The Harvard Crimson - Volume CXLVI, No. 67

The Harvard Crimson The University Daily, Est. 1873 | Volume CXLVI, No. 67 | Cambridge, Massachusetts | MONDAY, MAY 6, 2019

editorial PAGE 4

Sports PAGE 6

sports PAGE 6

The UC’s disappointing ‘Great Reform’ misses the point.

Women’s golf prepares for NCAA Regionals.

Women’s lacrosse ends season with loss to Penn.

Students Protest Sullivan at Sit-In Faculty to Discuss Alcohol Policy

By Jonah s. berger and molly c. mccafferty Crimson Staff Writers

Students held up signs reading “#MeToo” at a Friday sit-in in Winthrop House’s dining hall in protest of Dean Sullivan’s decision to represent Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. NAOMI S. CASTELLON-PEREZ—Crimson photographer By sHERA S. AVI-YONAH and AIDAN F. RYAN Crimson Staff Writers

Holding red and black posters reading “Reclaim Winthrop” and “#MeToo,” three student groups staged a sit-in in the Winthrop House dining hall Friday amid controversy surrounding Faculty Dean Ronald S. Sullivan, Jr.’s decision to represent Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.

Our Harvard Can Do Better — an anti-sexual assault advocacy organization — read a

list of demands at the event, including calling on the College to publicize the results of a climate review of Winthrop House and to create a system to hold faculty deans accountable.

They also demanded that Sullivan apologize to house affiliates and delegate his ceremonial duties during Commencement to “an alternate,” and called for an “end to intimidation tactics.”

In an interview Sunday, Our Harvard Can Do Better member Amelia Y. Goldberg ’19 said

See winthrop Page 3

Undergraduates wearing red sat in the Winthrop House dining hall to call for administrative action. NAOMI S. CASTELLON-PEREZ—Crimson photographer

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences will review proposed updates to the College Student Handbook — including an overhaul of the College’s policies on drug and alcohol use — and decide the fate of “shopping week” at its last meeting of the semester Tuesday.

Dean of the College Rakesh Khurana will present the proposed changes to the handbook for the 2019-2020 academic year to the Faculty for a vote. If approved, the updated handbook will largely alter the phrasing of the College’s “amnesty policy,” which grants intoxicated students under 21 exemption from University punishment in certain cases.

The new policy, dubbed the “Help-Seeking Policy,” continues the College’s practice of not disciplining students and bystanders for seeking medical treatment for intoxicated students. But while the original amnesty policy began with a pledge not to punish students, the new policy changes the original’s ordering and begins by stating administrators “expect students to abide by the law,” as well as Harvard drug and alcohol policies.

The College also eliminated multiple pages of rules from

the handbook governing alcohol consumption in the Houses and at campus social events.

The updated handbook omits a rule specifying that tutors must check in on all parties in the Houses, as well as regulations on House events including alcohol and on formals. The current handbook stipulates that event hosts must be present the entire time and verify attendees’ ages before serving them alcohol, but the proposed changes eliminate these rules completely.

Administrators also cut a campus-wide rule that stated only beer, wine, and malt beverages with under 15 percent alcohol content could be served at College social events.

In a February interview, Khurana said the College was reviewing the amnesty policy in response to a fall report on the April 2018 forcible arrest of a black undergraduate.

The arrest coincided with Yardfest, the College’s annual spring concert, which saw 17 medical transports for intoxication and overdoses in 2018, at least five times more than in 2017.

Khurana said in February that the review came in response to concerns that the policy’s wording was confusing, citing questions over what behavior it “encourages” among undergraduates.

See FACULTY Page 3

Scholars Call Brazil to Fund Disciplines

By SOPHIA S. ARMENAKAS Crimson Staff Writer

Scholars from more than 800 institutions worldwide have signed an open letter — written by two Harvard graduate students — in response to Brazil’s plan to disinvest in philosophy and sociology at public universities.

Last Friday, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro tweeted his support for a policy proposal to cut funding from philosophy and sociology departments at public universities in Brazil.

In the days following, two Ph.D. students in the Sociology department, Derick S. Baum and Mo Torres, drafted a letter calling for continued funding of these disciplines. Baum and Torres said the letter received 200 signatures within the first 24 hours, and the number of ­

signatures have now grown to more than 8000. Among those signatures are 83 Harvard faculty and graduate students from sociology and other departments; the president of the International Sociological Association; and presidents of sociological associations in Poland, Israel, Greece, and Australia, according to Baum. “I think it just speaks to the fact that sociologists are aware that this is not a person — or Brazil — specific issue, that this is very much a global issue,” said Torres in an interview Wednesday.

Baum, who was born and raised in Brazil, said he felt a personal draw to get involved, and being a sociologist gave him even more of an impetus. He is currently doing research in Brazil.

See LETTER Page 3

Two Sociology graduate students drafted a letter in response to the Brazilian president’s decision to cut funding for the Sociology and Philosophy departments in Brazil’s public universities. The letter has been signed by hundreds of people. EMMA L. KANETI—CONTRIBUTING photographer

‘Sackler’ Name Will HGSE Stay, Bacow Says Group Starts Journal

SEE PAGE 3

By alexandra a. chaidez and aidan f. ryan Crimson Staff Writers

University President Lawrence S. Bacow said it would be “inappropriate” for Harvard to remove the Sackler family name from campus buildings and return any past donations from the family in an interview Friday.

In June 2018, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura T. Healey ’92 submitted a court filing as part of a lawsuit against Purdue Pharma — a pharmaceutical company owned by the Sackler family that produces the painkiller OxyContin — alleging that members of the Sackler family who have served on the company’s board of directors oversaw marketing techniques that have been linked to the opi­

BMF HONORS WOMEN

Inside this issue

The Black Men’s Forum held their 25th annual celebration of Black Womxn on Friday evening, honoring a group of undergraduates. AMANDA Y. SU—Crimson photographer

Harvard Today 2

News 3

Editorial 4

Sports 6

Today’s Forecast

oid epidemic.

