The Harvard Crimson - Volume CXLVI, No. 69

The Harvard Crimson The University Daily, Est. 1873 | Volume CXLVI, No. 69 | Cambridge, Massachusetts | FRIDAY, MAY 10, 2019

editorial PAGE 4

news PAGE 7

sports PAGE 4

Harvard should be transparent about the details of its new Title IX system

Embedded EthiCS program receives $150,000 grant

Harvard softball team crowned outright Ivy League champions

Univ. Concludes Dominguez Investigation Dominguez Loses His Emeritus Status

Warren Protests Sackler Name

By Jonah S. Berger and Molly C. McCafferty

By Jonah S. Berger Crimson Staff Writer

Crimson Staff Writers

Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Claudine Gay announced in an email to FAS affiliates Thursday that she has stripped former Government Professor Jorge I. Dominguez of his emeritus status and disinvite him from the FAS campus following the conclusion of a months-long investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct.

Under the sanctions Gay imposed, Dominguez will lose the rights and privileges afforded to emeritus faculty members.

He will be unable to hold an office on campus, teach and advise students, or receive support from administrative or research assistants.

The Office for Dispute Resolution investigation into Dominguez found that he engaged in “unwelcome sexual conduct” toward several individuals multiple times over a decades-long period, according to Gay. “The ODR findings reveal a

See Dominguez Page 3

with University representatives about the matter.

The University opened its Title IX investigation into Dominguez in early 2018, after 18 women came forward to accuse him of repeated acts of assault and harassment spanning four decades. Dean of the

Democratic presidential candidate and United States Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) called on Harvard to remove Arthur M. Sackler’s name from campus Wednesday, lending perhaps the most prominent voice yet to a growing chorus of public officials, families of opioid victims, and local activists pressuring Harvard to do so.

Warren’s demand, first reported by CNN and confirmed

by The Crimson through Warren spokesperson Kristen Orthman, came in the wake of her campaign’s release of a $100 billion plan to combat the opioid crisis.

The plan seeks to fund opioid prevention programs and provide resources to those struggling with addiction and those in recovery. “[We deserve] an America where when people like the Sacklers destroy millions of lives to make money, they don’t get museum wings named after them, they go to jail,” Warren, a Law School Professor Emerita,

See Accusers Page 3

See warren Page 5

­

The University announced the conclusion a Title IX investigation into former Government Professor Jorge I. Dominguez Thursday. Amanda Y. Su—Crimson photographer

Harvard to Commission an Dominguez Accusers Say External Review, Bacow Says They Were ‘Stonewalled’

By Jonah S. Berger and Molly C. McCafferty Crimson Staff Writers

University President Lawrence S. Bacow wrote in a Thursday letter to Government Professor Steven R. Levitsky, who led the Government Department’s Committee on Climate Change, that the Univer-

sity will initiate an external review of the circumstances that led to a failure to provide a safe work environment for Government department affiliates.

Bacow’s letter comes on the heels of the conclusion of an investigation into ousted Government Professor Jorge I.

See Review Page 3

By Jonah S. Berger and Molly C. McCafferty Crimson Staff Writers

Four women who accused former Government Professor Jorge I. Dominguez of sexual misconduct say Harvard failed to collect information they possess about Dominguez’s behavior, despite their offer to meet

College Sees Yield Rate of 83 Percent

‘With Us or Against Us’ Current and former Winthrop staff describe a toxic culture.

By SHERA s. Avi-Yonah and AIDAN F. rYAN Crimson Staff Writers

When Winthrop Faculty Dean Ronald S. Sullivan, Jr. met with House tutors on Jan. 27 to defend his representation of accused sexual harasser Harvey Weinstein, House scholar-in-residence Robert E. Proctor made a passing reference to issues from “three years ago.”

The reference may have gone unnoticed by newer staffers, but a couple of tutors at the meeting interpreted it as a warning recalling the ugly history of complaints about leadership and perceived retaliation that have dogged Winthrop for years.

Since Sullivan announced he would represent Weinstein, scores of Harvard affiliates and outside commenta-

tors have debated the impact of his decision on students. Staff, though, have largely remained silent.

Shortly after Sullivan announced his decision to represent Weinstein, he and his wife and co-faculty dean Stephanie R. Robinson assembled House staff for the Jan. 27 meeting.

During the meeting, he openly berated then-Winthrop tutor Katie B. Kohn, accusing her of organizing students against him and Robinson, and read from a prepared statement defending his representation of Weinstein, according to Kohn and Winthrop tutor Priya Shanmugam, who both attended the meeting.

Kohn wrote in an emailed statement that some tutors took Proctor’s reference to issues from three years prior to be a “clear threat.”

She said she understood Proctor to be referring to Winthrop’s history of management problems and alleged retaliation against tutors that Sullivan and Robinson deemed insufficiently supportive of them.

The problems included a revolving door of House Administrators, threats to push out resident tutors Sullivan and Robinson perceived as disloyal, and repeated meetings with College administrators about concerns with the faculty deans’ leadership. At one point in 2016, more than half of the Winthrop resident tutor staff made a pact to leave the House in protest, though they ultimately stayed.

“During our decade of service we have been, and remain, committed

See winthrop Page 4 Quinn G. Perini—Crimson photographer

By Camille G. Caldera Crimson Staff Writer

Nearly 83 percent of students admitted to Harvard College’s Class of 2023 accepted their offers, an increase from the Class of 2022, in which 81.7 percent of admitted students accepted their offers, the College announced Thursday.

A record-high 43,300 students applied to the Class of 2023 and 1,950 received offers of admission for a record-low acceptance rate of 4.5 percent.

“Harvard is indebted to the many undergraduates, faculty, and alumni/ae who have helped attract so many of the nation’s and world’s promising students,” Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid William R. Fitzsimmons ’67 said in a press release. “That outreach and guidance provide the critical difference by informing prospective students of the robust opportunities that await them in Cambridge.”

The yield rate has only topped this percentage once since 1969 — in 2017, when 84 percent of admits joined the Class of 2021. As a result, no students were accepted off the waitlist that year and 28 freshmen had to be housed in DeWolfe, a building traditionally reserved for upperclassmen.

The press release indicated that “only a small number of students” will be admitted off the waitlist this year.

Fitzsimmons’s office decided to admit fewer students to the Class of 2022 in hopes of retaining the ability to accept students off the waitlist. The total number of students admitted into the Class of 2023 was slightly less than that of the Class of 2022, even though the number of applicants increased.

The press release cited financial aid as a crucial consideration for “a large segment of those enrolling in the

See Yield Page 5

Act on a Dream Holds Graduation

By Amanda Y. Su Crimson Staff Writer

More than 50 students, faculty, staff, and administrators gathered in the Student Organization Center at Hilles Wednesday evening to honor undocumented members of the Class of 2019.

The event — dubbed “UndocuGraduation” — marked the first reception held by student-run immigration advocacy group Act on a Dream to celebrate undocumented graduates.

“The event was organized to highlight the struggles and the ways in which undocumented students persevere on this campus,” Act on a Dream co-director Emily A. Romero ’21, a Crim­

Inside this issue

Harvard Today 2

son editorial editor, said in an interview after the event. “This campus can be very difficult to navigate, yet here are so many people who came out at the end of this tunnel as better individuals than how they entered it.”

After a dinner and welcome, speakers including former Act on a Dream director Pierre R. Berastain ’10, director of the Harvard Financial Aid Initiative Michael Esposito, and history professor Kirsten Weld praised students’ achievements and offered advice about life after graduation.

Weld — one of 31 professors arrested in 2016 while protesting President Donald Trump’s decision to end the

See Grad Page 5

News 3

Editorial 6

Act on a Dream co-directors Diego Navarrete ‘21 and Emily A. Romero ‘21 welcome attendees to the first-ever undocumented students graduation Wednesday evening. Amanda Y. Su—Crimson photographer

Sports 8

Today’s Forecast

rainy High: 63 Low: 53

Visit thecrimson.com.

Follow @TheCrimson on Twitter.

ice

THE HARVARD CRIMSON |

MAY 10, 2019

Page 2

Harvard today

For Lunch Chicken Schnitzel Red’s Best Fresh Catch Farfalle Pasta with Cannelini Fried Onion Rings

For Dinner Mussels with Green Curry Sauce Salisbury Steak Vegetable Potsticker

Today’s Events Expressions Dance Company Presents: Urban Choreography Workshop with Banga Harvard Dance Center 7-8 p.m Want to learn some urban choreography? Swing by Harvard Dance Center tonight for a workshop taught by Banga! This workshop is free for everyone with an HUID. Alfredo Rodriguez & Pedrito Martinez + Arturo O’Farill Sanders Theatre 8-10 p.m.

Head to Sanders Theatre tonight for a musical performance by Grammynominated artists Alfredo Rodríguez and Pedrito Martinez as well as twotime Grammy-winner Arturo O’Farrill!

Snag a student rush ticket for $20 starting an hour before showtime.

in The Real World Fake Heiress Sentenced After Maintaining Scam for Four Years Anna Sorokin was found guilty Thursday of swindling more than $200,000 from New York hotels and banks under the name Anna Delvey.

Posing as a German heiress, Sorokin falsely claimed millions of dollars to her name in order to obtain loans. Sorokin was sentenced to 4 to 12 years in prison in addition to being fined $24,000 and ordered to pay restitution of about $199,000.

