The Harvard Crimson - Volume CXLVII, No. 11

The Harvard Crimson The University Daily, Est. 1873 | Volume CXLVII, No. 11 | Cambridge, Massachusetts | THURSDAY, february 6, 2019

editorial PAGE 4

news PAGE 5

sports PAGE 6

We believe Harvard should pay for local food options.

Researchers have found a material allowing purely light-based computing.

Women’s basketball has more to accomplish this season.

Interim Chemistry Chairs Named HUHS Advises ‘Social Distance’

By Ethan Lee

Crimson Staff Writer

Charles M. Lieber, left, Harvard’s former Chemistry department chair, has been replaced by interim chairs Professor Dan Kahne and Professor Theodore A. Betley. Camille G. Caldera—Crimson photographer

Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Claudine Gay announced that a pair of professors will head the Chemistry department at a faculty meeting Tuesday after erstwhile chair Charles M. Lieber was placed on administrative leave last week after being charged in federal court with failing to disclose funding from the Chinese government.

Chemistry professors Theodore A. Betley and Daniel Kahne will serve as interim cochairs of the department in Lieber’s place.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Gay addressed the federal charges against Lieber and introduced Betley and Kahne’s new roles.

“The charges brought by the U.S. government against Professor Lieber are extremely serious; he has been placed on administrative leave,” she said.

“Professors Dan Kahne and Ted Betley have agreed to co-chair CCB for the rest of this academic year, and for this I am deeply grateful.”

See Chemistry Page 3

By Fiona K. Brennan Crimson Staff Writer

Harvard University Health Services advised some students who recently returned to campus from China to “maintain social distance” of at least six feet from others amid a growing global coronavirus outbreak, according to an email obtained by The Crimson.

Chinese officials have reported 28,018 cases of coronavirus to date and cases have been confirmed in 24 other countries. On Feb. 2, the U.S. State Department issued its highest level of travel advisory for China — suggesting that Americans “Do Not Travel” to the country.

There are now 12 confirmed cases in the United States, including one student attending the University of Massachusetts, Boston. As of Wednesday evening, that remains the lone reported case of coronavirus in the state.

University Provost Alan M. Garber ’76 and HUHS Director Giang T. Nguyen sent an email to all Harvard affiliates on Sun­

day with a health form for those who returned from China after Jan. 18 or are currently in China to fill out in order to receive further guidance from HUHS. On Tuesday, HUHS updated its website and advised those who have returned from China since Jan. 19 to fill out the form.

The email obtained by The Crimson, sent to a student who filled out the form and indicated they did not show any telltale symptoms of the virus, states that the student should nonetheless avoid touching their eyes, nose, and mouth, which “accelerates the spread of infections.”

The email also advised maintaining a six-foot “social distance” as often as possible in the 14 days following departure from China, as well as washing hands “often” and not sharing various utensils and toiletries. It also advised reaching out to HUHS if any symptoms of the coronavirus — including a cough, fever, and shortness of breath — develop.

See HUHS Page 3

HKS Org. GSC Talks Career Assisted Developments Caucus Prep

By Benjamin L. Fu and Dohyun Kim Crimson Staff Writer

By Jasper G. Goodman Crimson Staff Writer

­ he Defending Digital DemocT racy project — a Harvard Kennedy School initiative that aims to prevent election-related cyber attacks — held seminars last fall with the Iowa Democratic and Republican parties to prepare for potential threats to this year’s caucuses.

Among the dreaded scenarios they discussed were problems with the systems used to report results, according to Republican Party of Iowa spokesperson Aaron Britt, who attended the seminars.

Britt said the seminars attempted to prepare caucus officials for a potential “worst-case scenario.”

“There were cybersecurity experts, national security experts, election security experts to sort of run through different scenarios with us and help us prepare for what a worst-case-scenario might look like on caucus night,” Britt said. “Based on that, they sort of helped us develop messaging strategies and response strategies for any potential catastrophe that might take place.”

That nightmare appeared to become a reality Monday night, as Democratic caucus results were delayed due to problems with the app that the party used to report the outcomes. Roughly eight percent of Democratic precincts are yet to be reported as of Wednesday evening, and the race is still considered too close to call by the Associated Press.

In a statement released on Tuesday, the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs — the HKS center that houses the initiative — said the Defending Digital Democracy Project held “a bipartisan cyber security tabletop exercise” in November to help the parties prepare for cyber threats ahead of Monday’s caucuses.

“The table top exercise simulated cyber and misinformation threats the parties could face prior to, during and after the caucuses,” the statement read.

See CYBER Page 5 Inside this issue

Harvard Today 2

The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences’s Graduate Student Council discussed advocacy projects, career development, and the aftermath of the graduate student union strike at its first open meeting of the semester Wednesday evening.

Speaking to assembled council members in Lehman Hall’s graduate student lounge, the council’s president, Germanic Languages and Literatures Ph.D. candidate Zachary M. Hayworth, opened with an overview of the GSC’s mission and responsibilities.

He then informed students of overarching themes the council had set for the months of February and March.

For February’s theme of diversity and inclusion, the council invited Director of Student

Services and GSAS Title IX Coordinator Danielle Farrell to present resources available to help graduate students seek recourse for academic concerns, workplace issues, and other matters.

Farrell emphasized that students considering reaching out to her office for help should feel confident their concerns will be kept private if they so choose.

“We really center on secrecy,” Farrell said. “A lot of times when people are saying, ‘are you confidential?’ or, ‘is this going to go anywhere?’ most students are really wondering, ‘are you going to tell my advisor or my department?’ Like, no.”

