The Harvard Crimson - Volume CXLVII, No. 16

The Harvard Crimson The University Daily, Est. 1873 | Volume CXLVII, No. 16 | Cambridge, Massachusetts | thursday, february 13, 2020

editorial PAGE 4

news PAGE 3

sports PAGE 8

Faculty members must continue to champion fossil fuel divestment

Harvard Law School welcomes two new faculty members

Women’s squash continues streak for 79 consecutive wins

Gov. to Probe Harvard Foreign Funding Econ Prof. Rebuffs

Criminal Charges

By ellen m. burstein and camille g. caldera Crimson Staff Writers

The United States Department of Education has opened an investigation into Harvard over funding allegedly solicited from foreign governments.

In a Feb. 11 letter to University President Lawrence S. Bacow, Department of Education officials asked the University to disclose information about contracts or gifts connected to the governments of China, Iran, Russia, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, the Wall Street Journal first reported Wednesday afternoon.

The Education Department also requested that the University disclose any records related to two Chinese telecommunications companies, Huawei Technologies Co. and ZTE Corp.; two Russian entities, the Kaspersky Lab and Skolkovo Foundation; Iran’s Alavi Foundation; the Wuhan University of Technology in China; and other organizations.

University spokesperson Jonathan L. Swain confirmed that Harvard received the letter about the investigation.

“I can confirm that Harvard did receive the Notice of Investigation, is reviewing it

See Research Page 4

By james s. bikales Crimson Staff Writer

Embroiled in a criminal case in Singapore over a private Facebook post in 2017, Harvard assistant Economics professor Shengwu Li announced last month he would no longer participate in court proceedings to avoid “dignify[ing]” government prosecutors’ conduct.

Likely to face arrest if he were to return home, Li’s decision to end his participation — which he announced on Facebook on Jan. 22 — comes after two years of legal proceedings on contempt of court charges that he deemed “politically motivated” in an 2017 interview with Reuters. The case has even allegedly touched Li’s life on Harvard’s campus, where he claimed he was approached by a Singaporean agent in 2017.

Li, however, continues to teach classes this semester and fulfill his normal responsibilities as a junior professor at Harvard.

Li declined to comment for this story. Faculty of Arts and Sciences spokesperson Anna G. Cowenhoven also declined to comment.

Singapore’s Attorney-General’s Chambers charged Li ­

The U.S. Department of Education has launched an investigation into foreign research funding at several American universities, including Harvard. kathryn s. kuhar—Crimson photographer

with contempt of court in 2017 over a Facebook post critical of Singapore’s judiciary system.

The case stems from an extraordinary family feud that spilled into the public eye. Li is a Singaporean citizen and the estranged nephew of current Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. He is also the grandson of the country’s first prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew, who died in 2015.

In 2017, Li’s father and another uncle accused their eldest brother, the prime minister, of abusing his power amid a dispute among the late Lee Kuan Yew’s children over their father’s residence. In a July 2017 post that Li shared using Facebook’s “friends-only” setting, he wrote that the city state’s government is “very litigious” and has a “pliant court system” that restricts what international media can report. Li’s post also included a link to a Wall Street Journal article describing the family dispute.

In Singapore, the government can charge citizens with contempt of court for “scandalizing the judiciary,” a remnant of colonial-era common law

See PRoFESSOR Page 7

Eliot Faculty Deans Foreign Nations Donated Over $1.1 Billion Plan to Step Down Harvard’s Funds from Foreign Nations By ellen m. burstein and camille g. caldera

By juliet e. isselbacher and amanda y. su Crimson Staff Writers

Eliot House Faculty Deans Douglas A. Melton and Gail A. O’Keefe will step down at the end of the spring semester after a decade of helming the House, they announced in an email to House affiliates last week.

Melton and O’Keefe’s departure comes amid a year of turnover for House leadership in the coming academic year that well surpasses recent levels. With their announcement, the College must now search for five pairs of faculty deans, filling positions at Eliot House, Cabot House, Kirkland House, Quincy House, and Winthrop House.

Since 1998, only the years 2013 and 2017 have witnessed more than one change in House leadership, both welcoming just

Crimson Staff Writers

two new pairs of faculty deans.

A pair of faculty deans leads each of Harvard’s 12 upperclassman residential houses.

Deans are charged with overseeing residential deans, House staff, and tutors, as well as facilitating House-wide events and advising affiliated students.

Melton and O’Keefe also wrote that they have appreciated Eliot’s “extraordinary community spirit” during their decade at the House.

“Just as you all eventually graduate and go on to new adventures, so must we, but that doesn’t diminish our heartfelt connection to you,” they wrote.

“We feel confident that we are leaving the Domus stronger than ever, with our fabulous Resident Dean Andi Wright and the peerless Eliot tutors.”

Harvard has reported receiving more than $1.1 billion from sources from 63 foreign nations between Jan. 1, 2013 and July 31, 2019, per United States Department of Education data.

The Department of Education wrote in a letter to Harvard dated Tuesday that it is opening an investigation into whether the University has properly reported funding it receives from foreign sources. Section 117 of the Higher Education Act requires that all American institutions of higher education report contracts and gifts from foreign sources that total over $250,000 a year to the Department of Education in an attempt to “balance academic freedom and national security,” per its website.

See eliot Page 5

See funding Page 4

$224 million

England

$161 million

Hong Kong

$94 million

China

$71 million

Switzerland

$62 million

Brazil

50

100

150

200

250

Millions of Dollars Camille g. caldera—Crimson Designer

With New Program, Student Athletes Continue Mental Health Dialogue By ema r. schumer Crimson Staff Writer

In the summer of 2016, Madison J. H. Earle ’20 arrived at Harvard with big plans.

Hailing from New Zealand, she came to Cambridge to pursue an Ivy League education and compete at the Division I level for Harvard’s field hockey team. In the fall of that year, Earle excelled on the field; she helped her team win an Ivy League title for the first time in 12 years and scored Harvard’s sole goal in the NCAA tournament that year.

Earle’s success on the field, however, belied the fact that she was battling severe health issues. Recovering from bouts of meningitis and encephalitis that she contracted during her senior year of high school, she still suffered from residual symptoms, including migraines and constant fatigue. In the spring of 2017, she developed celiac disease, which brought on frequent vomiting and hair loss.

As a result, Earle fell behind in the classroom and on the field, frequently missing classes and practices. She said she felt ­

Madison J. H. Earle ‘20 helped create of a program meant to target mental health issues for student-athletes. jonathan g. yuan—Crimson photographer

Inside this issue

Harvard Today 2

News 3

Editorial 6

Sports 8

Today’s Forecast

rainy High: 41 Low: 27

embarrassed and isolated.

Harvard provides a wide range of health resources to its students. Still, Earle said she did not know where to turn.

“No one reached out to me when I was going through a really tough time,” she said. “I really struggled freshman year because I wasn’t able to reach my potential because I didn’t know anything.”

Now a senior, Earle — who serves as the co-president of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and co-founded Women of Harvard Athletics — helped launch a program designed to increase student-athletes’ awareness of health resources on campus and make them feel comfortable reaching out for help.

Created in collaboration with Harvard’s Counseling and Mental Health Services and the Harvard Athletics Department, the initiative aims to “integrate and facilitate the knowledge of mental health and wellbeing services into the lifestyle of Harvard student-athletes,” according to the program’s mission statement.

Unveiled last month, the

program designates one student-athlete on each of Harvard’s 42 sports teams as a Student-Athlete Wellness Leader who will help their teammates navigate Harvard’s health and wellness resources.

‘Someone Different Than a Coach or Authority Figure’

CAMHS counselors Melissa Nauman and Darryl Lemus held a training session on Jan. 28 to familiarize student-athlete representatives with available health resources and prepare them to have sensitive conversations with their teammates.

Men’s ice hockey SAWL Casey D. Dornbach ’22 said he found the session informative and came away with a better understanding of all of the resources available to student-athletes, ranging from academic support to mental health counseling to nutritional advising.