Jeff Bezos’s Blue Moon Aims to Land on Moon by 2024 Crimson Multimedia Chair Kai R. McNamee ‘21 frees the Crimson President’s chair from its ice enclosure, rescuing it from the possession of the Harvard Lampoon, a semi-secret Sorrento Square social organization that used to occasionally publish a so-called humor magazine.

AMANDA Y. SU — Crimson photographer

Daily Briefing Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean Claudine Gay announced Thursday she removed Jorge I. Dominguez’s emeritus privileges and banned him from Harvard’s campus following the conclusion of a Title IX investigation that found he had committed acts of sexual misconduct against several people spanning multiple decades. University President Lawrence S. Bacow also announced the University will launch an external review into the circumstances surrounding the “Dominguez situation.” Though several of the women who have accused Dominguez of misconduct said they are pleased with Gay’s sanctions on him, they also alleged the University failed to include the information they possess about Dominguez in its Title IX investigation.

Amazon entrepreneur Jeff Bezos recently revealed a design for a lunar lander that his space company Blue Origin had been working on since 2016.

Loaded with enough fuel to get from Earth to the moon, the lunar lander, named Blue Moon, will carry scientific instruments, satellites and rovers.

Around the Ivies dartmouth

Hillary Clinton addressed questions from Dartmouth students on the Mueller investigation and the Iran nuclear deal in a packed auditorium Wednesday, The Dartmouth reported. Clinton expressed concerns that Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential elections would affect the 2020 cycle and highlighted the importance of “using the American bully pulpit” to advocate for women’s rights on the global scale. In addition to delivering Dartmouth’s annual Obenshain Family Great Issues Lecture, Clinton also spoke with Dartmouth undergraduates in two Government classes.

Cornell

Government professor Suzanne Mettler was awarded the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship on April 16, according to the Cornell Daily Sun. Since its creation in 1925, the Guggenheim Fellowship program has provided research grants to enable scholars’ creativity, totalling over $360 million in grants to over 18,000 people. After founding the American Democracy Collaborative in 2017, Mettler has studied American democracy in order to better understand the current state of politics. The Guggenheim Fellowship will fund the completion of a book on concerning her research.

princeton

After student activists at Princeton University demonstrated for more than 35 hours in protest of their Title IX office, the university responded Wednesday that it will consider the protestors’ demands, but not their “unfounded” calls to terminate specific university employees, according to the Daily Princetonian. The activists, unsatisfied with the university’s response, plan to continue demonstrating. The protestors sent a letter to various university officials requesting that they meet with a “delegation from our coalition” to discuss the Title IX system.

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

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.

Night Editor Andrew J. Zucker ’20

Design Editor Elena M. Ramos ’20

Assistant Night Editors Kevin R. Chen ’22 Sanjana L. Narayanan ’21

Photo Editors Mariah Ellen D. Dimalaluan ’20 Amanda Y. Su ’22

Story Editors Caroline S. Engelmayer ’20 Angela N. Fu ’20 Kristine E. Guillaume ’20 Jamie D. Halper ’20

Editorial Editor Robert Miranda ’20 Sports Editor Amir Mamdani ’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 10, 2019

dominguez From Page 1

Review From Page 1

Dominguez Banned from Campus Univ. Launches External Inquiry longstanding pattern of behavior that, at several points, violated policies designed to ensure a safe and non-discriminatory educational and work environment,” Gay wrote in the email.

“I am appalled by the Report’s findings and heartbroken for those who had to endure the behaviors described.”

Separately, Gay has disinvit-

I am appalled by the Report’s findings.

Claudine Gay Dean of FAS

ed Dominguez from the Faculty of Arts and Sciences campus. Dominguez also will not be permitted to attend any FAS-sponsored events, either on or off-campus. Gay also recommended that the University bar Dominguez from Harvard’s entire campus and prohibit him from attending any events spon-

sored by Harvard more broadly.

In a February 2018 Chronicle of Higher Education report, at least 10 women publicly accused Dominguez of repeated sexual misconduct. A follow-up Chronicle story revealed that Dominguez faced sexual misconduct allegations spanning four decades from 18 women.

Shortly after the publication of the allegations, former FAS Dean Michael D. Smith placed Dominguez on administrative leave. Days later, Dominguez announced he would retire at the end of the spring 2018 semester.

Debra S. Katz, a lawyer at Katz Marshall & Banks who represents four of the women who accused Dominguez of misconduct, wrote in an email that the women were “gratified” by the decision to remove Dominguez’s emeritus status and bar him from campus.

“The University’s decision, which comes after a year-long investigation into our clients’

and others’ allegations of sexual misconduct, sends a powerful message to faculty members at the University and across the country that sexual harassment will not be tolerated,” Katz wrote. “It also signals to victims of sexual harassment and sexual assault everywhere that their voices will be heard.”

The University opened a Title IX investigation into Dominguez in early 2018 through its Office for Dispute Resolution.

While the average ODR investigation in 2018 lasted 3.5 months, the investigation into Dominguez lasted roughly a year.

The responsibility to interpret the results of an ODR investigation and impose sanctions falls on the school of the respondent to the investigation.

Because Dominguez was an FAS professor, Gay was tasked with determining appropriate sanctions.

Gay was not obligated to share the conclusions of the ODR investigation with FAS

affiliates, but in her email, she wrote that she chose to do so because she believes that transparency is “vital to the safety and wellbeing” of students.

“Following our policies and procedures has resulted in a set of sanctions that, in effect, removes Jorge Dominguez from our community,” Gay wrote.

“This has, in turn, created an obligation for our community to be informed of the removal.”

Concurrent with the Title IX investigation, the Government department conducted its own review of departmental culture and practices that allowed Dominguez to remain in his position and even gain promotion as he allegedly committed misconduct.

The final report, released last week, found a “prolonged institutional failure” in the department that facilitated Dominguez’s abuse.

jonah.berger@thecrimson.com molly.mccafferty@thecrimson.com

accusers From Page 1

Accusers Say They Were ‘Stonewalled’ Faculty of Arts and Sciences Claudine Gay announced the conclusion of the investigation on Thursday, writing in an email that she had barred Dominguez from campus and removed his emeritus privileges.

“But that investigation, four of the women say, did not adequately take into account the information they were willing to provide.

In July 2018, at least three months after the Title IX investigation into Dominguez began, four of the women — former Government Assistant Professor Terry L. Karl, former Government Ph.D. candidate Suzanna E. Challen, former Government concentrator Nienke C. Grossman ’99, and former Government Ph.D. candidate Charna Sherman — attempted to arrange a meeting with the University’s Title IX office about its investigation through their lawyer, Debra S. Katz.

Karl, who left Harvard for a professorship at Stanford following Dominguez’s misconduct toward her, was the first woman to publicly come forward about the abuse she suffered. In February 2018, the Chronicle of Higher Education published an article that centered on Karl’s story and detailed how other women contacted her to share similar stories of abuse.

In response to Katz’s offer for the four women to meet with Harvard representatives, Eileen Finan, an attorney for the

University’s Office of the General Counsel, wrote in a letter that she, Title IX Officer Nicole Merhill, and Deputy University Provost Peggy Newell would meet with the women and Katz under “certain constraints.”

Namely, Finan specified that, if the women agreed to the meeting, she and her colleagues could not discuss the ongoing investigation against Dominguez or the possibility of an external review of the circumstances surrounding his misconduct.

“Because the University has an ongoing investigation into allegations of sexual harassment by Professor Dominguez, we will not be able to discuss the specifics of the investigation in order to preserve the integrity of that review,” Finan wrote.

“I understand that your clients may not be prepared to meet within these constraints, but I also appreciate that you have stated that your clients have recommendations on best practices, including on how to address structural and cultural impediments to redressing sexual harassment in academia,” she added.

Though Finan did not refuse to discuss the women’s allegations specifically, the women declined to meet under the University’s terms.

“We thought, well, if you’re taking those topics off the table, that defeats the purpose of meeting,” Challen said.

University spokesperson

Jonathan L. Swain declined to comment on the women’s criticism of the investigation.

Harvard’s unwillingness to meet with the four women under their conditions is not the first time the University has failed to actively gather information from some of the women, according to Karl. She has said she previously offered documents to the University that were “directly relevant” to the investigation, but never received follow-up communications about that information.

“In order to give a fair sanction, you need to know what the impact is on victims,” Karl said Thursday. “I can tell you that nobody has ever asked me.”

Jessica Westerman, an associate at Katz, Marshall & Banks who has also provided legal counsel to the four women, said in an interview Thursday she believes Harvard did not adequately consider all of the evidence available to them during the investigation.

“Refusing to review evidence that you know is out there is a fundamental flaw in any investigation,” she said. “As their attorneys, we were basically stonewalled in our requests to Harvard.”

“Their handling of it was disappointing to say the least,” Westerman added.

Yoshiko Herrera, who has also publicly accused Dominguez of sexual misconduct, wrote in an email that she also was not consulted during the in-

vestigation, though she feels she “should have been.”

Multiple women praised the sanctions Gay imposed on Dominguez and the initiation of an external review, which University President Lawrence S. Bacow announced in an email to Government department leaders on Thursday. The review will examine the environment that allowed Dominguez’s misconduct to continue for multiple decades, but it will not directly review Dominguez’s conduct or the Title IX investigation.