The council then proceeded to discuss its March theme of career development.

Hayworth informed attendees of multiple services that Harvard provides to further

See Career Page 3

Zach Hayworth, president of the Graduate Student Council, opens the body’s monthly meeting on February 5.

Zadoc I. N.Gee—Crimson photographer

Mather Launches App Designed to Connect House Residents

By Sydnie M. Cobb Crimson Staff Writer

Two people walk through the Mather courtyard on Wednesday afternoon. The House recently launched an app for residents to quiz themselves. Pei Chao zhUO—Crimson photographer

News 3

Editorial 4

Sports 6

Today’s Forecast

­ eet Mather, an app designed M to connect Mather House residents, launched this past week in conjunction with several house-wide events to celebrate the app’s release.

The week consisted of both a “speed friending” and a coffee-and-conversation event to encourage Mather students to forge new friendships with each other.

Since its release last week, Meet Mather has attracted more than 100 users.

David Jud, a tutor in Mather House, first had the idea to create the Meet Mather app as a final project for Computer Science 50: “Introduction to Computer Science,” a class he took as a Ph.D. student.

After finishing the course, Jud developed the Meet Mather app with the assistance of Mather student Thomas J. Wagg ’20 and Harvard University Information Technology over the course of a year and a half.

Jud said the inspiration for the app stemmed from a struggle shared between both Mather students and tutors to remember each other’s names.

Light Rain High: 40 Low: 37

“We have 400 students in the house, and even the best tutors only know 50-60 names,” Jud said.

“Also, students said over and over again that they had seen this and that person in the dining hall, but thought it would be awkward to introduce themselves. I thought it would be a lot less awkward if they knew each other’s names.”

The app is comprised of a photo directory of all Matherites and games designed to help users learn each other’s names.

Users earn points by matching residents’ names to their photos.

The points are then tallied to rank Mather residents on a leaderboard.

In addition, each Meet Mather profile includes up to three fun fact questions, a list of their current classes, class year, and concentration information to allow students to make connections over shared interests.

Mather House Resident Dean Luke A. Leafgren said he believes Meet Mather will help to strengthen the house’s community.

“Meet Mather is one way to

See mather Page 3

Visit thecrimson.com.

Follow @TheCrimson on Twitter.

goofy goober

THE HARVARD CRIMSON |

February 6, 2020

Page 2

Harvard TodaY

For Lunch American Style Beef Stroganoff Flounder with Dalkon Sauce Grilled 3 Cheese Sandwich

For Dinner Glazed Pork Loin with Sesame Teriyaki Chicken with Scallions Vegetable Potstickers

Today’s Events Global Platinum Securities: 2020 Recruiting Info Sessin Sever 106, 8 p.m.

Visit Sever 106 to learn more about Global Platinum Securities (GPS).

You’ll have the chance to speak to current members and learn more about the application process. No experience in finance or business is necessary!

Overcoming Perfectionism Through Self-Compassion Counseling and Mental Health Services, 4-5:30 p.m.

Join a session in this 10-week workshop at Counseling and Mental Health Services to learn about befriending your inner critic and escaping the toxicity of “rating and ranking” culture. Gain a new perspective on perfectionism that will Harvard Advocate Spring 2020 Intro Meetings 21 South Street, 9-10 p.m.

Swing by 21 South Street to learn about the the oldest continuously published collegiate literary magazine in the country, The Advocate. Talk to members from the different boards and learn more about the comp process.

in The Real World Are Forests the Solution to Climate Change?

Because they store carbon in large amounts, some policymakers have suggested that forests are a key to countering climate change. However, forests are also extremely vulnerable to record-breaking temperatures caused by climate change, a problem European countries are currently trying to tackle.

Fact checked: Donald Trump’s State of the Union Address

A man bikes down Quincy Street past the Barker Center on a clear, brisk Wednesday evening.

Zadoc I. N. Gee—Crimson photographer

Daily Briefing Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Claudine Gay announced that professors Theodore A. Betley and Daniel Kahne will helm the Chemistry department after former chair Charles M. Lieber was placed on administrative leave. Federal authorities charged Lieber with failing to disclose Chinese research funding last month. In other news, Harvard University Health Services sent some students who recently returned from China an email recommending that they “maintain social distance” from others as health officials attempt to contain a global coronavirus outbreak that had its epicenter in Wuhan, China.

As President Trump celebrated a “great American comeback” in his State of the Union address, he made bold claims about economic prosperity, employment growth, and illegal immigration.

Putting these claims through a fact check, how many of them are actually true?

Deportees to El Salvador Killed, Per Human Rights Watch report There have been at least 138 deaths among those deported back to El Salvador from the United States and at least 70 cases of sexual assault, according to a Human Rights Watch report. El Salvador has one of the highest rates of homicide in the world, as well as a high rate of gang violence.

The report cited several specific cases of El Salvador citizens who unsuccessfully sought shelter in the U.S. and later died upon their return.

Around the Ivies PENN The Daily Pennsylvanian reported the Penn Wharton China Center - which closed on Jan. 24 due to the novel coronavirus - will remain closed for the time being. The center facilitates Penn student and faculty research as well as the expansion of Wharton Business School’s impact on business practices. Though the center was initially expected to reopen on Jan. 30, it will not reopen until Feb. 10 at the earliest due to mandates by the Chinese government. The date is subject to change if the outbreak worsens.

