The Harvard Crimson - Volume CXLVI, No. 94

The Harvard Crimson The University Daily, Est. 1873 | Volume CXLVI, No. 94 | Cambridge, Massachusetts | Tuesday, October 1, 2019

editorial PAGE 4

Sports PAGE 4

sports PAGE 4

Harvard must continue to make admissions more equitable

Harvard sailing takes first gold of fall at Danmark Trophy

Smith’s performance and third-downs key in Harvard football win

Students Criticize Bacow Analogy HLS JDP Recruits Public Graduates

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

In the wake of University President Lawrence S. Bacow’s comments last week comparing Harvard’s relationship with donors to slavery, several campus organizations and affiliates have called for Bacow to support divestment of the University’s endowment from companies with ties to private prisons.

In a meeting last week with Alumni Affairs and Development staff, Bacow referred to the 13th Amendment while arguing that just as people cannot own slaves, Harvard’s schools cannot “own” their alumni and limit their donations to other schools. The comment upset some of the staff members present, and Bacow apologized for his comments Saturday in an email to meeting attendees.

“I regret that these comments caused offense. That certainly was not my intent,” Bacow wrote in the email.

“I hoped to convey my belief that our collective job is to help our donors achieve their

By michelle g. kurilla Crimson Staff Writer

­

University President Lawrence S. Bacow apologized Saturday for comments he made last week, using the 13th Amendment as an analogy for the University’s wealthy donors. Mariah E.D. Dimualuan—Crimson photographer

Friends Honor Sandip Nirmel Harvard affiliates gather for memorial ceremony in Dunster House.

By Delano R. Franklin Crimson Staff Writer

Dozens of Harvard students and administrators gathered to remember and honor the life of Sandip Nirmel ’21 at a memorial service in Dunster House Sunday afternoon.

Nirmel died in May after an extended illness. Dean of the College Rakesh Khurana described him as “deeply valued and loved” in a May 24 email to students.

Dunster Faculty Deans Sean D. Kelly and Cheryl K. Chen and Resident Dean Michael S. Uy hosted the memorial Sunday. Attendees were asked to share memories with each other and write messages to Nirmel’s family.

During the ceremony, music from Frédéric Chopin and Sergei Rachmaninoff played in the background. Kelly said Nirmel had enjoyed playing music from both composers on the piano. Kelly then spoke of Nirmel’s reputation as someone who contributed greatly to Dunster and the College overall.

At Harvard, Nirmel concentrated in Computer Science with a focus in Mind, Brain, and Behavior. Beyond academics, he was a case team leader for the Harvard College Consulting Group and vice chair of the Harvard Society for Mind, Brain, and Behavior.

Kelly and Chen wrote in a May email to Dunster residents that Nirmel was also an avid participant in intramurals, and that he could often be found in the House working on problem sets or eating breakfast with his friends.

At Sunday’s gathering, Uy spoke of his relationship with Nirmel, read remarks from Nirmel’s parents, and made note of resources available to students dealing with grief.

Several students said they remembered Nirmel as an

See Memorial Page 7 Inside this issue

Harvard Today 2

See bacow Page 7

T wo admissions admis­ sions cycles after Harvard Law School opened its Junior Deferral Program to non-Harvard students, the school is still looking to increase the number of applicants from public colleges and universities, the assistant dean for admissions said in an interview Monday.

The Junior Deferral Program — launched in 2014 — allows juniors in college to apply to Harvard Law School under the condition that, if accepted, they defer their admission for at least two years. Students who are rejected from the program may speak with a Law School admissions officer about their application. It was only open to Harvard undergraduates when it first launched, but it expanded to students from all undergraduate institutions in 2017.

Law School Assistant Dean for Admissions Kristi L. Jobson ’06 said the number of undergraduate institutions represented in the program is skewed

toward private universities — both large and small.

“We’re mindful that many, many thousands of college students in this country go to public schools. It’s important to have a diversity of undergraduate institutions represented in the class,” Jobson, a former Crimson editor, said.

Of the 42 undergraduate institutions currently represented in the expanded JDP program’s cohort, seven are public, including Arizona State University; the University of California, Berkeley; McGill University; University of Georgia; University of Idaho; University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; and the University of Texas, Austin.

In an effort to encourage students from across the country to apply, Jobson said staff in her office are planning to travel to more than 75 undergraduate institutions this year. Last year, the Law School traveled to 65 schools.

“We’re trying to be mindful of

See hls Page 7

Allston Land Co. CEO Discusses Land Use

By Peter E. O’Keefe Crimson Staff Writer

A llston Land Company CEO Thomas P. Glynn III said Harvard hopes to emulate successes — and learn from challenges — with Kendall Square’s recent development boom in planning for Harvard’s Enterprise Research Campus.

Harvard established the ALC in fall 2018 to manage the ERC, a University project intended to facilitate collaborations between Harvard-affiliated research projects and “research-focused” companies. The project is set to initially occupy 14 acres of Harvard-owned land near the new School of Engineering and Applies Sciences campus in Allston, and may eventually span up to 36 acres.

Harvard opened a submission process for real estate developer proposals this summer, and has yet to makes its selection. Glynn said that his vision for the campus is to include residential buildings, green space, ­

and public art pieces along with company offices.

“To Harvard students, the Enterprise Research Campus will offer them a chance for internships with cutting edge companies in life sciences, technology, and maybe other regions,” Glynn said.

“I think for the Allston Community, the things that it brings are, you know, more employment opportunities, and more opportunities for a lot of the work that Harvard has done over the years to make sure we have some win-win projects,” he added.

Glynn said that in developing the ERC, there are “lessons to be learned” from MIT’s Kendall Square development. He said that Harvard has advantages that will allow it to provide students, faculty, and Allston residents with a more complete set of amenities.

“We think that we have the advantage, since we own all the land, we can plan public realm

See Enterprise Page 7

The Enterprise Research Campus in Allston intends to create more research opportunities for students as well as attract companies that focus on innovative technology. Brendan J. Chapuis—Crimson photographer

Bike Thefts Rise in Cambridge and Harvard

By Ema R. Schumer Crimson Staff Writer

Cambridge experienced more bike thefts in August than any other month thus far in 2019, following a larger trend in bike thefts in the city over the past five years, according to the Cambridge Police Department’s monthly crime report.

This past August, 82 bikes were reported stolen in Cambridge, a 21 percent increase from May, the month with the next highest volume of bike thefts. Of these thefts, 8 took place in Harvard Square.

CPD’s August report contextualized the rise in bike thefts within a one year and five year time frame. Bike thefts are up 73 percent — or 136 more incidents — this year compared with the first eight months of 2018. Over five years, bike thefts are up 48 percent — or 104 more incidents — compared with 2018.

On Harvard’s Cambridge and Longwood campuses, an average of 102 bike thefts occur per year, Harvard University ­

As the city of Cambridge has expanded, so has the incidence of bike thefts, and now officials are being challenged to develop methods that will drive down the robberies. Mariah E. D. Dimalaluan—Crimson photographer

News 7

Editorial 8

Sports 10

Today’s Forecast

rainy High: 78 Low: 68

Police Department spokesperson Steven G. Catalano wrote in an email.

“The thefts are fairly evenly distributed through campus with no one area experiencing a disproportionate amount versus another area,” he wrote.

Catalano confirmed there has been an increase in bike thefts in 2019 compared to this time last year. However, areas in direct proximity to the University experienced a 39 percent increase, compared to an estimated 73 percent spike across Cambridge.

Catalano noted that these statistics do not suggest there will be an increase in bike thefts overall by the year’s end. He wrote that HUPD’s “projected numbers” of bike thefts show effectively the same number in 2019 as 2018.

Chloe E.W. Levine ’22 brought her bike from home to school to get around campus, ride to work, and exercise. To store the bike, Levine said that

See Bikes Page 7

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THE HARVARD CRIMSON |

October 1, 2019

Page 2

Harvard Today

For Lunch Chicken Vindaloo Philly Cheese Steak Sub White Bean Ragout

For Dinner Coq Au Vin Mussels with Pesto Vegetable Quinoa Paella

Today’s Events Meet the History Department: Professor Kirsten Weld Robinson Hall Basement Seminar 1-2 p.m.

in The Real World Trump’s Lawyer Subpoenaed

On Monday, members of the House of Representatives issued a subpoena to Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal attorney. In the letter sent to Giuliani, they requested all communications involving the Trump Administration and discussions about the 2020 presidential election with the Ukraininan government. The letter sets an Oct.15 deadline for the documents.

Any sophomores interested in the History concentration are welcome to this conversation with Professor Kirsten Weld. Professor Weld will talk about her historical research and what college-level history is like.

Thinking Differently in Healthcare Sever 103 4-5 p.m.

HMS professor and MGH physician Anupam Jena studies health economics, medical malpractice, and other healthcare related topics.

Today, he’ll be discussing healthcare at a Harvard College Healthcare Associates Event. Pizza will be provided.

New Avenues, New Voices Boylston 105, 8-9 p.m.

Join the Harvard College Democrats to hear IOP Fellow Deesha Dyer speak about finding your place in politics.

