The Harvard Crimson, Volume CXLVI No. 17

The Harvard Crimson THE UNIVERSITY DAILY, EST. 1873 | VOLUME CXLVI, NO. 17 | CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS | FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2019

EDITORIAL PAGE 6

NEWS PAGE 4

SPORTS PAGE 8

SEAS committee report presents a step forward in diversity and inclusion.

Thousands seek love, free food on Valentine’s Day with Datamatch.

Harvard men’s basketball prepares for make-or-break weekend.

Bacow Speaks on Divestment

By ALEXANDRA A. CHAIDEZ CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Organizers from the Harvard Prison Divestment Campaign met with University President Lawrence S. Bacow Thursday to present their demands for Harvard to divest its $39.2 billion endowment from companies tied to the prison industry.

“One thing you have to understand about me is that I don’t respond to demands, I respond to reason,” Bacow told six organizers from the pro-divestment organization after reiterating the University’s long-standing anti-divestment position.

During the meeting, the organizers also demanded that the University disclose any holdings Harvard currently has in companies tied to the prison industry, according to the group’s press release.

In response, Bacow “refused to commit to disclosure or divestment,” though he noted that he respected the group’s concerns, according to the press release. University spokesperson Paul Andrew wrote in an email Thursday that, during the meeting, Bacow said students have called for Harvard to divest ­

from a number of industries that may be considered “offensive” to some.

Bacow emphasized that the University cannot respond to every demand, Andrew said.

Harvard presidents have long maintained that the University’s endowment is not an appropriate tool for enacting social change despite persistent calls from activists, mostly recently to withdraw holdings from the fossil fuel and private prison industries. Former University President Drew G. Faust consistently opposed divestment throughout her tenure.

Bacow’s statements on Thursday reflected this precedent: he reiterated the apolitical nature of the endowment and said that this policy has served the University well.

Bacow added that Harvard has a responsibility to donors to generate money for research and “scholarly endeavors,” according to the press release.

University spokesperson Nate Herpich wrote in an emailed statement Thursday that the University’s position that Harvard should not use its

SEE DIVESTMENT PAGE 4

De Blasio Talks Amazon Withdrawal

By JANIA J. TUMEY CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio criticized Amazon for walking away from a planned second headquarters in Long Island City at the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics Thursday evening, hours after the withdrawal was made public.

Event moderator Symone D. Sanders, former national press secretary for Bernie Sanders’s 2016 presidential campaign, opened the conversation with de Blasio by reading from a statement he released Thursday afternoon in which the mayor lambasted Amazon for “[throwing] away” the opportunity to build a new corporate office space in New York City. De Blasio reiterated his thoughts at the IOP, saying that the combative attitudes of Long Island City community members should not have deterred Amazon from following through with its plans.

“No one said [New York City] wasn’t a tough place,” de Blasio said. “People have strong views.”

De Blasio and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo were major supporters of Amazon’s HQ2 proposal, which was expected to generate $27.5 billion in tax ­

Mayor of New York City Bill de Blasio spoke with moderator Symone D. Sanders at the IOP on Thursday NAOMI S. CASTELLON-PEREZ—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

revenue over 25 years, and bring 25,000 new jobs to the city. Amazon said pushback from politicians was a major reason for the cancellation.

“A number of state and local politicians have made it clear that they oppose our presence and will not work with us to build the type of relationships that are required to go forward with the project,” Amazon

wrote in a statement Thursday morning.

De Blasio said it was appropriate for activists and politicians to voice concerns about Amazon’s proposal, but he added that the company should have stuck with their decision and addressed those concerns.

“That’s democracy, and that’s okay, and this is why this whole thing is so strange and

so distressing to me,” de Blasio said.

“Instead of an actual dialogue to try and resolve those issues, we get a call this morning saying we’re taking our ball and we’re going home. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

In the conversation on Thursday, Sanders also asked de

SEE DE BLASIO PAGE 4

Past Cases Hint at Graduate Abramson’s Future Student Stipend Increases

By MOLLY C. MCCAFFERTY CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences has grappled with multiple high-profile cheating scandals concerning undergraduates over the years, but relatively few faculty have faced public allegations of academic misconduct.

Former New York Times Executive Editor Jill E. Abramson ’76 broke that trend last week when she made national headlines for plagiarizing passages in her newest book, “Merchants of Truth.” Journalists on Twitter claimed she lifted material without proper citation from the New Yorker, Time Out Magazine, Columbia Journalism Review, and Ryerson Review of Journalism, among other sources.

Though she initially denied the allegations, Abramson later acknowledged that she had made “completely unintentional” citation errors.

“Anyone who knows or has worked with me knows that I would never intentionally use any other journalist’s work without giving them credit,” Abramson wrote in an email to The Crimson last week.

Abramson’s errors have attracted sharp criticism from her peers in the newspaper industry. But Abramson is not only a journalist — she is also a FAS ­

PETALI FLOWERS

Petali owner John Selletto proudly displays his one-of-a-kind heart-shaped roses. CHLOE I. YU— CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

Graduate Student Union OrganizersTurned-Negotiators Learn to Bargain

By JAMIE S. BIKALES and RUOQI ZHANG CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

When representatives from Harvard’s newly-formed graduate student union sat down in front of the University’s negotiators in their first bargaining session last October, they brought to the meeting enthusiasm for their cause, an ambitious list of 80 bargaining goals, and a set of democratic negotiating principles framing leadership as shared among the entire team.

But they lacked something other Harvard unions had brought to the table in previous negotiations: experience.

Of the thirteen-member team, only one person had participated previously in union contract negotiations.

Five months earlier, members of Harvard Graduate Students Union-United Automobile Workers elected a bargaining committee to survey students on their priorities, set the agenda for the contract negotiations, and, as they did recently, represent student workers at the bargaining table.

Though the elected members all had experience in the Harvard graduate student community, only one — Cherrie N. Bucknor — had bargaining experience. While many members were well-versed in union or­

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Harvard Today 2

ganizing skills, they had to get up to speed on how to approach University negotiators at the bargaining table.

Over the summer, the committee met with staff members from United Automobile Workers – their organizational partner – to learn the ropes.

“We meet between two and three times a week — it’s sometimes more — to prepare for negotiations, to go over potential scenarios, to learn about the material and the issues that we’ll be raising, so that we have a whole holistic understanding of what’s going on and the picture that we’re going to need to paint,” said Ashley B. Gripper, a graduate student and bargaining committee member who was new to bargaining.

Gripper said that organizing for the union also gave her important knowledge that she could take into the bargaining room.

“Organizing for me prior to running for [the] bargaining committee was also extremely helpful because in organizing and dealing directly with folks, and talking to folks about what they care about and what their concerns are, I feel like that was training in and of itself,” she said.

Jennifer K. Austiff, another first-time negotiator on the bargaining committee, said that in preparation for the sessions, she

News 3

Editorial 6

spoke with two members of the bargaining committee from the graduate student union at New York University.

She said they gave her advice about how to “work as a group” and “take care of ourselves” during the bargaining process, which they told her could be strenuous.

“They also gave us some insights about what it’s like to sit across from the...administration, and how that feels and how to prepare for that,” Austiff said Once the bargaining sessions began in October, the committee started meeting before every session to review the points it intended to bring up in the upcoming meeting.

“We’ll practice questioning each other on the proposals that we’re giving, so that way we feel more prepared and confident with our extemporaneous answers to questions that might come up,” Austiff said.

Five months after the start of negotiations, the union and the University have met nine times over the bargaining table. According to Gripper, each session is “really interesting in different ways.”

