The Harvard Crimson - Volume CXLVI, No. 138

The Harvard Crimson The University Daily, Est. 1873 | Volume cxlvi, No. 138 | Cambridge, Massachusetts | monday, december 9, 2019

editorial PAGE 4

news PAGE 3

sports PAGE 6

Harvard needs to confront its former ties with slavery

Harvard Law Professor David L. Shapiro ’54 dies at 87

Harvard men’s basketball defeats Massachusetts

Bacow Affirms Divest Position

By Alexandra A. Chaidez and aidan f. ryan Crimson Staff Writers

Following a demonstration that interrupted the 136th iteration of The Game, University President Lawrence S. Bacow said in an interview last week that he “respects” the right to protest but opposes activists’ decision to disrupt the game.

Bacow’s comments come after years of protests by Divest Harvard, a student group calling on the University to divest from investments in fossil fuel companies. The November demonstration, however, was an escalation of its previous efforts.

Hundreds of protestors calling on both Harvard and Yale to divest their endowments from fossil fuels and Puerto Rican debt stormed the field during halftime at the Harvard-Yale football game. Fifty people, including 10 Harvard students and alumni and at least 19 Yale students and alumni, were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct.

A Connecticut judge gave the arrested Harvard affiliates five hours of community service. They are also required to return to court on Jan. 27 and commit no additional offenses before their meeting.

“Look, I respect people who choose to express themselves. I ­

respect their right to voice their opinion,” Bacow said. “I would have preferred if they had not disrupted the game. But that was not my decision.”

Bacow said Friday that he was not in contact with any of the Harvard affiliates arrested and charged at the Game.

With regards to divestment, Bacow said though he appreciates protestors’ passion, he still stands by the University’s position on this issue.

“We’ve had a number of protests about this. As I said, I respect the right of people to express themselves,” Bacow said.

“I share their belief that action is required. We just happen to have an honest difference of opinion over what the appropriate action is.”

Bacow and former University presidents have long stood in opposition to divestment, urging that the endowment should not be used for political means.

In a September letter published in Harvard Magazine, Bacow wrote that he believes working with fossil fuel companies is a “sounder and more effective approach” for Harvard to take.

“We may differ on means,” Bacow wrote in the letter. “But I believe we seek the same ends—a decarbonized future in which life on Earth can flourish

See bacow Page 3

Activists Rally For Divestment in Yard By alexandra a. chaidez Crimson Staff Writer

Divest Harvard — a student organization calling for the University to sell its investments in the fossil fuel industry — hosted a rally to push for fossil fuel divestment in coordination with picketers from Harvard’s graduate student union.

Harvard Graduate Student Union-United Automobile Workers began its strike Tuesday after months of negotiations between the union and the University. Throughout the week, strikers invited various campus activist groups to join them on the picket line.

Organizers connected the fossil fuel divestment and labor movements at the rally, urging administrators to divest from the fossil fuel industry and negotiate a fair contract.

“When Harvard makes superficial claims to support climate and workers’ rights and then acts in ways that directly goes against those interests, our university needs to know that we will not be complicit,” Divest Harvard organizer Maya H. Levine ’21 said to those congregated at the rally.

Levine reiterated Divest Harvard’s demands that the University disclose its holdings and divest its endowment from fossil fuel companies by Earth Day 2020.

University spokesperson Jason A. Newton wrote in an email that while the Universi­

On Friday, Divest Harvard joined the members of Harvard Graduate Students Union-United Automobile Workers in their fourth day of striking. kai r. mcnamee—Crimson photographer

ty and divestment activists both agree on the “urgency” of climate change, they disagree on the methods of combating the phenomenon.

“Universities like Harvard have a crucial role to play in tackling climate change and Harvard is fully committed to leadership in this area through research, education, commu-

nity engagement, dramatically reducing its own carbon footprint, and using our campus as a test bed for piloting and proving solutions,” Newton wrote.

The rally came two weeks after hundreds of divestment protesters stormed the field during halftime at the Harvard-Yale football game. On Friday, just before the rally, a Connecticut

judge gave ten of the arrested Harvard affiliates five hours of community service.

At the same time Divest Harvard was rallying in the Yard, activists across the country were leading marches to demand action from government leaders to solve the issue of

See divest Page 3

Protesters Receive Museum Community Service Honors Opioid Victims By michelle g. kurilla Crimson Staff Writer

NEW HAVEN, CONN. — A Connecticut judge gave ten Harvard students and alumni community service and asked them to later return to court at a hearing Friday, several weeks after they were arrested for interrupting the Harvard-Yale football game to hold a divestment protest.

Under the agreement, the protesters are required to complete five hours of community service before their Jan. 27 court date in New Haven, Conn. and commit no additional offenses between now and then.

Jan. 27 is the first day of spring semester classes for Harvard College students.

At least 19 Yale students and alumni also appeared in court ­

Harvard Holidays

With the holiday season approaching, Harvard Square has embraced the holiday spirit with wreaths and lights. kathryn s. kuhar—Crimson photographer

Friday and were given the same conditions.

All of the arrested protesters in the courtroom said that they agreed to the terms. If the protesters complete them, the charges will be dismissed, Judge Phillip Scarpellino said.

One Harvard alumnus did not appear in court.

Scarpellino strongly recommended that students do their community service with Project Green Thumb, an alternative to paying fines for some offenses in New Haven. The project helps clean up New Haven Green, a public space in the center of the city. They are not required, however, to serve locally.

