The Harvard Crimson - Volume CXLVI, No. 21

The Harvard Crimson THE UNIVERSITY DAILY, EST. 1873 | VOLUME CXLVI, NO. 21 | CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS | FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2019

EDITORIAL PAGE 6

NEWS PAGE 3

SPORTS PAGE 8

Alan Dershowitz’s defense of Harvey Weinstein is justified.

Khurana praises Recognized Student Organizations’ transition progress.

The Ivy League is a top-10 men’s basketball conference.

ABHW PBHA Supports Youth Jobs at Rally in Boston Calls on Dean to Resign

By JENNA X. BAO

CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Chanting “youth united will never be defeated” and “youth need labor,” several members of Harvard’s Phillips Brooks House Association and local students marched for youth job funding at the eleventh annual Dreams of Our Future rally in Boston Thursday.

The march was organized by “I Have a Dream,” a statewide coalition of youth organizers, and aimed to “uplift the voices of youth of color and other marginalized young people,” according to the group’s website.

Protestors crowded the Boston Common Bandstand to participate in testimonies and performances focused on youth jobs and juvenile justice reform. In speeches to the crowd, U.S. Representative Ayanna S. Pressley (D-Mass.) and Mass.

State Representative Elizabeth “Liz” Miranda (D) backed ralliers’ calls for job funding and told personal stories about how they helped support their families as teenagers.

“It’s a proven fact that young people are the number one supporters of small businesses in your communities,” Miranda said in her speech. “When we invest in youth, we lift up our entire Commonwealth.”

Participants then marched through the Common to the State House, where they met with Cambridge, Boston, and state legislators. PBHA brought several middle school and high school students to meet with legislators and practice advocating for themselves. PBHA President Cecilia A. J. Nunez ’20 said the meetings were a valuable learning experience.

“A lot of them talked about how they didn’t even really know who their legislator was, and to go into their offices and talk to their staff people about what was important to them was really fulfilling,” Nunez ­

By SHERA S. AVI-YONAH and AIDAN F. RYAN CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

The Association of Black Harvard Women executive board emailed University administrators Thursday afternoon, calling on Winthrop House Faculty Dean Ronald S. Sullivan, Jr. to step down from his post following his decision to represent film producer Harvey Weinstein as he stands accused of rape. ABHW also sent their letter to Sullivan and the email lists of several campus affinity groups, according to ABHW President Kacey E. Gill ’20. She added that they plan to send it to every faculty dean within the coming days.

“We write to you today to ask that you step down from your position as the Faculty Dean of Winthrop House. If you do not step down, we will implore Harvard College’s Administration to remove you from your position,” the letter reads. The letter states that Sullivan’s actions have been “shocking” and “illuminating.” The ABHW members added that Sullivan has “failed” them.

“What has been made especially clear is that you have failed us,” the letter states. “You have failed the Black women in this community, not only as one of the few Black Faculty Deans on campus but also as a community leader--someone who we respected and looked to for guidance.”

Sullivan did not respond to a request for comment. The New York Post first reported that ­

The March for Youth Jobs took place in downtown Boston Thursday afternoon. The crowd included many high school students from around the area as well as a band and adult supporters. KATHRYN S. KUHAR—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

SEE ABHW PAGE 3

U.S. Representative Ayanna S. Pressley (D-Mass.) spoke to the crowd.

The march concluded at the Massachusetts State House. KATHRYN S. KU-

KATHRYN S. KUHAR—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

HAR—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

Harvard Diversity Offices Will Merge

Record 43,330 Apply to College

By SHERA S. AVI-YONAH and DELANO R. FRANKLIN

Harvard College Application Numbers

CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

The College’s Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion and the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations will join to form a single office, Dean of the College Rakesh Khurana and Dean of Students Katherine G. O’Dair announced in an email to College affiliates Thursday.

In the same email, Khurana and O’Dair wrote that the Dean of Students Office will begin its ­

Total Applications (thousands)

50

CURRENT 43,330

40

35,022

34,950

30

34,285

30,489

37,305

34,295

39,494 42,742

39,044

20

‘14

‘15

‘16

‘17 ‘18 ‘19 ‘20 Graduating Class

‘21

‘22

By CAMILLE G. CALDERA CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

A record-high 43,330 students applied for admission to the Harvard College Class of 2023, marking the fifth consecutive year of climbing application numbers.

“We are thrilled to once again see so many extraordinary students from throughout the nation and around the world apply to Harvard College,” Dean of Admissions William R. Fitzsimmons ’67 said in a press release.

The total number of applicants this year is 1.4 percent greater than the number last ­

Harvard Today 2

year, when 42,749 students applied.

That cycle — for admission to the Class of 2022 — was the first time the number of applications to the College exceeded 40,000 and marked an 8 percent increase in application numbers from its previous cycle.

Applications from certain minority racial groups grew at higher percentages than the applicant group as a whole, while other groups saw decreased application numbers.

The number of Latinx applicants to the Class of 2023

SEE APPLICANTS PAGE 4

News 3

By RUTH A. HAILU and AMY L. JIA

‘23

MATTHEW J. TYLER—CRIMSON DESIGNER

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

search for an Associate Dean for Inclusion and Belonging, a position that has remained vacant since September, in the coming weeks.

Shortly after former Associate Dean for Diversity and Inclusion Roland S. Davis stepped down for “personal reasons,” O’Dair emailed College affiliates stating that Khurana would establish a working group of students, faculty, and staff, who would provide input on the dean search.

O’Dair also wrote that the group would review the Office’s

mission.

The new dean will oversee the merger after the group selects Davis’s replacement — he left Harvard one year after taking the job.

The Thursday email stated the merger is an outgrowth of the working group’s discussions, citing the overlapping missions of the two offices.

“By bringing the work of both organizations into one office, we will be able to create an office that has full responsibility to strengthen our commitment to inclusion and belonging

on campus,” the email reads.

In addition to the Harvard Foundation, the new associate dean will oversee the four other divisions of the EDI Office — the Office of BGLTQ Student Life, the Office of Diversity Education and Support, the College’s Title IX Office, and the Women’s Center.

The Title IX Office reported directly to O’Dair following Davis’s departure, while Alexander R. Miller, the associate dean of student engagement,

SEE MERGER PAGE 4

Embedded EthiCS Triples in Size to 12 Courses

10

0

SEE RALLY PAGE 3

Editorial 6

CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

Embedded EthiCS — an interdisciplinary initiative between the Computer Science and Philosophy departments — has expanded to a dozen courses in the Computer Science department this semester and will extend to other disciplines in the near future.

Pioneered by Computer Science Professor Barbara J. Grosz and Philosophy Professor Alison J. Simmons, the initiative pairs Computer Science faculty members with Philosophy graduate students to collaboratively design modules and assignments that address relevant ethical issues within Computer Science curricula. The program has tripled in size since its inception in spring 2018, when ­

Sports 8

four courses were offered.

The idea behind the Embedded EthiCS initiative arose three years ago after students in Grosz’s course, CS 108: “Intelligent Systems: Design and Ethical Challenges,” pushed for an increased emphasis on ethical reasoning within discussions surrounding technology, according to Grosz and Simmons.

One student suggested Grosz reach out to Simmons, who also recognized the importance of an interdisciplinary approach to computer science.

“Not only are today’s students going to be designing technology in the future, but some of them are going to go into government and be working on regulation,” Simmons said. “They need to understand how [ethical issues] crop up, and they need to be able to identify them.”