While neither side has revealed many specifics of their proposals and counter-proposals, HGSU-UAW has published Instagram stories regularly

SEE UNION PAGE 3

Sports 8

lecturer who teaches journalism classes.

The allegations against Abramson evoke comparisons between University policies for responding to undergraduates who commit academic dishonesty and procedures concerning faculty misconduct. The College previously attracted national media attention after suffering cheating scandals in 2012 and 2017 that collectively affected more than 100 students.

Though Abramson is the first FAS faculty member to come under public scrutiny for plagiarism in recent years, the University saw a string of plagiarism allegations against three prominent Harvard Law School professors in the mid-2000s.

The University-led investigations into the three professors — Alan M. Dershowitz, Charles J. Ogletree, Jr., and Laurence H. Tribe ’62, — bore structural similarities to each other. The University first formed a committee to investigate each professor. After considering the facts of the case, each committee issued a report to administrators. And in the end — though the outcomes of the investigations revealed different results — all three professors faced no public disciplinary action.

Though FAS has not recently seen any public accusations

SEE PLAGIARISM PAGE 3

By LUKE A. WILLIAMS CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dean Emma Dench announced that Ph.D. students on financial support will see their stipends increase by 3 percent during the 2019-20 academic year in an email to GSAS affiliates Wednesday.

The stipend increase is a continuation of the tuition grant and stipend support programs started in 2001 and 2002, respectively, according to Dench’s email.

Since then, aid packages for GSAS students have “steadily improved,” according to Dench, who cited the current financial package’s benefits for graduate students, which include transportation subsidies, financial support for parents, and options for Harvard gym memberships.

Sociology Ph.D. student Charlotte J. Lloyd wrote in an email that given rising living costs, students should “absolutely expect” a stipend increase.

“The 3 percent increase in stipends for next year is a good ­

SEE STIPEND PAGE 3

SEE PAGE 4

The results of Datamatch, which went live on Valentine’s Day, were a popular topic of conversation across campus. QUINN G. PERINI—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

TODAY’S FORECAST

RAIN High: 52 Low: 32

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quick as explorer

THE HARVARD CRIMSON |

FEBRUARY 15, 2019

PAGE 2

HARVARD TODAY

For Lunch Chicken Torta Red’s Best Fresh Catch Green Garbanzo Falafel Sandwich

For Dinner Grilled Hamburger Hoisin Glazed Salmon Black Bean Chipotle Poppers Four Cheese Macaroni and Cheese

TODAY’S EVENTS Welcome to Wellness Cabot Library, 1-3 p.m.

IN THE REAL WORLD

If you’ve been falling behind on your self-care game, come to CEB’s Welcome to Wellness event in the Science Center. Cabot Library is normally a stress hotspot, but tomorrow after lunch it’ll be where you can grab healthy snacks (like a smoothie bowl), get a massage, try a face mask, and learn how to be good to yourself this semester.

Amazon Cancels New HQ in New York

Plans to build a new Amazon headquarters in New York City, which would eventually have over 25,000 employees working there, have been cancelled. New York had offered Amazon a deal worth over $1.5 billion to construct its headquarters there, sparking protests. New York politicians had said they were excited about the new jobs Amazon would create. Amazon will proceed with its plans to build headquarters in New Jersey.

Boba Tea at the Signet Signet, 4:30-6 p.m.

Trump Will Declare National Emergency

Valentine’s Day and Lunar New Year treats are waiting for you at the Signet today. It’ll be the perfect way to treat yourself after a long week of classes.

Loteria with RAZA Eliot Small Dining Hall, 6-7p.m.

Harvard-Radcliffe RAZA will be playing loteria, a game similar to bingo, at the Eliot Small Dining Hall. You won’t want to miss out.

Petali flower shop in Cambridge rang in Valentine’s day with thematic pink-and-red floral arrangements. CHLOE I. YU—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

DAILY BRIEFING University President Lawrence S. Bacow met with organizers from the Harvard Prison Divestment Campaign Thursday. Organizers demanded that Harvard disclose any holdings the University currently has in companies tied to the prison industry. In other news, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio visited the Institute of Politics Thursday night and criticized Amazon’s decision to cancel its plans to build a second headquarters in Long Island City.

After the 35-day government shutdown, President Trump has decided to sign Congress’s spending bill. After signing, Trump plans to declare a state of national emergency, therefore bypassing Congress, in order to get funding to build the border wall.

Parkland Mourns Victims on One-Year Anniversary of Shooting

Many gathered in Parkland, Fla. for a day of mourning to remember the one-year anniversary of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, the deadliest school shooting in history.

A moment of silence was held as the crowd, wearing maroon #MSDStrong t-shirts, mourned the 17 lives lost.

AROUND THE IVIES YALE The Yale College Council released a mental health report that finds students are “largely happy” at Yale, but that many are still dissatisfied with the College’s mental health resources, according to the Yale Daily News. The report is the first time the YCC has examined the school’s mental resources since 2013. The YCC found that 82 percent of student respondents are “generally happy” at the University, but 54 percent “disagreed” or “strongly disagreed” that mental health appointment wait times were reasonable.

COLUMBIA

Columbia University has seen a 35 percent increase in Arts and Sciences and Engineering student enrollment over the past 10 years, but amount of classroom space has remained stagnant — forcing more classes to meet on Fridays and Saturdays, according to the Columbia Daily Spectator. “This is not a new situation for Columbia, this has existed for a long time,” said Columbia University Registrar Barry Kane. The lack of space has caused the Registrar and department administrators to search frantically for classroom space across the University, or even off-campus.

THE UNIVERSITY DAILY, EST. 1873

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

Associate Managing Editors Caroline S. Engelmayer ’20 Jamie D. Halper ’20 Associate Business Manager Amy E. Zhou ’20 Editorial Chairs Jessenia N. Class ’20 Robert Miranda ’20

STAFF FOR THIS ISSUE Arts Chairs Kaylee S. Kim ’20 Caroline A. Tsai ’20

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

Night Editor Eliya O. Smith ’20

Design Editor Matthew J. Tyler ’22

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

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

Assistant Night Editors Sahar M. Mohammadzadeh ’22 Aidan F. Ryan ’21

Photo Editor Quinn G. Perini ’22

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.

Story Editors Angela N. Fu ’20 Jamie D. Halper ’20 Jordan E. Virtue ’20 Michael E. Xie ’20

Editorial Editor Romy Dolgin ’21 Sports Editor Lev Cohen ’22

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.

PAGE 3

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | FEBRUARY 15, 2019

PLAGIARISM FROM PAGE 1

STIPEND FROM PAGE 1

Past Investigations Hint at Univ.’s Next Steps in Abramson Case

Graduate Student Stipend Increases

of plagiarism, their procedures closely mirror the investigations each of the Law School professors underwent.

If FAS opens an investigation into Abramson, she too will be subjected to a potentially months-long process involving two investigatory committees, one of which will submit a report to FAS Dean Claudine Gay, who will then decide Abramson’s fate. ­

ALLEGATIONS OF ‘UTMOST SERIOUSNESS’ The University treats allegations of “research misconduct” — which FAS defines as instances of plagiarism, fabrication, and falsification — with “utmost seriousness,” according to FAS procedures.

FAS procedures for responding to such allegations define plagiarism as “the appropriation of another person’s ideas, processes, results, or words without giving appropriate credit.”

Multiple writers have alleged that Abramson copied passages from other works, posting images on Twitter that reveal similarities between her work and that of others — including specific details and nearly identical sentences.

Abramson wrote in an email to The Crimson last week that seven passages in her book lacked citations.

“I did not have citations for seven short passages that contain factual information. These should have been either quoted in the text or footnoted,” she wrote.

