The Harvard Crimson - Volume CXLVI, No. 131

The Harvard Crimson The University Daily, Est. 1873 | Volume CXLVI No. | Cambridge, Massachusetts | friday, November 22, 2019

editorial PAGE 6

news PAGE 3

sports PAGE 8

Divest Harvard’s persistence has allowed students to be heard.

Sociology professor lectures on higher education outcomes.

Women’s Volleyball drops final two games of season.

See Initiative Page 3

A s Harvard’s graduate student union prepares for a potential strike next month, organizers can look to several other graduate student unions across the country that have initiated work stoppages in recent years.

In the seven-year period from 2012 to 2018, there were seven work stoppages at colleges and universities in the United States, according to a recent study by William A. Herbert, director of the National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education and the Professions, and Jacob Apkarian, assistant professor at the City University of New York. The majority of them lasted less than a week, and the longest lasted 11 days.

Harvard Graduate Students Union-United Automobile Workers will join those ranks if it does not reach a contract agreement with the University by Dec. 3. The two sides remain deadlocked over key issues in the contract, including compensation, health benefits, and a procedure to resolve harassment and discrimination claims.

Members of Graduate Students United at the University of Chicago, which is not formal­

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Graduate Students United at the University of Chicago

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University President Lawrence S. Bacow announced the creation of a University-wide initiative to address and further research the school’s ties to slavery in an email sent to Harvard affiliates Thursday.

Bacow selected Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study Dean Tomiko Brown-Nagin to be the head of a new University-wide faculty committee that will lead the initiative.

The University has designated $5 million for the program, according to Bacow’s email.

“It is my hope that the work of this new initiative will help the university gain important insights about our past and the enduring legacy of slavery — while also providing an ongoing platform for our conversations about our present and our future as a university community committed to having our minds opened and improved by learning,” Bacow wrote.

Bacow wrote that the Radcliffe Institute will work closely with library and museum staff to host both programs and academic opportunities related to ­

Crimson Staff Writers

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Crimson Staff Writers

the issue.

“By engaging a wide array of interests and expertise, as Radcliffe is uniquely suited to do, this initiative will reflect the remarkable power of bringing together individuals from across Harvard in pursuit of a common purpose,” he wrote.

Other faculty on the 12-person committee include former Law School Dean Martha L. Minow and former Dean of the College Evelynn M. Hammonds.

Bacow’s announcement comes as the University continues to grapple with its ties to slavery.

In March, Connecticut resident Tamara K. Lanier filed a lawsuit against Harvard alleging the University unlawfully owns and profits off photos of enslaved people who she says are her ancestors.

Earlier this month, the prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda penned a letter to Bacow demanding reparations from Harvard for its historical ties to slavery.

In his letter, Bacow also wrote about efforts that former University President Drew

By James s. bikales and ruoqi zhang

TY SI ER

By alexandra a. chaideZ and aidan f. ryan

Recent Strikes Offer Example for HGSU GR AD U

Univ. to Study Ties to Slavery

U AW

margot e. shang—Crimson Designer

ly recognized as a union, initiated a work stoppage for the last three days of classes before finals in June to try to convince administrators to voluntarily recognize their union, according to GSU member Laura Colaneri.

Unlike Harvard’s union, which has vowed to strike indefinitely, GSU members only voted to authorize a three day stoppage, Colaneri said. Members ultimately decided not to extend the work stoppage into

the finals period, fearing that this could adversely affect students’ ability to receive grades.

“It’s sort of, you know, the really difficult exchange between showing the administration that what we do is important and obviously really valuing the work that you do and wanting to make sure that your students get the best, you know, education that they can,” Colaneri said.

During the stoppage, many classes taught by striking grad-

uate students were canceled and research assistants in labs stopped their work unless “absolutely necessary,” according to Colaneri.

Colaneri said the University of Chicago administration responded “poorly” to the strike.

The University asked faculty to track students’ hours during the strike in relation to grant funding, she said. Administrators also sent an email to

See strike Page 3

Science Students Prepare for Harvard-Yale During Spirit Week Research Draws Scrutiny By jessica lee

Contributing Writer

Munching on donuts and facing off on arcade machines, students partook in daily Harvard-Yale Spirit Week events this week in anticipation of the 136th Harvard-Yale Football Game Friday.

Spirit Week is an annual tradition organized by the Crimson Traditions Committee of the College Events Board intended to generate school pride and get undergraduates excited for the upcoming Game, according to CEB member Emily G. Lopez ’21.

Each year, the CEB chooses a theme to center Spirit Week around. CEB also plans five different daily events preceding the Game.

This year, the committee decided on “Road to Victory” as a theme designed to bring out Harvard students’ competitive spirit as they journey to Yale, Lopez said.

The group used competitive ­

By jonah s. berger Crimson Staff Writer

Vice Provost for Research Richard D. McCullough said in an interview Thursday that in recent years, Congress and federal funding agencies have imposed increased scrutiny of science research at Harvard and other research institutions.

McCullough pointed to a warning FBI director Christopher A. Wray issued early last year at a congressional hearing about the threat of intellectual property theft as the start of heightened scrutiny, which McCullough described as a bipartisan effort.

“They have expressed, you know, a lot of concern about certain activities that might threaten what they say will be in the national security,” McCullough said.

A congressional report released Monday concluded that the United States government had failed to prevent China from stealing intellectual property from American universities and does not have a “comprehensive strategy” to deal with the threat.

“U.S. universities and U.S.based researchers must take responsibility in addressing this threat,” the report reads. “If U.S. universities can vet employees for scientific rigor or allegations of plagiarism, they also can vet for financial conflicts of interests and foreign sources of funding.”

The report also called on the FBI to more regularly and effectively warn research institutions about the threat. Tthe National Institutes of Health is currently investigating potential intellectual theft at more than 70 American universities.

In the past year, Harvard has formed two committees to review and implement changes to research grant compliance procedures, specifically for federal funding. One committee,

See research Page 5 Inside this issue

Harvard Today 2

The College Events Board has been hosting events for the upcoming 136th Harvard-Yale Game in which students are encouraged to visit all the student grilles on campus. pei chao zhuo—Crimson photographer

race car driving as a recurring symbol of the theme.

Spirit Week kicked off Monday with an event called “Road Trip.”

The event encouraged friendly competition over various arcade games at Dave & Buster’s, a restaurant and video arcade chain.