He also said he thinks he can best help others as a teammate, rather than a counselor.

See athlete Page 7

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THE HARVARD CRIMSON |

February 13, 2020

Page 2

Harvard Today

For Lunch Butter Chicken Deconstructed Sloppy Joes Tofu and Pepper Curry Fry

For Dinner Chicken Francais Fried Calamari RI Style Farfalle Pasta with Cannellini &

Today’s Events Opening Celebration: Painting Edo: Japanese Art from the Feinburg Collection Harvard Art Museums, 5-9 p.m.

in The Real World

Walk down to Harvard Art Museums to commemorate the opening of their largest exhibition ever! Get a first look at the art, attend an informative lecture with Professor Timon Screech from the University of London at 6 p.m., and enjoy a nighttime reception at the museum and courtyard. Check out the

Moderates in the Democratic Party said they are nervous about the possibility of nominating Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.) and his performance in a national election, including U.S. Representative Dean Phillips (D-Minn.), who won over a Republican seat in Minnesota and former Goldman Sachs chief executive Lloyd C. Blankfein ’75. Other democrats said they worry about the lack of unity in the party.

Gutman Author Series / Natural Allies Harvard Graduate School of Education, 4:30-6 p.m.

Discuss Soo Hong’s Natural Allies: Hope and Possibility in Teacher‑Family Relationships, which challenges the parent vs. teacher dichotomy showing how the two parties can work together to become

Senator Sanders’s Success in New Hampshire Worries Moderate Democrats

UN Releases Names of 112 Firms Connected to Illegal Israeli Settlements A student bikes through the gate connecting Winthrop House to Memorial Drive on a cool Wednesday afternoon. zadoc i.n. Gee—Crimson photographer

Daily Briefing The Department of Education launched an investigation into Harvard’s solicitation of foreign funds, asking University officials to disclose information about funding connected to the governments of China, Iran, Russia, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, alongside several other organizations. In other news, Harvard assistant Economics professor Shengwu Li announced last month that he would no longer participate in court proceedings to avoid “dignify[ing]” Singaporean prosecutors’ conduct in a criminal case over a 2017 Facebook post he made.

The United Nations’s human rights office released a report listing companies which aided Israeli settlements on the West Bank. Companies such as Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia Group and Motorola Solutions were involved in activities including supplying construction materials and providing financial services to develop settlements.

Michael Pollan’s ‘Caffeine’ Explores Addiction and Withdrawal Effects

Harvard creative writing professor and author Michael Pollan’s latest work brings to light the profound impact that caffeine products have on the modern world, including what he calls its role in capitalist society. Pollan temporarily quit caffeine as part of his research and found that his confidence declined, as well as his ability to focus.

Around the Ivies Columbia

Campus climate activist group Extinction Rebellion will propose that Columbia University divest from all fossil fuels in front of the Advisory Committee on Socially Responsible Investing, the Columbia Spectator reported Wednesday. The group’s proposal recommends the University sell its stocks of any company on the list of the Carbon Underground 200 and refrain from buying any such stocks in the future. The advisory committee — comprising students, faculty, and administrative representatives — will present the proposal to the University administration if it accepts the recommendations.

brown

Brown University’s highest governing body, the Brown Corporation, has unanimously voted to extend president Christina Paxson’s term by three years until June 30, 2025, the Brown Daily Herald reported Wednesday. The corporation decided to extend Paxson’s second five-year term early, citing members’ absolute confidence in her leadership.

During Paxson’s eight years as president, the university has dedicated $927 million toward scholarship aid, invested $528 million toward capital projects, and created academic centers such as the Native American and Indigenous Studies Initiative.

upenn

Acclaimed author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie will be the first black woman to deliver the University of Pennsylvania’s commencement address since 1978, the Daily Pennsylvanian reported Tuesday.

The last black woman to give the speech was thenSecretary of Housing and Urban Development Patricia R. Harris. Following the announcement, many students praised the decision for adding diversity to the university’s previous record of speakers.

THE UNIVERSITY DAILY, EST. 1873

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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

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

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

Night Editor Cindy H. Zhang ’21 Assistant Night Editors Amanda Y. Su ’22 Virginia L. Ma ’23 Story Editors Shera S. Avi-Yonah ’21 Delano R. Franklin ’21 Molly C. McCafferty ’21 Alexandra A. Chaidez ’21 Simone C. Chu ’21 Amy L. Jia ’21

Design Editor Yuen Ting Chow ‘23 Ivan Jara-Marquez ‘23 Photo Editor Zadoc I.N. Gee ’23 Editorial Editor Ari E. Benkler ’21 Sports Editor David S. Aley ’23

Corrections

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.

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THE HARVARD CRIMSON | February 13, 2020

Ethnic Studies Faculty Candidate Visits Harvard By james s. bikales and kevin r. chen Crimson Staff Writers

Erika Lee, a history professor at the University of Minnesota and a candidate for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences’s ethnic studies faculty search, gave a lecture on her research and met with undergraduates on campus Wednesday afternoon.

Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Claudine Gay announced in June 2019 that she will hire three to four senior faculty who specialize in Asian American, Latinx, and Muslim studies by the end of the current academic year.

Gay said that each of the potential hires would visit campus as part of an FAS lecture series titled “New Perspectives on Ethnicity and Migration.”

Lee researches immigration and Asian American history, as well as directing the Immigration History Research Center at the University of Minnesota. She was the first candidate to speak on campus and came at the invitation of Harvard’s History department.

More than 70 people, including students, faculty, and administrators, filed into a theater in Harvard’s Carpenter Center to attend Lee’s lecture, titled “Xenophobia: A Racial History of the United States.”

During her lecture, Lee said xenophobia is not just about immigration, but can rather be understood as a form of racism. She also traced the history of anti-immigrant sentiment against various groups in America ranging from Catholics to Latinx people. While other scholars have said xenophobia rises and falls in response to nation­

al crises, Lee contended that xenophobia has remained strong throughout American history, calling it a deeply ingrained “American tradition.”

Following the lecture, Lee spoke with roughly 20 Harvard affiliates during a question and answer session. The discussion ranged from Lee’s pedagogical approach to Harvard’s lack of a formalized ethnic studies concentration.

Addressing a question on how she would navigate what a student called Harvard’s “ideological resistance” to accepting ethnic studies as a legitimate scholarly field, Lee said she would be “pretty forceful” in pushing back against such a view.

“I don’t have very much patience for those who would continue to question whether ethnic studies is a legitimate field anymore or not,” Lee said. “I think I’d be ready to take on people with that perspective and provide some data.”

FAS spokesperson Anna G. Cowenhoven declined to comment on criticisms raised at the question and answer session.

During the discussion, students expressed frustration about the lack of ethnic studies classes. Lee said she shared this feeling when she was in school.

“I kept on thinking, someone should be writing more about this and I kept on waiting for someone, like for more stuff to be written,” she said. “Then I realized, ‘I don’t think this is going to happen,’ so maybe that someone should be me.”

Lee praised ethnic studies advocates at Harvard for creating “an opportunity” to build the program, but she also pushed them to make specific requests

Erika Lee, a history professor at the University of Minnesota, spoke with undergraduates on Wednesday regarding her candidacy for professorship at Harvard. sara komatsu—Crimson photographer

that the candidates who are chosen could negotiate over during their hiring processes.

“It would be helpful to have a clear description of what students’ needs are so that that can be part of the ask,” she said.

Gay’s announcement of the ethnic studies faculty search came months after students and alumni protested the departure of two tenure-track faculty specializing in Asian American studies.

The University’s Novem-

ber decision to deny tenure to Romance Languages and Literatures Associate Professor Lorgia García Peña — who researches race and ethnicity — reinvigorated student calls for an ethnic studies program at Harvard.