She maintained, however, that all of the ideas expressed in her book are “original” and that the errors were “completely unintentional.”

Alleged infractions of the policy arising from “honest error” do not constitute research

misconduct and would not warrant an investigation, according to the procedures.

FAS procedures mandate that all allegations of research misconduct be brought to the chair of FAS’s Standing Committee on Professional Conduct, which advises Dean Gay. The chair must then inform the accused faculty member of the allegation and determine whether the full committee should open an inquiry into the matter.

Abramson wrote in an email Thursday that she has not heard from the Committee on Professional Conduct.

If the standing committee decides FAS should pursue an investigation, its chair would create a new investigating committee which would then spend an unspecified amount of time “completing the procedures and deliberations it deems appropriate,” according to FAS procedures.

At the end of the process, the committee would present a final report to the FAS dean who then has the power to take “whatever action he or she considers appropriate.” The policies do not further specify what possible disciplinary actions, if any, accused Faculty members may face.

Though FAS procedures are different from those at the College, in cases where College students face accusations of plagiarism, the Honor Council — the body that investigates academic misconduct committed by undergraduates — can abstain from taking action or choose from a range of options that include forcing the student to withdraw.

No matter what decision Dean Gay makes, the “Office of the Dean” will keep a record of the investigation, FAS procedures state.

University spokesperson Rachael Dane declined to comment for this article.

‘NO SANCTION OR REPRIMAND’ Though the Law School does not follow FAS procedures for addressing research misconduct, the outcomes of its investigations into Dershowitz, Ogletree, and Tribe may provide a window into how the University addresses plagiarism charges against its faculty.

Each of the three professors retained their teaching posts at the conclusion of their respective investigations.

In September 2003, when Dershowitz appeared on a talk show to debate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with then-DePaul University Assistant Professor Norman G. Finkelstein, Finkelstein alleged on air that Dershowitz lifted material in his bestselling book “The Case for Israel” from an earlier work by journalist Joan Peters.

Dershowitz categorically denied the allegations and sought out a Harvard investigation to clear his name. The investigation, which, according to Dershowitz, was headed by former University President Derek C. Bok ’71, determined that the professor did not plagiarize.

Dershowitz wrote in an email Thursday that he maintains that the charges were “phony” and “baseless.”

A few months later, Ogletree came under fire after Harvard administrators received an anonymous note alleging that three complete pages from Yale Professor Jack M. Balkin’s “What Brown v. Board of Education Should Have Said” appeared in Ogletree’s book “All Deliberate Speed: Reflections on the First Half-Century of Brown v. Board of Education.”

Ogletree admitted in a letter of apology that his research assistants unintentionally lifted content from Balkin’s paper.

Bok and former Law School Dean Robert C. Clark led an investigation into the allegations, ultimately finding that Ogletree had committed “serious scholarly transgression,” but had not done so deliberately.

Ogletree, who could not be reached for comment, told The Crimson at the time that he would be punished by Harvard, though he declined to say how.

He continued to teach at Harvard after the investigation and still retains his professorship.

Shortly after, an exposeé in the Weekly Standard alleged that Tribe’s book, “God Save This Honorable Court,” contained sections copied from University of Virginia professor Henry J. Abraham’s book “Justices and Presidents.”

Then-Law School Dean Elena Kagan and then-University President Lawrence H. Summers convened a task force to investigate the allegations.

In December 2004, the task force issued a report to Summers and Kagan, both of whom released a joint statement concluding that brief sections of Tribe’s book did “echo or overlap with” sentences from Abraham’s book.

Tribe apologized after the University issued its statement. Though Kagan and Summers’s statement did not divulge whether he would face disciplinary action, his assistant said at the time that Tribe would receive “no sanction or reprimand” beyond the release of the statement.

Tribe continues to teach at the Law School. He did not respond to a request for comment. molly.mccafferty@thecrimson.com

UNION FROM PAGE 1

Lacking Bargaining Experience, Grad Student Workers Learn From UAW following the session giving updates on the negotiations’ progress.

At each bargaining session, a different member of the committee acts as the lead spokesperson, according to Austiff.

She said that the union strives for democratic representation among its membership, and this principle also applies to the bargaining committee itself.

“There’s no hierarchy within the bargaining committee, so we felt it would be fair to have everybody take turns at leading the sessions, and also to help balance everybody’s workload,” she said.

Bucknor, the committee member with bargaining experience, previously worked at the ­

Center for Economic and Policy Research, during which time she served as union steward for the Nonprofit Professional Employees Union in Washington, D.C. (called the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers at the time).

“I believe my prior experience has definitely helped me throughout this process,” Bucknor wrote in an email.

“Most importantly, it has shown me the amazing things that are possible with a union contract, what it took in the room to get them, and gives me insight into how to negotiate for some of those same wins in our contract.”

She noted, however, that HGSU-UAW’s negotiations

with the University have been different than her previous experiences in one “very important” aspect“At CEPR, we were able to work through issues quickly and efficiently,” she wrote.

“Here at Harvard, the administration makes incremental moves at the table and has refused to meet with us as frequently as we believe is necessary, dragging this process out unnecessarily.”

University spokesperson Rachel Traughber wrote in an emailed statement that the articles being negotiated are complicated and that they influence “virtually every academic School and Department at Harvard.”

“It’s a first contract, which

From the Law School to Longwood.

means that every article is being negotiated from scratch,” she wrote.

“Many of the items being negotiated by HGSU-UAW and the University are complex and take time to be vetted, including outside of bargaining meetings, in order for the University to respond appropriately.”

“With that in mind, the University’s primary goal in these negotiation sessions is to ensure that this initial contract makes sense and is fair, taking into account the interests of the University and all of its students, including the 5,000 student workers represented by HGSU-UAW,” she added. jamie.bikales@thecrimson.com ruoqi.zhang@thecrimson.com

thing for graduate student workers — but we should not take it as a sign of the administration’s generosity or goodwill,” Lloyd wrote. “It’s the response we should absolutely expect given a 2.5% overall increase in the cost of living and a 3.7% increase in the cost of housing in the Boston area during 2018.”

Lloyd pointed out that while stipend increases occur annually, they have not always been on par with the rising cost of Harvard housing.

“A 3% increase in stipends is really the least GSAS can do for its student workers,” Lloyd wrote. “Remember 2017-2018 when stipends increased only 1.5% even as Harvard University Housing raised rents by 3%?”

University spokesperson Ann Hall did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the 2017-2018 stipend increase.

Other students said they feel encouraged by the stipend increase.

Earth and Planetary Sciences Ph.D. student Marisa J. Borreggine wrote in an email Thursday that she is “excited

about the increase.”

Wracked with medical bills, student loans, and transportation costs from commuting to Harvard from outside of Cambridge where rent is cheaper, Borreggine said, she is “so grateful for the generous stipend that Harvard gives us.”

Borreggine also noted that she considers the stipend increase “necessary,” given the ever-fluctuating price of living in Boston, which she said requires an adequate stipend.

“My situation is not unique and it certainly doesn’t represent the toughest scenario.

Many people are struggling, even with the stipend we have, for a variety of reasons. Everyone deserves a living wage,” she wrote.

Earth and Planetary Sciences Ph.D. student Camille Hankel wrote in an email Thursday that just as some people earn raises to account for rising costs of living, graduate students deserve stipend increases.

“I’m pleased that Harvard met the standard,” Hankel wrote. luke.williams@thecrimson.com.

City Council to Hear Tree Removal Clause

By DECLAN J. KNIERIEM CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

The Cambridge Ordinance Committee voted to send a tree protection amendment back to the City Council at a public hearing Thursday night.

