The analysis led to the department posting new pictures in the Dillon Fieldhouse and the Bright-Landry Hockey Center, according to Scalise.

Students have also taken it upon themselves to improve the culture in athletics for women.

Earlier this year, three seniors co-founded the Women of Harvard Athletics club in response to what they feel is an underrepresentation of women in athletics, both structurally and culturally. The club seeks to raise awareness about issues female athletes face when dealing with conflicting societal perceptions, like those of being “feminine” and “pretty” while also being “strong” and “competitive.”

Former varsity basketball player and freshman proctor Shilpa S. Tummala ’16 said it is difficult to convey the pressures female athletes face in dealing with stereotypes about femininity to non-female athletes.

“It’s hard to have those conversations with people who don’t understand what it means to be a female student athlete on campus. A lot of our frustrations or whatever our thoughts were on this topic were conveyed within the locker room,” she said.

“I don’t necessarily think

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outside of the community of female athletes that there aren’t too many people who are necessarily empathetic or aware of that.”

Scalise, who will retire at the end of this year, said he hopes the department can build structures to combat these cultural challenges.

He described a vision he has to implement a system where both male and female teams in the same sport score cumulatively, and that the winner of an intercollegiate competition is determined from that combined score.

But he said this idea needs further work.

“I’ve sprinkled seeds [for implementing this type of dual competition], I’ve kind of watered them, I put a little fertilizer on them,” he said.

“They’re little seedlings, saplings that are up — but they would need a lot of tending down the road.” devin.srivastava@thecrimson.com

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THE HARVARD CRIMSON | November 1, 2019

Divest From Page 1

Award From Page 1

Harvard Alumni Demand Harvard Professor Wins Divestment in Letter Biomedical Science Award Harvard Management Company — the University’s financial arm — to withdraw any investments in the fossil fuel industry and replace any financial advisers who are unwilling to carry out divestment.

The letter also asks the University to clarify its policies about engagement with fossil fuel companies. Bacow has resisted divestment, arguing that Harvard can help mitigate climate change by working with these companies. In September, HMC joined the Climate Action 100+, a group of investors committed to pushing greenhouse gas emitters to take action on climate change initiatives.

Wirth said Harvard must look past administrators’s past rhetoric to dispute divestment.

“It’s time for the University to pay attention to its responsibilities — those include how its endowment is invested,” Wirth said. “They act as if it’s 20 years ago, and in fact, it is a time of accelerating climate crisis.”

“I’m continually surprised at their recalcitrance and the ­

fact that they fall back on answers that proved inadequate ten years ago,” he added.

University spokesperson

It’s time for the University to pay attention to its responsibilities — those include how its endowment is invested.

Timothy E. Wirth ‘61

Jason A. Newton wrote in an emailed statement that the University has and will continue to maintain communication with the Ad Hoc committee.

“Harvard has received the letter, and is in regular communication with Senator Wirth,” Newton said. “President Bacow and Bill Lee have met with him and many of the signatories of this letter, and we expect to stay in close touch with this group.”

Survey From Page 1

Survey: Majority Feel Belonging with the statement, while 23 percent of staff did not agree.

An Association of American Universities survey, a national sexual misconduct climate survey administrated in April, found similar results: 50 percent of undergraduate women said they think it is very or extremely likely that a campus official would take their report seriously.

In the Pulse Survey, categories with less than 70 percent of respondents saying that they at least “somewhat agree” that they belong at the University include genderqueer and nonbinary respondents, Muslim respondents, Middle Eastern respondents, black or African American respondents, and bisexual respondents.

Among faculty, the statement “My relationships at Harvard are as satisfying as I would want them to be” incurred the highest rate of disagreement at 25 percent.

The letter references other universities that have chosen to divest from fossil fuels, including the University of California and Smith College.

“Our country and the world are changing rapidly, and it is past time for Harvard to change as well, to move beyond the tired, outdated and ineffectual policy established years ago,” the letter reads.

The letter also mentions Corporation members’ current and previous professional ties to the fossil fuel industry, including Theodore V. Wells, who recused himself from any Corporation deliberations or votes related to fossil fuel divestment in 2015, when he became legal counsel for ExxonMobil in climate change litigation. The letter closed by addressing methods the group has deployed for creating a “broad coalition of alumni” who support fossil fuel divestment, including hiring professional organizers to help coordinate alumni support. alexandra..chaidez@thecrimson.com

and chemical biology department, wrote in an email Thursday that Zhuang is “fearless” and someone who he would “bet on” to achieve great things in the future.