BROWN

A student found a swastika scribbled in pen on the wall of his dormitory Tuesday evening, according to The Brown Daily Herald. After his friend covered up the graffiti with a yellow paper star, the students reported the incident to the Department of Public Safety. The swastika was removed by Facilities Management. It was also reported to and documented by DPS and the Office of Institutional Equity and Diversity. The swastika was not the first incident of hateful graffiti in the dormitory, Hegeman Hall, this academic year. More than 15 homophobic graffiti incidents have been reported since late November. The incidents spurred an ongoing hate crime investigation by DPS.

yale

The Yale Daily News reported Tuesday that Yale’s endowment has experienced higher growth than many of its peers in higher education. A study conducted by the National Association of College and University Business Officers and the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association found that, among 774 institutions, endowments averaged growth of 5.3 percent over the past fiscal year and 8.4 percent over the past decade. Meanwhile, Yale’s endowment has seen 5.7 percent growth over the past year and 11.1 percent growth over the past decade.

THE UNIVERSITY DAILY, EST. 1873

The Harvard Crimson Aidan F. Ryan President Shera S. Avi-Yonah Managing Editor Emily M. Lu Business Manager

Associate Managing Editors Alexandra A. Chaidez ’21 Molly C. McCafferty ’21 Associate Business Managers Jonathon V. Garzon ’21 Andrea M. Lamas-Nino ’21 Editorial Chairs Ari E. Benkler ’21 Isaac O. Longobardi ’21

Staff for This Issue Arts Chairs Iris M. Lewis ’21 Allison J. Scharmann ’21

Design Chairs Margot E. Shang ’21 Matthew J. Tyler ’22

FM Chairs Andrew W.D. Aoyama ’21 Nina H. Pasquimi ’21

Multimedia Chairs Ryan N. Gajarawala ’22 Allison G. Lee ’21

Blog Chairs Ariana Chiu ’22 Sahara W. Kirwan ’21

Technology Chairs Alexander K. Chin ’21 William Y. Yao ’21

Sports Chairs William C. Boggs ’22 Joseph W. Minatel ’21

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.

Night Editor Jonah S. Berger ’21 Assistant Night Editors Michelle G. Kurilla ’22 Taylor C. Peterman ’23 Story Editors Alexandra A. Chaidez ‘21 Delano R. Franklin ’21 Molly C. McCafferty ’21 Devin B. Srivastava ‘21

Design Editor Camille G. Caldera ‘22 Yuen Ting Chow ‘23 Ivan Jara-Marquez ‘23 Emily H. Nguyen ‘23 Photo Editor Zing I.N. Gee ’22 Editorial Editor Jonathan L. Katzman ’22 Sports Editor Joseph W. Minatel ’21

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 6, 2020

Chemistry From page 1

Betley and Kahne to Head Chemistry Dept.

In a statement provided by Harvard spokesperson Anna Cowenhoven, Dean of Science Christopher W. Stubbs wrote the search for a new chair for the department had been ongoing prior to Lieber’s administrative leave.

“This was Prof. Lieber’s final year as CCB chair, and our office was in the process of considering potential successors,” Stubbs wrote.

“Both Professors Kahne and Betley are held in very high regard by their colleagues, and both were strongly recommended for the Chair role.”

Stubbs said that the many responsibilities of the new department chair motivated the appointment of two co-chairs, instead of one.

Stubbs cited the “urgency” of providing support to current students, including postdoctoral

positions, continuing the work of Lieber’s research group, and ongoing demands of a “large and complex department” as reasons for the double appointment.

Betley, who has taught at Harvard since 2007, leads the Betley Research Group at Harvard, which focuses on synthetic inorganic chemistry.

Betley was named a top innovator under 35 by the MIT Technology Review in 2008 and received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers in 2013.

Kahne, a professor in the department since 2004, studies antibiotic resistance and co-teaches the popular introductory biology course, Life Sciences 1A: “An Integrated Introduction to the Life Sciences.”

He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences last May and won the Gordon Hammes

Lectureship Award in July.

Multiple professors said they

I think the appointment of Dan and Ted is fantastic.

Brian Liau Professor of Chemistry

are pleased with the selection of Kahne and Betley as co-chairs of the department.

“I think the appointment of Dan and Ted is fantastic — they both are highly committed to the department,” said Brian Liau, a professor of chemistry and chemical biology.

Betley and Kahne could not be reached for comment. ethan.lee@thecrimson.com

Mather From page 1

Career From page 1

Mather House Launches App

Grad. Council Talks Career HUHS Development at First Meeting Advises About Virus

to try to help students match faces with names and learn a

As a senior, I look around my dining hall and think, ‘I have no absolute idea who most of these people are, but these are some of the most interesting people in the world.’

Thomas J. Wagg Mather House Resident

few things about their neighbors, with the goal of making it easier to strike up a conversation and feel at home in this space.”

Wagg said that students should join the app as an avenue of meeting interesting people that populate campus.

“As a senior, I look around my dining hall and think, ‘I have no absolute idea who most of these people are, but these are some of the most interesting people in the world,’” Wagg said. “The Meet Mather app is the perfect way to find and connect with these people.” aydnie.cobb@thecrimson.com

students’ career pursuits, including through the Office of Career Services.

“There’s an increasing number of ways for students to take an active role in addressing issues of mental health,” Hayworth said. “The GSC’s bigger mission is to put power into the hands of graduate students, to create the GSAS that they want to see.” Germanic Languages and Literatures Ph.D. candidate Hans M. Pech, who serves as a liaison between the GSC and Harvard Graduate Students Union-United Automobile Workers, updated the council on recent developments in the negotiations between University administrators and the

HUHS From Page 1

union. In January 2020, federal mediators began working to conciliate the two parties, which for 17 months have been bargaining over HGSU-UAW’s first contract.