The proposed moratorium is part of an ongoing city effort to aid tree canopy conservation. If adopted, the amendment would impose a one-year ban on tree cutting permits except in special circumstances, such as for trees classified as dead or dangerous by the city arborist. Any violations of the proposed ban would be subject to municipal fines up to $5,000.

The City Council had previously debated this amendment during a meeting in January, but voted at the time to refer it back to the Ordinance Committee.

During Thursday’s hearing, several committee members said they support tree protection, but expressed concerns about the amendment in its current form. Councillor E. Denise Simmons flagged issues of resident notification and inadequate mechanisms to effectively enforce fines.

Mayor Marc C. McGovern reiterated Simmons’ concerns about resident awareness.

“We had better be really good at notice, and sometimes, we’re not,” McGovern said.

McGovern also raised concerns about the violation fines, which he described as “not insignificant” to many Cambridge residents.

“I’m worried about the unintended consequences,” he said.

“To me this is an economic justice issue in some ways.”

Dozens of Cambridge residents shared their views during a period for public input. Susan R. Donaldson ‘71, a Cambridge resident and climate activist, joined several other residents in support of the moratorium effort, calling tree canopy conser­

vation a “public health good.”

“Trees are one of our big protectors,” she said.

Some speakers criticized the amendment process and what they called poor public communication. Cambridge resident Susan Ringler ‘74 said she believes the Council is “delaying and delaying and delaying.” Ringler also said she was “ashamed” of the Cambridge Department of Public Works for not outlining more specifics pertinent to the amendment.

“I find it appalling,” she said.

The Cambridge Department of Public Works could not immediately be reached for comment Though many attendees advocated for the amendment, several residents argued that the moratorium is still too vague to be adopted.

Nancy Donohue, the director of Government and Community Relations for the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce, said she spoke on behalf of Chamber members in expressing reservations about a proposal that is “short on specifics.”

“We are concerned about the unintended consequences for small property owners,” she said.

Councillor Quinton Y. Zondervan argued in favor of bringing the amendment back in front of the Council. Zondervan previously voted against delaying the amendment’s adoption, arguing postponement would be harmful to tree canopy conservation. After the hearing, Zondervan said he was encouraged by the public input the committee received.

“I think the discussion with the committee and staff was very productive, he said. “I’m very satisfied and pleased.”

According to Zondervan, the amendment could be officially adopted as early as Feb. 25, when the City Council convenes their next meeting. declan.knieriem@thecrimson.com

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THE HARVARD CRIMSON | FEBRUARY 15, 2019

Datamatchers Seek Love, Free Food

By ELIZABETH X. GUO and ANISSA R. MEDINA CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

On Valentine’s Day morning, more than 25,000 students spanning 13 colleges found their email inboxes struck by the arrows of Harvard’s “Digital Cupids” — the 2019 Datamatch team — offering food, friendship, and a chance at true love.

Participation in Datamatch, a free matchmaking service run by the Harvard Computer Society, more than doubled from last year’s numbers due to the program’s expansion to nine additional schools across the country, according to organizers.

This year, Datamatch funded approximately 1,000 Harvard dates at Flour Bakery, Zinneken’s Waffles, Berryline, and El Jefe’s Taqueria as well as at the Hasty Pudding Theatricals annual Valentine’s Day show.

By 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, all food-related dates for Harvard students had been claimed by matched couples, according to Russell F. Pekala ’19, Datamatch lead staffer and “Supreme Cupid.”

Created and administered by the Harvard Computer Soci­

ety, Datamatch began offering its services to Harvard College students in 1994, when personality surveys were completed with pencil and paper.

Now, the matchmaking program uses an online algorithm — controlled by a handful of Harvard students — to match potentially compatible students based on their survey results.

“It’s a pretty creative algorithm. I do wish we could talk more about it, but you know, it’s top-secret,” Pekala said.

While Datamatch’s structure and question style remained consistent with past years’, its 2019 website design was dramatically revamped.

Pekala said that HCS also added a last-minute feature in which all students were matched with the food discount app “Snackpass.”

“We ended up adding a deal with Snackpass a few days ago,” Pekala said. “We thought that was cool because even if you didn’t get a date with someone on your list, you could maybe take a friend to Snackpass for 50% off.”

Approximately 8,500 male, 14,000 female, and 219 non-binary identifying students across

13 universities participated in this year’s Datamatch, according to Theodore T. Liu ’20, a Crimson technology chair. Students could choose to search for a platonic “Best Friend,” romantic “True Love,” or both.

About 6,700 students searched for a “Best Friend,” 13,500 students searched for “True Love,” and 5,700 students indicated that they were open to either Though the official deadline to submit Datamatch surveys was 11:59 p.m. the night before Valentine’s Day, matchmakers decided to extend the deadline to accommodate a wave of last-minute submissions.

“We got our highest traffic around 11:30 to midnight; we were getting 200 requests a second to the website,” Pekala said. “We always get last minute emails saying, ‘Please!’ So we don’t tell people, but we extend it until 12:45 a.m..”

After all survey results were in, the Datamatch team tested and ran the algorithm all night, releasing results to students beginning at 6:00 a.m.

Then, throughout Valentine’s Day, at least one Datamatch staffer remained awake

at any given time to respond to emails and questions.

Out of 65 Datamatch participants surveyed by The Crimson, 45 said that they have not made plans to physically meet with one of their matches on a date. But students praised both the new website design and the survey questions, which were written exclusively by Datamatch staff.

“I thought the questions on Datamatch were incredibly funny,” Moaz Selim ’22 said.

Some students, however, questioned the practicality of the Datamatch-sponsored restaurant dates.

“One waffle for two people is ridiculous!” Adip Vora ’19, who has made plans to meet his Datamatch partner, said.

Upon reflection, Pekala said, he is glad that he has been able to give back to the Harvard community by leading Datamatch 2019.

“I think that it’s a healthy thing for people to do, to get out of their comfort zone and meet new people in a very low pressure environment,” Pekala said. elizabeth.guo@thecrimson.com anissa.medina@thecrimson.com

DE BLASIO FROM PAGE 1

De Blasio Criticizes Amazon at IOP Talk Blasio about the challenges of governing a city renowned for its ethnic and cultural diversity. De Blasio acknowledged that such challenges exist but shifted the focus to the issue of socioeconomic inequality.

“All of the communities are trying to move ahead and sometimes people feel there’s not enough for everyone,” he said.

“If there’s something that unites ­

us — and I believe this fundamentally — it is our economic reality. We’re all struggling to get by, except the one percent.”

De Blasio said he strongly supports increased taxes on “millionaires and billionaires.”

“If we’re so scared to create a fair tax rate, we’re going to be stuck in a very unequal, very dangerous situation,” de Blasio said. “The social fabric in

this country is starting to fray.

And I’m amazed by the way that more people in the elite don’t see the danger they’re creating for themselves.”

When asked by Kennedy School student Korey M. Te Hira about a potential 2020 presidential bid, de Blasio said that he has not ruled out the idea. He said though he has observed a trend of politicians

rushing to announce their candidacy, he does not take the “exceedingly personal” decision to run lightly. “What we are seeing in these last weeks is not the norm,” de Blasio said of recent announcements by Democratic presidential candidates.

“There’s more than one way to do things.” jania.tumey@thecrimson.com

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BACOW FROM PAGE 1

Bacow Meets With Divestment Group endowment to “achieve political ends, or particular ends” remains consistent.

The University previously divested from the tobacco industry in 1990, as well as from companies in South Africa in 1986. Bacow acknowledged these instances in the Thursday meeting, calling them rare exceptions to the policy, according to Andrew.

