The Harvard Crimson - Volume CXLVI, No. 70

The Harvard Crimson The University Daily, Est. 1873 | Volume CXLVI, No. 70 | Cambridge, Massachusetts | monday, may 13, 2019

editorial PAGE 4

Editorial PAGE 4

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Harvard has hit the green with the donation for marijuana research.

It’s time for Harvard to lead, not lag, in the field of sustainable investing.

Harvard softball wins Ivy League playoff series.

Univ. Refuses to Renew Winthrop Deans

By Shera S. avi-yonah and aidan f. ryan Crimson Staff Writers

Dean of the College Rakesh Khurana announced that he will not renew Winthrop Faculty Deans Ronald S. Sullivan, Jr. and Stephanie R. Robinson after their term ends on June 30 in an email to House affiliates Saturday morning.

The decision comes after more than three months of activism and outcry surrounding Sullivan’s decision to represent Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein — who stands accused of rape — and a day after The Crimson reported allegations brought by Winthrop students, tutors, and staff of a toxic environment under Sullivan and Robinson stretching back years.

Khurana wrote in his email to Winthrop residents that he decided not to renew Sullivan and Robinson’s faculty dean appointments because the environment in the House was “untenable.”

“The actions that have been taken to improve the climate have been ineffective, and the noticeable lack of faculty dean presence during critical moments has further deteriorated the climate in the House,” Khurana wrote. “I have concluded that the situation in the House is untenable.”

Sullivan and Robinson wrote in an emailed statement to The Crimson they were surprised by the College’s decision and that Harvard “unilaterally” ended discussions they were having with University representatives.

“We are surprised and dismayed by the action Harvard announced today. We believed the discussions we were having with high level University representatives were progressing in a positive manner, but Harvard unilaterally ended those talks,” Sullivan and Robinson wrote. “We will now take some

By shera s. avi-yonah and aidan f. ryan Crimson Staff Writers

value, the Boston Globe first reported last month. Zhao’s younger son, a sophomore and current member of the fencing team, was admitted to Harvard shortly after the transaction; his older son, who was also a fencer, graduated from the College in 2018.

In an email to FAS affiliates last month, Gay announced the

Winthrop Faculty Dean Ronald S. Sullivan, Jr. told a Manhattan judge Friday he will no longer represent Harvey Weinstein in his Manhattan sex abuse trial, according to a spokesperson for Weinstein.

Weinstein spokesperson Juda S. Engelmayer wrote that the Hollywood producer is “grateful” for Sullivan’s work on his legal team and noted that Sullivan has offered to advise him as the case moves forward.

“Mr Weinstein is extremely grateful to Ronald Sullivan for his work with him until now, and for Ron’s offer to advise where he can going forward.

Mr. Sullivan believed that Mr. Weinstein deserved a vigorous defense, and it is a sad moment for us all right now,” Engelmayer wrote.

“We, as a country, have now reached the point when a Harvard lawyer and professor cannot serve his duty to, and belief in, the law and defend a person who may be deemed unpopular or unworthy of a legal defense by segments of the public,” he added.

The announcement came a day before Dean of the College Rakesh Khurana wrote in an email to Winthrop residents that he will not renew Sullivan and his wife Stephanie R. Robinson as faculty deans when their term ends at the end of the semester on June 30. Since Sullivan announced he would represent Weinstein in January, he has faced a torrent of student calls for administrators to remove him.

ABC News first reported Sullivan’s decision to leave Weinstein’s legal team early Sunday morning. A notice of his decision will be made public Monday, according to their report.

Sullivan did not immediately respond to requests for comment on his decision Sunday afternoon.

Student activists have taken to protests and online posts to criticize Sullivan’s decision to represent Weinstein. They argued that his representation of Weinstein conflicted with his responsibilities as faculty dean of the House. Last week, 178 students attended a sit-in at Winthrop’s dining hall to “reclaim” Winthrop House. Student groups Our Harvard Can Do

See gay Page 3

See weinstein Page 3

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Winthrop Faculty Deans Ronald Sullivan and Stephanie Robinson will no longer serve in their positions after their contract expires on June 30. Dean of the College Rakesh Khurana made the decision not to renew their contract. Delano R. Franklin—Crimson photographer

time to process Harvard’s actions and consider our options.”

“We are sorry that Harvard’s actions and the controversy surrounding us has contributed to the stress on Winthrop students at this already stressful time,” they added.

Though their decade-long term at Winthrop will end this summer, Sullivan and Robinson will keep their appointments at Harvard Law School, where they both teach. They are the first African Americans to serve as faculty deans of an undergraduate house.

Dozens of students met with Khurana, Dean of Students Katherine G. O’Dair, and Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean Claudine Gay in Winthrop dining hall Saturday afternoon.

Many hugged and thanked the

administrators for their decision to not renew Sullivan and Robinson.

Students have criticized Sullivan’s representation of Weinstein since he first announced his decision in January.

