The Harvard Crimson The University Daily, Est. 1873 | Volume CXLVI, No. 58 | Cambridge, Massachusetts | Tuesday, april 23, 2019
editorial PAGE 8
news PAGE 9
sports PAGE 10
Cambridge has acted decisively and novelly to address cycling accidents.
Experts and advocates gather to discuss wrongful convictions.
Freshman thrower Sam Welsh eyes the biggest track meets of the season.
MCAD Closes Fryer Inquiry By Shrea S. Avi-Yonah Crimson Staff Writer
A Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination investigation into whether Economics Professor Roland G. Fryer, Jr. sexually harassed and retaliated against a former female employee concluded in February by agreement of the parties, according to documents obtained by The Crimson. The former employee filed a complaint with the MCAD — which enforces Massachusetts laws forbidding unlawful discrimination based on traits including gender, race, sexual orientation, and gender identity — against Fryer, Harvard, and Education Innovation Labs Chief of Staff Bradley M. Allan a year ago. She filed alleging sex discrimination, sexual harassment, and retaliation, according to the documents. The MCAD closed its investigation after the complainant’s lawyer, Monica R. Shah, signed the withdrawal form on Feb. 4. On the form, Shah indicated that the complainant had reached a “satisfactory settlement” with Harvard, Fryer, and
Students Travel to N.H. for CNN Town Hall By Devin B. Srivastava Crimson Staff Writer
Allan. Shah declined to comment for this story. George J. Leontire, Fryer’s lawyer, said the complaint was dismissed upon agreement of the parties, rather than settled. Because the parties agreed to conclude the matter before the MCAD issued a report with findings, it is unclear whether the agency evaluated any of the conduct in the complaint. The Crimson obtained the complaint under the Massachusetts public records law. Because that law does not permit public disclosure of the accused party’s written response to the complaint, it is not known exactly what Fryer or other respondents may have said in rebuttal. Leontire wrote in an email April 9 that Fryer denies all the allegations against him. “He has denied them from the inception of this matter except to acknowledge he made off color jokes which he apologized for to anyone who took offense,” Leontire wrote. Fryer wrote a letter in the New York Times in December
See Fryer Page 9
Five prominent Democratic presidential candidates fielded questions about everything from student loans to climate change at a town hall Monday evening co-sponsored by CNN and Harvard’s Institute of Politics that featured an audience of young voters from more than 30 states. United States Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), and South Bend, Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigieg ’04 each spent an hour answering questions from audience members. CNN anchors Anderson Cooper, Don Lemon, and Chris Cuomo moderated the discussion. Roughly 500 young voters attended, 200 of them from Harvard’s various schools. The town hall, held at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, N.H., coincided with the release of an IOP poll showing that more than a third of the voters in the 2020 election will be Millenial and Gen Z voters. Prior to the event, students filled out an application that required them to submit three potential questions for each of the five candidates, as well as three
Students and press mingle with Democratic primary candidates after a CNN and Harvard co-sponsored town hall in Manchester, N.H . devin b. srivastava—Crimson photographer
general questions that could be asked of any of the five. Popular themes among the chosen questions included the cost of a college education and the burden of student debt, the looming perils of climate change, and
the Mueller report and its investigation into President Donald Trump’s ties to Russia. All of the candidates spoke about the need to reduce student debt and make higher education more financially accessi-
Heat Week Begins with Demands for Divestment By Alexandra A. Chaidez Crimson Staff Writer
A series of speakers took the mic at the Divest Harvard press conference kicking off Heat Week Monday. Divest Harvard member Ilana Cohen ‘22, was joined by high-profile guests. Sung Kwang Oh—Crimson photographer
At the start of a revitalized “Heat Week” campaign, students, faculty, and alumni gathered to call on University President Lawrence S. Bacow and Harvard administrators to divest their endowment holdings in the fossil fuel industry at a press conference at the Charles Hotel Monday. Heat Week began as a weeklong protest organized by Divest Harvard — a fossil fuel divestment advocacy group — in April 2015. Hundreds of students and several faculty members blockaded Mass. Hall for a week, occupied the Harvard Alumni Association headquarters for two days, and blockaded University Hall multiple times. This year, members of Divest Harvard planned a week of public actions, civil disobedience trainings, and panels about divestment activism. Heat Week will culminate in a rally entitled “Flood Harvard” in Harvard Yard on Friday. The group organized the press conference to coincide with Earth Day, and invited