“Professor Zhuang is an amazing scientist in terms of creativity, leadership and determination,” Lieber wrote.

“She has been a world leader in both areas cited by the award – super-resolution imaging and single cell genomic imaging – both in terms [of ] pioneering the new methodologies and using them.”

Zhuang did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Late Rockefeller professor Paul Greengard and his wife, Ursula von Rydingsvard, created the award in 2004.

Greengard advocated for gender equality in science and donated the prize money from his 2000 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine to establish an annual award celebrating women in science. The prize is named after his mother.

Past award recipients in-

clude Elizabeth H. Blackburn and Carolyn W. Greider, who

Professor Zhuang is an amazing scientist in terms of creativity, leadership and determination. She has been a world leader in both areas cited by the award — super-resolution imaging and single cell genomic imaging.

Charles M. Lieber Chair of the Chemistry and Chemical Biology Dept.

both went on to win the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine after being jointly awarded the Pearl Meister Greengard Prize in 2008.

Zhuang’s research is cur-

rently conducted out of her lab, Zhuang Research Lab, where she works alongside post-doctoral fellows and graduate students. Her current work focuses on expanding imaging methods and applying them to problems of biomedical interest.

Praising her work, Lieber also pointed out her lasting effect on the scientific community.

“I expert [sic] her to be a guiding light to many in science world wide for years to come…her impact is far beyond the Chemistry department and Harvard University,” Lieber wrote.

“It is my good fortune/honor to have Professor Zhuang as a colleague and friend, and I believe the university should be thankful to have her as a member of the community.”

The Rockefeller University will present Zhuang with the award during a ceremony on Nov. 19 at the Caspary Auditorium in New York City. She will also receive $100,000 as part of the prize.

I Feel Like I Belong at Harvard

The final report accompanying the survey results characterized it as a “high-level ‘pulse,’” not a “high-resolution ‘MRI.’” “It is intended to take the Harvard Community’s ‘pulse’ to complement and help catalyze more specific/localized inclusion and belonging efforts at Schools and Units across campus,” the report reads.

The report also laid out several immediate actions the University plans to take in response to the survey results, including creating a Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging Leadership Council, building a website specifically for diversity and inclusion, and hiring a Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer.

The report states that the Office of Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging has tasked an

52%

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Editorial The Crimson Editorial board

column

Envisioning Community in Harvard Square

To Meme or Not to Meme: Politician Edition

I

n the latest reshuffling of Harvard Square, the famed Out of Town News stand has shuttered, leaving the famed kiosk it occupied in the middle of Harvard Square. The 64-year-old newsstand’s departure represents an unfortunate but very real trend of declining sales of print journalism in a digital age, as well as a wider issue of longevity and new construction within the Square; its fate was therefore often uncertain for many years past.

We’ve spoken repeatedly, alongside many other voices, about what the fate of Harvard Square will be, and what it will look like as it continues to pass into future years and serve future generations of Cantabrigians and Harvard affiliates, especially as changing tastes determine what lives or dies in the few little blocks surrounding the neighborhood.

Can a real sense of belonging truly be found in an area so often defined by the transience of many of its visitors, students and tourists alike?

We’ve urged students to support the kind of Harvard Square they want to live in, encouraged the Cambridge City Council to spark greater debates about affordability within the city, and hoped that landlords and business owners can work to foster meaningful ties to the area.

But something often lingering in the background, and not often explicitly

touched upon, is the difficulty of building and fostering community in Harvard Square. Can a real sense of belonging truly be found in an area so often defined by the transience of many of its visitors, students and tourists alike?

One answer to that question has been proposed by CultureHouse, a community-based non-profit organization which hosts social events and artistic performances, which is stepping into the void Out of Town News has left in the Harvard Square Kiosk until April. They hope to transform the kiosk’s 500 square feet into a space “to work, to play, and to interact to get to know your neighbors,” per the organization’s founder. We are interested to see what CultureHouse can accomplish with the place in its short stint within Harvard Square, but have also reflected on similar places within the Square with similar goals, if not exactly striving for the same sort of environment.

We feel that the Smith Campus Center, for instance, has provided a valuable communal space for Harvard affiliates in the year after its major renovation. It has been a positive contribution for all those visiting the are,, and has done an exemplary job serving as Harvard’s “front door.”