Following that announcement, Sullivan wrote an email to Winthrop residents defending his decision and stressed the importance of representing the “unpopular defendant.” He later followed up with another missive announcing he had appointed Winthrop Resident Dean Linda D.M. Chavers as the “point person” for issues surrounding sexual assault.

In the months after, student activists took to protests and online posts, arguing that

See winthrop Page 3

Dean of the College Rakesh Khurana speaks to students in Winthrop Dining Hall Saturday afternoon. quinn g. perini—Crimson photographer

Drew Faust Earned Coach Investigation Could Alter $1.7 Million in 2017 Admissions Policies, Gay Says Highest Compensated Administrators Active in 2017 1,800,000

By jonah s. berger and molly c. mccafferty

1,707,070

Compensation in 2017 (dolars)

Crimson Staff Writers 1,500,000

Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Claudine Gay said in an interview Thursday that the College could alter its admissions policies after an external investigation into Harvard’s head fencing coach, Peter Brand.

The investigation — ­

1,200,000

880,900

900,000

841,952

839,538

736,897

600,000

300,000

0

Drew G. Faust Alan M. Garber George Q. Daley Nitin Nohria Katherine N. Lapp

Matthew J. Tyler—Crimson Designer

By cindy h. zhang Crimson Staff Writer

Former University President Drew G. Faust made just over $1.7 million in compensation in 2017, her last full year as Harvard’s president. While Faust’s tenure ended last June, current University President Lawrence S. Bacow’s compensation will not be released for another year.

Faust’s 2017 pay included $961,952 in base salary, $191,960 in nontaxable benefits, $534,140 in retirement and other deferred compensation, and $19,018 in other reportable compensation. The Harvard Corporation — the University’s highest governing body — decides each year how much deferred compensation will be paid to the University President. In 2017, the Corporation voted to credit Faust with $500,000, an increase from the $400,000 credited to her in 2016 and $300,000 in 2015.

Faust earned a total of $1.5 ­

Inside this issue

Harvard Today 2

Sullivan Leaves Weinstein Defense

million in 2016 and $1.4 million in 2015.

Compensation for Faust and other top University officers was released Friday as part of the University’s Form 990 tax filings, which the Internal Revenue Service requires tax-exempt entities to submit annually.

Former Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Michael D. Smith, who stepped down at the end of the 2017-2018 school year, earned $730,382 in 2017.

His successor — Claudine Gay — will not have her compensation in that role reported until next year. University Provost Alan M. Garber ’76 made $880,900 in total compensation in 2017.

The University’s three highest paid faculty members all teach at Harvard Business School, as was the case last year.

The highest paid, Lynda M. Applegate, earned $1,495,676 in total compensation in 2017. More

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News 3

Editorial 4

launched in the wake of allegations that Brand participated in improper real-estate and non-profit transactions with the family of a then-prospective fencer — is still ongoing.

Brand, the head coach of Harvard’s men’s and women’s fencing teams, sold his Needham, Mass. home to iTalk Global Communications, Inc. co-founder Jie Zhao in 2016 for $300,000 above its market

One Injured in Shooting on Eliot Street in Square

By Ema R. Schumer Crimson Staff Writer

The Cambridge Police Department is investigating a report of gunshots fired on Eliot Street near JFK Street at 3:30 a.m.

Sunday morning. The incident resulted in one person — a Cambridge resident — injured, according to a citywide alert.

City dispatchers received a call early Sunday morning reporting that shots had been fired in the area and a suspect was fleeing the scene. Responding CPD officers found multiple shell casings on Eliot Street, according to the alert.

The CPD alert, sent to residents subscribed to its email alert system Sunday just after 8 a.m., also stated that prior to the shooting, altercations between two groups took place around Harvard Square. ­

See SHOOTING Page 3

Sports 6

Cars drive through the intersection of JFK Street and Eliot Street in Harvard Square, where a gunshot incident occurred early Sunday morning. Quinn G. PErini—Crimson photographer

Today’s Forecast

cloudy, WIndy High: 54 Low: 43

Visit thecrimson.com.

Follow @TheCrimson on Twitter.

queso means cheese

THE HARVARD CRIMSON |

MAY 13, 2019

Page 2

Harvard today

For Lunch Chicken Fingers Philly Cheese Steak Sub Cajun Black Bean Cakes Waffle Fries

For Dinner Salmon with Green Curry Citrus and Fennel Chicken Vegetable Lo Mein with Tofu Garden Rice

Today’s Events Celebrating Afro-Cuban Hiphop 2-5 p.m.

This event, hosted by the Afro-Latin American Research Institute, will explore Afro-Cuban rap songs in Havana, Cuba, combining a listening session with a panel discussion.

Head to the Hutchins Center at 104 Mt. Auburn St. to learn more about how this music relates to citizenship, gender, and more within the context of Cubal.

Rachel Louise Snyder at the Harvard Book Store 7-8:15 p.m.