TODAY’S FORECAST

The Computer Science and Philosophy departments are collaborating on a new initiative. MIA B. FROTHINGHAM—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

Simmons said rather than serve as an afterthought or a “one-off course,” ethical reasoning should be taught concurrently with computer science to enable students to think critically and communicate about

PARTLY CLOUDY High: 43 Low: 23

ethical challenges associated with technology.

Grosz also said the program aims to integrate ethics-based conversations into existing

SEE ETHICS PAGE 4

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cookie dough

THE HARVARD CRIMSON |

FEBRUARY 22, 2019

PAGE 2

HARVARD TODAY

For Lunch Penne Sausage, Peppers, and Onions Red’s Best Fresh Catch Moroccan Stew

For Dinner Fried Buttermilk Chicken Drumsticks Shaking Beef Veggie Burger

TODAY’S EVENTS Honest Closet Thrift Market Launch 3-5 p.m.

IN THE REAL WORLD Syracuse Basketball Coach Jim Boeheim Involved in Fatal Car Accident

Wardrobe in need of some serious updating but on a budget? Check out the launch of Honest Closet Thrift Market today from in the Leverett Library Theater. What’s not to love?

While trying to avoid a man’s disabled vehicle, Coach James “Jim” A. Boeheim struck and killed 51-year-old Jorge Jimenez late Wednesday night.

Boeheim has released a statement apologizing for the incident and has been cooperating with police.

The investigation is ongoing and no charges have been filed at this time.

IGP Presents: Laugh Riot XXI 7 and 9 p.m.

Come to a night of laughs, fun, and maybe even unlimited breadsticks (?) hosted by the Harvard Immediate Gratification Players. This annual festival is tonight and tomorrow and features improv troupes from colleges across the country, so be sure to reserve your tickets online if you want to check it out!

Saccharine: A Music Department Thesis 8-11:30 p.m.

If you’re looking for a great way to feel cultured and support ~student art~ on campus, check out Saccharine at the Loeb Experimental Theater tonight.

Snowfall in Las Vegas Twice in One Week

Harvard HealthPALS distribute free Insomnia cookies, tissues, and cold kits at the HUHS Pharmacy located in the Smith Campus Center. CHLOE I. YU—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

DAILY BRIEFING The Association of Black Harvard Women executive board emailed University administrators Thursday afternoon, calling on Winthrop House Faculty Dean Ronald S. Sullivan, Jr., to step down from his post following his decision to represent film producer Harvey Weinstein as he stands accused of rape.

ABHW also sent their letter to Sullivan and the email lists of several campus affinity groups, according to ABHW President Kacey E. Gill ’20. In other news, a record-high 43,330 students applied for admission to the Harvard College Class of 2023.

This week, the iconic casino town saw measurable snow for the first time in decades as storms blew through Nevada. The frosty conditions caused flights and classes to be canceled, and snowfall totaled over 5 inches in some suburban areas. A blizzard in the Nevadan desert might just signal the end of the world, so make sure to finally ask out your dhall crush!

Bowser to Run Nintendo Former Nintendo President and Chief Operating Officer Reggie Fils-Aime is retiring this coming April. His replacement? Doug Bowser (yes, really!), the former senior VP of sales and marketing.

AROUND THE IVIES UPENN

A coalition of minority student groups at the University of Pennsylvania is lobbying Penn to expand the amount of space the university allocates for cultural centers, according to the Daily Pennsylvanian. The coalition, which is known as the 6B, has met with administrators including Provost Wendell Pritchett to ask that they expand the three cultural centers outside of the basement they currently occupy. Some have proposed that the centers be moved into Penn’s fraternity houses.

YALE

The Yale Divinity School is projected to be able to meet 100 percent of students’ demonstrated financial need by 2022, the Yale Daily News reported. Yale Divinity School Dean Gregory Sterling said that, with the addition of a recent multi-million dollar gift by an unnamed donor, the school reached $31 million of the $53 million it needs to to fund the aid initiative. Though the divinity school offers the lowest tuition of any of Yale’s schools, Sterling hopes the plan will attract more students to Yale and help graduates in lowpaying careers.

DARTMOUTH

Dartmouth College will adopt new policies regarding the treatment of students with disabilities following the settlement of a lawsuit with Staci Mannella ’18, the Dartmouth reported.

A paralympic alpine skier who is legally blind, Mannella sued the College for providing inadequate accommodations for her disability.

The new procedures will include a mandatory faculty training called “The Mannella Protocol,” an external assessment of the College’s disability accommodations, and hiring a new American Disabilities Act coordinator.

THE UNIVERSITY DAILY, EST. 1873

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

Associate Managing Editors Caroline S. Engelmayer ’20 Jamie D. Halper ’20 Associate Business Manager Amy E. Zhou ’20 Editorial Chairs Jessenia N. Class ’20 Robert Miranda ’20

STAFF FOR THIS ISSUE Arts Chairs Kaylee S. Kim ’20 Caroline A. Tsai ’20

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

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

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

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 Abigail L. Simon ’20

Design Editor Matthew J. Tyler ’22

Assistant Night Editors Molly C. McCafferty ’21 Matteo N. Wong ’22

Photo Editor Kathryn S. Kuhar ’20

Story Editors Angela N. Fu ’20 Jamie D. Halper ’20 Jordan E. Virtue ’20 Lucy Wang ’20 Michael E. Xie ’20

Editorial Editor Shireen Younus ’20 Sports Editor Kostas Tingos ’22

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 | FEBRUARY 22, 2019

Khurana Praises ABHW Urges Sullivan to Resign RSO Compliance ABHW FROM PAGE 1

By SHERA S. AVI-YONAH and DELANO R. FRANKLIN CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

Dean of the College Rakesh Khurana said in a Friday interview he is “pleased” with the recent progress some students have made in transitioning their social organizations into compliance with the College’s social group policies.

The groups Khurana complimented, known as Recognized Social Organizations, are on-campus social groups that have adopted a gender-neutral membership policy to avoid the College’s sanctions.

The sanctions bar members of single-gender final clubs and Greek organizations from the Class of 2021 onward from holding student group leader­

I think Harvard is doing what Harvard does best and what’s right for it. But I think our students are not only leading for Harvard, but I think they’re leading for higher education.

Rakesh Khurana Dean of the College

ship positions, captaining varsity athletic teams, and receiving endorsements from the College for certain prestigious fellowships.

“I had students come in, who are involved in creating these new RSOs or in transitioning their organizations, just tell me how just wonderful the experience has been to be able to do something new, to create a culture where people are meeting each other on equal footing, to develop friendships they wouldn’t have otherwise developed in that kind of environment,” Khurana said.

Khurana’s comments come several weeks after nearly 400 undergraduates registered to participate in the joint RSO recruitment process, according to Ivy President Margaret E. Reynolds ’20. Participating students sought to join one of four former sororities who have since gone gender-neutral: the Fleur-de-Lis, the Ivy, the Kali Praxi, or the Themis Asteri Club.

This year’s pool of RSO aspirants has bloomed to roughly four times the size of the 2018 pool. Last year, Harvard’s sororities saw record-low interest as several prospective mem-

bers weighed whether to comply with the sanctions.

Khurana said the RSO recruitment process has reflected well on Harvard’s policies and serves as a model for other colleges and universities.

“I think Harvard is doing what Harvard does best and what’s right for it. But I think our students are not only leading for Harvard, but I think they’re leading for higher education,” he said.

“I think this is something that when they look back on, they’ll be very proud of,” he added.