Harvard affiliates have lobbied for a formalized ethnic studies program for nearly five decades. Gay declared an “institutional commitment” to the field of ethnic studies in a December email to FAS affiliates

and has said she is “hopeful” that faculty will lead an effort to develop a formal ethnic studies concentration.

At least seven more candidates will visit Harvard this semester as part of the lecture series associated with the FAS faculty search.

Other speakers will include University of Michigan history and Latino studies professor Jesse E. Hoffnung-Garskof ’93, University of California, Los Angeles sociology and Asian

American studies professor Min Zhou, University of Pennsylvania English professor David L. Eng, University of California, Berkeley ethnic studies professor Raúl Coronado, Stanford sociology professor Tomás R. Jiménez, Yale American studies professor Zareena Grewal, and University of Minnesota American studies professor Martin F. Manalansan. james.bikales@thecrimson.com kevin.chen@thecrimson.com

Harvard Law School Welcomes New Faculty Members

By Kelsey J. griffin Crimson Staff Writer

Harvard Law School welcomed two new faculty members this semester — election law expert Nicholas O. Stephanopoulos ’01 and former Federal Reserve Board Governor Daniel K. Tarullo.

After graduating from Yale Law School in 2006, Stephanopoulos worked as an associate at Jenner & Block in Washington, D.C. focusing on redistricting, campaign finance, and federal litigation.

He then taught courses on election law, constitutional law, and administrative law at the University of Chicago Law School, where he served as a professor of law and the Herbert and Marjorie Fried Research Scholar.

Stephanopoulos also co-founded PlanScore, a website that scores and assesses redistricting plans in all 50 states.

Tarullo previously taught courses in international law and financial regulation at the Law School, Georgetown University Law Center, Princeton, and the University of Basel in Switzerland.

He also worked for the Clinton administration and the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.

In addition to his role on the Federal Reserve Board, Tarullo served as the chair of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council and a mem­

ber of the Federal Open Market Committee.

Tarullo now serves as the Norman Professor of International Financial Regulatory Practice and teaches Regulation of International Finance.

“Dan Tarullo is one of the country’s leading thinkers on financial regulation and international economic policy,” Law School Dean John F. Manning ’82 said in a press release. “Dan has also shown himself to be a superb teacher and colleague!”

Stephanopoulos is teaching a course on election law at the Law School this semester.

He said he thinks his field sits at a unique intersection between politics, democratic theory, political science, and the study of the Constitution.

“As a politics junkie I’ve always been interested in elections and politics, and then what law gives the table is democratic theory and the legal protections for certain political rights,” he said. “I think it’s so interesting how all these different fields sort of collide these together and shorten the field of election law.”

He noted the Law School faculty has lacked an expert in election law for several years, and he hopes to use his professional experience to revive the study of the field.

“Harvard hasn’t had an election law specialist on the faculty for quite a while — at least 16 years,” Stephanopoulos said.

“I think that’s such an import-

Transformative coverage.

The Crimson thecrimson.com

The Harvard Law School recruited multiple new faculty members this semester, including election law expert Nicholas O. Stephanopoulos ’01 and former Federal Reserve Board Governor Daniel K. Tarullo. kathryn s. kuhar—Crimson photographer

ant offering for Harvard Law to have for students and for, you know, the institution as a whole.”

Manning emphasized the significant contributions of Stephanopoulos’s work to election regulation in a Jan. 28

press release.

“I am thrilled that Nick Stephanopoulos has decided to join our faculty,” he said in the press release. “Through his work across multiple disciplines, Nick has helped to identify simultaneously creative

and thoroughly grounded ways to improve the functioning of our electoral system and our democracy.”

Law School professor Holger Spamann similarly praised Tarullo in an emailed statement.

“He is far and away the best person in the field of financial regulation,” Spamann wrote.

“Nobody else even comes close in terms of experience, sophistication, and thoughtfulness.” kelsey.griffin@thecrimson.com

THE HARVARD CRIMSON |

February 13, 2020

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Department of Ed to Probe Harvard Funding

Harvard Took in $1.1 Billion from 61 Nations 2013-2019

a nd beginning to prepare its response to the Department of Education,” Swain wrote in an email.

The letter to Harvard comes as part of an ongoing review by the federal government of American universities’ connections to foreign governments.

Federal officials have alleged several colleges and universities are soliciting money from hostile foreign governments, companies, and individuals that are potentially attempting to steal American universities’ research.

Thus far, the investigation has found that universities across the country have failed to properly report $6.5 billion in foreign funding, according to the Journal.

Since June 28, 2019, the Department of Education has opened eight civil compliance investigations into other universities, including the Massa­

chusets Institute of Technology and the University of Maryland.

Last fall, Harvard administrators announced the University had created two new oversight committees to prevent University researchers from taking such actions, which are known colloquially as “academic espionage.”

The letter said that the Department of Education “is aware of information suggesting Harvard University lacks appropriate institutional controls” on donations, and directly referenced Charles M. Lieber and Jeffrey Epstein.

In January, Lieber — the former Harvard Chemistry department chair — was arrested and charged with failing to disclose funding he received from the Chinese government.

Prosecutors also alleged Lieber failed to disclose funding to the University.

Harvard’s Office of the Gen-

eral Counsel is undertaking a review of billionaire donor and convicted sex offender Epstein’s donations to the University.

Federal officials are also investigating Yale University over allegations that the school did not disclose at least $375 million in foreign funding.

Yale filed no reports between 2014 and 2017, according to the Journal.

The Education Department can take the case to the Department of Justice to levy civil or criminal charges if the schools do not turn over the information within 60 days.

Section 117 of the Higher Education Act — passed over 30 years ago — requires institutions of higher education to report contracts and gifts from foreign sources valued over $250,000 a year. ellen.burstein@thecrimson.com camille.caldera@thecrimson.com

In its letter, Department of Education officials asked the University to disclose information about contracts or gifts connected to multiple foreign governments and other overseas organizations. The notice came amid an ongoing federal review of American universities’ connections to foreign governments.

“Harvard University lacks appropriate institutional controls and, as a result, its statutory Section 117 reporting may not include and/or fully capture all reportable gifts, contracts, and/or restricted and conditional gifts or contracts from or with foreign sources,” the letter read.

Of the $1,151,597,169 total foreign funds Harvard reported to the Education Department, it obtained $396,739,951 through contracts, while $754,857,218 came in the form of monetary gifts, a Crimson analysis of the Education Department data found.

Sources from England boasted the highest sum given to Har­

vard, at $224 million. That figure represents about 20 percent of all funding English sources donated to American higher education institutions over the same time period. Hong Kong came in second at $161 million — around 23 percent of its total to all American universities.

In its letter to Harvard, the Department of Education requested records regarding the University’s donations from China, Iran, Russia, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia.

At $94 million, China has the third highest total donations to Harvard currently logged in the department’s records.

The University reported over $30 million from sources in Saudi Arabia, which ranked 10th on the list of Harvard’s top donor nations.

The funds made up slightly over four percent of the country’s donations to all American universities over that period. Harvard also reported five donations from Qatar, totaling

about $6 million — less than one percent of Qatar’s more than $1 billion in donations to American colleges and universities. Harvard reported no donations from Iran or Russia over the six-year period.

Between July 2011 and June 2018, Harvard raised $9.6 billion in a record-breaking capital campaign. Individuals from 173 countries contributed to the campaign, according to University spokesperson Christopher M. Hennessy.

About 15 percent of campaign dollars came from international donors, who comprised nine percent of individual donors overall, per Hennessy.

“In 2018, the university concluded a successful capital campaign,” Hennessy wrote in an emailed statement. “Such philanthropy supports the university’s core teaching, learning, and research mission.” ellen.burstein@thecrimson.com camille.caldera@thecrimson.com

Leverett Closes Dining Hall at Night for Cleaning Purposes By declan j. knieriem Crimson Staff Writer ­

In an email to House residents last week, Leverett students were told they could no longer pull all-nighters — at least in their dining hall.