Rachel Louise Snyder is an awardwinning author who recently wrote “NO VISIBLE BRUISES: What We Don’t Know About Domestic Violence Can Kill Us.” The Harvard Bookstore will be hosting Snyder as well as Suzanne C. Dubus — the CEO of the Jeanne Geiger Crisis Center — and novelist Andre Dubus III for a conversation on Snyder’s book.

in The Real World The Ethics of Coaching Endowments at Ivy Leagues

It’s no secret that money can buy you recognition at Ivy League schools, evidenced by building names left and right. In the wake of college admission scandals which, in many cases, involved sports teams, however, the option to endow a coaching position (for a cool $2 million, in Yale’s case), is under scrutiny. Some families who bought coaching endowments had children attend Yale shortly thereafter, prompting questions of ethics.

Moon Rocks Released for Analysis After a rainy start to the spring, students were welcomed into finals week with sunny weather.

Eliot House can be seen beyond a flowering tree. QUINN G. PERINI — Crimson photographer

Daily Briefing Dean of the College Rakesh Khurana announced that he will not renew Winthrop Faculty Deans Ronald S. Sullivan, Jr. and Stephanie R. Robinson after their term ends on June 30 in an email to House affiliates Saturday morning. The decision comes after more than three months of activism and outcry surrounding Sullivan’s decision to represent Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein — who stands accused of rape — and a day after The Crimson reported allegations brought by Winthrop students, tutors, and staff of a toxic environment under Sullivan and Robinson stretching back years. In other news, Sullivan told a Manhattan judge Friday that he will no longer be representing Weinstein.

Before Neil Armstrong left the moon, he collected moon rocks, which now sit at Johnson Space Center, waiting to be analysed. Experiments on the vacuum sealed, long-frozen rocks can only be performed once, so care must be taken as not to exhaust the sample supply. NASA has decided that the time (and technology) is right, and three new samples are set to be released for analysis.

Around the Ivies Princeton

Princeton President Christopher L. Eisgruber authorized an external review of the university’s Title IX office on Friday, according to the Daily Princetonian. The review follows a four-day Title IX office sit-in outside Nassau Hall, where protestors demanded eleven reforms. The students were continuing their sit-in in spite of a previous statement from the administration that it would consider their demands. In light of these protests, the university’s vice provost wrote to Eisgruber requesting that he authorize an external review.

Cornell

Two Cornell softball players were removed from the team, while a third “quit voluntarily,” after reportedly speaking out against the head coach, according to the Cornell Daily Sun. The two dismissals came shortly after a Daily Sun article detailed allegations of verbal abuse and disregard of player injuries and mental health issues against the coaching staff. The Cornell athletics department released a statement Friday stating that the dismissals were based on standard varsity team procedures and were unrelated to the recent Sun article. The removals prompted outcry among other team members and parents who claimed the dismissals were unfair.

DARTMOUTH

Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang spoke about his presidential candidacy and platform at Dartmouth on Friday, the Dartmouth reported. Yang spoke at Harvard about his longshot candidacy in February, and he has crossed the threshold to qualify for the first Democratic presidential debate. During his Dartmouth speech, Yang focused on the importance of climate change and his proposal for a universal basic income, which he dubs the Freedom Dividend, that would provide $1,000 every month to every American.

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

Night Editor Jordan E. Virtue ’20

Design Editor Matthew J. Tyler ’22

Assistant Night Editors James S. Bikales ’22 Meena Venkataramanan ’21

Photo Editor Quinn G. Perini ’22

Story Editors Angela N. Fu ’20 Jamie D. Halper ’20

Editorial Editor Jessenia N. Class ’20 Sports Editor Henry Zhu ’20

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

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

Corrections The May 10 article “FOP Program to Be Led By Quigley” misstated Kate Colleran’s title as “Senior Director for Student Organizations and Resources,” not “Assistant Dean of Student Engagement and Leadership.”

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THE HARVARD CRIMSON | MAY 13, 2019

WINTHROP FROM PAGE 1

GAY FROM PAGE 1

Sullivan to Leave Winthrop House Fencing Review May Yield Change Sullivan’s representation of Weinstein conflicts with his role as a faculty dean. In February, the College launched a “climate review” led by former Dean of Freshmen Thomas A. Dingman ’67 to address student concerns.

The controversy later extended to other parts of the House. Last month, Winthrop tutors Carl L. Miller and Valencia Miller and Danu A.K. Mudannayake ’20 — an activist who organized the first calls for Sullivan step down — filed conflicting police reports after a confrontation in the Winthrop dining hall. Days later, the Millers sued Eliot House Faculty Dean Gail A. O’Keefe for defamation after she sent an email to Eliot residents defending Mudannayake’s account and calling the Millers’ response “unprofessional.”

On Friday, The Crimson reported that issues with Sullivan and Robinson’s leadership of the House began years before Sullivan announced he would represent Weinstein. Tutors and staff said that the pair targeted staff who reported concerns about the deans to administrators and that the deans created a difficult work environment.