Asked in a December interview about divestment from the fossil fuel industry, Bacow cited practical concerns that would ­

One thing you have to understand about me is that I don’t respond to demands, I respond to reason.

Lawrence S. Bacow University President

complicate divestment and a need to work with industries in order to “bring about meaningful change” as a rationale for why Harvard should not divest its holdings from the industry.

“The endowment should not be used as a way, as an instrument of social policy,” Bacow

said at the time.

“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.”

Apart from the meeting, the Harvard Prison Divestment Campaign also released a petition earlier this month that calls upon Harvard to divest its holdings from companies with affiliations to the prison industry, disclose any current investments, and repair areas in Cambridge and Boston that have been “disadvantaged by the prison-industrial complex.”

As of Thursday morning, the petition had garnered almost 1,500 signatures.

The group is planning to present Bacow with the petition later this semester, according to the press release.

This is not the first time students have voiced support for divestment from companies tied to the prison industry.

An Undergraduate Council ballot referendum last year urging for divestment from the “prison-industrial complex” garnered 77.2 percent of the vote. alexandra.chaidez@thecrimson.com

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PAGE 5

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | FEBRUARY 15, 2019

Proud to cover Harvard for 146 years and counting.

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THE HARVARD CRIMSON | FEBRUARY 15, 2019

PAGE 6

EDITORIAL THE CRIMSON EDITORIAL BOARD

OP-ED

Seeing into the Future of SEAS

I Am An Asian American Who Benefits From Affirmative Action

T

he School of Engineering and Applied Sciences administration announced the release of a five-year plan by the end of this semester to address eight “priority areas” within SEAS — among them the recruitment of diverse faculty, staff, and students, and the reduction and prevention of harassment and discrimination.

This initiative comes months after a climate survey released by SEAS reported 27 percent of respondents had experienced harassment or discrimination and that only 22 percent of respondents who reported incidents said they were “very satisfied” with administrators’ responses to the given incident. Women, underrepresented minorities, and members of the BGLTQ community were more likely to have reported incidents of harassment or discrimination. Increasing diversity and

As the SEAS Committee on Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging creates this fiveyear plan, we have high hopes that it will present a real step forward for SEAS. inclusion at Harvard is not a new topic.

In the past year alone, both the Government Department and the Statistics Department took meaningful steps toward making their individual departmental climates more inclusive. Despite these positive developments, however, across schools and academic departments, Harvard still has much to do towards creating a more diverse and wel-

coming environment. Just this past week, we have opined on the continued and pressing need for an ethnic studies program and the long road ahead for the Government Department in formalizing a plan to create a space free from and proactively responsive to sexual misconduct.

As the SEAS Committee on Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging creates this five-year plan, we have high hopes that it will present a real step forward for a SEAS community, as they have already done the important work of acknowledging its shortcomings in respect to diversity and inclusion. We especially hope that it will present immediate, concrete actions and solutions that will provide support for both current and future SEAS students facing harassment or discrimination.Additionally, we urge the SEAS Committee to maintain a constant dialogue with SEAS students throughout the plan-drafting process, especially those committee members who themselves identify with races, genders, or identities that were reported as more likely to experience discrimination or harassment.

SEAS must turn to groups that have been actively offered support systems for students — such as the Harvard Society of Black Scientists and Engineers and Harvard Women in Computer Science — because these groups have led critical initiatives left by a lack of support for those facing marginalization, discrimination, or harassment. We hope the SEAS Committee takes into account these students’ and groups’ concerns and action-oriented ideas when crafting its plan. We also hope that this plan will institutionalize systems and support structures that will be effective far past its intended five-year

scope. Indeed, only through a multifaceted proposal — one which takes into account both current and future members of the SEAS community — can the SEAS department truly eradicate the negative culture which has manifested itself.

With its new, more than $1 billion Engineering and Applied Sciences expan-

We urge the SEAS Committee to maintain a constant dialogue with SEAS students throughout the plan-drafting process sion set to open in Allston in the Fall of 2020, Harvard has positioned itself to be a 21st-century leader in science and engineering through extensive planning and an extraordinary allocation of resources.

We urge SEAS administrators to demonstrate a similar tenacity and commitment toward the ultimate goal of furthering diversity and inclusion so that the human resources and support structures of SEAS can be just as impressive, if not more so, than its new campus. Only then can SEAS be the educational leader that Harvard strives for it to be.

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.

Submit an Op-Ed Today!

The Crimson

op-eds@thecrimson.com COLUMN

Eyes Upon the University Anwar Omeish THE UNIVERSITY AND ITS DISCONTENTS

O

n the top floor of Winthrop House’s newly-renovated Beren Hall, there is a beautiful meeting space built to host House and College events. In golden letters circling the ceiling, atop white pillars, are John Winthrop’s famous words: “We shall be as a city upon a hill: the eyes of all people are upon us.”

This is the promise of Harvard: We are an institution committed to truth, stubbornly free of influences that threaten it — the unbreakable bedrock of civil society.

At our best and most courageous, we generate challenging ideas, launch incisive critiques at injustice, and call for the realization of a better and more truthful world for all of its inhabitants.

In this vision, we are the city upon a hill, opening the eyes that gaze upon us and working for and alongside them.

Through intrepid scholarship and bold critique, we live up to our liberatory potential, collectively expanding political possibility in a deeply aching world.

But just as Winthrop’s statement belied a brutal settler colonialism, this is not the Harvard — or, more broadly, the modern university — we inhabit today.

In their absence, we choose silence, and we pretend that it is not a choice at all — pretend that we are neutral, apolitical, even as the silence we are deliberately choosing may enable and perpetuate injustice across the world.

Nor is it, if we are honest with ourselves, the university we have been cultivating for decades.

Rather than critically assessing our scholarship and its complicity in global hegemony, we overwhelmingly opt for the performative politics of tokenizing multiculturalism.

Where we should be a voice against the abuse of state power, we sanction it and support its goals.

Where we can challenge modern bounds of what counts as knowledge itself, we accept them wholesale, unconcerned with those silence.

Where we ought to champion human impact and community partnership, we cut costs and drive people out of their

homes.

And where — as faculty, administrators, and yes, as students — we ought to continually assess our own place in these halls of power, we choose to fight for symbolic inclusion rather than be accountable for our own complicity.

The truth is, in my four years at this institution, as I have engaged and challenged and engaged again, I have concluded that we — Harvard, the American university, modern education — quite simply lack the courage it would take for us to build liberatory and transformative institutions.

Even as we celebrate symbolic successes, to truly contest the university’s entrenchment in toxic power — when its funds and its leadership and its programs often support it in its many forms — would take an audacity and moral lucidity that we do not appear to have.

In their absence, we choose silence, and we pretend that it is not a choice at all — pretend that we are neutral, apolitical, even as the silence we are deliberately choosing may enable and perpetuate injustice across the world.

Some, like Stefano Harney and Fred Moten in their seminal “The Undercommons,” contend that this relation to social and political power is an inescapable characteristic of the modern university.

For them, the truly subversive intellectual’s only choice is “to abuse [the university’s] hospitality, to spite its mission, to join its refugee colony… to be ‘in but not of,’” as Du Bois said of Harvard. “The university,” they argue, “needs what [the subversive intellectual] bears but cannot bear what she brings.”

Her only path forward, then, is refusal: the appropriation of university resources for the “the underground, the downlow lowdown maroon community of the university... the undercommons of enlightenment, where the work gets done, where the work gets subverted, where the revolution is still black, still strong.”