Dyer was the Obama Administration Social Secretary and worked to coordinate White House visits from global leaders, as well as from artists like Beyoncé and the Hamilton cast.

Final Escaped Ohio Inmate Captured

Scooters are quickly rising in popularity as an alternative mode of transportation, particularly on college campuses. Naomi S. castellon-perez—Crimson photographer

Daily Briefing In the wake of University President Lawrence S. Bacow’s comments last week comparing Harvard’s relationship with donors to slavery, several campus organizations and affiliates have called for Bacow to support divestment of the University’s endowment from companies with ties to private prisons. In a meeting last week with Alumni Affairs and Development staff, Bacow referred to the 13th Amendment while arguing that just as people cannot own slaves, Harvard’s schools cannot “own” their alumni and limit their donations to other schools. In other news, two admissions cycles after Harvard Law School opened its Junior Deferral Program to non-Harvard students, the school is still looking to increase the number of applicants from public colleges and universities, the assistant dean for admissions said in an interview Monday.

All four of the male inmates who overpowered guards, forced open a secure door, and escaped from Gallia County Jail on Sunday have been recaptured as of Monday afternoon. The men were found in North Carolina, around 380 miles away from the prison they escaped from..

Two Killed in Mexico City Roller Coaster Derailment

On Saturday in Mexico City, a roller coaster derailed at the Feria de Chapultepec, killing two people and injuring two others. According to video recordings and eyewitness reports, a carriage of the Chimera ride came off of the track and fell to the ground, hitting a metal roller coaster structure as well. Further investigation of the incident is underway.

Around the Ivies BROWN Brown’s endowment achieved an institutional record of $4.2 billion in the 2019 fiscal year, the Brown Daily Herald reported on Monday. The 12.4 percent return on the endowment, representing $467 million, was nearly double Harvard’s 6.5 percent. Brown Investment Office CEO Joseph Browling III wrote in a statement to the Herald that HE attributes the endowment’s performance to “protecting capital during two significant declines in the stock market.” The university’s endowment outperformed the S&P 500 Index’s return rate.

COLUMBIA

In spite of a ban on performing at sporting contests, Columbia’s marching band organized an impromptu concert on Saturday morning — hours before the group was previously scheduled to present a show on Baker Field, according to the Columbia Daily Spectator. The band members later took to the stadium and continued making music with a mix of singing and improvised trumpet sounds. The University cut funding from the group after it defied an order prohibiting the musicians from performing a comedy routine called “Orgo Night” in Butler Library last year. Band members who bring an instrument to Baker Field are now threatened with disciplinary action.

PENN

About 40 Penn affiliates in the group Fossil Free Penn gathered on Friday for a silent sit-in outside Penn President Amy Guttmann’s office to protest the school’s investment in fossil fuels, The Daily Pennsylvanian reported. This was the first in a series of planned weekly sit-ins. Maeve Masterson, the campaign coordinator for the group and a sophomore at Penn, said Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg inspired the campaign. Masterson described Fossil Free Penn’s strategy as “riding on the wave of divestment efforts from across the country.”

THE UNIVERSITY DAILY, EST. 1873

The Harvard Crimson Kristine E. Guillaume President Angela N. Fu Managing Editor Charlie B. Zhu Business Manager

Staff for This Issue

Associate Managing Editor Jamie D. Halper ’20

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

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

Associate Business Manager Amy E. Zhou ’20

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

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

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

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

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

Sports Chairs Joseph W. Minatel ’21 Henry Zhu ’20

Copyright 2019, The Harvard Crimson (USPS 236-560). No articles, editorials, cartoons or any part thereof appearing in The Crimson may be reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the President. The Associated Press holds the right to reprint any materials published in The Crimson. The Crimson is a non-profit, independent corporation, founded in 1873 and incorporated in 1967. Second-class postage paid in Boston, Massachusetts. Published Monday through Friday except holidays and during vacations, three times weekly during reading and exam periods by The Harvard Crimson Inc., 14 Plympton St., Cambridge, Mass. 02138 Weather icons made by Freepik, Yannick, Situ Herrera, OCHA, SimpleIcon, Catalin Fertu from flaticon.com is licensed by CC BY 3.0.

Night Editor Jordan S. Virtue ’20

Design Editor Camille G. Caldera ’22

Assistant Night Editors Oliver L. Riskin-Kutz ’22 Samuel W. Zwickel ’21

Photo Editors Naomi S. Castellon Perez ’21 Mariah E. D. Dimalaluan ’20

Story Editors Angela N. Fu ’20 Jamie D. Halper ’20 Luke W. Xu ’20 Andrew J. Zucker ’20

Editorial Editor Elijah T. Fzeji-Okoye ’20 Sports Editor Cade Palmer ’20

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.

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | OCTOBER 1, 2019 | PAGE 3

ARTS

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At Harvard, Concert for One Brings Music to the Masses CLARA V. NGUYEN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Last week, a bright yellow shipping container set up shop alongside the food trucks of the Science Center Plaza. But instead of holding cargo, the structure served as a miniature performance venue with just enough space for two chairs and an instrument. Inside, solo musicians performed one minute of music for individual listeners as part of the Boston Celebrity Series’ Concert for One project.

Violist and New England Conservatory graduate Rayna Yun Chou conceived the idea of a one-on-one concert to combat the perceived isolation and inaccessibility of classical music. After the project succeeded in Taiwan, she worked with the Boston Celebrity Series to develop Concert for One. During its 10-day run, the public concert series offered free performances to passersby in Boston and Cambridge.

Half an hour after performances began on Friday, Sept.

27, a line had formed outside the makeshift concert hall. In another shipping container, guests could read about Concert for One’s history and deliver their own performances on instruments mounted on the walls, including a guitar and xylophone. Staff members dressed in blue provided colorful markers and encouraged listeners to leave feedback on notecards.

During the afternoon, audience members Iris Y. Cong and Khaleem N. Ali listened to an excerpt from Beethoven’s “Appassionata” sonata, performed by pianist Brianni J. Lee ’20.

Ali, who works in the Office of Academic Integrity and Student Conduct of Harvard College and has studied classical voice, listened to several artists at Concert for One earlier in the week.

“I’m just a huge fan of all kinds of music,” Ali said. “This is my fifth time checking it out. It’s just a minute, and I’ve heard five different instruments.”

Ali also commented on how the performance space fostered a connection between musicians and listeners. “Going into that space — it feels like you’re entering someone’s living room,” he said. “You have this person who is playing just for you. It’s really powerful.”

For Cong, a third-year Ph.D. candidate in the Physics department, the opportunity to attend a performance was a welcome break from her coursework. “It’s been a stressful week, so I was like, ‘It’s the perfect way to take a break,’” she said.

Lee’s choice of repertoire carried personal significance for both Ali and Cong. “When I was hearing the Beethoven, it makes you think of your associations with it. I remember hearing in a conference about Beethoven’s life and his

struggles,” Ali said.

Cong, a classical pianist, noted that artists can develop completely different interpretations of the same piece. “Because I also play piano, I’ve played Beethoven sonatas — not this particular one, but I really enjoy watching other people interpret these sonatas because everyone interprets it in their own way,” she said.

Later that afternoon, lutenist Jonas Kublickas treated listeners to a medley of Renaissance music and improvisation.

Born in Lithuania, Kublickas began his musical career as a classical guitarist and studied at Mozarteum University in Salzburg before he discovered the lute at age 19. After completing his undergraduate studies, he moved to the United States and obtained his master’s degree from New England Conservatory in 2016. Kublickas also teaches both privately and for local organizations, including the EKS Music School in Quincy.

“I decided that I wanted to explore the U.S. a little bit, so my teacher invited me to come here to do my master’s at the conservatory. And then when I graduated, I really liked this area, so I just decided to stay,” he said.

A twist of fate brought Kublickas and his lute to the Science Center Plaza on Friday. “It was by accident that I saw the application,” he said. “I was about to board a plane, and I saw this, and I was like, ‘I have to submit.’ But I only had two hours, so I barely filled out the application.”

For one hour, Kublickas performed excerpts by composers John Dowland and Johannes Kapsberger. “It’s just one of the best pieces, personally, that I think Dowland wrote, so I decided it was a great representation of Renaissance lute,” he said of Dowland’s composition, “Flow, my tears.”

“I also did some improvisations on Renaissance chord progressions.”

Listeners’ enthusiasm for Kublickas’s music came as a pleasant surprise to him. “I didn’t really know what to expect because today was my first day,” he said. “Mostly non-musicians, which is great. It shows that people are interested. I’m very happy about that. One person said that I made their day. It feels great that you can impact someone’s life — or a day — in 60 seconds.”

Although enthusiastic about Concert for One’s potential, Kublickas expressed concern about classical music’s future.

“It is a dying art,” he said. “It’s a big problem. But I don’t really know the cure yet.”

In the meantime, though, Kublickas said he intends to do his part by sharing his music with the world.

“That’s the only way,” he said.

THE WEEK IN ARTS

01

TUESDAY JILL LEPORE PRESENTS “THESE TRUTHS: A HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES” Harvard history professor Jill Lepore and Robin Young will be discussing Lepore’s 2018 book “These Truths;” the event includes a book signing.