We’re pleased to have it around, and heartened by the ways in which it has brought many of us together. We would also recognize and encourage others to consider the Democracy Center on Mt. Auburn Street, a self-described “vibrant” and “alternative” activist community space, which we feel is underutilized and has enormous potential for fos-

tering an important and unique space for those searching for one.

We also hope that community members were involved with, or will be involved with, how CultureHouse moves into and uses the space, and hope that similar future projects also involve enormous community input.

As CultureHouse, then, prepares to move into Harvard Square, we hope that its organizers use the unique kiosk environment to add value to the lives of those who interact with it. We also hope that community members were involved with, or will be involved with, how CultureHouse moves into and uses the space, and hope that similar future projects also involve enormous community input. And moving forward, we’d like to see more discussion surrounding how current spaces in Harvard Square can be bastions of community, beyond their sole economic potential or contribution.

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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In Pursuit of Sustainable Inclusive Excellence

By John S. Wilson

Y

esterday, we released the results of an unprecedented survey designed to indicate how we might create a culture of inclusive excellence at Harvard University. By deciding to regularly check our community’s institutional “pulse,” we are now positioned to better manage our community’s institutional health. The launch last spring of the Pilot Pulse Survey on Inclusion and Belonging is the most recent in a series of other similarly foundational decisions made by and about Harvard in the last half century toward creating a more welcoming Harvard.

In April 1968, in the wake of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Harvard and other elite institutions decided to launch the diversity surge with record-breaking enrollments of minorities, beginning in September 1969. Fifty years after that decision, University Presidents Drew G. Faust and Lawrence S. Bacow decided to supplement previous diversity efforts by establishing and funding a new Office for Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging. And a few weeks ago, U.S. District Judge Allison D. Burroughs decided in favor of Harvard’s “whole-person” admissions process, thereby upholding the existing laws that regard diversity in education as a worthy, beneficial pursuit.

But diversifying our community is not enough, on its own. That is why three years ago, the Presidential Task Force on Inclusion and Belonging was appointed.

There was a need to understand whether, why, and how those from what they called “groups previously excluded” (including women, people of color, religious minorities, individuals with disabilities, members of the BGLTQ community, and others) were less able to flourish here at Harvard. The Task Force also wondered what institutional changes might help position everyone to thrive.

One way to set the stage for everyone

to thrive is for leadership to listen, very carefully. This is why we developed and pursued the Pilot Pulse Survey, marking the first time that Harvard leaders asked everyone in our community to share perceptions about the campus culture.

It should encourage and inspire in and well beyond Cambridge that the mix of students on campus today at Harvard resembles the nation and world they will be challenged to lead and shape in the years ahead.

What did you tell us? Most of you (77 percent) expressed some form of agreement with the statement, “I feel like I belong at Harvard.” We are encouraged by this number, but, importantly, we are focused on the 23 percent of you who did not agree, and the 25 percent of you who only “somewhat agreed.” It is also telling that, according to the data, those from groups previously excluded were often more likely to answer in ways that do not indicate a favorable sense of belonging at Harvard. This reflects a reality for far too many in our community that isn’t acceptable, and we are committed to doing what we can to change Harvard’s culture to ensure this is not the case.

Addressing this will take creativity and innovation from all of us across campus. Schools and units across Harvard have developed strategic plans for strengthening diversity, inclusion, and belonging. We also launched the Harvard Culture Lab Innovation Fund, which will provide an opportunity for all members of the Harvard community to apply for competitive grants to pursue projects that will advance sustainable inclusive excellence — which is our aspiration, inclusivity that is ingrained

in all that we do. And we’ve formed Harvard’s first ever Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging Leadership Council, with representatives from all of Harvard’s school and units, to generate actions in response to the survey, coordinate and support efforts across campus, and share promising practices.

Most importantly, we will continue to value your perspectives. Even as we deepen our understanding of these initial survey findings, we have already committed to conducting the first official version of the Pulse Survey, with additional and refined demographic questions, in 2021 and every other year thereafter. On the road ahead, these surveys will help us to regularly assess our University-level progress and improve in areas where we have fallen short.

For nearly 90 percent of the lifespan of this institution, the Harvard community reflected privileged sons of New England’s elites. As a result, Harvard was ill-equipped to realize a diversity-driven vision of greatness. With the very intentional actions that this institution has taken, starting 50 years ago, that has changed. And, it means the true greatness and excellence we now seek is ahead, rather than behind us. As President Bacow has said, “We need diversity because we learn from our differences.” It should encourage and inspire in and well beyond Cambridge that the mix of students on campus today at Harvard resembles the nation and world they will be challenged to lead and shape in the years ahead.