Ahead of the appearance,

See court Page 5

New College Title IX Coordinator to Focus on Accessibility By simone c. chu and iris m. lewis Crimson Staff Writers

Harvard College Title IX coordinator Erin Clark, who stepped into her new role Oct. 2, has spent her first two months on the job focused on making Title IX resources more accessible to the University’s undergraduates.

Clark shares the College Title IX coordinator position with Brian Libby, who came to Harvard in 2016. She replaced Emily Miller, who spent nearly six years in the role before stepping down earlier this semester.

Clark came to Harvard with more than ten years of experience in anti-sexual violence work. Since working as a student activist in college, she has held positions in the Chicago public school system and at Northwestern University.

She said that her past work allowed her to focus on policies and procedures, often in awareness-raising capacities. In the past, her work has centered ­

Inside this issue

Harvard Today 2

around supporting BGLTQ sexual violence survivors and promoting healthy sexual education.

Harvard has more than 50 Title IX coordinators, each of whom serve specific schools across the University. The Title IX coordinators respond to disclosures of sexual and gender-based harassment — separately from the formal complaint process — and help make students aware of Title IX resources and ways to report potential violations. Title IX coordinators are also responsible for helping train staff in Title IX procedures, in collaboration with the University’s other Title IX administrators.

At Harvard, Clark’s role focuses on Title IX more directly than her previous positions. She said that her new position will involve fewer late nights — and that she hopes to maintain the emphasis on group trainings and student outreach that she is familiar with from other jobs.

See title ix Page 5

News 3

Editorial 4

Erin Clark became the Title IX Coordinator for Harvard College in October. Previously, she held positions at Chicago Public Schools and Northwestern University. pei chao zhuo—Crimson photographer

Sports 7

Today’s Forecast

rainy High: 55 Low: 53

By jonah s. berger and juliet e. isselbacher Crimson Staff Writers

More than 30 students, faculty, and members of the public gathered at Harvard’s Arthur M. Sackler Museum Friday to commemorate a new art installation honoring those affected by the opioid epidemic.

Three students in the History of Art and Architecture department created the installation, entitled “Remember Their Names,” as part of their final project for a departmental junior tutorial course. The students and their peers lined the building’s main staircase; each step bore the names of local victims or survivors of opioid abuse. “‘Remember Their Names’ hopes to disrupt the overwhelming presence of the Sackler family within the building and invites the voices and perspectives of the people the Sacklers harmed the most,” according to the artists’ statement.

Kaitlin Hao ’21 — who spearheaded the project along with Wendy Yu ’21 and Samantha J. Meade ’21 — said their most immediate goal is to marshal support and funds to install a marble memorial plaque for victims in the lobby of the museum.

“In solemnity we record the complexity of the Sackler Legacy,” reads the mock-up of the plaque display at the Friday event. “We mourn and honour the voices silenced by the opioid epidemic.”

University President Lawrence S. Bacow has refused to take down the Sackler name from the museum or return donations from the family, calling such a move “inappropriate” in an interview Friday.

The organizers of Friday’s event called on the History of Art and Architecture ­

See sackler Page 5

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pancakes

THE HARVARD CRIMSON |

December 9, 2019

Page 2

Harvard Today

For Lunch Popcorn Chicken Tomato Beef Macaroni Tofu Scramble

For Dinner Beef Stew Shrimp with Fettucini Seitan Pepper Sizzle

Today’s Events HGSU Strike Solidarity Concert Memorial Church, 11:30 a.m.

in The Real World

If you want to support the striking graduate union or learn more about what’s going on, head to Memorial Church at lunchtime today! This event will feature speakers and music, including a performance from Esperanza Spalding!

FBI to Investigate Shooting at Pensacola as Terrorism As FBI officials work to determine whether the shooter acted alone or as “part of a larger network” during shooting at Naval Air Station Pensacola on Dec. 6, they are treating it as an act of terrorism.

According to FBI officials, treating an event as an act of terrorism allows investigators to use more investigatory tools. Three people were killed and eight were wounded in the attack.

Bathsheba Demuth at Harvard Book Store Harvard Book Store, 7-8 p.m.

Environmental historian Bathsheba Demuth will be discussing her book, “Floating Coast,” the first-ever comprehensive history of the Arctic Beringia region. Drawing on her experiences from living in the region, she examines how social, political, and environmental spheres intersect in the region. She will be joined by poet Joan Naviyuk Kane.

Warren’s Compensation for Legal Work Comes Under Fire As the semester winds to a close, the sun sets over a graveyard in Cambridge, MA. Kathryn s. kuhar—Crimson photographer

Daily Briefing Following a demonstration that interrupted the 136th iteration of The Game, University President Lawrence S. Bacow said in an interview last week that he “respects” the right to protest but opposes activists’ decision to disrupt the game. Bacow’s comments come after years of protests by Divest Harvard, a student group calling on the University to divest from investments in fossil fuel companies. The November demonstration, however, was an escalation of its previous efforts. In other news, Divest Harvard — a student organization calling for the University to sell its investments in the fossil fuel industry — hosted a rally to push for fossil fuel divestment in coordination with picketers from Harvard’s graduate student union.

Democratic Presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren received nearly $2 million in compensation for providing consulting and legal work in the past three decades. This previously undisclosed compensation came to light after Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Ind., called for Warren to release tax returns documenting her legal consulting work over the years.

Around the Ivies PRINCETON A Princeton graduate who was held in Iran for alleged espionage for more than three years was released early Saturday morning, according to the Daily Princetonian. Xiyue Wang was detained and sentenced to ten years in an Iranian prison in 2016.

He was in the country to conduct history research.

The Swiss government helped mediate his release, and the U.S. Ambassador to Switzerland presented Wang with an American flag upon his return. Wang was released as part of a prisoner swap: In return, the U.S. freed an Iranian scientist who was arrested for attempting to transport biological material to Iran.

