Harvard Today

The Harvard Crimson

The Universit y Daily, Est . 1873 | V ol me cxlvii, No. 33 | C ambri ge, Massach sett s | tu es ay, march 10, 2020

editorial PAGE 4 Harvard should prioritize vulnerable affiliates in face of coronavirus risk

news PAGE 5 Harvard approved a second redesign proposal for Kirkland’s house shield

sports PAGE 6 Harvard falls short against Brown on senior night

Univ. Indirectly Invests in Tobacco

By Ruoqi Zhang Crimson St aff Write r

COVID-19 Delays Housing Day

The Harvard Management Company indirectly holds an estimated $98,265.08 worth of shares through exchange-trad ed funds which include tobacco companies, an industry Harvard divested from in 1990, according to The Crimson’s analysis of HMC’s public filings to the Federal Securities and Exchange Commission.

ETFs are exchange-traded securities made up of assort ed securities that usually mirror the performance of certain indices. They allow investors to put money into a broad array of companies without having to hold stock in each of the compo nent companies.

Harvard indirectly held eq uities of several tobacco companies including Altria Group, Philip Morris Internation al, Universal Corporation, and British American Tobacco by the end of 2019 through three widely-traded ETFs that cover a wide range of stocks. Accord ing to HMC’s filings, these ETFs include iShares Core S&P 500 ETF, iShares Core S&P SmallCap ETF, and Vanguard FTSE

Harvard Management Company still maintains indirect investments in the tobacco industry. Aiy n g. white— Crimson photogr pher By Sydnie M. Cobb and Declan J. Knieriem Crimson St aff Write rs Harvard College will indefinitely postpone Housing Day — an annual tradition in which fresh men students are assigned to an upperclassmen house — to pre vent the transmission of the novel coronavirus, Faculty of Arts and Sciences Registrar Michael P. Burke wrote in an email to stu dents Monday.

The College has yet to an nounce a new date for Housing Day. The Housing Office will contact freshmen about their as signments, per Burke’s email.

“More immediately, as part of our effort to eliminate gath erings of 100 people or more, we are announcing today that Housing Day, originally sched uled for this Thursday, March 12th, will be postponed,” Burke wrote. “The Housing Office will be in touch with students about when they will receive their housing assignment.”

The email specified that, as of Monday afternoon, there are no confirmed cases of coronavirus on campus. The first confirmed cases in the region — three em ployees of Cambridge-based company Biogen — were an nounced by the company Thursday. These employees, though not Massachusetts residents, at tended a company management meeting with about 175 col leagues at a Boston hotel.

Kirkland Hoco Co-Chair An drea J. Zhang ’22 said she understood the College is taking precaution in the postponement.

“It’s an unideal scenario, but it’s also understandable giv en how so many other concerts, events, classes, and tests have been moved,” Zhang said.

In the email, Burke also pro vided guidelines for students seeking treatment if they exhib it symptoms — though he wrote that Harvard University Health Services is not currently provid ing testing services. “Regarding testing, please note that diagnostic testing for COVID-19 can be conducted only through the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Preven tion (CDC),” the email states. See tobacco Page 3 See housing Page 3

Surveyed Female Faculty Report Unequal Treatment

By James S. Bi ales Crimson St aff Write r

Forty percent of respondents to a Crimson survey of Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences in dicated that they know someone in their department who has experienced sexual harass ment.

At the same time, just 32 percent of survey-takers felt the University’s Title IX office and Office for Dispute Resolu tion are “adequately equipped” to deal with sex- and gen der-based discrimination at the University. Harvard maintains a University Title IX Office to provide education and resourc es on Harvard’s gender and sexbased misconduct policies, and the Office for Dispute Resolu tion to adjudicate formal complaints. A significantly higher per centage of female survey respondents than male respondents indicated that their work at Harvard has been limited by their gender. While 47 percent of women reported encounter ing obstacles because of their gender, only seven percent of men said the same.

