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Affordable Housing Bill Approved

By Maria G. Gonzalez Crimson Staff Writer

The Cambridge City Council voted to bring a proposed af fordable housing overlay before the planning board and ordinance committee during their meeting Monday night.

The overlay — which was a key issue in the last election cy cle — is a zoning proposal that would allow affordable hous ing developers to compete with market rates by streamlining permitting processes for hous ing units that are considered 100 percent affordable.

Cambridge’s municipal zon ing laws require a minimum of six votes to pass the council; in September, city councilors unanimously voted to table the overlay after months of heated debate indicated that the mea sure would not pass if put to a vote. The policy order that the council approved Monday will bring the 2020 version of the overlay back to the planning board and ordinance commit tee for further discussion.

During the public comment section of Monday’s meeting, Cambridge residents said they had mixed feelings about the measure’s revival.

Harvard Square Neighbor hood Association president and Fine Arts and African Ameri can Studies professor at Harvard Suzanne P. Blier she was “disappointed” to see the over lay return “without new study or discussion about key prob lems and touch points in it.”

Blier said that an amend ed housing overlay should take the environment, sustainabili ty, and social equity in housing into consideration.

“We need to look at the root causes of these concerns and not advocate for a band-aid that does not stop the bleeding and does not resolve the core prob lems,” she added.

Other residents during the public comment section said that the reintroduction of the housing overlay is a necessary step that the city must take to create affordable housing.

Eva Martin-Blythe, exec utive director of the Young Women’s Christian Associ ation in Cambridge, said the overlay “may not be perfect” but offers a “manageable solu tion” to the city’s housing crisis.

“We’ve micromanaged and weighed down the overlay pro posal so much that continued discussion and continued work on it and continued changes and amendments to it run the risk of it being non-functional,” Martin-Blythe said.

“I don’t believe that that’s

We need to look at the root causes of these concerns and not advocate for a bandaid that does not stop the bleeding and does not resolve the core problems.

Suzanne P. Blier Harvard Professor

what we want,” she added. “Ev ery time there’s a proposal on the table, like the hundred per cent housing overlay that is in any way reasonable, we will support it.”

During Monday’s meeting, Councilor Marc C. McGovern, who sponsored the proposal to re-introduce the overlay along side Councilor E. Denise Simmons, Councilor Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler, Councillor Timothy J. Toomey Jr., spoke about how the new proposal includes discussion and deliberation that took place last year.

McGovern said the overlay was discussed in “over twen ty community meetings” and that ordinance committee dis cussions totaled roughly 2700 hours last term. He also noted that out of 62 proposed amend ments, 46 amendments were approved throughout previ ous deliberation. All 46 amendments have been incorporated into the new version of the overlay, according to McGov ern.

“We have done a lot of work on this, and all we’re doing to night is moving into ordinance where we’re going to do more work,” McGovern said.

“I hope we can just move this forward and dig deeper into the merits and any other amendments that we’re going to adopt in the ordinance com mittee,” he added.

maria.gonzalez@thecrimson.com

HUPD From Page 1 Experts to Review HUPD Climate

its progress and will then share its findings and recommenda tions with the department by the end of the academic year, ac cording to his email. After writing its report, the committee will help the department imple ment its recommendations.

The pair of outside experts who will lead the review brings federal experience with crimi nal justice to Cambridge.

Davis previously served as a top official in the United States Department of Justice, where he oversaw efforts to imple ment community-oriented policing. Bond, an associate professor of public service at Suffolk University, also has ties to the Justice Department, where she provides expertise to the Smart Policing Initiative. Riley wrote in the email that he hopes the review will bring substan tive change to the department’s climate and its relationship with the University at large.

“I have great pride in this De partment. Each day our commitment to the safety and wellbeing of our community helps ensure that Harvard is a place where we all can do our best work,” he wrote. “However, in light of the recent Crimson articles, I re main concerned about our internal department climate, as well as the perception and interac tions we have with members of our community.”

Lapp declined to comment beyond Riley’s email.

The review comes as the de partment faces fresh scrutiny following a trespassing arrest at the Smith Campus Center on Thursday. Several witnesses al leged the HUPD officer involved used excessive force during the arrest, which was partially cap tured on video.

On Monday evening, HUPD spokesperson Steven G. Cata lano declined to comment on whether the department will formally review the arrest, cit ing longstanding HUPD policy not to comment on ongoing criminal cases.

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CPD and HUPD Explain Departmental Collaboration

By Charles Xu Crimson Staff Writer

Within Harvard’s gates, the University maintains its own police force with all the powers of a municipal department — but in many cases, when a call comes in about a crime on campus, offi cers from that department may not be the only responders.