I do not disagree with Harney and Moten, and I am still undecided on whether the university, at this point, is too entrenched in power to hold any liberatory potential. Nonetheless, as a College senior hoping to join the academy and the scholars I deeply respect within it, I cannot help but ask: If it is possible, what would a transformative politics of the university look like? How might our scholarship help us, in David Scott’s words, “[think] fun-

damentally against the normalization of the epistemological and institutional forms of our political modernity?”

How can we re-envision academia as a liberatory, not simply a critical, space?

In other words, can the university be a site of expanding political possibility?

In this column, I will think about

How can we re-envision academia as a liberatory, not simply a critical, space? In other words, can the university be a site of expanding political possibility? In this column, I will think about these and other questions related to the university and its fractious relationship with power. these and other questions related to the university and its fractious relationship to power.

Alongside readers, I hope to explore the politics of knowledge, universities, local communities, student activism, and subversive scholarship.

In reflecting on four years of student activism and activist studentship, I hope to challenge myself and others to think outside of the traditional politics of the university, critiquing the bases of its knowledge, pedagogy, and positionality while simultaneously re-envisioning it as a site of radical possibility.

To be clear, I am not naïve enough to undertake this project as an optimist.

But I believe enough in the “fierce urgency of now” to do so as a “prisoner of hope” — as someone committed to re-imagining academia’s liberatory potential even as I do not have the answers and even as the institution may not be able to bear them.

After all, even as Harvey and Moten write that “it cannot be accepted that the university is a place of enlightenment,” they also remind us that “it cannot be denied that the university is a place of refuge.”

While we are in this refuge, let’s see what, if anything, we can do with it.

—Anwar Omeish ’19 is a Social Studies Concentrator in Lowell House. Her column appears on alternate Fridays.

By ANDREW S. HAM

D

iversity may be a buzzword to many; for me, it has always been an alien concept.

Growing up in South Korea, a nation that is essentially ethnically homogenous meant that I was always surrounded by people who looked like me, spoke the same language, and shared the same culture.

In Korea, I was never uncomfortable, my identity was never challenged, and I always felt safe.

I always counted this as a blessing. At the same time, however, I could never get rid of the nagging feeling that I wasn’t truly Korean, even after living all 18 years of my life in the heart of Seoul.

Speaking English at home and attending an international, American-styled school meant that my Korean was noticeably clumsy, my vocabulary was at a sixth-grade level, and English mixed incoherently with Korean when I spoke more often than I wished.

In my home country, I was asked why I wasn’t “Korean” by my neighborhood friends whenever I

I benefit every day from living in a community that is so rich, so strange and quirky and interesting and wonderful, and one that I can confidently call home. forgot a basic word or when they learned I was an American citizen.

During my summers in the United States, however, I learned that I also wasn’t “American” by the way people would look at my brother and me on the streets of suburban Maryland and ask us, with a strange combination of suspicion and politeness, where we were from.

I have always wished that I could label myself conveniently, that I didn’t have to explain my nationality and identity.

In my first few months at Harvard, however, I have met countless people who struggle to label and identify themselves, just like I do.

It was the diversity that exists in Harvard’s student body that, ironically enough, allowed me to feel at home for the first time in my life.

This is why I cannot disavow affirmative action, both as a policy and as an ideal, even though the recent lawsuit against Harvard alleges that my university has been discriminating against people like me for years.

My response to the admissions lawsuit is simple.

Although there may have been instances of discrimination in the admissions process, affirmative action remains a goal and policy worth pursuing.

Discrimination against Asian-Americans is in no way a product of affirmative action; it is the result of centuries-old, deeply-rooted racism that has persisted ever since the first Asian immigrants came to America.

Of course, biases in Harvard’s admissions process must be investigated, tackled, and resolved; but to even pretend that demolishing a policy designed to promote historically excluded groups will somehow achieve racial equality is absurd and counterproductive.

Ultimately, arguments against affirmative action amount to an excuse used by those in power to maintain traditional structures of privilege.

The fact that racial biases plagued Harvard’s admissions process only further demonstrates the need for race-conscious education and training — in other words, discriminatory admissions processes constitute an argument against structural and institutional racism, certainly not against a policy designed to tackle it.

Importantly, affirmative action also celebrates the idea that diversity is a fundamental good in college communities, an idea I have personally come to appreciate these past few months.

During my short tenure as a Harvard student, I have heard Farsi, Serbian, and Russian from my friends, eaten food and listened to music I never tasted or heard before, and most importantly, met people who have revolutionized my way of thinking just by being who they are.

Last semester, for the first time in my life, I talked about religion and my struggle in understanding it when a Muslim friend discussed her faith with me for hours past midnight.

I learned so much about public service and struggle in the week I spent with community organizers, activists, and passionate fighters during my pre-orientation program.

I have been more vulnerable in this community than I have ever before — the openness and inclusivity that the Harvard community promotes is derived from the idea that there is no one correct way to think, no one correct way to live, and no one correct way to “be” a Harvard student.

The diversity of experiences and perspectives that every student brings to Harvard is what prevents the institution from becoming even more isolated from the average American experience than it already is.

It is this diversity that sparks intellectual discourse and allows for such a vibrant extracurricular life to thrive. Ultimately, diversity means that the true teachers at Harvard are often the students, constructing a community that is always learning from itself.

Having lived my entire life alone in a sea of familiar people, I am not an Asian-American who is harmed by affirmative action; quite the opposite, in fact. I benefit every day from living in a community that is so rich, so strange and quirky and interesting and wonderful, and one that I can confidently call home.

—Andrew S. Ham ’22, a Crimson editorial editor, lives in Thayer Hall.

ARTS

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | FEBRUARY 15, 2019 | PAGE 7

CAMPUS

HARVARD ART MUSEUMS CELEBRATE BAUHAUS CENTENNIAL SHRUTHI VENKATA CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

CLOE YU / CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

The Harvard Art Museums’ newest exhibit, “The Bauhaus and Harvard,” which opened on Feb. 8, showcases the interconnected history of the Bauhaus school — now 100 years old — with Harvard itself.

The term “Bauhaus” refers to a crafts and fine arts school founded by Walter Gropius, an architect and scholar who later joined Harvard’s Department of Architecture. Though the school was open for just 14 years between the two World Wars, the school is far from forgotten today. The exhibit’s 200 works by 74 artists encapsulate the diversity of both the Bauhaus and of Harvard’s own collection, which is typically housed at the Busch-Reisinger Museum. It includes a wide variety of artwork, from paintings by Lyonel Feininger to household contraptions by Josef Albers and Herbert Bayer to textiles by Gunta Stölzl and Anni Albers.

Berlin-based artist and author Judith Raum was guest speaker at the opening celebration. Her speech and film,

titled “Fabric In Space, Fabric Out of Space,” both attest to the exhibit’s commemoration of lesser known figures.

One of those figures was Otti Berger, a Bauhaus weaver, who despite her instrumental role in the school, could not build her legacy after being lost to the Holocaust.

Raum’s film, now on display at the Lightbox Gallery, shows a series of photographs of Berger’s textiles accompanied by a reading of her text, “Fabrics in Space,” on the tenets of weaving. The photographs display textiles lit and folded to show how their materials glisten and fray, mirroring Ernst Nipkow’s photography on view in the exhibit.

Raum lauded Berger, whom she said “managed to pull weaving out of an obscurity, which was the effect of the textile medium being traditionally associated with crafts and seen as a female medium, and as such, widely debased, also at the Bauhaus.”

While this exposition of Otti Berger and weaving as an art is central to the exhibit, “The Bauhaus and Harvard” contains a plethora of other forms and instrumental artists. Laura Muir, the exhibit’s curator, prefaced many of these additional items at the opening exhibition.