We really center on secrecy Danielle Farrell Director of Student Services

Though the union’s threeweek-long strike ended on Jan. 1, the two sides remain at odds over three key issues: healthcare, compensation, and procedures to adjudicate sexu-

al harassment and discrimination complaints.

Later, Hayworth stressed the distinction between the GSC and HGSU-UAW’s roles in graduate student life and responsibilities to GSAS students, highlighting the limited overlap in each groups’ membership as well as slight differences in goals. “But I think also it’s important for the GSC to keep waving the banner of the union,” Hayworth said.

“We’re not a platform for the union, definitely not. But we provide one venue for the union to disseminate its mission and goals,” he added. benjamin.fu@thecrimson.com dohyun.kim@thecrimson.com

The T closes. We don’t.

Breaking news, 24/7.

The Crimson thecrimson.com

breath — develop.

The email states that HUHS will continue to monitor the outbreak and that advice is based on all currently available information, even for those unlikely to contract or spread coronavirus.

“While you may be at low risk of carrying the infection, we advise this out of an abundance of caution,” the email reads. fiona.brennan@thecrimson.com

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | February 6, 2020

Page 4

Editorial The Crimson Editorial board

OP-ED

Harvard, Not Students, Should Pay for Local Food Options

Leave Marijuana to the Market

C

ommonWealth Kitchen, a Dorchester nonprofit, is bringing local food businesses into Harvard kitchens. The nonprofit rents out kitchen space to local food start-ups, many of which are minority-owned, and then connects them with large operations in need of food — including hospitals, offices, and, universities.

Last summer, Harvard and other local universities partnered with CommonWealth to purchase products from these start-ups.

Though it is more expensive for the University to buy food products from these small vendors as opposed to large wholesalers, the appeal of local food seems to outweigh this cost.

We appreciate the positive effects of Harvard’s initiative to support local vendors and give back to the surrounding community. Given its large wealth and influence, as well as its sometimes pernicious effects on the surrounding neighborhoods, we have repeatedly asked that Harvard give back more to the greater Cambridge and Boston community. Sourcing food from these local businesses is an important method of support, and we are also happy to see the

increased diversity in food options that the deal seems poised to yield. As many of the small food startups in question are minority-owned have culinary styles that might be unknown to a lot of students, we also hope that HUDS will display information on the origins of these local products, if possible.

But beyond these hopes, it is vitally important that Harvard itself absorb the extra cost associated with buying local food rather than passing it onto students. Tuition is already a serious strain on many students and their families, and in improving food options Harvard must not worsen this financial burden. Particularly for middle-income students not on financial aid who would bear the full weight of the cost increase, we are apprehensive about the effect of these new purchases.

Also, it is important that this outsourcing does not disadvantage existing HUDS workers.

The last HUDS strike is still in recent memory, so we are very aware of their struggles. If the increased cost of local food procurement adversely affects HUDS workers, that offers another reason for caution. We believe that Harvard

should absolutely expand the variety of food options and work with local businesses. But in doing so it cannot pass on the costs of that decision to students and employees.

In addition, as Harvard thinks about expanding food options in a way that takes into account a diversity of backgrounds, we also hope that it thinks about offering more inclusive meals for those with dietary restrictions — including vegan, vegetarian, Halal, and Kosher options, to name just a few — into the daily menu.

Students with these restrictions deserve the same quality of food as everyone else, and we hope the University seizes on this newfound relationship with local food suppliers to ensure they get it.

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 @thecrimson Column

Transactional Experiences Andrew W. Liang A box of chocolates

A

few weeks ago, as I was seeing Morocco with a few friends, we decided to get away from the coastal cities and visit the full interior of the country. Luckily, we found a driver online who was willing to take us. The deal?

For several hundred U.S. dollars, he agreed to drive us more than 22 hours across three days, from the country’s coast to the southern border — and then back. The full drive traversed mountain ranges, limestone canyons, and the world’s largest non-polar desert. The terrain was insane; a one-way trip inland lasted roughly 12 hours, if you didn’t take too long for lunch. In between naps and gazes out the window, I couldn’t help but think of the remarkable nature of this transaction. Here was a man we had never met before. Yet, he drove us — at times, more than 10 hours a day — across an en-

There is an unintended beauty to free enterprise, and we’ve become so accustomed that we tend to ignore it. tire country. He was a citizen who’d never been beyond his nation’s borders, and we were three college students from another continent. The one thing we knew we had in common? A single price upon which we agreed.

Smith famously wrote that “it is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own self-interest.” As so many on campus and elsewhere castigate the free market, characterizing it as greedy and immoral, we would do well to remember Smith’s favorable view of transactions.

The word “transaction” unfortunately possesses a negative connotation. After all, Dean Khurana tells incoming freshman classes to strive for “transformative,” not “transactional” experiences in college. Certainly, friendships should not be transactional. But for many of the things that we have in our lives, a trans-

action was at work (and happily so). As you know already, such trades helped you to procure the phone you’re using, the clothes you’re wearing, the Ubers you ride in, and the food that you eat. Smith’s great insight — which holds true today — is that when everybody is pursuing their own self-interest, the unintended consequence is that both people’s needs and desires are fulfilled. The market revolves around one defining mechanism: if there is profit to be made, sellers are willing to move mountains to make it.

Take the commonly cited — and controversial — example of prices after a hurricane. Let’s say that right as a storm rolls through, flooding hits many nearby grocery stores that sell paper towels. Because of the suddenly limited supply, remaining stores are able to charge much higher prices, so the cost of paper towels skyrockets from $1 to $25. At first glance, the act of profiting so handsomely from a disaster seems greedy and unjust. So why shouldn’t we establish a law to say that paper towel prices cannot rise in natural disasters?

