The Harvard Crimson - Volume CXLVI, No. 43

The Harvard Crimson THE UNIVERSITY DAILY, EST. 1873 | VOLUME CXLVI NO. 43 | CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS | TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 2019

EDITORIAL PAGE 8

NEWS PAGE 7

SPORTS PAGE 10

Lowell House should not display a portrait of A. Lawrence Lowell.

Classroom to Table runs out of money for the third consecutive term.

Harvard women’s water polo sweeps three weekend competitions.

Affinity Groups Call For Support

By SHERA S. AVI-YONAH and LUKE A. WILLIAMS

Student Alleges Lack of Funding

CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

­eaders of several Graduate L School of Arts and Sciences student groups submitted a proposal to administrators in December calling for major changes to the way GSAS and Dudley House support affinity groups.

Graduate students from Harvard Graduate Women in Science and Engineering, the W.E.B. Du Bois Graduate Society, the Harvard GSAS Latinx Student Association, and the Harvard LGBTQ@GSAS Association signed the proposal last semester. They wrote that Dudley House Faculty Deans James M. Hogle and Doreen M. Hogle — who will step down in June 2019 — and Dudley House administrator Susan Zawalich have declined to fully support their groups.

“Dudley House has perpetuated — particularly in the charge of Jim Hogle and Susan Zawalich — perspectives, politics, and policies at the GSAS organizational level that treat underrepresented students and LGBTQ students as separate and unequal,” the proposal reads. In the document, the graduate students proposed a new framework for how Harvard handles diversity-related programming aimed at graduate students. Their suggestions come after GSAS Dean Emma Dench announced in October that Dudley House would split

By SHERA S. AVI-YONAH and LUKE A. WILLIAMS CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

Beginning in July, Lehman Hall will act as the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences’ Student Center. MYEONGSEO KIM—CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

into two groups — the Dudley Community, which will serve undergraduates that live outside the House system, and a graduate student center housed in Lehman Hall. The document calls on GSAS to implement 12 changes including replacing Zawalich, creating a GSAS Diversity Student Center, and increasing funds for affinity groups. The students also advocated for the creation of a diversity and inclusion commit-

tee within each department and a student-led board to oversee programming at Lehman Hall The students wrote that administrators should increase support structures for underrepresented minorities and BGLTQ students. They called for an increase in the number of Dudley Fellows, students who organize programming in fields including music, art, and public service. Under the proposed framework, half of the fellows

would oversee diversity-related programming and half would support extracurriculars. The proposal claims that events held at Lehman Hall have long been imbalanced and unrepresentative of the GSAS student body.

Graduate students have grievances concerning the lack of Black History Month programming as early as 1996, according to the proposal. The

SEE PROPOSAL PAGE 9

Graduate School of Arts and Sciences student and Latinx Student Association finance officer Aaron Benavidez alleged GSAS’s Office of Diversity and Minority Affairs has not given LSA sufficient financial support in an email to more than 100 students and administrators Friday.

In the email, Benavidez wrote that ODMA has refused to fund LSA multiple times, though the office has allocated grants of $11,000 to groups including LGBTQ@GSAS, Harvard Graduate Women in Science and Engineering, and the W.E.B. Du Bois Society — an organziation for underrepresented minorities at GSAS. Arguing that administrators should give affinity group leaders increased support, Benavidez cited the Dudley Fellows program which funds Fellows — who organize programming in Lehman Hall — with $3,500 stipends.

He echoed long-standing arguments made by graduate students that student group leaders who organize diversity-related programming should be funded in a similar manner.

LBGTQ@GSAS member Madeleine F. Jennewein, who

Students Criticize GSD Dean Search

By JOSHUA S. ARCHIBALD CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Gund Hall, home of the Graduate School of Design, which is currently in the midst of a search for a new dean. KAI R. MCNAMEE—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

As the search for a new dean at the Graduate School of Design progresses, students have re-published a letter identical to one issued during the school’s last dean search in an effort to argue that the same concerns from 12 years ago still exist today.

The letter, identical to that published during the School of Design’s 2007 dean search, was different only in that it was addressed this time to University Provost Alan M. Garber ’77 rather than former Provost Steven E. Hyman. Over the course of the search Garber has met with students during two separate town hall discussions, each drawing dozens of participants.

Jessica A. Lim, vice president of student group Open Letters, said students raised a number of

concerns in these meetings, including many already detailed in the open letter her organization re-published Feb. 5. The group crossed out and replaced the dean’s name and the date in the 2007 letter, which was written by then-student forum president Ryan G. Bollom. The letter lists students’ main priorities in the selection of a new dean, including finding someone who will support “interdisciplinary collaboration,” expand spaces for School of Design student use on campus, increase financial resources at the school, and find faculty from a diverse array of backgrounds committed to robust pedagogy.

“At present, total lack of communication cripples any effective, coordinated school-wide initiative,” Bollom wrote in 2007. “We maintain

SEE LETTER PAGE 9

OSAPR Panelists Discuss Gender Issues

By ISABEL L. ISSELBACHER and MICHELLE G. KURILLA CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

The Office of Sexual Assault Prevention and Response kicked off Sexual Assault Awareness Month with a discussion about gender based violence and advocacy for victims of sexual assault in a panel at Memorial Church Monday evening.

The event featured four female activists who worked in the Obama administration, including Lynn Rosenthal, the first-ever White House advisor on violence against women, and Bea Hanson, the Executive Director of the New York City Domestic Violence Task Force.

The panel, which garnered a crowd of roughly 100 attendees, focused on the intersection of government work and activism.

Rosenthal spoke about her efforts to help college students navigate administrative proINSIDE THIS ISSUE

Harvard Today 2

cesses in reporting instances of sexual assault at their schools that she said can often turned into “victim-blaming.”

“It was about putting pressure on the administration to make a difference for the best and to change the climate,” Rosenthal said.

In addition to discussing power dynamics and reporting processes, the panelists also reflected on the challenges of navigating cultural differences and intersectionality in their work.

Deesha Dyer — the special assistant to the president and social secretary in 2015 — said activists have a “duty” to reach out to other communities besides their own.

“I think what we have to do is be willing to admit that we are not experts on the topic and that we do not represent all women, all men in any which way

SEE OSAPR PAGE 7

News 7

Editorial 8

High-profile women who worked in the Obama administration speak about their work in the White House on a panel organized by OSAPR. MYEONGSEO KIM—CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

Sports 10

TODAY’S FORECAST

PARTLY CLOUDY High: 51 Low: 39

was copied on the email, wrote in an email to The Crimson that she believes ODMA has not followed through on promised financial support for student leaders of affinity groups.

She also wrote the lack of diversity fellows at Dudley House has negatively impacted student leaders’ ability to host programming.

“While funding is a difficult process for any student group, the fact that minority support groups are providing essential services that Harvard needs (and pats themselves on the back for) puts us in a tricky situation where we are really doing work for the university, but taking it out of our own time and money,” she wrote. “For minority students these groups are more like a lifeline, not just a fun hobby, we need sources of support and encouragement.”

GSAS allocates funding solely to “umbrella organizations” — student groups which represent multiple demographics of marginalized students.

Benavidez argued in the email that ODMA is neglecting the “pan-ethnic” definition of Latinx identity by not classifying LSA as an umbrella organization.

In response to Benavidez’s criticisms, GSAS spokesperson

SEE EMAIL PAGE 9

DSO Cancels Learning Center

By SANJANA L. NARAYANAN CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

­ he Dean of Students Office T will not be moving forward with the Experiential Learning Center, the center’s director Paul R. “Coz” Teplitz ’03-’09 announced in an email to leaders of the First-Year Outdoor Program Thursday.

Teplitz, who served as director of FOP before taking on the role of Director of Outdoor and Experiential Education in 2017, also wrote that he will be leaving Harvard with the Center’s elimination. The announcement came as part of an email to FOP leaders and trainees asking them for input in selecting a new FOP director among finalists for the position.

“On a related note, some of you know that the College has decided not to continue to pursue the Experiential Learning Center,” Teplitz wrote in the email. “FOP should be largely unaffected by the change. However, the decision has meant the elimination of my role, and I will be leaving Harvard at the end of June.”

As director of the Experiential Learning Center, Teplitz works to “encourage and support personally transformative experiences for students,” according to the DSO’s website.

The center is one of several new initiatives created by the DSO when it officially opened in July 2018 as part of an effort to centralize programs formerly offered by the Office of Student Life and the Freshman Dean’s Office.

Associate Dean of Student Engagement Alex R. Miller said in an interview last month the DSO wanted to ensure that programming for the Experiential Learning Center did not overlap significantly with pre-existing initiatives.

SEE LEARNING PAGE 9

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THE HARVARD CRIMSON |

APRIL 2, 2019

PAGE 2

HARVARD TODAY

For Lunch Rosemary Lemon Garlic Chicken Shrimp and Monterey Jack Quesadilla Eggplant Provencal Vin Rouge

For Dinner Chicken amd Cabbage Potsticker Emerald Beef and Vegetable StirFry Tofu Vegetable Lo Mein

TODAY’S EVENTS Harvard Hears You: The 2019 Summit for Gender Equity 10 a.m.-3 p.m. and 7:30 -9 p.m.

IN THE REAL WORLD White House Whistle-Blower Uncovers Security Clearance Scandal

Join the The Weatherhead Center for International Affairs and Harvard University Title IX Office for an allday event on gender and inclusivity at Harvard and college campuses at large.

Whistle-blower Tricia Newbold, a manager in the White House’s Personnel Security Office, revealed to Congress that Trump administration senior officials had granted security clearances to at least 25 individuals, despite their applications having “disqualifying issues” that posed a potential risk to national security.

