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Caroline Kennedy Steps Off of Institute of Politics Board
Harvard affiliates alleged that the tension between Kennedy and Elmendorf in part derived from the committee’s unsolicit ed involvement in IOP management.
The IOP’s website states that the advisory committee “works closely with the Institute to ful fill its mission to inspire Harvard students to pursue pathways in politics and public service,” though no specific duties are listed.
IOP Director Mark D. Gear an did not respond to multiple requests for comment Wednes day evening. Kennedy School spokesperson James F. Smith declined to comment on The Post’s specific allegations.
In an emailed statement Smith provided to The Crimson Wednesday evening, Elmendorf recognized Kennedy’s contribu tions to the institute.
“Caroline Kennedy is a dis tinguished public leader with an exemplary record of service to her country,” he wrote. “I am extremely grateful for the ex traordinary dedication and commitment she has shown to Harvard Kennedy School over many years.”
Mark D. Gearan IO P Director
Duberstein, who also recent ly resigned, had worked with the IOP for the past two decades, sit ting on panels as well as participating in its bipartisan orientation for newly elected U.S. Representatives. He did not respond to a re quest for comment Wednesday evening. Elmendorf commend ed Duberstein on his dedication to the institute.
“We greatly appreciate his absolute commitment to encour aging students to enter public life and for his tireless efforts to strengthen the IOP to support and inspire those students,” he wrote.
In her resignation letter, Ken nedy reflected on her participation at the institute since her years at the College.
“When I enter HKS, I am re minded of my mother, my uncles and my brother, who all served on the SAC. I share their belief that inspiring the next gener ation of leaders to enter public service is the best way to honor my father’s memory,” she wrote.
—Staff Writer Sixiao Yu contributed reporting.
ema.schumer@thecrimson.com
Physicist Brian R. Greene ’84 Discusses Universe in Talk
Brian R. Greene ‘84 describes the history of time at a presentation about his new book — Until the End of Time — in the Science Center on Wednesday. Aiy n G. White—Crimson photo r pher
By Natalie L. KaH and Ji g-Ji g s e Contributing writers
Theoretical physicist and Columbia University professor Brian R. Greene ’84 emphasized humanity’s unique place in the cosmos — despite occupying a miniscule sliver of space and time — at a Science Center talk Wednesday night.
In his presentation, orga nized by the Harvard Book Store, Greene gave the audience a preview of his new book “Until the End of Time: Mind, Matter, and Our Search for Meaning in an Evolving Universe.”
Greene said he hopes his readers can “recognize the won drous, perhaps frightening to me, exciting fact that we occupy a little minute oasis in the cosmic unfolding.”
Greene began the talk by comparing the history of the universe to a year-long calendar, with the human race only com ing into being at 11:40 p.m. on December 31.
To describe the future of the cosmos, he used the analogy of the Empire State Building, with each floor representing a dura tion ten times that of the previous floor.
At the eleventh floor, one hundred billion years from now, the sun will grow over 200 times in size and possibly swallow the earth, according to Greene.
“By floor 38, we believe it’s likely that protons, the very heart of matter, will disinte grate, showing us once and for all that diamonds truly are not forever,” he added to laughter from the audience.
Even if humans still exist ed on the fiftieth floor, Greene explained, that the very act of thought would emit so much heat that they would effectively combust.
“If you think, you fry,” Greene said. Greene also suggested that due to the rapid expansion of the universe, galaxies would move so far away that their light would never reach Earth.
Astronomers in the distant future, Greene posited, might look into the night sky and see total darkness.
“To lose contact with distant galaxies is to lose contact with the very evidence for the struc ture of the universe as we currently understand it,” Greene said.
Harvard Book Store owner Jeffrey Mayersohn ’73 said he admired Greene’s energetic de livery, even as the presentation delved into abstract possibili ties.
“It started off with the very concrete and went into incred ible speculation,” Mayersohn said.
“He took us along and we were with him every step of the way.” he added.
Greene refuted the possibil ity of humans having free will; thoughts and actions are simply interactions between elementa ry particles, which are bound to obey mathematical equations. Yet he said that a deterministic conception of the universe need not preclude hope.
“We are made of these ex quisitely ordered, wonderfully choreographed particles of na ture governed fully by the physical laws, no free will whatsoever,” Greene said. “And yet even in that environment, our partic ular arrangements can through a flitting burst of activity, create beauty, illuminate mystery, ex perience wonder.”
“The fact that particles can do that fills me with a sense of gratitude that really borders on reverence,” Greene added.
letter From Page 1
Bacow Writes WH On Travel Ban
the US,” Bacow wrote. “As the purview of these orders has ex panded, students, faculty, and scholars from other countries worry that their immigration status could be revoked at any time — and with no consider ation of their conduct or intent.” The White House could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
The travel ban drew intense criticism after its announce ment and faced challenges in multiple federal courts, leading to a legal battle in front of the Supreme Court. The Court ul timately upheld the ban in 2018. In the letter, Bacow wrote that the bans have “prevented” or “hindered” universities from recruiting students, faculty, and scholars. He added that the bans have made collaboration with other universities more difficult.
Bacow wrote he supports and appreciates federal efforts to keep the nation secure, but believes the government should pursue alternatives to this par ticular policy.