“We chose Dave & Buster’s because, first of all, it’s just really, really fun,” Lopez said.

“And it also gets that competitive side of people out because there’s like a bunch of sports games there and like competing games,” she added.

The committee also created a new event called “Ride or DIY.” Students could make their own apparel to represent school spirit at the Game.

CEB provided bandanas, fanny packs, bracelet making supplies, and decals for students to decorate their own clothes.

See the game Page 5

Harvard Announces Pusey Minister Search By camille g. caldera Crimson Staff Writer

University President Lawrence S. Bacow announced the start of the search for the next Minister of the Memorial Church in an email to Harvard affiliates Thursday.

Jonathan L. Walton — who held the position from 2012 to 2019 — announced his departure in April in order to serve as Dean of Wake Forest University School of Divinity. Harvard Divinity School Professor Stephanie A. Paulsell, who is currently serving as interim minister of Memorial Church, assumed her post in August and will continue to serve while the University searches for a permanent replacement.

“I am deeply committed to finding a successor who can guide the church through the intricacies of today’s social and academic climate while furthering its mission of scholar­

News 3

Editorial 6

ship and service,” Bacow wrote in the email.

In his email, Bacow, who is the chair of the search committee for the next minister, announced the group’s other members. The “cross-sectional” committee includes professors and staff at the University, chaplains from multiple faith backgrounds, church congregants, and a student at the College.Paulsell, who is also on the search committee, wrote in an email that she is “excited” for the search for a new minister.

“I’m hoping we find someone eager to engage the diversity of religious life at Harvard and to work creatively at the intersection of the church, the world, and the university,” Paulsell wrote. “I’m hoping for a minister who draws us more deeply into the life of the world, helps us feel the claim of the lives of others on our own, and invites

See search Page 3

Sports 8

Linebackers Derek “Cameron” Kline ‘20 and Joseph L. Goodman ‘20 celebrate a stop during last year’s Harvard win in the 135th playing of The Game against Yale. timothy r. o’meara—Crimson photographer

Today’s Forecast

rainy High: 54 Low: 30

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THE HARVARD CRIMSON |

November 22, 2019

Page 2

Harvard Today

For Lunch Fish with Garlic Butter Grilled Reuben Sandwich Garbanzo Falafel Sandwich

For Dinner Hoisin BBQ Chicken Japchae Beef Bulgogi Four Cheese Macaroni and

Today’s Events Survival of the Fittest University Hall, 1-6 p.m.

in The Real World

Come get all the necessary supplies to survive the long weekend at Yale ahead of you. Supplies include a clear bag (only thing allowed in The Yale Bowl), food, and water and will be handed out at University Hall.

California School Shooter used ‘Ghost Gun’ The California school shooter who killed two and injured three was using an untraceable gun at the time. The 16-year-old bought the parts separately and assembled the gun later, allowing him to sidestep some of the sanctions on gun ownership.

Coldplay Halts Tour Due To Environmental Concerns

Harvard Yale A Cappella Concert 2019 Sheffield Hall at Yale, 8 p.m.

One Harvard-Yale competition not enough for you? Come listen to each school’s a cappella groups in Yale’s Sheffield-Sterling-Strathcona Hall Auditorium to get you excited for going out and for The Game.

Bumble Tailgate Science Center, 3-5 p.m.

Join Harvard’s Bumble team at the Science Center from 3 to 5 p.m. today to get ready for The Game. A profile on Bumble will get you some free hot cocoa and some merch to show your Harvard spirit. Score!

On Thursday, Coldplay frontman Chris Martin announced that the band would cease touring until it could make its concerts more environmentally friendly. Martin said that the British band wants its next tour to be carbon neutral and plastic-free.

Situated in Memorial Hall, Annenberg Hall is the freshman dining hall. Aiyana G. White—Contrib-

Daily Briefing

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu Faces Charges of Fraud, Bribery, and Abuse of Trust

The University has launched a new initiative to study Harvard’s connections to slavery, University President Lawrence S. Bacow announced Thursday.

Harvard has already assembled a 12-person faculty committee to oversee the initiative and has designated $5 million for the program. In other news, Congress and federal funding agencies have increased their scrutiny of science research at Harvard and other universities, according to Vice Provost for Research Richard D. McCullough.

Around the Ivies

uting photographer

Israel’s Attorney General has indicted the country’s Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu on charges of fraud, bribery, and abuse of trust. Netanyahu is now the first to be indicted while in office.

cornell

Former Cornell student Charlie Tan admitted to killing his father in an affidavit filed on Monday, according to The Cornell Daily Sun. Following the four week murder trial, charges against Tan were dropped. Tan did not return to Cornell after the trial. In November 2018, Tan was sentenced to 20 years in jail for three federal gun charges. Tan now claims that he received “ineffective assistance of counsel at sentencing” and is seeking a reduced sentence.

penn

Students at the University of Pennsylvania will have the opportunity to take a course on cryptocurrency beginning in the spring, according to The Daily Pennsylvanian. The course aims to cover the history and business behind cryptocurrency in a weekly three hour class.

Following student demand, the Wharton Dean’s Undergraduate Advisory Board led the creation of the course. The course is expected to be the first in a series of “Managing Disruptive Change” classes centered on business and technology. Sixty students are currently enrolled.

yale

Students at the Yale Divinity School have created a petition calling for better recognition of inigenous people and scholarship, according to The Yale Daily News. The petition asks that Yale Divinity School recognize its location on Quinnipiac land and calls for integration of indigenous voices in coursework. Creators of the petition cited a frustration with the “colonial legacy” of Yale Divinity School as a motivating factor in making the petition. Over 72 students, faculty, and Yale affiliates have signed onto the petition.

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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.

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THE HARVARD CRIMSON | november 22, 2019

Sociology Prof.

Harvard to Study Past Ties to Slavery Talks Higher Ed initiative From Page 1

By kelsey J. griffin and austin w. li Contributing Writers

A ssistant Professor of Sociology and Social Studies Christina C. Eller presented research on how colleges and universities can find better performance measures in a lecture on inequality in higher education Thursday evening.

In the study she presented, Eller used interviews with students from urban, public college systems and university administrative data to compare graduation rates and overall success of students from different racial groups across schools. Using this data, Eller said she hopes to provide more clear measurements of college effectiveness.