A Conversation with Olympic Medalist Michelle Kwan & Special Olympics Medalist Melissa Reilly p.m.

Join the Harvard Law School Project on Disability and the East Asian Legal Studies Program for a talk with Olympic Figure Skater Michelle Kwan, the most decorated figure skater in U.S. history, and Melissa Reilly, a Special Olympics Alpine Skier who has been inducted into the Special Olympics Hall of Fame.

Living with White Sharks 6p.m.

The Harvard Museum of Natural History presents a talk on Cape Cod white sharks by marine biologist and author Gregory Skomal, who has studied sharks for over thirty years.

U.S. Measles Rate Surges Dangerously High Jason Shen ‘22 dives for the ball in Harvard Men’s Volleyball’s close match against Saint Francis on Saturday, March 30th. BRENDAN J, CHAUPIS —CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

DAILY BRIEFING Leaders of several Graduate School of Arts and Sciences student groups submitted a proposal to administrators in December calling for major changes to the way GSAS and Dudley House support affinity groups. Graduate students from Harvard Graduate Women in Science and Engineering, the W.E.B. Du Bois Graduate Society, the Harvard GSAS Latinx Student Association, and the Harvard LGBTQ@GSAS Association signed the proposal last semester. In other news, GSAS student and LSA finance officer Aaron Benavidez alleged GSAS’s Office of Diversity and Minority Affairs has not given LSA sufficient financial support in an email to more than 100 students and administrators Friday.

The measles rate in the U.S. has soared to its second-highest level in nearly two decades since it was declared “eliminated” in 2000. The 2019 outbreak has seen reports of 387 cases in 15 different states, and several counties, such as Rockland County, New York, have banned unvaccinated children in response, leading to outbursts from anti-vaccination groups.

U.K. Parliament Rejects a Soft Brexit

As the United Kingdom wrestles with whether to stay in the European Union or to leave as part of “Brexit” negotiations, Parliament has rejected proposals for a second referendum, a “soft Brexit,” and a cancellation of Brexit altogether.

AROUND THE IVIES YALE

Yale students reported in a survey conducted by the Yale Daily News that the nationwide college admissions scandal worsened their opinion of their school, per a report from the News. According to the survey’s 1650 respondents, the majority of students remained in favor of the holistic admissions process but called for transparency in the wake of the scandal that implicated the university. Former Yale women’s soccer coach Rudy Meredith pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday for wire fraud and conspiracy. The investigation, which produced 50 indictments, led to one student admitted to Yale under a falsified application.

COLUMBIA

Actor and activist Viola Davis will deliver the keynote address at Barnard’s 127th Commencement in May, according to the Columbia Spectator. Davis — the first black actor to have won an Academy Award, an Emmy Award, and a Tony Award in acting — will also receive the Barnard Medal of Distinction, the college’s highest honor, at the ceremony. In an email to students Monday, the co-interim Deans of the College Alicia Lawrence and Natalie Friedman praised Davis’s career, writing that she served as a voice for “all who deserve to be seen and heard.”

BROWN

Brown University will discontinue its offering of terminal master’s degrees in history – a program available to those not previously enrolled at the University – starting in the 2019-2020 school year, according to the Daily Herald. Brown came to its decision after comparing its program with other institutions, whose programs are focused around a theme. The course may be reinstated in the future with a more defined focus and longer two-year duration. Applicants new to the University still have the option of obtaining a transitional master’s through the PhD and fifth-year master’s program during the suspension.

THE UNIVERSITY DAILY, EST. 1873

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

STAFF FOR THIS ISSUE

Associate Managing Editor Jamie D. Halper ’20

Arts Chairs Kaylee S. Kim ’20 Caroline A. Tsai ’20

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

Associate Business Manager Amy E. Zhou ’20

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

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

Editorial Chairs Jessenia N. Class ’20 Robert Miranda ’20

Blog Chairs Lorenzo F. Manuali ’21 Trula J. Rael ’21

Technology Chairs Nenya A. Edjah ’20 Theodore T. Liu ’20

Night Editor Lucy Wang ’20

Design Editor Matthew J. Tyler ’22

Assistant Night Editors Alexandra A. Chaidez ’21 Anissa R. Medina ’22

Photo Editor Sung Kwang Oh ’21

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

Editorial Editor Shireen Younus ’20 Sports Editor Cade S. Palmer ’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.

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.

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | APRIL 2, 2019 | PAGE 3

ARTS

.

‘The New Pie’ is Filled with Challenging Yet Accessible Recipes

the week in arts

02 03 04 05

JESS L. ENG–CRIMSON CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

JESS L. ENG CONTRIBUTING WRITER Name any holiday, and you’ll likely find the perfect pie for it. From crisp apple pies signaling New England fall to pumpkin pies unfurled on the Thanksgiving dinner table, separating specific pies from their traditions quickly turns into an impossible task.

In their cookbook debut, “The New Pie,” expert pie bakers Chris Taylor and Paul Arguin challenge this interpretation. They both agree that pie, despite its enduring qualities, should not “be confined to what pie has always been.” With over 15 years of combined competition experience and mountains of accolades to boot, Taylor and Arguin offer a convincing glimpse into why innovative pies transcend traditional pies.

Taylor and Arguin aren’t your casual pie bakers turned cookbook writers. Since their first pie contest in 2011, they have won over 500 baking rewards. Now a married couple, they recently won the 2017 National Pie Championships with their Checkerboard Peanut Butter Pie. Their mutual love for each other and pie become evident throughout “The New Pie” with their shared stories of recipe inspiration. In the blurb for the Nicolé pie, the authors fondly recount their delicious meals and cocktails at Nicolé, “a small Italian restaurant tucked away on a side street in St. Thomas.” Learning about their explorations make their cookbook a heartwarming read, one that leaves you eager to jump into the next pie competition with them.

Unlike cookbooks that churn out a high quantity of recipes, Taylor and Arguin’s smaller list of 75 pies allows them to incorporate stunning photographs with every page flip. Ripe colors and rich textures capture the delicate pie making ritual from kneading the dough to cutting the first slice. Along with the detailed instructions and personal anecdotes, the photographs provide the baker with an aesthetic goal to strive for.

Even with the authors’ established pie-making profundity, they realize that not all pie recipes, and pie cook-

books, are created equal. By incorporating difficulty scales for ingredients, equipment, and construction into each recipe, the cookbook appeals to all pie makers and bakers. They hook bakers with easy-to-make recipes, such as German Chocolate Pecan and Tahitian Pineapple.

Recipes such as the Double Bubble, on caliber with winners produced at the National Pie Baking Competition, offer bakers aesthetically pleasing challenges. But while the cookbook does not shy away from tough techniques, the recipes with three-star difficulty ratings are accompanied by reassuring advice for the first time baker: that the pies are “entirely doable if you follow the instructions.”

And yet, while the authors do their best to make each recipe accessible, recipes do not indicate how long each pie takes to make. While pie makers should expect lengthy preparation, baking, and assembling times, accurately gauging the length of each process would certainly help any kitchen scenario. Baking pies is laborious, but “The New Pie” succeeds as a cookbook for both new and experienced pie bakers seeking a culinary challenge.

Some recipes, such as the Chocolate Hazelnut Pie, include ingredients that were challenging to find, despite the difficulty level being only a two out of three. The ingredients for these recipes range from common finds, such as bittersweet chocolate chips, to the peculiar malted milk powder. But locating the malted milk powder in your local grocery store may present a challenge. If the recipe shows two or more stars for equipment, be prepared for a grocery scavenger hunt. And yet even with the few substitutions, the Chocolate Hazelnut Pie turned out moist, dense, and most importantly, delicious.

“The New Pie” deserves a place on your kitchen’s shelf.

It is the ultimate guide to crafting the perfect nontraditional pie for your next dinner party, friendly date, or holiday meal. By exposing more people to the creative potential in traditional pie recipes, new pies will give our traditional holidays a much needed modern twist.

06 07 08

TUESDAY LAILA LALAMI AND MIN JIN LEE PRESENT ‘THE OTHER AMERICANS’ Author of Pulitzer Prize finalist “The Moor’s Account” Laila Lalami discusses her latest novel “The Other Americans” with Min Jin Lee, author of “Pachinko.”

Harvard Book Store. 7 p.m. Free admission.

Wednesday MFA MUSIC: DREAMERS’ CIRCUS Dreamers’ Circus, a trio reinterpreting Nordic folk music at the forefront of the Scandinavian music scene, will give their North American premiere performance.

Museum of Fine Arts Boston. 7:30 p.m.

Tickets start at $24 for members and $30 for non-members.

Thursday

WICKED QUEER OPENING NIGHT: JUST FRIENDS Wicked Queer 2019, the 35th Boston LGBT Film Festival, opens with Ellen Smit’s “Just Friends” and David Scala’s short film “Engaged.” Tickets include an after-party at Beat Brew Hall following the screening.

The Brattle Theatre. 7:30 p.m. Tickets $20.

Friday

CELEBRITY SERIES OF BOSTON: DANILO PEREZ’S GLOBAL MESSENGERS AND AMIR ELSAFFAR’S TWO RIVERS ENSEMBLE Danilo Perez’s Global Messengers will perform unique music reflecting the cultural traditions of its members. The Two Rivers Ensemble will perform music that combines American and Middle Eastern jazz.

Sanders Theatre. 8 p.m. Tickets start at $45.

Saturday

ICA PLAY DATE: GOING FAR TOGETHER The Boston City Singers and guest singer Alastair Moock will join in a day of multimedia art and story presentations, art-making activities, and performances for all ages.