WBUR CitySpace. 7 p.m. $10.

02

WEDNESDAY HARRY POTTER AND THE SACRED TEXT Vanessa Zoltan and Casper ter Kuile will unpack a chapter from Harry Potter, tell personal stories, and engage in medieval religious reading practices.

Oberon. 7 p.m. $28.

03

THURSDAY A MASTER CLASS WITH BD WONG BD Wong will be hosting a public master class featuring Harvard students working on the Asian Student Arts Project’s production of “M. Butterfly” Horner Room, Agassiz House. 4-5:30 p.m. Free.

04

FRIDAY KINSHASA MAKAMBO This documentary follows three social justice humanitarians in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Director Dieudo Hamadi the will be at the screening.

Harvard Film Archive. 7 p.m. $12.

05

SATURDAY HARVARD-RADCLIFFE ORCHESTRA FALL CONCERT The Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra will be playing Mahler’s Ninth Symphony as their 2019-2020 season opener.

Sanders Theater. 8 p.m. Free with Harvard University I.D., $20 without.

06

SUNDAY CHURCH OF SLUT: THOTS AND PRAYERS The Church of Slut seeks to empower the individual through commentary on civil rights and the law, all accompanied with a generous serving of glitter.

Oberon. 8 p.m. Pay what you can, $20-$40.

07

MONDAY

JODI KANTOR AND MEGAN TWOHEY PRESENT “SHE SAID” Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey will be discussing their book, “She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement.”

First Parish Church. 7 p.m. $29.75 (book included).

NAOMI CASTELLON-PEREZ / CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

01 October 2019 | Vol CXLVI, ISSUE XII Arts Chairs Kaylee S. Kim ‘20 Caroline A. Tsai ’20

Editor Associates Joy C. Ashford ‘22 Kalos K. Chu ‘22 Aline G. Damas ’20

Iris M. Lewis ‘21 Claire N. Park ‘20 Isabel C. Ruehl ‘20 Allison J. Scharmann ‘21 Caroline E. Tew ’20 Shruthi Venkata ‘22 Lucy Wang ’20

Executive Designer Mireya C. Arango ‘20 Ashley E. Bryant ‘22

Design Associates Amanda R. Stetz ‘22 Maia R. Zonis ‘22

Executive Photographers Kathryn S. Kuhar ‘20 Zennie L. Wey ‘20

ARTS

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | OCTOBER 1, 2019 | PAGE 4

TV

‘THIS IS US’: New and Old Weave a Wider Picture ALEXANDER W. TAM CONTRIBUTING WRITER

COURTESY OF NBC

Since its premiere in 2016, “This Is Us” has developed an identity of sorts, something like an old-fashioned family drama for the 21st century filled with era-hopping, character-switching, tear-jerking, sometimes over sentimental moments. Over the past three seasons, viewers have gotten to know the central family of characters and seen their hopes and fears, their triumphs and trials, their pasts and presents, and even their futures unfold before us.

And if the premiere, “Strangers,” is any indication, Season Four will be much the same, if not with a few twists and turns along the way. The first episode sets the stage early on with the show’s familiar protagonists. In the intro, Rebecca (Mandy Moore) turns to Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) after their first road trip. “It’s so strange, isn’t it?”

Rebecca remarks. “How such a complete stranger can become such a big part of your story… How a single cross with one person you’ve never met can change everything.”

Intersped throughout this exchange are flashes of three unfamiliar people who are this episode’s dramatis personae: Rebecca’s observation about strangers makes up the central theme of the premiere.

As is the trademark of “This is Us,” this episode is not stationary. The storyline jumps around — perhaps even more so than usual. It may be the nature of a premiere, but the story shifts so often that — at least until the end — the whole thing is rather disjointed. At times the significance of a scene is hard to grasp. But then again, maybe that’s the point.

The first new storyline features Cassidy (Jennifer Morrison), a soldier stationed in Afghanistan. She longs for her family back home, and she grapples with the reality of war and its effects. When she returns from her tour, all seems well, but she finds the memory of a particular woman seared in her mind. Next is Jack, a young blind singer (Blake Stadnik). His story revolves around meeting a waitress and aspiring restaurant owner. Last is a teenage boy named Malik (Asante Blackk), who has an infant son at

home and carries with him a strong sense of devotion to family.

In between these three new stories is Jack and Rebecca’s plotline which focuses on a country-club dinner with Rebecca’s difficult parents (Elizabeth Perkins and Tim Matheson) early on in their relationship. In some ways, this scene is the weakest of the episode. Although this storyline advances our understanding of Jack and Rebecca’s relationship, the way director Kenneth Olin and writer Dan Fogelman integrate it does more to compartmentalize the episode than to connect it. And the tough, judgemental parent trope does little in the way of originality.

As one might expect, then, innovation — in both dialogue and plot — is hard to come by in this episode. Originality isn’t Fogelman’s focus, nor has it been the focus of this entire series. What does in some sense define this show is the way seemingly disjointed pieces come together. How, at some point, the viewer anticipates a linkage and, as the hour mark approaches, sees it through. In this sense, Episode Four does not disappoint, although Fogelman seems to have meandered through much of this episode to achieve that captivativating end.

Indeed, after the many storylines are presented and begin to develop, the connections — interpersonal, temporal, familial — begin to emerge, brought together by that one theme: strangers. Fogelman skillfully bridges parallel stories into one, slowly beginning to weave the threads into something greater. Some connect more tightly, others less so, specifically Cassidy’s storyline and Jack and Rebecca’s relationship. But there is enough of a suggestion that, over a season, this tapestry of stories will come together in some significant way.

This promise is the essence of this show, of which the Season Four premiere reminds the viewer. It’s not always new, not always profound. It’s the story of ordinary people leading lives, ordinary and remarkable all the same. This season, it seems, that journey begins anew, making Season Four worth the watch.

‘TALL GIRL’: The Weather Up There Is Overcast

FILM

JADEN S. THOMPSON CONTRIBUTING WRITER

COURTESY OF NETFLIX

Puzzled Netflix users have surely been scratching their heads in earnest as they’ve considered watching “Tall Girl,” the new movie on their Trending Now list. Its enigmatic title is understandably baffling, so to alleviate any confusion, here is some clarification: “Tall Girl” is about — and this may come as a shock — a tall girl. And that’s really the extent of its depth.

Directed by Nzingha Stewart, the Netflix Original teen rom-com released on Sept. 13 follows 6-foot-one-and-a-half -inch high school junior Jodi (Ava Michelle), and the trials and tribulations that stem from her height related insecurities. Jodi’s life gets interesting when handsome Swedish exchange student Stig (Luke Eisner) — who is taller than her — comes to her school, and she and popular girl Kimmy Stitcher (Clara Wilsey) vie for his attention. What ensues is an unrealistic and formulaic plot laden with clichés, making “Tall Girl” feel less like a feel-good rom-com and more like Netflix’s attempt to see how low audience standards are when it comes to consuming vacuous and predictable content.

“Tall Girl” features all the classic stereotypes that define teen films — love triangles, makeovers, and mean popular kids — and exaggerates them to the point of ludicrosity. The lack of originality, paired with the fact that the entire film centers around her height, leads one to wonder if there was some intentional irony built into the plot. Perhaps “Tall Girl” is purposefully making fun of the superficiality of makeovers and the often vapid nature of teenage drama. Jodi tries to

catch Stig’s attention by getting her pageant sister (Sabrina Carpenter) to give her a makeover, the main feature of which seems to involve taking her hair out of her perpetual high ponytail. But unfortunately, it’s unlikely that this film is a selfaware satirical piece.

Before “Tall Girl” was even released, the trailer was met with harsh criticism on social media platforms. The premise of a tall, thin, and objectively pretty white girl feeling oppressed by her height, in a society where tall Eurocentric models are the standard of beauty, perhaps feels insensitive to more marginalized groups that are less represented in the media. “You think your life is hard? I’m a high school junior wearing size 13 Nikes” is a standout line from the movie that exemplifies this privilege. The fact that Jodi constantly gripes about her insecurity makes it difficult to inspire much sympathy for her.

Aside from the controversy about representation or the exaggerated gravity of her struggle, the film’s plot lacks real substance. Most scenes elicit nothing more than a cringe and the thought that such things would never happen in real life — far more than other teen films do. There are countless tall jokes aimed at Jodi, to the point of ludicrousness; would an attractive girl really face that much harassment every day for being the height of a runway model? Jodi is asked “How’s the weather up there?” 10 times a day; this is somehow hard to believe, which takes away from the legitimacy of the plot.

“Tall Girl,” while extremely cheesy and almost unwatchable, is not entirely without merit. Jodi is flanked by two quirky but loyal best friends: the sassy, encouraging, and refreshingly confident Fareeda (Anjelika Washington), and the short but lovable Jack (Griffin Gluck), who is, of course, hopelessly in love with Jodi. Fareeda and Jack are witty and emotive characters, and make the movie more bearable by showing audiences what genuine friendship looks like. Some jokes do land, like Jack’s Gordon Ramsay impression, or Stig’s confused reaction to the attention he gets at school because he was somehow a “dork” in his home country. None of the acting in “Tall Girl” is as cringeworthy as the plot — in fact, each actor falls into their assigned stereotype rather effortlessly, and 17-year-old Ava Michelle is a convincing actress, showing promise despite the one dimensional writing of her character given that Jodi’s entire personality is being tall.