YALE

The Yale School of Management recently received the largest donation in the school’s history, according to the Yale Daily News. The donation — $100 million from the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation — will fund research programs on the U.S. public school system through the establishment of The Broad Center at Yale SOM. As a nonprofit that recruits and trains educators, the center has operated out of Los Angeles for the last 20 years. Part of the donation will be allocated towards relocating the Broad Center from L.A. to Yale. The money will also fund a tuition-free masters program for future educators.

columbia

Columbia University recently created the world’s first scholarship for refugees and students seeking asylum, according to the Columbia Daily Spectator.

The scholarship — entitled the Columbia University Scholarship for Displaced Students — grants 30 scholarships annually to students across Columbia’s 18 schools. The initiative has its roots in a 2016 project designed to help Syrian war refugees; since then, the program has switched up its leadership and expanded its reach. The current iteration of the scholarship will award $6 million annually to up to three students from each of Columbia’s schools.

THE UNIVERSITY DAILY, EST. 1873

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Corrections The Dec. 6 article “Delivery Blockages Lead to Delays” incorrectly stated Alexis Turner is a Ph.D. student in Physics, not History of Science.

PAGE 3

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | DECEMBER 9, 2019

Law School’s Shapiro Dies at 87 A fter Kannon K. Shanmugam lost a case in front of the Supreme Court 9-0, he was feeling down until he opened his email from David L. Shapiro ’54, his former law school professor.

“I got to the office and opened my email,” Shanmugam said. “There was a message from Professor Shapiro, and the message said ‘Sorry to read about your loss, but the best lawyers get the toughest cases.’”

Shapiro — who Shanmugam described as “warm, pithy, and wise” — was a professor at Harvard Law School for four decades and served as Deputy Solicitor General under George H.W. Bush’s Department of Justice. He died Nov. 19 at age 87.

He is survived by his wife, Jane Shapiro, and a granddaughter, Ava Friedlander.

Shapiro joined the faculty at Harvard Law School in 1963 after briefly working at Covington & Burling LLP and clerking for Supreme Court Justice John M. Harlan. He took a leave of absence from the Law School to serve as Deputy Solicitor General from 1988 to 1991, and he retired in 2006.

Shapiro authored a number of books, including co-authoring numerous editions of Hart

and Wechsler’s “The Federal Courts and the Federal System.”

Law School Dean John F. Manning ’82 wrote in an email that Shapiro was the heart and soul of “The Federal Courts and the Federal System.”

“He really shaped the field of federal courts,” Manning wrote. “David was able to bring out the complexity and nuance of the law for judges, scholars, and practitioners, and he always did so with clarity and insight.”

Manning described Shapiro as a passionate teacher who produced impactful legal scholarship.

“In a way, David was a classic adherent to the Legal Process approach,” Manning wrote. “He believed deeply in law and also believed that it should be interpreted and understood, where possible, to be reasonable, to make sense.”

Law School Professor Richard H. Fallon, Jr., called Shapiro a “magnificent teacher” who would push Fallon to give concrete examples to prove legal theories.

“It was always my disposition to have some large theory, some large generalization, and I can just hear David saying to me again and again and again, ‘Give me a case, give me a case,’” Fallon said. “His insistence that if I have some large theory or

BACOW FROM PAGE 1

DIVEST FROM PAGE 1

By CAMILLE G. CALDERA and MICHELLE G. KURILLA CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS ­

some open-ended question I had to bring it down to earth by providing him with a case is something that has stuck with me for the rest of my career in terms of both my teaching, and

He was really somebody who had an incredible zest for life.

Kannon K. Shamugam Former Student of David L. Shapiro ‘54

my writing.”

Law School Professor Mark V. Tushnet ’67, Shapiro’s successor as the William Nelson Cromwell Professor, wrote in an email that he always enjoyed working with Shapiro.

“I found him to have an appropriately cynical/amused view of faculty politics,” Tushnet wrote. “I always enjoyed my interactions with him, and regret that they won’t continue.”

Multiple colleagues and former students said Shapiro was known for employing humor to uplift those around him.

“He loved to laugh,” Fallon said. “There was a kind of indomitable insistence on maintaining good natured humorous front for others even when he personally was undergoing

enormous hardships.”

University of California, Berkeley, Law Professor Amanda L. Tyler — Shapiro’s former student, advisee, teaching assistant, and co-author — recalled how Shapiro opened every course with movie reviews that were “laugh-out-loud funny.”

“If the whole brilliant law professor thing hadn’t worked out, he could have done standup comedy and he would have been huge,” she said.

Shanmugam, the former student of Shapiro, also recalled memories of Shapiro’s love for humor and interacting with students. He added that Shapiro served as his role model.

“He was really somebody who had an incredible zest for life,” said Shanmugam.

Tyler said she decided to become a law professor while in Shapiro’s class her first semester of law school.

“He was just masterful in the classroom: brilliant but also humble, and funny, and he made the subject just come alive,” she said. “The way that he managed the classroom made the entire process of learning the law so fun and really exhilarating. It convinced me right then and there, this is what I wanted to do.” camille.caldera@thecrimson.com michelle.kurilla@thecrimson.com

Bacow Divest Activists and HGSU Says He Call for Fossil Fuel Divestment ‘Respects’ Protesters for ages to come.”

Divest Harvard declined to comment for this story.

At a Faculty of Arts and Sciences meeting Tuesday, several faculty members also spoke in favor of divestment.

Senior Harvard Corporation Fellow William F. Lee ’72 attended the meeting and assured the faculty that he wanted to hear their opinions about divestment.