Khurana and the College first unveiled the policy in May 2016, breaking a nearly threedecades-long period of administrative distance from Harvard’s unrecognized social groups.

Since then, the policy has gone through several reviews before it took effect starting with the Class of 2021.

Several Greek groups chose to shut down in the face of the sanctions, leaving Harvard without all-female social groups for three months. The Harvard chapter of Alpha Phi returned to campus in November and remains the sole female-only social organization at the College.

As the former sororities and other gender-neutral organizations adapt to the College’s new policies, some final clubs and Greek groups decided to fight the sanctions.

In December, a group of sororities, fraternities, and students filed a pair of lawsuits in

I think this is something that when they look back on, they’ll be very proud of.

Rakesh Khurana Dean of the College

state and federal court against Harvard alleging its social group policies are discriminatory and unconstitutional.

International organizations for sororities Kappa Kappa Gamma, Kappa Alpha Theta, and Alpha Phi, and a management corporation for chapters of sorority Delta Gamma are among the plaintiffs in the two suits.

The University has recently moved to dismiss both suits, though experts say both cases will likely move forward. shera. avi-yonah@thecrimson.com delano.franklin@thecrimson.com

Sullivan — who is a Harvard Law School professor — joined Weinstein’s legal team on Jan. 23. Weinstein is facing five charges in his Manhattan sexual abuse case stemming from allegations that he raped a woman and forcibly performed oral sex on another.

Two days after news of his decision broke, Sullivan wrote an email to Winthrop residents defending his new position as Weinstein’s lawyer and wrote that defense lawyers have a duty to represent the “unpopular defendant.”

In January, Sullivan also publicly remarked on Harvard investigations into allegations that Economics Professor Roland G. Fryer, Jr., sexually harassed women in the research lab he founded. Sullivan questioned the value of the #MeToo movement and alleged that witnesses in the Harvard inquiries had been coached in an article published by RealClearInvestigations. Sullivan later followed up with another missive to Winthrop affiliates, this time laying out “processes” for the house going forward, including appointing Resident Dean Linda D. M. Chavers as the “point per-

son” for sexual assault issues.

In the letter, the ABHW executive committee wrote that Sullivan’s responses to student concerns demonstrates he is unfit to serve as a faculty dean.

“You have compromised the trust placed in you to serve and listen to survivors needing your sympathy and support as they deal with their trauma,” the letter reads. “You have made clear through conversations with individual members of the Black community as well as your written communications to Winthrop residents, that you are apathetic and unwilling to listen to how taking this case has negatively impacted survivors in our community.”

In the wake of Sullivan’s decision, several administrators have commented on how faculty deans’ professional decisions impact their roles in the houses. At a student-run rally calling on the College to remove Sullivan earlier this month, Lowell House Faculty Dean Diana L. Eck questioned the wisdom of his choice to represent Weinstein and speculated on how his decision might affect Winthrop residents. “Is it good judgement to undertake such a high-pro-

file defense?” Eck said. “For our part, we expect the choices to be made for our students and in the interest of our students.”

Dean of the College Rakesh Khurana, who supervises faculty deans, said in a Feb. 15 interview that he has had discussions with Sullivan about how Sullivan can best serve the Winthrop’s needs. The ABHW letter cites a series of “repercussions” within Winthrop and at the College resulting from Sullivan’s actions.

The executive committee wrote that sexual assault victims in Winthrop will not “feel comfortable” reporting their experiences, and that he has created a “harmful situation” for black students. Sullivan’s first email to Winthrop residents cited his work exonerating wrongfully convicted defendants and “the nature of criminal defense.” The authors of the ABHW letter wrote that Sullivan’s work does not “have bearing” on his decision to represent Weinstein.

“In conversations with members of the community, you’ve consistently brought up your history with exonerating significant numbers of black

men,” the ABHW members wrote. “However, none of your past support for the black community justifies your defense of Harvey Weinstein. Your positive contributions in the past do not have bearing on what you are doing now.”

Gill wrote in an email that ABHW members first discussed Sullivan’s decision to represent Weinstein at a January event titled “Black Girls Matter.” The group met several more times before deciding to write the letter, both as an executive board and with members at large.

They aimed to solicit feedback on how to best approach commenting on Sullivan’s status as a faculty dean.

Gill added that the executive committee hopes the letter will draw student support in its call for Sullivan to step down. “We believe that we couldn’t stay silent on this issue any longer. Action needs to be taken, and we hope that the voices of black women on this campus will have impact and can help push change—even when it’s difficult or unsavory,” she wrote. shera.avi-yonah@thecrimson.com delano.franklin@thecrimson.com

RALLY FROM PAGE 1

PBHA Supports Youth Jobs at Boston Rally said.

The PBHA cohort advocated specifically for full funding of the After-School and Outof-School-Time Quality Grant, which supports K-12 term-time and summer activities including PBHA’s Summer Urban Program.

They also petitioned legislators to fund the Summer Jobs Program for At-Risk Youth, which uses state funding to employ teenagers.

According to PBHA Director of Programs Kerry J. McGowan, PBHA has participat­

ed in the youth rally every year since the event’s inception.

“We benefit from having the government put resources towards youth jobs because we hire kids during the summer and through the school year also, partially funded by cities,” McGowan said.

“We know that youth jobs have a high return on investment because, especially in programs like [SUP] where they’re not just doing clerical or busywork, they’re getting mentorship from undergrads, they’re getting relatable job skills, hard

and soft.”

Jang H. Lee ’19, co-director of PBHA’s Boston Refugee Youth Enrichment Extension, said he was impressed that the rally put student voices at the forefront.

“I think a big part of PBHA is making sure that we’re uplifting youth voices, and as someone that works with youth in Dorchester, which is an under-resourced community, it was really important to show up as a sign of solidarity,” Lee said.

Melissa C. Pierre-Philippe, a high school member of PBHA’s

Leaders! Program, said it was critical to get students involved in advocacy early.

“I learned it’s very important to not disregard people our age because we’re the next generation,” Pierre-Philippe said.

“We’re going to take over when everybody else is old so I think it’s important we get involved now so we know what’s going on and that we aren’t lost when we’re older and have actual responsibilities,” she added. jenna.bao@thecrimson.com

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PAGE 4

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | FEBRUARY 22, 2019

APPLICANTS FROM PAGE 1

MERGER FROM PAGE 1

College Sees Most Applicants Ever Two College Offices to Merge increased by 3.4 percent from last year, and the number of Asian American applicants increased by 5.1 percent. The number of African American applicants dropped by 4.9 percent from last year.

Harvard faces an ongoing lawsuit brought by anti-affirmative action advocacy group Students for Fair Admissions over whether its race-conscious admissions policies discriminate against Asian Americans.

This year’s application cycle also saw greater diversity of family background and socioeconomic status. First-generation College applicants increased by 13.8 percent from last year. The number of applicants requesting a fee waiver also saw an increase of 15.5 percent.

The applicant pool this year comprises slightly more men than women, at 50.2 percent — a change from the previous application season, in which

women made up 50.3 percent of applicants.

Regional diversity also increased, especially from the South, according to the press release.

The academic interests of applicants also shifted, including an 11.6 percent increase in prospective computer science concentrators, a 5.1 percent increase in prospective social sciences concentrators, and a 4.2 percent increase in prospective humanities concentrators.

The College notified 935 early applicants of their acceptance to the Class of 2023 in December 2018.

Regular decision applicants to the College will be informed of their admissions decision on March 28.