As we now aspire to fully harvest our diversity, this will add true dimension and power to our leadership capacity, institutionally, and to that of our graduates, individually.

—John S. Wilson is the Senior Adviser and Strategist to University President Lawrence S. Bacow. He leads the University’s new Office for Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging.

By RIYA sood

I

t seems as though we might have found the next man who would be perfect to lead the United States.

He’s a world leader who trips children during a game of soccer in order to get the ball — sounds like the tenacity and dedication we need in this country! The last time he cried was when his beloved bicycle, nicknamed Bikey, was stolen outside Parliament — sounds like the sensitivity we’ve been looking for to deal with tragic natural disasters or gun violence!

And he is so impressive that he got trapped in a zip wire while holding two Union Jack flags — sounds like the patriotism we hold near and dear to our hearts in America!

In fact he sounds almost too familiar. It seems as though the United Kingdom has Donald Trump 2.0: New and Improved — also known as United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

There have been countless articles written that compare the two men. They both have absurd-looking hair, they both are known for saying extremist or inflammatory remarks and unintentional “gaffes” that make people cringe, and the list goes on and on.

It seems as though these men are trying to become memes half the time. I almost feel bad for Canada being stuck with Justin Trudeau for a second term instead of getting one of these worldly men.

Sounds like we should try to figure out a trade of some sort, right? Evidently these men are fairly interchangeable from the looks of it, so we might as well try to take the one who has some prior political experience. And he was born in New York City? Even better!

It seems as though we’ve gotten so used to meme culture where we laugh at our world leaders instead of respecting them, to the point that we almost stop paying attention to their political adeptness.

Johnson even has the extremist views that have become such an essential part of American politics. Who wouldn’t want a president who compares women wearing garments like niqabs and burqas to “looking like letter boxes”? Or one who refers to Africa as “that country” entering the “global economic system”? Or how about one who reads an inappropriate Rudyard Kipling poem in Myanmar’s most sacred temple? How could we ever doubt the current state of global politics when men like this are running the most powerful countries in the world?

It seems as though we’ve found our perfect replacement president — and maybe some people won’t even notice the difference!

And in some ways, we Americans almost want Johnson to be another Trump. If we are stuck with such a mess of a leader, why should other countries not have to face the same struggle? But despite his comical behavior and controversial opinions, Johnson does not actually have as much in common with Trump as many Americans seem to think. He is not just a walking meme. More than anything, Johnson is an intelligent man — something that would be difficult, if not impossible, to say about Trump. A bookish child who attended the boarding school Eton on a prestigious merit-based scholarship and then went on to study classics at Oxford University, Johnson is a man who loves Homer and Aristotle, and has written his own book on Winston Churchill.

Furthermore, unlike Trump, who in some ways just fell into the presidency, Johnson has been orchestrating his rise to power for decades.

He was a two-term conservative mayor of the liberal city of London, and yet still managed to leave office with an almost 60 percent approval rating.

When he was unable to transition from being an unofficial leader of the Brexit “Vote Leave” campaign to becoming prime minister, he didn’t give up. He served within his rival Theresa May’s cabinet, then resigned and continued to undermine her leadership as an outsider in an effort to oust her so that he could finally ascend to prime minister.

Clearly, this is not the same brand of world leader as the one currently occupying the White House. No, Johnson is actually adept at seeming like an unprepared buffoon while accomplishing political goals in a strategic manner.

Sounds like we’ve got this man figured out! He is a funny, intelligent, politically savvy, extremist, messy-haired 55-year-old who makes Islamophobic comments and is running the United Kingdom. Seems pretty straightforward, right?

The problem is that people are constantly underestimating him, especially in America. It seems as though we’ve gotten so used to meme culture where we laugh at our world leaders instead of respecting them, to the point that we almost stop paying attention to their political adeptness. In such dark times, it makes sense to take a step back and laugh at how absurd things have gotten. It helps give us perspective, it helps us cope, and it helps us stay happy. But especially in cases like that of Johnson, what happens when the laughter means we might forget the problem entirely?

—Riya Sood ’20 is a Statistics concentrator in Leverett House. Her column appears on alternate Fridays.