Eller identified two major problems with colleges and universities’ current performance metrics. First, she said student outcomes reported by universities are collected by organizations like the National Center for Education Statistics and U.S. News and World Report using aggregate data. “I like to call these ice cream sundae measures,” Eller said. “We really don’t know if it’s students pre-college characteristics, the selection process between the student and the college, or the college itself that is exerting this aggregate effect that we see most likely to be reported.”

She added that administrators’ awareness of potential issues in student outcome reports creates another problem. As administrators realize the potentially negative impact of reports on potential applicants, they may cater organizational changes toward improving reports rather than actual outcomes. She calls this phenomenon “superficial recoupling.”

“What you get here is a similar kind of pressure being put on colleges and universities to give over outcome data — to look very closely at it and say, ‘what can I send to the world to try to make myself look a certain way on paper?’” Eller said.

Eller said she focused on urban college systems because they frequently have a large population of underrepresented minority students and are often overlooked in college rankings.

“One, they’re just huge. On ­

an annual basis, if we were to combine the public college populations of New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Miami, it’s over 600,000 students served a year,” Eller said. “Second of all, it serves a very high proportion of students who are considered underrepresented in higher ed, both by their income and by their racial background.”

Eller said she thinks more researchers should focus on how these universities can improve.

“We really have an opportunity to think about what is not going as well as it could be in better you in order to produce even greater utilization,” she said. In order to improve student success, Eller said universities should implement methods of measuring student outcome that keep administrators accountable.

Eller also proposed a model which she said allows her to statistically match students from different universities and track academic success across schools to isolate how university policies affect student outcomes across racial and social groups.

“I’m using this kind of statistical matching or equalization in order to try to remove some of the bias that we would get from the selection process,” she said.

Graduate School of Education Professor Julie A. Reuben, who organized the talk, said she considers Eller’s research vital to providing a more precise understanding of how well universities perform. “I think what this research does is it begins to find ways of identifying whether institutions are serving their students — well, helping them achieve this goal of graduating — and breaking that down so we could see it by different groups of students and also by the different preparation levels that the students come in with,” Reuben said.

“I think what this research does is it begins to find ways of identifying whether institutions are serving their students — well, helping them achieve this goal of graduating — and breaking that down so we could see it by different groups of students and also by the different preparation levels that the students come in with,” Reuben said.

G. Faust spearheaded several years ago like installing memorials commemorating enslaved individuals at Wadsworth House and Harvard Law School, and creating a faculty committee to study the University’s ties to slavery.

In February 2016, former Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Michael D. Smith announced that faculty leaders of the 12 undergraduate hous-

es would be renamed “Faculty Deans” — a shift away from the former term “House Master,” which some students associated with slavery.

A month later, the Harvard Corporation — the University’s highest governing body — agreed to remove the Law School’s controversial seal, which featured the crest of a slaveholding family.

The decision came after

pieces of black tape were found over the portraits of black Law School professors in November 2015 and months of student protests.

The initiative announced Thursday will focus on researching further the connections Harvard has to the slave trade and to abolition movements, Bacow wrote in his email.

“Harvard has a unique role

in the history of our country, and we have a distinct obligation to understand how our traditions and our culture here are shaped by our past and by our surroundings — from the ways the university benefitted from the Atlantic slave trade to the debates and advocacy for abolition on camp,” Bacow wrote. alexandra.chaidez@thecrimson.com aidan.ryan@thecrimson.com

strike From Page 1

search From Page 1

Strikes Across Country Offer Example for HGSU

Search Begins for New Minister

undergraduates and parents asking them to report graduate student instructors who did not show up to classes, which Colaneri called “intimidation.”

“It was sort of clear that they were hoping to get people on their side in terms of pressuring against the union and trying to say, ‘oh, you’re being disruptive to campus,’ ‘you’re disrupting your students’ education,’” Colaneri said.

University of Chicago spokesperson Colleen Mastony

It’s sort of, you know, the really difficult exchange between showing the administration that what we do is important and obviously really valuing the work that you do and wanting to make sure that your students get the best, you know, education that they can.

Laura Colaneri HGSU Member

did not respond to multiple requests for comment about the strike. HGSU has shared con-

cerns that Harvard will withhold pay from those who decide to strike.

“Other universities where student workers have gone on strike have set a precedent of not withholding pay, but we cannot guarantee what Harvard will or will not do,” a zine distributed by HGSU at an informational event about the strike Nov. 21 reads. When asked whether students participating in a strike will be paid, University spokesperson Jonathan L. Swain referred to a University website about the strike that indicates striking graduate students “may risk not being paid.”

Graduate student workers at Columbia University also held a six-day strike April 2018 due to the university’s refusal to recognize and bargain with its graduate student union. During the strike, graduate student workers on strike also withheld their paid instructional and research work. Harvard’s union has also published a document outlining how they would like faculty members to support the strike.

In the document, union organizers asked faculty members to not replace striking student workers during the strike, and to not identify student workers on strike to University administrators. When graduate student workers went on strike at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign for nearly two weeks between February and March 2018, several faculty members supported striking

students by moving classes off campus, according to Sara Feld-

It was sort of clear that they were hoping to get people on their side in terms of pressuring against the union and trying to say, ‘oh, you’re being disruptive to campus,’ ‘you’re disrupting your students’ education.

Laura Colaneri HGSU Member

man, a preceptor in Yiddish at Harvard who was a non-tenuretrack faculty member at UIUC from 2015 to 2018.

“Among the faculty that I knew, I didn’t know any other faculty who were not doing that,” she said. UIUC did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Feldman said that though moving classes was “disruptive,” students recognized that honoring the strike was “worth it” for education at large.

“The instructors’ teaching conditions and working conditions are the students’ learning conditions,” Feldman said. james.bikales@thecrimson.com ruoqi.zhang@thecrimson.com

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us to explore the relationship between our intellectual and spiritual lives.”

Bacow also invited Harvard affiliates to provide input on the search regarding their thoughts on the future of the church and “essential qualities” in a new minister.

“The mission of Memorial Church is rooted in scholarship and service, and as part of a large interfaith network requires a leader who can balance tradition and innovation,” Bacow wrote.