Beyond its sporadic humor, the film’s message is clear, and an important one at that: The journey to find self love, while difficult in our society, is an essential part of coming of age, and is one that all young people can identify with. The theme of “Tall Girl” is evident and meaningful, but the omnipresent clichés and Jodi’s lack of relatability make it less accessible.

“Tall Girl” is a funny watch because of its unrealistic plot, but deep down, anyone who watches this movie knows that Netflix would have been better off putting “Tall Girl”’s budget toward the “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” sequels.

ARTS

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | OCTOBER 1, 2019 | PAGE 5

THEATER

‘PASSENGERS’: THE FUTURE OF THE CIRCUS ALEXANDRA LUCHTENBERG CONTRIBUTING WRITER

COURTESY OF ALEXANDRE GALLIEZ

What if circus was more than just a spectacle? That’s the question that “Passengers,” at the Emerson Cutler Majestic Theater from Sept. 25 to Oct. 13, seeks to answer. Directed by Shana Carrol and sponsored by Arts Emerson, “Passengers” combines modern dance, acrobatics, and aerial dance to weave an abstract masterpiece about the benefits and woes of travel by train.

Despite its lack of linear plot, “Passengers” still weaves a cohesive narrative with its anthology-type storytelling.

Every scene is completely different from the last, but it manages to pull off this variety with grace and wonder.

Circus shows often fall prey to a childlike need for constant

validation, following each stunt with an awkward break for applause; however, “Passengers” manages to imbue acrobatics with maturity and continuity. The show never takes a breath from beginning to end. There are always things to focus on, even during complicated set transitions.

Beyond the heartstopping acrobatics, the staging of the production is phenomenal. The lighting is exceptional; panning the audience with tight, beamed spotlights to simulate a train passing, and using hand-held lamps to direct audience focus and project artists’ shadows. Lighting designer Éric Champoux also makes frequent use of projected sets. Alongside ambient train noise, holographic

backdrops create a truly immersive experience. Perhaps most impressive is a video of a telephone projected over a traditional Chinese pole (a rotating, 10-30 foot pole the acrobats climb).

“Passengers” also uses an incredible score to facilitate changes between each scene. Music Director Colin Gagné had a genius use of natural percussive noises in one of their numbers, bringing together ordinary sounds — a sneeze, a yawn, a pen tapping, or a woman saying “excuse me” — to create a “song” that brings the show’s juggling piece to life.

The fun jazz music gives context to the Fosse-inspired jazz and hula hoop choreography. The entire show plays into the old American wonder at the railroad; acrobats flipping and rolling across the stage like tumbleweed further heighten into that nostalgia.

The entire production is incredible, but a few performances stand out. Every show should begin and end with a bang, and “Passengers” certainly does. The opening group piece showcases dance, hand-to-hand balancing, and human swings. “Passengers” uses circus art as not just a spectacle, but a tool for immersive storytelling. Of the individual apparatus performances, two pieces were particularly breathtaking. First, the duo trapeze act was astounding. Not only were the acrobats doing expected flips and hand-to-hand work, but the duo also managed to get an audible gasp from the audience when they dropped the female acrobat unexpectedly from the trapeze hovering 10 feet in the air, into the waiting arms of her cast mates. The unexpectedness of these dramatic stunts makes the show truly feel like magic.

A second show-stopping moment is the notoriously difficult Russian Cradle, near the end of “Passengers.” In a Russian Cradle stunt, one acrobat is a base connected to a platform. Meanwhile, the other swings underneath the platform and then launches into the air before being caught again by their partner. It’s an apparatus that takes a tremendous amount of strength, coordination, and experience. The Russian Cradle performance in “Passengers” closed the show — and for good reason. It began with the flyer unexpectedly diving head first off of the platform, only to be caught by his ankles. With trick after trick, the performers showcased an athletic energy and raw fearlessness that was matched only by the intensity of the music behind them.

In “Passengers,” every element of production came together to create a show that, while smaller in scope than Cirque du Soleil, creates wonder of the same magnitude. The beauty and ingenuity of this show make it a must-see for all audiences.

MUSIC

On ‘Hey, I’m Just Like You,’ Tegan and Sara Come Home CLARA V. NGUYEN CONTRIBUTING WRITER It is easy to put our favorite musicians on a pedestal, especially those as innovative and prolific as Tegan and Sara Quin. Soon after recording their first demo albums in a Calgary, Alberta high school, the twins earned a devout following for their down-to-earth stage presence, ethereal voices, and passionate political activism. Despite their cult status in the indie music scene, Tegan and Sara set out to remind listeners of their humble roots with their latest studio release, aptly titled “Hey, I’m Just Like You.” Comprised of polished reimaginings of demos from the duo’s early days, the album is a jubilant celebration of youthful nonchalance.

Musical content aside, the album’s very structure is a bold creative statement. Artists who reuse older material must prove its contemporary relevance, and critics are quick to label their work as unoriginal or commercialistic. But Tegan and Sara have always taken pride in defying convention, and even the most ardent skeptics are sure to find merit in the result. Most people recall their early teenage years with a blend of embarrassment and confusion. However, Tegan and Sara unabashedly embrace the chaos of adolescence on “Hey, I’m Just Like You.” Each of the album’s 12 songs is a candid, introspective tribute to the excitement, frustration, and formative potential of growing up.

Out of the brooding languor of the album’s opener, “Hold My Breath Until I Die,” emerges its title track, an upbeat, carefree reflection on a drug-fueled night out with friends. The song alternates with jarring contrast between declarations of vulnerability and strength, held together by an undercurrent of softly resonant synth beats and laid-back acoustic guitar. “Sometimes you get tired of pretending like you’re so strong,” begins the second verse, followed immediately by a conflicting statement: “I always feel invincible when you’re around.” Throughout the album, the constantly shifting moods within and across tracks emphasize the instability of teenage emotions.

Tegan and Sara envisioned the music video for the album’s next single, “I’ll Be Back Someday,” as an “ode to anxiety.” The video opens with a shot of the duo in a monochrome blue room, suggesting a sense of melancholy and confinement. A beige landline phone rests on the back wall, interrupting the sea of blue wallpaper. As the video progresses and the background switches from blue to purple to brown, the phone remains the only constant

COURTESY OF TEGAN AND SARA QUIN/SIRE RECORDS

fixture — a fitting role, given its importance in the song’s lyrics. “I wanna call and ask, ‘What’s up?’ / Go to dial, but then I stop,” Tegan sings in the first verse, accompanied by electric guitar that intensifies steadily through the pre-chorus. Although the chorus is melodically and lyrically repetitive, especially by its third appearance in the song, the sisters’ precise vocal harmonies and palpable emotion save it from becoming grating.

As the last reverberating guitar chord of “I’ll Be Back Someday” fades into silence, a new kind of instrumentation takes shape: the improvisatory keyboard flourishes that introduce the album’s next track and final promo single, “Don’t Believe the Things They Tell You (They Lie).” The slow, reflective song relies on a subtly syncopated drum beat to maintain its momentum until a defiant electric guitar solo blossoms out of the second chorus. The change in tone is sudden without sounding out of place — further evidence of the band’s gift for transitions between states of mind.

From there, the sisters fill the rest of the album with similarly wistful lyrics and airy, layered vocals. No track is over four minutes long, allowing each one to shine as a brief glimpse into a different aspect of adolescent life. The final track, “All I Have to Give the World is Me,” begins as an admission of insecurity but develops into a powerful affirmation of artistic identity. “All I have to show the world is me, that’s it,” the sisters sing in the chorus. With the freshness and sincerity of “Hey, I’m Just Like You,” they’ve given us more than enough.

ARTS

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | OCTOBER 1, 2019 | PAGE 6

COLUMN

SURVIVAL SONGS:

The Role of Music in the Climate Movement ILANA COHEN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

We’re gonna strike ‘cause our waters are rising.

We’re gonna strike ‘cause our people are dying.

We’re gonna strike for life and everything we love.

We’re gonna strike for you.

Will you strike for us?

-The Peace Poets As the last note of “Will you strike for us?” fades away, silence eclipses the crowd. For a moment, it’s almost hypnotic. Then, a cheer erupts and a sense of euphoria takes hold. Amidst a diverse and intergenerational crowd of strike participants, few of whom know each other but all of whom share a fierce desire for climate action and justice, the act of raising our voices in song fosters a deep sense of solidarity. Distinct from marching and chanting, song is uniquely transformative. It allows us to transcend a single protest; it contextualizes us as part of a movement.

During the global climate strike on Sept. 20, I sang the strike song twice: first at the Harvard Strike for Divestment and Climate Justice on Harvard’s campus, and later, at the official Boston Climate Strike at Boston City Hall Plaza.