In 2016, 13 resident tutors — more that half of that year’s roster — threatened to resign because they believed the faculty deans wanted to dismiss a tu-

tor based on false accusations.

On-campus activists who led calls for Sullivan to step down said Saturday that they were shocked and excited by Khurana’s decision.

Mudannayake, who is also a Crimson design editor, said she woke up Saturday morning because her phone was buzzing with messages about the College’s decision not to renew Sullivan and Robinson. She said the rest of the day brought disbelief, then joy.

Winthrop resident Caroline R. Kaufman ’21, who co-wrote a post about the impact of Sullivan’s decision on people who have experienced sexual assault, said she entered the Winthrop dining hall Saturday afternoon to find a different environment from the one she experienced over the past several months.

“I went down to the dining hall after it happened when Rakesh was there and there were a lot of Winthrop staff members, and students there,” she said. “It was just the complete opposite of what the Winthrop dining hall environment has been for the last three months. It was just this happy, excited, relieved environment where everybody could talk about what they wanted to talk about.”

Though individual students like Mudannayake and Kaufman started organiz-

ing efforts against Sullivan, pre-existing student groups including anti-sexual assault advocacy group Our Harvard Can Do Better and the Association of Black Harvard Women often joined them.

ABHW released a statement in February calling on Sullivan to step down, and Our Harvard Can Do Better staged a sit-in at Winthrop dining hall to “reclaim” the House.

The actions that have been taken to improve the climate have been ineffective...I have concluded that the situation in the House is untenable.

Rakesh Khurana Dean of the College

ABHW President Kacey E. Gill ’20 said she felt a combination of “relief and happiness” about the announcement and also pointed to organizing efforts. “I wish that it hadn’t taken so long had it required so many students to put their mental health, well-being, and potentially even their futures on the line in order to get that change to occur. But it did hap-

WEINSTEIN FROM PAGE 1

Sullivan Departs Legal Team Representing Weinstein Better, the Association for Black Harvard Women, and Student Labor Action Movement organized the event.

Though the first calls for Sullivan’s removal came as a result of his decision to represent Weinstein, in the months since students and administrators have argued that his response to criticism and the environment he and Robinson created in Winthrop are also cause for ­

concern.

The Crimson reported on Friday that Sullivan and Robinson’s tenure at Winthrop has been marked by a culture of retaliation and fear, according to a dozen current and former House staff. At one point in their tenure, 13 resident tutors — more than half that year’s tutor staff — made a pact to resign in protest, though they ultimately stayed.

Many students — including Winthrop residents and those involved with student organizations who have been vocal in their calls for Sullivan to step down from his faculty dean position — rejoiced at Khurana’s announcement yesterday after more than three months of campus controversy. shera.avi-yonah@thecrimson.com aidan.ryan@thecrimson.com

SHOOTING FROM PAGE 1

Police Investigate Gunshots in Harvard Square, One Injured CPD has not yet made any arrests directly related to the shooting, CPD spokesperson Jeremy Warnick wrote in an email to The Crimson. CPD has arrested a 27-year-old male resident of Roxbury — who was involved in the altercation between groups — and charged him with Distribution of a Class D Drug. CPD is investigating his connection to the shooting as a possible witness or involved party, Warnick wrote.

The CPD email indicated that the sole victim was an 18year old Cambridge resident

who sustained non-life threatening injuries and received treatment at a nearby hospital.

No known Harvard affiliates were involved in the shooting, according to Warnick.

Harvard University Police Department Spokesperson Steven G. Catalano forwarded the CPD alert to Harvard affiliates Sunday evening to notify them of the incident.

“HUPD officers were on scene and after consulting with Cambridge Police determined that there was no active threat to the University,” he wrote in

his email to students.

Several students living in Kirkland House, which abuts Eliot Street, said Sunday evening that they neither heard the gunshots nor had any knowledge of the incident until they received Catalano’s email.

CPD detectives plan to review video surveillance footage of the surrounding area and speak to any witnesses, according to the alert. They also encouraged anyone with information to reach out to police. ema.schumer@thecrimson.com

SALARIES FROM PAGE 1

Harvard Administrator Salaries Released in Annual Tax Filings than $1,000,000 of Applegate’s pay and significant sums of other top-earning faculty is designated as “other reportable compensation” which can come from a variety of sources including deferred pay and awards for longevity of service. The tax form does not note the specific source.

Once again, the deans of the Business School and Medical School were Harvard’s highest-paid deans in 2017.

In a reversal from 2016, however, 2017 compensation for the Medical School’s dean surpassed that of the Business School’s dean. Medical School Dean George Q. Daley ’82 made $841,952 in his first full year in the role, while Business School Dean Nitin Nohria earned $839,358.

Top executives at Harvard Management Company, which oversees the University’s endowment, earned significantly more than Faust and other Uni-

versity executives.