Arthur M. Sackler donated significant funds to Harvard to name the school’s museum collection of Asian, Middle Eastern, and Mediterranean art after him. Sackler passed away roughly a decade before OxyContin came to market and his stake in the company was sold to his brothers. Many activists, however, blame him for the aggressive advertising tactics he helped pioneer, which they say Purdue sales representatives later used to push the drug.

In recent months, dozens of mothers whose children died from opioid overdoses wrote letters to Bacow urging him to cut ties with the Sacklers and refuse future funding from them.

PARTLY CLOUDY High: 59 Low: 46

See BACOW Page 3

By JOSHUA S. ARCHIBALD Crimson Staff Writer

A disabilities advocacy organization at the Harvard Graduate School of Education published the first edition of Disabilities Disclosed, a new journal focused on people’s experiences with disabilities, Monday.

The group, International Higher Education and Disabilities, published content online Saturday, and distributed printed copies Monday. The publication includes personal essays about experiences interacting with disability written by 12 ­

See JOURNAL Page 3

Visit thecrimson.com.

Follow @TheCrimson on Twitter.

spoons

THE HARVARD CRIMSON |

MAY 6, 2019

Page 2

Harvard today

For Lunch Maple and Chipotle Chicken Pork Sausage Sub with Peppers and Onions Chipotle Chicken

For Dinner Haddock with Mushrooms & Garlic Roast Beef w/Peppercorn Sauce Stuffed Peppers w/ Beans & Rice

Today’s Events Data, Innovation & the Future of Criminal Justice 12-1:15 p.m.

Head to the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy to learn about the intersection of criminal justice and technology. In this discussion with two Technology and Human Rights fellows, you can learn more about how technology plays a role in the lives of the U.S.’s incarcerated population.

The Divestment Debate - A Panel Discussion 4:15-6 p.m.

To learn more about divestment, check out room 101 in Emerson Hall to hear a panel discussion about the divestment debate. Speakers include a manager director of Harvard Management Company, a Harvard philosophy professor, and a Harvard junior involved in the Divest Harvard Campaign.

in The Real World 41 Dead in Russian Passenger Plane Fire

After a Russian passenger plane that made an emergency landing caught on fire, 41 people died, 37 survived, and five were hospitalized. Russia’s Investigative Committee has launched a criminal probe to investigate the incident.

Klobuchar Criticizes Trump’s Approach to North Korea After Projectile Tests

The Divinity School stands in the northwest corner of Harvard’s campus on Francis Avenue. MIA B. FROTHINGHAM — Crimson photographer

With the upcoming 2020 election in sights, many presidential candidates are criticizing the Trump administration’s approach to North Korea. Senator Amy Klobuchar repudiated Trump’s negotiation efforts with North Korea, as North Korea recently launched projectiles into the sea from its eastern coast.

Over 20 Dead in Gaza, 4 in Israel After Fighting Between Israel and Gaza Militants

Daily Briefing More than 170 students participated in a sit-in at Winthrop House dining hall Friday. The protest — organized by Our Harvard Can Do Better, the Association of Black Harvard Women, and Student Labor Action Movement — follows a tumultuous semester at Winthrop that started in January when Faculty Dean Ronald S. Sullivan Jr. announced he would represent film producer Harvey Weinstein. In other news, Dean of the College Rakesh Khurana has submitted proposed changes to the student handbook, which include a substantial rewrite of the the College’s policies on drug and alcohol use.

After rockets were fired towards Israel Sunday morning from Gaza, the Israeli government responded with airstrikes on targets in Gaza.

Diplomatic attempts to bring an end to the fighting are continuing, with Egypt and the United Nations acting as mediators.

Around the Ivies COLUMBIA

The percentage of female graduate students in science and engineering fields at Columbia have stayed roughly stagnant since 1998, according to the Columbia Spectator. While some departments — like mathematics and statistics — have seen a boost in female representation, others have experienced a large decline in the number of female graduate students. The physical sciences, especially physics, have seen a significant increase in gender disparity in recent years. Columbia has expressed a commitment to expanding its Bridge to the Ph.D. pipeline program, which encourages underrepresented groups to apply to Ph.D. programs in STEM.

BROWN

There were 92 reported incidents to Brown’s Title IX and Gender Equity Office from July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018, according to the Brown Daily Herald. The number of reports marked a 56 percent increase from the number of reports last year. Of the incidents reported to the office, 80 were related to sexual or gender-based harassment, or sexual assault. The office’s formal and informal dispute resolution procedures were used in 15 of these incidents.

CoRNELL

The City of Ithaca posted body camera videos from an April 6 incident in which Ithaca Police Department arrested a black man and woman, according to the Cornell Sun. The release of the videos came roughly a month after the arrest, following a public letter published by the local group Black Life Matters Ithaca, which demanded for the release of the footage. The group said the incident is an example of the police department’s “pattern of abuse and disrespect” to people of color. In the video, officers fired taser at Cadji Ferguson – who was later charged with resisting arrest and disorderly conduct – after multiple warnings.