Written by the Peace Poets, a NYC-based artists collective, the song foments a sense of interdependence and shared stake among those singing, while also nudging those whose voices have yet to join the chorus. That participants at both strikes performed this song testifies to its resonance and to the greater power of music within social movements. Drawing on a historical legacy of protest and activism, the climate movement is increasingly using song to build community, communicate the climate emergency, and challenge people to raise their voices in a call to action.

Oftentimes, climate music draws people into the movement by breaking down the overwhelming nature of the crisis. These songs put the crisis into simpler language and binary terms to motivate action. Instead of citing statistics to grapple with the reality of rising sea levels and mass displacement, the strike song invokes the palpable feeling that “our waters are rising” and “our people are dying.” The song “Does It Weigh On You?” performed by the Sunrise Movement at the youth organization’s occupation of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office last December works similarly. Its poignant lyrics — ”Storms surge and fires burn but you don’t hear the call / Cause fossil fuels keep paying you, does it weigh on you at all?” — directly target lawmakers with fossil fuel industry ties, creating a sharp moral parallel between them and the public. It challenges lawmakers’ consciences, asking if their complicity in global climate change “weighs on them at all.” The portrayal of inaction as an act of complicity — reflected by the provocative question ”Which side are you on?” — also engages passive listeners, who would much rather see themselves on the side of “our generation” than on the side of bad actor corporations.

“Does It Weigh On You?” is among many climate movement songs that have explicit roots in historical struggles for social justice. This song is based on “Which Side Are You On?” written by activist and poet Florence Reece amidst the 1931 coal miners’ strike in Harlan County, Ky. The song illuminates connections

between the climate and labor movements, apparent today in discussions around a just transition to a clean energy economy, which centers fossil fuel workers and marginalized communities in the transition process. Meanwhile, “The People Gonna Rise Like the Water” originates more recently in the Flood Wall Street protest of 2014, which took place only one day after 400,000 people participated in the NYC People’s Climate March. Also aimed at the unsustainable capitalist system, the song’s original call for the financial industry to stop contributing to environmental destruction — “I hear the voice of my great-granddaughter / Saying shut down Wall Street now!” — has become a call to do right by future generations and marginalized communities disproportionately impacted by climate change: “I hear the voice of my great-granddaughter / Saying climate justice now!” Like many protest songs, it also represents “people power” as a force that can overcome systemic barriers to change.

Thematically, climate music also bears a strong resemblance to iconic protest songs of the 1960s era civil rights movement like “We Shall Overcome.” This song depicts a future of peaceful coexistence where “we’ll walk hand in hand,” while also stating that “we are not afraid” to fight to realize that vision. The use of a collective “we” to unify singers and listeners persists today. A protest version of Chance the Rapper’s “Blessings” includes the line “They try to stop us, but we keep coming back.” While also reflecting the growing role of pop culture in the climate movement, this song creates an us-versus-them narrative that connects the performers and audience in a shared struggle and encourages resilience.

As the climate movement looks to the past in fighting for a more just and stable future, music provides a fundamentally human call to action. While they can evoke a sense of ecological grief and despair at the gravity of the crisis, climate songs can also create a sense of empowerment and even celebration. Especially among youth-led organizations, climate music represents a form of resistance to structural disempowerment and injustice. Songs defy the system propagating the climate emergency by espousing a shared vision of a more harmonious way of life. This vision is optimistic and thus celebratory. It provides a kind of radical hope for the future—one I felt at the Sept. 20 strikes. That people can sing together and enjoy being with one another, while also recognizing the imminent need for change, is itself transformational.

Ultimately, music like the strike song serves as both an invitation and a challenge. It asks all of us to ask what side of the song we’re on, and whether it’s the right one.

— Contributing writer Ilana Cohen’s ‘22 column, “Expressions of the Climate Emergency” is a nonfiction column that discusses artistic response to the climate crisis.

BOOKS

‘Ninth House’ Brings the Ghosts Out of Yale EMERSON J. MONKS CONTRIBUTING WRITER Leigh Bardugo’s latest novel, “Ninth House,” features a cast of ghosts, demons, and haunted houses, but its fantasy world exists neatly within the brick and mortar of New Haven, Conn., and its conflict roots itself far more deeply in reality than it does in the supernatural.

Galaxy “Alex” Stern is a textbook miscreant: a high school dropout, drug dealer and abuser, and now, survivor of a mass homicide. Miraculously, upon waking up in the hospital, Alex receives the opportunity of a lifetime: a full scholarship to attend Yale University. The dean selects Alex for a purpose; she has the unique ability to organically see, communicate, and interact with “Grays,” or ghosts. Bardugo’s Yale is home to a host of secret societies, the alumni of which are now some of the most powerful people in the world, and the members of these societies frequently engage in dangerous rituals to make themselves richer, more famous, and more powerful.

Supernatural abilities in her back pocket, Alex is newly christened a member of Lethe House, a covert organization dedicated to regulating the rituals and goings-on of Yale’s elite.

What makes “Ninth House” so compelling — and, at times, painfully self-conscious — is its unnerving plausibility. Yale really does have secret societies, and famous alumni of the Skull and Bones society, which exists both in real life and in the novel, include “former presidents, diplomats, at least one director of the CIA.” In the novel, the rituals include portal magic, hallucinogenic drugs, and prognostications, or divination through human entrails. The subjects of these prognostications are often mental hospital patients, nurses paid off with the assistance of deep pockets, and the cultivators of these magic drugs are “townies” down on their luck. Now, when the exclusivity of Ivy League universities and other elite institutions is the subject of considerable controversy, it is all too fitting that a society primarily composed of the wealthy few risk the lives of the defenseless for their own material gain.

The societies have an egregious upper hand; there is nothing, Alex thinks bitterly, “they couldn’t buy their way out of.”

The novel focuses far less on the intricacies of its ghosts and ancient societies than it does on real-world problems. It COURTESY OF MACMILLAN PUBLISHING

does so, however, with mixed results: While Bardugo portrays a thought-provoking portrait of the overwhelming power given to the members of the educated elite, she also touches tangentially on sexual abuse and racism without adequately addressing either. Alex comments on the perpetrator of an act of sexual abuse: “[he] was rich and beautiful and beloved, and there was a big difference between things being fair and things being set right.” Though a noble sentiment, the novel would have benefited had its author focused on one of these issues, rather than attempting to discuss all of them. The incidents of sexual abuse and racism are never psychologically resolved or even explored in-depth.

Likewise, Bardugo mentions the destructive power of addiction and its psychological effects, but never fully discusses the transformation that Alex undergoes in becoming clean for the first time in years. She appears once in the hospital, and then, after years of “alcohol, oxy [...] anything that unwound her focus,” shows up at Yale sober, physically if not mentally recovered. The dependence of Darlington, Alex’s mentor, on a powerful supernatural elixir is described as similar to a junkie — “Magic was all he had” — but his storyline on that front is left, at least for now, largely unresolved: His obsession with the occult is more justified than reprimanded.

The problem with “Ninth House” lies furthermore in its fragmented structure and themes. It does not progress chronologically, and while this serves on the one hand to layer the novel, pairing related scenes from different seasons side-by-side and integrating various characters from variegated places and times, it also results in a frenetic, patchy development. While this does mirror, on the one hand, Alex’s transformation and fight to find her own identity in a journey from West to East Coast, druggie to upstanding citizen, it also interrupts at times the brisk pace of the plot.

That being said, the world of “Ninth House” is an intoxicating one, its elegance afforded by its believability.

The problems that Bardugo, an alumna of Yale herself, raises with the secret societies and old-boy exclusivity, are valid and deeply important, but they suffer from a lack of refinement.

PAGE 7

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | OCTOBER 1, 2019

BACOW FROM PAGE 1

HLS FROM PAGE 1

Students Criticize Bacow Apology HLS Travels to Public Colleges philanthropic objectives, which might include supporting activities in schools where they enjoyed no prior affiliation.”

Some student organizations drafted statements calling on Bacow to issue a more substantive apology after the Boston Globe first reported his analogy. They argued that Bacow could prove the sincerity of his apology by committing to prison divestment.

The Harvard Prison Divestment Campaign condemned Bacow’s slavery comparison and wrote in a statement released on Twitter that Bacow’s words demonstrated he has a “crass understanding” of the legacy of slavery and its ties to the prison system — which they say is a continuation of slavery.

HPDC member Zoe L. Hopkins ’22 said in an interview that in light of his comments, Bacow should back divestment from the prison industry given its ties

to the “legacies of violence” of slavery.

“If he had any understanding of this violence, and dared to step out of the ivory tower that is Massachusetts Hall, and look around...him, he would see the legacies of violence slavery has left behind,” Hopkins said.

“And if he understood those legacies, he would have divested from prisons the moment he got here.”

University spokesperson Jonathan L. Swain did not respond to a request for comment.

The Harvard College Democrats released a statement Sunday morning that sharply criticized Bacow’s remarks, saying his comments “stand in diametric opposition to the values” of their organization and Harvard at large.

“At a time when Harvard must more fully reckon with its dark history of enabling and practicing slavery, it is unac-

ceptable for its leader to compare alumni donors to enslaved persons and revised donor rules to the 13th Amendment,” the statement reads. “It’s time for him to make his apology real by divesting our institution from the prison-industrial complex.”