Institute of Contemporary Art Boston. 10 a.m. $10 student admission.

Sunday

JOSHUA REDMAN QUARTET WITH AARON GOLDBERG, REUBEN ROGERS & GREGORY HUTCHINSON Saxophonist, composer, and bandleader Joshua Redman is one of the most acclaimed and charismatic jazz artists today. The quartet will perform new, original pieces composed by Redman.

Sanders Theatre. 7:30 p.m. Tickets starting at $30.

MOnday

HIGH LIFE From director Claire Denis, this film depicts the journey to the black hole within closest reach of Earth, with a crew of dangerous prisoners, lastchancers with nothing left to lose.

The Brattle Theatre. 7 p.m. Free admission.

2 april 2019 | Vol CXLVI, ISSUE VII Arts Chairs Kaylee S. Kim ‘20 Caroline A. Tsai ’20

Editor Associates Liana E. Chow ‘21 Aline G. Damas ’20 Danielle L. Eisenman ‘21

Iris M. Lewis ‘21 Claire N. Park ‘20 Isabel C. Ruehl ‘20 Allison J. Scharmann ‘21 Caroline E. Tew ’20 Shruthi Venkata ‘22 Lucy Wang ’20

Executive Designer Mireya C. Arango ‘20

Design Associates Amanda Stetz ‘22

Executive Photographers Kathryn S. Kuhar ‘20 Zennie L. Wey ‘20

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | APRIL 2, 2019 | PAGE 4

ARTS

MUSIC

COURTESY OF DARKROOM RECORDS/BILLIE EILISH

‘WHEN WE FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?’ is the Album You Didn’t Want to Love LAUREN V. MARSHALL CONTRIBUTING WRITER

It can be difficult to be an adult and a Billie Eilish fan at the same time. Born into the entertainment industry in L.A. and propelled to fame at age 14 by the song “ocean eyes,” Eilish is easy to dismiss as just another production-line pop artist, masterminded by a shadowy and patriarchal chart-hit machine — it’s difficult to admit that the same person whose Instagram handle is @wherearetheavocados can also be the future of pop music.

This doesn’t even get to the core of why Eilish is so hard to accept. We live in a generation where Pepsi and Gillette are self-described propagators of social change and audiences increasingly question the rights of big corporations to invade social movements. Artistically, Billie Eilish takes the next step in this invasion. She leads the once aspirational icon of the popstar into the dark, where sponsored product placements are masked in shadow. When listening to “WHEN WE FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?”, there is moment of delicious horror when we realize that Eilish is a consumerist Chatterton: openly a teenager, but draped in Louis Vuitton, clutching Beats headphones, and brushing against our skin while crooning about death.

All this makes it hard not to recoil. Yet Eilish is disquietingly convincing in her endless cycle of inner turmoil and death drive. The track “xanny” in particular elegantly pairs Eilish’s soft rasp with helicopter panning and bass distortion to thrilling effect. In “bury a friend,” interplay between Eilish’s vocals and a Depeche Mode-esque synth tritone known as the devil’s interval adds morbid credence to Eilish’s insistent refrain: “I wanna, I wanna, I wanna end me.”

In moments, pop clichés do seep through. In the uncharacteristically mellow ukulele ballad “8,” Eilish is in far more conservative territory: “I know you’re not sorry/ Why should you be? / ‘Cause who am I to be in love / When your love never is for me?” While these moments come across as mild sonic clickbait, they are sufficiently enjoyable such that the listener can step back and think that, sure, she isn’t Kurt Cobain, but for this album that might just be a good thing. Instead of acknowledging a split between the expressive potential of the experimental and the broad-reaching platform of the consumerist, Eilish treads a fine line between them. The result is both instinctive and unfamiliar.

Eilish creates this effect of consumerist naturalism throughout the album by allowing the sounds of daily life to permeate her songs. One of the central ideas of the album is its focus on Eilish — not as an artist, but as a human being. From the opening declaration (“I have taken out my Invisalign, and this is the album!”), to the 2 a.m. iPhone memo rasp aesthetic, to the sampling of Michael Scott in “my strange addiction” (teens can’t get enough of The Office!), the album creates a reality for the listener to exist within, right at Billie’s side. Counterintuitively, it is this insistence in referencing the daily and the mundane that makes frazzled basslines and witchy club grooves truly pop. Just as Eilish herself slouches on the red carpet in baggy streetwear, “WHEN WE FALL ASLEEP” has a laissez-faire energy that makes its transitions from jazz-inflected yearning (“xanny,” “listen before i go”) to angst-ridden goth-pop (“bad guy”, “bury a friend”) effortless, dismantling the walls between the two in the process.

The album is perhaps limited in this sense. Broadly, tracks can be categorized into “songs to make you cry” and “songs to make you dance.” As those who anticipated this album by listening to the four pre-released singles know, the tracks individually, though enjoyable, lack a coherent message, aesthetically referencing several existing artists. As a composite, however, there is something radical about the work — a marriage of serious production chops (masterminded by her brother, the producer Finneas) and unabashed impetuousness, as seen on the worryingly titled “wish you were gay,” brings the album to life and cements Eilish as an artist who, beyond just wanting to make charttoppers, has something to say, and the skills to say it.

This reviewer watched ‘Clickbait,’

COURTESY OF THE BOSTON UNDERGROUND FILM FESTIVAL

It’s been a rough couple of years for social media stars. From the chilling documentary “The American Meme” to the Netflix film “Cam,” a deep-dive into the commodification of sex by camgirls, cultural gatekeepers have been looking into the social media abyss. From the examples above, at least, they don’t like what they see. “Clickbait” undoubtedly is an attempt to tap into this trend, centered around college students helplessly ensnared by the allure of the imaginary live-stream website “str33ker. com,” where content creators compete to be top dog on a constantly updated popularity chart.

Things become complicated when butter-blonde Bailey (Amanda Colby Stewart), a top str33ker talent, becomes the obsession of a Trump-masked stalker. The situation goes downhill from there, culminating in a grisly stabbing — all, it seems, in the name of Internet fame.

It’s a familiar concept — in “Macbeth,” Shakespeare depicted in no uncertain terms the bloodthirst of the power-hungry — but a potentially fruitful one. There is a clear demand for compelling content that addresses our hesitations towards the growing prevalence of consumerism and surveillance capitalism in the modern world. It’s a pity, then, that “Clickbait,” is about as counter-cultural as a Che Guevara t-shirt bought at H&M. Despite its experimental approach, “Clickbait” fails to create a convincing “world” for the viewer to rail against, thereby satirizing the very effort of social critique, rather than addressing societal issues themselves.

The issues for “Clickbait” center around a meandering script, which, despite reasonable efforts from the actors, fails to fulfill the “comedy” aspect of “comedy-horror.” In an attempt to capture the walkabout musings of youth, the dialogue is jarringly slow, in particular through lengthy conversations between the two protagonists Bailey and Emma (Brandi Aguilar), who, despite substantial screen time, remain one-dimensional throughout the film. Yes, the movie stands as a critique of the vapidity of internet fame and the pursuit thereof. Yet like its characters, “Clickbait” makes the fatal flaw of failing to seek deeper meaning, culminating in a work that is about as superficial as its subject matter.

Key to this lack of depth is inadequate character exposition: Bailey and Emma simply fail to convince as “college students” — they live in a spacious, well-lit apartment, wear store-bought costumes to Halloween parties, and appear to exclusively “study” from one oversized picture book

FILM

and you won’t believe what she has to say!

LAUREN V. MARSHALL CONTRIBUTING WRITER

on “plant taxonomy.” These flaws go beyond attempts at absurdist humor — the lack of a compelling scenario here jeopardizes the entire basis of the plot, specifically the nature of Bailey’s social media addiction itself. The viewer is left confused at the nature of Bailey’s content creation, and even her closest friend is dismissive of her str33ker pursuits. Ultimately the viewer is given no explanation or even portrayal of social media addiction in any form.

As a result, the stakes of this entire endeavor are comically low, to the detriment of the viewer, who struggles to maintain concentration through lengthy dream sequences where the deepest fears of the protagonists are cloyingly and extensively portrayed alongside a repetitive and one-dimensional synth soundtrack. Incidentally, the dated aesthetic of the soundtrack — an ostinato mishmash of muzak, preset synths, and ‘90s detective video games — does the long-winded cinematography no favors, both failing to build suspense for “horror” sequences, but also elongating the already sluggish pacing of the film in its monotonous constancy.

The consequence of this general lack of polish is that, despite the consumer appeal of the subject matter, the film’s value lies not in its message, but simply in how hard it tries to convey it. Instead of being engrossed in the escalating tension between Bailey and her masked stalker, the viewer becomes undeniably aware of the filmmakers themselves. “Clickbait” is overtly the work of artists in flux, feeling out pathways for communication, yet in that process, often reaching dead ends.

This is not to say the movie is without its moments of breakthrough. “Clickbait” comes closest to comedic clout with surrealist “ad breaks” placed throughout the film. These are much-needed breaths of fresh air and offer glimpses of a knowing wit from the directors which is otherwise lacking in the main plot. And, though in the context of the film, extended scenes of mundane dialogue are borderline arduous, there is something “Waiting for Godot”-esque about the daring of it all. Indeed, at points like the ad breaks, fragments of artistic imagination push through — but these moments are framed so laboriously it is easy to overlook their magic.