HMC CEO N.P. “Narv” Narvekar earned just over $9.25 million in his first full year at Harvard.

Compensation for Narvekar, who joined Harvard in late 2016 after managing Columbia’s endowment, includes $6.5 million in base pay and roughly $2.75 million to compensate for Narvekar’s departure from Columbia.

Former HMC real estate managing director Daniel W. Cummings earned $10,057,908 in 2017, a significant decrease from his $23,853,527 salary in 2016.

His unusually high salary in 2016 included roughly $12.3 million vested in accordance with his tenure at HMC. Cummings and the HMC real estate team joined Bain Capital back in January 2018, butthey also continue to manage Harvard’s real estate holdings.

The six highest-paid HMC officials earned nearly $40.5 million combined, dwarfing the combined compensation of other top-earning University-level administrators.

The 2017 fiscal year marked the last year that HMC employees received bonuses based on the success of their asset class performance.

Starting fiscal year 2018, bonuses will be based on the overall performance of Harvard’s $39 billion endowment, which has continually underperformed the endowments of comparable Ivy League universities.

Both the University and HMC have seen significant employee turnover since 2017.

Therefore, many current leaders ­— including Bacow, Gay, and HMC COO Sanjeev Daga — do not yet have earnings information available. cindy.zhang@thecrimson.com

pen, we are here now,” Gill said.

Remedy H. Ryan ’21, an Our Harvard Can Do Better organizer, said that, when the news of Sullivan’s representation first became public, she did not think the College would ever decide to let Sullivan and Robinson go.

“I guess a lot of people told us at the beginning of the semester that this couldn’t be done, and that Ron Sullivan had too much power and was too good at using it,” Ryan said. “This is kind of proof that collective organizing against rape culture can do a lot.” In his email Saturday, Khurana wrote that he admires Sullivan and Robinson’s work on social justice. He called the decision not to renew them “regrettable.”

College spokesperson Rachael Dane wrote in an email that the administration will likely search for new deans through the summer and early fall to follow normal procedures and involve students and staff. As the College begins their search, Chavers wrote in an email she hopes students, tutors, and staff can rest after a tumultuous semester.

“I am looking forward to a time of healing and improved conversation and communication for the Winthrop community,” Chavers wrote. shera.avi-yonah@thecrimson.com aidan.ryan@thecrimson.com

“independent review” of the allegations, adding that she is obligated to act with a “sense of urgency” if FAS decides it must strengthen existing admissions and recruitment procedures.

Gay said Thursday she does not know when the investigation will conclude. She added that any potential policy changes that result from the probe would seek to “maintain the integrity” of the “College experience,” specifically the role of athletics. But she added that she would not institute alterations to admissions policies until the conclusion of the investigation.

“Depending on sort of what we learn through the independent review of this particular situation, we’ll also see if there are other changes that we need to make to our policies or practices,” Gay said. “First, we just need to actually do the review and see what emerges from that, what it suggests about next steps.”Gay declined to comment on whether Brand would continue to coach the team. As of Sunday night, he is still listed as head fencing coach in an internal Harvard directory.

Asked what firm is heading the investigation into Brand, Gay said she could not recall the name, adding that it is one the University has worked with pre-

Transformative coverage.

The Crimson thecrimson.com

viously in situations “where outside counsel or an outside firm is helpful.” FAS spokesperson Anna G. Cowenhoven declined to name the firm afterward.

In an interview last month, University President Lawrence S. Bacow also said he could not recall which firm Harvard had hired to conduct the investigation but that it was one the University has “retained in other capacities.” Gay wrote in an April email that the College’s admissions policies are more robust than other schools’ in preventing the types of impropriety that swept up dozens of students, parents, and coaches in a nationwide scandal involving bribes and fraudulent test-taking.

The University announced in April that it planned to conduct training for all of its athletics coaches on its conflict of interest policy. Gay said Thursday that such training is ongoing and largely amounts to “reinforcement” for the athletics staff.

“On a regular basis, the coaches do go through a lot of training, including around things around complicated ventures,” she said. “So it’s not as if we’re really starting from a blank slate.” jonah.berger@thecrimson.com molly.mccafferty@thecrimson.com

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | MAY 13, 2019

PAGE 4

EDITORIAL THE CRIMSON EDITORIAL BOARD

COLUMN

High Time For Marijuana Research

There Should Be No Hierarchy of Concentration

L

ast month, Charles R. Broderick made history by providing the largest independent donation to Harvard and MIT to fund research on the medical properties of cannabinoids.

The $9 million donation comes amidst a groundswell of state-led marijuana decriminalization, much of which centers on the drug’s medicinal uses, and proposes to study its medical and neurobiological effects.

Harvard has hit the green with this donation — as marijuana use becomes more widespread, research in this under-studied field becomes increasingly important. Thus, it should mark the start of broader efforts rather than the culmination of research into the drug’s medical effects.