The email — sent by Leverett Building Manager Paul J. Hegarty — informed students the dining hall would be closed between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. in the coming months to allow the House staff more time to clean the space.

Hegarty added that 24/7 access to the room would be restored during reading period.

“With so much activity in the dining hall all the time, we need to give the staff adequate time to clean the floors every night,” he wrote. “This will help with pest control and the overall cleanliness.”

In September, Leverett Faculty Deans Brian D. Farrell and Irina P. Ferreras came under fire for a slew of new restrictions on common spaces throughout the House.

The new restriction, howev-

er, has not drawn the same level of outcry from students.

Leverett resident Vaughan K. Mcdonald ’20 said he understands why the restrictions are necessary.

He cited an “abundance” of office hours and study groups as a reason why the dining hall staff may need more time to clean the space.

Mcdonald also said student opinion on the dining hall closing has been more “divided” than earlier instances.

“I think some people have sort of painted it as another Leverett space closed, but I don’t think I have enough information,” he said.

“When other spaces have been restricted, I think it was more unilateral,” he added.

Luke G. Minton ’20 — another Leverett resident — also said he respects the decision but is “sad” to see restrictions put in place.

He described the dining hall as having an “infamous reputation” as a late-night study spot.

“The dining hall is near and dear to my heart,” he said. “I

spent a lot of time in Lev d-hall, and especially in the last semester, a lot of people have been noticing that there’s been an increasing pest problem. It’s something that you’re going to deal with when you have things like brain break, and situations where you have a lot of people studying late at night.”

Minton also said he hopes College administrators understand that dining halls serve as an ideal workspace for students staying up late to study.

“To be realistic, the administrators at Harvard — including the faculty deans in all the various Houses — need to understand that Harvard students are going to be staying up really late at night,” he said.

“I guess it’s just the question of what are the most efficient places to do that, and if you’re living in upperclassman House it’s really helpful if you have a place to study that’s close by to where you are and allows the sort of collaboration that a dining hall does,” he added. declan.knieriem@thecrimson.com

Leverett House has recently decided to close the dining hall from 2 a.m to 6 a.m. to give the dining hall staff adequate time to clean the floors and work on pest control. MyeongSeo kim—Crimson photographer

New Harvard LabXchange Platform Delivers Free Science Classes By andy z. wang Crimson Staff Writer

LabXchange — an interactive learning platform aimed at bringing science education to students around the world and created by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences in collaboration with the Amgen Foundation — launched last month.

Developed for a “digital classroom,” the program aims to foster a virtual scientific lab community, particularly for students who do not have access to scientific instruments and experiments.

As a founding sponsor, the Amgen Foundation provided $11.5 million in grants to develop the program.

Much of the content focuses on the biological sciences, with course clusters such as “Genome Editing with CRISPR-Cas9” and “Foundational Concepts and Techniques in Biotechnology,” according to the platform’s website.

LabXchange’s platform utilizes open-source infrastructure from edX, a virtual learning website developed by Harvard and MIT. This allows current edX ­

LabXchange is an online learning initiative offered by Harvard and the Amgen Foundation. aiyana g. white—Crimson photographer

students to connect to the new platform.

At the same time, Molecular and Cellular Biology Professor Robert Lue, the faculty director of LabXchange, said it aims to address some of the gaps with current virtual learning, such as the lack of flexibility in course structure.

“Ultimately, instead of going online and taking a course, you can go and find individual assets, be it videos or text or graphics,” Lue said.

“You can actually pick the ones you want, sequence them into a learning pathway, and create a much shorter experience that’s really tailored to exactly what you need to learn,” he added.

To increase the reach of its resources, Harvard affiliates who worked on LabXchange said it has developed virtual lab simulations that can walk students through an experiment.

“I’ve heard of several high school classrooms that do absolutely zero labs at all, just because it’s cost-prohibitive for them to get those things going,” Nico O. Wagner, a teaching assistant in the Molecular and Cellular Biology department

who helped create content for the site, said. “The good thing about LabXchange is that the students get virtual access to experiments, and all they need is access to a computer.”

The new platform incorporates various types of learning modules that address content delivery flaws in traditional online learning interfaces, according to Tess Gadd, a user interface designer who worked on the project.

“The problem with videos is that if somebody’s speaking, you kind of can get lost quite quickly,” Gadd said.

Gadd also pointed to the platform’s “adaptive scrollable” feature, developed to address this shortcoming.

“As you scroll down the page, everything animates as if it were a video, but you have complete control over that speed,” she said.

“I think that’s a really interesting way to give people more power when it comes to their own learning,” she added.

Some educators have also used the platform to complement in-class education and experiments.

At Harvard, the teaching

staff of Life Sciences 1a: “An Integrated Introduction to the Life Sciences” used the platform last fall to show students techniques ahead of lab sections, helping them become more familiar with lab procedures, according to the course’s website.

High school teachers have also adopted the program.

Mary S. Liu ’09, a biology teacher at Weston High School, said she first learned of LabXchange through an outreach program for high school educators, and then joined a focus group to develop it.

“I’d put extra resources there for them to access,” Liu said. “I do the pre-lab, so they actually have a virtual simulation of lab techniques that I do in class with my students. A lot of times, it’s new for the high school students to do bacterial culture or to work with gel electrophoresis, so they can get familiar with the tools.”

Liu said she understands why her students appreciated the program.

“Kids like digital things,” she said. andy.wang@thecrimson.com

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Page 5

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | FEBRUARY 13, 2020

Law School Library Makes Scalia Collection Public By kelsey j. griffin Crimson Staff Writer

The Harvard Law School Library announced the first public release of late Supreme Court Justice Antonin G. Scalia’s papers, photographs, and various other items Tuesday.

A graduate of the Law School class of 1960, Scalia regularly visited campus during his lifetime, often judging the Ames Moot Court Competition. He worked on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit from 1982 to 1986 before serving on the Supreme Court for 30 years.

Following his death in 2016, Scalia’s family donated his legal and academic papers to the Law School.

When announcing the donation in 2017, Scalia’s wife, Maureen M. Scalia ’60, said Harvard was significant to their relationship.

“Nino and I met as students in Cambridge, when he was at the Law School and I at Radcliffe,” she said. “Our visits back to Har­

vard together always felt like a homecoming, particularly in recent years. I am pleased to make this gift, and that his papers will now be at the Law School.”

While most of the collection consists of papers from his time on the Supreme Court and the Washington D.C. Court of Appeals, the library will not release any case materials during the lifetime of other justices and judges involved in the cases for which Scalia worked.

The first batch of the collection released this week includes pre-Supreme Court files; correspondence, speaking engagements, and event files through 1989; photographs and audiovisual materials dated from 1975 to 2016; and other miscellaneous documents such as articles about Scalia throughout his time on the Supreme Court.

“We are deeply honored that Harvard Law School has been entrusted with the Justice’s historic papers, and we now have the opportunity to share these papers,” Harvard Law School

Dean John F. Manning ’82 wrote in a press release. “This archive will allow generations of scholars to come to Harvard Law School to study the record of Justice Scalia’s historic tenure on the Supreme Court.”

Manning served as a law clerk for Justice Scalia from 1988 to 1989.

In the release, Jonathan L. Zittrain, professor of international law and director of the Law School Library, noted the importance of preserving Scalia’s collection for future generations of scholars.

“The Harvard Law School Library’s patrons are not only those using the library today, but those who will follow,” he wrote.

“We secure irreplaceable papers such as these as part of the solemn pursuit of citizens and scholars understanding the trajectory of the law not only from its formal outputs, but through the contemporaneous notes as it was forged.” kelsey.griffin@thecrimson.com

Some of late Associate Justice Antonin G. Scalia’s papers will be on display in the Harvard Law School Library. myeongseo kim—Crimson photographer

Kennedy School Offers Deans’ Departure Creates Program on Politics, Youth Eliot Fifth Faculty Dean Post to Fill eliot From Page 1

The Harvard Kennedy School is offering a workshop series through the Center of Public Leadership and Politics which will focus on how to run for office. zadoc i.n. Gee—Crimson photographer By sixiao yu Crimson Staff Writer

M assachusetts State Senator Eric P. Lesser ’07 will lead the Kennedy School’s “Hi! I’m Running for Office” program for the third time this spring.