Other members of the search committee include Harvard Muslim Chaplain Khalil Abdur-Rashid, men’s basketball coach Tommy Amaker, Harvard School of Public Health Director of the Senior Leadership Fellows Program Eric R. Anderson, Professor Catherine A. Brekus ’85, Professor Cornell William Brooks, Reverend John H. Finley IV ’92, Memorial Church Student Advisory Board Member Alden Fossett ’21, Dean of the Faculty of Divinity David N. Hempton, Senior Vice Provost for Faculty Development and Diversity Judith D. Singer ’77, and Hillel Executive Director Jonah C. Steinberg. camille.caldera@thecrimson.com

THE HARVARD CRIMSON |

November 22, 2019

Hot off the presses!

The latest on final clubs.

And, you know, other stuff too.

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THE HARVARD CRIMSON | november 22, 2019

research From Page 1

the game From Page 1

U.S. Govt. Increases Scrutiny of Research

Students Participate in Harvard-Yale Spirit Week

overseen by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, has strengthened oversight of grant submissions, according to Dean of the Sciences Christopher W. Stubbs.The other committee—which McCullough co-directs with Vice Provost of International Affairs Mark C. Elliott — seeks to complement existing oversight structures, including the “provostial review” process which applies to certain research projects that seek external funding.

“We’re just putting extra eyes on things,” McCullough said. “We’re protecting the faculty. Our job is to make sure that they don’t do something by accident and ruin their reputation.”

The NIH’s and FBI’s inquiries have focused almost exclusively on scientists of Chinese descent — some of whom are

naturalized American citizens — whom they allege have funneled sensitive information to the Chinese government.

Stubbs announced at a faculty meeting earlier this month that the NIH has inquired about potential discrepancies in grant proposals at Harvard. It is unclear whether the NIH or FBI is investigating any researchers at Harvard.McCullough cautioned Thursday against casting all research conducted with foreign scientists as worthy of dismissal or suspect treatment.

“Openness and collaboration with other countries, including China, is important for advancing healthcare and science writ large,” he said.McCullough added that Harvard largely relies on the federal government to vet foreign re-

searchers and visitors. “We depend on the visa system as a way to figure out who should be here and who should not be here,” he said. “We’re not in the business of policing.”McCullough, who participates in a roundtable group of administrators at roughly a dozen elite research institutions called the Ivy-Plus Research Officer Group, said the threat of intellectual theft has emerged as a “major topic” of discussion among academics.

“Half of the meetings we spend trying to figure this stuff out,” McCullough said. “Everybody’s trying to just get their head around this, to make sure that you’re, you know, partners with the United States government.” jonah.berger@thecrimson.com

“This was very different from anything we had ever done before, as we tried to create more Harvard gear for students because we understand like going to the Coop super expensive,” said Lopez.

According to Lopez, as of Wednesday, the event with the biggest turnout was “Stay in Your Lane Yale,” an annual tradition featuring Organismic and Evolutionary Biology lecturer Andrew J. Berry performing a roast of Yale.

Held in the Smith Campus Center, the event brought together many students who ate snacks as they listened to an opening stand-up comedy act

by Tom L. Osborn ’20, saw the premiere of on-campus comedy group On Harvard Time’s “The Game” video, and watched Ber­

ry’s act, which was accompanied by a slideshow presentation.

We love seeing anyone and all people come. We really want to focus on spirit and hyping up Harvard and the Game.

Emily G. Lopez ‘21 College Events Board Member

“What do all Harvard and Yale students have in common?

They all got into Yale,” Berry said, reading off of a projected image of a T-shirt in his closing

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remarks.

Some students who attended the event — including Berry’s students — said they enjoyed the lecturer’s jabs at Yale.

“I have a gen-ed class with Andrew Berry and he’s like one of the funniest people I know,” Elijah B. McGill ’23 said.

“I thought [his jokes] were quite on point for his character, and I thought that they were quite funny. Lots of good ammunition, I guess, for any Yale person you meet,” McGill added.

Overall, Lopez said she is happy with the turnout at CEB’s events throughout the week.

“We love seeing anyone and all people come,” she said. “We really want to focus on spirit and hyping up Harvard and the Game.”

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | NOVEMBER 22, 2019

Page 6

Editorial The Crimson Editorial board

op-ed

Protest In the Face of Indifference

Biased and Insensitive Reporting is Unacceptable

L

ast Friday, organizers of Divest Harvard poured molasses, intended to symbolize oil, on themselves during a protest in front of Smith Campus Center. The demonstration comes on the heels of the Undergraduate Council election, in which nearly 70 percent of voting students were in favor of a referendum calling on Harvard to commit to and develop a clear divestment plan

by Earth Day 2020. A similar referendum the previous year garnered 71.5 percent support.

In the wake of two overwhelmingly supportive referenda for fossil fuel divestment and months and years of pressure and protest by very vocal advocates, we have yet to see concerted efforts made by the administration to address the status quo of the University’s investment position.

Working outside of the school’s administrative system, Divest Harvard’s persistence in campus protest and advocacy has allowed students to be heard.

In fact, this event and the response from the administration or, rather, the lack thereof precisely highlight the lack of power that students have when advocating for important and consequential changes on our campus.

As we have previously opined, the

role of student activism is to challenge the prevailing order and understanding of current norms.

Inherent in this conception of protest is the recognition that student activists are already fighting an uphill battle against the inertia of the status quo.

But as members of the Harvard community, students and their opinions on the University’s policies are crucial components of the commitment to dialogue that undergirds our communal life, and we believe that there is a need for greater student input in administrative processes.

In the meantime, working outside of the school’s administrative system, Divest Harvard’s persistence in campus protest and advocacy has allowed students to be heard.

By employing a diverse range of tactics — the mock oil spill, for example, is a powerful, symbolic, even artistic expression of discontent — Divest Harvard has captured the attention of the campus and can hopefully move the needle on this issue, in spite of of the vast power disadvantage at which protesters find themselves. More than the immediate efficacy of the divest protest, we also see a large educational value in engaging in student activism.

On every college campus around the country and the world, learning how to be an activist and to express oneself is a critical part of nurturing the future of the democratic process.

And perhaps in this sense protesters should be recognized for doing precise-

ly what the University has claimed as its own response to climate change: “Pursu[ing] a range of innovative and am-

More than the immediate efficacy of the divest protest, we also see a large educational value in engaging in student activism. bitious efforts to accelerate the world’s transition to renewable sources of energy and to help mitigate the catastrophic consequences of climate change that are already being realized.”