Thorough, high-quality research into cannabis is long overdue. Ten states have already legalized recreational marijuana use, and 23 have sanctioned its medical use. In light of this widespread availability, such research must better contextualize the benefits and consequences of its use from a medical standpoint.

Researchers at MIT and Harvard have already proposed to use this funding for a variety of studies ranging from neurobiology to psychiatry, and we are hopeful that the donation will begin to close this knowledge gap in medical research.

In addition to these proposed projects, we hope to see research into longterm health outcomes of regular cannabis users.

In the context of this call for further research, we are acutely aware of the so-

cial conditions surrounding marijuana’s legalization, and we believe all research should be grounded in those conditions.

Because legal enforcement and decriminalization have predominantly hurt black and brown communities, and resultant social repercussions continue to grip our society, it’s important that marijuana research, medical and otherwise, proceed with this context in mind.

Regardless of whether biomedical scientists feel equipped to account for the social contexts of marijuana use in their research, we hope to see additional funding channels open so that sociological research can accompany medical studies.

Marijuana use will continue regardless of local or federal laws surrounding it, so better understanding the long-term effects of daily use can only better help inform health and social policy. This argument also extends to other drugs that are currently criminalized.

Research on harder drugs, such as psychedelics, as they relate to health issues, should be viewed as something to aid our society in understanding and dealing with them, rather than as a blanket endorsement of their use.

As obtaining research funding through traditional methods for cannabis research continues to pose a challenge given the drug’s criminalization at the federal level, we hope that other sources, including private donors like Broderick, will continue to fund this important research.

While many existing funds are being channeled into research on cannabis’

medical properties, we hope that marijuana’s increased visibility will lead to a diversification of the research surrounding it.

We are glad to see support for this important cannabis research, but we hope future studies can be conducted without reliance upon the money and interest of private individuals.

Broderick’s donation has the potential to mark a positive step in marijuana research, but it is important to recognize his connections to the Canadian cannabis industry.

Though HMS and MIT have pledged that the donor will have no involvement in the projects, and we believe his donation was given in good faith and are duly appreciative, we generally view research funded by parties with compelling market interest in research outcomes with skepticism.

We hope that researchers will remain faithful to this pledge and carry out their research rigorously and impartially with publicly and clearly outlined objectives.

We hope this research will catalyze future work that benefits society, informing policies regulating consumption of marijuana.

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.

Laura S. Veira-Ramirez A WILD TONGUE

S

tudy something you love that you can make a lot of money with,” my mom’s advice echoed as I thought about what options that left.

For immigrant families, that often means becoming a doctor or a lawyer.

So, I pursued STEM, as I felt I was passionate about it. It would make a lot of money, so that we could have more financially stable futures than my parents did.

I saw my older sister succeed with her Chemistry degree and thought that was the path I would be following.

This was the path our parents wanted for us.

They came to the United States with us so that we could have more educational opportunities.

They could see their success vicariously through us.

But, it took my entire freshman year at Harvard to realize I wasn’t as passionate about STEM as I was about other areas of my life.

They were areas that I didn’t yet see having academic potential.

I found that I continued in an area I was growing more and more miserable in each day, not only because of what I thought my parents wanted, but also because of the way I heard STEM concentrators invalidate other people’s paths.

The environment was cutthroat, but I stuck through it because I felt I had to.

I felt enough imposter syndrome within Chemistry, I could only see it getting worse if I went into the humanities or social sciences.

I feared being seen as someone who couldn’t cut it in STEM, even if that wasn’t why I was leaving.

It is the privilege behind the Harvard degree that gave room for me to feel comfortable leaving STEM with the assumption that Harvard students were set for life.

KRYSTAL K. PHU — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

OP-ED

Harvard’s Investment in Land and Natural Resources

By EVE DRIVER, ISA C. FLORES-JONES, and KATHRYN A. TAYLOR

F

or rural communities in the central coast region of California, the name “Harvard” does not connote excellence. For these communities, where water is scarce and becoming scarcer, it evokes greed and exploitation.

As California takes its first steps to regulate groundwater in the midst of a worsening water crisis, Harvard’s endowment fund is investing millions into vineyards that pump inordinate amounts of water from California’s critically overdrafted groundwater basins.

According to local farmers, many of whom see their own wells going dry, the University’s projects are doing further damage to the groundwater system as these communities grapple with developing state-mandated groundwater sustainability plans.

Rather than “respectfully engage with the community,” as its own investment guidelines require, Harvard has sent in high-priced consultants to blur water boundaries so that its vineyards can be fully supplied.

The University has even fought (and lost) to get out of local requirements to conduct environmental impact studies for its planned reservoirs.

Harvard’s rapacious land and natural resource investment strategies are not unique to California. The University has been grabbing lands from indigenous communities, cutting down forests, and depriving rural people of access to water around the world for years. Brazil is one of Harvard’s favorite farmland investment destinations.