THE UNIVERSITY DAILY, EST. 1873

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

Staff for This Issue

Associate Managing Editor Jamie D. Halper ’20

Arts Chairs Kaylee S. Kim ’20 Caroline A. Tsai ’20

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

Associate Business Manager Amy E. Zhou ’20

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

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

Editorial Chairs Jessenia N. Class ’20 Robert Miranda ’20

Blog Chairs Lorenzo F. Manuali ’21 Trula J. Rael ’21

Technology Chairs Nenya A. Edjah ’20 Theodore T. Liu ’20

Night Editor Sonia Kim ’20

Design Editor Elena M. Ramos ’20

Assistant Night Editors Simone C. Chu ’21 Ruoqi Zhang ’22

Photo Editors Shera S. Avi-Yonah ’21 Amanda M. DiMartini ’20

Story Editors Jamie D. Halper ’20 Angela N. Fu ’20 Lucy Wang ’20

Editorial Editor Emily A. Romero ’21

Sports Chairs Joseph W. Minatel ’21 Henry Zhu ’20

Copyright 2019, The Harvard Crimson (USPS 236-560). No articles, editorials, cartoons or any part thereof appearing in The Crimson may be reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the President. The Associated Press holds the right to reprint any materials published in The Crimson. The Crimson is a non-profit, independent corporation, founded in 1873 and incorporated in 1967. Second-class postage paid in Boston, Massachusetts. Published Monday through Friday except holidays and during vacations, three times weekly during reading and exam periods by The Harvard Crimson Inc., 14 Plympton St., Cambridge, Mass. 02138 Weather icons made by Freepik, Yannick, Situ Herrera, OCHA, SimpleIcon, Catalin Fertu from flaticon.com is licensed by CC BY 3.0.

Sports Editor Eamon J. McLoughlin ’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 | May 6, 2019

WINTHROP From Page 1

FACULTY From Page 1

Students Stage Sit-In at Winthrop Faculty to Vote on Shopping Week the groups have demanded that the administration complete the review and announce what action it would take by May 29.

Sullivan did not respond to a request for comment. College spokesperson Rachael Dane declined to comment on the students’ demands. The Association of Black Harvard Women and Student Labor Action Movement also sponsored the event. Our Harvard Can Do Better member Remedy H. Ryan ’21 wrote in a text that 178 undergraduates put their names on a sign-in sheet the organization distributed. Dean of the College Rakesh Khurana also attended part of the event.

Since Sullivan announced his decision to represent Weinstein in late January, students have spoken out at protests and written posts calling for him to step down as faculty dean — arguing that his representation of Weinstein is inconsistent with his role as the dean of an undergraduate house.

The College announced in February that former Dean of Freshman Thomas A. Dingman ’67 would conduct a climate review of Winthrop as a result of ­

student concerns over Sullivan’s decision. As part of the review, administrators circulated a survey among Winthrop undergraduates, asking students to rate the house on a variety of metrics like homophobia, elitism, and friendliness.

The controversy in Winthrop House escalated in April when Danu A.K. Mudannayake ’20 — a Crimson design editor and activist who has led calls for Sullivan to step down as faculty dean — and Winthrop tutor Carl L. Miller filed conflicting police reports against each other after a confrontation in the house dining hall.

Following the incident, Miller and his wife, Winthrop tutor Valencia Miller, sued Eliot Faculty Dean Gail A. O’Keefe for defamation in part because O’Keefe sent an email to Eliot residents defending Mudannayake and calling the Millers’ conduct “unprofessional.”

The Millers’ lawyer, George J. Leontire, said he believes the student protesters have acted inappropriately towards his clients. “They fully want the right to be able to disparage the Millers yet cry foul when Mr. Mill-

er responds,” he said. “If you can’t take the heat get out of the kitchen. If you’re going to start harassing someone don’t expect a response not to be forthcoming.” Several students gave speeches at the event including Winthrop student Hakeem O. I. Angulu ’20; Phoebe H. Suh ’22, a freshman placed into Winthrop who has called for Sullivan to step down; and ABHW political action chair Araoluwa P. Omotowa ’22. Angulu said at the event that he believes Sullivan should step down both because of the impact of his decision to represent Weinstein and the way he has responded to student criticism. “Let me be clear, the point about Harvey Weinstein deserving due process is a straw man argument and is a point that protesters have never disputed,” Angulu said. “The more specific and relevant point that we’re trying to make is that Dean Sullivan does not have to provide the representation, and by providing, he is compromising his ability to serve survivors and his house.”

Omotowa said in an interview Sunday that ABHW’s board decided to co-sponsor the

event because of the way Sullivan’s representation has affected their members. The organization previously sent a letter in February calling on Sullivan to resign from his post as faculty dean. “Black women on this campus, especially queer minorities — which ABHW also distinctly cares about — are negatively impacted by emboldening rape culture on this campus. That’s why we felt personally, and as an organization, compelled to be on the forefront of this, calling Sullivan out for his actions,” Omotowa said.

She added that she hopes students and administrators will discuss both faculty deans’ roles within the Harvard residential system and the impact of rape culture at the College. “I think that [next steps are] going to incorporate a lot more diverse training of faculty and administrators in terms of just understanding what rape culture is, how that affects students, how that inhibits our ability to learn, and also just occupies this campus in general,” she said. shera.avi-yonah@thecrimson.com delano.franklin@thecrimson.com

LETTER From Page 1

Students Call on Brazil to Fund Sociology “When sociology and the social sciences get threatened, like with what’s happening right now in Brazil, we need to mobilize to try to do something,” Baum said.

Sociology Professor Jocelyn Viterna, who signed the letter, said she felt a similar “concern” and urgency.

“Any time a political party tries to limit the creation and the development of knowledge, particularly knowledge about power and inequality and society, that is a cause for concern,” Viterna said.

Baum called the policy an “attack on Brazilian democracy.”

“This policy is not only an attack on education, it’s an attack

on Brazilian democracy. I want to be as clear as possible about the gravity of this,” Baum said.

It’s an attack on Brazilian democracy.

Derick S. Baum Ph.D. Student, Sociology

“Brazil is the fourth largest democracy in the world, but we’re quickly walking toward becoming one of the largest fascist regimes.”