The initiation of the external review follows multiple calls for such a probe from students, faculty, and alumni. The first group to call for an external review did so in March 2018, when 15 of the women who accused Dominguez of misconduct urged thenDean of FAS Michael D. Smith to appoint an “independent commission” in order to ensure a “full and fair” investigation.

Sherman, one of the four women represented by Katz, said she remains optimistic that Harvard will invite her and the other women to participate in the forthcoming external review.

“There was a consistent dismissive view by Harvard throughout this process,” Sherman said. “And our hope now is that as they proceed with an external review, they will include us.” jonah.berger@thecrimson.com molly.mccafferty@thecrimson.com

Follow @thecrimson on Twitter.

There’s more. @THCSports | @CrimsonArts | @CrimsonFlyby

Like

The Crimson on Facebook.

Facebook.com/ TheHarvardCrimson Don’t stop there.

Facebook.com/ CrimsonFlyby

Dominguez, who faced allegations of sexual misconduct from more than 20 women over the course of four decades.

In response to the allegations — which were first reported in the Chronicle of Higher Education in February 2018 — the Government department created a climate change committee tasked with scrutinizing departmental culture, led

by Levitsky.

In its final report released last week, the committee concluded that there had been a “prolonged institutional failure” in the department and across the University that facilitated Dominguez’s abuse and echoed calls from students and faculty in the department calling for an independent review.

In his Thursday letter, Bacow consented to initiating such a review, which he wrote will use “the Dominguez situation” as a “guide” but will focus mainly on investigating the environment that allowed Dominguez’s misconduct to continue for four decades.

Specifically, Bacow wrote that the review will examine what characteristics of the University’s “organization or culture” might inhibit those who have experienced or are aware of reporting sexual misconduct from doing so, and impede an “effective response” to reports of misconduct.

The review will also consider how Harvard can ensure that promotions are awarded “with a proper understanding” of reports or allegations of sexual misconduct.

The University first took action against Dominguez for sexual misconduct in the early 1980s, after Assistant Professor Terry L. Karl and a Government graduate student accused him of various acts of sexual harassment.

Though the Faculty of Arts and Sciences initially removed him from his administrative positions, just two years later Dominguez was appointed as chair of both a Government department committee and an FAS-wide committee. He later served as director of the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs and as the University’s first Vice Provost for International Affairs. As recently as fall 2017, he taught a freshman seminar.

In the wake of the revelations in early 2018 of Dominguez’s repeated abuse, 15 of Dominguez’s accusers demanded that University administrators create an “independent commission” to conduct an external review, calling Harvard “ill-equipped” to conduct a “full and fair” investigation into Dominguez.

Government department affiliates have also repeatedly called on the University to initiate such a review. Over a hundred graduate students signed a letter addressed to Bacow in March 2018 calling explicitly for an independent review.

Members of the department’s climate change committee also asked University leaders for an external review in an October memo — a demand that also appeared in the April re-

port.

“The Committee therefore asks the administration to invite a credible outside expert (or experts) to evaluate how departmental, FAS, and university-wide procedures, practices, and norms may have contributed to our collective failure to provide a safe and productive work environment for all members of our community,” the report read.

In response to demands from Government department affiliates, Bacow had stated he would wait until the Title IX investigation concluded to ensure the University’s “adjudicatory processes” were as “thorough and fair” as possible.

On Thursday morning, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Claudine Gay announced in an email to Harvard affiliates that the investigation into Dominguez had concluded and that he would be stripped of his emeritus status and barred from Harvard-sponsored events.

In his Thursday letter to Levitsky, which came just minutes after Gay’s announcement, Bacow wrote that since the investigation into Dominguez has concluded, the University would move forward with the external review.

“This external review will be informed by the findings of the now complete Office for Dispute Resolution investigation, but it will not be a review of that investigation itself,” Bacow wrote.

Government Department Chair Jennifer R. Hochschild — whom Bacow copied on the email, along with multiple University and FAS administrators — said in an interview Thursday that she is “pleased” that the review will follow the “questions and guidelines” requested by the department’s climate change committee.

“It’s very gratifying to me individually, to my colleagues on the faculty, to our undergraduate and graduate students, to everyone in the Government department, that the external review will get underway, that President Bacow announced it immediately,” she said. “Clearly, this is something that he and others have been thinking about for a long time.”

Bacow wrote that the University has not decided who will lead the external review and that he plans to update Levitsky on the review’s progress.

Hochschild said though the department has not officially discussed its stance on who should conduct the review, she believes that such an individual should be “very familiar” with the distinct structure of a university, have sufficient “stature” in order to “command respect” from affected parties, and be an expert on gender-based harassment.

“I’m deeply relieved that this very, very, very long history will hopefully be put to rest in a way that gives some comfort, some recognition to the people who suffered for a long time in egregious ways,” she said. jonah.berger@thecrimson.com molly.mccafferty@thecrimson.com

THE HARVARD CRIMSON |

May 10, 2019

Page 4

winthrop From Page 1

In Winthrop House, A Culture of Fear and Suspicion to creating a home for all students in Winthrop House,” Sullivan wrote in an emailed statement Thursday. “Our commitment extends to creating an appropriate environment for the House’s tutors and staff.”

In his statement, Sullivan denied current and former Winthrop staff members’ characterizations of years of events in the House.

“In any event, the matters you raise did not occur as you suggest,” he wrote. “To the extent that you are repeating the suppositions and speculations of others, they are misinformed or mistaken.” He did not, however, identify which allegations he disputed.

Harvard charges faculty deans with creating a home for students beyond that of a dorm.

For three out of their four years at the College, most students eat, sleep, and socialize in their house. “The Houses serve as the foundation for the undergraduate experience at Harvard College,” according to the Dean of Students Office’s website.

But seven current and former Winthrop staff, including tutors, told The Crimson in interviews conducted over the past three months that they experienced a culture of fear while they worked or lived in the House — fear of being chastised in front of their colleagues, fear of damage to their career prospects, and fear of being fired.

This account is based on interview with 14 people with direct knowledge of the culture of Winthrop House. Some spoke on the condition of anonymity because they fear retaliation from Sullivan and Robinson, both of whom are major figures in the legal profession.

Appointed as the first African American faculty deans at the College in 2009, Sullivan and Robinson both teach at Harvard Law School, where Sullivan also serves as the director of the Criminal Justice Institute. Aside from Weinstein, Sullivan has taken on other high-profile clients including former New England Patriots tight-end Aaron Hernandez in his 2017 double murder trial and the family of Michael Brown, a black man who was fatally shot by a white police officer in 2014.

Robinson served as chief counsel to the late United States Senator Edward M. Kennedy ’54.

Eleven current and former staff members endorsed a statement sent to The Crimson Thursday stating they experienced “a climate of hostility and suspicion” while working for Sullivan and Robinson.

“During our time as tutors at Winthrop House, we experienced a workplace climate of hostility and suspicion generated by the Faculty Deans, Ronald Sullivan and Stephanie Robinson,” the statement reads. “Although we recognize that not all tutors shared our experience, we do believe that many tutors and staff members were subject to improper and antagonistic behavior by the Faculty Deans.”

Sullivan wrote in his statement that he and Robinson cannot comment on personnel affairs.

“You have asked us to comment on personnel and other private matters. As you know, we are not at liberty to discuss personnel matters by law and by College policy,” Sullivan wrote.

“That said, regardless of these constraints, we would not discuss individuals’ personal or personnel matters with anyone including tutors, staff, or students.”

Many of the staffers also alleged that Dean of the College Rakesh Khurana, Dean for Administration Sheila C. Thimba, and former Dean of Students Stephen Lassonde have also been aware of issues within Winthrop’s walls for sever-

al years and did not adequately address what more than a dozen current and former Winthrop students and staff deemed a toxic climate.

Harvard spokesperson Rachael Dane declined to comment for this story on behalf of Khurana and Thimba. Lassonde also declined to comment on Winthrop House. Proctor did not respond to a request for comment.

Since 2016, more than a dozen Winthrop tutors, students, and staff have brought concerns about Sullivan and Robinson to College administrators in meetings, emails, and reports. Many of them said they believe administrators failed to protect them.

A PACT TO QUIT Several former staff members in Winthrop — including Kohn and former tutor and interim resident dean Kip C. Richardson — said they had a very positive experience working with Sullivan and Robinson during the first several years of their tenure as faculty deans.

They said that changed in early 2016.

In the span of three months, a House staffer stepped down allegedly under pressure from Sullivan and Robinson, three tutors faced threats of dismissal, and 13 tutors threatened to quit in protest.

When discussing the challenges staff faced while working for Sullivan and Robinson, every current and former Winthrop affiliate interviewed for this article referenced former House staffer Heather S. Grant.

In 2015, Grant transitioned from working as the Winthrop dining hall manager — a position she had held since 2009 — to the House Administrator position.

Grant was a central part of Winthrop House, according to Richardson. A 2016 report sent to Khurana by former Winthrop Undergraduate Council representative Daniel R. Levine ’17 stated that Grant was “often touted by students as one of the house’s greatest assets.”

As a House Administrator, Grant was responsible for managing students’ rooming assignments, special events, and the House’s budget. Several months into her tenure, she began bringing concerns about Sullivan and Robinson to College administrators, according to six former House staff. They said they often saw her working late into the night performing tasks they believed were for the personal benefit of the faculty deans.