In Friday’s interview, Bacow said the Corporation — the University’s highest governing body — was “listening carefully” to the faculty’s sentiments but maintained that divestment was not the best option for the University.

“Our job is to listen broadly,” Bacow said.

“But in the end, our job, as a corporation, as fiduciaries for the University, is to act in what we believe are the best longterm interests of the University.”

Most recently, Divest Harvard and others participated in a nationwide climate strike Friday, rallying alongside Harvard’s graduate student union picketers who are striking amid contract negotiations with the University. alexandra.chaidez@thecrimson.com aidan.ryan@thecrimson.com

Divest Protestors gathered at University Hall on Friday in conjunction with the HGSU strike. KAI R. MCNAMEE— CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

climate change.

“Today, while world leaders gather at the United Nations’ annual climate conference, we are gathered on this campus to demand that Harvard disclose, divest, and reinvest by Earth Day 2020,” Levine said.

Other activist groups on campus also attended the rally Friday. Members of the Harvard Prison Divestment Campaign — a group calling for Harvard to divest its endowment from companies tied to the prison industry — and the Ethnic Studies Coalition — a group of students protesting Romance Languages and Literatures associate professor Lorgia García Peña’s tenure denial — spoke at the rally ­

to advocate for their respective causes and lend their support to the graduate student union.

“We have stood with the strike and the strike has stood with us for the past five days,” Rosa L. Vazquez ’20, a member of the Ethnic Studies Coalition, said in a speech at the rally. “We stand in complete solidarity.”

Ethnic studies advocates occupied University Hall for 48 minutes Monday to protest Harvard’s decision to deny García Peña’s tenure and call for the creation of an Ethnic Studies department.

In addition, a protestor stood silently inside the Faculty of Arts and Sciences meeting Tuesday while students demon-

strated outside in protest.

In speeches, prison divestment organizers also connected their work to the graduate student union.

“HPDC stands with the Harvard graduate students union and your fight for a fair contract and for justice and respect for all workers and all people,” Zoe L. Hopkins ’22, an HPDC member, said at the rally.

“We are calling for jobs, not jails,” Hopkins added.

“We believe in an abolitionist future in which fair pay, affordable healthcare, and protection from discrimination and sexual harassment are foundational.”

HUHS Director to Push Accessibility

By MICHELLE G. KURILLA CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Harvard University Health Services Director Giang T. Nguyen, who took office last month, plans to establish relationships with underrepresented groups on campus during his tenure.

Nguyen is the first person of color to lead HUHS and took office Nov. 18. He previously served as the director of Student Health Services at the University of Pennsylvania.

Nguyen has studied and worked with minority populations including people of color, immigrants, and people who identify as BGLTQ. Prior to directing Student Health Services, he taught at the University of Pennsylvania as an assistant professor. ­

Doing that I think has helped me to recognize how important it is, for those of us in medicine, to step out of our ivory towers of our hospitals and our clinics and connect with communities that we serve so we can understand their lives.

Giang T. Nguyen HUHS Director

At Harvard, Nguyen said he wants to connect with the University’s campus, just as he has done in the past at the University of Pennsylvania.

“My first goal is simply to learn who everyone is,” Nguyen said. “My community now is this campus. I need to learn who the stakeholders are.”

“I spent a lot of time just going out there and trying to give back to communities going to free clinics, giving free vacci-

nations, going to health fairs, teaching communities about how to stay healthy in their own language,” Nguyen said.

Nguyen said he built an interest in equity based on his expe-

My first goal is simply to learn who everyone is.

Giang T. Nguyen HUHS Director

riences as a South Vietnamese refugee who came to America during the Vietnam War. He said he saw the impact of health disparities on minority populations as well as on his own family, helping him to recognize challenges to language access as well as discrimination in health care.

“I think that work over time gave me a lot of insight and experience that helped me in my future work — particularly as medical director,” Nguyen said.

“I’ve been very interested in health equity for a long time.”

Nguyen said he believes it is particularly important for medical researchers to forge lasting relationships with minority populations in order to understand their experiences.

“Doing that I think has helped me to recognize how important it is, for those of us in medicine, to step out of our ivory towers of our hospitals and our clinics and connect with communities that we serve so we can understand their lives,” he said.

Nguyen said the perspective he gained from working firsthand with the underserved will guide his leadership at HUHS. For example, he wants to improve the reach of the HUHS health survey, which will be released in the spring of 2020.

“I want to make sure that students from minority populations and from different backgrounds, sexual minorities, and so on are participating at high levels so that we can understand their unique perspectives as well,” Nguyen said. michelle.kurilla@thecrimson.com

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THE HARVARD CRIMSON | DECEMBER 9, 2019

PAGE 4

EDITORIAL THE CRIMSON EDITORIAL BOARD

OP-ED

Harvard, Acknowledge and Address Your History

The Paradox of Veritas

L

By ASHER J. NOEL

ast month, University President Lawrence S. Bacow announced a new $5 million initiative to continue investigating Harvard’s ties to slavery. The program, headed by a committee led by Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study Dean Tomiko BrownNagin, proposes to specifically research Harvard’s relationship to the slave trade and abolition movements, working in close coordination with the University’s museum and library systems.

In light of past events that highlighted Harvard’s history with slavery such as the case demanding that Harvard returns daguerreotypes of slaves to a woman who says they depict ancestor case, the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda’s call for reparations from the University, Bacow’s inappropriate comment referencing the 13th Amendment, and the controversy over Harvard Law School’s former seal, we believe that a programmatic understanding and acknowledgment of its ties to slavery is long past due. We hope that this committee does more than simply rehash the extensive research that has been done by others in the past, such as the History Department’s course on slavery at Harvard, Pusey Library’s exhibit on slavery, or Radcliffe’s conference addressing the historical role of slavery at universities more broadly.