By dictating how universities should manage their resources, Baum said the Brazilian government is acting directly against the principles of

autonomy explicitly stated in the country’s Constitution.

While the stated rationale behind the proposal is market-based logic of funding more “lucrative” professions, Baum said the real reason is the social sciences’ perceived threat to Bolsonaro’s power. By cutting funds, “the government is deliberately suppressing the opposition,” Baum said.

The Brazilian government could not be reached for comment regarding its policy proposal or actions. Viterna explained that Bolsonaro’s move is a common pattern seen in dictatorships.

“This is something that we regularly see when dictators show, or when politicians be-

gin to show, more dictatorial tendencies, what they do is they crack down on intellectual thought,” she said.

While uncertain if the letter will bring about any change in Brazilian policy, Viterna said she believes it is a “symbolic” show of force. “Most of what these letters do is send the message to the politician that the world is watching, the world is aware of what they’re doing,” she said.

Torres and Baum both voiced similar sentiments. “It might not lead anywhere, but we’re bringing some noise, we’re letting the world know about what’s happening,” Baum said. sophia.armenakas@thecrimson.com

JOURNAL From Page 1

Disability-Focused Publication Debuts students and alumni from the Graduate School of Education, Harvard Medical School, Harvard Kennedy School, and Harvard Law School.

Preparations for the publication began in November, when the initial call for submissions was sent out, according to Nikita F. Andersson and Miso Kwak, the organization’s co-chairs.

Since then, editors have worked to solidify logistical details and prepare submissions for publication.

The Graduate School of Education provided funding for the publication and hosts the digital version on its website. Andersson and Kwak said they hope the journal will become a resource for students and faculty across Harvard’s schools.

“Our aim is to put it in libraries across Harvard, in all the accessibility offices, in all the graduate schools, so that everybody has access to it,” Andersson said. “Having students from Harvard tell their own experiences of having disabilities, or thinking about disability scholarship in a more critical way is just really important, because so many students go through this experience at this university.”

The co-chairs also said publishing students’ experiences may help alleviate the stigmas often associated with disability.

“Even though we don’t talk about it so much, and it is so stigmatized within this society, it’s something that most people inevitably have experi-

enced, whether that is for themselves, or people they’re close to,” Kwak said. “I think it is a mistake if we don’t talk about it openly in this institution.”

Former Graduate School of Education Professor Thomas F. Hehir, who wrote the foreword for the volume, said the publication represents a shift in societal perceptions of people with disabilities. “I think it’s part of a broader movement in the disability world where people with disabilities are claiming their identities and in a positive way,” Hehir said.

Hehir said the publication is particularly valuable at a school where many students are in one- or two-year programs and don’t have as long to make lasting change.

“The vast majority of our students are master’s students, and they’re only here for a year, and so one of things that I think is important about this publication is it creates a sense of institutional memory,” Hehir said.

Andersson said ultimately the publication aims to shift norms surrounding disability, especially for those whose disabilities are not visible.

“So often, disability is not spoken about and can often manifest itself in a very invisible way,” Andersson said. “I think it’s important for students to feel comfortable talking about it more, so we start to change the norms around talking about disability.” joshua.archibald@thecrimson.com

Annual Gala Honors Black Women at Harvard

By CAMILLE G. CALDERA and AMANDA Y. SU Crimson Staff Writers

The Black Men’s Forum honored History and African and African American studies Professor Elizabeth Hinton at its 25th annual Celebration of Black Womxn gala Friday evening.

The event also honored a group of 12 senior women who had been nominated for activism and contributions to black student life. Unlike in previous years, however, all were given recognition and none were set apart as winners of any particular awards.

Hinton dedicated her 2019 Womxn of the Year award to all the black women in the room, including her unborn daughter, who is due in July; her greatgreat grandmother, who was born a slave; and her grandfather, who only received an eighth-grade education. She also charged the gala attendees with reforming inequalities that black people face in the United States, including mass incarceration, police brutality, ­

and unequal pay.

“We’ve got to keep supporting each other and other brothers and sisters who aren’t as fortunate to make it into the spaces,” she said. “As the future citizen leaders of this country, you have a special charge to make sure that we create a better world.”

BMF leadership said Hinton had worked closely with their organization throughout the year and had moderated a panel event they held on mass incarceration.

“She’s an inspiration to us, completely,” outgoing BMF President Johnny G. Powell ’20 said in an interview. “Her students have come to us personally saying that she deserved to be awarded, or acknowledged.”

Injil Muhammad ’21, the incoming BMF president and current vice president, added that Hinton was the perfect fit for the award.

“The woman of the year is supposed to be someone who exemplifies the standards of class, beauty, and excellence to the highest standard,” Muhammad said. “Professor Hinton is

just someone who immediately came to mind as a figure in the community who does all of those things.”

The event opened with a reception and celebration of all black womxn-identifying graduating seniors.

The 12 nominated seniors each received recognition for their involvement in their community.

In past years, just a few seniors were selected from a pool of nominees and given special recognition for their contributions. The final selection processes, however, was “critiqued pretty heavily” for exclusivity, Powell said.

Muhammad said BMF wanted to empower the community to select the winners, and thus decided to give awards to all nominees.

“Community impact is not about the most public figure or the most popular but the ones who can help one person in one instance,” Muhammad said.

Attendees also honored the memory of Courtney S. Blair ’19, who passed away last summer, with an excerpt of Maya Ange-

lou’s poem “Phenomenal Woman.”

Local high school senior Hellen M. Muma also recieved a $500 college scholarship given annually at the event meant to commend her dedication to public service and her academic achievements.

Powell said this was his favorite part of the event, since he loves recognizing “someone who represents the future of black women.”