high-profile alumni, faculty, and environmental advocates to join their call for fossil fuel divestment. Gina McCarthy, former Environmental Protection Agency administrator and director of C-CHANGE at the Harvard School of Public Health, kicked off the hour-long conference by sharply criticizing Harvard’s investments in fossil fuels. “It is time for Harvard and other Ivy League schools to divest,” McCarthy said. “They know better. Get over it. Move forward.” McCarthy also urged the Harvard Corporation — the University’s highest governing body — to align their investments with the ongoing climate change research produced by Harvard scientists. “It’s time for Harvard Corporation’s investment policies to match the University’s commitment to science, to its scientists, to our shared values, our views of the students, the faculty, the alumni to put Harvard’s money where it belongs — in the future and not in the past,
See Heat Week Page 7
University, Law Review Reiterate Anti-Lawsuit Arguments By Connor W. K. Brown Crimson Staff Writer
Harvard University, Harvard Law Review, and United States Secretary of Education Betsy D. DeVos continued to argue in a set of filings Thursday that an anti-affirmative action group, which has alleged the Law Review has discriminatory member selection policies, has not sufficiently proved it has standing to bring the case. The group — Faculty, Alumni, and Students Opposed to Racial Preferences — initially brought the complaint to Massachusetts District Court in October 2018. They have since amended their complaint to include the Coalition for Meritocracy at Universities as co-plaintiffs. The groups claim they have members who are Harvard Law School students impacted by the member selection policies. The lawsuit also includes allegations that members of Inside this issue
Harvard Today 2
FASORP and CMU are applicants for faculty positions at the Law School and face illegal discrimination resulting from affirmative action in Harvard’s hiring processes. The groups most recently filed in late March, reiterating their standing in the case, along with their claims that Harvard and the Law Review are subject to federal laws and have violated them. They argue that DeVos has violated the law by not withdrawing federal funding from Harvard as a result of its alleged discrimination Throughout the case, Harvard and the Law Review have independently argued the plaintiffs have not demonstrated they have standing to bring the case. In their January amended complaint, FASORP and CMU claimed that they had current Harvard affiliates who would be affected by the University’s and Law Review’s
See Law Review Page 9
News 7
Editorial 8
Gannett House, the oldest buiding on the Harvard Law School’s campus, has been home to the Harvard Law Review since the 1920s. Awnit S. Marta—Crimson photographer
Sports 10
Today’s Forecast
Showers High: 56 Low: 45
ble. Warren — who released her proposal to reduce student debt and to make public colleges tuition-free just hours before the town hall — said her plan would
See TOWN HALL Page 9
IOP Surveys Youths’ Concerns By Jania J. Tumey Crimson Staff Writer
The spring 2019 Harvard Institute of Politics Youth Poll found that voters between the ages of 18 and 29 are experiencing anxiety and have increasingly voiced concern about the moral direction of the United States. Conducted by the Harvard Public Opinion Project, the biannual poll surveyed more than 3,000 individuals nationwide. The survey also revealed that the youth vote will likely play a significant role in the 2020 presidential election. While the poll did not find a significant link between anxiety and partisan affiliation, anxiety was correlated to views about the nation’s civic health. Forty-eight percent of young Americans — irrespective of political affiliation — repoting having experienced anxiety within the 24 hour period before the poll was conducted. Fifty-nine percent of respondents who strongly agreed that “politics today are no longer able to meet the challenges our country is facing” reported experiencing anxiety. Only 29 percent who strongly disagreed with that statement experienced anxiety. John Della Volpe, the IOP’s director of polling, said in a press release about the fnidings that candidates need to better understand the stress and anxiety that young voters face in order to connect with them. “It is no secret that social media has exacerbated the stress and anxiety that is already so prevalent in the lateteen and early-adulthood years of young Americans,” Della Volpe said in the press release. “However, for the first time, we now have evidence that the state of our politics is contributing to the mental health challenges millions of young Americans already face.” In addition to high rates of anxiety, the poll found that young Americans are worried about the deteriorating moral
See poll Page 7
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