The Harvard Crimson The University Daily, Est. 1873 | Volume CXLVI No. 79 | Cambridge, Massachusetts | TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2019
sports PAGE 5
news PAGE 3
editorial PAGE 4
Harvard women’s soccer wins with second straight shutout game
Brazilian Supreme Court justice talks ethics and tech at Kennedy School
Harvard should be grappling with the ethics of accepting some donations.
Faculty Students Concerned Lament About BSC Closure Gen Ed Caps By Shera S. Avi-Yonah and Delano R. Franklin Crimson Staff Writers
By Molly C. Mccafferty Crimson Staff Writer
As students wrap up shopping week and faculty finalize course enrollments, several instructors in the College’s new General Education program say they are confused and frustrated by a rule capping their classes at 250 students. At the same time, the Gen Ed office is working with Harvard University Information Technology, the Advising Programs Office, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Registrar’s Office, and the Office of Undergraduate Education to create a “better” Gen Ed lottery system, program director Laura E. Hess wrote in an email Monday. The offices began developing the new lottery system this summer and hope to debut it in spring 2020. The new system will run through my.harvard and will allow students to rank course choices and “visualize their lottery participation,” according to Hess. “This functionality should result in most students being matched with their most desired courses, and eliminate situations in which some students get into multiple courses while others don’t successfully lottery for any,” she wrote. Currently, students must enter separate lotteries for each course in which they wish to enroll. Hess’s announcement comes at the same time as multiple faculty criticize — and say they were caught unaware by — the Gen Ed program’s imposition of lotteries on large Gen Ed classes. Per a decision last spring by the FAS Standing Committee on General Education, the Gen Ed office capped its courses at a maximum of 250 students. The Gen Ed office only implemented lotteries on courses for which “past or early enrollment data” indicated interest might exceed 250 students, and professors can choose to impose smaller enrollment caps if they wish, according to Hess. GENED 1058: “Tech Ethics: AI, Biotech, and the Future of
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s Harvard College opens its A new Academic Resource Center, some undergraduates worry it may not be able to offer mental health-related services comparable to those offered by its predecessor, the Bureau of Study Counsel. After Dean of Undergraduate Education Amanda Claybaugh announced the opening of the ARC in June, she and Associate Dean of Undergraduate Education Sindhumathi Revuluri said the move marked a shift away from the BSC’s “hybrid model,” which sought to address both students’ academic and personal circumstances. At the time, Revuluri said the BSC’s counseling was not in line administrators’ beliefs that the center should have a primarily academic focus. “It came about at a time when we did not have institutionalized or robust mental health services. And so things like the
Bureau of Study Counsel took on a much more kind of advisory, mentorship, pastoral role, which actually meant that there was a lot less focus on academic issues,” she said. Since classes resumed and students learned of the BSC’s impending closure, some of the office’s undergraduate users criticized the change. Many noted their positive experiences with the BSC’s approach to academic counseling and cited long lines at Counseling and Mental Health Services. Madison A. Trice ’21 said she believes the BSC provided a needed service at the intersection of academic and personal issues at the College. She added that she hopes the ARC will employ clinically trained staffers, offer tutoring across all disciplines, and aid students who enter Harvard needing additional academic preparation. “The BSC was capable of providing additional emotional support, as it pertained to acdemic matters,
See CLOSURE Page 3
The new Academic Resource Center is located at 1414 Massachusetts Ave. The center is now open to students from Harvard College and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Quinn G. Perini—Crimson photographer
Suspicious Package Closes MBTA Stop By Ellen M. Burnstein Crimson Staff Writer
The Cambridge Police Department and Fire Department closed down the T station and several blocks in Harvard Square Monday evening. Delano R. Franklin—Crimson photographer
Cambridge emergency responders briefly cordoned off a large portion of Harvard Square Monday evening following reports of a “suspicious package” in the Harvard Square MBTA station, according to police on the scene. The station later reopened after an investigation, according to Cambridge Police Department spokesperson Jeremy Warnick. “The Transit Police investigated a possible suspicious package at the T Station and during their investigation the Harvard T Station was briefly closed. The item was deemed safe following their investigation and the area has been reopened to normal activity,” Warnick wrote in an emailed statement. MBTA and Transit Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday
Crimson Staff Writer
The Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration — celebrated this April for producing the first-ever image of a black hole — received the 2020 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics Thursday. Astronomy lecturer Shep S. Doeleman of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics led the team of 347 prize winners, among whom the three million dollar award will be evenly apportioned. Nearly three hundred scientists operating across 60 institutions and 20 countries produced the seminal and singular image, according to a press release. Several dozen of these collaborators were Harvard affiliates, according to Doeleman. “It’s been a 20 year odyssey to realize this black hole imaging breakthrough,” he said. “The team here at Harvard, reInside this issue
Harvard Today 2
ally, has become part of the nucleus of a lot of the effort.” EHT postdoctoral fellow Dominic Pesce said that he is gratified that the Breakthrough Prize committee recognized each individual member of the group. “It’s not common to see such...large prizes and such big name awards really acknowledging the work of an enormous group of people at the level of individual members of that group,” he said. “To me, that was really something special.” Physics, Philosophy, and History of Science Professor Peter L. Galison ’77, a collaborator on EHT, said coordination between hundreds of scientists is standard in particle physics, though more “unusual” in astronomy. “It’s not a trivial matter to get all those people come to meetings and talk to each other and be persuaded that the result
See Hole Page 3
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Editorial 4
See MBTA Page 3
HGC Plans Student Collabs
Physics Team Wins Breakthrough Prize By Juliet E. Isselbacher
evening. At 6:03 p.m., the MBTA posted on Twitter that trains would bypass the Harvard Square station “at the request of police.” Multiple vehicles from the Cambridge Police and Fire departments soon lined the intersection of JFK Street and Brattle Street, blocking vehicle traffic. Cambridge police officers and MBTA transit police gradually herded curious pedestrians and disgruntled commuters across the street. Some commuters speculated as to the causes of the delay, while others simply glanced at their phones. At one point, more than 50 people had gathered along JFK Street to watch the responders’ activity. Laura M. Nicolae ’20 said that she was taking the T back from a class at MIT when the train’s path was altered.
By Luke A. Williams Crimson Staff Writer
The Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics is the center of research for the recently unveiled first ever picture of a black hole. Kathryn S. Kuhar—Crimson photographer
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Today’s Forecast
Partly Cloudy High: 73 Low: 63
The Harvard Graduate Council reiterated its core mission of inter-school collaboration, advocacy, and event-oriented programming at its first open meeting of the semester Monday night. Helmed by fresh faces — president Bryan O. Buckley and vice president Chanthia C. Ma — the meeting highlighted multiple new partnerships with other student organizations across the University, including the Undergraduate Council and the Graduate Commons Program. The council — which comprises members from each of Harvard’s 12 graduate
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