Harvard College Democrats President Henry “Hank” R. Sparks ’21 said the group issued a statement because they felt they had something to “add to the narrative” and wanted to reaffirm their call for Bacow to support prison divestment.

“We think that Bacow’s comments sort of reflect an idea that slavery is something that happened in the past, and that has no bearing on today and so therefore, you can use it as an analogy whenever you want to,” Sparks said. “That isn’t the case.”

Some University affiliates took to Twitter individually to criticize Bacow’s comments.

Harvard Kennedy School Professor Khalil G. Muhammad wrote on Twitter that Bacow’s analogy comes as Harvard grapples with issues like ties to controversial donors and how it should invest its endowment.

Muhammad referenced billionaire and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who gave nearly $9 million to the University; Harvard is currently reviewing those gifts.

“In light of other issues around fossil fuel divestment campaigns and prison divestment campaigns and some very unsavory, wealthy givers like Jeffrey Epstein, it just seems like the president needs to set a higher standard, in general, for how Harvard thinks about fundraising, and its relationship to wealthy people,” Muhammad said in an interview.

alexandra.chaidez@thecrimson.com aiden.ryan@thecrimson.com

visiting a lot of schools in new geographic regions that we haven’t visited before,” Jobson said.

“Some examples for this year include Louisiana, Minnesota, and the Pacific Northwest.”

In addition to increasing their physical presence on campuses across the country, the Law School “revamped” its JDP website, created blog posts, and published videos detailing students’ experiences, Jobson said.

They also held virtual information sessions specific to JDP applicants.

So far they have held three virtual information sessions — two providing information for JDP applicants and one providing information for pre-law advisors.

“We hope that that enhanced

online and virtual presence in addition to all of our recruitment efforts at various colleges are compelling,” Jobson said.

Jobson said the Law School will not release the individual admissions data for the program this year, as had been their practice in the past. She said, however, that the program is reflective of the regular admission JD class for the year they applied — including GRE scores, LSAT scores, and grade point averages.

“We don’t necessarily have any caps in mind for JDP or any goal numbers,” Jobson said.

“It’s all going to always be reflective of the pool of applicants that we see.” michelle.kurilla@thecrimson.com

ENTRPRISE FROM PAGE 1

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Online 24/7 and in your dining hall five days a week.

ERC Plans to Avoid Kendall Issues “We think that we have the advantage, since we own all the land, we can plan public realm and public art up front, which we think will make it a more hospitable, community-oriented campus at the end of the day, which was not a choice that MIT had,” Glynn said.

Concrete details of the ERC’s public artworks will not be determined until a developer is chosen, but Glynn brought up several examples installments that the ALC hopes to emulate.

“We’ve been doing a study of successful public realm art projects,” he said. “An example of that is ‘The Bean’ in Chicago.”

He said the ALC hopes to attract people to the new campus with the art that is selected.

“We want to make sure that

we’ve gotten smart about what projects have been successful, what projects do create, you know, a magnet for citizens of all ages and all incomes,” he said.

“There are pretty things, but that doesn’t mean that they really work for the public realm, you know, becoming kind of a magnet or making the project more of a destination.”

Beyond public art and employment opportunities, the ERC plans to aside 20 percent of developed land as greenspace.

“We’re trying to make sure that we have something that everybody can be proud of,” Glynn said . peter.okeefe@thecrimson.com

MEMORIAL FROM PAGE 1

Friends Remember Sandip Nirmel optimist, hard-worker, and close friend.

Some also spoke about their time with Nirmel in high school at the Harker School, as well as stories from college. Friends from high school shared light-hearted stories, recalling Nirmel’s sense of humor and positive attitude.

David Zhu ’21 recalled a memory of Nirmel participating in a relay race for a school spirit event in high school. Zhu said the last leg of the relay involved sticking marshmallows to school administrators’ faces,

and that Nirmel took on the task with composure even after his team had lost.

“He was just so calm, so collected,” Zhu said. “He just kept on throwing the marshmallows and, eventually, they stuck.”

Dunster held a smaller gathering in May, though many students had already left campus because final exams had already ended. Kelly said they held the second gathering, in part, for those who were not able to attend the May event. delano.franklin@thecrimson.com

BIKES FROM PAGE 1

Bike Thefts Up in Cambridge and Harvard

The Crimson thecrimson.com

she would lock it against a gate across from the Charles River in the courtyard between Winthrop House buildings.

On Sept. 21, however, it was stolen.

Levine said the way she locked the bike was not to blame.

“I’m from New York so I know how to lock my bike really carefully. There was a really heavy duty lock cord going through both wheels and the frame and my helmet,” she said.

Experiences like Levine’s

persuaded Jack O. Luby ’20, who keeps a bike on campus for “fitness,” to store his bike indoors.

“I store my bike in my room.

I’m worried it might get stolen or broken,” he said.

As for Levine, she said that she has not decided if she is going to invest in another bike.

“I need to think long and hard...about whether or not I’m willing to take the risk of having it be stolen again,” she said. ema.schumer@thecrimson.com

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THE HARVARD CRIMSON | OCTOBER 1, 2019

PAGE 8

EDITORIAL THE CRIMSON EDITORIAL BOARD

COLUMN

Harvard Must Continue to Make Admissions More Equitable

T

here is no “typical” Harvard student. There are 6,699 students from around the country and the world, and every single one of us took a different path to get here. Some of us excelled in sports or in the arts, some others through writing or science, but on campus, all of us form part of one Harvard student body — constantly in the process of learning to grow in conversation with itself.

Still, a recent Duke University study confirms two things that many Harvard affiliates likely already know. First, applicants who can be characterized as having legacy, athlete, or donor or faculty family status have a leg up in the admissions process; and that, second, removing athlete and legacy preferences would significantly change the racial make-up of Harvard’s student body, reducing the number of white students. However, the paper still makes many striking findings: 43 percent of white accepted students between 2009 and 2014 were athletes, legacies, faculty children, donor family members, or, likely in many cases, some combination of them. And, according to the study’s modeling, only about a quarter of those students would have been accepted if they didn’t fit one of those categories. Running the numbers yet further, the study finds that if legacy and athletic preferences respectively were abolished, the number of white students admitted overall would fall by 4 percent and 6 percent in each scenario.

In order to make sure it enrolls a di-

verse group of students, Harvard should strive for a truly holistic review that does not provide separate admissions pathways for any students. These separate pathways — including early athletic recruitment and the “Dean’s Interest List,” which came to light as part of the ongoing lawsuit of Students for Fair Admissions — are unjust, reflecting and perpetuating inequities from generation to generation. More importantly, they play a role in engineering class-based divisions between students — seeding the grounds for damaging divisions between students of different socioeconomic backgrounds.

In order to make sure it enrolls a diverse group of students, Harvard should strive for a truly holistic review that does not provide separate admissions pathways for any students.

In particular, the study calls us to look critically at what it means to be an athlete on our campus. No doubt, athletes have worked hard to cultivate their skills and contribute a liveliness and depth to our campus culture that we would regret losing, not least when the Harvard-Yale Game rolls around each November. But we should also recognize that even ath-

letic ability can be dependent on the resources made available during one’s childhood. Few can afford coaching in sailing; and certainly still fewer can afford the boat to sail on. Indeed, the study finds that only 3.2 percent of white admitted athletes can be considered economically disadvantaged. Just as we critique the financial resources that go into studying for the ACT and SAT, we should be conscious of how those same resources go into fostering and providing a nurturing environment for athletic talent.

We continue to believe that the best admissions process will look at each student as a complex whole, comprised of not only their academic proficiency and extracurricular intrigue, but also the background — in terms of privileges and challenges — that they come from.

To that end, every student should be considered through the same process and apart from the pocketbooks of their parents or the colleges those parents attended. Though this study does not shock us per se; it reminds us of the significant work our University has left toward achieving the goal.

—Isaac O. Longobardi ’21, a Crimson Associate Editorial Editor, is a Social Anthropology concentrator in Eliot House.

—Nick J. Danby ’20 is a concentrator in History in Kirkland House. His column appears on alternate Tuesdays.

@thecrimson OP-ED

First Person Leadership and Bacow’s Climate Crisis

L

ast Friday, I took the long way through the Science Center Plaza to pass Divest Harvard’s climate strike. I’d guess there were 200 strikers gathered around a thin young man with curly hair and sunglasses, who spoke from a platform. He was right on schedule, just a few minutes before noon, as he roused the sign-bearing students (alongside adults and kids too young to be in college): “Green! New! Deal! Green!

New! Deal!”

Earlier that day The Crimson published a story about the Harvard Corporation’s ties to fossil fuel companies. In the grand scheme of Harvard’s suspicious financial relationships — Jeffrey E. Epstein, ties to Saudi Arabia, the Sacklers, etc. — the news wasn’t all that surprising, but it did strike me just how intimate these ties are.

Four of the 13 Corporation mem-

But I find myself missing that personal commitment — one of Bacow’s greatest rhetorical strengths — in his statements on climate change. bers have professional ties to the fossil fuel industry. One of them, Theodore V. Wells, who has recused himself from any Corporation deliberations on fossil fuel divestment since 2015, currently serves as lead counsel for ExxonMobil.