Rather, we urge the committee to use the large sum of money it has been endowed with to provide more actionable ways of addressing this issue to campus currently, and in grappling with the enduring legacy of slavery that continues

to affect students and other Harvard affiliates today. It is easy for research to be confined within academia and technical dialogues, but we believe that Harvard must do more.

It’s convenient that this comes at a time when the University has received a growing amount of flack in regard to its outward-facing relationship with slavery. We accept that committees play an important role in structural, institutional changes by providing a knowledge basis on a given area as a first step to more systemic measures. But this faculty committee must not stall at this first step. We hope that this action inspires meaningful, systemic change, and is more than just buffing Harvard’s reputation or another line of the committee members’ CVs. In recognizing the enduring impact of slavery on the University and its affiliates, Harvard needs to provide actionable steps toward addressing the wrongdoings of the past and the ways in which the University continues to benefit from that historical legacy. Founded in 1636, Harvard’s beginnings are directly tied to approximately 150 years of slavery in the United States. Many early donations to the University originated in the slave economy; enslaved people worked on Harvard’s campus for professors and students; Harvard scholars promoting ideas of scientific racism, such as Louis Agassiz, helped further legitimize slavery in the United States more broadly.

In addressing the effect of these histories, Harvard must start by acknowledging the role slavery played in build-

ing the University into the world-renowned institution it is today. This issue parallels a lot of currently ongoing conversations about reparations and Universities, such as the creation of reparations funds by Princeton Theological Seminary and Virginia Theological Seminary. Harvard should consider the different forms that such reparative action can take. Some schools have opted to take the reparations route, but Harvard can take another. Regardless, we hope that the committee will not only devote itself to scholastic efforts but also seriously consider actionable steps that not only acknowledge but address its longstanding history with one of the most disgraceful chapters in our history.

Reparations is but one potential course in pursuit of that broader goal.

Ultimately, while we are hopeful at the prospect of this new committee, we cannot help but note its creation in the wake of the many recent incidents involving the University and its history with slavery. This is unacceptable at an institution which so often stands behind its motto of “veritas” and truth-seeking.

In the future, we expect Harvard to lead rather than respond to backlash.

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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The Crimson @thecrimson COLUMN

America’s Political Divisions Have More To Do With Fox Than Fake News William A. McConnell TABLE TALK

A

mong the many possible explanations for the outcome of the 2016 election, one statistic is particularly eye-catching.

It comes from a 2017 study of cable news bias, which reveals that for every ten minutes of weekly Fox News viewership in a particular region, Republican vote share increases 1.2 percent. In an election that turned on three swing states — Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan — where Donald Trump won by a margin of less than one percent, this suggests that one way we could have avoided Trump’s presidency would have been to reduce Fox News consumption in just three states by a mere ten minutes per week.

I’m not a well-versed historian of propaganda, but I think it’s obvious to recognize what Fox News has done as a breakthrough in the field. Other studies have added to the “news” network’s impressive accolades.

One attributes George W. Bush’s victory in 2000 in part to the rollout of Fox News over the previous four years.

Another indicates the mild effect Fox News can have on policy decisions. Some journalists have pointed out the frequency with which Trump’s political rants on Twitter are preceded by similar programming on Fox. The existence and efficacy of Fox News is just one aspect of today’s informational ecosystem that has been called out for its effect on political and social divides.

Particular attention is often given to the role of new technologies and social media. Fake or false news, whether generated by foreign political meddlers or profit-seeking Macedonian teenagers, has proliferated on the social media sites that now serve as a primary news source for most Americans. Social media algorithms also induce echo chamber-like information loops that exacerbate social and political divides.

Understanding the problematic aspects of social media for our informational ecosystem is important and has prompted serious reflection on possible

solutions.

Greater fact-checking by social media platforms like Facebook, reducing the performative nature of social media posting, regulating Twitter bots, and less anonymity on online social spaces are a handful of the numerous productive ideas circulating that will help keep the influences of the new social media landscape in check.

But if we are to really learn from the mistakes of our past, we should look more closely at the example that has been set by Fox News.

As a cable television network in an age where kids learn how to create Instagram accounts before they learn how to change TV channels, Fox News is a thorn in the side of the narrative that social media destroys journalistic integrity.

As a cable television network in an age where kids learn how to create Instagram accounts before they learn how to change TV channels, Fox News is a thorn in the side of the narrative that social media destroys journalistic integrity.

Unlike social media, the narrative of Fox News is not new. Partisanship has always been a feature of journalism, an unavoidable consequence of human psychology. From the Sedition Acts of our Founders’ time, to the sensationalist “yellow journalism” of the late 19th century, to the Rush Limbaugh radio program of 30 years ago, the history of American journalism is rife with instances of Fox News-like bias.

So we should not panic in the face of Fox News and the partisan journalism it embodies. There are even many reasons — from its dying viewer cohort to shifting demographics in the U.S. overall — to believe it is a problem that will resolve itself over time even without the

active and creative resistance to it that it deserves.

Nevertheless we can gain valuable insights from understanding the success of the Fox News phenomenon today. First, Fox News exploits differences in the less educated and the working class.

Fox News’ largest demographic difference in comparison with other cable news channels is its reach among the less educated.