They will have until May 1 to decide if they will attend Harvard College. Visitas will be held a few days before, from April 27 to April 29. camille.caldera@thecrimson.com

Gyms Introduce New Equipment Policy

By EMA R. SCHUMER CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Hemenway Gymnasium and Malkin Athletic Center users must now check out equipment like sweat towels after dozens of towels and other equipment went missing.

Harvard Recreation General Manager Kim Lacasse wrote in an email that the new policy went into effect on Feb. 4, shortly after students returned from winter break. Users who fail to return their towels under the new policy will face fines if they don’t return them after an emailed warning, according to Ashley Correia, who works behind the desk at Hemenway.

“Our policy is whenever members would like to use any equipment stored behind the desk, including towels, we will check the equipment out via your account and once they are done using it check it back in ­

once returned to the desk,” Lacasse wrote.

Lacasse wrote that the gyms implemented the membership equipment check-in policy after upgrading their software to a more sophisticated system. The new policy is designed to prevent users from taking equipment — such as sports balls and sweat towels — with them when they exit the recreation facilities.

“We also hope with this new system members are deterred from not returning equipment,” Lacasse wrote.

The gyms’ old policy asked users to return equipment to their designated place. Without a mechanism in place to enforce the policy, however, equipment often went missing. Hemenway, the gym on Harvard Law School’s campus, was hit especially hard with disappearing sweat towels, according to individuals who work at both gyms’

front desks.

“At a certain point, Hemenway was struggling to have towels,” said Areeb Afridi ’20, who works at the MAC. Recently, Hemenway ordered “a whole bunch” of new sweat towels, and within the first week a lot of them were already gone, according to Correia. The number of towels that went missing from Hemenway was “probably double digits or low triple digits,” Afridi estimated. Correia said people were most likely removing them from the gym, given that they were not found around the facility.

Afridi said he thought forgetfulness was the cause behind the missing towels.

“I don’t think anyone deliberately was taking towels but because there was no check out policy they had it around their neck and took it outside with them,” he said.

Law School Library Assistant Patty E. Sutton said she understood the rationale behind the new policy. “[I’m] not surprised because it was so easy to walk out with a towel,” she said. “It’s a weird change because [I] didn’t have to do it before but makes sense.”

Harvard Kennedy School student Regan M. Smurthwaite said she has only used a sweat towel under the new policy. She speculated that it might pose an inconvenience for some, but that it is “not a big deal.”

Others, however, found the extra steps a nuisance.

Graduate School of Arts and Sciences student Adrienne H. Sabety said the policy was an inconvenience.

“I don’t love it but it’s fine, just annoying,” she said. “I have to remember to check it back in.” ema.schumer@thecrimson.com

ETHICS FROM PAGE 1

Embedded EthiCS Program Triples in Size Computer Science courses rather than create entirely new ones.

“You need to think not just about how to write clean code and elegant code and efficient code, but also about whether what the system is intended to do is ethical and whether the system might have side effects that raise some ethical concerns and, if so, how to either design around them or decide you shouldn’t put certain capabilities in,” Grosz said.

Varun Jain ’20, a Computer Science concentrator who took an Embedded EthiCS course — CS 263: “Systems Security” — last semester, said the interdisciplinary perspective the initiative provided allowed him to “look at the material in a more practical way” than he otherwise would have. ­

“As computer scientists, we tend to get into the weeds of a lot of the technical aspects of different models, benchmarks, and things like that, especially in areas like machine learning,” Jain said. “It’s important for us to be well-rounded and to understand how our work impacts the world around us and is applied in different industries so we can be more conscious of that in the work we do.”

Grosz said the initiative has already received support from University President Lawrence S. Bacow, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Claudine Gay, Safra Center for Ethics Director Danielle S. Allen, and a number of school and divisional deans.

In a November interview, Gay described the initiative as “one of the most innovative pro-

grams” within FAS. The initiative’s course materials are also online in an open-access format, which Simmons said allows students and faculty members at other institutions to easily access them.

“We want the materials that we’re creating to be shareable for people outside of Harvard — this should not be just a Harvard program,” Simmons said. “We want it to be something that can be integrated in any university or college, any CS curriculum.”

Both Grosz and Simmons said they are looking forward to expanding the initiative to other areas of Harvard, such as Harvard Medical School — a decision bolstered by high levels of interest shared by other faculty members.

“I’m hopeful [the expansion]

will start in the next year or so, but there’s much planning to do in finding the right people to do the teaching and designing the course modules and so on,” Grosz said. Michael K. Bervell ’19, who has taken an Embedded EthiCS course, wrote in an email that growing student interest has led to discussions of starting a student organization that explores the intersection of these disciplines with both Harvard and visiting professors.

“I feel like there is an ethical responsibility for tomorrow’s leaders to have a background in ethics,” Bervell wrote. “Technology is powerful, and with great power should come great responsibility.” ruth.hailu@thecrimson.com amy.jia@thecrimson.com

The inside scoop, 24/7.

has overseen the other three divisions.

The divisions of the EDI Office supervise a number of on-campus initiatives involving peer education and support for women, BGLTQ students, and students of color.

The Office of Diversity Education and Support oversees the Diversity Peer Educators — a group of student facilitators who conduct outreach and host events on behalf of the EDI Office.

The Harvard Foundation, which offers cultural programming, has been without a director since the 2017 death of its founder, Harvard Medical School Professor S. Allen Counter. After Davis’s departure, O’Dair wrote that Asso-

ciate Dean of the College Joan Rouse would continue as the interim director of the Foundation.

Khurana and O’Dair wrote Thursday that the consolidated group will bring all of the College’s diversity-related programming under one umbrella.

“This new organization will bring significant student voice to programs and initiatives through strengthened support for student intern and peer educator programs, with the goal of fulfilling the important role of helping all Harvard College students live and learn in a dynamic and diverse campus environment,” they wrote. shera.avi-yonah@thecrimson.com delano.franklin@thecrimson.com

Janet Mock to Be Artist of the Year

By AMANDA Y. SU CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Acclaimed writer, producer, director, and advocate Janet Mock will be the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations’ 2019 Artist of the Year, the foundation announced Thursday.

Mock will receive the Harvard Foundation’s arts medal at the its annual award ceremony March 9 during the Cultural Rhythms Festival in Sanders Theatre. An advocate for transgender rights, Mock founded the social media project #GirlsLikeUs which sought to empower transgender women.

She also made television history last year as the first transgender woman of color to write, direct and produce a television series. The series, Ryan Murphy’s FX drama POSE, assembled the largest cast of transgender actors in regular roles for a scripted series.

In addition to her activism, Mock is also a New York Times bestselling author of two memoirs. After receiving a masters in journalism from New York University, she began her writing career as an editor at People. com. She later worked as a correspondent for Entertainment Tonight and a host for MSNBC. Her writing has appeared in the New Yorker, the New York Times, Marie Claire, Interview, and Allure. This award is one of many Mock has received in recent years. She was one of TIME Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People of 2018,” named one of Variety’s “Power of Women” in 2017, and featured in Ebony Magazine’s “Power 100” list.

She has appeared on the magazine covers of Paper, Out, and Riposte as well as in Jay-Z’s ­

music video for “Family Feud,” alongside featuring Beyoncé, Mindy Kaling, and Rosario Dawson.

Hakeem O. I. Angulu ’20, director of this year’s Cultural Rhythms Fesitval, said that Mock has spoken often about the intersections of art and identity.