Eight former students and staff members with direct knowledge of the situation said they believe Sullivan and Robinson retaliated against Grant because she brought concerns about them to administrators in University Hall.

Grant left Winthrop over winter break that year, and on Jan. 4, 2016, Sullivan and Robinson sent an email to the House announcing that she was “pursuing other opportunities at Harvard College.”

Grant did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Levine wrote in his report that several students told him they were confused about Grant’s abrupt departure. Kohn and Richardson said students also came to them with similar questions.

Sullivan and Robinson sent one more email about Grant to tutors on Jan. 11, 2016.

“As we stated in our earlier communication, “Heather is pursuing other opportunities at Harvard College,”” the email read. “As such, we would expect you to say something to that effect. Of course, you should not engage in speculation, rumors, gossip, or innuendo.”

Grant is one of several House

Administrators who left Winthrop after a short stint at the House. In the decade since Sullivan and Robinson became faculty deans of Winthrop, the 11 other upperclassmen houses have had, on average, one or two House Administrators. From 2010 to 2018, three houses had one House Administrator and five had two. In 2018, the average tenure of a non-Winthrop House Administrator was 9.45 years.

In that period, Winthrop House had nine. Winthrop’s current House Administrator, its tenth under Sullivan and Robinson, took office just six weeks ago, on March 26.

Eleven current and former Winthrop staff members said they believe Sullivan and Robinson created a challenging environment that led to the high turnover of House Administrators. Four former Winthrop staff members said they saw House Administrators cry while on the job sometimes after being told to do things they believed fell out of their purview, including personal errands and tasks for the faculty deans such as grocery shopping.

Kohn, who left the House in March, wrote in an emailed statement to The Crimson that the three permanent House Administrators she overlapped with all faced “difficulties” while working for Sullivan and Robinson.

“I don’t feel comfortable speaking on their behalf over their reasons for departing or their experiences while they were still in that office, but I do think I can say that their experiences, as they reported them, were very consistent with one another,” Kohn wrote. “They’re all very different people in terms of professional and personal backgrounds, but they all seemed to have similar experiences in that office.”

Also in the spring of 2016, Proctor told several tutors he wanted to dismiss three of them over the summer, according to several former staffers. They added that Sullivan and Robinson also threatened to terminate resident tutor Kera C. Street’s contract after students allegedly brought up concerns related to her behavior at House events. Street wrote in an email at the time that Sullivan and Robinson told her on Feb. 1, 2016 they would not renew her contract.

“Last Monday, after tutor meeting, Ron and Stephanie spoke with me in the SCR to inform me that my contract would not be renewed after the end of this term,” Street wrote. “They said that they recently received oral complaints from students about my conduct, and drunk and ‘sloppy’ behavior at House events.”

Street did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Several former Winthrop staff members said they believed the allegations against her were unfounded.

Later in February 2016, eight resident tutors went to College administrators with concerns that Street would leave Winthrop, according to Richardson, Kohn, and several other former staff members. They said they were concerned, in part, that Sullivan and Robinson wanted Street to leave the House because they perceived her as being disloyal.

Two former House staff members said administrators informed Sullivan and Robinson that tutors had raised concerns about them.

Richardson and Kohn said 13 tutors — more than half of the 2015-2016 tutor roster — were prepared to quit if Street left because they believed there was no cause for termination.

Street’s contract was eventually renewed. She left Winthrop in 2017.

‘A CLIMATE OF HOSTILITY AND SUSPICION’ During the period following the tutors’ plan to resign, the dynamic between the faculty deans and the tutors permanently shifted, according to former staff and students. They said they increasingly felt isolated and were afraid of inadvertently angering Sullivan and Robinson.

Prior to 2016, tutors largely ran the first round of the tutor hiring process, selecting a group for the faculty deans to interview from the general pool of applicants, according to Kohn and Richardson. In the aftermath of the threats to Street, Sullivan and Robinson modified Winthrop’s tutor hiring process; the tutors who raised concerns were no longer involved in hiring.

In several other Harvard houses, tutors and undergraduates oversee the majority of the tutor hiring process.

Since the spring of 2016, Proctor has served as the point person for Winthrop’s tutor hiring. Proctor has been employed by the Law School’s Criminal Justice Institute, which Sullivan directs, since 2011.

In February 2016, Proctor oversaw the first round of tutor hiring interviews without the tutor staff’s knowledge, according to an email to Winthrop resident tutors from Sullivan and Robinson.

“We have truncated what has been the process we have employed in years past. As always, if you have any questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to reach out to us directly,” they wrote. “Our Scholar-in-Residence, Robert Proctor, has reviewed all the resumes and conducted pre-interviews.”

Five former staff members said they believe Sullivan and Robinson changed the tutor hiring process because they did not want the tutors who brought concerns about Street to College administrators to play a role in hiring.

Several current and former staff members also spoke about a split between those deemed as loyal and disloyal to Sullivan and Robinson. Kohn wrote in her email to The Crimson that she believes the deans perpetuated a “with us or against us” mentality among House staff.

“The result is a generally perceived sense amongst staff that the Faculty Deans, to some extent, deliberate along the lines of a ‘with us or against us’ view of staff in which there is little to no room for forms of actual respect, gratitude, professionalism or deference so long as a staff member is deemed, in advance, as having been ‘disloyal’ or untrustworthy of some kind,” Kohn wrote.

The divide between people perceived as loyal and disloyal extended to undergraduates, according to Charlie G. Alvers ’17, Madeleine D. Woods ’19, and two other former Winthrop students.

“Whenever you would say something that necessarily didn’t go along with what they thought, [loyal tutors] would drop subtle hints about Faculty Dean Sullivan’s importance in the Law School, Faculty Dean Sullivan’s importance in the House, the power he held and how you shouldn’t necessarily speak out against people, that you don’t know everything that’s happening,” Alvers said.

“There was always a sort of threatening environment around speaking up about anything,” he added.

In addition to serving as the center of undergraduate life, Harvard houses can play a role in students’ post-graduation prospects. Students applying to medical school must go through their House’s pre-medical committee, for example.

The report Levine sent to Khurana in 2016 cited a 2015 Crimson House Life survey that asked upperclassen which House they would choose if given the chance. Winthrop placed last among the Houses, picked by one percent of respondents.

Alvers added that he thinks many students were at least somewhat aware of challenges in the House during the 20152016 academic year.

“I think there were also certain groups of people that knew about it, but didn’t want to address it or didn’t want to think about it, didn’t want to talk about it,” he said. “Just because it’s very discongruent from the ideal housing environment that we keep being told about at Harvard, the House that we want to have.”

Woods said she recently became aware of the 2016 events that took place in the House.

She added that she thinks the College’s muted response at the time has left Winthrop students vulnerable to a toxic culture.

“We’re all obviously terrified, if staff people can be treated this way,” she said. “Even though we were given this idea that, ‘Oh, undergrads have this kind of buffer,’ that seems to be erased.”

‘CONFLICTING REPORTS’ Previous issues with Sullivan and Robinson’s tenure as faculty deans resurfaced this semester following Sullivan’s response to student concerns about his decision to represent Weinstein.

Since Sullivan’s January announcement that he would join Weinstein’s legal team, students have called for him to step down as faculty dean in protests, emails, and blog posts.

Campus discussions have centered both around Sullivan’s decision to represent Weinstein and his response to student concerns. On Jan. 25, he sent an email to Winthrop residents defending his decision.

“I encourage anyone with questions and/or concerns to come and talk,” Sullivan wrote.

“Winthrop has been and will remain a space that welcomes all points of view.”

“To the degree we deny unpopular defendants basic due process rights we cease to be the country we imagine ourselves to be,” Sullivan added.

Kohn replied to Sullivan’s email the next day and copied the resident tutor staff. Her message raised questions about the potential negative effects of Sullivan’s response on students.

“With all due respect, I am concerned that here, and in spite of your expertise in other matters, you may be severely missing the mark,” Kohn wrote.

“I am concerned that your recent message has already and will continue to do future damage.”

Robinson then replied to the tutor staff criticizing Kohn for responding in a “disagreeable manner.”

“I find it truly unfortunate that you sent this very lengthy email in response to Ron’s invitation for anyone with concerns or complaints to simply talk to him. He invited conversation about all things related to his representation and it feels to me that you wanted to see the absolute worst read on this communication,” Robinson wrote.

“You disagree with Ron and have responded in what feels like a disagreeable manner.”

Sullivan then sent another email to just Kohn, asking her to meet with him and Robinson privately.

Though Sullivan’s email was in response to Kohn’s message about Weinstein, Sullivan wrote that he and Robinson did not intend to discuss that email.

Instead, the proposed meeting concerned her performance as a tutor more broadly.

Follow

@thecrimson

“We still need a day and time from you,” Sullivan wrote in an email to Kohn. “We would like to discuss your tutoring. We do not intend to discuss your email.”

Kohn, Sullivan, and Robinson did not meet privately after Kohn replied that she would not say anything in person that she did not write in her initial email.

Instead, Sullivan and Robinson scheduled the all-tutor meeting where Proctor referenced the 2016 events.

At the Jan. 27 meeting, Sullivan read a prepared statement criticizing Kohn. He alleged that she incited students against him on social media.

Kohn denies the charge, writing in her emailed statement to The Crimson that she had posted a link to a story about his representation without commentary.