Earlier in the week, event organizers hosted other events to show their appreciation for black women on campus, including a discussion of identities and black womanhood, a professional development panel with black women alumni, and a free photo shoot.

“I wanted this year people to feel BMF actually cared,” Powell said. “This year, we refashioned it to be more intentional with the events we threw to make sure they actually celebrated some facet of black womanhood.” camille.caldera@thecrimson.com amanda.su@thecrimson.com

The other changes to the handbook reflect proposals the Faculty has voted on during the 2018-2019 academic year, including updates to the language requirement which remove the specification that students must take a language with a written component.

Another change reflects the establishment of a new concurrent bachelor’s and master’s degree program that will replace Advanced Standing, the College’s previous dual degree program.

The updated handbook also includes a new section on General Education, explaining the changes to the program that will take effect this fall. Under the new program, students must fulfill four General Education requirements, three distributional requirements, and a Quantitative Reasoning with Data requirement that the faculty plans to vote on at the Tuesday meeting.

Under the new Quantitative Reasoning requirement, students will have to take either a course that fulfilled the College’s previous Empirical and Mathematical Reasoning requirement, or a course from any department that FAS decides “will enable students to think critically about data.”

After months of research and deliberation, the full Faculty will also decide whether to keep “Shopping Week,” the time during which students can explore courses at the begin­

ning of each semester before officially enrolling.

A faculty committee tasked with studying the issue found insufficient evidence that shopping week alone was to blame for issues that some say plague the current system, including financial uncertainty for teaching fellows and reduced instruction time.

The committee proposed that the College keep shopping week until at least 2022. FAS will form a new committee to review course registration at that time.

The proposal faced minimal resistance at last month’s Faculty meeting. Multiple faculty members appeared more skeptical of legislation to establish a master’s degree in biotechnology, which would be overseen by Harvard Business School and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

Medical Anthropology Professor Arthur Kleinman, for example, asked for assurance that the proposed degree program would incorporate discussion of the “unintended consequences” of these medical innovations.

The Faculty will also vote to approve FAS and Harvard Extension School course offerings — including General Education courses that fulfill the College’s new requirements — for the 2019-2020 academic year at Tuesday’s meeting. jonah.berger@thecrimson.com molly.mccafferty@thecrimson.com

BACOW From Page 1

Sackler Name, Gift to Stay at Harvard Bacow also maintained that the University will not return the gift.

“Dr. Arthur Sackler died before the drug was developed.

His family sold their interest in the company before the drug was developed,” Bacow said.

“And I think it would be inappropriate for the university to either return the gift or take Dr. Sackler’s name off the building that his gift supported given that he had absolutely no relationship to it.”

Activists have long called on Harvard to remove the Sackler name from University buildings, but renewed their efforts after Healey filed a memo in the case in January 2019.

Activists then circulated a petition addressed to Bacow entitled “Tell Harvard: Cut

Ties With Makers of OxyContin.” The petition has garnered 14,746 signatures as of Sunday afternoon.

More than 1,600 lawsuits have now been filed in state and federal court against Purdue, which is considering filing for bankruptcy. The lawsuits have uncovered the company’s tactics used to promote the painkiller even after its executives were aware of the drug’s potential for abuse.

In late March, Purdue and members of the Sackler family agreed to pay $270 million to settle an Oklahoma lawsuit.

Other suits — including one in Massachusetts — may still be fought out in court. alexandra.chaidez@thecrimson.com aidan.ryan@thecrimson.com

Follow

@thecrimson on Twitter.

You know you want to.

There’s more. @THCSports @CrimsonArts @CrimsonFlyby

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | MAY 6, 2019

Page 4

Editorial The Crimson Editorial board

column

The UC’s ‘Great Reform’ Misses the Mark

A River Runs Through It

I

n their last meeting of the semester, the Undergraduate Council voted on two proposals which, taken together, overturn over 40 years of precedent to prohibit the president and vice president from voting on or sponsoring legislation.

These proposals — which their sponsors saw fit to call the “Great Reform” — were introduced after a representative questioned the wording of a portion of the UC’s Constitution, sparking debate on whether “executive officers” were eligible to vote. The controversy centered on the fact that, as defined by its constitution, the president and vice president are technically not “members” of the Council.

The fact that debate over this constitutional technicality occupied the UC’s attention for a week is uncommonly silly, not to mention disappointing. Rather than focusing upon purely parliamentary matters, the UC would do better to actively turn its attention towards more salient issues on which it may better serve the student body its members have been elected to represent.

The gravity of choosing whether to overturn four decades of precedent is not lost upon us. To this end, the portions of the UC’s meeting time spent discussing and deliberating upon the practical impacts of removing their executive officers’ voting and sponsorship privileges appear reasonable, as this decision significantly impacts the way the Council

operates from this point forward. Such relevant discussion points include concerns raised by representatives who cautioned against disenfranchising the only two members of the UC whose platform is held accountable to the entire student body. Given that the president and vice president of the UC have lost the power to propose legislation, we fear the student body’s ability to hold them and future UC executive officers accountable for their campaign promises — as we believe they must — have been thrown into question.

Irrespective of the practical impacts these proposals may have on the functioning of the UC, the fact remains that the only proposal passed by the UC during its deliberations on this topic did not grapple directly with the issue at hand at all — rather, it solely established which UC members may interpret the organization’s constitution.

The purely bureaucratic nature of this proposal — which its sponsors, in a baffling and self-aggrandizing display, dubbed the “Great Compromise” — and the base fact that this entire issue was precipitated on the basis of a minute, constitutional detail strikes us as downright whimsical, not to mention indicative of the body’s ineffectuality. As this Board has previously opined, the UC would do better to spend its time and energies working actively to assist and represent the College’s student body, rath-

er than debating parliamentary issues we doubt are ever at the forefront of students’ minds.