Over the past decade, the University bought approximately 750,000 acres of land in the Brazilian Cerrado, the world’s most biodiverse savannah. Harvard’s

farm companies have conducted massive deforestation to plant soybeans and other export commodity crops, which have virtually no benefit for local residents impacted by the destruction.

Recent investigations also found that the traditional people occupying much of these lands were displaced by fraud and intimidation.

So how do such investments square with Harvard’s stated commitment to go “be a good steward of the land we own and manage?”

How can the University claim that its acquisitions comply with its commitments to “ethical conduct, responsible stewardship of the environment, and respect for those with whom we do business?”

Read the fine print and you will see there’s a hitch; Harvard only responds to environmental and social considerations if they stand to reduce its financial return.

In other words, if a move doesn’t cost Harvard anything, then it’s fair game, no matter what the consequences are for people and the planet.

Harvard refuses to direct its endowment investment arm, the Harvard Management Company, to observe broad moral principles. Even luminary Adam Smith exhorted that capitalism only has merit when directed by ethical mores.

Yet HMC’s sole obligation is to maximize profit and grow the endowment as fast as possible within mere legal boundaries.

As a direct result, Harvard’s insistence on a financial “first and only” approach to investing has corrupted an otherwise exemplary academic record.

In a December interview focused on divestment from the fossil fuel industry, University President Lawrence S. Bacow said, “The endowment should not be

used as a way, as an instrument of social policy...I think there are far more effective ways for us to influence social policy, public policy as well, through our research, our scholarship, through our actions and through our teaching.”

In other words, like former University President Drew G. Faust — Bacow’s immediate predecessor — scolded, the endowment should not be used for political purposes.

But what is “political” if not the stealing of water rights from local and indigenous peoples and the degrading of our natural commons?

We call upon Bacow, an esteemed economist, to direct N. P. Narvekar, HMC’s CEO, to forge a new direction for endowment investments.

As the world’s largest university endowment ($39.2 billion in 2018) and with one of the world’s top brain trusts, Harvard has no excuse for such flagrant social irresponsibility.

At a minimum, Harvard should consider its own faculty’s assessment of the real environmental, cultural, and local impacts of its investments.

That view alone would call for divestment from water, land, and energy holdings that are accelerating climate disaster, political chaos, and diasporas.

It’s time for Harvard to lead, not lag, the growing field of sustainable investing. Investors the world over are watching its every move.

—Eve Driver ’20 is a Social Studies concentrator in Cabot House. She is the Divest Harvard Faculty Engagement Coordinator. Isa C. Flores-Jones ’19 is a History & Literature concentrator in Dudley House. She is a Divest Harvard Coordinator. Kathryn A. “Kat” Taylor ’80 is the co-founder and CEO of Beneficial State Bank.

I didn’t want another concentration to seem like a backup option.

It wasn’t until I saw the work of seniors outside of STEM, who came from marginalized backgrounds like me, getting validated for their academic achievements that I started to picture other paths of success I had been closed off to.

Most importantly, I recognized their passion for their work that I didn’t feel for my own.

It is the privilege behind the Harvard degree that gave room for me to feel comfortable leaving STEM with the assumption that Harvard students were set for life.

After exploring various disciplines, I am surprised to see that there are many hierarchical views of concentrations.

It’s not just a STEM versus non-STEM binary. I see people competing with lengths of papers, projects, or quality of readings.

I see different levels of admiration if you’re doing theory versus studio art.

Distinctions still exist within the “hard” versus “soft” sciences.

I see condescending views when people do research on communities they are a member of as it is seen as easier and condescendingly labeled “me-search.”

I ultimately ended up in History and Literature and added Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality as my allied field last semester to line up more with my interests.

I noticed my own bias as I was surprised by the amount of theory when transitioning with four WGS classes this semester to catch up on tutorials.

I hope we can shift the conversation to pursue what we are most passionate about and not conflate our success as just monetary.

It was in my WGS junior tutorial this semester that I also realized most of the class had a joint concentration with WGS. I thought of this as a sign that WGS is not validated as a stand-alone field but after hearing about all the great projects my classmates are doing, I realized the value and need for interdisciplinary work.

I recognized the importance of all our concentrations.

We all made it to Harvard.

We all worked hard to get here.

But I wonder how many of us feel like we have to over-perform how well we are handling things and how much work we are able to get done.

With the comparisons of concentrations comes competition over who is doing the most work and who is sleeping the least.

It comes with conversations of who will be making the most money after college or over the summer.

I hope we can shift the conversation to prioritize ourselves more.

I hope we can shift the conversation to pursue what we are most passionate about and not conflate our success as just monetary.

—Laura S. Veira-Ramirez ’20, a Crimson Editorial editor, is a joint concentrator in History and Literature and Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality in Leverett House. Her column appears on alternate Mondays.

PAGE 5

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | MAY 13, 2019

Proud to cover Harvard for 146 years and counting.

Keep the old sheet flying.