Corporation member David M. Rubenstein invests in oil and gas projects through his private equity company The Carlyle Group, and has introduced the former ExxonMobil CEO at several speaking engagements in Washington, D.C. The easy conclusion to draw here is that the Corporation — recusal or not —is significantly biased against fossil fuel divestment. But I find myself thinking about the predicament of University President Lawrence S. Bacow, caught between leadership and administration.

While Bacow has traditionally preferenced business-as-usual policies, less noted is his deeply personal sense of social justice. To be sure, his recent comparison of Harvard’s donor policies to the 13th Amendment was, as one anonymous staff member put it, “tone-deaf,” to say the least. Still, Bacow has time and time again shown a deep care for the so-

I

to teach me. As I left the strike, walking past the Science Center toward Kirkland Street, I couldn’t help picturing Bacow up on that platform, leading the community in its demand for action. What would that Harvard look like? President Bacow, that doesn’t have to be a fantasy.

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.

The Crimson

cial issues that affect the University and the world around it.

In his fall welcome email, for example, Bacow took the opportunity to express his personal stake in U.S. immigration policy. “Not just as a university president, but as the son of refugees and as a citizen who deeply believes in the American dream, I am disheartened by aspects of the proposed new criteria for people seeking to enter our country,” he wrote.

How we treat the displaced is personal — relevant to three facets of his identity — and he’s done more than talk about it. When a Harvard freshman was denied entry to the U.S. in the days before orientation, Bacow played an integral role in getting him to campus. The president of the nonprofit organization AMIDEAST, which sponsors the student’s studies, said of Bacow, “He was very much a stand-up guy on this issue and it’s very much appreciated.”

Bacow is not a climate change denier, and he admits there’s work to do. But there’s something absent from his voice — some quality of sureness and authenticity that I’ve grown to associate with the tone of his presidency.

In a piece for Harvard Magazine, Bacow wrote, “Climate change poses an immediate and concrete test of whether we, as members of a university and responsible inhabitants of our planet, will fulfill a sacred obligation: to enable future generations to enjoy, as we are privileged to enjoy, the wonders of life on Earth.” Rarely have I heard a less convincing use of the phrase “sacred obligation” — pulled out of the abridged dictionary of climate change clichés, alongside “concrete test,” “responsible inhabitants,” and “wonders of life.”Of course, Bacow cannot write as Gabrielle T. Langkilde ’21 so movingly did in a recent Crimson Editorial column. “[Harvard] claims to be a safe space for all,” she wrote, “but how can I feel safe when its very investments in the fossil fuel industry are contributing to the destruction of my home?” From her own personal anxiety, Langkilde makes a powerful claim about Harvard’s obligation to divest. It’s not an abstract duty but one to a very real portion of its community, whose homes are being threatened right now. Bacow does not have access to that same anxiety, and he certainly should not pretend he does.

But, then again, you’d think his words might reflect more awareness of these community members and their con-

Nick Danby AMERICA IN THE WORLD

yearn for the good old days of U.S. foreign policy. The days before the Berlin Wall fell and American statesmen would religiously consult with its allies and vanquish the “right” enemies.

I miss when national security leaders from both parties worked with the president and devised a judicious strategy to contain the Soviet Union. Those were the days.

Except those days apparently never existed.

In 2014, former U.S. diplomat Stephen Sestanovich wrote the book “Maximalist: America in the World from Truman to Obama,” which argues that there has never been a cohesive grand American strategy of bipartisan consensus and global interdependence.

In fact, Sestanovich believes U.S. foreign policy has alternated between two extremes: maximalism and retrenchment. Under former U.S. presidents Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy ’40, Lyndon B. Johnson, Ronald Reagan, and George W. Bush, the aphorism, “If it’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing,” seemed to encapsulate their foreign policy.

When Soviet Russia threatened the American way of life, these presidents did not just strategically counter Russia’s geopolitical gains, they engaged in expensive arms races, divided Europe, entered protracted wars in Korea and Vietnam, and supported anticommunist resistance movements from Afghanistan’s mujahideen to Nicaragua’s “contras.”

When the maximalists go too far, “retrenchers” like Dwight D. Eisenhower, Richard M. Nixon, Gerald R. Ford, Jimmy Carter, and Barack Obama attempt to do less and withdraw from costly entanglements while reorienting America’s strategic interests. At some point, however, this caution and hesitancy poses a threat to American security, upon which another maximalist is elected.

If that’s the case, what’s Donald Trump? Writing in 2014, Sestanovich had the luxury of not tackling one of America’s most baffling presidents — especially with regards to foreign policy. On face value, if this maximalism-retrenchment pendulum holds up, Trump must be a maximalist because Obama embraced retrenchment when it came to the Middle East and the Pentagon’s budget.

But Trump’s doctrine seems far more complex. Sestanovich says that every maximalist president paid “keen attention to American power and influence.” If these presidents did not respond to certain provocations, then the U.S. could not “defend its interests in the future.” Trump seems to fit this description. In an effort to maintain American primary, Trump’s foreign policy revolves around “America First” as he rips up the Iran nuclear agreement because it was “the worst deal ever” for the U.S. Concurrently, he has started a vicious trade war with China, which he accused of “raping” the U.S. economy via the trade deficit, currency manipulation, intellectual property theft, or the fact that they are on track to surpass the U.S. on nearly all macroeconomic measures. These maximalist actions are contrasted with Trump’s professed desire to reduce America’s footprint in the Middle East and a doctrine of “disentanglement, retrenchment and realignment,” as New York Times columnist Ross G. Douthat ’02 described it.

While Trump made campaign promises to put “America First” he has also made bold, maximalist statements to foreign countries. He threatened North Korea with “fire and fury” and insinuated a military intervention in Venezuela. But when his threats of military actions or oil embargoes fail, Trump embraces retrenchment. He ignores the threats he once made and diverts his attention elsewhere. This is accompanied by retrenchment actions, such as reducing America’s troop presence in Syria or Afghanistan. Trump talks like a retrencher and walks like a maximalist. But he also talks like a maximalist and walks like a retrencher.

While “the good old days of U.S. foreign policy” were not perfectly harmonized, at least that generation of American statesmen, who experienced the horrors of World War II, recognized that free and democratic nations like the U.S. had a responsibility to protect the world from dangerous regimes and ideologies. The U.S. had to be involved in world affairs. Trump does not believe this.

He subscribes to this increasingly popular doctrine: U.S. intervention and involvement is a waste of time and money and America needs to return home.

All hope, however, is not lost. Since Trump’s foreign policy approach is erratic, proponents of sensible and principled U.S. engagement need to remind the American people that the U.S. should not support freedom on a case-by-case basis or selfishly pursue its own interests or dismiss all multilateral organizations. America is committed to building a better world and thwarting those who upend such progress.

We don’t have to ignore global interests just to make America first. In fact, by prioritizing global interests America can continue to be first — just like it has for the past 70 years.

As Harvard students graduate and enter increasingly globalized professional environments, they should remember that there is no correct answer to how the U.S. should conduct foreign policy — Cold War strategy ebbed and flowed for 40 years. Successful policy, however, does have one requirement: it has to make sense in the moment.

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By ISAAC O. LONGOBARDI

Trump: Maximalist or Retrencher?

cerns. When writing to the University about changes to Title IX policy last semester, Bacow forefronted his own sense of awareness and responsibility: “The events of the past year have underscored for me and for many other people that great institutions must work to protect and defend the people who make them great.” None of us need claim status as a victim to find personal significance in the issue of sexual misconduct.

The same should be true in the case of climate change. None of us should have to experience the devastation of natural disaster to believe that climate change implicates us personally, not least in terms of our moral complicity. But I find myself missing that personal commitment — one of Bacow’s greatest rhetorical strengths — in his statements on climate change. “We owe the future nothing less,” Bacow concludes the Harvard Magazine piece. It’s a pithy sentence, no doubt. But it leaves me wondering what it means for he himself. What makes Bacow — the University President, the son of immigrants, the engaged citizen — care about that future? And what is that future anyway?

My point, then, is a small one. Yes, I stand with Divest Harvard in calling on Bacow and the Corporation to divest from fossil fuels. And I agree that an important first step in that process is disclosing the extent of those investments — and perhaps, in doing so, dispelling some of the suspicion around the Corporation’s extensive ties to the industry. But even before that, I urge Bacow to make climate change not merely a global issue but a personal one. Great leadership demands personal commitment. It’s a lesson that Bacow continues

But even before that, I urge Bacow to make climate change not merely a global issue but a personal one.