Such controls were common in the 1970s under presidents Nixon through Carter; the price of gas was limited to an artificially low price by well-meaning politicians. But the results spoke for themselves. In this situation, if there were four individuals who needed gas, the one who got it was simply the first one to arrive at the station. Because the price was so low, the first person in line could fill up their entire tank, leaving no gas for the other three. Price controls encouraged overconsumption when supply was low. The lesson here is that naturally high prices serve the unintended purpose of encouraging lower consumption.

The same goes for the paper towels in our hurricane example. With a higher price, households now will likely buy only one paper towel roll instead of their usual four; in return, many more households are able to have a roll. This is a far more equitable distribution than if the first few people were able to buy all the paper towels, leaving everyone else with none.

In turn, paper towel sellers elsewhere

naturally act like the market’s version of FEMA; as they see the higher prices in this area, they’ll ship more paper towels in, trying to capitalize. And the supply will keep on increasing until the price comes down to its normal level.

Let’s say instead the government tries to impose both a price and a quantity

At first glance, the act of profiting so handsomely from a disaster seems greedy and unjust. control: every household can only buy one roll, but at an affordable price. The problem? There is no extra profit to be made, and paper towel sellers from elsewhere don’t have the incentive to come in and provide more, leaving the supply low. Lastly, if we’re worried about the individuals in the area whose incomes are too low, the government should subsidize the individuals, so they can be guaranteed a $25 paper towel.

But the answer should be to make markets more free, not to reduce their effectiveness; if the government puts a ceiling on the price, no matter how well-meaning it is, the poorest individuals cannot be guaranteed even one roll.

Few would consider this more moral or fair than the market outcome.

It’s popular today to complain about capitalism, and the complaints undoubtedly are made with good intentions. But noble intentions here do not mean good consequences.

There is an unintended beauty to free enterprise, and we’ve become so accustomed that we tend to ignore it. So we denounce the free markets, self-interest, and the business world. After all, it’s easy to tear something down. It’s much harder to remember exactly what is at stake of being lost.

—Andrew W. Liang ’21, a Crimson editorial editor, is a Social Studies concentrator in Adams House. His column appears on alternate Thursdays.

By Jonathan l. Katzman

I

n a January 24 ruling, a Middlesex Superior Court judge lifted Cambridge’s two-year moratorium on certain cannabis sales permits. The moratorium, passed by the Cambridge City Council in September 2019, gave historically marginalized groups — including women, minorities, and those who have been impacted by the war on drugs — a two-year window to be the sole operators of recreational marijuana shops in the city.

Though the moratorium was creative and well-intentioned, it was a complete failure in reality. Not only was it unconstitutional as argued by the judge, but it was also based on economic fallacies and misconceptions of the cannabis market. The Cambridge City Council showed either apathy or ignorance for standard economic theory when crafting the policy. The resulting moratorium helped no marginalized groups and effectively banned the sale of recreational cannabis in Cambridge.

Despite its short-lived nature, the deficiencies of the moratorium are indisputable. Not one recreational marijuana dispensary is open in Cambridge even though 71.3 percent of Cambridge voters supported full marijuana legalization during the 2016 Massachusetts referendum.

The moratorium added restrictions on permits — stunting supply in an already over-regulated sector. In other towns, many medical marijuana dispensaries applied for and received permits to sell recreationally. The moratorium prevented Cambridge’s existing medical marijuana dispensaries from pursuing this natural transition. As a result, Cambridge has no recreational dispensaries while weed shops have popped up in surrounding Massachusetts towns.

Though the moratorium effectively constituted a ban on cannabis sales in Cambridge, the intentions of the policymakers were noble. The City Council was trying to address serious issues in the legal cannabis market. White, upper-class entrepreneurs dominate the market in many states.

Black people, who suffered disproportionately as a result of the war on drugs, have not reaped the benefits of legalization. Only 1 percent of dispensaries nationwide are owned by black people.

The moratorium righteously attempted to help the victims of the war on drugs reap the benefits of legalization. So, why haven’t minorities utilized the head start?

While the moratorium effectively prevented white males from joining the market, it did not address the underlying issues that have kept minorities out of the legal cannabis industry. Federal banking regulations prevent many cannabis enterprises from receiving loans and opening bank accounts.

As a result, it is very difficult to open a weed dispensary without significant liquid capital, which most aspiring small business owners, especially minorities, do not possess. Members of minority groups in Cambridge most likely had difficulty financing their recreational marijuana companies and, as a result, could not benefit from the banishment of competition.

Essentially, the moratorium did not address the fundamental issues of access to capital that have prevented low- and middle-income Americans from accessing the market. Competition was not the fundamental problem in the market, so its absence did not help aspiring small business owners. Though the moratorium did not directly hurt aspiring minority business owners, it did hurt owners of medical marijuana dispensaries and Cambridge consumers.

So, the moratorium failed. Now, what can be done to help both Cambridge’s consumers and historically marginalized groups?

The first necessary step is the deregulation of the cannabis market. Ideally, the striking down of the moratorium should allow for an influx in competition. However, city officials such as Quinton Zondervan have indicated support to appeal the ruling and use other options to “get in the way” of existing medical marijuana dispensaries seeking permits to sell recreationally. These efforts to further delay the implementation of recreational cannabis sales must be strongly resisted.

Four years after its popular legalization, cannabis should finally be sold recreationally in Cambridge.