The workshop series — developed by the Center for Public Leadership and the Institute of Politics — focuses on examining issues of youth political participation. It brings together graduate students from the Kennedy School and the Law School, as well as students from Harvard College.

Lesser said he continues to participate in the program because he believes in empowering “young people from backgrounds or from places that have historically not been represented” to run for office and govern.

“I think politics can often feel very distant, it can feel very intimidating for people, especially young people, especially whether it’s women or people of color or people from different backgrounds,” he said. “I think, often times there’s too much fo­

cus on the politics, there’s too much focus on the campaigns, and there’s too much focus on election day, and not enough focus on what comes after election day.”

In the past, the workshop series has featured guests like current Democratic presidential candidate Pete P. M. Buttigieg ’04 and CNN political analyst David Gergen.

Lesser said this year, the list of guests includes figures like Jorge O. Elorza — the mayor of Providence, R.I. — and newly elected New York State Senator Alessandra Biaggi.

“One thing that they really all have in common is that they’ve beaten the odds.

They’ve brought something new to their office, and they’ve crashed the gate, so to speak,” Lesser said.

He also spoke about the impact the program has had on him personally.

“This is such a great motivator for me for my day job, you know. I’ve learned so much.

I’ve learned so much from the students, I’ve learned so much from the guests, and I bring

that back to my work,” Lesser said.

He added, “I think now, after the three years of doing it, I’ve learned so much about how to be effective, how to serve a community, how to move and idea and an issue forward, frankly, from learning from the other guests and from the students.”

Monica Y. Chang ’23, an undergraduate who said she is participating in the workshop series, wrote in a text message that the program has been “incredibly inspiring” so far.

“Although this was just my first session in the Running for Office Workshop Series, I can already tell it will be a fantastic experience,” Chang said.

“I was awed by the diversity of experience in the room — with students from the Kennedy School, Law School, College, and every walk of life.

Hearing everyone’s unique story — what’s shaped their aspirations, what they care about, and where they come from — was incredibly inspiring.” sixiao.yu@thecrimson.com

Harvard, from the Law School to Longwood.

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Dean of the College Rakesh Khurana praised Moulton and O’Keefe’s “unwavering” commitment to their students and staff during their decade-long tenure in an email to Eliot residents last week.

“I am forever grateful to them for all that they have done to enrich the lives of countless students throughout the years, and to fostering such a strong sense of community at Eliot House and beyond,” Khurana wrote.

Last month, Quincy House Faculty Dean Lee Gehrke announced he would step down from his role at the end of the academic year after the loss of his wife and co-faculty dean Deborah J. Gehrke, who died from breast cancer in December.

Cabot Faculty Deans Rakesh Khurana and Stephanie R. Khurana announced their departure in November. They came to Cabot in 2010 and stayed through Rakesh Khurana’s appointment as Dean of the College in 2014.

After leading Kirkland for 20 years, Verena A. Conley and Thomas C. Conley also announced they would step down in November. Former Winthrop Faculty Deans Ronald S.

Sullivan, Jr. and Stephanie R. Robinson departed last spring after Khurana announced that he would not renew their contract. The decision followed months of outcry surrounding Sullivan’s decision to represent Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein against sexual abuse charges.

I am forever grateful to them for all that they have done to enrich the lives of countless students throughout the years, and to fostering such a strong sense of community at Eliot House and beyond.

Rakesh Khurana Dean of the College

In recent weeks, Winthrop students have lobbied for the College to keep current interim faculty deans Mark D. Gearan ’78 and Mary Herlihy-Gearan in their roles, who have led the

House since August.

Despite those calls, the College has repeatedly noted that Gearan and Herlihy-Gearan were only appointed for a single year.

The Dean of Students’ Office is currently soliciting nominations from House affiliates and freshmen alike to fill the five vacated faculty dean posts.

“Although you haven’t yet experienced House life, Faculty Deans have an enormous impact on students’ experiences,” Senior Assistant Dean of Residential Life and First-Year Students Nekesa C. Straker wrote to freshmen in a Wednesday email soliciting nominations.

“They live in residence at each House, engage and advise students, oversee House staff, and help set the tone and culture for the House community.”

After drawing up a shortlist of candidates, the College will then form search committees, host meetings where students and tutors can share input regarding possible candidates, and consult University administrators before making a final selection in each of the five Houses. juliet.isselbacher@thecrimson.com amanda.su@thecrimson.com

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THE HARVARD CRIMSON | FEBRUARY 13, 2020

Page 6

Editorial The Crimson Editorial board

column

Faculty Want Divestment, Too — What About Administrators?

The New Old Solution to Poverty

L

ast week, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences chose to break from the administration’s longstanding position to vote overwhelmingly in favor of divestment from fossil fuels. Their proposal — approved by a whopping 179-20 margin — advises the Harvard Corporation to divest the University’s endowment from companies that “explore for or develop further reserves of fossil fuels.” It will now be brought to the Harvard Corporation for consideration. The vote marks the culmination of a fourmonth-long debate among faculty over the proper role of the University in combating climate change.

Regardless of what the Harvard Corporation chooses to do with this proposal, the faculty’s vote is a positive development. We reiterate our stance that divestment from fossil fuels is a moral imperative and reject the notion that our education must be funded through practices that hasten environmental calamity.

It is illogical for the University to continue to invest in a future that it is actively working to eliminate. As such, it’s encouraging to see the faculty considering fossil fuel divestment so rigorously, and then electing decisively to champion it.

We look forward to seeing their proposal presented to the Harvard Corporation. However, we do so warily. The documented ties Harvard Corporation members have to the fossil fuel industry cause us to question how much their opinion will be swayed by this proposal.

Regardless, we urge the Harvard Corpo-

ration to seriously consider this proposal and divest from fossil fuels, especially since this vote has followed years of student-led activism that they have continuously ignored and discounted.

It bears note that faculty are discussing this issue in significant part due to the rigorous student activism organizations such as Divest Harvard and others have engaged in over the past few years.

If this proposal is not taken into serious consideration, not only will it be deeply disappointing, but it will also be a glar-

If Harvard’s administration has faith in its faculty, then the fact that they voted 179-20 in favor of divestment should mean something. ing sign to faculty and students alike that Harvard truly does not care about what they think.

If Harvard’s administration has faith in its faculty, then the fact that they voted 179-20 in favor of divestment should mean something.

In debates leading up to this vote, faculty members supporting divestment argued that Harvard, as one of the top universities in the nation, needs to be at the forefront of an international divestment movement. And while it inspires hope to see faculty members fighting for the change that its students have been wanting to see for a long time, the idea

that Harvard is falling behind and that we must be a “leader” in this divestment movement should not be one of the primary arguments for divestment from fossil fuels.

Not only is it way too late for Harvard to be a leader in this movement (many universities are already leading this charge), but this type of language and reasoning discounts the struggles of those immediately and disproportionately affected by climate change, particularly already marginalized communities.

When Harvard centers conversations on divestment around the optics of how divestment would make Harvard look, it does a disservice to these people.

Finally, we urge the faculty to seriously consider and discuss other divestment movements, including divestment from the prison industry, Puerto Rican debt, indigenous landholdings, occupation of Palestine, and any others that are being led by students on this campus.

The faculty have shown themselves capable of serious deliberation, and the fate of these other movements stands to benefit from such considered treatment.

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.

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The Double-Edged Sword of Social Justice

By Luke t. atkins

T

here are two types of social justice. The first one is real, palpable, peaceful change instituted for the benefit of marginalized groups and causes. Therein we find #MeToo, Black Lives Matter, BGLTQ rights, Kaepernick kneeling for the anthem to protest police brutality, Greta Thunberg raising climate change awareness, and so on. The other type is nefarious.