“I think one of the biggest choices was to focus on three main areas,” Muir said in a later interview. According to Muir, those three areas were “looking at material produced at the Bauhaus in Germany, material that represented the influence of Bauhaus instruction in the United States, then material related to the Harvard Graduate Center.”

As the exhibit snakes around, there are wall hangings of exemplary textiles, paintings by artists like László Moholy-Nagy, and architectural plans by Gropius and colleagues. “Verdure,” a painting by Bayer that used to span the dining hall at the Graduate Center, centrally occupies a back wall.

Pieces such as a chair designed by Marcel Breuer, a lamp, tea glass holders, a chess set, and a curtain used to separate dormitories at the Graduate Center reference the practical and everyday appearances of the Bauhaus.

The exhibit features artists like Lucia Moholy, who — despite not being credited for much of her work — contributed to the permeation of the Bauhaus’ widespread brand.

“The Bauhaus and Harvard” is not limited to the exhibit at the Fogg Museum, selected from the collection the Busch-Reisinger Museum. It also includes a complementary exhibition at the Harvard Law School and at the Houghton Museum, interpretive signage at the Graduate Center, three courses this semester, and broader campus outreach.

“I like the exhibit because it gives a synoptic summation of all of the collections at Harvard has of the Bauhaus,” Erin A. Freedman, Harvard graduate student, said. “I had taken a class on the Bauhaus before, and I was really interested in the emphasis they put on female weavers and feminist approaches to abstraction.”

Muir also highlighted the role of students in the Bauhaus, which was foremost an instructional institution.

“Harvard played this major role in the reception of the Bauhaus in the United States,” Muir said. “And the one of the most exciting things I think, is that the Harvard Society for Contemporary Art, which was an undergraduate group, staged the very first Bauhaus exhibition in the United States here at Harvard … it was really a student effort.”

Staff writer Shruthi Venkata can be reached at shruthi. venkata@thecrimson.com.

THEATER

Oregon Shakespeare Festival

Brings ‘Othello’ to Contemporary America The Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s “Othello” at the A.R.T. until Feb. 9 forgoes the play’s traditional settings. It replaces the usual Renaissance Venice with a more lugubrious, yet modern American city (with the opening scenes taking place outside of a seedy nightclub) and Renaissance Cyprus with a village whose sand-toned architecture is reminiscent of the Middle East.

While the contemporary and indistinct setting feels somewhat at odds with a play whose customary locations feel so integral to the show’s themes, the acting provides the production its strength and momentum.

Had the changes in location been more closely tailored to match the original settings’ symbolism, they would have been clearer and more successful. As they stand, the contemporary setting feels rather arbitrary, perhaps even confused — Venice is supposed to represent a place of order and rationality where Othello’s sexual interest in Desdemona remains suppressed.

In many productions, Venice stands somewhat at odds with Cyprus, which encompasses a world of extreme passion. It is Aphrodite’s birthplace, after all. These different cities enable and unpack the different sides of Othello. For this reason, it is not until he arrives in Cyprus that Othello’s measured love begins to fall away into deep frenzied jealousy: “Perdition catch my soul / But I do love thee! And when I love thee not, / Chaos is come again.” Yet the production seems to miss some of these major points by changing the scenery. In the third act, when Iago attempts to sow more poison about Desdemona in Othello’s ears, the two characters are working out in a modern gym with a row of television screens behind them. This choice might be an attempt at the comedic, but it feels gimmicky and purposeless. Ultimately, the changes to the setting do not convey the symbolic characteristics of the different location, which are central to the play’s themes.

Some of the other changes are more effective in translating the story to the modern day.

Equipped in a resplendent white navy officer’s suit, Othello is an admiral rather than a general, which is befitting for a play transferred to the United States. Actor Chris Butler and director Bill Rauch looked to the lives of Sudanese boys, often called the Lost Boys of Sudan, for inspiration for the character’s background. These Lost Boys were children who were caught in the terror and violence of the country’s second civil war (1983-2005), forced into military service and perhaps even slavery — experiences that are not too distant from those faced by Othello himself. In fact, the parallel is almost uncanny.

One of several strong actors, Butler does a fantastic job of adjusting the cadences of his speech such that it is much slower, pronounced, and rhythmic than that of all the other characters on stage. As much as he protests that he is not an orator, Othello is the greatest storyteller of all and Butler’s presentation puts his eloquence on display. Butler also renders Othello’s moments of regret and mania exquisitely, particularly his fits of jealousy, which on paper can be difficult to imagine, but when handled masterfully in his hands engender tangible anguish and tremulousness.

Danforth Comins presents a more unusual interpretation of Iago. He is still the central villain of the play who sets everything in motion by nudging the other characters into action with his careful whispers. Though most readings of Iago peg him as the cold-blooded plotter with an irrational xenophobic hate for Othello, Comins’s version lends a manic and emotional tinge to the character’s pronounced racism. More than anything, his dislike of the admiral stems from

COURTESY OF NATASHA MOUSTACHE

ALINE G. DAMAS CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

profound anger at being cuckolded. The vehemence with which Comins’s Iago discusses potential encounters between Othello and his wife Emilia makes him more like a jealous and vengeful lover than a bitter subordinate. His character appears much more human and vulnerable — though by no means is the portrait sympathetic.

Emilia is equally delightful. Played by Amy Kim Waschke, Emilia shines in many of the scenes that she is in with her character’s well-known humor and later, her heartbreaking lament.

Waschke delivers Emilia’s candor and tribulations — particularly about husbands and wives – courageously, giving the words an almost feminist turn that feel timely and natural.

Altogether, the cast is incredibly strong, a force that carries the play on in a psychological and deeply serious play. Though its setting makes it feel a bit unmoored, “Othello” does not suffer too much for it — it is still an incredibly thoughtful production, which successfully delivers oft-repeated themes and raises important questions regarding gender, race, and power while continuing to make them at once relevant and urgent.

Staff writer Aline G. Damas can be reached at aline.damas@thecrimson.com.

SPORTS

IN OTHER NEWS

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

MEN’S SQUASH

After three weeks on the road, Harvard returns home for a crucial home weekend. Games against Penn and Princeton could help determine the regular season Ivy League champion.

Still undefeated on the season, Men’s Squash will win the national championship with three wins in New Haven this weekend.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Harvard Turns Page Towards Princeton, Penn

By HENRY ZHU CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

The three-week, five-game homestand for the Harvard men’s basketball team has concluded. On paper, the Crimson avoided a potentially calamitous start to Ancient Eight play with a 4-1 tally after suffering a surprise opening-conference loss to Dartmouth.

In sentiment however, there is still a feeling of unease and restlessness — compounded with a bit of unexpected adversity — as Harvard (11-8, 4-2 Ivy) prepares for its long bus ride down to Princeton and Penn.

The coda of this home stretch, for one, ended with a loss to Cornell that coach Tommy Amaker summarized as “embarrassing” and “selfish”.

Holding a 15-point margin late in the first frame, the Basseyless Crimson plodded through a slovenly second half defined by 15 turnovers and just three assists.

The Big Red’s marksmanship from deep darted the visitors past Harvard in the final minutes, ruining a weekend that would have been remembered more crisply by the triple-overtime Columbia thriller.

“We are more focused on turning the page,” said junior guard Bryce Aiken, who drained a buzzer-beater triple to force 2OT in the Lions contest, “Obviously the weekend did not go as we wanted it to go, but we just took a step back to reflect and just...get mentally ready for this upcoming weekend.”

Game-planning for Princeton and Penn is itself a daunting challenge. But the team has a contaminant in its own locker room it must eliminate: a stomach bug has transmitted through the Harvard locker room this past week, afflicting several members of the team.