ARTS

The Harvard Crimson | November 1, 2019 | page 7

BOOKS

David Owen Makes His Voice Heard in ‘Volume Control’

Loud, teenage music listening habits are often used as the scapegoat in conversations revolving around hearing loss and age, but New Yorker staff writer David Owen reasons that avoiding loud and potentially damaging sounds is difficult for everyone in his book, “Volume Control: Hearing in a Deafening World.” Owen imparts immense knowledge of the topic of hearing onto readers through a series of informative chapters filled with readable articulations of research and down-to-earth anecdotes. In essence, he cogently interweaves witty reflection with social commentary whilst unraveling the elaborate details of human hearing.

Likely drawing from his experience as a staff writer for the New Yorker, Owen is not afraid to broadcast his thoughts on society as a critique of human behavior. He acknowledges the privilege afforded to the baby boomer generation as it relates to capitalism “magically” creating solutions to their problems as they arise. Owen writes that, “Now that we’re losing our hearing, the market has turned its attention to our ears, with which we’ve been as reckless as we have been with the earth’s once seemingly inexhaustible store of natural resources.” His ability to situate environmental issues and economics within a discussion about hearing loss is quite remarkable, considering these two issues on the surface appear unrelated.

Like many books of this type, Owen draws much of his content from anecdotes he encountered in his research.

Although this format becomes somewhat predictable after six chapters of reading, it is clear that Owen cherry-picked the most engrossing and stimulating accounts for those featured in the book in order to avoid monotony. With stories ranging from his friends’ earwax extraction to his grandmother’s hunting date that proved detrimental to her hearing, it is hard to imagine a more effective method of covering the subject of hearing.

Owen evenly spaces his conversation of human hearing

as the novel progresses in a somewhat sequential structure.

This structure works well for this book and is almost undoubtedly conventional despite the fact that there is little precedent for this type of exploration into the subject. That is, very few pieces of writing attempt to delve deep into the science of hearing and progress to a discussion of solutions to varying levels of hearing loss in the way that “Volume Control” does. To demonstrate, where else can one find a sentence that reads, “The cochlea occupies a small cavity in an exceptionally unyielding part of the skull, a pyramidshaped structure known as the petrous part of the temporal bone” in the same book that contains the sentences, “Hearphones, legally speaking, are not hearing aids. But they used the same microprocessor that hearing aids do, and, although they aren’t promoted that way, they address the same issues?” Although “Volume Control” technically cannot be classified as a novel, Owen does incorporate a novel combination of research into his book.

Periodic digression in Owen’s book seamlessly aligns with his structured presentation of research in a way that amplifies his personal voice and serves as “Volume Control”’s version of comic relief. For example, Owen alludes to common topics of debate throughout the book.

“An occasional activity for my friends and me, when we were lads, was to consider whether we’d prefer to be frozen to death or burned, hanged or guillotined, shot by a firing squad or drowned — a classic sleepover thought problem.”

This story’s charm lies in the genuine portrayal of adolescent conversation that transcends its morbid topic. Owen also writes, “The answer to the old brainteaser about a tree falling in a forest — if there’s no one there to hear it, does it make a sound? — is no.” Tangents like these effortlessly give the book character.

This book addresses the implications of hearing loss in our society with the clarity of Owen’s salient journalism. Those who happen upon this book will be treated with a wealth of knowledge and hope for future hearing technologies.

Owen manages to break down the complex subject of human hearing into chewable bites of information, which sets “Volume Control” apart from the vast amount of esoteric literature on the subject.

Courtesy of Penguin Publishing Group

Chibuike Uwakwe CONTRIBUTING WRITER

FILM

‘Scandalous’ Hardly a Scandal Emerson J. Monks CONTIBUTING WRITER

Courtesy of Magnolia Pictures

“Scandalous” aims for piping-hot controversy, but settles instead for lukewarm praise.

The documentary chronicles the rise and fall of the salacious National Enquirer, one of the most sensational, prurient, and exploitative publications in the history of the United States. The film follows the newspaper from its origin as a more serious journalistic periodical under the name the New York Enquirer, to a grisly “gore rag,” to a celebrity gossip magazine. The documentary glosses its various headlines and scandals over the years, from the death of John Belushi to the O.J. Simpson trial.

The documentary also acts, in large part, as a justification for yellow journalism, or journalism founded upon hyperbolic caricature rather than, frequently, actual fact. The National Enquirer is famous for its staggeringly lurid headlines, many of which feature prominently throughout the documentary. It’s a tabloid based on shock value and insidious backroom deals, and often, the actions of the journalists and staff were just as sordid as the celebrities themselves.