According to Cambridge Po lice Department spokesperson Jeremy Warnick and Harvard University Police Department Steven G. Catalano, HUPD and CPD maintain a close, long-standing relationship in Cambridge. Both departments have assisted each other in the past, splitting their jurisdiction based on location and property ownership.

“There is a pretty lengthy re lationship in terms how far we go back and a strong relation ship between the two agencies,” Warnick said in an interview Monday.

HUPD officers are appoint ed as special state police officers by the Colonel of the Massachusetts State Police pursuant to Massachusetts General Law. The statute grants HUPD offi cers the authority to make arrests as regular police officers, granting them authority over land and buildings owned, used, or occupied by the University. CPD, on the other hand, pos sesses primary authority over the city of Cambridge, including its schools, campuses, business es and state roadways, Warnick said. He added that in certain areas across Cambridge, other agencies — including the Tran sit Police, Massachusetts state police, and other universities’ police departments — may have primary authority.

“If an incident occurs on Me morial Drive, for example, the agency that has primary juris diction over that is the state police,” he said. “If an incident occurs in the Red Line, or with a MBTA bus, the Transit Police have primary jurisdiction over that.” If incidents take place off campus but involve Harvard af filiates, HUPD will call in neighboring police departments, including CPD, according to Catalano.

“Depending on where they are and what else is occurring on campus officers may respond to their location directly or as sist them in connecting with the appropriate jurisdiction,” Catalano wrote in an emailed statement Wednesday. War nick added that, when protests and demonstrations take place, CPD has set plans for a variety of “contingencies” in which it Cambridge Police have occasionally been called to assist the Harvard University Police Department within Harvard’s jurisdiction. zadoc i. n. gee—Crimson photographer

might assist HUPD.

“We’re always looking to en sure the first amendment rights are being honored by those that are involved, but then also en suring the safety and security of the area in which these are tak ing place,” he said. “If those protests, say, for example, became violent, for whatever reason, or became disruptive in a sense that they started to block traffic, you’re now on campus, you’re now on city property. And now it’s becoming a much greater in cident.”

CPD may also step in when departments such as HUPD re quire additional assistance or resources for a particular re sponse, according to Warnick.

In December, CPD assisted withsecurity during the gradu ate student union’s strike, billing the University $185,000.

HUPD collaborates with other local police departments to ensure “the most appropri ate response” to incidents near campus, per its annual securi ty report. For instance, in Sept. 2019, HUPD assisted Cam bridge police officers in arresting 12 people protesting at Amazon’s Kendall Square office over the company’s ties to Unit ed States Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

charles.xu@thecrimson.com

bells From Page 1 Students Divided on Lowell Rings

people find the bells “annoying.” He also said he believes the dislike among residents of oth er nearby Houses stems from a lack of knowledge of the bells’ history.

“If you’re in Lowell, you can complain about the noise but at least you can appreciate the his tory associated with the house,” he said. “Yeah, I’ll admit that it’s annoying, but I think the histor ical elements outweigh the annoyance of having to listen to it.”

According to the Lowell website, bells of this nature held a “religious and civic signifi cance” in Russian history. Lowell House originally held a set of bells from the Danilovsky Mon astery — installed in the 1930s — that escaped the Stalininst policy of removing and melt ing church and monastery bells during the 1920s. In 2008, this set was removed and returned to Danilovsky and replaced by a new set of bells.

Kevin T. Stephen ’20, an other Lowell resident, said he believes bellringing is an “im portant method” for preserving the culture associated with the bells, and added he thinks the Society of Russian Bell Ringers does an “excellent job” in this regard. He also said “jealousy” and “ignorance” of the bells’ history are the reasons behind students’ dislike.

“I think the Lowell bells are a reminder to everyone else on the river that Lowell House is the best house and a reinforcing of our superiority on the river,” he said.

“So yeah, for everyone else who hears the Lowell bells, it’s a majestic symphony every Sunday afternoon. You’re wel come.”

declan.knieriem@thecrimson.com

Scientists Release Butterfly Wings Study

By Ethan Lee Crimson Staff Writer

Scientists at Harvard and Columbia released a study examining the structures and cooling mechanisms of but terfly wings, with possible implications for construction and aeronautical engineering.

The paper, published at the end of last month, reported the presence of a “wing heart” that pumps hemolymph — a circu lating fluid equivalent to blood in insects — through butterfly wings, providing evidence that these wings are living, dynam ic systems.

Naomi E. Pierce, a Har vard professor of biology and co-author of the paper, said that while previous research had identified wing hearts in the thorax of insects, the study found them in a formerly unde scribed location.

“This wing heart was right smack in the middle of the wing,” Pierce said.

Nanfang Yu, a professor of applied physics at Colum bia University and co-author of the study, wrote in an email that the research team hypoth esizes butterflies have cooling mechanisms to protect their wings.