“Rob Proctor made a point to also address me directly before the staff, sharing his dismay at the ‘ingratitude’ I had shown ‘Harvard’s first black faculty deans,’ adding that, three years ago, he had forcefully advocated for my dismissal and that the only reason I was still at Winthrop was because the Faculty Deans disagreed,” Kohn wrote in her statement.

“Both Sullivan and Robinson made several off the cuff and openly hostile remarks claiming that I had been disrespectful, viciously maligned, or attacked them in my choices as tutor,” she added. Shanmugam, a tutor also present at the meeting, confirmed Kohn’s account.

A month later, Khurana announced a “climate review” of Winthrop. The review, led by former Dean of Freshmen Thomas A. Dingman ’67, gave House affiliates the option to meet with Dingman and fill out a survey distributed March 5.

Tensions at Winthrop House have continued to rise. Last week, 178 undergraduates filled Winthrop’s dining hall as part of a sit-in to “reclaim” the house.

Their protest came amid Sullivan’s representation of Weinstein, his response to the announcement, and an ongoing lawsuit brought by Winthrop tutors Carl L. Miller and Valencia Miller against Eliot Faculty Dean Gail A. O’Keefe.

The suit came after an April 3 incident in the Winthrop dining hall where Eliot resident Danu A.K. Mudannayake ’20 and Carl Miller filed conflicting police reports against each other after a confrontation. Following the incident, the Millers sued O’Keefe for defamation based in part on comments she wrote in an email sent to Eliot affiliates defending Mudannayake, a Crimson design editor, and calling the Millers “unprofessional.”

Khurana has repeatedly declined to comment on the Millers’ suit and other developments in Winthrop House, citing the ongoing review.

Kohn wrote that she met with both Dingman and Khurana this semester to raise concerns about how Sullivan handled questions surrounding his representation. She wrote that Khurana cited some affiliates’ praise of Sullivan and Robinson in response to her account of the Jan. 27 meeting.

“When I spoke with Dean Khurana about [the meeting] including what I perceived to be its defamatory and retaliatory aspects, as well as detrimental effect on the staff and climate at large, his response redirected my account away from the issue at hand,” she wrote. “[He claimed] that as recently as that same week, he heard from other folks that the Winthrop Faculty Deans were ‘the best faculty deans ever,’ adding: ‘So you have to understand, I hear conflicting reports.’” shera.avi-yonah@thecrimson.com. aidan.ryan@thecrimson.com.

Page 5

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | May 10, 2019

warren From Page 1

Yield From Page 1

Warren Protests Harvard Sees Yield Rate of 83 Percent Sackler Name wrote in a post on Medium.

University President Lawrence S. Bacow has so far steadfastly resisted calls from activists to strip Arthur Sackler’s name from Harvard’s campus art museum that bears his name, saying in an interview last week that such a move would be “inappropriate.”

Members of the Sackler family have served as executives at Purdue Pharma, the pharmaceutical company that produces the painkiller OxyContin, and have been accused of playing a role in the opioid crisis.

But Arthur Sackler — who donated millions to Harvard in the 1980s to fund the construction of the namesake museum — passed away before OxyContin came to market. Still, many activists contend that he helped pioneer marketing tactics that Purdue would later use to sell the product.

The connections between members of the Sackler family and the opioid crisis have come to light in recent months after lawsuits filed by multiple attorneys general — including Massachusetts Attorney General Maura T. Healey ’92 — revealed the company used aggressive and at times deceptive techniques to flood communities with its painkiller.

Warren also announced Wednesday that she would donate $2,500 in campaign contributions from Beverly Sackler — whose late husband, Raymond, served as co-owner of Purdue Pharma — to charity.

Janet Wootten, a spokesperson for Jillian Sackler, the widow of Arthur Sackler, wrote in an emailed statement that Warren’s demands on Harvard amount to “great political rhetoric,” but are “utterly specious.”

“That Sen. Warren links giving back money to Beverly Sackler with a demand to remove Arthur Sackler’s name from the Arthur M. Sackler Museum at Harvard is the worst kind of logic,” Wootten wrote. “Arthur

had nothing to do with Purdue Pharma, which his brothers founded in 1991.”

“He had nothing to do with OxyContin, which came on to the market nearly a decade after his death,” she added. “None of Arthur Sackler’s philanthropy – to Harvard or elsewhere – is linked to Oxycontin profits.”

Arthur had nothing to do with Purdue Phrama, which his brothers founded in 1991.

Janet Wootten Spokesperson for Jillian Sackler

Over the last year, mothers of opioid victims and other local activists have held protests and engaged in a letter-writing campaign to convince Bacow to remove Sackler’s name from campus.

In addition, a petition circulated on MoveOn.org with that objective has garnered roughly 14,750 signatures as of Thursday.

In January, Somerville mayor Joseph A. Curtatone wrote on Twitter that Harvard must engage in a “serious discussion” about whether to remove Arthur Sackler’s name from campus, in the wake of the release of filings as part of the Massachusetts lawsuit.

Warren — who received tenure at the Law School in 1993 at a time when the vast majority of the School’s faculty was male — announced her bid for the presidency in January.

She has placed third in an average of recent polls of the Democratic primary electorate, behind former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.). jonah.berger@thecrimson.com

Class of 2023.” The average family contribution for students receiving need-based financial aid is $12,000.

“Harvard’s financial aid program has continued to open the doors to low- and middle-income students,” Director of Financial Aid Jake Kaufmann said in the release.

More than half of the entering class applied for financial aid and 20 percent qualified for the low-income portion of the Harvard Financial Aid Initiative. More than 23.3 percent requested application fee waivers.

The press release also credited efforts by alumni, the Undergraduate Admissions Council, the Undergraduate Minority Recruitment Program, the Harvard First Generation Program and Harvard College Connection for this year’s high

yield.

Some selling points those groups offered included a “robust advising system,” 130 freshman seminars, research opportunities, 49 secondary fields, and a revised General Education program.

The incoming class comprises a record-high 25.6 percent Asian American students This record enrollment comes amidst ongoing litigation brought against Harvard by anti-affirmative action group Students for Fair Admissions alleging that the College discriminates against Asian American applicants.

African American students make up 13.1 percent of the entering class, while Latinx students comprise 11.8 percent and Native Americans and Native Hawaiians together make up 2.2 percent.

International students constitute 13.1 percent of the class, and 14.5 percent of the class are first-generation college students.

Harvard’s financial aid program has continued to open the doors to lowand middle-income students.

Jake Kaufmann Director of Financial Aid

Women and men were roughly even in the incoming class. In addition, six veterans and 28 students who expressed an interest in ROTC are among the members of the Class of

2023.

Prospective social science concentrators make up 26.1 percent of the incoming class, while 19 percent were interested in the biological sciences, 16 percent in the humanities, and 10.5 percent in engineering.

Even as the 2023 admissions cycle draws to a close, the Admissions Office is already looking to next year’s class.

“Recruiting for next year’s Class of 2024 is already underway,” Director of Admissions Marlyn E. McGrath ’70’73 said in a press release. “We have communicated with thousands of prospective students through electronic and social media and our outreach efforts are more multifaceted than ever before. Recruitment ‘season’ truly never ceases.” camille.caldera@thecrimson.com

Grad From Page 1

DACA Students Hold Graduation Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program — commended students for reaching the milestone of graduation despite the difficulties of being undocumented. DACA is an Obama-era initiative that allows undocumented youth to live and work in the United States legally.

You make me feel like I take the place of your parents. I found in all of you that community, and community is most powerful.

Doris Reina-Landavere TPS coalition organizer

“The road to being whoever you want to be and figuring out what that means has been longer, and it’s been more wind-

ing for you than it has been for many of your peers at the College and at the graduate schools here at Harvard,” she said. “And I think that’s really what we’re recognizing here today.”

Doris Reina-Landaverde, a Harvard custodian and Temporary Protected Status coalition organizer who also spoke at the event, said she is proud of the graduates and considers them her “family.”

Under TPS, immigrants can receive temporary refuge in the U.S. if their home countries are deemed unsafe because of factors like armed conflict or natural disasters.

“You make me feel like I take the place of your parents,” she said. “I found in all of you that community, and community is the most powerful. Because if we work together we can survive. I feel so proud now being here tonight as a custodian, as a TPS holder, as a wife, as a mother.”

Daishi M. Tanaka ’19, who served as Act on a Dream co-director in 2017, said in his speech that he appreciates both Act on a Dream and the broader immigrant community at Harvard.

“Most of us might find ourselves really far from home.

You might find yourself in this cold elite Ivy League university far from the the warm, modest, loving environments in the homes that we grew up in,” Tanaka said. “But being separated from family is an experience that ironically unites us.

Immigrants.”

Award-winning Salvdoran-American poet and activist Javier Zamora — a Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study fellow — delivered the event’s keynote speech. Zamora migrated to Arizona from El Salvador through Guatemala, Mexico, and the Sonoran Desert in 1999.

Both his parents fled El Salvador when he was young as a result of the U.S.-funded Salva-

doran Civil War. Zamora commended the graduating students in his speech for their resilience in spite of the obstacles they have faced.

He said “nobody, not this in-

But being separated from family is an experience that ironically unites us.

Daishi M. Tanaka Former Act on a Dream Co-Director

stitution, not this president” anticipated the accomplishments of undocumented immigrants.