It is self-serving and, ironically, unjust. It keeps us from transcending the very barriers that proponents of social justice aspire to overcome. And it manifests in many forms.

It’s when people bully and ostracize others under the guise of protecting minority groups. It’s when people actively look for ways to misconstrue a person’s words or actions, demean them, galvanize the masses, and hence promote their own interests (attention, retweets, etc.).

It’s when people create a rhetorical peanut gallery of frivolous dialogue while clandestine, truly harmful policies pass with little scrutiny. It’s one of mob mentality. Here at Harvard, we see this latter form as much as the former. And if we are committed to equal rights, we need to change that.

A prime example is last year’s decision not to renew Ronald S. Sullivan, Jr. as a faculty dean. Students actively rallied, demonized him, and demanded that Harvard fire him. Why? All Sullivan did was get hired to defend someone in a court of law.

This country is founded upon certain prescribed freedoms — one is the right to a lawyer, as well as a fair trial. Nothing like this happened when Harvard Law School’s Professor Emeritus Alan M. Dershowitz represented O.J. Simpson, accused of double murder, in his trial, nor when he was recently hired to represent Donald Trump in his impeachment.

Yet when Sullivan represented Harvey Weinstein, social justice advocates promulgated a double standard, going mad

over his decision.

Moreover, John Adams himself, a chief intellectual behind the founding of the United States, set a bold precedent in representing British troops after the Boston Massacre. It was an enlightened one, as it ensured the protection of individuals in all cases — publicly perceived to be guilty or not. We can’t suddenly abandon these ideals of benevolence and equal rights; it is contrary to the intent of social justice.

A more widespread form of fake social justice — on- and off-campus — is the culture of political correctness. PC culture is something that must be done away with.

It hinders free speech, conjures controversy out of things that shouldn’t be controversial (e.g., most comedy), and stifles people from challenging one an-

A more widespread form of fake social justice — on- and off-campus — is the culture of political correctness. PC culture is something that must be done away with. other when they subject themselves to perpetual “safe spaces.”

Holocaust deniers are, even as absurd as their beliefs prove, protected with free speech and a right to assemble. But when a comedian makes a petty joke, people often look to take offense to it so they can try to “cancel” that comedian’s career.

A recent example of cancel culture in the Harvard area is when conservative commentator and writer Ben Shapiro gave a speech at Boston University.

Protestors met this with vengeance; they tried to “cancel” it, just because they disagreed with him. I’m no fan of Shapiro, but I can’t stop him simply because he “offends” me.

Legally, I can protest his free speech, but that doesn’t mean I should; he spreads his message peacefully, with os-

tensibly benevolent intentions.

Granted, if someone is making threats or causing harm, it totally makes sense why one would want to address such a problem to protect powerless or otherwise marginalized people. But, in general, we can’t simply bully people with whom we disagree; sometimes, they just haven’t been properly exposed to enough culture and education to rid themselves of stereotypes. Attacking people won’t change their minds. What can change people is empathy, shared experience, and demonstration that we’re more alike than we think.

When someone is being racist, sexist, homophobic, or xenophobic, don’t meet it with hate. That’s just reciprocal prejudice.

Meet them with an open heart; show why you disagree with their views in a constructive way. Show that we’re all human — with the same fears, joys, frustrations, tastes, and hobbies. We even have the same memes. It may not work, but you’ll serve society more than you would by meeting ignorance with organized hate or ostracization.

If you hear students’ classroom discussions here at Harvard, see what’s on social media, or notice campus rhetoric, you will see that there is a degree of intolerance for conservatives, Christians, Republicans, and others of minority political and religious stances.

This is antithetical to liberalism and multiculturalism, which are all-inclusive concepts. I dream of a world wherein everyone has the same platforms and privileges to express themselves and live in a truly egalitarian world.

To quote Evelyn B. Hall’s summary of Voltaire: “I disagree with what you say but will defend to the death your right to say it.”

So don’t be judgmental, quick to conclusions, or hateful. Be respectful, empathetic, open to interpretation, and constructive.

—Luke T. Atkins is in his second year at the Harvard Extension School.

Matthew B. Gilbert A time for new ideas

T

he United States is stuck. Mainstream political discourse in this country seems less and less likely to have answers for the problems facing us today. In many cases, it feels incapable of even identifying these problems.

There is a palpable feeling that the status quo cannot hold for much longer. In an era of unprecedented change, it is time for new ideas. I want to offer a few of them. But to do that, we need to go back in time.

As the U.S. established itself in the late 1700s, founding father Thomas Paine, who authored the pamphlet “Common Sense” that helped spur the colonies to revolution, was advocating another

Paine argued that all citizens should receive a payment at age 21 and a pension every year starting at age 50 as recompense for the loss of common ownership of the Earth. revolutionary idea in “Agrarian Justice.” Paine argued that all citizens should receive a payment at age 21 and a pension every year starting at age 50 as recompense for the loss of common ownership of the Earth. Centuries later, Martin Luther King Jr. advocated for a guaranteed minimum income, a payment to all people linked to the median American income, in order to end poverty and ensure dignity for all Americans.

In the late 1960s early 70s, a bill called the Family Assistance Plan, which would have provided poor families with a basic income (over $10,000 in present-day money to a family of four), was endorsed by over 1,000 economists and passed the U.S. House of Representatives twice before failing in the Senate.

What all these plans have in common is the recognition that the most effective tool to rectify economic injustice is money. If we are going to seek the abolition of poverty in this century, we must understand that education, jobs, and other programs can only do so much. To quote author Rutger Bregman, “Poverty is not a lack of character. Poverty is a lack of cash.” The most effective, simple, and direct way to address poverty is to give people money. Sadly, this kind of thinking has been absent from the mainstream for the past half-century.

That brings us to the present day. Former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang brought this idea back into the spotlight by making a universal basic income, which he called the Freedom Dividend, the centerpiece of his campaign. But Yang is not the only proponent of UBI out there. The movement behind basic income is bigger than any one person, and after all these years, decades, and even centuries, this movement may finally be nearing the mountaintop. I invite you to join us.

First, we should understand what UBI is. Let’s go letter by letter. The I is for Income: a UBI is a monetary payment. The U is for Universal — that means it goes to everyone; rich or poor, young or old; black or white, it doesn’t matter — every legal adult gets the exact same payment. Next is B, for Basic: it should be enough to cover basic needs, such as food, water, and shelter. Various basic income advocates across the political spectrum have proposed their own particular versions, but those three conditions are generally agreed upon (although MLK was advocating for more than just a basic income — but that’s worth discussing at a later time).

Is UBI the solution to poverty, or is it unworkable and a pipe dream? There’s nothing wrong with being skeptical of new ideas. I became convinced of the importance of UBI after discovering a 1970s experiment in Canada. A program called

In an era of record-setting economic growth but also rampant inequality we are long overdue for some policies that would make people’s lives better.

Mincome gave a basic income to a few thousand Canadians in Manitoba from 1974 to 1979 before funding was cut. The data was ignored for decades before finally being unearthed and then published in 2011. The results are astonishing.

Most recipients were lifted out of poverty.

Hospitalizations, injuries, and rates of teen pregnancy decreased while high school graduation rates improved and there was a dramatic drop in mental health issues. The money made people’s lives better. In an era of record-setting economic growth but also rampant inequality we are long overdue for some policies that would make people’s lives better.

Few people in the media, and maybe not even Yang himself, fully understood how radical of an idea he was proposing. UBI fundamentally alters our relationship with work and survival. It ensures a basic right to exist for all Americans. It frees ordinary people from the need to take any and every job offered just to get by. It gives everyone the chance to worry a little less and to take ownership of their own lives. UBI is not about the money; the money is a means to an end.

It’s time for new ideas. It’s time for universal basic income.