But, what about the historically marginalized people that will likely be left in this free-market framework? The moratorium failed because it did not address the underlying financial barriers preventing middle-class minorities from entering the legal marijuana market. New policies providing tax breaks, subsidies, and access to low-interest loans would alleviate many financial impediments without creating massive market distortions.

Minorities do not need a head start to enter the cannabis market. In fact, structural issues prevent the historically marginalized from capitalizing on head starts. Policymakers should focus on providing owners of weed shops access to loans and the banking system. Allaying the obstructions of banking regulations is the only way to change an industry that has essentially become a white, upper-class marijuana hegemony.

The Cambridge City Council should continue to propose creative policy solutions to complex social issues. However, they should also ensure that future proposals are effective and viable. In this case, the City Council must do a closer analysis of the economic complexities of the cannabis industry to create a policy that gives Cantabrigians access to safe, legal marijuana and grants historically marginalized people the opportunity to open their own profitable businesses.

—Jonathan L. Katzman ’22, a Crimson Editorial editor, is a History concentrator in Dunster House.

Page 5

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | February 6, 2020

Researchers Create New HKS Involved in Prepping Material for Computing Iowa for Cyber Threats Cyber From Page 1

By Brie K. Buchanan Crimson Staff Writer

­ team of researchers from A Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, McMaster University, and University of Pittsburgh discovered a new material that can exhibit chemical and mechanical responses to light — paving the way for computing to be executed with only beams of light rather than hard materials.

At the heart of the team’s work is a unique type of hydrogel, according to a recent paper the team published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Hydrogels are non-linear optical materials, a class of materials that change when they interact with light.

Interaction with light alters how the light propagates through the material, according to SEAS graduate student Amos Meeks, a co-author of the paper.

Anna C. Balazs, a professor of engineering at the University of Pittsburgh and another co-author of the study, said the hydrogel’s exposure to light or heat triggers a chemical reaction that causes the material to shrink.

The collapse of material condenses the polymer and forces the light to become highly localized, rather than dispersed.

When the light disappears, the hydrogel is able to return to its original state.

The unique feature of the group’s newly created hydrogel is its ability to couple several different responses at once, particularly the response to a light stimulus that ultimately causes the material to contract and alter the dispersion of light, according to Balazs.

“The optics is talking to the chemistry, which is talking to mechanical response, which in turn feeds back on the optics,” Balazs said.

“Creating those kinds of feedback loops is very novel.”

Balazs said that the idea of a feedback loop could pave the way for the creation of materials with new features in the future.

“The integration of acting on different responses to give you one performance is stunning, and that’s the real advance here,” Balazs said.

“What it really allows you to do is create materials that can maintain their state and are self-regulating. In response to a stimulus they can modulate their internal properties so they can deal with that stimulus.”

Kalaichelvi Saravanamuttu, an associate professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at McMaster and a co-author of the study, noted that

the findings also contribute towards an emerging field called “materials that compute” — soft constructs that are responsive and designed with local computational ability.

“The paper presents a creative platform to generate soft adaptive constructs that could perform computational operations with visible light beams - without the need for external processors or electronic components” Saravanamuttu wrote in an emailed statement about the research.

She added that the team’s work is distinct from other optical computing approaches.

“It is important to make a distinction between this work and other approaches to optical computing that examine ways to replace electronic functions in a digital computer with photon-based counterparts,” she wrote.

Meeks said there are still many questions that need to be answered before this type of material could be applied or put to use.

“This is kind of the first demonstration of this phenomenon at all in these types of materials,” he said.

“There’s a lot of questions that would still need to be answered before there’s any kind of application.” brie.buchanan@thecrimson.com

­ he Defending Digital DemocT racy project has held cybersecurity preparedness exercises with election officials from 44 states, according to the statement.

The statement also clarified the project had no role in developing or testing the app used during the caucuses.

“It was not a technical exercise, and the technologies used on Caucus Night were not used or tested during the exercise,” the statement read.

“Members of the D3P team, including Eric Rosenbach and Robby Mook, were not involved in vetting, approving or testing specific technologies used by the parties on Caucus Night at any time before, during or after this exercise.”

Eric B. Rosenbach, the co-director of the Belfer Center, and Robert E. Mook, Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign manager in the 2016 election, helped to start the Defending Digital Democracy Project.

Iowa Democrats used an app developed by Shadow Inc. — a company founded by ex-Clinton campaign staffers — to have precincts report their results this year.

In a press conference Tuesday, Iowa Democratic Party chairman Troy Price blamed a

“a coding error” for the delay in the results.

In a statement posted on Shadow Inc.’s website, the company’s chief executive officer, Gerard Niemira, acknowledged the failures in the process used to relay the Democratic caucus results from Monday evening.

“We sincerely regret the delay in the reporting of the results of last night’s Iowa caucuses and the uncertainty it has caused to the candidates, their campaigns, and Democratic caucus-goers,” Niemira’s statement read.

“As the Iowa Democratic Party has confirmed, the underlying data and collection process via Shadow’s mobile caucus app was sound and accurate, but our process to transmit that caucus results data generated via the app to the IDP was not.”

The state’s Republican Party — which used a different app than the Democrats to tabulate their caucus results — had no reporting problems.

“Our reporting system worked flawlessly,” Britt said.

“We never had an issue on caucus night.”

The GOP race in Iowa was virtually uncontested. President Donald J. Trump received 97 percent of the state’s Repub-

The latest on music, film, theater, and culture.

That’s artsy.

The Crimson

thecrimson.com/arts

lican delegates.

Harvard Government Professor Jon C. Rogowski, who was in Iowa for the caucuses, said that the party’s failure to release timely results this year could lead to it losing its status as the first in the nation to vote.