As seen in the popularity of social media documentaries, consumerism in its current manifestation is sufficiently egregious as such to adequately satirize itself. In artistic portrayals, then, the viewer seeks the more vulnerable, individual experience that so often is veiled by the capitalist structures which dominate our social lives. “Clickbait,” in its determination to provide biting social satire, becomes not a narrative on youth culture in tension with society, but one on the gut-wrenching strain of the directors to depict, and thereby illuminate a culture that they themselves do not seem to entirely understand. The result is an experience which, though perhaps not intentional, is praiseworthy in its viscerality alone. “Clickbait” is risk-taking, not at its best, but at its most authentic.

ARTS

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | APRIL 2, 2019 | PAGE 5

COLUMNS

Fractal Figuration KELSEY CHEN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

a single line births infinities of commands <label for=”take-it-back”>Take it BACK.</label><br> <input name=”take-it-back” id=”take-it-back”>1 There’s something distinctly voyeuristic about watching the ocean move, the waves lap at the shore in a show of intimacy beyond what I am capable. There is no melancholia, no pain, no hesitance, no lingering in the phasing of the moon. Only utter, irrevocable certainty of the same sort as a funeral, the type that lifts a veil to drop a blade and passes in cycles, like the function of a rotational movement or some other intractable law of the physical universe. Somewhere there is an eclipse and simultaneous waning, which happens at once all at once and not unlike menstruation in its motion which is all sudden convulsions and gradual aches. Yesterday you said the sea was like a phantom and look, there is the pacific. file_uploads = On <!DOCTYPE html> <html> <body> <form action=”upload.php” method=”post” enctype=”multipart/form-data”> Select image to upload: <input type=”file” name=”fileToUpload” id=”fileToUpload”> <input type=”submit” value=”Upload Image” name=”submit”> </form> </body> </html> <?php $target_dir = “uploads/”; $target_file = $target_dir . basename($_FILES[“fileToUpload”][“name”]); $uploadOk = 1; $imageFileType = strtolower(pathinfo($target_file,PATHINFO_EXTENSION)); // Check if image file is an actual image or fake image if(isset($_POST[“submit”])) { $check = getimagesize($_FILES[“fileToUpload”][“tmp_name”]); if($check !== false) { echo “File is an image - “ . $check[“mime”] . “.”; $uploadOk = 1; } else { echo “File is not an image.”; $uploadOk = 0; } } ?> // Allow certain file formats if($imageFileType != “silences” && $imageFileType != “in the form of” && $imageFileType != “bitterness” && $imageFileType != “bitten tongues ) { echo “Sorry, only silences, in the form of, sunflower seeds & bitten tongues are allowed.”; $uploadOk = 0; }2 1 Sourced from https://html.com/tags/label/ 2 Sourced from https://www.w3schools.com/php/php_file_upload.asp —Contributing writer Kelsey Chen’s column, “Body Language,” is a creative column combining visual arts and creative writing to explore the body as a medium of political expression.

KELSEY CHEN

THEATER

In Sexual Assault Awareness Month, ‘Our Voices’ Creates Physical Space for Reflection IFEOLUWANI E. OMIDIRAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER For Sexual Assault Awareness Month in April, the Women In Power Conference, Harvard Wears Denim, and Yoga for Restoration are just a few of the events the Office of Sexual Assault Prevention and Response will lead. Bringing these efforts to the artistic realm, OSAPR and the Harvard-Radcliffe Dramatic Club will collaboratively present “Our Voices,” opening April 5. In its fourth iteration, “Our Voices” is a student-directed project with the goal of sharing stories of sexual assault and identity-based violence.

The show has taken place in April annually since 2016. As one of a number of initiatives related to sexual assault, the show offers a chance to deal with issues of violence through engagement of personal narrative. “It’s a way to work through what’s both personal and political,” Madeleine R. Snow ’20, one of the show’s two producers, said.

In order to facilitate that work, the performance creates a physical space for sharing and reflection. Co-director Rachel M. Kahn ’20 opted for an informal setup in Leverett Library Theater. Audience members will be able to walk around the the venue and look at visual art submissions, and performers will sit on the stage and assist with the stage management of each others’ performances, blurring the line between various production roles to make the space more comfortable for those involved.

“People can share and go through whatever spectrum of emotions they are processing and have it be contained in that room,” Kahn said. “They can express

themselves and get anything out that they want to get out, and leave it. Hopefully that experience is in some way helpful or cathartic.”

Co-directors Kahn and Carla Troconis ’19 solicited submissions of original art relating to sexual assault and other forms of identity-based violence. In contrast to more traditional shows, rehearsals focus on what performers need to “make the performance and the space as useful and as comfortable for them as possible,” Kahn said.

Snow said the show offers to all members of the audience a chance to reflect and expand their worldviews.

“Even if you haven’t experienced sexual assault or identity-based violences, by listening to other people’s stories and seeing them in all sorts of artistic expressions, you can get a better understanding of someone else’s lived experience,” Snow said.

Since its conception in 2016, the show has changed to explore other issues that are related to sexual assault by broadening the form that submissions can take. “They can be things that address mental health issues and issues of identitybased violence,” stage manager Robert F. Malley ’20 said. “It has expanded the space and given more opportunities for more performers, more performances, more reflection by the audience, more opportunities for the directors to think about how all of these issues are interconnected.”

“Our Voices” will run April 5 and 6 at 7:30 p.m. in the Leverett Library Theater.

ARTS

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | APRIL 2, 2019 | PAGE 6

FILM

Alison Klayman on her New Film ‘The Brink’ and Her Unlikely Relationship with Steve Bannon JOY C. ASHFORD CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

COURTESY OF MAGNOLIA PICTURES

Before Alison Klayman agreed to make a documentary about Steve Bannon, the former chairman of Breitbart News and President Donald Trump’s Chief Strategist, she had one caveat — she had to meet him first.

“I needed to meet him in person, partly to see if I really felt like I could spend the time with him,” Klayman said. “Is he gonna be someone worth watching? Will he be able to carry the film?”

But once she met him, doing the film was a “pretty easy yes.”

“He wasn’t what I expected. He has an interpersonal charisma — he was really chatty,” she said. “He’s calculated in the way he communicates, no matter who the audience is. He has this vanity, and these blind spots where you’ll have him revealing himself in ways that he doesn’t intend.”

“The opportunity to be embedded and really let his agenda reveal itself felt like an opportunity of historical importance and to ask some bigger questions of what the nature of evil is,” Klayman said.

That eye for unintended irony — that he condemns the Holocaust, while many of his supporters embrace neo-Nazism — is at the heart of “The Brink,” the resulting documentary following the far right leader. In the film, Bannon goes on to describe the “banality of evil” — the cups of coffee, the conference meetings behind the Holocaust, an “institutionalized industrial compound for mass murder.”

“There were people that actually sat and thought through this whole thing and totally detached themselves from the moral horror of it,” he says, looking into the camera.

“My grandparents are Holocaust survivors,” Klayman said. “Bannon thought he was being provocative talking about the Holocaust, and he knew my personal family history.”

Bannon’s condemnation of the Holocaust bears heavy similarities to the condemnations that followed the Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville, Va., which was organized by NeoNazis who credit Bannon as a figurehead. By co-opting the rhetoric of moral outrage against anti-Semitism, Bannon seems intent on delegitimizing the connection often drawn between Nazism and his brand of alt-right fearmongering.

But under Klayman’s direction, the connection is impossible to miss, as the film frames him in a visual and situational context that can highlight the dangers and hypocrisies in his worldview. “I thought that opening scene was an opportunity to examine the human reality behind people who do great harm and promote policies that hurt people and, I think, hurt our country,” Klayman said. “I knew right away that that was a great way to open [the film] and

really tell people there’s a filmmaker behind this. I’m giving you a chance to meet Bannon with naked cuts so you really trust the filmmaking.”

Given the degree to which she disagrees with him, why, then, did Klayman choose to make the film? She said her involvement began when she was contacted about the project by producer Marie Therese Guirgis, a former employee of Bannon’s.

“Guirgis knew Bannon in one of his many previous lives — before the Tea Party, before his politics became sort of extreme.” She contacted him often after he joined the Trump campaign as CEO in 2016.

“She wrote him hate mail,” Klayman said. “He would write back politely, and she thought there was something bigger that could be done with this access, beyond the small gratification of telling him off personally.” That was the impetus for a “vérité” documentary.

“It’s not about sitting down with him for an interview,” she said. “My job was more to observe than to speak up most of the time.”

The film may seem to show Bannon in his natural element, but he had to agree to Klayman’s guiding hand. When starting out on the project, Bannon needed to sign a release giving her full creative control.

“I’m quite opposed to the vision of the world that he has and the way in which he goes about achieving it. There’s a way to responsibly put things in, especially if I knew that he was lying or distorting information, and there was no way later in the movie to make that clear,” Klayman said.

Klayman parsed Bannon’s rhetorical strategies and emphasized the characteristic persistence that has allowed him to take on many different roles. “He’s willing to use dog whistles as well as blatantly racist, bigoted language. It’s kind of a frightening skill, and it emboldens the people around him. It’s not so much that he’s a brilliant strategist, it’s just — that’s his way,” Klayman said. “The way he works the media, using his personal charisma, is also part of it. He’s carved out a place for himself, and when he loses it, he’s continually looking for new opportunities. He’s always trying to ride the wave, spend other people’s money, and get himself the credit.”

“I think he’s a figure who thrives at the brink. He’s been brought to the brink many times.

He’s had many different careers. In the film, he experienced a lot of losses. But you get the sense that he doesn’t give up,” Klayman said.

—Staff writer Joy C. Ashford can be reached at joy.ashford@thecrimson.com.