The Crimson thecrimson.com

SPORTS

SOFTBALL

ABOUT THE TEAM

2018-19 Overall Record 25-17 ______________________________________

Win Streak

5 ______________________________________

Conference Record 16-5 ______________________________________

Home Record 13-2 ______________________________________

Games 42 ______________________________________

Away Record 8-7 ______________________________________

Runs 219 ______________________________________

Home Runs 22 ______________________________________

Batting Avg.(Team) .291 ______________________________________

Slugging Pct.(Team) .416 ______________________________________

SOFTBALL

Harvard Sweeps Playoffs, Advances to NCAAs

By MOHAMED AHMED AND HENRY ZHU CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

Within two innings on Saturday, the Crimson had already sent eight players home. One frame later, Harvard held a double-digit margin. Finishing the game 11-1, the Crimson cruised to a playoff series sweep of Columbia, booking a spot in the NCAA Tournament for the second straight season.

“We really wanted to extend our season,” senior catcher Elizabeth Shively said. “Just continue being the strongest team we could possibly be. We clinched the Ivy League title but we also wanted to continue playing and clinch the birth to regionals, which we did.”

In fact, the second game in this best-of-three series was so resoundingly one-sided that it was the first-ever mercy rule game in the history of the Ivy League Championships. Following Friday’s 10-7 win in Game One, Harvard (25-17, 16-5 Ivy) is also now the first team ever to score double-digit runs in multiple games during the playoffs.

“It didn’t matter what we had done the previous game,” Shively said. “Our mentality has always been this season to just focus on what’s on the table that present moment. What really got us to win both those games back to back and sweep was not focusing on past success but focusing on the present moment.”

In the series clincher, Ivy League Pitcher of the Year Katie Duncan proved her value in resounding fashion, tallying her ninth complete game with just one unearned run. Duncan’s season-inning total now stands at 149 frames with a 2.72 ERA, although her pitching demands have in no way ended. Her number will again be called on Friday, May 17 when the Crimson will face the nation’s sixth-best team, Arizona, in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.

“It is super exciting to go to regional,” Shively said. “The returners on the team know that last year’s energy at UGA Regional was incredible and we are definitely looking forward to preparing for it.”

Beyond the mound, Harvard’s offensive production will be of equal importance if it seeks a chance at an upset. Saturday’s game was a display of offensive dominance for the home side, with four Crimson players — Meagan Lantz, Trina Hoang, Megan Welsh, and Shively — each reaching base two times.

Shively singled to begin the scoring barrage in the first in-

DANCIN’ AGAIN With a dominant 11-1 victory in the second game of the playoff series over Columbia, the Crimson advances to the NCAA Tournament for the second-straight season. COURTESY OF HARVARD ATHLETICS

ning, before two doubles added three more runs in that frame.

Hoang contributed one of those doubles in a game which saw her lead the squad with three RBI’s.

The Crimson repeated its output in the second inning, catapulted once again by a Hoang two-baser. Harvard tallied two more on the board in the third and one final run in the fifth to guarantee a mercy-rule ending.

Harvard exuded tremendous excitement after Duncan’s final pitch of the game, with the entire bench sprinting towards

the field to celebrate. Associate head coach Lacy Wood was doused in water by senior Erin Lockhart before the team posed for their second trophy celebration in the last two weeks. Harvard previously locked up the Ivy League regular season trophy with a 9-1 victory over Cornell on May 6.

“Every single person contributed this weekend,” Shively said. “It was incredible to see so many people get into that second game and I know every single person was on the field this series.”

The opening game in the

series was much more of a back-and-forth battle. Duncan earned the nod and lasted three innings, striking out three in the process. A four-run second inning propelled the Crimson to a 6-3 early lead, but the Lions reciprocated with a quadruple-run mark of their own in the third.

But an opportune double from Shively in the bottom of the fourth followed by a Hoang RBI rebooted the home side, and a combination of strong pitching from junior Alissa Hiener and a dagger home-run by Welsh secured the game one

victory.

“We knew that Columbia was gonna battle really hard,” Shively said. “Our mentality was keep fighting, keep pushing and not let them get any momentum. Every single person was brought in and the energy was incredible from the dugout.”

The Crimson completed its weekend the following afternoon without needing a third contest, and will have a little less than a week for its challenge on the national stage. Many members of this squad reached this stage last season, and are pre-

pared for more.

The road forward is not easy, but this Crimson side knows it has more winning than losing in its recent history.

“We need to be super sharp and super focused,” Shively said. “I know I’m excited because hopefully we end up going somewhere new and exciting, playing teams we have never played before. It is a really great experience to represent your conference at regionals and that is what we plan to do.” mohamed.ahmed@thecrimson.com.

A SHOWER OF CHAMPIONS Harvard will now prepare to travel to the Cactus State, where it will take on No.6 Arizona in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. Senior pitcher Katie Duncan figures to get the nod at the mound in Friday’s contest. COURTESY OF HARVARD ATHLETICS