Harvard saw a jump in sexu al harassment complaints after the #MeToo movement began in late 2017 — including some against its faculty members. The University has launched a number of institutional efforts to combat sexual misconduct on campus in recent years, but The Crimson’s survey results indicate that faculty’s experi ence with such issues remains mixed.

The Crimson distributed its faculty survey to more than 1,000 members of the FAS in late February, polling Harvard’s flagship faculty on key Universi ty policy decisions, pressing issues on campus, and challenges they face as academics. Emeri tus, tenured, tenure-track, and non-tenure-track faculty all re ceived the survey.

The 74-question survey gar nered more than 400 responses, though not all respondents answered each question. The anonymous survey, a link to which was emailed to nearly every member of the FAS, was open from Feb. 20 to 27. The Crimson did not adjust the data for possible selection bias.

The first and second in stallments of The Crimson’s 2020 faculty survey series ex plored faculty perspectives on

See

aculty Page 5

Do you know anyone in your department who has experienced sexual harassment?

100%

Do you believe your department needs to conduct a survey of departmental climate?

100%

80%

60%

40%

60%

40%

20%

0%

Yes No 80%

60%

40%

57%

43%

20%

0%

Yes No

Camille G. c al dera—Crimson Des igne r

Burglaries Reported in Four River Houses

Over the past week, several reported thefts occurred across houses on the river, including Quincy and Lowell houses. Steve s. li—Crimson photogr pher

By Charles xu Crimson St aff Write r

Four burglaries were reported on Feb. 29 in Quincy, Lowell, Adams, and Mather Houses re spectively, according to police logs released by the Harvard University Police Department. This latest round of property thefts – which included laptops, camera, cash, and a passport – occurred roughly a month af ter an earlier string of burglaries on Feb. 4, which affected River Houses and Yard dorms. Burglaries occurred in Quincy House on both occasions.

Shortly after midnight, HUPD officers were dispatched to Quincy House and Lowell House to respond to reports of break-ins, per the police log.

In Quincy House’s Stone Hall, an Apple Macbook valued at $1,500, a Canon Camera val ued at $60, $350 in cash, and a passport were reported stolen. Next door, in Lowell House, another Macbook was stolen along with a Samsung laptop valued at $1,000 and a Jansport backpack.

Both thefts occurred be tween midnight and 1:00 a.m.

See the ts Page 5

College Pilots New PreOrientation Program

By Juliet E. isselbacher and Simon . le ien Crimson St aff Write rs

The Dean of Students Office will pilot a new leadership-ori ented program for incoming freshmen this summer.

Leadership Institute for the First-Year Experience (LIFE) will join the existing roster of pre-orientation programs, in cluding Fall-Clean Up, FirstYear Arts Program, First-Year International Program, FirstYear Outdoor Program, FirstYear Retreat and Experience, and First-Year Urban Program. Kate T. Colleran, assistant dean of student engagement and leadership and director of LIFE, wrote in an emailed statement that the program will recruit 40 students who seek to develop their leader ship skills and become “change makers at Harvard and in their own communities.”

The DSO announced the ad dition of LIFE via admissions marketing materials sent out to the Class of 2024.

Colleran wrote that the DSO began plans for the pilot after surveying the Class of 2023 and noting that students indi cated strong interest in a leadership-focused programming. “We received feedback this fall from them about a de sire for a Pre-Orientation focused on Leadership,” Colleran wrote. “My team runs the pre-O programs, it seemed like a good fit for us to take the lead on.”

Colleran wrote that pro gram participants will spend the week working with local, “real life” change makers, who will instruct them in the “So cial Change model” of leadership.

The LIFE pilot begins short ly after the institutionalization of FYRE, a program to which the College granted permanent funding this fall.

FYRE, a pre-orientation program aiming to help un der-resourced incoming students adapt to life at the University, received glowing reviews from students when it was first piloted for the Class of 2022.

“We have a variety of amazing programs that all

See program Page 5