The Harvard Crimson — Volume CXLV, No. 79

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The Harvard Crimson THE UNIVERSITY DAILY, EST. 1873  |  VOLUME CXLV, NO. 79  |  CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS  |  TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2018

EDITORIAL PAGE 4

FEATURE PAGE 3

SPORTS PAGE 8

Regulations threaten to restrict Cambridge’s economic growth.

A new report dives into HMS farmland holdings around the globe. It’s not pretty.

The hopes are high for this year’s edition of men’s golf.

Harvard, MIT Win CRISPR Rights

Harvard’s Investing Targeted in Report

Police Have No Report on Arrest By CAROLINE S. ENGELMAYER CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

By ELI W. BURNES and ANDREW J. ZUCKER CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

UC Berkeley contended that Doudna and her collaborators deserved the patent and appealed the patent office’s decision, filing interference proceedings that were approved by the trademark office in Jan. 2016. In Feb. 2017, a U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board ruled that the patents held by the Broad Institute and UC

Harvard’s investment practices have come under fire frequently in recent years, as protesters on campus have called on the University to divest from fossil fuels and private prisons. This time, the criticism is coming from groups hundreds of miles away — and it’s aimed at the University’s vast but little-known farmland holdings. A report released last week details the web of companies with which Harvard Management Company, the university’s investment arm, directly invests in farmland around the world, risking conflict with communities from California to Brazil. The report, published by activist groups Genetic Resources Action International and Rede Social de Justiça e Direitos Humanos, claims to

SEE CRISPR PAGE 4

SEE HMC PAGE 3

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By SANJANA L. NARAYANAN and CINDY H. ZHANG CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

A federal appeals court ruled Monday that the Broad Institute holds patent rights to the gene-editing technology CRISPR-Cas9, ending a years-long dispute between the University of California, Berkeley and the Harvard and MIT-affiliated institute. CRISPR-Cas9, a revolutionary gene-editing technology, has a variety of potential biotechnological applications, including helping to cure genetic diseases such as Huntington’s disease, sickle cell anemia, and cystic fibrosis. In 2011 and 2012, Jennifer ­

MORGAN J. SPAULDING—CRIMSON DESIGNER

A. Doudna of UC Berkeley and Emmanuelle M. Charpentier of Umeå University in Sweden were researching CRISPR-Cas9. Simultaneously, Feng Zhang ’04 of the Broad Institute was working on the same problem, albeit separately. Although Doudna published her findings and applied for a patent before Zhang did, her work focused on CRISPR-Cas9 in test tubes whereas Zhang’s research focused on its usage in

human and mouse cells. The United States Patent and Trademark Office awarded the Broad Institute the rights to use CRISPR-Cas9 for eukaryotic cell-editing methods, listing Zhang as the primary inventor. Eukaryotic cells, which include animal and human cells, have the most potential for industry and commercial purposes. A patent for CRISPR-Cas9 is valued at approximately $265 million, according to Forbes.

Graduate Union to Address Diversity B y SHERA S. AVI-YONAH and MOLLY C. MCCAFFEY CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

Representatives of Harvard’s freshly minted graduate student union say they are committed to prioritizing issues of diversity and inclusion at the bargaining table, which they expect to approach soon. Earlier this year, the Harvard Graduate Students Union-United Automobile Workers established a Civil and Human Rights Committee in order to push for contract language that “meaningfully addresses the unique needs of various underrepresented groups on campus,” according to committee co-chair Cherrie N. Bucknor, a GSAS student. The committee is one of three bodies formed by HGSU-UAW almost immediately following the union’s certification in April. In an election that capped off a five-year effort by graduate students to collectively bargain, 56 percent of voting teaching and research assistants said they wanted to form a union. In the days following the vote count — even before the University had pledged to meet the group for negotiations — HGSU-UAW leaders moved swiftly to build up a formal bureaucracy, establishing a bargaining committee, a “Time’s Up” committee, and the Civil and Human Rights committee. Bucknor wrote that the committee spent the summer “reaching out to our community with town hall meetings, researching relevant contract clauses, and assisting the bargaining committee with drafting bargaining surveys.” The challenges faced by minority students have been a topic of discussion within the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences — whose students make up the lion’s share of ­

SEE CIVIL PAGE 3 INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Harvard Today 2

MOWGLI’S

The Mowgli’s perform as a part of the Crimson Jam on Friday. KAI R. MCNAMEE—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

Nearly five months after the arrest of a black Harvard undergraduate roiled campus and drew allegations of police brutality, the Cambridge Police Department has yet to determine a timeline for completing its internal probe into the conduct of officers involved. CPD spokesperson Jeremy Warnick wrote in an emailed statement that a schedule for completing the investigation “will be communicated once the results are nearly finalized.” The controversy around the April arrest largely centered around CPD officers’ use of force in apprehending the student. Shortly after 9 p.m. on April 13, the night of Harvard’s annual spring concert, Cambridge police arrived at a street median feet from the Harvard Law School campus to respond to calls about a naked man. The officers later stated in a report that the student — who was nude and likely under the influence of narcotics — had clenched his fists and began making aggressive movements towards them, prompting an officer to tackle him to the ground. But eyewitnesses, including members of the Harvard Black Law Students Association, stated CPD’s version of events was inaccurate and the officer acted “without provocation.” In a video of the incident later made public by CPD, the student is seen standing still, surrounded by four officers, while the officers speak with him for at least two minutes. The student turns around and makes two steps towards one officer, then takes a step back and raises his arms to chest-level. Another officer then tackles him from behind. The arrest triggered a CPD internal investigation. Per department policy, CPD investigates all incidents in which officers use force. CPD is also facing a second, external probe. The department announced in April that Roderick L. Ireland, the first African-American Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, would conduct an “independent review” of CPD’s internal review. The results of ­

SEE CPD PAGE 3

Under New Policy, Frats Won’t Serve Hard Liquor By CAROLINE S. ENGELMAYER and MICHAEL E. XIE CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

Next year, eager freshmen seeking vodka and whiskey might not be able to find it at Harvard’s few remaining fraternities. The North-American Interfraternity Conference announced last week that it plans to ban hard alcohol at its more than 60 affiliated fraternities across the nation. The ban will take effect at the beginning of Sept. 2019. While it prohibits fraternity members from keeping liquor at their facilities and serving it at chapter events, it does not prevent licensed third-party vendors from serving hard alcohol in fraternity spaces. Harvard’s three fraternities — Delta Kappa Epsilon, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, and Sigma Chi — are all members of NIC and will be subject to the new rule. ­

News 3

Editorial 5

The trio are the only fraternities and some of the only allmale social groups left in Cambridge after administrators decided to sanction members of single-sex final clubs and Greek organizations in May 2016 . The social group policy — which took effect with the Class of 2021 — bars members of single-gender final clubs, sororities, and fraternities from holding leadership positions

Harvard Frats and Former Frats Delta Kappa Epsilon, all-male Sigma Alpha Epsilon, all-male Sigma Chi, all-male The KS club, now co-ed The Aleph, now co-ed

SEE ALCOHOL PAGE 4

Sports 6

Sigma Chi is located on Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge. EMILY G. SAVAGE—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

TODAY’S FORECAST

RAINY High: 82 Low: 69

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spinach


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