The documentary argues that aspects of the National Enquirer’s particular brand of journalism is not only understandable, but also justifiable. It spends considerable time lauding the benefits of a career as a National Enquirer journalist — the travel to luxurious destinations, the considerable paycheck, and the glamour of being on a first-name basis with celebrities. It even commends the journalistic integrity, in part, of Enquirer reporters and photographers who covered high-profile events like O.J. Simpson trial, where newspapers like the New York Times and the Washington Post also vied for coverage.

What makes this argument ineffective, however, is that the documentary does not fully commit to its own stance. Rather, it toes the line between firmly advocating for and against the Enquirer, settling on an equivocal middle ground. This obscurity produces a murky, uncertain final message.

Was the Enquirer a pioneer of its time? It did, after all, expand from typical news subjects and reach a more general audience in a deeply personal sense — lighter, fluffier news was far more palatable to the average reader than complex political examinations or depressing violence and despair.

But “Scandalous” also makes an argument that the tabloid contributed to the fake-news mass-media sensation that has come to define journalism of the 21st century. The whole point of “Scandalous” seems to be that the Enquirer was a sort of ambivalent phenomenon that was neither good nor bad, but rather simply influential. The documentary does not, however, address this dubiety effectively — it diverts its efforts from the examination of media ethics to the coverage of various celebrity horror stories, from Marla Maples, to Whitney Houston, to Arnold Schwarzenneger.

Perhaps more problematic than its uncertainty in judging the merits or demerits of the Enquirer, however, is that “Scandalous” ultimately fails to emanate the voyeuristic pleasure of the tabloid itself. In a very real sense, the Enquirer has a rich history fraught with extortion and blackmail; it has leveraged secrets of infidelity and drug usage against celebrities like Bob Hope, Bill Cosby, and Jeff Bezos, all with varying degrees of success. The way in which these tales are related fails to grasp the unique pleasure in assuaging one’s own boredom by peering into the colorful lives of the rich and famous.

Furthermore, instead of delving deep into the politics within the tabloid, “Scandalous” focuses on trivial anecdotes from the magazine’s golden age, when its circulation numbers were not in the thousands, but rather in the millions. In doing so, it fundamentally loses the rich opportunity to expose more about the drama behind the publication itself.

There are moments within “Scandalous” that ring true. One of the most compelling aspects of the film are the interviews of tabloid journalists, who relate conflicts of journalistic integrity and the lengths to which they had to go in order to cover a good story. In attempting to uncover the death of John Belushi, for example, several journalists befriended Catherine Evelyn Smith, his drug dealer, and coerced her into a confession that would eventually land her in jail. There is an enduring, provocative question throughout the documentary of when enough is enough, when a reporter has finally gone too far — the long-debated role of the “Enquirer” in the Princess Diana scandal is a perfect example. Do celebrities have to pay a price for their fame? Are tabloids truly responsible for their ultimate downfall?

“Scandalous” is neither a particularly great documentary nor a strikingly bad one. Rather, it remains somewhere in-between. It lacks, somewhat ironically, the striking shock value of the Enquirer itself.

Sports

Weekly Recap

SCORES

Women’s SOCCER

WOMEN’s GOLF

Margaret “Midge” Purce ‘17 was named to the training camp roster for the U.S. women’s national team and looks to earn her first cap on Nov. 7 against Sweden.

Sophomore Anina Ku was named the NJSGA Women’s Player of the Year, capping off a successful fall season for the Crimson.

football

Football Hosts No. 14/15 Dartmouth in Crucial Game

By Cade PALMER Crimson Staff Writer

Harvard’s Ivy League title hopes are on the line this weekend as the undefeated, Ancient Eight leading Dartmouth Green arrives in Cambridge Saturday.

With the loss to Princeton last weekend, the Crimson (4-2, 2-1 Ivy) no longer controls its own destiny in the league rankings.

To earn a share of the title Harvard needs to win out — and Princeton needs to lose.

“As far as I’m concerned, it’s the biggest game of the year for us,” said senior defensive lineman Brogan McPartland. “This is definitely make it or break it.

We’ve got to get this one done.”

Only two undefeated teams are left in Ivy League play, Princeton and the Big Green.

If the Crimson wins this weekend, a Dartmouth (6-0, 3-0) victory over Princeton in Yankee Stadium the week after will be enough to put Harvard back in contention for the title.

Beating the Big Green, however, is a tall order.

The team has eviscerated its opponents, winning by an average of 31 points across its six games. Penn (2-4, 0-3) gave Dartmouth its most competitive contest this season, losing by only 13 points. Among the Ivy League, the Big Green has downed Yale, Columbia, and Penn.