‘Leaving Neverland’ Gives Survivors a Voice

TV

HUNTER T. BALDWIN CRIMSON STAFF WRITER Trigger Warning: Sexual Abuse, Pedophilia Few people who have had as great a cultural impact as Michael Jackson. From the start of his musical career in 1964, the frequently dubbed “King of Pop” has made waves both in and out of the music industry. Even today, 10 years after his death, Jackson continues to be the subject of media coverage and discussion — though for reasons that are far less than admirable. Since 1993, Jackson’s career has been notably marked by multiple allegations of sexual abuse against young boys. “Leaving Neverland” tells the story of just two of the pop star’s most recent accusers: Wade Robson and James Safechuck. The two-part HBO documentary gives a hauntingly powerful, if noticeably partial, glimpse into the life of an enigmatic cultural icon, as well as the devastating effects of child sexual abuse.

“Leaving Neverland” has a relatively simple premise — interviews with Robson, Safechuck, and their immediate family members are interspersed with corresponding footage from the 80s. These interviews allow Robson and Safechuck to tell their stories from beginning to end, giving voice to those most often overlooked in celebrity scandals: the survivors. Accordingly, Episode One begins not with the allegations, but with the complicated series of events that led to each boy befriending the notoriously anti-social star. Director Dan Reed portrays Robson and Safechuck as boys with big dreams, and their respective meetings with Jackson appear to hold the key to achieving them. The courting process that follows is haunting: Through grooming and subtle manipulations, Jackson ensures that both boys and their families come to depend on him completely. This contextualization makes the first alleged incident of sexual abuse, a good 40 minutes into Episode One, feel all the more devastating a betrayal.

Robson and Safechuck do not hold back in their descriptions of the abuse they suffered, but these disturbing accounts are not the primary focus of the documentary. Instead, “Leaving Neverland” largely centers on the consequences and events that followed the instances of sexual abuse. Episode Two delves into the first allegations against Jackson in 1993 by another one of Jackson’s child companions, Jordan Chandler. Once again, Robson and Safechuck detail the manipulation tactics Jackson used to ensure they would stay in line and defend him in court when allegation turned to legal action. “He told me that if anyone finds out, his life would be over and my life would be over,” Safechuck says. As such, both survivors continued to defend Jackson. By the time Jackson was accused again in 2005, however, the now young adults’ support had begun to run thin, and his death in 2009 brought a sense of relief.

Perhaps most striking about this documentary is the fact that, despite the series’ focus on his scandals, Jackson is largely left lurking in the background. Jackson functions just as elusively in the series as he did in real life. His iconic music is only played when absolutely necessary — such as in scenes where the accusers find themselves at concerts — reflecting the directorial choice to not give Jackson any more airtime than required. Similarly, Jackson’s spoken voice is rarely heard,

despite the abundance of interviews and speeches available. These decisions contribute to the overall feeling that this documentary is is truly about the survivors. Michael Jackson’s story has been told time after time. “Leaving Neverland” is not his turn.

With the documentary’s focus on survivors and lasting consequences comes an emphasis on Jackson as not only an abuser, but also a family destroyer. The only people interviewed besides Robson and Safechuck themselves are their mothers, wives, siblings, and grandparents. Their testimonies shed light on the secondhand emotional toil that this scandal caused them. At times, the documentary appears to go off topic in detailing the relationship issues between Robson’s parents or his father’s subsequent mental health struggles. However, it quickly becomes clear that these events are direct repercussion are direct repercussion of Jackson’s alleged abuse.

Things only get worse when the families discover the abuse that has been going on right beneath their noses. In fact, Jackson’s death occurs halfway through Episode Two, with the remaining hour focusing almost entirely on the families’ reactions to the revelations that the rumors of abuse were, in fact, true. The mothers, in particular, are shown to suffer not just from the troubles their families have been dragged through, but also from the guilt they feel for the role they played. The survivors’ wives and siblings also wonder how any parent could ever think it was okay for a grown man to sleep in the same bed as their child. “I could forgive Michael one day if I just write him off as sick,” Joy, Robson’s mother, says. “But I’ll never forgive myself.”

The documentary also pays great attention to the trauma inflicted on the survivors’ mental health. As those most affected by these incidents narrate their sides, the stories told range from more explicit discussion of depression and PTSD to more implicit signs of their trauma — a particularly striking example is that Safechuck frequently speaks in the second person singular, as he cannot mentally put himself back in the abusive situation he was once in. In this way, the documentary points a spotlight at the ways in which momentary incidents can have a lasting impact on one’s well-being, as well as the internal conflicts that lead to survivors’ reluctance to come out immediately with the truth.

No one should go into “Leaving Neverland” expecting an impartial depiction of Jackson’s actions. The documentary clearly holds the allegations as true, and it makes no effort to hear from Jackson’s supporters, like his other young companion, Macaulay Culkin. The show also quickly and superficially brushes off the common criticism that these allegations are simply a gambit for money. In this way, it fails as a piece of investigative journalism — as a chilling representation of the effects that abuse can have on everyone involved, however, it shines. “Leaving Neverland” is extremely effective in convincing viewers that the allegations are true by eliciting emotional responses. In the end, “Leaving Neverland” is not just the story of a celebrity and the charges against him. It is a story of trauma, resilience, and most importantly, justice — or lack thereof.

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

PAGE 7

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | APRIL 2, 2019

Classroom to Table OSAPR Panel Discusses Advocacy Cancelled Again

OSAPR FROM PAGE 1

or shape,” Dyer said. “It’s also staying in your lane of what you know.”

After the panel, Nina N. Harris — an education specialist at OSAPR who moderated the discussion — reflected on the importance of “sharing the work” of activists in this field.

“One of the things that was reflected in the conversation about just coalition building and partnerships and how significant they are with changing organizational and institutional capacity,” Harris said.

Sanika S. Mahajan ’21, who attended the event, said the discussion was timely, citing U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy D. DeVos’s new proposed Title IX rule.

“I think it’s just a really important conversation to have, to see what they think can be done now,” Mahajan said.

“This does kind of give me a bit of hope for what activism can do, especially activism on this campus.”

The panel marks the first of a series of events that OSAPR

will host this month, which include a study break, art exhibi-

This does kind of give me a bit of hope for what activism can do, especially activism on this campus.

Sanika S. Mahajan ’21 College Student

tion, and discussion about sex

and BGLTQ identity.

In an email sent to all College students Monday morning, OSAPR Director Pierre R. Berastaín Ojeda ’10 invited students to Monday’s panel as well as the rest of OSAPR’s programming “to get involved, learn more, and help raise awareness” about sexual violence and “other forms of interpersonal harm” throughout the month. isabel.isselbacher@thecrimson.com michelle.kurilla@thecrimson.com

Proud to cover Harvard for 146 years and counting.

Keep the old sheet flying.

By SAMUEL W. ZWICKEL CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Classroom to Table — a program that brings together undergraduates and their professors for College-subsidized fine dining in Harvard Square — has been cancelled mid-semester due to lack of funding for the third consecutive term.

“As we stated at the start of the term, program funding is limited,” a Wednesday afternoon update to the program’s website reads. “We have had a very successful term and have reached our funding limit.”

The popular initiative — originally piloted in fall 2015 — enables groups of three to five students to invite a Harvard faculty member for lunch or dinner at a select number of local eateries; this semester’s slate includes Grafton Street, Park Restaurant, Russell House Tavern, the Hourly Oyster House, and Temple Bar. The College pays up to 30 dollars for each attendee’s meal, save alcoholic beverages.

Aman Panjwani ’20 said in a Monday interview that Classroom to Table gives him the opportunity to get to know faculty members through casual conversation that goes beyond course topics.

“It kind of breaks down the kind of, like, professor-student divide,” he said. “It makes class a lot more enjoyable for the students and helps us perform better at the end of the day as well.”

It makes class a lot more enjoyable for the students and helps us perform better at the end of the day as well.

Aman Panjwani ’20 College Student

History of Science Professor Matthew H. Hersch, who teaches History of Science 189: “The World We Made: Technology and Society,” wrote in an email Sunday that Classroom to Table enables student-faculty interaction that is “difficult to come by any other way” in large lecture courses.

“An hour to talk with a professor among a small group is a real treasure, and I consider the program to be among the best demonstrations of Harvard’s commitment to undergraduate education,” Hersch wrote.

The mid-semester discontinuation comes amid a trend of rising student interest in the Classroom to Table program.

An estimated total number of gatherings in fall 2018 was more than double that of the prior fall, and a projected participation count for the current term amounts to 1,414 students and 266 faculty members, according to College spokesperson Aaron M. Goldman.

Over the last few semesters, administrators have implemented increasingly strict

limitations on participation in order to maximize the number of students who can partake in Classroom to Table. The initiative, however, continues to hit its funding limit on a regular basis.

We are delighted that so many faculty and students are so eager to meet outside of class.

Amanda J. Claybaugh Dean of Undergraduate Education

Students could participate in an unlimited number of meals until the Classroom to Table program first ran out of money in spring 2017. From that point forward, the Office of Undergraduate Education imposed a cap of four meals per student each semester, which was then reduced to two meals in spring 2018. Even so, the program still exhausted its budget that semester and in the following fall, marking the third consecutive time the program halted mid-semester.

Dean of Undergraduate Education Amanda J. Claybaugh, who oversees the office responsible for administering the program, wrote in an emailed statement Thursday that she wishes the office had sufficient resources to support more opportunities for meals.

“We’re delighted that so many faculty and students are so eager to meet outside of class,” she wrote.

History professor Arunabh Ghosh, who teaches History 1602: “Modern China,” wrote in an email that given a pattern of mid-semester cancellations that Classroom to Table “ought not to suffer,” he believes the College should restrict permeal spending to accommodate student demand.