Moving forward, we remain supportive and hopeful about Divest Harvard’s efforts to urge the University to divest.

But as previous and current protests prove ineffective and more disruptive means of protest, expressing disillusionment, and exerting pressure may seem an increasingly compelling option, we believe that conversations about the Divest Harvard’s methods for protest and their goals warrant further discussion.

This staff editorial solely represents the majority view of The Crimson Editorial Board. It is the product of discussions at regular Editorial Board meetings. In order to ensure the impartiality of our journalism, Crimson editors who choose to opine and vote at these meetings are not involved in the reporting of articles on similar topics.

Submit an Op-Ed Today!

By Bruce gatete

O

n November 3, the Harvard Political Review published an article titled “Renaissance for Rwanda’s Dogs.” This article hailed an apparent positive shift in the Rwandan perception of dogs. The article first references the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi and its aftermath as context to claim that since the genocide, Rwandans have had a “widespread aversion” to dogs. It then jumps to the present and claims that thanks to “American and European expats,” i.e. white expats, whose population size has been growing in recent years, Rwandans are being introduced to “dogs as companions for the first time.” The article calls this a cultural shift that “[reflects] broader dynamics around Westernization and development in Rwanda.”

Not only is this narrative plain false, it is deeply offensive. As a son of genocide survivors who grew up in post-genocide Rwanda, I was not only surprised by this article’s push for a false and problematic narrative concerning Rwandans’ relationship to dogs, but I found the use of the genocide and its aftermath to magnify these unfounded claims troublingly insensitive.

My first objection is the notion that white expats are shifting the way Rwandans perceive dogs. The very claim that the love for dogs in Rwanda is a new trend is unfounded, let alone the claim that white expats are shifting Rwanda’s perception of dogs.

I grew up in a low income family in Kicukiro, Rwanda. Since the 2000s, my siblings and I have had three dogs, and this was not unusual for a typical family in the capital city, Kigali. There were many other dogs in my neighborhood, including strays, household dogs, and guard dogs.

Yes, as in any society, there were cases of dog abuse and mistreatment but those were exceptions and not a trend.

The claim that Rwandans had a “widespread aversion” to dogs prior to this new “cultural shift initiated by white expats is unfounded.

The Crimson @thecrimson column

Healthcare for Some Tajrean Rahman On The Edge of The Elite

L

ore“In my family, we know to not get sick.”

The college adviser’s words were met with silence. I glanced at the printed out version of the Common Application in my hands, unsure what made me more nervous — the many questions on the form, or my own ignorance on how to even begin answering them. I hadn’t realized that healthcare insurance was yet another aspect I needed to consider.

My worries seemed reflected by the rest of the students in the room. We were all a part of a college advising program, one specifically catered towards first-generation, low-income students who were unsure on how to navigate the road to higher education.

Our advisor was a vibrant woman with enough energy to command the attention of a whole class of high-schoolers, an impressive feat in the mid-autumn season when the days were short and attentions were bound to wander.

I particularly appreciated how she carried herself with bold fashion tastes and uncensored honesty — divulging her experiences growing up without stable medical coverage, not to scare us, but rather to make us aware of a lived reality for so many.

According to the United States census in 2018, 27.5 million Americans were reported to not have health insurance at any point during the year. At the start of my freshman year, I could be considered among these ranks when I did not purchase dental coverage in my student health insurance plan.

It was not a difficult decision to make.

When I was going through my package at the start of the term, I scanned through my benefits and noted the absence of dental coverage with mild confusion. It turned out that oral health-

care fell under the category of “optional” for Harvard students — but for those with backgrounds that couldn’t afford the separate pricing, it wasn’t so much an option as it was a decisive “no.”

Like most things in healthcare, dentistry comes attached with an intimidating price: According to one insurance company’s website, “a simple checkup costs only an average of about $85-$100 in the U.S., fillings run approximately $230-$300, and crowns go for $1,100 and up.” I can’t describe what it is like to sit with yourself, staring at a screen with numbers that sit heavy in the pit of your stomach.

In that moment, you make an intentional choice to risk a part of your well-being because you do not want to be a financial burden. You tell yourself that you’ll take such good care of your health that a medical authority won’t be necessary.

And yet, the statistics are not in your favor. Studies have indicated that a lack of dental care can have huge health implications on the rest of your body.

Not only are individuals missing preventative check-ins on gum disease by visiting the dentist less, “but people who do not have dental benefits are more likely to suffer from other, non-dental-related diseases” such as heart disease, osteoporosis, and diabetes. Perhaps it was only the natural course for me to run into teeth troubles a few years down the line. Like all health issues, my first defense was to ignore it until it would go away, except the pain on the upper right side of my mouth persisted in this case.

Enough that I finally caved and checked out the problem through Harvard University Health Services, earning quite an earful about my negligence from the dental assistants in the process.

They suggested that I was too young to be so reckless with my teeth, and strapped to a dental chair with an X-ray to my right and microscope glaring down from the top, I felt so exposed, unable to tell them that I hadn’t been to a dentist in three years because I couldn’t afford it. It is a rather unfair thing — how one part of your body can have such a profound impact on the rest of it.

The connections of your bones and muscles and organs make it impossible to neglect one over the other, to choose to risk even one part of your body.

And yet many of us still have to make these choices since our circumstances deal with a country without universal healthcare. Some of us know not to get sick because it is not possible to afford such a price for the bare minimum of our physical well-being. I have been operating with this mantra for a few years now, just for a thing as simple as my oral health, and still it is not a lifestyle I would recommend.

I am told to offer solutions in my columns, but even raising problems can be taboo — especially in a case like this when the fault is always misdirected back to the patient, shaming that one person for not being more vigilant with her body, instead of faulting the overarching institution of healthcare that simply does not support every person.

But I will assert that Harvard could do better and start by adding dental coverage for all students in their health care package.

Beyond the University though, that’s a decision we have yet to see play out — just be sure to stay healthy while you wait.

—Tajrean Rahman ’20, is a History and Science concentrator in Currier House.

Her column appears on alternate Fridays.

The claim that Rwandans had a “widespread aversion” to dogs prior to this new “cultural shift” initiated by white expats is unfounded.

This article did not include extensive research on the topic but instead only had interviews from workers in dog rescue non-profit founded by Canadians. It was clear to me that this article was propagating a specific narrative that corroborates false assumptions and undermines Rwandans’ relationship with dogs while magnifying the importance of white expats.