Thirty-five percent of its viewers in 2018 had a high school diploma or less, compared to 23 percent for its closest liberal analog, MSNBC. Its second largest gap is among blue collar workers, at 24 percent compared to 14 percent. We need an economic system that people feel included in enough to not be searching for someone to blame, and an education system that can prepare people to not be duped by a TV network’s facile narrative of who’s to blame.

Second, Fox News preys on the worst parts of the left today. The criticisms of liberal elitism and college snowflakes are, if dramatic, at the very least grounded in reality.

If the left wants to bemoan today’s divisiveness without budging from its ideologies, it can at least be more proactive about controlling the narratives around it. Fox News and others will continue to milk the narrative of the liberal elite, but we can make it less credible if we start behaving with more tact.

This doesn’t mean caving on issues we care about as much as it means acknowledging that politics isn’t about just being right.

Among the many things that Fox News is, it is a model for understanding how partisan journalism functions. In the tameness of the solutions it invites — time and social reform, rather than resistance to technology or an overhaul of free speech — it is also a reason to think that the American democracy is not as doomed as current dialogue would have us believe.

—William A. McConnell ’21 is a Mathematics concentrator in Adams House. His column appears on alternate Mondays.

L

ast spring, I committed to Harvard primarily for one reason: I believed in its motto, “Veritas.” Even if truth had the potential to be, in the words of Joseph Conrad, a “commingling of desire and hate,” I subscribed to the idea it should still be held in the highest regard.

Naively, I thought that the exploration and advancement of truth would shape the goals of the Harvard community. After all, Harvard’s motto does not attempt to sugarcoat reality: There is no “lux” in front of “veritas” to suggest that the irrefutable is bright or positive. There is just Truth.

And that stands on its own.

But the truth is that the average modern Harvard student is driven by an entirely different desire: that for power. It is why over 100 undergraduates rushed to line up for first-round interviews with the Harvard Undergraduate Consulting on Business and the Environment Group this past September, many of whom were freshmen without any previous interest in consulting. It is why 49 percent of the Class of 2019 entered the workforce in either the financial services, technology, or consulting industries and only 7 percent decided to pursue academia or research. Rather than dedicate one’s life to the advancement of truth, it is far more likely that a Harvard College graduate pursues the visible markers of power: wealth, status, and prestige.

Yet this alone is not a novel observation. Students have been struggling with Harvard’s true identity for decades. The problem is that the divergence in what that Harvard preaches, truth, and what it actually imparts to students, power, has never been more accentuated than it is today — and this negatively impacts students by obfuscating their identities.

For individuals at Harvard, part of the craving for power that students develop is a result of the increasing ubiquity and inescapability of societal hierarchies. Instagram, LinkedIn, and Punch. lol intensify Harvard’s already stratified social and professional ladders. The Harvard seal itself, which the rise of college rankings has imbued with a connotation of prestige, constantly reminds students of their place in society’s hierarchies. Woefully unaware, and forever unfulfilled, we only lust after ever more power.

At an institutional level, Harvard further invalidates veritas by prioritizing the accumulation and conferment of power over truth. On the one hand, Dean of the College Rakesh Khurana claimed that Harvard chooses “Veritas, honor, and inclusion” as its values. On the other, the College’s legacy preferences retain elite power by demarcating applicants on the basis of privilege — not merit — and the Office of Career Services promotes a culture where the post-graduate opportunities surpass intellectual exploration in importance, all in addition to “transformative experience” becoming a meme more broadly.

It is no surprise that the Business and Technology Career Fair, which represents industries that will attract half of what was originally the most diverse class in Harvard’s history, occurred just three days before the fall course registration deadline. Over the course of the fall semester, Harvard put on eleven career fairs. Comparatively, the University of Pennsylvania hosted eight; the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, three; and Princeton University, two. As freshmen, my friends and I interpreted this inundation of pre-professional events as the OCS saying, “Welcome to Harvard! …Now, make us proud; get a job!”

Harvard further invalidates veritas by prioritizing the accumulation and conferment of power over truth.

Yet there is nothing inherently wrong with pre-professionalism or, similarly, selling out. To some, these opportunities represent a pathway to realize the American Dream. But to many, these career choices are compelled mainly by an inherited and unquestioned worldview that places a high value on power. A student may choose this for themselves, but they should not be herded into doing so by their educational institution. Rather, it is the role of the University, especially ours, which singularly worships veritas, to aid students in the development of their identities.

The University should help students distinguish the self from the community, evaluate oneself honestly, and select central values with which to color life. In this regard, Harvard fails — miserably.

Paradoxically, for Harvard to be truthful, it would have to recognize reality: Power supersedes veritas in importance on campus. While Harvard could do this by updating its motto, an honest concession about its values would sully Harvard’s reputation.

More calamitously, this would then impair the ability of students to leverage the Harvard brand to attain the power that they desire. With such apparent costs, Harvard is stuck untruthfully claiming that its motto is veritas, when, in reality, its central value is power.

As a result, the onus is on us, the students, to come to terms with the paradox of our university.

Faced with this contradiction, we must be aware, yet skeptical, of the forces driving the behavior of our classmates and the institution that we inhabit. We must be cautious, yet understanding, of the values that the Harvard bubble attempts to instill in us. That way, instead of being blindly influenced by our environment, we can cultivate identities decoupled from conformity and clarity free from falsity.

While we as individuals possess the agency to consciously adopt power as our own, we need not be ignorant of the implicit forces coercing us to do so. We need not be fooled by the paradox of veritas.

—Asher J. Noel ’23 lives in Straus Hall.

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THE HARVARD CRIMSON | DECEMBER 9, 2019

SACKLER FROM PAGE 1

Museum Honors Victims to “lobby to the fullest extent” to change the building’s name and publicly rebuke Bacow’s stance on the issue.