“And that’s their lack of imagination,” he said. “That’s their lack of dream.” amanda.su@thecrimson.com

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | MAY 10, 2019

Page 6

Editorial The Crimson Editorial board

column

More Details Needed in New Title IX Reporting System

The God of American Public Life is Dead

H

arvard recently announced plans to roll out a new online reporting system for Title IX complaints this summer. Though specifics on the process are not yet available, it has been described as an anonymous reporting program for students who have experienced sexual or gender-based harassment.

While the specific structure and plan for the Title IX reporting system is yet to be released, we appreciate this new avenue for survivors of sexual misconduct — some of whom may prefer not to discuss in person potentially traumatic experiences — to tell their stories.

We hope the University takes into account the success and failures of similar programs at other comparable institutions. Consider Northeastern University and Princeton University. Princeton’s anonymous phone reporting system is only anonymous, rather than also confidential, meaning that reports the school receives via their channel are actionable, sometimes resulting in investigations.

Northeastern, by contrast, has an anonymous and confidential reporting channel, and a “whistleblower policy,” which prevents interfering with “a good faith reporting of a suspected wrongdoing” to ensure these reports are being considered with utmost caution and respect.

We believe Harvard should especially look into emulating Northeastern’s whistleblower policy to cultivate an environment that makes sharing reports

as safe and comfortable of a process as possible. Northeastern’s policy can help make students feel more open to sharing their experiences, because they do not have to fear action being taken without their consent, as their reporting system is confidential. This resource can enable the school to provide different kinds of support that may better fit the varying needs of some survivors of sexual misconduct if and when they decide to share their stories.

As the University designs and releases the program, it should take seriously the concerns of students and support groups, in addition to examining analogous programs at other schools.

All of the concerns over the details of Harvard’s reporting system’s rollout speak to the larger issue of transparency in implementation. As the University designs and releases the program, it should take seriously the concerns of students and support groups, in addition to examining analogous programs at other schools. Implementation of the new system may not be perfect at first, so it is important that the University be willing to accept constructive criticism from the

students the system is meant to benefit.

We also encourage the University to clearly define the differences between this and other reporting-based resources available to victims of harassment and other misconduct. Since Harvard already has in-person resources for these victims that protect confidentiality, it’s critical that students understand how their experiences may differ when using this new system — both in terms of the potential benefits, as well as the potential risks.

As a statement of intent, the announcement of this program is encouraging. Important questions as to the specifics of its implementation and the transparency of its fine-tuning as it goes into effect remain unanswered, but we are hopeful that the University will work with students to ensure that the system works as well as possible. We further hope that this new avenue will lower barriers for reporting for people who are afraid to come forward and give the University a more comprehensive picture of the scale of sexual assault on campus.

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.

Amy Y. Li — CRIMSON Photographer

Op-ed

I

kept hearing whispers and rumblings about the new Lowell renovations, and I became increasingly concerned for all of my fellow students awaiting the completion of their House this August.

Even though there was direct evidence to the contrary, people kept telling me that the new Lowellian floor plan would consist only of hallway doubles and singles, doing away with the common room in an attempt to socially engineer the House.

The rumor mill, however, was wrong and the truth is quite far from it.

Seventy-two percent of the rooms in Lowell will be suites, with the rest being hallway singles.

The hallway double is to be eradicated entirely, and as a one-time inhabitant, I would say “Don’t let the door hit you on the way out!”

I love common rooms.

It is a point of centrality that serves as the default location for roommates to be. I consider the common room to be one of the best aspects of my college experience so far.

It is a shared space where friends can come together to socialize.

It is a point of centrality that serves as the default location for roommates to be.

I consider the common room to be one of the best aspects of my college experience so far.

As a freshman, I was dropped into a six-man suite in Canaday Hall. My roommates came from different places. We

had a Texan, a Floridian, two New Yorkers, a Bostonian, and a Pole.

But it only took a couple days for us to transcend those identities and become Canaday F-12ers above all else.

Our common room was spectacularly unimpressive.

I can confidently claim that every common room I went to in a different dorm easily had more space per person that ours.

But we made it work; desks doubled as lounge chairs and the floor was a comfy couch.

Canaday is a particularly ugly dorm, but we crammed flags, lights, and posters onto every inch of the walls.

It was a project that we could all work together on, and we took great pride in the final product.

One evening during Opening Days, in which we were all lounging in our room and our common room served as a revolving door of characters that we told to stop by at some point during the night.

I remember this night as one of my favorites at Harvard because I met so many great new people and bonded with my roommates.

In fact, that night, I met one of my closest friends and our room’s stowaway seventh man. Our common room was instrumental to that evening.

The seven of us all blocked together and were placed into Leverett House.

Now, as sophomores, the rooming situation is a bit different.

We had to separate because the number seven was incompatible with Leverett sophomore housing.

One group of four is without a common room in one building, and the other three have a common room in another.

Obviously the distance is an obstacle, but probably not the main one.

The key difference is that we lack a fo-

W

hat should the public make of President Donald Trump’s latest gesture to God? In some peculiar remarks at the Rose Garden this month, the president meditated on the role of the divine in quashing a possible federal indictment. Referring to the two-year investigation into his campaign’s communications with Russia during the 2016 presidential election, Trump reflected, “People say, ‘How do you get through that whole stuff? How do you go through those witch hunts and everything else?’”

“We just do it,” he answered. “And we think about God.” The reference, part of a longer oration observing the National Day of Prayer, accompanied other strange invocations, including to Americans “using the word ‘God’ again” and to the supposed renewal of the popular holiday greeting “Merry Christmas.”

Anyone familiar with the history of the Republican Party knows that public reverence for God (always the Christian God) is something of a fixture of that party’s politics. Yet many may forget that those gestures did not always ring quite so hollow. Only recently did the God of the GOP become the God of exonerated presidents and low corporate taxes.

Abraham Lincoln, the first Republican president and, for many decades, the moral bedrock of the Grand Old Party, was as pious a statesman as ever there was (notwithstanding his supposed agnosticism in private life). His 1859 “Lecture on Discoveries and Inventions” is still distinguished for the most biblical references of any presidential speech ever delivered — a staggering 23. Among his many wartime writings there was a “Proclamation of a National Fast Day,” an “Order for Sabbath Observance,” and — on two occasions — a “Proclamation of Thanksgiving,” back when Thanksgiving referred to a practice of Christian reflection and not just a civic holiday. Among Lincoln’s private journal entries, there appeared in 1862 a “Meditation on the Divine Will,” where he considered God’s role in the ongoing Civil War. It’s worth remembering some of the better passages from those texts. In his 1862 “Order for Sabbath Observance,” Lincoln promised Sunday rest for the weary Union soldiers. He had reasons both civic and moral for issuing that order. As a matter of faith, it reflected each man’s “due regard for the Divine will” and his enjoyment of a sacred privilege consecrated in the very formula of creation (God rested after six days of world-building, according to Abrahamic tradition). As a practical matter, the routine of resting affirmed a basic fact of our biology and the biology of all living things — of “man and beast,” according to Lincoln. As a civic matter, rest affirmed the “sacred rights” of each person to worship in accordance with their values. Government, Lincoln knew, could not enforce work during the Sabbath.

Only recently did the God of the GOP become the God of exonerated presidents and low corporate taxes.

was much more difficult to spend time with my group of friends.

We have a cluster common room down the hallway for the whole floor, but it is a waste of space.

This experience, the contrast from last year to this one, is why I place such a high premium on the common room.

I believe it was central to my freshman experience in the best way.

Harvard advertises itself as a place for transformative experiences, and nothing can be more transformative than the strong bonds we form with others in our time.

Nothing forges a group of friends like a common room.

Other passages offer similar lessons. In his 1863 “Proclamation of Thanksgiving,” Lincoln implored a day of public humility during a time of crisis. America owed two apologies, according to Lincoln. First to its greatest victims, the slaves, for the crime of their enslavement, implied in a reference to “our national perverseness and disobedience.” Then to its secondary victims, “all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers” in the war to end slavery. As a moral gesture, humility marked an apology to both parties.

It asked God for deliverance from the perverse violence of slavery and the corrective violence of war. God would decide if and when proper punishment had been meted out.

Lincoln’s God, it is safe to say, is not Trump’s God. The former was a benchmark of cosmic justice and an affirmation of human dignity — a standard by which reformers could excoriate the institution of slavery and reflect on each person’s communion with nation and nature. The God of today’s GOP is an impoverished divinity — little more than a signal of the right’s confirmation bias.

When Donald Trump admits to thinking “about God” during an investigation into his alleged election fraud, he is substituting Lincoln’s moral benchmark for something much shakier. He is deifying himself.

The public ought to be skeptical of that moral vision. Any good student of American history remembers first encountering the awesome God of Lincoln’s second inaugural address, a God intent on destroying slavery. That God was no champion of blind forgiveness, as Trump’s seems to be. He was a God of justice, determined that “every drop of blood drawn” under slavery should be repaid “with the sword.” Anyone observing the National Day of Prayer next year would do well to seek out Lincoln’s God — whether for advice, judgment, or forgiveness. “God,” Lincoln wrote in a journal entry in 1862, “cannot be for, and against the same thing at the same time. In the present civil war it is quite possible that God’s purpose is something different from the purpose of either party.”

One wonders whether Trump would acknowledge the same possibility, or whether the God of his prayers is in fact the GOP masquerading in holy garb.