“I don’t let that get to me really, I just play like it’s any other team,” said junior running back Devin Darrington. “My mentality coming into this game is just to do I what I do: run down hill, don’t think too much, use my speed, get past these guys, and just tote the rock.”

Nationally, Dartmouth ranks 14/15. Last week’s competitor, Princeton, ranked ­

13/13.

The Big Green currently leads the nation in both offensive production, scoring 41.8 points per game, and defense, as competitors average only 10.8 points against the Big Green Defensive Machine.

“Everybody on our team understands we’re going from the proverbial frying pan to the fire, just the way the schedule the last couple of years was set up,” Crimson coach Tim Murphy said. “This may be the best Dartmouth team I’ve seen definitely in my 26 years.

They’re definitely one of the best FCS teams in the country.

I don’t think anyone has even given them a game yet.”

At the helm of that offensive production is the dual threat quarterback situation. Dual threat not in the traditional sense where the play caller can both run and throw, but that there are two quarterbacks.

Both senior Jared Gerbino and junior Derek Kyler share time behind the center.

The former, Gerbino, is a dual threat quarterback in the tradition sense. In addition to his 694 passing yards, the senior leads the team in rushing yards with 266.

Among rushers, the team is fairly evenly distributed. Five of the team’s rushers have more than 100 yards on the season including Kyler, who has 108. The most effective running back in the bunch is junior Dakari Falconer with 225 yards, but only two touchdowns.

His teammate, Caylin Parker has 195 yards and four touchdowns.

“It’s normally a more physical game,” McPartland said.

“Against a team that passes a lot, you might leave the game and feel like you’re not even that

banged up. But a game like this, it’s going to be a lot of banging each other, a battle at the line of scrimmage, and just who’s stronger, who’s more physical up front.”

For a comparison, Harvard’s top two rushers both have posted better numbers than the Big Green’s leader, Gerbino. Junior Devin Darrington has 548 yards to his name while freshman Aidan Borguet has logged 286.

Despite this, Dartmouth has posted 270 more yards than the Crimson on the season.

In passing, Harvard’s Jake Smith has outpaced his division rivals thus far, throwing for 1404 yards while the Big Green’s Gerbino and Kyler have combined for 1200. What they lack in yards, they compensate for in efficiency, each completing over 70 percent of attempted passes.

“They have done such a great job running the football that they’ve thrown the fewest passes of any team in our league,” Murphy said.

“But their pass efficiency, because they’re running the ball so well and the play action aspect of it, has made them able to create a lot of really big plays in the passing game. They don’t throw it a lot, but they make up for it.”

Defensively, Dartmouth’s statistics are much more stratified. Leading the team with 44 tackles is senior linebacker Nigel Alexander.

The Crimson’s leading tackler, senior linebacker Cameron Kline has 30. However, only five Big Green defensive players have made more than 20 tackles. Harvard boasts eight.

Ironically, while eviscerating opponents, the Dartmouth defense has struggled getting

RAISE ME UP The Crimson must take down Dartmouth if it is to have a reasonable shot of contending for the Ivy League Championship. TIMOTHY R. O’MEARA —Crimson photographer

into the backfield, posting only seven sacks on the season. The Crimson’s McPartland has 5.5 by himself, while the team has logged 30, a number that paces the nation.

Harvard also leads the nation in blocks. So far this fall, the special teams unit has managed to touch seven kicks.

Defending against the rush

is another category in which the defense from Hanover has struggled relative to the Crimson. The Big Green has ceded 823 yards to opponents this season on the ground. Harvard, despite its two losses, has yielded only 445.

Important to consider as well is the return of Crimson football to Harvard Stadium.

After a two-game stint on the road, the Crimson returns to Cambridge where it is undefeated on the season.

“I love playing at home,” McPartland said. “I think we just get very protective at home.

When we come in here, we don’t think anyone can beat us here.” cade.palmer@thecrimson.com

football

Healing Through Football: The Return of Hunt Sparks

By Claire Albert CONTRIBUTING Writer

In the fall of his sophomore year at Harvard, offensive lineman Hunt Sparks began to catch his stride. Surrounded by a blocking group of his closest friends and teammates, Sparks’ course load felt manageable. The transition to fall season of Division I football wasn’t as jarring as it had been freshman year and he had earned some solid playing time.

“An outstanding player from the state of Oklahoma, big, strong, athletic kid,” said head coach Tim Murphy of Sparks. “[Hunt] loves the game of football and loves his teammates, ­

a very high personality and someone who can lead… by his passion for football.”