But they said that even absent such a change — which Hao acknowledged might prove legally unrealistic — featuring the epidemic’s victims in the space was a worthwhile step forward.

“We have the right to be able to have names and families and loved ones that have been affected being remembered,” Meade said.

Harvard Art Museum spokesperson Daron J. Manoogian declined to comment on the event. Members of the Sackler family have served as executives at Purdue Pharma, the pharmaceutical company that produces the painkiller OxyContin, and have been accused of contributing to the opioid crisis.

Arthur M. Sackler — who donated millions to Harvard in the 1980s to fund the museum’s construction — died before OxyContin came to market. But many activists nonetheless contend that he helped develop marketing tactics that

Purdue would later use to sell OxyContin.

“This building is a monument to Arthur Sackler, a man who bears a name with indirect yet inextricable ties to the opioid epidemic currently sweeping the United States,” Hao said.

The organizers collaborated with a Tufts University student activist group, Sack Sackler, whose lobbying efforts propelled Tufts’s decision — announced last week — to remove the Sackler name from five facilities and programs on its campus.

While multiple cultural institutions in the United States and Europe — including the Guggenheim Museum and the Louvre — had previously announced they would either remove the Sackler name from their walls or refuse any future donations from the family, Tufts was the first university to do so, a fact not lost on some attendees.

Multiple mothers of opioid victims in attendance Friday, including members of Team Sharing — a national organization that provides support to parents who lost children to

TITLE IX FROM PAGE 1

COURT FROM PAGE 1

substance abuse disorders — said they believe Tufts’s recent decision will increase pressure on Harvard to follow suit.

“I think it will give the University momentum to take the name down,” Team Sharing national board member Kathleen Scarpone said. “Shame on Harvard for not doing anything.”

Janet Wootten — a spokesperson for Jillian Sackler, the widow of Arthur Sackler — declined to comment for the story.

Jillian Sackler has previously said her late husband had nothing to do with the opioid crisis and that he made “important contributions” to global health.

Activists have staged multiple protests, circulated an online petition, and engaged in a letter-writing campaign in the past year as part of their efforts to persuade Bacow to strip the Sackler name from campus.

Local and national political figures, including Democratic presidential candidate and United States Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), have supported the Harvard activists .

From the Law School to Longwood,

jonah.berger@thecrimson.com juliet.isselbacher@thecrimson.com

Title IX Protestors Receive Coord. Additional Hearing Starts Role Attorney Hugh F. Keefe, who is representing the Harvard students arrested during the divestment protest alongside Attorney Tara Knight, who is also married to Keefe said he planned to get the case dismissed.

“My job is to make sure that every student arrested and given a summons gets out of this without any record, any criminal record, any infraction record in the world,” Keefe said.

“That’s what I plan to do.”

Police arrested the protesters last month when they interrupted the Harvard-Yale football game for a divestment demonstration.

Dozens of activists — followed by hundreds of spectators — stormed the field a few minutes before halftime ended and unfurled large banners calling on Harvard and Yale to divest their endowments from fossil fuels and Puerto Rican debt.

Many of the protesters staged a sit-in, refusing to leave even as announcers and police officers asked them to leave the field.

Several of them chose to leave only after police told them they were under arrest.

In total, police charged 50 people with disorderly con­

Clark stepped into the role shortly before Harvard released the results of the Association of American Universities’s nationwide survey in October, which was administered in April.

The survey found that reported rates of sexual assault have remained constant on campus since the first iteration of the survey four years ago.

Clark said she views surveys as ways to understand gaps in support and accessibility, and that she has studied the survey results to learn more about which members of the student body are the most underserved.

She said she will continue reaching out to students and organizations across campus.

Clark also said that she hopes students will feel comfortable coming to her with all of their experiences, both positive and negative — and that she is looking forward to helping and working with students in her new position. simone.chu@thecrimson.com iris.lewis@thecrimson.com

duct.

Following her appearance, Fossil Free Yale member Eleanor Hewitt said she is thankful for the judge’s conditions.

“I was thankful to our lawyer for organizing such a generous deal for us,” she said.

Emma Phelps, who is also a Fossil Free Yale member, said she agreed but that she also wanted to extend her thanks to all of the people who gathered to support the group outside of the courthouse. “[I am thankful] to all the people who came out in support of us at the rally today outside the courthouse,” Phelps said.

Outside the courthouse, supporters gathered to listen to speeches and sing songs while the students inside the courthouse emerged from their hearing.

Harvard and Yale have repeatedly declined to divest their endowments from fossil fuels despite increasing calls to do so from students, alumni, and faculty.

Harvard University President Lawrence S. Bacow and his predecessors have argued that the endowment should not be used for any political purposes.

The Crimson @crimsonflyby

michelle.kurilla@thecrimson.com

Transformative coverage.

The Crimson thecrimson.com

THE HARVARD CRIMSON |

DECEMBER 9, 2019

Hot off the presses!

The latest on final clubs.

And, you know, other stuff too.

In your dining hall on weekday mornings or online 24/7.

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PAGE 6

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THE HARVARD CRIMSON | DECEMBER 9, 2019

SPORTS

UPCOMING EVENT THIS WEEKEND’S

SCHEDULE SCORES

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 20 SATURDAY, 21 SUNDAY , DECEMBER 22 ______________________________________ ______________________________________ ______________________________________ MEN’S BASKETBALL VS. BU W,DECEMBER 18-17 ___________________________________________________________ WOMEN’S SWIMMING IVY LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHP 2ND ___________________________________________________________ Women’s Basketball Men’s Lightweight Crew at George Men’s Basketball at Howard University WOMEN’S HEAVYWEIGHT CREW VS. YALE L GOLF VS. PRINCETON W ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ vs. St Joseph’s Washington 2 p.m.