“This very well could lead to Iowa losing its place as the first state to participate in the primary process,” Rogowski wrote in an email.

“A number of other proposals have been floated over the years, including a nationwide primary, or choosing another state that may be more demographically representative.”

Iowa, which receives disproportionate attention from presidential candidates, has an electorate vastly less diverse than that of the broader Democratic electorate.

While more than 9 in 10 Iowa caucus-goers on Monday were white, according to entrance polls, that figure is closer to 60 percent for the party in the entire country.

As of Wednesday evening, former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Peter P. M. Buttigieg ’04 held a narrow lead in Iowa over Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) with 92 percent of precincts reporting. jasper.goodman@thecrimson.com

Sports

In Other News

Men’s hockey

tennis

Harvard dropped its opening Beanpot matchup against Northeastern, 3-1, in the semifinal. It will face Boston College in the Consolation Game on Monday, February 10.

Both Men’s and Women’s Tennis finished last weekend undefeated, with the women’s team topping UMass and the men’s squad beating Rice and Bryant.

WOMEN’s Basketball

Up and Down: Women’s Basketball Mid-Year Update By henry zhu Crimson Staff Writer

Of Coach Kathy Delaney-Smith’s 38 seasons commanding the Harvard bench, the 2019-20 campaign could have easily been written off as a ‘transition year’.

The Crimson lost just shy of 58 percent of its scoring from last season, much of what constituted the on-court core and off-court heart of the program.

Lead scorer Katie Benzan elected to sit out her senior season to preserve her graduate eligibility, while Harvard also bid farewell to sharpshooter Madeline Raster, slasher Sydney Skinner, rhythm-disrupter Nani Redford, and energy-deliverer Kelsey Bogdan to graduation.

Only three of the eight returners had averaged more than 10 minutes per game last season, one of whom — lead rebounder Jadyn Bush — would be sidelined for much of the 2019-20 campaign due to offseason shoulder surgery (Bush has returned to practice, but has yet to suit up this season).

Further complicating matters to start this season for Coach Delaney-Smith was that she did not even have enough healthy bodies for a full 5-on-5 in practice, due to a bevy of smaller injuries.

“We arrived on the first opening day of preseason and there were no forwards,” Delaney-Smith said. “Oh my god, every single one of them was out. Maddie [Stuhlreyer], Rachel [Levy], Jadyn [Bush], Jeannie [Boehm], Maria [Guramare], all of them gone.”

That first practice, in many ways, perfectly represented the tabula rasa from which Delaney-Smith, co-captains Levy and Mackenzie Barta, and the team’s veterans have had to mold and craft this brand-new team featuring five first-years and four new starters. But in an unpredictable season that could have gone down the wrong path, the Crimson has retooled and embraced a new set of principles — playing more selflessly and building composure in high-pressure situations, taking pride on the defensive end, and retaining a focus on delivering points from beyond the arc.

Although this team is nowhere near perfect, there have been several glimpses — including this weekend’s win over Penn in which it avenged last season’s blowout Ivy Tournament loss — that showed that this side may have more to give than simply building for the future.

Sitting 2-2 in Ivy play, the 2019-2020 Crimson side is unquestionably building an intriguing on-court product that is worth keeping an eye on.

SELFLESS BASKETBALL, HANDLING PRESSURE

Dispersed throughout conversations with the team this season is the word selfless.

“I was a bit unsure going into this season about who we would be, [but] I have nothing but positive things to say about this team,” added senior forward Jeannie Boehm following the team’s win over FAU in late December. “As I mentioned, I think our strong suit is...the selfless basketball we’re playing. I think every game we have a different high scorer and no one cares. And so I think that’s the beauty of this team.”

As alluded to by Boehm, the Crimson has featured seven players who have been the lead scorers in their games. There is no question that first-year Lola Mullaney, who Delaney-Smith called at the very start of the season her team’s “superstar” and has topped the Crimson’s scoring sheet in 10 of those games, has been the key focus on opposing scouting reports.

Currently leading the Crimson and sixth in the Ivies in scoring at 15.3 points per game, the Colts Neck, N.J., native has impressed notably from beyond the arc, where she is shooting at a 36 percent clip and has converted an average of 3.3 makes per game.

But with the range of scoring options on this team — including breakout sophomores Maggie McCarthy and Tess Sussman who transitioned from bench contributors to regular starters this season — the expectation is not for Lola to take full responsibility for the team’s offensive production, according to Delaney-Smith.

“When you have someone that can score like Lola, now everyone stops scoring and they look for Lola — well, I don’t want that,” Delaney-Smith said. “You know, we had a little bit of that with Katie Benzan. I don’t want that.”

To facilitate scoring opportunities, the team has relied on McCarthy to play out of position at the point guard position, something teammates and coaches have lauded her for embracing. Fifth among Ivy players in assists this season at 3.3 per game, McCarthy also leads the Ancient Eight in minutes played.

“She’s just a sophomore, she didn’t play a ton of minutes last year, so she’s become like our floor leader,” Barta said. “Our point guard, doing all of the intangible things, and I know that might not show up on the scoresheet, but we definitely all appreciate it. So I think she’s one of the most gritty players.”

With McCarthy making this transition and Sussman also moving from a guard

YOUNG GUNS Sophomores like guard Maggie McCarthy have been important pieces for the Crimson so far this season, filling the shoes of last year’s standouts. timothy r. o’meara—Crimson photographer

to forward this season, Delaney-Smith noted a particular challenge this year has been balancing the more pedagogical side of coaching with allowing her players to establish chemistry and rhythm to their games.