It is obviously preferable that the Council function under clearly defined parliamentary procedures, but dedicating extensive bandwidth to such issues ignores the litany of more relevant matters that UC members, as elected representatives, would do well to emphasize instead. The nature of the UC’s “Great Reform” exemplifies the dysfunctionalities present within the UC, which have motivated this board in the past to call for dramatic reorganization of the body, including restricting its purview to funding student organizations.

These recommendations, which we reaffirm today, are drastic but reflect the reality of the UC as it functions today.

Barring such radical reform, members of the UC must carefully consider their priorities. If they truly wish to represent the student body, their legislative priorities should reflect the priorities of those who elected them.

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.

AMANDA Y. SU — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

Op-ed

The Worst of Two Worlds: Responsibility Without Authority

By Julia M. L. Huesa and Sruthi Palaniappan

W

hen we were elected last semester to serve as president and vice president of the Undergraduate Council — an election that, like many UC presidential elections, is highly visible and garners far greater turnout than House or Yard elections — we had high aspirations to positively impact undergraduate student life through a series of legislative and non-legislative initiatives.

Today, those aspirations are under threat. About three weeks ago, a fellow representative brought to our attention that the UC Constitution does not explicitly denote membership to the president and vice president. Despite this ambiguity, the Council had allowed their membership for the past 40 years. When we discovered this vagueness, we promptly submitted a constitutional amendment that would clarify the roles of the president and vice president as members of the Undergraduate Council, maintaining the precedent of the past four decades. In the end, 80 percent of the 34 UC representatives present at the Council’s last general meeting of the semester voted in favor of our amendment.

However, another procedural complication rendered our vote invalid. Six UC representatives opposed to our amendment abstained, invalidating the vote due to a provision that requires at least two-thirds of all UC representatives to vote “yes” or “no” to pass a constitutional amendment. Due to the power this small group held to invalidate this vote, as of now, the president and vice president are not considered members of the Council, inhibiting, among other things, their ability to vote and sponsor legislation.

Without the ability to sponsor legislation, the president and vice president have virtually no means by which to advance the platform on which they ran and were elected by a plurality of the student body. Without an ability to introduce or vote on legislation, the voices of all students who voted on and believed in the elected president and vice president — the representatives with the

most visibility and accountability to the student body — are effectively silenced in the Council’s decisions. Without the ability to influence any of the decisions of the UC, why would administrators like University President Lawrence S. Bacow, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Claudine Gay, or Dean of the College Rakesh Khurana make the time to meet with the UC president and vice president?

The UC president and vice president now have responsibility without authority. They are held accountable for all actions of the Council, but lack the ability to sway decision-making or effectively carry out their vision.

The UC president and vice president have no power to veto legislation, nor can they issue executive orders — virtually nullifying any form of “executive power” traditionally awarded to the executive branch. Because they lack “executive power” to begin with, to strip them of their ability to vote or sponsor legislation renders them merely figureheads within the legislative context of the Council.

As the president and vice president are the only student representatives elected through a student body-wide election, they carry a distinct obligation to promote and sponsor legislation intended to benefit the entire undergraduate population. This perspective is what allows the president and vice president to add unique value to the Council’s collective work. They are not at odds with the rest of the Council but rather unified around the interest of serving students. Halting their participation through voting or sponsorship of legislation in the Council sets UC in conflict with its own mission to represent and support the undergraduate student population.

In the past, the president and vice president have voted on and sponsored important and beneficial legislation.

This includes 2016 President and Vice President Shaiba Rather ’17 and Danny V. Banks’ ’17 “Grant for an Open Harvard College,” which to this day funds large-scale student events that address one of our compelling interests: mental health, financial accessibility, sexual assault prevention and response, social

spaces, and race relations. Over the past three years, this grant has funded over 50 large-scale events and initiatives like the Harvard Student Art Show, summer storage subsidies for students in renovated houses, Your Mental Health Matters Week, the Latina Empowerment and Development Conference and student projects over Wintersession 2018-19. Our predecessors Catherine L. Zhang ’19 and Nicholas D. Boucher ’19 started Harvard Conversations, a program that has continued past their tenure to connect students and faculty for small, informal dinner conversations.

Even in our first semester, we passed legislation for the Social Inclusion Grant, which aims to make organizing inclusive social events more accessible to students.

We also piloted a class-wide event for the Class of 2020 in which 400 juniors attended, the success of which speaks to the need for expanded class-wide programming for sophomores and juniors.

The ability of the UC’s leaders to vote on and sponsor legislation has produced substantial improvements to undergraduate student life. But future improvements have now been made substantially more difficult.

As student leaders working every day to improve the Harvard community, we never dreamed that our roles would be stripped of membership on the very Council where the president and vice president have been voting and sponsoring legislation since its founding, 40 years ago.

The Harvard Undergraduate Council and Harvard College student body atlarge now need to grapple with the question of whether stripping the president and vice president of their voting rights or ability to sponsor legislation actually helps make the Council more effective or representative in its service to the student body.

—Sruthi Palaniappan ’20 is the current Undergraduate Council President and a Government concentrator in Winthrop House. Julia M. L. Huesa ’20 is the current Undergraduate Council Vice President and a Social Studies concentrator in Lowell House.

Grace M. Chao the underground

“W

as Harvard everything you dreamed it would be?” A dear friend recently queried me during a meal in the Mather House dining hall, with Cambridge glowing crimson during another spectacular spring sunset. I could only smile and chuckle gently as I attempted to collect my thoughts.

Where to begin? Where to end? Who to thank?

What to lament? What to celebrate? What pithy summation or epithet to offer? The best I could do was laugh and say, “I’ll have to get back to you with a Crimson column!” (For which I got an eyeroll and bemused sigh.)