My second objection to this narrative is that even if these claims were true, linking this apparent cultural shift to “Westernization and development” is disturbing. The notion that Africans are developing the more they reflect Western ways of life and adopt Western cultures is at the very least a sign of Western cultural imperialism and it is not new.

For years, this is the same ideology that has been used to defend European colonialism and subsequent imperialist tendencies towards African nations. It is based on the belief that African development and cultural advancement should reflect white American and European culture.

This belief is, at its core, racist.

What frustrates me most, however, is the fact that the article references the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi and its aftermath to promote an unfounded narrative. Throughout the article, the genocide is continuously mentioned as the reason behind the alleged aversion of dogs in Rwanda.

The article uses this important part of Rwanda’s past as an easy way to push a poorly-sourced narrative. This may not sounds significant to an average non-Rwandan reader, but for many Rwandans, the psychological and spiritual wounds of the genocide are still fresh. Twenty-five years after the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, millions of Rwandans are still dealing with the effects of the genocide and many, including my family members, are still struggling with its psychological trauma.

Reading an article which uses the pain and loss of millions of Rwandans as a hook to promote a poorly sourced narrative about dogs in Rwanda was personally hurtful. It trivialized the countless lives of Rwandans who were massacred in the genocide and the trauma of genocide survivors.

This type of insensitive reporting is, unfortunately, not new. A good example is the 1994 New York Times article that covered the genocide against the Tutsi as it was happening. This article’s focus was on the safety of 2,850 Americans and Europeans in Rwanda, while hundreds of thousands of Rwandans were being killed on the ground.

To this day, there is still persistent careless and insensitive coverage of African issues in Western media mostly driven by ignorance and, sometimes, by racist assumptions. African stories deserve nuanced and thorough reporting. As Harvard students and future leaders, we must be conscious of our biases and seek to report accurately and fairly.

Failure to do so will produce insensitive, detrimental and, at times, racist narratives that affect the subjects of our reporting. Publications like the Harvard Political Review should be held to the same standard whether reporting African issues or Western ones.

—Bruce Gatete ‘20 is a Computer Science concentrator in Dunster House.

ARTS

The Harvard Crimson | November 22, 2019 | page 7

FILM

‘Frozen 2’ Is Well-Worth the Six Year Wait Kalos K. Chu CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Courtesy of Disney

I can’t remember seeing a bad Disney movie in the past several years. To some extent, they get some slack for being kids movies; “The Good Dinosaur,” “Big Hero 6,” and “Wreck-It Ralph” might not have been spectacular, but no one could seriously hate on them. As for the rest (think “Zootopia,” “Tangled,” “Moana,” “Coco”), they are almost universally loved, not only by kids. Whatever goes on at Disney Animation Studios seems to be working, because “Frozen 2” is yet another indomitable, enjoyable powerhouse of an animated movie, and joins the canon of Disney classics — and in some ways, redefines it.

We all knew this was coming. After “Frozen” (2013) won two Academy Awards; earned $1.26 billion in box office revenue; and spawned countless theme park rides, TV adaptations, and a Broadway musical, the only real question was why the sequel took so long to make. The sequel picks up three years after the original left off, but not much has changed for the gang — Anna (Kristen Bell) and Elsa (Idina Menzel) rule happily over the kingdom of Arendelle, Olaf (Josh Gad) pops in for a joke now and then, and Kristoff (Jonathan Groff ) navigates a particularly dicey marriage proposal. One day, Elsa begins hearing sounds (four of them, to be exact, that form a convenient leitmotif for the songwriters) and, in her attempts to find their origin, the gang dives into a mystical enchanted forest — home of elemental spirits, feuding tribes, and a surprising number of waterfalls — where they try to figure out how all this magic stuff works.

To be fair, the magic is pretty confusing. Yes, Elsa can freeze things and make astonishingly intricate dresses, but she can also summon ice memories, quell spirits, and enter glittery dream sequences. The movie never really explains how it works, but, honestly, it doesn’t matter, because it’s absolutely gorgeous. The animation is unparalleled — realistic when it needs to be (rain scenes that probably exist just for Disney to show off its photorealistic water droplets) and equally beautiful when it isn’t (take the forests and glaciers and castles with vibrant color palettes, which have been designed with the signature Disney creative flair). The songs make wonderful use of this animated form, with flairs and accents that, when overlayed with the music, create dazzling, energized sequences that just wouldn’t be possible in live action.

The music is exactly what you’d expect — another polished, catchy set of Disney standards.

There’s no “Let It Go”-level frontrunner, but there are plenty of opportunities for Menzel to show off her vocal range, as well as another bouncy existential exploration for Olaf, a surprisingly dark (the line “Hello darkness / I’m ready to succumb” ends the first verse) solo for Anna, and — the true gem of the soundtrack — a hilariously self-aware 1980s power ballad for Kristoff. Kristen

BOOKS

Anderson-Lopez (“Frozen,” “Coco”) and Robert Lopez (in addition, “Book of Mormon,” “Avenue Q”) reprise their roles as co-songwriters, and their knack for writing catchy melodies seems to have carried over to this film, along with some of the motifs from “Frozen.” The piano intro from “Do You Wanna Build A Snowman,” the opening “Vuelie” theme, as well as the four-note siren call expertly tie together the songs and score, creating a sonic cohesion that isn’t achieved in most movies, let alone children’s movies.

As amazing as the music and animation are (a standard that Disney almost always meets), what truly distinguishes “Frozen 2” is its story. If “Frozen” is the movie equivalent of the Tower of Terror ride (a few shake-ups here and there, probably a big drop at the end, but generally predictable), the sequel is Space Mountain (long patches of smooth coasting and huge, sudden suspense-building drops). There are colossal action set pieces where Elsa goes full Iron Man with her energy beams, along with incredibly solemn, tender moments. There are moments of glaring self-awareness (Olaf, in a game of charades, fully turns into Mickey Mouse) and humor, but there are also moments that fully indulge in spirits and magics and physics-defying grandeur. There’s no villain, not even one disguised as a love interest, and there isn’t a concrete, linear plot. That isn’t to say that good won’t triumph, that love and sisterhood won’t prevail. There are, however, plenty of moments of suspense, where even adult viewers can revel in some open-ended mystery.