Page 9

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THE HARVARD CRIMSON | October 1, 2019

Sports

Weekly Recap

SCORES

Women’s golf vs. princeton invitational 10/13 ___________________________________________________________

woMen’s soccer vs. penn w, 1-0 ___________________________________________________________

men’s golf Vs. macdonald cup 7/12 ___________________________________________________________

women’s volleyball Vs. dartmouth l, 3-2 ___________________________________________________________

Football vs. brown w, 42-7 ___________________________________________________________

field hockey vs. new hampshire w, 5-0 ___________________________________________________________

field hockey vs.yale w, 2-1 ___________________________________________________________

men’s soccer vs. merrimack t, 3-3 ___________________________________________________________

football notebook

Smith Shines and Third-Downs Key in Harvard Win By james joyce Crimson Staff Writer

“Isn’t it funny, How a bear likes honey? Buzz! Buzz! Buzz! I wonder why he does?” -A. A. Milne, “The Complete Tales of Winnie-the-Pooh” Within the first chapter of A. A. Milne’s “The Complete Tales of Winnie-the-Pooh,” a literary masterpiece in and of itself, America’s favorite bear finds himself caught in a peculiar predicament. Our buddy Pooh, having just heard a strange reverberating ring, struggles profusely to determine the source – and, more importantly, the meaning – of the sound. Suddenly, he exclaims that “that buzzing-noise means something. You don’t get a buzzing-noise like that, just buzzing and buzzing, without its meaning something.”

This past Friday, the Brown Bears found themselves in a similar situation. Sure, though the two bears may have differed in color and intention, both were subject to a constant droning sound – Pooh to the humming of bees (to the eventual surprise of both him and his readers), and the players from Providence to the buzz of the scoreboard, a sound that echoed throughout Harvard Stadium as the Crimson brought the ball to the endzone six times.

Under the field’s Friday night lights, Harvard swamped Brown, holding the Bears to a single touchdown as they scored six of their own. However, in the musings of Winniethe-Pooh, this sound and eventual victory must “mean something.” Well, Winnie, you’re right: here’s what we took away from this weekend’s Crimson triumph.

THE MAN, THE SMYTH, THE LEGEND In 2017, Harvard quarterback Jake Smith became the first freshman to start at that position in over a decade. In the years that followed, Smith’s re-

lationship with the starting slot became a little more rocky – the Ithaca, Mich., native completed only four touchdowns over the course of his sophomore year.

This season, however, seems to be different for Smith. The junior matched his sophomore-year points total over the course of the Brown game alone, throwing for a career-best four touchdowns. Halfway through the third-quarter, Smith, trapped in the pocket, launched a 34-yard, endzone-bound bomb to receiver BJ Watson, cementing his record, the game, and the title of Comeback Kid. “It’s exciting when you set a personal record, but I’m not nearly as excited about that as coming out here in a home game with a strong W,” Smith said. “I love how the team responded and I can’t wait to continue the season.”

THE COACH’S APPROACH In travelling from one bookend of America to the other, Harvard not only changed time zones, but it returned home – a much needed location-swap for the competitors in crimson.

The difference in Harvard’s gameplay wasn’t all that evident in the first fifteen minutes of its contest against the Bears, but the latter three quarters saw a much more aggressive team. Crimson coach Tim Murphy cites his staff as some of the main players in propelling that change.

“The first half of our first quarter was very similar to our first quarter against San Diego,” Murphy said. “We struggled a bit out of the gate, but I thought our coaches did a great job getting us doing what we needed to do.”

The Crimson’s late-game aggression could be seen in the squad’s third-down strategy, as Harvard’s performance on the endzone-front was matched by the quality of its late-in-thedrive executions. On 9-of-13 conversion attempts, the Crimson gained the first-down.

THE ONLY 10 I SEE Junior quarterback Jake Smith throws a pass in the Harvard victory over Brown Friday night. The junior tossed four touchdown passes in regulation, a career high. timothy r. o’meara—Crimson photographer

Compare this to 3-for-11 on the side of the Bears.

It was clear throughout the game that Murphy was playing to win, with his team’s five second-half touchdowns completely unmatched by its competitors. Brown didn’t score after its first touchdown. This trend is bound to continue in coming contests. After this victory, Murphy is only five games away from setting the record for all-time Ivy League wins.

THE (MANY, MANY) NAMES OF THE GAME As the ancient song goes, ten Thousand Men of Harvard want victory today; for they know that ov’r old Eli, fair Harvard holds sway. Now, the Crimson may not boast a count of competitors that hits the quintuple-digits, and I’m not exactly sure who Old Eli is, but based on this weekend’s receiving stats, there are certainly quite a few Harvard men who “want victo-

ry today.”

Jake Smith may have been the star of the Crimson’s contest against the Bears, but his receiving corps certainly garnered a few honorable mentions. Each of Harvard’s six touchdowns was tabbed by a different man, making for quite the versatile offense.

With a minute left in the first quarter, senior receiver Cody Chrest nabbed a 12-yard pass from Smith. Upperclass-

men Jack Cook and Adam West scored in the second quarter, easily tripling the Crimson’s point total.

The next fifteen minutes saw the train of triumph speed, with running back BJ Watson snagging a touchdown pass. In the final quarter of the contest, running backs Devin Darrington and Aidan Borguet took a pair of tumbles into the endzone. james.joyce@thecrimson.com

Sailing

Harvard Takes First Gold of Fall at Danmark Trophy

By Jasper GOodman contributing Writer

With a pair of high-profile podium finishes over the weekend, the Harvard sailing team hopes that it has finally found its groove.

The Crimson picked up its first regatta victory of the season at the Danmark Trophy and finished second at the Women’s Showcase, which both took place in New London, Conn., over the weekend. The two podium finishes highlighted Harvard sailing’s most successful

weekend yet this Fall.

The first and second place showings are the top two results the Crimson has posted this year.

It is just the third time in the last two years that Harvard has posted multiple podium finishes in different regattas during the same weekend.

“Our execution was good, our speed was good, our handling is really improving,” Harvard coach Michael O’Connor said. “We were very happy with the results.”

At the Danmark Trophy, ju-

nior captain Henry Burnes and senior Iulianna Taritsa blew away their competition in the B-Division, finishing a whopping 36 points in front of second-place Yale. Burnes and Taritsa scored 69 points over the regatta’s 18 races.

In the trophy’s A-Division, junior Eli Burnes, junior Emily Wang, and sophomore Eric Hansen finished in third place, with 130 total points — an average score of 7.2. The trio won five of the regatta’s 18 races, including a crucial victory in the final set.

“Going into the last few races, we knew that St. Mary’s was a little bit ahead of us,” Eli Burnes said. “We knew we had to beat them just a little bit in the last few races to win the regatta overall.”

In the Women’s Showcase, sophomore Emma Kaneti and junior Emma Jakobson won the A-Division by 16 points. The Crimson looked to be on track to win the regatta, but a last-place finish by Harvard’s B-Division boat in the regatta’s final race pushed them into second place overall, just four points behind

FULL SAIL The sailing team competed in three regatta’s over the weekend: the Women’s Showcase, Danmark Trophy, and the Lark Invitational.

THY R. O’MEARA—Crimson photographer

TIMO-

Yale.

“We came really close to winning the [Women’s Showcase],” O’Connor said. “We had a little bit of bad luck at the end of the final race but they sailed well enough to win. Next time they sail that well, I’m confident they will.”

With the performances over the weekend, the Crimson established itself as able to compete — and win — in a big, interconference regatta.

The question remains, however, as to whether or not they can keep it up. Prior to this week, Harvard had posted just two podium finishes and struggled at times to carry momentum forward.

“I think it’s a weekend where we really began to achieve our potential, but we have a lot of work left to do and we’re hoping to build on it,” O’Connor said.

Emily Wang and Eli Burnes, who hadn’t raced together prior to this season, have led the Crimson so far this year. Kaneti and Jakobson, the Crimson’s other top pair, “have picked up where they left off,” according to O’Connor.

“We’re very happy with the progress that our team is making,” O’Connor said. “Everybody is working hard towards our team goals. We’ve had some good performances on the weekends, but we have not been consistent enough yet. If we can get to the point where our execution, particularly on the starting line, is consistently good, we have a great deal of potential.”

Burnes, a philosophy concentrator, is coming off a successful sophomore season last year in which he was named an honorable mention on In-

ter-Collegiate Sailing Association’s All-American team.

“Eli is a very smart sailor,” O’Connor said. “He’s fast in a wide range of positions. He’s a really fun person to sail with.

He’s really got a ton of potential, he just needs to be a little bit more consistent.”

Harvard features eight firstyears on their roster, including several who are sailing competitively for the first time. Following the graduation of several small crews last spring, Eli Burnes says the upperclassmen put on “a full-court press to get freshmen to join the sailing team.”

“This year, we knew we’d have to train a lot of walk-ons,” Burnes said. “We basically just started to talk to as many people as possible at the activities fair.

We had people talk to any freshman they knew.”

When first-year Chris Wang arrived on campus, he had “no idea” that sailing would become such a big part of his freshman experience. Wang was drawn to the team because he wanted to fulfill a life-long dream of his father’s, who has a passion for boats but never had the opportunity to take up sailing seriously prior to coming to Cambridge.

“My dad’s extremely happy that I’m doing it,” Wang said. “I felt like I was fulfilling a family goal because my dad never got to go through with it.”

There are three regatta weekends remaining in the fall season before the ICSA Singlehanded Championships on November 9.

“This is definitely a huge confidence-booster,” Eli Burnes said. “Great for momentum for the rest of the season.”