“She’s really talked a lot about how her identity affects her art, and I think that really ties well into the entire mission of Cultural Rhythms,” Angulu said. “The idea of performers of color reclaiming their space and their story lines up very well with Janet Mock’s career and what she’s done.”

Cultural Rhythms is a festival meant to celebrate Harvard’s ethnic and cultural diversity by showcasing student performances and cultural cuisines from over 30 student organizations, according to the Harvard Foundation’s website.

Emmy Semprum ’22, who will be performing in Cultural Rhythms, said she was “extremely excited” when she found out Mock was Artist of the Year.

“I actually own one of her books, ‘Redefining Realness,’ and it’s a book that really marked me as a person,” she said.

“It was recommended to me by my sister, who is another female role model for me. [Mock] talked a lot about what being genuine means in our society and that just really speaks a lot to the kind of person she is.”

Past recipients of the Harvard Foundation Artist of the Year award include Solange Knowles, Will Smith, Jackie Chan, and John Legend. amanda.su@thecrimson.com

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THE HARVARD CRIMSON | FEBRUARY 22, 2019

PAGE 6

EDITORIAL THE CRIMSON EDITORIAL BOARD

OP-ED

Dershowitz’s Defense is Justified

Rethinking Tuition and Textbooks

E

arlier this week, Harvard Law School Professor Emeritus Alan M. Dershowitz joined the defense team of former film producer Harvey Weinstein, who faces multiple allegations of sexual misconduct.

Dershowitz, who will consult on constitutional law issues in a class action civil lawsuit involving Weinstein, is now the second Harvard affiliate to become involved with Weinstein’s legal defense team.

Unlike Sullivan, Dershowitz is charged neither with maintaining the well-being of students directly in his care, nor with fostering a sense of community on campus.

We condemned Winthrop House Faculty Dean Ronald S. Sullivan, Jr.’s decision to defend Weinstein in a separate criminal case, citing that Sullivan’s roles and responsibilities as faculty dean were incompatible with his role as defense attorney.

But Dershowitz has no such responsibility on campus. He does not face any analogous conflict of interest within his roles.

Unlike Sullivan, Dershowitz is charged neither with maintaining the well-being of students directly in his care, nor with fostering a sense of community on campus. This stands in direct contrast to Sullivan — a major point of contact in Winthrop for issues of residential life and a mentor and leader to

students and House affiliates.

We maintain that it is incongruous for Sullivan to defend Weinstein in the Manhattan sex abuse case, but we see no such issue with Dershowitz’s role in the Weinstein class action lawsuit.

Dershowitz is acting well within his rights as a private citizen and trial lawyer, especially given his record of representing figures like O.J. Simpson, Bill Clinton, and Mike Milken.

Moreover, he is a preeminent legal expert within the field of constitutional law, which makes him welcome to decide to provide his expertise on this case in accordance with his own beliefs and interests.

Furthermore, Weinstein did not directly hire Dershowitz, as he hired Sullivan.

While it may appear alarming that Harvard professors have been coming to Weinstein’s defense, we believe that this may be a consequence of the University and specifically the Law School’s position as one of the nation’s leading academic institutions.

It is to be expected that many faculty members, who are often prominent legal experts, would be involved with high-profile cases such as this one.

Professors are not necessarily morally culpable for the actions of their clients, and we reaffirm our view that we recognize a moral imperative for all individuals to receive fair legal representation.

Our arguments apply as much to Sullivan as they do to Dershowitz; our objection to Sullivan’s choice in representing Weinstein is rooted in his “pastoral” role within Winthrop House, not in his

professional practice of criminal defense.

We also understand that the news surrounding Dershowitz’s decision to involve himself in the Weinstein civil suit has drawn attention and notoriety

While some may view Dershowitz’s decision to defend Weinstein as a questionable personal choice, we maintain our view that he is within his rights to select his own clients. considering that Dershowitz himself has faced allegations of sexual misconduct, namely his alleged interactions with billionaire and convicted sex offender Jeffrey E. Epstein. While some may view Dershowitz’s decision to defend Weinstein as a questionable personal choice, we maintain our view that he is within his rights to select his own clients. At the same time, others are free to form their own opinions about Dershowitz, based on his choice of defendants and history of political pronouncements.

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.

By ARI E. BENKLER

T

wo weeks every year, Harvard College undergraduates shop for classes, in search of courses that balance their concentrations and external interests, ensuring they will be challenged but — at least in theory — not dangerously overworked. We’ve all taken classes for different reasons: General Education credit, concentration requirements, random curiosity. But one factor in course selection lurks behind all these other reasons: textbook costs.

While maintaining one of the most generous financial aid programs in the country, Harvard only comprehensively covers the cost of textbooks for incoming freshmen on full financial aid. This coverage, offered under a three-year trial grant — currently in its final year — provides students with $2,000 for textbooks and other expenses, doesn’t do nearly enough to address the problem of textbook costs on campus.

For the roughly 95 percent of College students ineligible for these grants, the University offers a few resources to help minimize costs. The Q Guide, Harvard’s course evaluation system, includes a question about course expenditures to warn students off from courses with materials that may be prohibitively expensive. The Financial Aid Office links to a list of tips on its website for reducing the cost of textbooks, which includes searching for free materials on the databases JSTOR and Gutenberg Project or buying and renting used books from the Coop or other students.

These suggestions provide woefully inadequate assistance to students struggling to pay for

In effect, the narrow availability of these grants leaves open the possibility that students would choose which courses to take based on textbook costs.

suggesting that their earlier calls for the governor’s resignation were at least partly contingent on strategic rationale.

If they were serious about their opposition to blackface, they would accept a third-string Democrat like Herring — or even the next-in-line Republican House Speaker Kirk Cox — to replace Northam.

Anything to the contrary suggests a sort of partisanship. I’ve long worried that it was beginning to color our sense of justice in this country, but I never expected what I saw these past weeks. In many ways it reflects a deeper problem of partisanship in American life at the moment.

I began thinking more seriously about the problem of partisan inconsistency last summer, when a suite of high-profile feminist academics including Judith Butler (the gender deconstructionist) and Jack Halberstam defended their female colleague Avital Ronell against thoroughly substantiated sexual harassment and assault claims of a younger, male colleague. Butler and Haraway have over 60 years of academic experience in gender and sexuality studies, yet they couldn’t bring themselves to believe a survivor when the accused was one of their own.

It’s almost not worth mentioning the slew of similar Republican transgressions, given how familiar they feel. One might recall Ivanka Trump notably refusing to turn over her private emails to federal investigators despite her father’s similar demands leveled against Hillary Clinton.

Even so, after the Democrats’ embarrassing fumble in Virginia this month, maybe we owe the Republicans an apology. Maybe we’re all a little more conservative than we thought when it comes to confronting our own partisan demons.

textbooks. The Financial Aid website’s breakdown of the annual costs of attending Harvard includes a $4,000 estimate of personal expenses that are considered separately from billed costs, like tuition and fees. This category explicitly references an $800-$1,200 estimated annual textbook expenditure. For many students, footing the bill for such a figure is simply infeasible.

In effect, the narrow availability of these grants leaves open the possibility that students would choose which courses to take based on textbook costs.

To its credit, the administration has worked diligently to promote inclusivity and reduce the cultural divide between students based on economic status. But the fact that one of the core elements of our College experience, the classes we take, can entrench this divide by putting some courses out of reach for many students is a stain on that admirable record.