And, in some ways, that’s the key to the appeal of the film (and Disney, in general) — you don’t have to be a kid to enjoy it. For the adults in the room, it’s not the same cookie-cutter hour-anda-half of predictable plotlines, unconvincing character development, and forced romances that they’re used to watching with their kids; it tries to be something else. It has humor that’s not just slapstick and fart jokes. It has moments of action and tension and giant ice walls that can’t help but elicit a “Damn, that’s cool.” Its characters grapple with grief, adulthood, colonialism, and reversemidlife crises. And while it’s no Scorcese or Spielberg, it’s something — something unabashedly fun.

It’s discouraging, in a way, how successful Disney has been. It seems unfair that a single company can have such a monopoly on animated movies, unfair that they can do no wrong. Yet one can’t help but enjoy this movie. It is emotional and funny, the animation is beautiful, and the music is spectacular. As much as I hate to say it — Disney, you’ve done it again.

Staff writer Kalos K. Chu can be reached at kalos.chu@thecrimson.com.

‘Wake, Siren’ Reads Like a Creative Writing Exercise Sara Komatsu CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Courtesy of Macmillan Publishing

With the forthcoming 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage in 2020, local Cambridge author Nina MacLaughlin’s “Wake, Siren” joins the influx of works focused on feminism and female empowerment. The novel, which is a collection of the various myths found in Ovid’s “Metamorphoses” but reanimated in the voices of the female characters, seeks to “recover what is lost when the stories of women are told and translated by men.” Wildly original and creative in concept, the stories are nuanced feminist takes on classic Greek mythology, but they unfortunately suffer from major structural confusions that make the collection as a whole incohesive and disorganized, detracting from the overall message and reading experience of the novel.

There is no doubt that “Wake, Siren” is original and gripping. Retellings of classic Greek mythology abound, but a female-narrated “Metamorphoses” is a refreshingly new take. The story doesn’t mince words — if readers are expecting a soft, resigned telling of the stories by these women, they’re not going to get it. The stories are graphic, explicit, and raw in a gripping and terrifying way that forcefully shows the abuse and violence against women in these age-old stories.

MacLaughlin’s take on these tales make glaringly obvious what the male handling of these stories missed — and it isn’t always pretty. Many of the stories in the book involve rape, and it is even more horrifying when pinpointed, drawn out, and placed next to each other in this collection. MacLaughlin gives these victims a voice by placing the focus of the story on them.

Structurally, the stories vary widely — each told in a different way. Formats vary between verse, normal firstperson narrative, therapy session transcription, and dialogue — one chapter even contains emails. The use of so many different structures helps give shape to the widely different cast of characters in the novel, but unfortunately, it makes the book rather chaotic and muddled. The variance is a very creative and original strategy — however, the

reader really gets the sense that this novel was no more than a creative exercise. In fact, MacLaughlin writes in the author’s note, “I thought it might be a good exercise…to rewrite the story [Callisto] in her voice,” in reference to the novel’s conception. Though it was a fruitful and ingenious endeavor, unfortunately, the book comes off as just “a good way to flex those writing muscles,” and not as a cohesive collection.

In her author’s note, MacLaughlin also writes, “Some of the figures called out with voices that seemed lodged in a time of gods, goddesses, nymphs, and satyrs; others seemed to speak in a language closer to our own time.” This too only confuses the overall cohesion of the novel. The flipping back and forth between the mystical, ancient time of Greek mythology and the modern world felt indecisive and made the book nearly incoherent and seemingly confused about its own contents. If the stories spoke to the author in the languages of different times, then perhaps, organizationally, the novel would have benefited from some sort of chronological order. Instead, MacLaughlin notes that she organized the stories in an “attempt to let the women’s voices be in better conversation with each other,” but unfortunately this venture fails.

Still, “Wake, Siren” is not a bad read by any means. It’s a truly entertaining, creative, original concept that does some important work by focusing on the female perspective in these classical, male dominated stories. Its raw language and bluntness brings attention to the horrifying female tales of “love, loss, rape, revenge, and change” that are often glossed over or lost in favor of the male story. Though chaotic and confusing, perhaps that is a side effect of pulling these threads from such a long and convoluted epic as Ovid’s “Metamorphoses.” Fans of Greek mythology will enjoy the familiar cast of characters and appreciate the way they are being represented in a new light, and the novel certainly has its place in the current political climate.

Sports

Weekly Recap

SCORES

Men’s Squash vs. MIT W, 8-1 ___________________________________________________________

woMen’s swimming vs. tufts w, 9-0 ___________________________________________________________

woMen’s ice hockey Vs. bu L, 6-2 ___________________________________________________________

men’s ice hockey Vs. yale W, 6-1 ___________________________________________________________

women’s basketball vs. rutgers L, 74-46 ___________________________________________________________

men’s soccer vs. penn L, 2-0 ___________________________________________________________

Women’s Rugby vs. Army w, 18-7 ___________________________________________________________

MEN’S AND WOMEN’S Swimming

Harvard Sets Pool Records in Weekend Victories

By Nicholas Daley Contributing Writer

­ arvard men’s and women’s H swimming and diving each bounced back from losses in their opening meet to defeat Dartmouth and Cornell this past Saturday on Dartmouth’s campus in Hanover, New Hampshire.

A week after opening its season with two losses to Duke and No. 7 Texas A&M, Harvard men’s swimming (2-2, 2-0 Ivy) topped the two Ivy League opponents in a performance that showed why the Crimson is the three-time defending Ivy League Champion. Harvard barely broke a sweat on its way to a 185-113 victory over the Big Red (2-1, 1-1 Ivy) and a 193-105 takedown of the Big Green (0-4, 0-2 Ivy), thanks in large part to a trio of record-setting performances.

First to rewrite the record books was Harvard’s 200 yard medley relay team of Freshman Will Grant, Senior Captain Daniel Chang, Sophomore Umitcan Gures, and Junior Mahlon Reihman, who touched the wall over 2 seconds ahead of the nearest opponent, tying the pool record of 1:30.47 set by another Harvard relay squad in 2016.

Grant and Gures then did some record breaking on their own. Grant gapped the field by almost 3 seconds in the 200 backstroke, posting a new venue record at 1:46.48. Gures broke the facility record en route to his victory in the 100 fly, stopping the clock at 48.17 and removing one record from the long list belonging to Harvard great Dean Farris.