“I believe we can respond to those challenges in a way that echoes the founding ideals of our country — countless people have looked to us for hope, for the chance to learn, to contrib ute, and to lead better and safer lives,” Bacow wrote. “My father and my mother were two of them, and they taught me that this country is great because its doors are open to the world.”
Before the announcement, the travel ban barred entry from seven countries to varying de grees. The updated travel ban will prohibit some types of im migrant visas — but not student visas — from the newly added countries.
Harvard has consistently lobbied for immigration-relat ed proposals in both the House of Representatives and Senate. Since the start of 2019, Har vard’s Office of Federal Relations has worked on immigration reform issues, student visas, and issues pertaining to international students and scholars, according to the of fice’s disclosure under the Lobbying Disclosure Act.
Lawrence S. Bacow University President
“Immigration issues like OPT, DACA, TPS and the con cerns of international students are a focus of the University’s federal activities with engage ment with policy makers and key administration officials,” University spokesperson Jason A. Newton wrote in an emailed statement.
Bacow closed his letter by encouraging the president to enact policies that would make America the “destination of choice” for top scholars across the globe. “I hope you will do more to advocate for the Unit ed States as the destination of choice for the world’s best stu dents, faculty, and scholars, regardless of nationality — and enact policies that make that possible,” he wrote.
K ura a From Page 1
Khurana Says New Gen Ed Lottery Is Better
to try to at least improve the system,” he added.
Under the new lottery sys tem, students can rank up to five Gen Ed courses on their my.har vard online student portal.
The Gen Ed office then uses a unified ranked-choice system to assign students to their highest possible preferences.
Khurana characterized the lottery’s launch as highly suc cessful, pointing to the fact that roughly 87 percent of under graduates participating in the lottery were granted either their first or second-ranked course choice this semester.
The Gen Ed office began working to create a new lottery system last summer with Har vard University Information Technology, the Advising Pro grams Office, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Registrar’s Office, and the Office of Undergraduate Education.
The initiative to revamp the system came after College ad ministrators observed that some students successfully lotteried into multiple overflowing cours es while others failed to lottery into any.
The new Gen Ed lottery com plements a broadly refreshed Gen Ed program, which was un veiled in the fall of 2019 after a four-year-long overhaul.
The Gen Ed office caps its courses at a maximum of 250 students, though professors can choose to impose stricter enroll ment caps if they wish.
The office implements lotter ies for courses if interest exceeds the cap.
Khurana said he sympa thized with students who do not get seats in desired cours es — Gen Ed and otherwise — because the College faces a pe rennial problem of overflowing classes.
“I still have enough of a mem ory of how frustrating it was as an undergraduate not to get a course with someone that you really liked, or wanted to take,” he said.
Still, Khurana said he thinks some professors must limit their course sizes to successfully en gage a small group of students in more intensive discussion.
“I think we really respect the faculty’s creative expertise and decisions on doing that,” he said. “One of the hallmarks of Harvard College education is that opportunity to take some of those smaller classes that allow you to have that interaction with your peers, as well as with facul ty, in a kind of smaller setting,” he added.
Khurana also suggested some potential methods to maintain face-to-face instruction while also meeting student interest, including adding more course sections, finding other instruc tors to take over for professors on sabbatical, and experiment ing with classroom formats.
“Our goal is to allow students to take full advantage of the Harvard College curriculum,” he said.
juliet.isselbacher@thecrimson.com amanda.su@thecrimson.com
lawsuit From Page 1 Prison Divestment Activists File Suit Against Univ.
and to make “such practices” illegal.
The graduate students listed as plaintiffs — Ismail A. Buffins, a student at the Divinity School; Amanda T. Chan and Anna L. Nathanson, students at the Law School; and Jarrett Drake and Citlalli Alvarez Almendariz, doctoral students in Anthropol ogy — held a press conference at the Suffolk County Courthouse upon filing the lawsuit Wednes day morning.
The plaintiffs explained how their suit differed from a 2014 lawsuit that a group of seven Harvard student activists filed against Harvard; that lawsuit also alleged the University’s in vestment in fossil fuels violated the school’s charter.
Chan said the 2014 suit was dismissed for lack of standing because the student plaintiffs did not have a “special position or enough of a stake in the en dowment.”
“But today, we do not just stand here as students who are working in agitating for aboli tion and for divestment. We’re standing here as donors to Har vard University,” Chan said. “So somewhere floating around in that $40.9 billion endowment is $20 of my hard-earned debt money, which means that under the charter, the University has to consider my will and has to con sider its charitable purposes.”
The complaint itself notes that the Harvard Charter “re quires accountability to donors surrounding the use of funds.” It also cites a ruling in a previous case in which a judge found that the individuals who contributed to a charitable organization had standing to sue.
Amanda T. Chan Law Student and Plaintiff
Though noting that he do nated $12.24 to the University, Drake said in remarks at the press conference that the no tion of “moral standing” was more important to him than le gal standing in pursuing the lawsuit. “I’m a descendant of enslaved people in this country. My an cestors built courthouses like this. They built statehouses like the one on Beacon Street. They built universities like Harvard,” Drake said. “And as a descendant of enslaved people, it’s impossi ble to see our system of mass imprisonment, and not see the relationships — the direct, direct relationships.”
“I’m here today, standing, literally, on the moral and the physical infrastructure that my ancestors, the ancestors of oth er people — enslaved people, exploited people — have built,” he added. “And that, to me, matters as much, if not more than, the le gal standing.”