The administration should seek to broaden the population that is insulated from concerns with textbook costs by ending the practice of having students pay for textbooks out-of-pocket. Instead of being confronted with reading lists of varying costs for different classes, students should simply receive their textbooks without any financial transaction taking place at the time they select courses for the coming semester.

It’s important to note that textbooks aren’t free, and calling for an end to out-of-pocket textbook purchases is not equivalent to demanding free textbooks.

Instead, including textbooks as a factor in billed costs can ensure that these costs are shared equally across the entire student body, regardless of academic interest. To the extent that some concentrations and classes require more costly materials than others, divorcing textbook payment from course selection serves to eliminate financial incentives to take one set of courses over another.

The cost of textbooks is highly variable across the student body, and some students choose not to buy all their books, so we often think of textbooks as peripheral costs that students can cover out-ofpocket. But textbooks should not be considered an external or peripheral aspect of our schooling experience. Each dorm has shelves and drawers in it, and rooming fees are priced to reflect that.

Textbooks play a role no less — and arguably more — material in our day-to-day lives as College students than drawers or shelves, and they should be treated as such.

While it is true that Harvard will have no perfect way of determining how many textbooks for each class is required, the College could fill missing textbook orders after enrollment, getting books to students only a week into school, while still saving them from having to factor in textbook costs to course selection. While this is not an ideal arrangement, it isn’t a significant decline from the current system, as the Coop frequently runs out of books and has to reorder them, causing the same kinds of delays.

At the heart of this issue lies a simple truth of relative financial power: For Harvard and for those paying full tuition, the added burden of paying for books collectively is relatively slight. For those without the financial security to pay for books out of their own pockets, the upside of such a policy is immense: The financial freedom to take whatever courses they choose.

Harvard has a chance to affirm the dignity of all its students and make them feel as though all classes are accessible for students of all economic backgrounds by restructuring the relationship between tuition and textbooks.

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

—Ari E. Benkler ’21, a Crimson Associate Editorial Editor, is a Social Studies concentrator in Leverett House.

DANU A. MUDANNAYAKE—CRIMSON ILLUSTRATOR

COLUMN

After a Hellish Month in Virginia, Democrats Have Some Explaining to Do Henry N. Brooks SOCIALLY LIBERAL, FISCALLY LIBERAL

I

say this as a Democrat: After the recent events in Virginia, our entire party, from Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi down to the equivocating state legislators of the Old Dominion, deserves a jumbo-sized helping of remorse — and perhaps a side of reflection to go with.

The whole story was disheartening from the outset. First, news broke that Virginia’s incumbent Democratic Governor Ralph Northam had appeared in a photograph in his 1984 medical school yearbook in which one man wore blackface and an afro wig and another wore full Ku Klux Klan garb. Then, amid excitement that his lieutenant Justin Fairfax — a descendant of Virginia slaves — might succeed him, Scripps College professor Vanessa Tyson came forward with sexual assault allegations dating back to 2004.

Days later, it came out that Mark Herring — Virginia’s Democratic attorney general, next in line for the governorship — had performed in blackface, though at a much younger age than Northam in his incriminating photograph.

Other details have since emerged to give the whole debacle more color.

In Fairfax’s case, another woman came forward alleging that the lieutenant governor had sexually assaulted her while they were at Duke University; Fairfax has since called those claims “unsubstantiated” and “demonstrably false,” despite testimony to the contrary dating back to 2000.

In Northam’s case, it emerged that the embattled governor was known by a nickname derived from an old derogatory term for Africans and African-Americans.

As a Democrat, I was mortified watching these events unfold, but I found nothing — aside from the prospect of rape — quite so distasteful as the response from our national leadership and 2020 presidential hopefuls. The sheer hypocrisy

had me almost gobsmacked.

The way that Pelosi, Senators Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Elizabeth Warren, and other progressives chose to dodge the serious and credible sexual harassment charges against Fairfax was shocking. These high-profile Democrats had strikingly little to say, in many cases delaying a full week before any kind of statement.

Most jarring about their silence was its contrast with their treatment of now-Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh during his nomination hearings last September. Harris and Booker in particular made headlines for the way

But we made our bed, and — at least until we revise our own procedures — we should sleep in it. If we gave Kavanaugh the boot, we should have given it to Fairfax twice as fast. they rode roughshod over Kavanaugh, even though there appears to be far less evidence against him than against Fairfax today.

I had worried privately last fall that the Democrats were surrendering an important pillar of justice by holding a judicial nominee accountable for unsubstantiable harassment claims (harrowing as those claims were).

But we made our bed, and — at least until we revise our own procedures — we should sleep in it. If we gave Kavanaugh the boot, we should have given it to Fairfax twice as fast.

Instead, our leaders acted with palpable lethargy.

Some Democratic members of the Virginia legislature seem to have taken the news about Fairfax as license for a quiet retreat on the Northam position,

ARTS

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | FEBRUARY 22, 2019 | PAGE 7

TV

‘THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY’ IS FAR FROM ORDINARY HUNTER T. BALDWIN CRIMSON STAFF WRITER If there is anything that today’s constant barrage of comic book adaptations has taught the modern viewer, it’s that superhero stories are repetitive. There are only so many times viewers can stomach another movie or show about a superpowered golden boy who pursues justice — while mourning the death of his beloved parents, of course. For this reason, new contenders have to be truly weird to stand out. Fortunately, weirdness is exactly where “The Umbrella Academy” excels.

Take the very first scene, for example. What starts as an innocent flirtation between a Russian woman and a charming young man, ends with the former becoming spontaneously pregnant and giving birth in a pool.

If that’s not weird enough, the show makes sure to take it up a notch with each episode — from the introduction of a talking chimpanzee butler to a scene in which two time-traveling assassins accidentally get high and burn down a medical supplier.

Showrunner Steve Blackman is fully aware of the suspension of disbelief inherent to this genre, and he pushes this concept to the very limit. Beneath all of this wackiness, however, are poignant themes of trauma, abuse, and familial love.

Based on a 2007 comic series by Gerard Way (yes, that one), “The Umbrella Academy” follows a dysfunctional family of former superheroes. Each of the seven super-powered children in this family was born on the same day and subsequently collected by an eccentric billionaire named Sir Reginald Hargreeves (Colm Feore). Rather than lovingly raising these kids, Hargreeves chooses to assign them numbers and train them to be the best team of superhero children the world

has ever seen.

At the start of the series, the now grown-up siblings have left their dangerous lives of superheroism to pursue their own passions. Super strong Number One/Luther (Tom Hopper) is now an astronaut, Number Two/Diego (David Castañeda) has put his knife throwing abilities to use as a vigilante hero, Number Three/Allison (Emmy Raver-Lampman) sets aside her powers of persuasion for a life of fame and luxury, Number Four/ Klaus (Robert Sheehan) turns to drugs to cope with his ability to speak to the dead, and completely ordinary Number Seven/ Vanya (Ellen Page) has a semi-successful career as a violinist.

Numbers Five and Six, meanwhile, are missing and dead, respectively.