“Butterfly wings have in trinsically poor thermodynamic properties: given their small thermal capacity, wings can overheat rapidly in the sun to physiologically disastrous high temperatures,” Yu wrote. “Our thermodynamic exper iments show that the wings of living butterflies in the sun can reach a peak temperature as high as 60 degrees Celsius within 10 seconds.”

Yu added that butterflies had adapted to reduce solar ab sorption in near-infrared light and emit more heat at dynamic parts of the wing.

Alongside these physical mechanisms, the study also described several behavioral adaptations of butterflies that help keep their wings cool.

“In an experiment, we local ly heated up the living regions of the wings of living butter flies using a small laser spot,” Yu wrote. “All species tested responded with specialized be haviors to prevent overheating of their wings. Some flap their wings, some turn around, and others walk away from the la ser spot.”

Cheng-Chia Tsai, a graduate student at Columbia and lead author of the study, said these cooling processes are crucial to

This wing heart was right smack in the middle of the wing.

Naomi E. Pierce Biology Professor and Co-Author on Paper

butterflies, as overheating the wings impeded their capabili ties.

“The butterfly wing start ed to become insensitive,” Tsai said. “They don’t feel the temperature anymore. So this means overheating will dam age the sensors, which includes the mechanical sensors.” Pierce said the findings from the study are already be ing applied towards the making of a new type of paint that is similar to butterfly wing nano structures and forms “little bubbles” as it dries.

When used in a building, the paint cut down costs of air-conditioning by 30 percent, according to Pierce.

Yu wrote that the results of the study can also provide in sights for airplane wing construction.

“The sensory networks dis covered in the wings certainly provide us a lesson that the design of the wings of flying machines should not be sole ly based on considerations of aerodynamics,” Yu wrote.

“Maybe we can create bioin spired, robust, and multifunctional sensory networks for airplane wings that can detect the external environment and the internal state of the wing, and provide a real-time failsafe against failure of individ ual elements in the network.”

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HLS Responds to Misconduct

By Kelsey J. Griffin Crimson Staff Writer

Harvard Law School Dean John F. Manning ’82 outlined efforts taken by the Law School to confront instances of judicial misconduct and sexual harass ment against clerks in a schoolwide email Thursday.

The email follows Law School graduate Olivia A. War ren’s Feb. 13 testimony before the House Judiciary Commit tee, in which she described repeated instances of sexual harassment by the late federal judge Stephen R. Reinhardt.

Warren said in her state ment to the Committee that she met with Manning and oth er Law School administrators about the harassment but was not informed of any subsequent action.

Manning wrote in his email that the Law School has taken steps to warn students apply ing for clerkships about judicial misconduct and will assist stu dents and graduates in finding new employment if necessary. “We’ve instituted new pro grams focused on sexual harassment, navigating workplace misconduct, and bystander intervention, and enhanced our communications efforts to ensure students and graduates understand their options, re course, and remedies should they experience harassment during a clerkship,” Manning wrote.

Several students responded to the email on Twitter, noting the lack of an apology in Man ning’s message.

“No acknowledgement of, let alone apology for, the fact that Liv Warren specifically talked about meeting with Dean Man ning about the abuse in question and getting no follow-up whatsoever,” Law School stu dent Andre R. Manuel wrote in a Tweet.

Law School graduate Jac queline M. Trudeau pointed out that Manning’s sympathy came after Warren criticized administrators’ inaction in her testimony.

“To clarify, was he sad dened and appalled only when he listened to her testimony be fore the committee?” Trudeau wrote in a tweet. “What about when he met with her? Was he not saddened and appalled then?”

Other Law School students questioned the legitimacy of the efforts to stop sexual ha rassment described by Manning.

“He claims there have been ‘efforts’ & ‘new programs,’ but if these exist (??) this is the first we’ve heard about it in our past 2 years of advocacy,” Law School student A. Vail KohnertYount wrote in a tweet.

“It is not just embarrassing but truly demoralizing that this man is our dean,” she added.

Law School spokesperson Melodie L. Jackson wrote in an email that the school has in creased “information sharing and support resources” for cur rent and prospective judicial clerks, such as by publicizing the judiciary’s mechanisms for reporting misconduct.

The school also publish es blog posts and information on the Office of Career Ser vices website to inform clerkship applicants — both students and alumni — of the resources available for researching judg es and finding alternative employment, according to Jackson.

In 2018, the Law School pro posed changes to the Code of Conduct and Judicial Conduct and Disability Rules for U.S. judges, calling for a central of fice to receive misconduct complaints and systemic reviews.

Manning acknowledged in his email that, despite these ef forts, there is “much work” still to be done.