4 p.m., at Lavietes Pavilion 12 p.m.

MEN’S WRESTLING VS. PENN STATE L, 42, 36 ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Harvard Cruises Past Massachusetts at Home, 89-55

By LEV COHEN CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

H arvard men’s basketball closed an up-and-down first month of its season in style, cruising past Massachusetts 89-55 at Lavietes Pavilion on Saturday in its last game for two weeks. It snapped a twogame losing streak and was the Crimson’s largest-ever victory against the Minutemen, who still hold a 16-11 series lead against Harvard.

After dropping its final two games of the Orlando Invitational last weekend, the Crimson (6-4) needed a win to avoid heading into the short break at .500 and on a three-game losing streak. Harvard got that crucial win resoundingly, slowly building a big lead in the first half and then dominating the second half of a game it never trailed to send Massachusetts (5-5) to its fifth consecutive loss.

Sophomore Noah Kirkwood and senior Robert Baker led the way for the Crimson with an efficient 19 points apiece. They played just 25 and 20 minutes respectively and shot a combined 14-of-19 from the field, 5-of-9 from three, and 5-of5 from the line. The 19 points were a career-high for Baker, who has shown flashes of brilliance throughout the season, and a season-high for Kirkwood.

The sterling performance was nothing new for Kirkwood, a 6’7” Ontario native who became one of Harvard’s better players down the stretch last season. He has not lost a beat this year, averaging an efficient 11.2 points per game on 48 percent shooting from the field and a superb 41 percent mark from beyond the arc. He has also visibly improved as a playmaker, boosting his assists from 1.9 to 3.4 per contest and cutting his turnovers by nearly a full turnover per game to 2.0. “[Kirkwood] is arguably our best player, him or [senior point guard] Bryce [Aiken],” junior guard Rio Haskett said. “He just brings a good poise. He’s only a sophomore, but he plays ahead of his time. He’s so mature, and ­

STRONG FROM THE LINE Senior forward Robert Baker readies himself for a free throw, an area i n which Harvard excelled on Saturday. He made all three of his shots from the charity stripe en route to a career-high 19 points, as the Crimson picked up 17 points from behind the foul line on the night. TIMOTHY R. O’MEARA—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

he’s just getting better every year.”

Aiken, generally the Crimson’s leading scorer and one of the highest-usage players in college basketball, took a backseat scoring-wise in this game, taking just two total shots in 19 minutes and playing just three minutes in the second half before being removed with four fouls. But Aiken made his presence known in other ways. He

visibly settled down an offense that at times struggled without him, and Harvard was an impressive +27 in the 19 minutes he played. “[Aiken’s] quarterback play — a lot of times he’s in the middle of scoring a lot of points for us but today it was necessary to be a quarterback and find the open people,” head coach Tommy Amaker said. “The start we were able to have was because

of his effort and his intelligence and how he played and passed and made everyone around him better.”

Aiken also helped key a defense that was locked-in from the start. With less than four minutes to go in the first half and the Crimson leading 3720, he responded to a steal by Massachusetts’ freshman point guard Sean East II by hustling back and taking a charge from

East on the ensuing fastbreak.

The drawn charge was emblematic of Harvard’s defensive effort throughout and happened right in front of the Crimson’s bench, yielding the bench’s biggest celebration of the day.

It was one of Harvard’s most well-rounded performances of the season on both ends of the court. The Minutemen came into Saturday shooting a superb 37 percent from beyond

DEFLECTED Sophomore forward Danilo Djuricic attempts to force a pass to a teammate, but is closed down by freshman guard T.J. Weeks Jr of Massachusetts . Djuricic finished the night with seven points and five rebounds in nineteen minutes, one of twelve scorers for the Crimson on the night. TIMOTHY R. O’MEARA—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

the arc but struggled to the tune of a 3-of-19 performance, with one of their makes coming on a Carl Pierre make on their very first possession. Pierre, a junior guard out of Boston, finished with 10 points on just 2-of-10 shooting, joining freshman center Tre Mitchell (13 points) and sophomore forward Sy Chatman (10) in double-figures.

“I definitely think our emphasis today was our defense,” junior forward Danilo Djuricic said. “Defense is what started up our offense so when we’re playing defense like that everyone’s involved. You saw the bench today — a lot of energy.”

The Crimson was aggressive offensively throughout the game, taking it to the hoop and collecting large numbers of offensive rebounds against a team that was allowing a 32.2 percent offensive rebounding rate coming into the game, putting them in the bottom quintile of the country.

That mark did not improve Saturday, as Harvard secured 12 offensive rebounds on 23 missed shots and converted them into 17 second-chance points. The Crimson finished with 46 points in the paint, 24 points from three point range, and 17 made free throws as just two of its points came from midrange, basketball’s least efficient area.

“We really felt that they are a team that has pressed a lot and played with a lot of pressure, and in order for you to be successful against that — one, you’ve got to handle the ball, but you need to attack pressure with intelligence and so I thought we did that very well throughout the game,” Amaker said.

Senior forward Chris Lewis, like Aiken, was saddled with foul trouble and was limited to 11 minutes, but his nine points were enough to take him over the 1,000 point plateau for his career, making him the 35th Harvard player to reach the milestone.

The Crimson will look to build on this performance in two weeks when it travels to Washington to face George Washington and then Howard before it heads to California in late December. lev.cohen@thecrimson.com

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THE HARVARD CRIMSON | DECEMBER 9, 2019