Naturally, the only thing that can bring this dysfunctional group of misfits back together is the death of their adoptive father and the return of the formerly presumed missing Number Five, who warns of an impending apocalypse. If that’s not bizzare enough, the mentally 50-year-old Number Five is now stuck in a 13-year-old body (Aidan Gallagher) and chased by time-traveling assassins (Cameron Britton and Mary J. Blige) Accompanying these misadventures is a carefully crafted soundtrack that should serve as a lesson to all films and shows from this point forward. Somehow always perfectly complementing the scene at hand, the diverse tracklist features everything from a “Phantom of the Opera” medley to They Might Be Giants’ “Istanbul” — and that’s just in the first episode. In what is possibly the most iconic scene of 2019 yet, each of the siblings dances alone to Tiffany’s incredibly appropriate “I Think We’re Alone Now.” Not only does this scene show off some hilarious dance moves from the entire cast, but it also reflects the isolation that plagues each sibling, despite seemingly being surrounded by support.

While the obvious solution to this loneliness may be for the family to work together, there are a number of barriers which stand between the siblings, including Luther’s sense of betrayal for being left alone, as well as Vanya’s feelings of rejection due to being the only “ordinary” child. Accordingly, scenes in which the characters are involuntarily compelled to work together are often the most powerful: The forcible breaking down of these barriers reveals deep seated insecurities and unresolved trauma.

In spite of all the excitement and flair of its superhero genre, “The Umbrella Academy” is ultimately a show about the effects of abuse. Far from the benevolent Professor X-esque mentor one might expect, Reginald Hargreeves is a cold, selfish man who valued the publicity of running a superhero team over the mental health of his lonely, developing children. As more and more of Reginald’s secrets are revealed, it becomes clear that he is a greater threat than any possible supervillain. Not only do his abusive actions emotionally stunt his children, but they also have quite literally earth-shattering consequences on the world altogether.

The brilliance of hiding a complex commentary on mental health and abusive relationships under the appeal of heroics and weirdness is exactly what TV needs right now. Rather than copping out and espousing the same old lessons as previous films and TV series, “The Umbrella Academy” dives deep into the more unpleasant side-effects of superheroism.

Most importantly, these important themes are packaged in a genuinely enjoyable experience. This is not to say there are no missteps, but that the occasional awkward adopted sibling romance or confusing time travel plot is made up for by a very wholesome birdwatching-centered romance and young Aidan Gallagher’s uncanny ability to act like a 50 year-old man. Ultimately, “The Umbrella Academy,” like sweet, neglected Vanya, turns out to be far from just ordinary.

Staff writer Hunter T. Baldwin can be reached at hunter.baldwin@thecrimson.com.

COLUMN

If Chinese Restaurant Menus Are Long, They Should Be JESS L. ENG CONTRIBUTING WRITER Flipping through the flimsy menu of Dumpling House, one of Harvard Square’s few Chinese restaurants, I was reminded of Robert Irvine. Host of Food Network’s “Restaurant: Impossible,” Irvine traveled across the country offering his counsel to failing restaurants. He heckled servers, taunted décor, flipped tables, yelled profanities, and spit out food prepared by hopeful chefs. Though his methods were highly questionable, the results of the transformation were undeniable. Once unpalatable restaurants blossomed into thriving establishments with remodeled rooms for diners, enhanced service, and revamped menus. This was the trashy culinary thrill I yearned for every week.

And yet, as I reflected on my affinity for “Restaurant: Impossible,” I began to consider Irvine’s pigeonholed definition of a “successful” restaurant. The transformations all seemed to follow a particular formula — and look a certain way. Classy, sharp interiors. Pristine service.

Short menus. His restaurant revamps suggested that only 12-item menus could embody the next trendy restaurant, and that there was something inherently wrong with long menus that provided over 100 options for customers. I looked down at the multi-page Dumpling House menu, which had initially given me pause. The distinctions between Irvine’s idea of culinary success and the Chinese restaurants that I grew up loving, the cultural enclaves that I called home, upset me. Could Chinese restaurants ever fit the mold of a successful business, or would they, much like the rest of Chinese culture in America, continue to be typified as “other”?

Chinese restaurants and their menus have faced sharp criticism by many Americans, whether Robert Irvine or Huffington Post writer Joe Satran. In a 2012 article, Satran cites these menus as the main reason for distancing (mostly privileged) customers like himself from Chinese establishments, writing, “excellent Chinese restaurants, in their attempt to appease the masses, end up alienating aficionados and critics.” He recounts an anticipated visit to a reputed Chinese restaurant where he was disappointed by a fish stew’s “swampy and muddy flavors.” If only the 200-item menu had been shorter! Satran juxtaposes this restaurant with Mission Chinese Food, a successful Chinese establishment with only 20 menu items. He claims shorter menus ensure fresh ingredients and expert dish execution, which lead to a higher reputation for restaurants.

Shorter menus will not fundamentally change people’s perception of Chinese cuisine; they will instead estrange Asian customers that they were initially erected to serve and unnecessarily limit restaurants. Satran fails to understand that Chinese restaurants create these lengthy menus — pages stacked with vibrant pictures and a blend of English and Chinese characters — for a reason. These reasons, which can be traced back to the beginning of Chinese immigration in the United States.

The U.S. is currently home to more than 40,000 Chinese restaurants. Walk down any busy street and you’ll likely see that one Chinese restaurant. Step further back in history, and we confront the xenophobic origins of this restaurant boom. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which refused admission to Chinese emigrants wanting to enter the U.S., increased anti-immigrant mongering towards Asian people. While this legislative ban refused many Chinese immigrants, a 1915 amendment allowed merchants opening restaurants to legally immigrate. From that point on, the proliferation of Chinese restaurants in America began.

As I walked through the Museum of Food and Drink Chinese restaurant exhibition a little

over a year ago, I was struck by the extent to which restaurants played into Chinese stereotypes.

Almost all Chinese (or Oriental) restaurants featured ornate dragon sculptures, pagoda roofs, and “Asian” font. This was “otherness” on full display. Americans became drawn to these “exotic” restaurants, which surged in popularity at the turn of the 20th century. Chinese immigrants also started supporting Chinatown restaurants, perhaps out of camaraderie and nostalgia for their community. Despite the racialized portrayal of Chinese culture, Chinese restaurants became establishments that welcomed and served all types of customers.

Menus played a huge role in solidifying Chinese and Chinese-American cuisine as an American late-night staple. In the 1900s, Americans preferred milder dishes such as Americanized General Tso’s chicken over the spicier recipes from southern China. These opinions then shaped today’s menu offerings. Since then, General Tso’s chicken and chow mein have populated many Chinese restaurant menus as hallmark “Chinese” dishes. Some 20-century restaurants, according to a food exhibition at the Museum of Chinese in America, even went so far as to include non-Chinese dishes such as “Roast California Chicken with Currant Jelly” alongside “Fine Cut Chicken Chop Suey” to further appeal to all tastes.

Conflating Chinese dishes with Chinese-American cuisine continues today, but many restaurants feel discouraged from narrowing down these options. In an interview with Northeastern’s Ruggles Media, Chinese restaurant owner Xiaoxiong Su said, “It’s suicidal if someone runs a restaurant here without serving General Tso’s chicken because Americans will definitely have questions about this, like: Is this a Chinese restaurant or not?” On the other hand, my Chinese relatives will avoid restaurants that only serve Chinese-American dishes. Large menus provide compromises to this cultural dilemma by welcoming all customers to sample a variety of dishes.

Blanket categorizing of Chinese restaurants also blurs the lines between what critics want to change and what’s ultimately unmalleable about Chinese restaurants. The first Chinese restaurants catered to non-Chinese tastes, large Chinese restaurants catered to banquet dinners with relatives, and only recently have modernized Chinese restaurants, with chefs trained at Eurocentric eateries and institutes, achieved the acclaim to the likes of “Restaurant: Impossible” and Joe Satran. Not all Chinese restaurants are created equal. Advocating for small menus reflects the problematic view that assimilating to Westernized aesthetics and preferences is the only path to success.