“One possible solution is to lower and better enforce the per-head allocation,” he wrote.

“This will mean humbler lunches and dinners, but greater opportunity for student-faculty interaction, which, after all, is the primary objective of the program.”

Hersch also wrote that partnering with less expensive establishments in Harvard Square might enable more students to participate in the program.

Goldman did not respond to a question asking about the current sources of funding for the program or future fundraising efforts.

In past years, student donations toward Senior Gift — a campaign that encourages new graduates to contribute to an “unrestricted fund” at the College and financial aid initiatives — have played a role in subsidizing the meals. samuel.zwickel@thecrimson.com

The latest on student life.

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THE HARVARD CRIMSON | APRIL 2, 2019

PAGE 8

EDITORIAL THE CRIMSON EDITORIAL BOARD

OP-ED

Looking at Lowell’s Legacy

Harvard Hear Us: We Need a Contract for Gender Equity

R

ecent years have brought with them a growing movement to critically examine Harvard’s history and legacy as it stands at odds with the University’s views on diversity, inclusivity, and multiculturalism today. One of the latest stories in this saga has been the announcement by incoming Lowell House Faculty Deans David I. Laibson ’88 and Nina Zipser that portraits of former University President A. Lawrence Lowell, Class of 1877, and his wife Anna Parker Lowell will not hang in the House’s dining hall upon reopening this fall after renovations.

With the reopening of the renovated Lowell House this August, we believe it is the perfect time for the House to reaffirm its own values, while potentially establishing new ones.

We support Laibson and Zipser’s decision. Lowell’s contributions to and legacy on Harvard’s history have been fraught and complicated.

His tenure as president — spanning from 1909 to 1933 — brought with it many institutional changes, most positively the creation of the House system Lowell’s legacy, however, has been deeply overshadowed by and cannot be disentangled from from his racism, anti-Semitism, homophobia, and xenophobia. His presidency was marked by

events such as failed attempts to institute quotas of Jewish students, as well as the segregation of black students, banning them from living in Harvard Yard, and the “Secret Court of 1920,” which was connected to the suicide of a gay undergraduate.

Significantly, Laibson and Zipser have also declared their intent to host several House-wide conversations on the significance of Lowell’s legacy. History, they correctly note, should not be forgotten or erased in an email to House affiliates.

We hope these discussions will spark a nuanced discussion on the former president’s actions and what those actions not only represented in his day but also in our present one, as we recognize it is important to consider individuals within the context of the time period in which they lived.

Removing the portrait is not erasure, as long as doing so is accompanied by conversations that allow students to do the hard work of complicating, contextualizing, and making sense of Lowell’s legacy and impact — something which this campus has yet to seriously do.

We would be remiss if we did not note that the University has taken positive steps to address the legacy of many of its more positive figures, who are often overlooked.

For example, three years ago the University displayed the portrait of Richard T. Greener, who in 1870 became Harvard’s first black graduate, in Annenberg Hall.

This new portrait demonstrates how in thoughtfully representing its history, the University must not only think about

removing monuments to figures who may not cohere with its evolving values but also erect new ones to those who we can take pride and who may expand our sense of what it means to be a member of this community.

History is imperfect, but it is only through constant discussion, questioning, and informed debate that we can properly understand what its legacy means to us today — for we are the ones who bear its lasting marks.

With the reopening of the renovated Lowell House this August, we believe it is the perfect time for the House to reaffirm its own values, while potentially establishing new ones.

History is imperfect, but it is only through constant discussion, questioning, and informed debate that we can properly understand what its legacy means to us today — for we are the ones who bear its lasting marks.

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.

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COLUMN

What’s in a Rename?

T

his weekend I had the extreme misfortune of being in New Haven, and the shock of the experience, no matter how often I visit, is never diminished.

Indeed the freshness of it, the absence of any inoculation, made me rehearse in my mind my various previous trips, and a Yalie’s offhand mention of Grace Hopper College brought me to February 2017.

That was when, one Saturday afternoon as I was hastening to Union Station to escape back to Cambridge, Yale announced that this name would serve thereafter in place of Calhoun College, which had lately been causing protests on account of the eponym’s vigorous defense of slavery.

This in turn reminded me of the recent announcement that portraits of former University President Abbott Lawrence Lowell, Class of 1877, will not hang in the dining hall when the relevant House reopens in the fall.

Which then made me reflect on the other legacy problem — i.e., the legacies of persons whom we honor in public places, which might one day cause us to stop so honoring them.

A friend of mine pointed out to me, as I was ruminating aloud — my mother used to yell at me for doing that at the dinner table — that regardless of whether I liked the renaming, the renamers were acting in logical consistency with their Weltanschauung. I was about to concede the point when I thought that in fact, while they are being consistent, they are also being awfully slow, which ought to be from their point of view extremely incriminating.

I shall explain what I mean.

Calhoun was probably a high priority for the renamers, since his enthusiasm about the “peculiar institution” renders him uniquely ineligible for the excuse that he was merely a man of his times, going along with the current. Than Lowell, however, I can think of many people more loathsome, or at least just as loathsome, which would make silence about

T

oday, Harvard will hold an all-day event entitled “Harvard Hears You: The 2019 Summit for Gender Equity.” This event will feature several panel discussions and talks by speakers including University President Lawrence S. Bacow and University Provost Alan M. Garber ’76.

Hopefully, this summit will inspire productive conversations. However, despite the administration’s claim that it “hears us,” Harvard has consistently ignored student workers’ calls for substantive policy changes that would promote gender equity on campus.

We don’t need empty rhetoric from Harvard’s top administrators; we need a strong union contract. Our union, Harvard Graduate Students Union—United Automobile Workers, is calling for strong contractual protections against discrimination and harassment on the basis of gender, race, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, immigration status, disability, and other identity characteristics. Specifically, student workers are calling for such protections to include a fair and neutral grievance procedure. In negotiations, the administration has consistently refused to agree to these protections, even after hundreds of students and workers across campus rallied for our civil rights.

The University insists that its current internal procedures for addressing discrimination and harassment are sufficient; and yet, these procedures enabled high-profile professors such as Government Professor Emeritus Jorge I. Dominguez to allegedly abuse at least eighteen women with impunity. Undergraduate and graduate students in the Government department have called on the University to conduct an external review of the Dominguez case. However, just last week, Bacow announced that Harvard would not conduct such an external review until the end of its internal review — a seemingly indefinite process. If Harvard is serious about promoting gender equity, it should agree to a union contract that includes strong discrimination and harassment protections.

If Harvard is serious about promoting gender equity, it should agree to a union contract that includes strong discrimination and harassment protections.

The Crimson

Liam M. Warner TRACTS FOR ALL TIMES

By MARISA J. BORREGGINE, EVAN C. MAC KAY and RACHEL J. SANDALOW-ASH

their eponymous buildings a culpable offense.

Former Dean of the College Chester N. Greenough, Class of 1898, for example, Lowell’s man Friday during the purge of gay students in the 1920s, has been allowed to keep his dorm, although that may be because few people have ever seen it.

A bit of a movement is beginning to accumulate around former University President Increase Mather, slave-owner and witch-hunter; perhaps he will be the next major target of neonomania.

I propose, therefore, that Harvard — which as a name will soon be, if it isn’t already, insupportable — hereafter be called Maya Angelou University.

But all this is really child’s play compared to the enormous wealth of grievances that accost the eye, no matter which way one turns.

That the renamers even have time to attend class is a testament to their ignorance of how offensive their surroundings actually are. (Consider, as your Irony of the Day, the proposition that they would be better able to identify and remove glorifications of old, dead patriarcho-fascists if they consented to read about them.)

Harvard is profiting off photos of slaves? Pish-tosh.

Where is the attempt to remove leering portraits and references to Oliver Wendell Holmes, Class of 1861, the ardent eugenicist?

Surely three generations of imbecilic protestors are enough. Why do we tolerate the preservation of the Adams House quarters of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Class of 1904, the zealous jailor of Japanese-Americans?

It would require a degree of subtlety absent in our renamer friends to respond that these men’s legacies are mixed; that Holmes defended socialists’ free-

dom of speech; that Roosevelt saved the struggling and abused poor with his social programs; that in their failures they were but men of their time, and visionaries in their successes.

But, as I say, the renamers are not subtle enough to think this.

They merely demand unconditional surrender, and it remains a mystery how they alight on their targets in the first place.

They have not yet demanded that Lowell House be renamed, but they were successful in turning “House Master” sufficiently into a Rorschach test to cause the College to continue the nuclear proliferation of the title “dean.”

Or, to take a more Straussian reading, perhaps the renamers are being deliberately selective in their targets because they know most of the substitute honorees they select will become offensively obsolete in a few decades.

The Kennedy School, for example, is a monument to a man whose presidency was one long episode of #MeToo, but nonetheless he remains as violator and martyr in the liturgical books of the Left.

Indeed one of the benefits of the dearth of biographical information about John Harvard is the resultant ignorance of any of his intolerable intolerances (which is not true, for instance, of Mr. Eli Yale).

It seems safe to assume, however, that, having lived in the 1630s, he was at least a racist, a fundamentalist, and a gynophobe, pending the discovery of more damning material.

Nor can we any longer justify the habit of naming things after only Harvard affiliates, a group not at all representative of the world population. I propose, therefore, that Harvard — which as a name will soon be, if it isn’t already, insupportable — hereafter be called Maya Angelou University.

When Yale is correspondingly renamed Gore Vidal College, I do not foresee any drop in ticket sales for The Game.

—Liam M. Warner ’20, a Crimson Editorial editor, is a Classics concentrator in Adams House. His column appears on alternate Tuesdays.