As winter break approached and Sparks returned back home to his native Norman, Okla., he saw an opportunity to improve his fitness. But that was when things began to take a turn for the worst.

Two days prior to heading back to Boston, the then-sophomore experienced a 103-degree fever and prevailing problems with his kidney, forcing him to take a trip to the emergency room in Oklahoma City. While doctors were initially reluctant to allow him to return back to campus, he assured his medical team that he would line up nec-

essary appointments with the team doctor and run the tests they requested.

Back on campus, though, Sparks struggled with his recovery and continuously felt fatigued. He labored heavily in making the half-mile walk from Adams House to the athletic facilities.

Timing himself out of curiosity, the Norman, Okla., native realized it took him six-and-ahalf minutes to make it down the five flights of stairs that lead to his room.

The following week, Sparks sat in the waiting room of Harvard University Health Services.

He fulfilled the team doc-

tor’s direction to get a chest x-ray. One of the nurse practitioners approached the lineman in a hurry and seemed agitated.

The X-ray showed spots covering Sparks’ lungs. Septic emboli, bacteria originating from a staph infection in the tricuspid valve in his heart, had spread throughout his entire chest.

In his typical understated manner, Hunt described the alternative.

“Luckily, the tricuspid valve sends blood down your body and not up into your brain,” Sparks said. “I could have had a stroke.”

After more testing, he was admitted directly to the ICU at Mount Auburn Hospital.

IN FULL GEAR After a health scare last winter, Hunt Sparks(pictured left, #75) is back on the field again for the Crimson. Timothy R. O’meara—Crimson photographer

Head football coach Tim Murphy came as quickly as he could and stayed at Sparks’ side until his mother arrived on a red-eye from Oklahoma City.

“He went from 285 pounds to about 250 in about two weeks,” Murphy said. “It was really a scary time for his family, him, and for us. I went to see him every day and he would always be upbeat.”

Eight days in the ICU, 11 days in the step-down unit, and 60 pounds lighter, Sparks moved to Spaulding Rehab for two weeks.

“I couldn’t raise my arms above my head for three weeks,” Sparks recalled. “I couldn’t walk for a month. I had to relearn how to do everything.”

When he arrived at Spaulding, Sparks was unable to walk without the help of a walker, and left using a cane.

His mother and father stayed with him on alternating weeks, overlapping on the weekends so the three of them could be together.

Returning to Oklahoma in March, Hunt continued his physical therapy.

He started working out again, determined to return to Cambridge for the summer fitness program available to Harvard athletes who remain on campus.

“Everyone was talking to me like there was a possibility I’d never play again,” Sparks said.

This was a possibility he simply refused to accept. Although doctors were consistently surprised Sparks’ progress, his teammates quietly doubted his ability to pass the pre-season fitness test. Summer training was a struggle.

“I was finishing last on every sprint,” Sparks said. “By far the slowest at everything we did… I forced myself to come up here, forced myself to do the running and the workouts every morning.”

Head Coach Tim Murphy calls Hunt’s comeback “a pretty amazing story” and made sure

to exercise utmost caution at every stage of his recovery process. “[Sparks] just said ‘I’m fine’,” Murphy said. “I said, ‘I don’t want to hear that you are fine until the doctors say you are fine.’”

Without football and his summer routine, Sparks thinks he wouldn’t have recovered as quickly.

“I never would have pushed myself to get into the kind of cardio shape I needed, and I think that is what really made me have long term health again,” Sparks said.

As July stretched into August and pre-season football camp, Hunt finally saw progress. Sparks successfully completed Harvard Football’s full fitness test, the same test he ironically failed to pass at the start of sophomore year.

“The goal of just being healthy seemed kind of defeating sometimes because all you’re working to do is just live life,” the junior said. “Obviously, that was what I was doing in a way, but at the same time, I was trying to get back to the place where I knew I could be.”

Throughout his illness and recovery, one of Sparks’ most profound realizations was the strength of his Harvard community, especially the bond he shares with his teammates and the football program.

“The support of my whole team was crazy,” Sparks said.

“Their support made it a completely different experience.”

Months later, Sparks has returned to the field.

On September 27th, the 6’6 junior took his place on the Harvard Stadium turf, wearing Number 75, in a game the Crimson won handily by a 42-7 score over Brown.

The road back to the football field was a long one for Sparks, but a journey that tested his resolve, perseverance, and the fabric that ties the Harvard football team together.