—Matthew B. Gilbert ’21 is a Computer Science concentrator in Adams House. His column appears on alternate Thursdays.

Page 7

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | February 13, 2020

athlete From Page 1

PROFESSOR From Page 1

Student Athletes Work to Prof. Withdraws from Confront Mental Health Singapore Criminal Case “We’re not the experts. We are here to be, hopefully, someone who can point them in the right direction or simply be there to listen,” he said. “Someone different than a coach or authority figure who can listen and potentially help direct or be there for a friend or teammate.”

CAMHS chief Barbara Lewis wrote in an email that student-athletes can play a particularly effective role in facilitating their teammates’ use of mental health resources.

“The SAWL program is not a counseling service, but rather a complement to pre-existing CAMHS programming available to our student athletes,” she wrote. “We realize that students may prefer to reach out to a peer rather than an adult, and we want to support innovative opportunities that make it easier for students to engage with their peers to help them get the resources and support that they need.”

Women’s basketball head coach Kathy Delaney-Smith acknowledged that athletes may be reluctant to voice their concerns to their coaches. She said she supports efforts to improve the mental health of athletes.

“There’s a great need for helping student-athletes navigate emotional problems, mental challenges,” Delaney-Smith said. “So in that regard, I’m thrilled that there’s an initiative to try something.”

role in their success.

Field hockey SAWL Elizabeth A. Denehy ’22 said she felt struggled adjusting to Harvard during her first year, grappling with feelings of inadequacy. Though she was physically healthy, she said she felt as though she was “constantly trying to tread water.” Once Denehy confided in her teammates, she said she finally felt accepted.

“Once I talked about my feelings with people on my team, everyone was like ‘yeah, we feel the same way.’ Once I was open about it, I realized how much better life was and I was,” Denehy said. “So I just want to help others on my team or people in general get to that point where they realize that they’re not alone.”

Football SAWL Spencer C. Rolland ’22 said that, after taking advantage of health counseling, he felt like a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders.

“I think being able to speak kind of released that tension and kind of made it more relaxing and made me able to focus more on what I was doing,” he said.

Rolland added that working to improve one’s mental health is “like any other muscle in your body or any other training that you do.”

“You need to make sure that it’s in its best shape so that you can compete at your highest level, whether it be in the classroom or on the field,” he said.

‘Like Any Other Muscle in Your Body’

‘It’s Okay to Not Be Okay’

To excel at their sports, athletes work hard at maintaining peak physical shape. Several SAWLs agreed that physical health is critical to athletic performance, but they noted that mental health also plays a vital

Earle said discussions surrounding mental health at Harvard are more common now than when she was a freshman.

In March 2019, Harvard Athletics and CAMHS co-founded the “Crimson Mind and

Body Performance Program” to provide additional mental health support to student-athletes in response to survey data. Through the program, licensed clinicians work with student-athletes and coaches. At the time, athletes said the program was important because of the stigma some face seeking mental health-related help.

This past fall, men’s hockey player Derek E. Schaedig ’22 wrote about about his struggles with mental health in an article for The Crimson. Earle said she helped create SAWL to contribute to a broader dialogue surrounding mental health.

“It’s really become a huge conversation. And so, I wanted to take advantage of that while I could to make sure people knew the resources and could be helpful people to their teammates,” she said.

Rolland said counselors and resources at Harvard have done a “great job” of helping students through health challenges they may face. Still, he said dialogue surrounding mental health has yet to make its way into daily conversation.

“It’s not gonna be the first thing that they bring up to people or may not be one of those things that’s necessarily in the locker room,” he said. “I think there’s definitely room to grow.”

Dornbach said he hopes more people will speak up about mental health challenges they face.

“I’ve seen people who look like the happiest people ever on the outside and something’s going on inside,” he said. “It’s not often talked about or looked at as cool to maybe discuss some of those things, but it’s real and it’s okay to not be okay.” ema.schumer@thecrimson.com

t hat can lead to fines or prison time. Human Rights Watch has deemed the law contrary to the international human right of free expression. “[The Attorney-General’s Chambers] has taken my post completely out of context,” Li wrote in an August 2017 letter to prosecutors, which he later released to the public. “What I said in my private post in context does not pose any real risk of undermining public confidence in the administration of justice.”

Li wrote in the letter that he did not authorize the post to be shared beyond his Facebook friends, but it was re-published widely by media outlets. The Attorney-General’s Chambers unveiled the charges six days after he made the post, according to a ­

In light of these events, I have decided that I will not continue to participate in the proceedings against me.

Shengwu Li Assistant Economics Professor

case summary on the Supreme Court of Singapore’s website.

Singapore’s Attorney-General, Lucien Wang, previously served as the prime minister’s personal lawyer, according to the Straits Times.

Prosecutors offered to drop the charges in August 2017 if Li apologized and admitted to making “false and base-

less” statements, but Li refused, launching the criminal case. By that time, Li had left Singapore, according to a case summary on the Supreme Court of Singapore’s website.

Li wrote in an October 2018 Facebook post that, as his lawyers fought the charges on his behalf in Singapore in fall 2017, an agent of the Singaporean government served him papers on Harvard’s campus just after he finished giving a guest lecture in Economics 2099: “Market Design.”

Li appealed on the grounds that he had been improperly served papers out of jurisdiction. He wrote in a September 2019 Facebook post that his legal team received advice from prominent British lawyer and Queen’s Counsel David P. Pannick, who defeated British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s suspension of parliament over Brexit last fall.

In April 2019, however, a Singaporean court dismissed the appeal, according to the case summary.

On Feb. 3 this year, the High Court ordered that Li must attend cross-examination proceedings and produce documents within 14 days, according to a media release from Singapore’s Attorney-General’s Chambers.

Li wrote on Facebook on Jan. 22 that Singapore’s Attorney-General’s Chambers asked the High Court to strike parts of his defense affidavit and seal them from the public record, prompting Li’s decision to withdraw from the proceedings.

“This is not an isolated incident, but part of a broader pat-

The T closes. We don’t.

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tern of unusual conduct by the AGC,” Li wrote in the post. “In light of these events, I have decided that I will not continue to participate in the proceedings against me.”

The reality is that Mr Li is now facing some serious questions in the hearing, and it is obvious that he knows that his conduct will not stand up to scrutiny.

Lai Xue Ying Singapore Attorney General’s Chambers Spokesperson

In an email, Singapore Attorney-General’s Chambers spokesperson Lai Xue Ying referred to recent media statements. In a statement the day after Li’s Jan. 22 post, the Attorney-General’s Chambers wrote that Li’s decision to end his participation is a “clear acknowledgment” that Li’s defense has “no merits.”

“The reality is that Mr Li is now facing some serious questions in the hearing, and it is obvious that he knows that his conduct will not stand up to scrutiny,” the statement reads.

“He has therefore contrived excuses for running away.”

“If Mr Li has nothing to hide, he should make himself available for cross-examination and answer the questions posed to him on oath,” it continues. james.bikales@thecrimson.com

Sports

Weekly Recap

SCORES

Men’s Squash vs. Tufts W, 8-1 ___________________________________________________________

women’s water polo Vs. st. francis (pa.)

W, 11-5 __________________________________________________________

woMen’s fencing Vs. bC w, 16-11 ___________________________________________________________

men’s fencing Vs. bc W, 20-7 ___________________________________________________________

Women’s ice hockey vs. BC L, 3-1 ___________________________________________________________

women’s tennis vs. penn W, 4-1 ___________________________________________________________

men’s tennis Vs. Vanderbilt w, 4-3 ___________________________________________________________

Women’s Squash

Harvard Lengthens Streak for 79 Consecutive Wins

By Eliot Min Crimson Staff Writer

A fter bursting out to a commanding 2-0 lead over her opponent, No. 3 Trinity College’s Nanna Carleke, Harvard junior Hannah Craig fell just short in the third and fourth games. In the decisive fifth game, Craig responded with a dominating showing, overwhelming Carleke with an 11-2 victory to secure the seventh seed matchup for the Crimson. It was one of Harvard’s eight victories in its 8-1 romping of the Bantams on Feb. 5.