Student workers are also calling for wage and salary transparency for all open research and teaching jobs on campus. Such transparency is essential for promoting gender and racial pay equity. However, in negotiations, the administration has not yet agreed to such transparency. To work towards genuine gender equity, the administration should sign a union contract that includes pay transparency for all open positions.

Our union is also calling for guaranteed, paid parental and family leave; subsidies for student workers with children; and affordable dependent healthcare. In the United States, our lack of parental leave and affordable childcare is a major contributor to gender inequality, as women disproportionately drop out of the workforce to take care of their children. Guaranteeing parental leave, childcare support, and dependent healthcare for parents of all genders would provide crucial support to student parents and help ensure that nobody would need to choose between pursuing a graduate degree and having a family. However, Harvard has not yet responded to our proposals on these issues. In order to advance gender equity, Harvard should agree to a union contract that guarantees paid parental and family leave and provides adequate financial support for student workers with children.

Additionally, student workers are calling for a comprehensive, affordable healthcare package that includes coverage of reproductive services as well as transgender healthcare and gender-affirming support. However, the administration has failed to respond to our healthcare proposal. Harvard should foster intersectional gender equity by signing a union contract that ensures that student workers of all genders and gender identities can access the healthcare that we need.

Across campus — and at the negotiating table — student workers are telling Harvard what it should do to promote gender equality.

Yet instead of adopting these reforms, the University is ignoring us. Showy summits might create good publicity for the University, and they may even generate useful discussions, but without concrete steps from the administration and without a timeline to enforce accountability, these events will not make Harvard a more equitable institution.

In order to build a truly equitable campus, Harvard must sign a union contract that includes contractual protections against discrimination and harassment; pay transparency; paid parental leave; financial support for student parents including childcare support; and comprehensive healthcare for all student workers and their dependents.

The time has come for the administration to take real action on gender equity.

—Marisa J. Borreggine is a first-year graduate student in Earth and Planetary Sciences and organizes with the Harvard Graduate Students Union-UAW Time’s Up Committee. Evan C. MacKay ’19 is a Sociology concentrator in Currier House and a member of the HGSU-UAW Bargaining Committee. Rachel J. Sandalow-Ash ’15 is a second-year student at the Law School and a member of the HGSU-UAW Bargaining Committee.

PAGE 9

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | APRIL 2, 2019

LETTER FROM PAGE 1

EMAIL FROM PAGE 1

GSD Students Publish Letter

Student GSAS Affinity Groups Submit Claims Proposal To Administrators Lack of Funds

that this territory of ‘schoolwide’ is the domain in which the dean must operate.”

The letter’s re-publication coincided with Garber’s second town hall Feb. 7. Lim presented Garber with a copy of the letter at that meeting and reiterated many of its points in person.

“It was important for us to put that letter out there because it was just interesting to us that a lot of the same issues are recurring and yet we’re 12 years down the road,” Lim said. “The fact that these issues haven’t been addressed successfully is something worthy of comment.”

Graduate School of Design spokesperson Travis Dagenais declined to comment on the dean search and student concerns. The letter comes as the school continues to grapple with the release last spring of a “Shitty Architecture Men” spreadsheet alleging sexual assaults and racist acts by 18 School of Design affiliates.

Dean Mohsen Mostafavi was among those accused in the spreadsheet. The school, facing student protests and a statement of support signed by 35 female faculty members, took steps to promote diversity and address misconduct in October, including creating a diversity deanship and requiring Title IX training for faculty. Mostafavi announced his departure from the position in October. He will end his 11-year tenure at the end of the academic year as the school prepares for an expansion of its main building, Gund Hall.

University President Lawrence S. Bacow and Garber sent an email to students in early November asking them to share their input on the dean search and announcing the members of a faculty advisory committee.

Garber also held the first town hall that month.

“Your observations and advice will help us not only identify promising potential candidates but also develop a rounded and textured view of the GSD and its possibilities for the fu-

ture,” they wrote.

Bacow and Garber have received more than 100 emails about the search, according to University spokesperson Jonathan Swain. Zarina Ateig, a School of Design student who attended both meetings with Garber, said she felt the provost listened and was responsive to students’ concerns.

“I’m seeing a lot of traction between administration and the students, and I know for a fact that the things that we spoke about at the first meeting, for example, were addressed by our second meeting, or at least were acknowledged,” Ateig said. “It did not fall on deaf ears for sure.”

Lim said she thought it was

The fact that tese issues haven’t been addressed successfully is something worthy of comment.

Jessica A. Lim VP of Open Letters

unclear whether Bacow, Garber, and the 12-member dean search committee had fully considered student input because of the ambiguity of the process.

“This whole process has been very opaque,” she said. “It’s Harvard’s policy to not give up any of that information so we don’t know whether it’s had an impact or not.”

As with all recent dean searches across the University, Harvard has not released a list of any candidates being considered for the role. Swain wrote in an emailed statement that the dean search was continuing to make good progress and said Bacow and Garber have worked to hear student voices.

“The President and Provost have taken multiple steps to receive input and considerations that inform the search, including from students,” he wrote. joshua.archibald@thecrimson.com

Ann Hall wrote in an email that the school “values” its partnerships with student groups and is committed to creating an inclusive community on campus.

She cited ODMA staffers’ work in helping student groups write grants, providing professional development opportunities, and attending events.

“GSAS believes that student groups are an important part of the graduate student experience and values the partnerships we maintain with them,” Hall wrote.

“The Office of Diversity and Minority Affairs (ODMA) is committed to creating a welcoming and inclusive community among our underrepresented students.”

LSA President Talia Hart wrote in a Sunday email that Benavidez’s message does not represent the group’s official stance.

“The views expressed in Aaron’s email from Friday are not the collective perspectives of the LSA board as a whole and we were not consulted prior to the publication of that email,” Hart wrote.

Benavidez sent his email the same day as the school’s Newly Admitted Students’ Day. In the opening paragraph of the 3,000-word missive, he wrote that as newly admitted students visited GSAS, he wanted to make public the school’s failure to address issues of diversity.

“During the spring break, when reflecting on ODMA’s recent actions, I worry that trust is eroding, more generally,” he wrote.

“Indeed, this kind of message should be read as a symptom of that very problem.” shera.avi-yonah@thecrimson.com luke.williams@thecrimson.com

PROPOSAL FROM PAGE 1

students cited Zawalich’s February 2016 decision to host a French Film Festival in lieu of planning any Black History Month programming. They also charged that Zawalich showed “racial bias” by placing a statue of a “silent black butler” in her office.

“It may be useful to hire an independent content analyst to review and code all Dudley programming for the last five years to see how much programming has been given to represent and highlight the white European cultural experience and popular idiom,” the students wrote.

When affinity groups do host diversity-related events, Dudley House administrators have been unresponsive, according to the proposal. In response to the criticisms laid out in the proposal, GSAS spokesperson Ann Hall wrote in an email that the school remains committed to diversity-related programming.

“Staff works closely with student leaders from multiple

brought to the table, and perhaps meetings would be held, but that little tangible action resulted,” Akhtar wrote.

LBGTQ@GSAS member Madeleine F. Jennewein — who wrote in an email that she also gave feedback for the proposal — agreed with Akhtar. She wrote that Dudley House administrators have failed to create a positive environment for students from underrepresented backgrounds.

“At the end of the day, Harvard lags massively behind its peer institutions in matters of diversity and inclusion, and has for at least a decade,” Jennewein wrote.

“This is a massive disincentive for minority students to enroll, regardless of the resources of Harvard, if we don’t feel welcome, we won’t come here, and I’d venture that many minority students do not feel welcome here.” shera.avi-yonah@thecrimson.com luke.williams@thecrimson.com

LEARNING FROM PAGE 1

College Cuts Experiential Learning Center and its Director “We were seeing pieces of the programming already happening,” Miller said. “What we’ve done is taken this opportunity to rethink the programming that’s already happening and look at what we were trying to accomplish with that center and see what we can now offer to students.”

DSO spokesperson Aaron M. Goldman declined to comment further on the decision to eliminate the Experiential Learning Center.

Teplitz did not respond to repeated requests for comment on the termination of his role

Transformative coverage.

The Crimson thecrimson.com

student groups, providing administrative support and serving in an advisory capacity,” Hall wrote.

“In addition to making funding available, the GSAS [Office of Diversity and Minority Affairs], Student Affairs, and Student Services teams work in an advisory capacity with all student groups in a variety of ways, including by providing grant-writing support, professional development opportunities, and through attendance at meetings and events.”

GSAS alumna Leena M. Akhtar, who graduated in 2017 and is currently a lecturer in Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality, provided information for the proposal in December.

She wrote in an email that she believes the proposal is a positive step because of what she considers administrators’ previous inaction.

“In the course of advocating for marginalized students, I noticed that issues would be

as director of the center.Noah A. Fanous ’19, who served on the FOP Steering Committee in 2018, wrote in an email he thinks Teplitz has made a significant impact on the program during his tenure as director since 2010.

“I can just briefly mention that Coz Teplitz will be greatly missed at Harvard and, especially for FOP,” Fanous wrote.

“For the past couple of years, he’s been the center of thousands of first-years’ introductions to Harvard and has been instrumental in the successful training of hundreds of Har-

vard’s greater leader community.”

Cailey Martin ’20, who has been a FOP leader for the past two years, also praised Teplitz’s impact on FOP leaders as well as incoming freshmen.