—Daniel L. Aklog ’21, a Crimson Editorial editor, is a Social Studies concentrator in Leverett House.

—Henry N. Brooks ’19 is a Social Studies concentrator in Currier House. His column appears on alternate Fridays.

An Ode to the Common Room By daniel l. aklog

Henry N. Brooks Socially Liberal, Fiscally LiBeral

cal point.

Before, we all defaulted to our common room. If you had some free time, you went to the common room.

This is no longer the case and the group dynamic has suffered.

Last semester, I lived in a hallway double and I was much more isolated, and not just simply because there were fewer people in the room.

My roommate and I were stranded on a desert island.

Since there was no common space among us designated for socializing, it

Harvard advertises itself as a place for transformative experiences, and nothing can be more transformative than the strong bonds we form with others in our time.

Page 7

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | May 10, 2019

72 Seniors Receive Hoopes Prizes Embedded EthiCS Accepts Grant

By Meena Venkataraman Crimson Staff Writer

Norman R. Storer ’19 got a surprise birthday present Thursday morning when he found out he was one of seventy-two Harvard undergraduates who had won the 2019 Thomas T. Hoopes Prize for outstanding undergraduate scholarly work or research.

“I am still in disbelief about the news,” Storer, a joint Anthropology and Romance Languages and Literatures concentrator, wrote in an email. “[It is] definitely going to be one of my most memorable birthday presents.”

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences awards Hoopes Prizes annually to a select number of nominated student projects.

The prizes aim to honor College seniors by “recognizing, promoting, honoring, and rewarding excellence in the work of undergraduates and their capabilities and skills in any subject.”

The prize is funded by the estate of Thomas T. Hoopes, Class of 1919. Each awardee receives $5,000, while advisers who supervised student work each receive $2,000. In addition, the students’ works are bound and showcased in Lam­

ont Library for two years.

Soumyaa Mazumder ’19 said she was on the phone with a friend who shared the good news with her. That friend, Shenyece P. Ferguson ’19, was also awarded a Hoopes Prize.

“She told me first that I had won when she called me, and then she told me she also got it,” Mazumder, a Molecular and Cellular Biology concentrator, said. “I was more excited for her because she’s worked so hard on her thesis. It was really sweet that we both got it together.”

Ferguson, a Neuroscience concentrator whose senior thesis was a scientific experiment, said her research focused on “how attention influences the way the human brain’s visual system processes information.”

“I am so grateful for my lab advisors who both dedicated a lot of their own time to making this project possible, especially when it did not seem promising,” she said.

Other Hoopes awardees also said they faced challenges while working on their theses.

William F. Long ’18-’19, a joint Government and Computer Science concentrator who wrote his thesis on the application of Hobbesian political philosophy to artificial intelli-

gence, said he was initially unsure about studying this topic.

Long said he was encouraged to write on this topic after reading a thesis by previous Hoopes Prize winner Louis R. Evans ’13, which focused on the application of computational theory to moral reasoning.

“I love that there are different generations over time of people that all get to inspire and encourage each other,” Long said.

I love that there are different generations over time of people that all get to inspire and encourage each other.

Willifam F. Long ’18-’19 Student

Other Hoopes awardees opted for performative senior theses, like Music concentrator Emily S. S. Brother ’19, who wrote that she delivered a public lecture-recital in the Music department as her thesis.

“During the lecture, I explored the process of forming

an interpretation of Frédéric Chopin’s twenty-four preludes for solo piano drawing from primary source documents, musicology, performance studies, and tonal theory, as well as my own experience studying piano for 18 years,” Brother wrote in an email.

Several awardees shared gratitude for their faculty nominators, academic advisors, and families upon finding out they received the Hoopes Prize.

Storer, who wrote his thesis on the use of objects in Boccaccio’s Decameron, also celebrated his departments’ support.

“Shoutout to the Anthropology Department for having 5 out of 8 thesis writers win Hoopes,” Storer wrote in an email. “And a shoutout to [Romance Languages and Literatures] for being such a great department and community.”

English concentrator Chloe A. Brooks ’19, who wrote her thesis on lyricism and narrative in the epic tradition, captured a sentiment common among Hoopes awardees.

“It’s very gratifying to have work that you have put so much thought, devotion and energy into recognized among so many wonderful theses,” she said. meena.venkataraman@thecrimson.com

Students Strip, Run before Final Exams

By Michelle G. Kurilla Crimson Staff Writer

Taking a break from their studying — and their clothing — hoards of College students completed a naked lap around Harvard Yard Wednesday night as part of the biannual tradition of “Primal Scream.”

Warm temperatures welcomed College participants and onlookers as they screamed and streaked through the Yard to blow off steam on the eve of final exam period.

Crowds of students gathered in front of Hollis and Stoughton Halls in the minutes before midnight, as some tourists perched on the steps of University Hall to watch the evening’s events unfold.

When the clock struck midnight, the runners dropped their towels and took off.

Varsity Women’s Ice Hockey members Kate Hallett ’19 and

Kaitlin Tse ’19 said they participate in Primal Scream every year with their team.

‘It’s a long standing Harvard tradition,” Hallet said. “Something of which we’d like to be a part, together.”

This year, Hallet and Tse decided to mix things up by wearing rollerblades.

“We want to go out with a bang senior year,” Tse said.

“Lead the charge.”

While the event draws some students who pride themselves on participating every year, this year’s Primal Scream attracted two visiting students — Isabel Kroeger and Yuki Nakamura — who said they wanted to witness the Harvard tradition during their time on campus.

Kroeger, a visiting student from the Frankfurt School of Finance Management in Frankfurt, Germany, is only in Cambridge for this semester.

“I’ve heard that it’s a key

Harvard tradition so I thought that I wanted to get the real Harvard experience so that’s why I came,” Kruger said.

Nakamura, a visiting student from Yale NUS in Singapore, likewise said she hoped to see the naked race while on campus.

“Similarly to Bella, I heard that was a time where everyone just comes together, all classes, and has a moment to appreciate the Yard naked,” Nakamura said.

As students streaked by, scores of spectators looked on and filmed the naked race on their phones.

Even though Neil K. Khurana ’22 did not participate in Primal Scream, he said he thinks it is a “fun tradition.”

“It’s been going on — I don’t know how long — but it’s a very old tradition so people want to pass it down to the next class,” he said.

Michaela Green ’20 likewise said she did not run this year, but might in the future because Primal Scream is a “rite of passage.”

“I think it’s hilarious and it’s definitely a nice break away from exams and the stresses of schoolwork and it shows a different side to Harvard students,” Green said.

Before and after the event, students also fulfilled a different Harvard tradition — urinating on the John Harvard Statue.

As an audience of tourists recorded on their cell phones, students climbed one after another onto the statue to complete the task.

A few students urinated on the statue beforehand, while others climbed the statue naked following their nude lap around the Yard as bystanders cheered. michelle.kurilla@thecrimson.com

The sights and sounds of Harvard.

Now on Instagram.

The Crimson

@theharvardcrimson

By Ruth A. Hailu and Amy L. Jia Crimson Staff Writers

Embedded EthiCS — an interdisciplinary initiative between the Computer Science and Philosophy departments — will receive a $150,000 grant after being named a winner in the 2019 Responsible Computer Science Challenge last week.

“We are thrilled to have our program endorsed in this public way,” Computer Science Professor Barbara J. Grosz and Philosophy Professor Alison J. Simmons — the initiative’s co-founders — wrote in an email. “We are excited to learn from the projects of other award recipients and we are eager to work with them to create open access resources that will help others integrate ethical reasoning into the computer science curriculum.”

The $2.4 million challenge receives support from four organizations — Omidyar Network, Mozilla Foundation, Schmidt Futures, and Craig Newmark Philanthropies — that advocate using technology to advance societal progress. The challenge’s mission is to provide student engineers with a more holistic perspective on technology product design by backing programs that integrate ethics into the field, according to its website.

“The hope is that the Challenge will unearth and spark innovative coursework that will not only be implemented at the participating home institutions, but also be scaled to additional colleges and universities across the country — and beyond,” the website states.

Launched by Grosz and Simmons in spring 2017, Embedded EthiCS — which recently expanded to a dozen courses in the Computer Science depart-

ment — pairs Computer Science faculty and Philosophy graduate students to collaboratively design modules and assignments addressing relevant ethical issues in Computer Science curricula.

The idea for the initiative arose from the professors’ recognition that students needed to learn not only how to write functional code, but also how to critically analyze their systems’ ethical implications.

The Responsible Computer Science Challenge is divided into two stages. Stage I, the “Concept Development and Pilot Stage,” began in December 2018 and the winners were announced in April 2019. At that point, programs that receive awards move onto Stage II — the “Spread and Scale Stage” — set to begin in summer 2020 and end in spring 2021. Programs are selected for awards at the conclusion of each stage based on a number of criteria, including feasibility, impact, and scalability.

Embedded EthiCS was one of 17 university programs selected to receive a Stage I award, standing alongside other initiatives at Columbia, Georgetown, and the University of California, Berkeley.

As a Stage I award winner, Embedded EthiCS will proceed to Stage II, where it will have the opportunity to receive an additional $200,000 grant if it gets an award at that stage.