Now the moment has come to deliver that response. As with every column I’ve written, I’m afraid I won’t ultimately be able to utter the words that are truly on my heart, only mirages and flickering images that will not do justice to the realities they attempt to represent. This likely won’t be a very traditional opinion column, for I do not wish to comment on policies or procedures, chastise, critique, or condemn.

I do not believe that it will tend compellingly towards artistic or eloquent either. Whatever it shall be, this column will not come close to capturing my four years here.

But I must try to do so, at the very least to celebrate the friends, mentors, scholarship, trials (yes, even hardships), and triumphs that shaped my Harvard experience. I think the best answer to my friend’s question starts is a simple story from the woods and barracks of Fort Knox, Kentucky. Lest you should think from that introduction that I was out with the U.S. Army stoically soldiering or learning super-cool tactical maneuvers, I was not.

For most of that brief month before my senior year I was trying desperately not to fall asleep on my security watches, marching a few miles every day, and listening to my stomach growl for the M&Ms in my next ration. My body was on full auto-pilot, leaving my mind free to wander far, far from Fort Knox. In usual flashes of missing home, I often thought of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado or how my family was celebrating July 4th without me.

Harvard wasn’t what I dreamed at all, for how could I have dreamed of an adventure whose twists and turns I scarcely could have imagined?

I soon realized I was also homesick for Harvard. On those long marches with nothing else to do but think, I’d pass the time by imagining, as vividly and viscerally as I could, walking back from the Science Center to Mather House in the cooling September twilight, counting every step, conversing with a few dear friends on my way back to the concrete jungle.

Or I’d visualize biking across the river to a rugby practice in the crisp autumn afternoon and greeting every one of my teammates, or running along the Charles during sunrise joking with my cadets.

These moments added up, and I realized with joy how much I loved Harvard and the seemingly small and most routine elements of my existence here.

Every day, I heard laughter and impassioned debate ring out in whatever dining hall I was in.

Every day, I saw people greeting each other in between classes with hugs and high fives and smiles (even in the worst of weather conditions).

Every day I ran into a friend, instructor, teammate, unexpected freshman acquaintance, someone who made my day better for having seen them only for one moment. Every day, I read about a classmate who had made a major academic or athletic accomplishment and felt a flash of genuine pride.

If I were to comb through the history of all the time I’d spent here, I do believe that I’d find something good in every day. Now, we’d almost be forgiven for believing that nothing good ever happened here, because no one writes op-eds or protests or petitions or becomes an activist to celebrate the good that does exist at Harvard.

This is not to say, of course, that there weren’t bad days or bad weeks or even bad months for us here. There remain many aspects of Harvard life that are challenging, restrictive, and overwhelming, and we nobly attempt to try to set such a world aright. It is perhaps only now in the bliss of senior spring that I can write that the side of Harvard that contains authentic joy, friendship, spirit, and pride is more pervasive, more powerful, and more profound than we might imagine. I cannot possibly hope to thank everyone who has made Harvard such a place for me.

To my all friends, coaches, professors, and Crimson editors who helped me share so much of my journey here, I could never have imagined how much of an impact you have made on me — thank you.

My final answer to the question that my friend raised is thus: Harvard wasn’t what I dreamed at all, for how could I have dreamed of an adventure whose twists and turns I scarcely could have imagined?

— Grace M. Chao ’19 is an Economics concentrator in Mather House. Her column appears on alternate Mondays.

Page 5

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | may 6, 2019

There’s nothing like the winning basket.

The sights and sounds of Harvard, every day.

The Crimson thecrimson.com

Sports

In Other News

Softball

Baseball

Softball secured a share of the Ivy League title with their doubleheader sweep versus Cornell on Saturday. Harvard will look to clinch the title outright versus the Big Red on Monday.

Baseball clinched an Ivy League Playoff berth, as well as home field advantage, with their 7-4 win versus Brown on Saturday.

women’s lacrosse

Season in Review: Women’s Lacrosse Plays 6-9

By Ben STern Crimson Staff Writer

Harvard capped off a tough season on Saturday with a tough loss to Penn on Senior Day in front of nearly 600 fans.

The Crimson (6-9, 1-6 Ivy) hung around with the Quakers (12-5, 5-2) for a while, but after freshman midfielder Grace Hulslander evened the score at 4-4, Penn pulled away and never looked back to take a 17-9 victory.

Freshman midfielder Hulslander finished with three goals on the day, and attacker and captain Keeley MacAfee poured in four more in the last game of her illustrious career in Cambridge.

The loss completed a 2019 campaign marked by both inconsistency and promise.

Harvard started strong, taking three of its first five games, including a double-overtime thriller against Boston University.

In its ninth game, the squad dealt an 18-8 drubbing to rival Yale. It was a display of dominance that seemed to spell good fortunes for the rest of the year.

Then the team slipped heading into the heart of Ivy play, ending with a less-than-stellar overall record. However, there were a number of bright spots for the Crimson, including young talent: Hulslander shined in her freshman year with 29 goals, and sophomore attacker Madison Conklin racked up 15 goals and nine assists.

From a team standpoint, there were a number of encouraging close calls. The Crimson played No. 11 Denver tightly in the first half and lost a hardfought game to No. 15 Princeton, 14-12. ­

Within the Ancient Eight, things easily could have gone differently. In addition to the Princeton game, Harvard lost to Dartmouth 15-11, fell to Columbia 15-14, and, in its last away game, dropped a showdown with Brown, 10-9.

Rookie head coach Devon Wills now has one season with the Crimson under her belt.

“I am really proud of the team and the improvements that they made throughout the season,” she said. “We played a very difficult schedule playing several top 10-top 15 opponents.