“But the only way to get them to connect with each other is to play five-on-five,” Delaney-Smith said. “So I have to balance out what skills we work on individually, time being the big issue here, and then how much five on five?”

The Harvard coach complemented the five freshmen’s acuity in picking up her schematic system early in the season, but has acknowledged there is still a learning curve towards building a fully cohesive unit. Still, players such as Barta have noted the equally important role of leadership in creating a more consistent and composed team.

“Everyone’s a great basketball player on this team and has confidence, so I think it’s just bringing a team together and maintaining that poise is something I found really important,” Barta said.

Facing pressure and defenders who “get up in your grill” continues to be the major focus on this relatively inexperi-

enced side, but the team is confident that it is making progress in slowing the game down.

“I think it’s gonna be something we’re gonna have to continue to work on,” Levy said. “I think any team not just us specifically, like, that’s really hard to play against when someone’s up on you and you have to work to get open every single time down the court. But I think that that’s fixable… so it’s just something we keep on pumping and practice to keep working on.”

DEFENSE FIRST

As the offense continues its acclimation process, the Crimson has established its core identity around limiting its opponents on the defensive end.

“I think we take we need to take a lot of pride in our identity as a defensive team,” said Boehm. “We’re really, really good.”

“I think their work ethic is especially deep in the defensive end, game in and game out,” added Delaney-Smith. “Yeah, that that’s where they’re at their best. That’s our strength.”

Over the course of this past season, the Crimson has held opponents to an average of 55.2 points per game, about a ninepoint improvement from last

ONE, TWO... Sophomore guard Tess Sussman, another important second-year to this season’s Crimson squad, sets up the offense near the top of the key. TIMOTHY R. O’MEARA—Crimson photographer

season. Furthermore, opponent field-goal percentage, which currently sits at 36.2, has also dropped by about four points.

On the defensive boards, Harvard tops the Ancient Eight with 29.7 rebounds per game.

These metrics reveal what has been spoken in words, that the gritty nature of this team this season has shown itself in full force on the less glamorous side of the court.

“Defense is all heart, and it’s not technique,” Delaney-Smith said. “It’s just how hard are you willing to work and I think we work really hard. We are we still make mistakes, but as long as you work hard, it’s okay.”

Of the Crimson’s 11 wins, four have come in games where the offense has scored less than 60 points, including the most recent 58-51 victory over Penn.

If difficult droughts of scoring or messy play pervades during spurts of inconsistency, this young and inexperienced team will likely need to depend on that inner defensive drive to eke out victories.

THREE-POINT SHOOTING

Gone is program triples record-holder Katie Benzan, who was responsible for 34.3 percent of all Crimson three-point attempts last season. The Crimson averaged 28.1 attempts from deep last season, with 43.5 percent of all field goals coming from behind the arc.

But from the simple eyetest and across various metrics, Harvard’s reliance on the triple has not waned one bit, as shooting numbers are also close to on-par with last year’s roster.

Starting with Lola Mullaney — Benzan’s replacement in many ways as the team’s primary scorer and three-point weapon — the stat sheet shows that she is shooting about 9.06 triples per game, with an accuracy of 36.0 percent. Katie shot at a similar quantity (9.63/G) and success rate (35.6%), although Mullaney is less dependent on the triple in her overall shot selection. 61.5 percent of Lola’s shot attempts this season are from deep, compared to Benzan’s 77.06 percent.

Complementing Mullaney are mainly McCarthy, Sussman, Barta, and Levy, who have collectively converted on 77 triples this season. Barta has been the most accurate from that group outside of Mullaney, knocking down 33 percent of her attempts.

“I think that we have a lot of great shooters on our team which makes us really valuable because you can’t just lock in

on one person,” Mullaney said.

“And when we’re hitting our shots especially from three, we tend to get bigger leads right from the start.”

From a spacing perspective, the Crimson’s current clip of 25.9 triple attempts per game has also preserved much of the room for post-dependent Boehm to operate. As has been the case for the past four seasons, Harvard has relied on Boehm’s interior prowess to counterbalance its perimeter shooting — the senior is on pace for her best scoring season with current point averages of 9.8 PPG over 198 shot attempts.

“I’ve been fortunate to play with great three point shooters throughout my career, but I think this year we have so many of them,” Boehm said. “And so it’s nice for me because if they double, somebody is open. It’s nice to have that back and forth and not feel frustrated if there’s congestion in the post.”

The Crimson currently pace the Ivy League in three-pointers made per game at 8.2, but look to improve upon its 31.6 percent conversion rate (currently sixth in the Ancient Eight). With 45.7 percent of its shots coming from deep (a 2-plus percent uptick from last season), there is no turning back on this offense’s reliance on the triple to get points on the board.

This past Saturday, the Crimson faced off against Princeton and fell by a 60-46 score against the one-loss Ivy powerhouses.

In the face of an apparent leg injury to co-captain Barta early in the second quarter, the team fought valiantly but could not withstand a third-quarter sprint from the Tigers.

Post-game, Coach Delaney-Smith delivered a confident pronouncement about her team, one that very much contextualized the progress the Crimson had made since its very beginnings in September.

“As big as everybody builds Princeton out to be, I think on any given night, if we keep growing and God willing we get Jadyn back, I think [Princeton] is a beatable team. So that’s what I’m hoping for.”

With a month-and-change left in the Ivy season, there is evidently a continued emphasis on growth and unity in this young roster. But infused throughout the developmental process, there appears to be a healthy dose of optimism and confidence that this tight-knit unit can in fact exceed expectations. henry.zhu@thecrimson.com