Grosz and Simmons plan to use the $150,000 grant to expand the program’s open-access resources and “augment module development through design of activities relevant to students’ future technology careers,” according to the competition’s website. ruth.hailu@thecrimson.com amy.jia@thecrimson.com

FOP Program to Be Led by Quigley

By Sanjana L. Narayanan Crimson Staff Writer

Emily S. Quigley will serve as the new director of Harvard’s First-Year Outdoor Program, as well as the outdoor and recreation coordinator at the Dean of Students Office, Kate Colleran — the senior director for student organizations and resources at the DSO — announced Wednesday.

“We look forward to the knowledge and enthusiasm she will be bringing with her,” Colleran wrote in an email to colleagues Wednesday informing them of the new hire. In that email she said Quigley’s role will include managing the Quad Recreational Athletic Center.

In her email, Colleran highlighted Quigley’s experience in outdoor education. Quigley worked for the Tufts Wilderness Orientation program from 2012 to 2018 and currently coordinates programs for the National Outdoor Leadership School in the Custom Education department.

“Emily brings strong experience in outdoor orientation programs,” Colleran wrote.

“During the interview process she impressed with her student-centered approach to leadership and her commitment to making the outdoors a more inclusive space.”

Paul R. “Coz” Teplitz ’03-’09, who oversaw FOP and became director of the College’s Experiential Learning Center in 2017, will be leaving Harvard on June 30 with the Center’s elimina­

tion.

In an email to FOP leaders and trainees March 28, Teplitz announced that the DSO would not be moving forward with the Center, and solicited input in selecting a new director for FOP. The email stated the three finalists for the position — who were unnamed — would participate in interviews with administrators, the FOP Steering Committee, and the Director Search Advisory Committee, as well as informal lunches with FOP leaders and trainees.

“As many of you know, FOP is currently searching for a new director. We have gotten to the stage in the process when we need your input!” Teplitz wrote in the email. “Based on the effort of [FOP’s steering committee] so far and the quality of the applicants, I’m confident FOP will be in good hands.”

Colleran’s email Wednesday also addressed Teplitz’s upcoming departure, and said that the DSO will recognize his commitment to FOP in a “farewell celebration” next month.

“With Emily’s arrival comes the departure of our veteran FOP Director and Director of Outdoor and Experiential Education, Coz Teplitz,” she wrote.

“Coz has been dedicated to his work with FOP since he started in 2010, promoting outdoor enthusiasm in students and being a warm welcome to our new students.”

Quigley will take over the role July 1. sanjana.narayanan@thecrimson.com

Follow

@thecrimson on Twitter.

You know you want to.

There’s more. @THCSports | @CrimsonArts | @CrimsonFlyby

Sports

Weekly Recap

SCORES

Men’s Basketball vs. BU W, 18-17 ___________________________________________________________

woMen’s swimming ivy league championshp 2nd ___________________________________________________________

woMen’s Heavyweight Crew Vs. Yale L ___________________________________________________________

golf Vs. princeton W ___________________________________________________________

Football vs. University of Vermont L, 42, 36 ___________________________________________________________

men’s wrestling vs. penn state L, 42, 36 ___________________________________________________________

Fencing New England Championship 15th ___________________________________________________________

softball

Harvard Crowned Outright Ivy League Champions By james joyce Crimson Staff Writer

1… 2… 3!

That used to be where the women in crimson would stop.

A trilogy of triumph, and then: a turf-bound tumble.

4… 5… 6… 7!

The change came slowly: a sprightly save by Rhianna here, a dexterous Tyler dive there.

8… 9… 10… 11!

Things are different now.

They count off the numbers as smoothly as a chorus of kindergarteners reciting a Dr. Seuss sonnet, the game easier than one-fish two-fish.

12… 13… 14!

And just like that, a record is set, a champion crowned.

Ask any member of the Harvard softball squad what their greatest accomplishment this season has been, and they’ll probably point you toward last weekend’s Ivy League Title. What they won’t tell you is that they’ve gotten pretty damn good at hacky sack.

“At the beginning of the season, we started off maybe being able to get a rally of three of four as a whole group, which was terrible,” said senior captain and two-time Ivy League Pitcher of the Year Katie Duncan. “Now we’ll play hacky and get up to thirteen or fourteen hits, which has been a huge improvement.”

Unbeknownst to even the most devoted of fans, softball isn’t the only sport at which the Crimson excel. Without fail, Harvard’s softball squad is sure to warm up with a quick kickaround of hacky sack before their game-day dash to the diamond, an enterprise that can get fairly extreme.

“We’ve had people dive to get the sack, we’ve had people hit the ground – it’s really funny to see us all get extraordinarily hyped about hacky sack before our games,” Duncan said. “We all get pretty into it, but Megan Welsh and Mackenzie [Tyler] go complete sicko mode when we play.”

“I think hacky sack is a really good way to keep our energy boosted and our bodies moving,” said Tyler, a freshman on the team. “We’ve gotten progressively better throughout the season; I think it’s a good metaphor for how team has improved on the field.”

Improve may be an understatement. In April, Coach Jenny Allard lauded the Crimson (23-17, 16-5 Ivy) for “not having

IT’S LONELY AT THE TOP With its resounding 9-1 victory over Cornell earlier this week, the Crimson took home the outright regular season championship for the Ivy League. Quinn G. courtesy of Harvard athletics

as many quality at bats as we’d like” and “giving pitches away”; last weekend, the team blew those fears out of the water, clinching their second straight Ivy League Title and taking the trophy outright.

“This weekend, we had two goals: we wanted to go out there and play our best softball, but we also had the end goal of doing all we possibly could to win an Ivy League Title,” Duncan said. “I

thought [we] did a phenomenal job fielding every ground ball, making every throw, and taking big swings.”

Although the squad captured the Ivy League Title during Saturday’s doubleheader against Cornell (10-36, 5-16), the team was still in danger of needing to share that distinction with Columbia (24-19, 15-6) – that would have been the second year in a row in which the

Crimson split the title. However, Sunday’s Crimson victory and Lions loss ensured that a shared podium need not be constructed.

“It was super exciting to win the championship outright after having to share the title with Dartmouth last year,” said senior infielder Rhianna Rich.

“For at least all the returners, it was a goal of ours to make sure that we claimed the title for our-

LOOKING AHEAD Harvard will now shift its focus to Columbia, its opponent in the upcoming three-game series to decide the NCAA tournament bid for the Ivy League. Last season, Harvard defeated Dartmouth in this series. ALLISON G. LEE— Crimson photographer

selves because we didn’t want to share it again.”

As it turns out, earning the title in their own right was far from challenging for the Crimson. Within the first two innings of Sunday’s matchup, a pair of early-game doubles from the Megan/Meagan duo (Lantz and Welsh) carried the squad to a 7-1 lead against Cornell. At the bottom of the fifth, Harvard secured an eight-run victory with a hit and walk-off run from Tyler, whose ‘round-the-horn joy ride was met with a cacophony of cheers and tears.

“It was really emotional, being able to cross home plate and have all my teammates right there,” said Tyler of her title-winning trot. “It was such a good feeling to run home and literally dive into all of my teammates’ arms.”

Saturday’s games were just as successful for the sweep-spawning squad. From the batter’s box, Harvard flaunted a number of flawless plate appearances, with senior captain Kaitlyn Schiffhauer earning a walk, five RBIs, and two runs. A quartet of RBI singles during the third inning of the Crimson’s first contest secured an 8-0 walk-off victory, and a striking save from pitcher Alissa Heiner guaranteed Harvard an Ivy League Title after their second match.

However, the most noteworthy Harvard performance came from the mound, where Duncan racked up a shutout – her second of the season – along with a solid six strikeouts. Days later, for the second time in her collegiate career, the New Jersey native earned the title of Ivy League Pitcher of the Year.

“When [the team] found out who won the Ivy League awards, we were all at practice,” Duncan said. “When we learned that I had won, Coach made the comment that as nice as it is that I got Pitcher of the Year, it definitely wasn’t my goal – my goal was to be able to design a ring and have a moment of team cele-

bration; that’s what we all strive for. As nice as [winning Pitcher of the Year] is and as honored as I am, it pales in comparison to what we were able to do as a collective. The team comes first.”

When asked to name this series’ standout player, Duncan balked – a testament to her camaraderie-centered mentality.

“Oh jeez – I don’t think I can choose just one,” Duncan said.

“I think everyone in the lineup crossed the plate at one point this weekend, and just seeing that was great. During the second game, we were trailing Cornell for awhile, but we were able to score in the fifth and sixth innings and take the lead. Seeing every person pass the bat was a really nice moment where every single one of us was able to go up to the plate as a collective.”

The Crimson’s together-as-one mantra has already earned them one title this season; however, the team’s journey to jubilance is not over just yet. This weekend, Harvard will face Columbia in the Ivy League Championship series – a win against the Lions would propel the squad to the NCAA tournament.

“I think our mentality this weekend is really just focusing on ourselves and knowing that we had a successful series against Columbia a month ago,” Rich said. “I think we have a lot of confidence in ourselves and we’re just excited to go out there and take the field again.”

This weekend, the bleachers of Soldiers Field are sure to be swarmed with supporters of the Crimson and Lions alike, each fan awaiting a thrilling two-team, three-round tug between the squads. However, before Harvard softball takes the field for Saturday’s matchup, they have a game of their own to play: their classic always-improving, get-in-the-grooving hacky sack warm-up. And who knows – maybe they’ll even make it to fifteen this time. james.joyce@thecrimson.com