Coach Tommy Amaker listed juniors Justin Bassey, Rob Baker, and Chris Lewis as well as freshman Kale Catchings among those who have caught the contagion.

“We haven’t had all bodies healthy and ready to go, but hopefully we will by this weekend,” noted Amaker on Wednesday.

With the roster perhaps not at full strength, the Crimson must nevertheless buckle down and prepare for a long trip down ­

BEAT OF THE BALL Sophomore guard Rio Haskett has regained a larger role in the Crimson rotation in recent weeks, especially on the defensive end. TIMOTHY R. O’MEARA—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

I-95. Like the Cantabrigians, both of its opponents are looking to use this weekend for redemptive purposes.

Undefeated prior to last weekend, the Tigers (12-7, 4-2) dropped down the table after coming out of Yale-Brown weekend winless.

This setback came despite the return of leading scorer Devin Cannady from a threegame suspension, who rebounded from a quiet eightpoint night against Yale for a 24-point, 9-of-17 outing in the Bears defeat.

Outside of the senior sharpshooter’s 19.0 PPG, Princeton features a familiar senior veteran in guard Myles Stephens— who is second in scoring at 13.6 PPG despite just a 27.1 clip from deep — as well as some emerging young talent.

Notably, second-year big Richmond Aririguzoh has taken a step forward in his devel-

opment posting a league-high 74.5 field goal shooting percentage in conference play. The imposing 6-foot-9 center led the Tigers in scoring against Yale with 17 points after pacing the squad with 20 points against Cornell the week prior.

First-year guard Jaelin Llewellyn, ranked inside the ESPN Top 100, sits only behind Cannady in terms of usage percentage(23%), but is one of the team’s least effective players with a PER of 5.3.

Princeton currently leads the Ivies in offensive rebounding per game at 10.4, and is by far the most accurate freethrow shooting side, converting on about 75 percent of attempts.

Down in the City of Brotherly Love, the Quakers(14-8, 2-4) are hungrier than ever for a season-shifting weekend.

Back-to-back losses to Princeton and disappointing results against Cornell and Yale have

led to an unexpected number of groans from the supporters of last year’s Ancient Eight champions. The side is finally back at the Palestra after two weeks in visiting arenas, but still have a plethora of adjustments to wrinkle out before welcoming the New Englanders.

Like the Tigers, Penn has a formidable balance of interior size and perimeter shooting.

Down low, the Quakers’ backbone consists of bigs AJ Brodeur and Max Rothschild, as well as stretch four Michael Wang.

The freshman forward from Taiyuan, China and a high school classmate of Harvard guard Spencer Freedman is one of Coach Steve Donahue’s most relied upon contributors off the bench, averaging close to 10 points per contest and making about a third of his 74 triples attempts.

While Brodeur maintains

his role as the centerpiece in the Quaker offense, junior guard Devon Goodman has emerged as another cog on both sides of the court, highlighted by a team-high 33 steals and second-leading PPG average of 13.5. Goodman was at the top of the scoring sheet in both games this past weekend, and together alongside first-year Bryce Washington have combined to attempt more than 200 triples on the year.

Back to the crimson side, Harvard will certainly need plenty of firepower of its own to clean slate, and Coach Amaker recognized that this will be certainly a make-or-break weekend.

“I am hopeful that we will be better this weekend and then win,” Amaker said. “ I think we will be better and understand what it takes to the play we need to play to our identity and our standards.”

“You can never get too high or too low,” Baker added.

“Learn from what went well and what went bad in the previous game and just move on and be refocusing our attention on our next opponent.”

The Crimson head into this conference weekend with the fulcrum of Ivy’s balance of power in flux. As much as Harvard would like to hypothetically acquire a few more days of recovery and perhaps one more stint at Lavietes, the supremacy of the Ivy League schedulers reign.

Time to board up the buses.

Current Top 4 Ivy League standings: 1. Yale(5-1) 2. Princeton (4-2) 3. Cornell (4-2) 4. Harvard (4-2). henry.zhu@thecrimson.com

MEN’S LACROSSE

Rejuvenated Harvard to Face No. 12/14 UNC in Season Opener

By BEN MORRIS CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Most would consider February a time for winter sports, but the members of the Harvard men’s lacrosse team are excited to get their season going. ­

It has been 293 days since the Crimson last played together and 328 days since it picked up its last win against Dartmouth on March 24, 2018. Last season, the team got off to a hot start — winning seven of its first eight games. Its only loss came

in a tight 10-9 contest against Holy Cross that went into double overtime.

However, Harvard fell off in the second half of the season, losing the final five games to finish 7-6 (2-4 in Ivy League play) on the year and missing

LEG KICK After slumping at the end of last season, Harvard is chomping at the bit. TIMOTHY R. O’MEARA—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

the NCAA tournament.

While this underwhelming finish might get some down, for tri-captain Kyle Anderson and the other members of the Crimson, it only made them hungrier to return. Under the guidance of coach Chris Wojick ‘96, the team made some decisions to try and shake things up.

“This fall, we decided to switch our practice and training time to 6:00 am every morning,” Anderson said. “Getting up at 5:30 am helped teach some discipline to the guys and also some responsibility in making sure all your teammates are awake and coming down to practice.”

The increased discipline and responsibility will be crucial for the Crimson, as it has some big shoes to fill from last season. Although Anderson led the team in goals (34) as a sophomore, he and junior defenseman Joe Kearney are the only two returning players that started all 13 games last season.

Harvard lost goalie Robert Shaw ‘18, who played all but one minute and 27 seconds last year, and also has to fill the role of former attackman Morgan Cheek ‘18, who led the team in assists (34) and total overall points (59).

Despite the major losses, the Crimson cannot wait to get back on the field and prove that it is still a force to be reckoned

with. The team opens its season on Saturday against No. 12/14 North Carolina in Chapel Hill.

The game marks the first matchup between the two teams since 2015, and although the Tar Heels have a high ranking, like Harvard, they are trying to bounce back from a relatively disappointing 2018 season.

In a similar fashion, North Carolina got off to a great start, beginning the season 6-0. But, things quickly turned south, as it would go on to lose the next seven and narrowly come away with a 10-9 win over Notre Dame in their final game to finish the season with a 7-7 record (1-3 in the ACC).

Also, like the Crimson, the Tar Heels are only returning two players that started every game and have to fill the void left by arguably their best player, attackman Chris Cloutier ‘18.

In 2018, Cloutier led North Carolina with 31 goals on 107 shots and added 10 assists to lead the team in points (41).

However, it seems like North Carolina is living up to its new No. 12/14 ranking, as it started the 2019 season 2-0 with dominant wins over Mercer (20-7) and Furman (14-10).

While the Tar Heels will prove to be a tough test for the Crimson, the team remains unfazed heading into the game.

“We’re really looking forward to getting the chance to prove ourselves as a team against some strong, out-of-conference opponents early in the season,” said freshman attackman Austin Madronic, who is known for his incredibly quick stick.

The emphasis this season is for men to compete and win as a team, with each member doing his part to ensure success.

“Heading into the spring, everyone worked extremely hard on their own over break,” said Anderson. “Our main focus is to fuel competition in everything we do. Going full speed and being competitive at all times is something that we think will help us heading into our opener at UNC. The team is juiced up and ready to get our season underway.”

One thing that North Carolina certainly seems to have going for it is their performance at home. Despite finishing 7-7 last season, the Tar Heels were 6-2 at the recently rededicated Kenan Memorial Stadium, and are already 1-0 this year.

The conditions for Saturday’s game are less than ideal: a high of 51˚F with 100% chance of rain in the morning and partly cloudy in the afternoon.

The opening faceoff is set for 12:00 pm ET, and beyond that is a season filled with high expectations.