Harvard captured victories in nine of the fourteen swimming events on the day. Freshman Marcus Holmquist won

RIDING POOL RECORDS TO VICTORIES The Crimson cruised Past Cornell and Dartmouth in its first Ivy League meet of the season timothy r. o’meara—Crimson photographer

the 200 freestyle, Grant picked up another first in the 100 back, as did Chang in the 100 breast.

Jared Simpson won the 200 breast, first-year Cole Kuster took the top spot in the 500 freestyle, and the Crimson finished the meet with a victory in the 400 free relay with a team of Kuster, Gures, Sophomore Ryan Linnihan, and Reihman.

The meet was a dominant and promising return to the winning column for the Crimson. After finishing 8th in the country last March at the NCAA championships, Harvard knew

this season would come with adjustments due to the loss of key seniors and the season-long absence of Farris: Harvard’s American Record-holder and National Champion who decided to take a year off to train for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

But Harvard, who has become somewhat of a national powerhouse in recent years, may have found a new star in Grant, who helped set a World Junior Record in the mixed 4x100 medley relay this summer and was named to the US Junior National Team in September.

On the women’s side, a week after falling to No. 17 Duke, Harvard (2-1, 2-0 Ivy) dominated Dartmouth and Cornell, winning by scores of 191-101 and 201-94, respectively.

The women also broke three pool records on the day. The first came in the 200 medley relay, in which the quartet of first-year Adaline Rose Bullock, Senior Mei Lynn Colby, Junior Kennidy Quist, and FirstYear Felicia Pasadyn finished in 1:43.13.

Pasadyn followed up her anchor leg by shattering the venue

record in the 200 butterfly with a 2:00.10, over a second faster than the previous best time and over two seconds faster than the 2nd-place finisher.

The defending Ivy League Champ wrapped up the meet with its final record in the 400 free relay.

Pasadyn once again was a part of it, taking the team out hard in the first leg before Senior Miki Dahlke, Colby, and Sophomore Samantha Shelton brought it home for a 3:24.71.

The women secured 8 additional victories in the meet.

Quist won the 200 freestyle in 1:50.23, the 50 free in 23.61, and the 200 breast in 2:20.07. Colby took the 100 back and the 100 free in times of 55.90 and 51.59, Shelton ran away with the 200 back, winning by almost four seconds, and Dahlke secured the 100 fly. Junior diver Georgina Milne won the 1-meter diving event, hitting the NCAA qualifying standard in the process.

The Crimson next hit the water on Friday at Columbia, where it looks to preserve its unbeaten record in the Ivies.

women’s Volleyball

Women’s Volleyball Drops Final Two Games of Season

By David Aley Contributing Writer

­ oing into its last weekend of G the season, Harvard had some big things to keep in mind: finish the final stretch of the season on a high note and help send off the seniors in the best way

possible.

And while the Crimson (518, 3-11 Ivy) failed to secure victories against fellow Ivy League opponents Cornell (175, 10-3 Ivy) on Friday and Columbia (12-12, 3-9 Ivy) on Saturday, the team fought hard until the end in each game, leaving

a silver lining for the season to come.

COLUMBIA 3, HARVARD 2

Harvard came into its Senior Day showdown against Columbia with a chip on its shoulder after falling to Columbia 3-0 on Oct. 11.

“There were a few key players on Columbia that we knew that we needed to slow down.

We did a great job of practicing that throughout the week and executing at game time,” said Fields.

“Going into the game, we were just focused on ending the

EMPTYING THE TANK The Crimson dropped its last two games of the season, but have shown glimpses of great play against Cornell and Columbia Amy sHI—Crimson photographer

season on a high note, fighting hard, and enjoying every minute of it.”

The Crimson dropped a hard-fought first set 27-25.

However, the team came back strong in the second and third sets, taking them over the Lions 26-24 and 25-16, respectively.

Mabry and senior Grace Roberts Burbank, who ended the night with 15 kills and a 0.389 hitting percentage, led the way on offense, while senior Sope Adeleye’s six blocks helped the stout Crimson defense.

“We have a saying, ‘E.T.T’ which means ‘Empty the Tank’.

We say it during a long practice or a tough game. Emptying the tank means leaving everything that you have on the court for your teammates. It means pushing yourself harder than you think you can,” said Fields.

“We just reminded each other that that game was the last chance we had this season to empty the tank. I was so proud of the whole team because we did just that.”

Despite the hole they dug themselves into, Columbia fought back hard against Harvard in the fourth set, taking it by a score of 25-20.

It was a back-and-forth set for both teams, but Columbia eventually shut the door with seven straight points. In the final set of the season, Columbia again secured the set with a score of 16-14 to close out the match.

But even with a defeat in the final game of their careers, the Crimson seniors could sense a bright future ahead for the team.

“It felt very special for all four of us seniors. Given that it was our last Harvard volleyball game, I think all of our emotions were very high. But we just wanted to leave it all out on the court,” said Fields.

“Even though it didn’t go our way in the end, I was so proud of how the whole team fought.

It is still surreal to me that I’ve played my last game as part of the Crimson. I’m just grateful for all the memories and relationships that I’ve made. I’ve been so lucky to grow as a player and an individual in a program with great coaches and teammates, and I’m excited to watch the younger players continue to grow, too.”

CORNELL 3, HARVARD 0

Harvard started out with a bang, trading blows with Cornell in the first set until the score was tied at 13. At this point, the Crimson began to turn it up, rattling out a 4-1 scoring run on its way to forcing a Cornell timeout.

Senior Maclaine Fields cited the team’s preparation as a key to their successes in the game.

“We always have a specific game plan… our coaches spent a lot of time scouting [Cornell], and then we went over the key takeaways and watched film as a team,” said Fields. “We always have to be ready to adjust, because we never know exactly what the other team is going to show us.”

After Harvard’s initial hot streak in the first set, however, the Big Red began to take over.

Answering with a scoring run of its own, Cornell fought its way to the first set, 25-23.

In the second and third sets, Cornell continued to surmount a lead over the Crimson, taking the second by a score of 25-19 and securing the third and final set, 25-15.

Led by Fields’ four total blocks and junior Mindie Mabry’s eight kills on the night, the team still found some areas to improve in despite the loss.

“We always expect Ivy League matches to be close ones,” said Fields. “We know that we are going to have to fight for every point. We just embraced that and trusted our training. The tight games are always the most fun, anyway.”