With her gutsy win against Carleke, Craig continued her dominance as a member of the Crimson—she has yet to drop a match in her three years on the Harvard squad. Co-captain Gina Kennedy, senior, bounced back from a first game loss to win her match, 3-1, at the first pairing and extend her personal win streak to 36.

Senior Eleanore Evans rallied from 0-2 down to win the fifth-seed contest and her 11th victory of the season. At the second seed dual, senior Amelia Henley won a 3-0 victory to bring her win streak to 46.

According to Craig, although Trinity is one of the more challenging match-ups for the Crimson, she was able to keep cool and execute her shots under pressure. “[The match] definitely wasn’t easy at all,” Craig said. ­

“It’s always a privilege to play at Trinity and you never know what to expect especially because they produce such large crowds, and that can result in some other stress as well. So I think I came ready to compete.

I had a very tough competitor and she put me under pressure.

[But] I was somehow able to pull through.”

Harvard is undefeated over the last six years, having won all its matches since losing 4-5 to Trinity to close out its 2013-2014 campaign.

Evans, who has been on the team each of the last four seasons, credits the squad’s incredible run of success to its unwavering work ethic and the leadership of its seniors.

“I think all four seniors do a really good job of exemplifying the attributes of putting in the work and seeing the result later,” said Evans. “We’ve all been on the team for four years now, we’ve won three national championships and we’re going for a fourth—but it’s not without effort, and it’s not without focus, and it’s definitely not without cooperation. So I think that the good team unity that comes from the [senior class] really trickles down and affects the team at large.”

“Everyone’s just been relishing the opportunity to play,” Craig added.

After its match against Trinity, Harvard closed out the week with a home tilt against No.

LUCKY NUMBER 13 Friday’s win against No. 13 Brown (pictured above) and Sunday’s triumph versus No. 4 Yale would mark the Crimson’s 12th and 13th victories against ranked opponents, helping Harvard to its perfect 13-0 record. owen a. berger—Crimson photographer

13 Brown and an away match against No. 4 Yale. Continuing the fine form it displayed against Trinity, Harvard took the match against the Bears, 8-1, and swept

the Bulldogs, 9-0. Going into the season’s final week, Harvard’s w streak stands at 79 games.

With its win against Yale, Harvard secured at least a share

of the Ivy League title for the sixth straight season.

It has a chance to complete its sixth straight undefeated season this weekend when it travels

to Cornell on Saturday to close out the season. The game will start at 12:00 p.m. eliot.min@thecrimson.com

Women’s BASKETBALL

Harvard Completes Weekend With Win Over Brown

By Henry zhu Crimson Staff Writer

A day after a resounding 66-57 victory over previously-undefeated Yale, the Crimson (136, 4-2) capped off its extended five-game homestand with a dominant 68-53 win over Brown.

Four Crimson players — Lola Mullaney, Tess Sussman, Maggie McCarthy, Rachel Levy — finished in double-digits, with Mullaney leading the side with 14 points. Sussman’s 11-point, 11-rebound night gave her the ­

first double-double of her career, as well as her fourth double-digit performance of the season.

“It’s really awesome,” Sussman said. “I haven’t really been a scorer in the past, but with Kenzie out now [Coach] Kathy [Delaney-Smith]’s kind of asked me to step up. I like to pass it a lot more so I feel a lot more confident. It is helping me going to more tough games, so honestly it’s just making me look more forward to the future.”

The Crimson saw every single member of its squad earn

playing time in this contest, including double-digit minutes from first-years Gabby Donaldson, Annie Stritzel, and Sara Park.

The trio combined for 14 points to fill out Harvard’s total bench scoring, with the team collectively shooting 38.6 percent from the field and 42.9 percent from beyond the arc.

“I thought Gabby did a good job tonight,” Coach Delaney-Smith said. “I don’t know if you could tell, but I think Gabby has an enormous skill set..

Sara is an unbelievable shoot-

er. She’s small, but her defense is deceptively good. So again we’re trying to get those kids minutes because I think as we get to the second round, it’s going to be important.”

Sussman noted how the team as a collective unit is beginning to find its rhythm offensively and made the necessary adjustments to maintain its double-digit lead for most of the contest.

“I’m just really proud of our team, we kept it together and finally started to execute on the offensive end which we’ve kind

RED HOT Sophomore guard Tess Sussman earned her first double-double of the season in Saturday’s victory over Brown. timothy r. o’meara—Crimson photographer

of been struggling with,” Sussman said. “So it’s really nice to find connections, but as we’ve seen in the past we kept up our good defense.”

The Bears converted on no more than five field goals per quarter and were limited to just 21 points entering halftime.

Led by McKenna Dale’s 15 points, Brown largely ecked out points through intermittent triples and struggled to garner any consistent stretch of play outside of the final few minutes.

Although the Bears now own a 1-5 Ivy record, Delaney-Smith acknowledged the competitiveness of that side in a league with increased parity.

“They are dangerous,” Delaney-Smith said. “They hit a couple threes, it could have gone either way. We could have been back on our heels...so there’s just not a gimme here at all.”

The Crimson started sluggishly, converting on just one basket in the opening four minutes. But its three-point shooting began to get back into gear, with back-to-back triples from McCarthy and Mullaney.

Harvard then strung together another trio of consecutive triples, featuring swishes from junior co-captain Rachel Levy, Mullaney, and Sussman.

Brown was limited to just 3-of12 shooting in the first frame, including a scoreless final 3:19 that saw Harvard carve out a 1910 margin.

The accuracy from deep continued as McCarthy immediately drained a corner triple in the second quarter’s first possession.

The Bears would not find the bottom of the net until the 5:39 mark of the quarter — by that point, the Crimson had built up its lead to 16. McCarthy capped off the period with an acrobatic finish at the rim, pushing her scoring total to double-digits (10) to lead the team at intermission.

Compared to the prior day’s matchup against Yale, Harvard matched up against a team with much less height and size. As anticipated, the Crimson capitalized on the boards, out-rebounding the Bears 48 to 30 while tallying seven rejections in the contest.

With co-captain Mackenzie Barta sidelined, the Crimson

continued to experiment with their options off the bench.

First-years Sara Park and Annie Stritzel earned a combined 11 minutes in the first half, with Park — a clear perimeter weapon for Harvard — contributing her third triple of the season.

“Since so many of them haven’t had playing time before — our four freshmen — I can’t imagine what they’re feeling,” Sussman said. “But they do so amazingly, even if they play for five to 17 minutes. Everyone has stepped into the role that they need to be, and more.”

Coach Delaney-Smith once again turned deep within her bench for relief in the third quarter, this time inserting junior Maddie Stuhlreyer and first-year Gabby Donaldson into the contest. Like Park, Donaldson introduced herself to the Lavietes crowd with a confident three. Sussman notched a trey of her own in the dying seconds of the frame, giving the Crimson a 53-35 lead.

Harvard closed out the final period continuing its balanced attack, with Stritzel earning four quick points thanks to two drives at the rim. Sussman delivered her third triple of the contest to cement her first double-double of the season (11 pts, 11 rebounds), joining Levy who finished with a 10-point, 10-rebound night.

To close the game, Delaney-Smith rested most of her starters, allowing for an extended look at the bevy of options off the bench. Stritzel finished with seven points in the contest, all of which came in the final frame.

The Crimson now embark on a challenging four-game stretch in which it will travel to Cornell, Columbia, Princeton, and Penn in the span of two weeks. But with the first weekend sweep of the season in the books, the team is confident in its ability to continue its winning ways.

“I definitely think [our comfort level]’s through the roof,” Sussman said. “Our troops, we practice here every single day.

But I think that our energy stems from each other so hopefully we can take that on the road.” henry.zhu@thecrimson.com