“We are committed to that crucial work,” Manning wrote.

kelsey.griffin@thecrimson.com

Grad Council Discusses New Projects

By Davit Antonyan Crimson Staff Writer

The Harvard Graduate Council discussed a trio of programs spanning the University’s 12 re spective graduate schools in a meeting featuring representa tives from each school on Monday night.

The group began the meet ing by reviewing the One Harvard Catalyst Fund, an opportunity for graduate schools to invite other schools to collabo rate on and host various events and projects.

“The HGC One Harvard Catalyst Fund is for if you have an idea for something that you want to bring students from dif ferent schools together,” Chanthia C. Ma, the vice president of the Council, said.

The Fund offers two differ ent options for applicants. A “fast-track” option is available for those who have project pro posals that need funding immediately, offering them up to $500.

The traditional fund, which involves a longer review pro cess, awards grantees up to $2500.

Jacqueline “Jackie” Yun, the executive director of the Grad

The HGC One Harvard Catalyst Fund is for if you have an idea of something that you want to bring students from different schools together.

Chanthia C. Ma HGC Vice President

uate School of Arts and Sciences Student Center, also discussed the launch of Engage — a new hub meant to modernize and facilitate graduate student involvement in activities — at the meeting.

Initially offered at Yale, the new platform was created by Campus Labs, a software com pany that creates software specifically tailored for colleges and universities.

Yun cited the lack of a cen tralized system where student organizations could publicize, promote, and process different activities as a plus of the new system.

“Before, there was no real way to connect students with groups in GSAS,” Yun said.

The meeting concluded with a presentation from Rob ert “Rob” C. Watson Jr. ’09, who serves as the Director of Stu dent Programs at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics.

He discussed the Harvard Votes Challenge, an initiative launched in 2014 to mobilize the Harvard community to en gage more in civic responsibilities.

“The Harvard Votes Chal lenge is a University-wide program to increase and in stitutionalize student voter readiness efforts across the university,” Watson said.

Watson said the percentage of eligible Harvard voters who casted ballots has increased by 24.6% since HVC’s advent in 2014.

He also offered each of Har vard’s graduate schools an opportunity to participate in the program.

“Through the President’s Administrative Innovation Fund, we’re supporting each Harvard school to form a voting team made up of faculty staff and students to establish a ba sic infrastructure for voting,” Watson said.

davit.antonyan@thecrimson.com

GSD Urban Planning Chair Appointed

By Elizabeth H. Gellert Crimson Staff Writer

Rahul J. Mehrotra has been appointed chair of the Harvard Graduate School of Design’s Department of Urban Planning and Design, the Design School announced last week.

Mehrotra was also appoint ed the John T. Dunlap Professor in Housing and Urbanization at the Design School.

He will assume both roles in July.

He is succeeding Urban De sign Professor Alex Krieger, who served as interim chair while Regional Planning and Urbanism Professor Diane E. Davis was on leave for the 2019- 2020 academic year.

Mehrotra has been a mem ber of the Design faculty since 2010.

He has previously served as chair of the Department of Ur ban Planning and Design between 2010 and 2015. He then served as the director of the Master of Architecture in Ur ban Design Degree Program as well as the co-director of the Master of Landscape Architec ture in Urban Design Degree Program.

Prior to joining the GSD, Mehrotra taught at both the University of Michigan and MIT.

He is also the founder of the firm RMA Architects, which is based in both Boston and Mum bai.

While Mehrotra had previ ously served as chair of the department, he said in an interview Monday that he hopes to bring a renewed focus to the in tersections between design and planning programs.

“These are completely dis parate groups, but it also is an opportunity because if one can construct a forum for the ap propriate dialogues between these groups it can be incredi bly productive for both groups. Designers learning about plan ning and planners learning about design,” he said. “I think there’s an amazing opportunity for a planning program to be in a design school.”

As a new housing and ur banization professor, Mehrotra will take over from Professor Emeritus Gerald M. McCue, who has served in the John T. Dunlap professorship since 1996.

Mehrotra said he is looking forward to this new role, which he said will provide a new focus to his work.

“It’s very exciting. I think the professorship is a real hon or and it’s going to help me focus my work, which has been in the areas of urbanization and housing, but to have a formal title will help me to distill the many disparate things I have done with regard to urbaniza tion and housing,” he said.

Design School Dean Sarah M. Whiting said in a press re lease that Mehrotra will help the school and its students study modern “debates and dis coveries” in design.

“As we look toward our col lective ‘near future,’ Rahul brings an unmatched depth of insight to this contemporary moment,” she said.

“His extraordinary synthe sis of pedagogy, practice, and a generous ethos will continue to guide us into challenging but essential debates and discover ies.”

elizabeth.gellert@thecrimson.com

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