“Both in terms of the program, but also in terms of personally for many FOP leaders, I think he has served as an inspiring figure for many of us, and brought so much dedication and care to the program,” Martin said. sanjana.narayanan@thecrimson.com

SPORTS

WEEKLY RECAP

SCORES

MEN’S ICE HOCKEY AT UMASS L, 4-0 ___________________________________________________________

WOMEN’S RUGBY VS. COLBY SAWYER

W, 46-7 ___________________________________________________________

BASEBALL VS. PRINCETON W, 12-0 ___________________________________________________________

SOFTBALL VS. BROWN W, 2-0 ___________________________________________________________

MEN’S VOLLEYBALL VS. PENN STATE L, 3-1 ___________________________________________________________

WOMEN’ S TENNIS VS. DARTMOUTH W, 4-0 ___________________________________________________________

MEN’S TENNIS VS. QUINNIPIAC W, 4-1 ___________________________________________________________

WOMEN’S RUGBY VS. SACRED HEART W, 37-0 ___________________________________________________________

MEN’S BASKETBALL

In His Own Words: The Story of Weisner Perez

By WEISNER PEREZ CONTRIBUTING WRITER

I am not even supposed to be here.

Every single day that I have spent on Harvard’s campus I have believed these words.

I was born in Chicago, Ill., but my family is from the Dominican Republic. Growing up at a disadvantage as a minority, and attending a low income and underachieving high school, Morton West, surely would make it more difficult to attend such a prestigious university.

So what allowed for my journey to be different than the expectations already set within the community I grew up in? After all, it was the norm to dropout of high school or simply attend a local community college.

My family foundation had a great deal with my opportunity to attend Harvard, but one thing that aided me above all was the game of basketball.

I remember as a child I played basketball for leisure simply because it was most accessible. My father made it a priority to live right across the street from the local YMCA to ensure that my two older brothers and I would stay out of the streets by going to the gym every day after school.

Despite living so close to the YMCA, my parents would not let us go until we finished our homework, thus instilling the value of academics at such a young age. Eventually, my growth in basketball became noticeable that I attracted the attention of a few classmates who played on a travel team. My parents allowed me to join the team as they found it as another way to stay active and away

from the wrong crowd.

Quickly I began to fall for the feeling of the game, with the fast pace and energy that it entailed. By the time I reached 8th grade, there was a significant growth in my athleticism that begun to separate me from my teammates. In fact, I remember getting my first in-game dunk as an eighth grader and it made me realize that I wanted to play this game at the next level.

After this occurred, I remember praying to God and asking for the chance to play at least NCAA Division III basketball with the goal of having my parents not pay for college.

Little did I know what the path ahead would lead to.

As I prepared for high school, my focus in life became solely focused on academics and basketball. In fact, I applied for and received the prestigious Daniel Murphy Scholarship, which gave me the opportunity to attend any private high school of my choosing with tuition paid for. The opportunity of a lifetime was given to me.

I let the scholarship go.

Instead, I chose to stay at the local public high school that my two older brothers were already attending, Morton West.

The backlash from not accepting this prestigious scholarship was never-ending. I trusted my family, and more importantly, I wanted to challenge the status quo and prove that you can make it out of Morton West to a higher institution.

My belief that the school did not define the student, but the student that defines what they make out of the school, stuck with me. In my second year in high school, I received my first scholarship offer to play basketball, from Hampton University.

The following year I began to receive more attention, specifically from many high-achieving academic institutions. Eventually, I received a scholarship offer from every Ivy League school.

But when Harvard offered, the feeling was just different.

The first time I visited Harvard with my family I knew this would be the place I would attend. Furthermore, attending Harvard was a bigger decision than myself. This decision would impact my community above all, as kids would now believe that one can make it out of Berwyn and achieve something great. In fact, I knew the magnitude of this decision as I began to receive scrutiny from people.

The day after I committed to Harvard, I woke up with graffiti over my garage. Although this bothered me, I would not let this deter me from my decision to attend Harvard.

Not only was it the best institution in the world, but the basketball program with Coach Amaker at the helm was changing the perception of Ivy League Basketball. With multiple Ivy League Championships and NCAA tournament berths, I wanted to be a part of Amaker’s legacy here at Harvard.

Now, fast forwarding to my senior year at Harvard, becoming a part of his legacy and creating my own is something that I can now cross off the list.

Being a part of the Harvard Men’s Basketball program has been the honor of my life. Not only did I get to play basketball representing the best institution in the world, but I also got to experience memories that will last a lifetime. From traveling to Shanghai to play Stanford, participating in the Dia-

A STRONG FINISH In his four seasons at Harvard, Perez scored 127 career points in 56 games. His career-high of 15 points came against Kansas on Dec. 15. TIMOTHY R. O’MEARA—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

mond Head Classic in Hawaii, touring Twitter HQ, meeting President Jimmy Carter, and others, playing for Harvard has taught me more about life than anything.

One of the most important lessons I’ve learned is that anyone can be a part of a team, but being a part of a family takes much more. As Coach Amaker always tells us, “Don’t mistake routine for commitment.”

Being a part of a family takes

commitment and as I now reflect on my time at Harvard, I am lucky to have a family in Harvard Basketball. Furthermore, being able to lead and captain this group of men has been a privilege in my final year.

As our season has now come to an end, I have now made preparations to step away from the game of basketball. My entire childhood has consisted of this game and sure it will be strange to not play basketball

anymore, but I am not ashamed of how the journey turned out.

I had the honor of putting a city on my back and showing them that it is possible to attend a place like Harvard, even while being at such a disadvantage.

I found a family at Harvard and made memories that will last a lifetime. While yes, I have believed I am not supposed to be here, here I am.

Living my dream and trying to inspire others to do the same.

WOMEN’S WATER POLO

Harvard Completes Weekend Sweep in Nation’s Capital

KRISTEN CLEAR On Saturday, senior attacker Kristen Hong tallied eight goals, enough to put her over the school’s career goal record. The previous record was held by Yoshi Anderson with 248. By the end of the day, Hong had tallied 254. TIMOTHY R. O’MEARA—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

By DAVID MANIKAS CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Returning from a week of travel in the West Coast featuring in which the No. 14 Crimson women’s water polo team took on several nationally ranked opponents, Harvard found itself back on the East Coast this weekend.

Traveling to Washington, D.C., the Crimson sought to look past last weekend’s loss to No. 2 ranked Stanford.

“We knew that it was going to be a tough game,” said senior attacker Kristen Hong, reflecting on the match up against Stanford, who currently have a record of 15-1 and knocked off

No. 1 USC this weekend. “But, we were going into it thinking about the lessons that we could take away and bring back to the East Coast to help win an East Coast championship.”

The Crimson bounced back strong, taking all three matches in the weekend slate at the nation’s capital.

Starting with Saturday morning’s match against St. Francis, Harvard dominated its opponents offensively. The Crimson started the game out hot, responding to a St. Francis goal with seven of its own. Possessing a comfortable five-goal leading heading into the second half, Harvard looked to extrap-

olate its commanding play into the final stretch.

And it did just that. The Crimson ended the day scoring 13 goals to the Red Flash’s six, with scoring contributions from eight different players.

However, the game was much more than another conference win for Hong. The squad’s leading scorer last year, tallying 71 goals in the 2018 campaign, Hong entered the weekend just shy of the program’s career-goals goals record held by her former teammate Yoshi Andersen, who scored 248 during her time with the Crimson. Recording a hat-trick against St. Francis put Hong ahead of Andersen and first in Harvard’s all-time goals list.

“I’m just very thankful to have such amazing teammates because without them it wouldn’t be possible for me to come close to this,” Hong said.

“It’s about making the reads, getting each other open, and that type of teamwork helped me get here so I’m really thankful that I played with such amazing girls.”

Harvard claimed the first match of the weekend against St. Francis, 13-6.

Shortly after the first game, Harvard was set to face off against George Washington, the host of the weekend’s matches.

The offensive prowess continued to show for the Crimson in their second match-up, as Harvard jumped out to a lead of eight goals to one. During this half, Hong continued her scoring run, surpassing the 250 career-goal mark. Defensive stops in the third quarter prevented George Washington from closing the gap, as another impressive showing by freshman keeper Zoe Banks held the Colonials to four goals on the game. The Crimson ended the afternoon match with eighteen goals, comfortably outpacing George Washington’s 4 and advancing to the next day to face Bucknell.

“Having a strong freshman class, returning a lot of scoring threats, and being able to shoot from anywhere in the pool makes it really hard for other teams to guard,” Hong said.

The final game of the weekend featured a rematch against No. 24 Bucknell, where Harvard’s eight goals edged out the Bison’s six in the first meeting between the two squads at the Harvard Invite.

The rematch was another close one, as the Crimson’s offensive ability was challenged

by Bucknell’s own hot start.

The teams saw themselves with eight goals apiece entering the half. Although the close contest continued into the beginning of the third period, the Crimson broke out in a scoring run led by junior co-captain and attacker Sofia Carrera-Justiz, who ended the game with a season-high five goals, contributing three assists in the match as well.

Clawing back late, Bucknell scored to bring the lead down to two goals. However, playing against the clock, the Bison’s 13 scores were not enough to top Harvard’s 15.

With the weekend sweep over conference opponents, the Crimson improved its record to 18-4 heading into the final stretch of games before the CWPA championship. Up next for Harvard is another weekend in Blodgett Pool, where seniors Haley Bowe, Hong, and co-captain Sam Acker will be honored in their last home games. The Crimson will be facing the same three conference opponents next weekend, hoping to extend their win-streak to six.

“I’m excited to have our senior game and face off against the same three teams as last weekend,” Hong said. “Everyone is getting ready for this championship tournament and we are looking really good so I’m excited to see how it all pans out after that.” david.manikas@thecrimson.com