The Ivy League is extremely competitive. Our team continued to improve throughout the season and I am so proud of how the team competed and came together as a group. Obviously the Yale game was a highlight and all 28 players contributed to that win!”

Wills identified an inability to sustain performance as her team’s biggest weakness.

“Moving forward I want us to compete consistently so that we are able to put together a full 60 minutes,” she said.

She’ll have a committed group ready to take on that challenge next spring. But there are three players Wills won’t be able to rely on in 2020: her trio of senior captains, who said farewell to the program on Saturday after starting each of the team’s 15 games this year. MacAfee, attacker Nicole Baiocco, and defender Marley Jenkins all played very well in their last run with the Crimson.

“This season definitely was not easy,” MacAfee said, “but it was probably my favorite year of playing Harvard lacrosse. A lot of games did not go our way, but our coaches took pride in making our team a family and they

END OF THE ROAD Last weekend’s home loss against Penn marked the end of the 2019 season for Harvard. While the team ended 6-9, the future looks bright, as much of the squad, such as sophomore goalie Grace Rotondo, will be returning next year. Quinn G. Perini — Crimson photographer

never gave up on us no matter the circumstances. They made this year very special for me and I’m really thankful I got even one year to play for them.”

She highlighted the Yale game as a high point of the year.

“It was a great team win,” she said. “Of course, Harvard-Yale is always a big game. It was awesome to beat them decisively at home.”

Jenkins agreed.

“The highlight for me was crushing Yale at home on a beautiful day,” she said. “A ton of different people scored and everyone played together and of course it’s always awesome to beat our rival Yale.”

The captains also praised their team’s ability to stick together and expressed hope for the future.

“Our biggest strength was our team culture,” said Jenkins.

“We are all best friends and really care for each other’s successes, which always helps us get through hard times.”

“Regardless of the outcomes in games, we came ready to move on and get better the next day at practice,” MacAfee said.

“Overall it was a great season with an awesome group of girls

and coaches,” said Jenkins. “I can’t wait to see where Harvard women’s lacrosse goes in the future.”

While it will certainly miss its graduating seniors, the Crimson is poised to bounce back in 2020 with a skilled coach, a new batch of recruits, and a cohesive returning cast. ben.stern@thecrimson.com

women’s Golf

Women’s Golf Ready to Tee Off at NCAA Regionals

By KOSTAS TINGOS Crimson Staff Writer

R ight before final exam period begins, the Harvard women’s golf team has other business to ­

attend to first. The group will compete in one of four NCAA Regional Tournaments, bringing the program’s all-time tally up to eight regional appearances. This year the Crimson will

travel to Forest Akers West Golf Course in East Lansing, Michigan, the site of the Midwest Regional.

The event will take place over three consecutive days be-

ginning on Monday May 6th, with the student athletes playing one full round of golf each day. At the end of it all, the top four scores out of five competitors from each school will be

FORE! Harvard’s capturing of the Ivy League title this season clinched a spot for The Crimson in the NCAA Midwest Regional Tournament. The threeday tournament kicks off at Forest Akers West Golf Course in East Lansing, Michigan, on Monday. COURTESY OF HARVARD ATHLETICS

combined to form one aggregate score.

Harvard clinched its spot at the event by winning the Ivy League Championship two weeks ago. The last time the squad reached this stage was when the current seniors were themselves just young freshmen.

“It’s a huge honor [to compete in this tournament]. We love being able to play in it, and we don’t always get to and it’s not always a guarantee,” captain Michelle Xie said. “It’s always so much fun to be able to play with other teams. I haven’t done so since freshman year and everyone else on the team hasn’t played in NCAA Regionals yet so it’s definitely really special.”

This will easily be the tallest task that the Crimson has faced all year. Instead of its normal Ancient Eight competition, the group will be going up against some of the best teams from all around the nation. The field in this Midwest Regional includes schools like Stanford, Arizona, Kent State, UCLA, and the host Michigan State.

That being said, there is not much that Harvard can do to influence the performance of these other teams. Instead, it must focus on how its own game will play out.

“I think we’re just trying to do our best and make sure that we’re doing everything we can to ensure our optimal performance,” freshman Elizabeth Wang said. “[It’s all about] just trying our best and seeing how far we can run with it.”

Wang has been a big spark for Harvard in her first year of collegiate competition. She leads the team with a 71.90 stroke average over 10 rounds of play and has carded a team best single round score of 69. Wang capped off her impressive inaugural season by being crowned the Ivy League Individual Champion, by notching the best solo score at the Ivy League Cham-

pionship.

“I’ve always loved the game and I’ve always wanted to see how I can improve,” Wang said.

“Especially with college, the team provides a huge amount of support and I’m very grateful for them. They are amazing people, each with their own motivations and desires and passions, and it’s great for all of us to support each other.”

This is the second consecutive year that a Crimson golfer was crowned the Ancient Eight Individual Champion. The year before, Xie was the one who took home the award, winning by four strokes.

Despite not replicating the feat this season, the senior has still had an impressive finale to her Harvard career. Xie has earned a top 10 finish in a tournament this year and her 76.13 stroke average is the third best on the team. Xie’s fellow senior Anna Zhou has also turned in strong performances in her last run.

However, as these two are finishing off their last run, there are several young faces who are just getting started. Anina Ku and Chloe Royston round out a freshman class that should give the Crimson golf program plenty to be optimistic about for the future.

“I think there’s a lot of strength in our freshmen this year,” Xie said. “It’s really great because they come in with a bunch of energy and they’re ready to practice more and always add more to the team.

They’re so enthusiastic about everything we do.”

Nevertheless, there is still unfinished business in this current spring season. Every member of the team will need to perform at their best in order for Harvard to make a splash at NCAA Regionals. The competition will be stiff but this is an opportunity that every athlete lives for. kostas.tingos@thecrimson.com