Cutting down menus in Chinese restaurants is a zero-sum game. If only to please the food aficionados, Chinese restaurants, in attempt to serve only their best dishes, will alienate Western customers seeking a nostalgic Chinese-American dish and Chinese patrons wanting diverse dishes for a family of 10.

Chinese restaurants ultimately have a rich, independent history that need not ascribe to or be evaluated under the standards of restaurants serving Western cuisine.

MENU

SPORTS

WEEKEND EVENT

SCHEDULE

FRIDAY ______________________________________

SATURDAY ______________________________________

SUNDAY ______________________________________

Men’s Ice Hockey vs Brown 7 p.m., Bright-Landry Hockey Center

Track and Field Ivy League Indoor Heptagonal Championships Day 1 10:45 a.m., Gordon Indoor Track

Softball vs. Delaware 10 a.m., at the Jacksonville Classic Men’s Tennis vs. Memphis 1 p.m.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

The Ivy League: A Top-10 Men’s Basketball Conference

By HENRY ZHU CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Ivy League basketball may not have reached prominence worthy of national attention, but it is sure knocking on the door.

Here is a quick snapshot through the numbers(as of Feb. 21), some of which have broken new records for the league: Conference RPI—10th out of 32: If this Top-10 ranking holds to the end of the season, this would be the Ancient Eight’s highest-ranked finish stretching back at least to the mid1990s (when the last-known data is publicly available). The Ivy League finished as the 25th and 20th-ranked conference the past two seasons, a typical ending spot for this league historically.

Keep in mind that multiple bids in the NCAA Tournament are usually awarded to about 8-10 total conferences per season, of which include the “football” Power Five, Big East, American Conference, Atlantic-10, WCC, and MAC.

SIMPLE RATING SYSTEM:

As measured by Basketball-Reference, SRS is a points-below/ above-average rating that accounts for average point differential and strength of schedule. The Ivy League still sits at -1.09 points-below-average in this category, but this would be the closest to the national mean since the 1969-1970 season. Not counting 2018-19, the league’s SRS has been about 6.3 points below average dating back to the 1949-59 season, with an SRS below -3.1 in the past two campaigns.

Compared to other leagues, this season’s current result places it in 14th, which again would be a record-setting result.

STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE/ BIG NON-CONFERENCE WINS:

Again in referencing Basketball-Reference’s metrics, the Ivy League as a whole has played its most competitive non-conference slate in the modern era.

Excluding non-DI opponents, the Ancient Eight currently sits -1.55 points below the mean or 16th across the nation. The SOS rating itself is the closest to the mean in the 2000s, while only in 2014-15 did the league conclude with a ranking of 16 out

ON THE RISE The Ivy League has vaulted into the Top-10 in NCAA RPI conference ratings this season, which would be its highest finish in recent memory. Big non-conference wins by multiple Ancient Eight teams have propelled the league up the rankings. TIMOTHY R. O’MEARA—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

of 32.

Compared to the history of this conference in which scheduling tough opponents was not considered a high priority, itching towards the top-15/top-10 is another area of progress for the Ancient Eight.

Additionally, this season has been notable for several upsets against highly-ranked programs which have had success in the NCAA Tournament in recent years. Below are some headlines: Penn def. then-No. 17 Villanova 78-75, — Dec. 11.

Princeton def. then-No. 17 Arizona State, 67-66 — Dec. 29.

Yale def. Miami 77-73 — Dec. 1; def. Cal 76-59 — Nov. 9.

Harvard def. Saint Mary’s 7468 — Nov. 24.

Brown def. San Diego State 82-

61 — Dec. 29.

Of course, the league has had its fair share of head-scratching non-conference losses (including Penn’s loss to then-winless Monmouth) as well as two blowout showings at Cameron Indoor Stadium against the current No. 1-ranked Blue Devils, but its ability to continuously knock off Power Five teams will be critical to determining how far it can climb in the NCAA ladder.

KENPOM RANKINGS:

Currently, only Yale is inside the top 100 in KenPom, although Harvard had been sitting around the 80 spot mid-season before a tough stretch of losses to the likes of Siena, Vermont, and Dartmouth. The Bulldogs’ ranking (which is a remarkable

37 on RPI and 67 on NET) seats it above the likes of Georgetown, UConn, and Arizona, while Harvard is positioned above SMU, Vanderbilt, and Georgia.

The Top 4 Ivy KenPom rankings is at 119.25, with a total average of 162.625. Here is the current Ivy list: Yale-76 Harvard-116 Penn-135 Brown-150 Princeton-171 Dartmouth-190 Cornell-216 Columbia-247 Compared to last season, Yale and Harvard would both finish above last season’s victors in Penn, who concluded with a KenPom of 125 with the run-

ner-ups in the Crimson at 141.

The prior three seasons before that? The Ivy champions and runner-ups finished at 58 and 112, 47 and 70, 75 and 77.

From this perspective, the league still has a bit of ground to cover if it wants to fight for a chance at two bids.

CLOSE GAME PERCENTAGE:

Although not a direct measure of league-by-league competitiveness, it is interesting to note that nearly half of all conference games have been decided by four points or fewer (or through overtime), as noted by the league office. This is certainly good news for executives over at ESPN, who just signed a ten-year broadcasting rights deal with the Ancient Eight.

Moreover, it suggests growing

SHAKE AND BAKER Junior forward Robert Baker has been impressive so far this season for the Crimson. Baker has appeared in all 21 of Harvard’s contests and is averaging 5.1 points per game to go along with 4.4 rebounds per game. TIMOTHY R. O’MEARA—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

competition and parity that will undoubtedly benefit the bottom-feeders, which as of date still remains Columbia, Brown, and Dartmouth.

One late-game thriller, Harvard-Columbia’s 3OT contest containing two buzzer-beaters, was awarded the ESPN Top Play of the Night and headlined SportsCenter. A nice perk to a season filled with plenty of fourth-quarter excitement.

CLOSING REFLECTIONS

Given this overall upward progression in the quality of play in the Ivy League, there will certainly be many exciting questions to ask in the near future: Does this conference deserve two bids in the NCAA Tournament? Should those on the caliber of Yale’s Miye Oni(who has already been receiving palpable interest from the NBA), Cornell’s Matt Morgan, even Harvard’s Bryce Aiken or Seth Towns explore bigger opportunities to play at the next level compared to their predecessors? Outside of the new ESPN deal and relative success of the Ivy League Tournament, will increased dollars in the conference equate to cross-conference improvements to facilities, recruiting, and spectator experience? These are exciting areas of interest to explore, and subjects that a conference coming into this decade would not even dare to ponder.

When asked about the growth of Ivy League basketball and the potential for two bids, coach Tommy Amaker shared his continued optimism: “I’m hopeful and I think that’s all part of the grand vision and plan that we could potentially have multiple bids,” Amaker said. “...You are going to have a non-conference slate that’s going to have to be compared to some of the Power Five conference teams that are sixth, seventh, eighth in their league. That’s a tall order but we are on pace and path to maybe make something like that happen. It appears so. Hopefully, we keep charging and marching forward with the tournament and with opportunities that our league is being thought of as now...to play certain kinds of games.”

In a league seething with optimism and potential — both statistically and descriptively — traditional basketball powerhouses should watch out, both in March, and in the near future. henry.zh@thecrimson.com