The Harvard Crimson - Volume CXLIX, No. 36

The Harvard Crimson THE UNIVERSITY DAILY, EST. 1873

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VOLUME CXLIX, NO. 36

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CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS

| TUESDAY, MARCH 22, 2022

COLUMN PAGE 8

NEWS PAGE 9

SPORTS PAGE 10

Private prisons uphold America’s last legal hope for slavery

Harvard professors discuss Black history at Cambridge Forum event

Harvard women’s lacrosse fell to Jacksonville 21-8

Garland to Speak at Joint Ceremony UC Leaders Unveil New Constitution

By CARA J. CHANG and ISABELLA B. CHO CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

United States Attorney General Merrick B. Garland ’74 will speak at Harvard’s joint Commencement ceremony for the Classes of 2020 and 2021 this spring.

A graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, the Chicago native served as chief judge of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals and held various positions in the Department of Justice before being tapped for its top post by President Joe Biden. In 2016, Garland was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Barack Obama, but Senate Republicans denied him a confirmation hearing. Biden nominated him in 2021 as the 86th Attorney General of the United States.

University President Lawrence S. Bacow praised Garland’s wide-ranging commitment to public service in the Monday press release, including his supervision of the investigation and prosecution of

By J. SELLERS HILL and MERT GEYIKTEPE

­

SEE GARLAND PAGE 9

CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

Undergraduate Council President Michael Y. Cheng ’22 and Vice President Emmett E. de Kanter ’24 unveiled the final draft for a new student body constitution in an email to undergraduates Monday.

The draft, if passed, would entirely dismantle the current UC structure, replacing it with the “Harvard Undergraduate Association,” a body led by two co-presidents and made up of fewer elected members managing seven issue-focused teams.

In the email, Cheng also solicited student signatures to place the draft constitution before a school-wide referendum, which would take place between March 28 and April 1.

In order to take effect, the HUA constitution must be ratified with over two-fifths of the student body turning out to vote and a two-thirds majority voting in favor.

It is a threshold that was con­

United States Attorney General Merrick B. Garland ’74, pictured at the U.S. Justice Department in March 2021.

PHOTO COURTSEY MATTHEW NICHOLS / THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

troversially raised by the UC in the weeks leading up to Cheng’s inauguration.

Cheng also claimed that more than $125,000 of UC funding has been withheld from the body by the Dean of Students Office in response to an ongoing audit of the UC’s finances

by Harvard Risk Management and Audit Services. The audit — a central plank of Cheng’s campaign platform — would be required to take place every three years under the new constitution.

If the new form of student government takes hold, Cheng and de Kanter pledged in the email to return this money to students via “direct refund checks,” but Cheng admitted in an interview that the exact form of repayment was pending.

Assistant Dean Kate Colleran, who has previously acted as a mediator for the body and represents the Dean of Students Office, did not respond to an inquiry on the withheld funding.

SEE UC PAGE 7

Undergraduates Weigh Whether to Keep Masking

By LUCAS J. WALSH and VIVIAN ZHAO CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

With indoor mask-wearing now recommended — but not required — at Harvard College, undergraduates have been left to decide for themselves whether to mask up in most indoor spaces.

Harvard lifted its mask mandate on March 14, when the City of Cambridge ended its own requirement. But the change came on the heels of a surge in cases among undergraduates in the four weeks prior to spring break, when 765 College students tested positive for the virus.

Because of the spike, the school rolled out “College-specific” guidelines that strongly recommend mask-wearing in common spaces and prohibit non-sponsored social gather­

Mask-wearing is now optional for students in most indoor spaces on Harvard’s campus

TRUONG L. NGUYEN—CRIM-

SON PHOTOGRAPHER

ings in indoor residential spaces. The College also increased the undergraduate testing cadence to three times per week until March 28.

In interviews this week, some students expressed apprehension about the timing of the change — which came during spring break — while many others said they were relieved the school is rolling back restrictions.

“I kind of wish we’d wait it off a little bit, especially with everyone coming back for spring break,” said Jamal Nimer ’24.

Scott W. Arbery ’24 agreed the mask mandate was dropped “about a week premature,” but he said it was “about time” for Harvard to lift the requirement.

“I am surprised they did it this early,” said Robert M. “Bobby” McCarthy Jr. ’23.

Others said they trust the school to handle public health

decisions.

“I personally trust the administration when it comes to data and health-based decisions they are making,” said Daniel Shin ’22.

In an email on March 7 announcing the changes to the school’s masking policies, Harvard’s top administrators wrote that “despite the large number of reported cases, there have been very few hospitalizations and no Intensive Care Unit (ICU) admissions this year.”

“Although public health authorities have concluded that the virus causing COVID is likely to continue to circulate among us like the cold or flu, the risks it poses for the health of our community can be managed effectively with less intrusive measures than before,” the email read.

SEE MASKS PAGE 7

Gov. Chris Christie HDS Announces Scholarship Stipend Increase Speaks at IOP Forum

By KENNETH GU

CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

By RAFID M. QUAYUM CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie analyzed the state of the Republican party and President Joe Biden’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in a Harvard Institute of Politics Forum on Monday.

Christie served two terms as governor from 2010 to 2018 and briefly ran for president in the 2016 election before dropping out of the race following a loss in the Republican New Hampshire primary. Harvard Kennedy School professor David R. Gergen moderated the event alongside Bridget K. Toomey ’23.

When asked about the Biden administration’s response to the war in Ukraine, Christie criticized the United States’ relations with Russia throughout the last two decades.

“To look at it just as a Biden administration technique is to not really understand the nature of the crisis,” he said. “This crisis, in my view, really started in 2008 when President Bush, 43, took a rather passive approach to Vladimir Putin’s en­

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Harvard Today 2

try into Georgia.”

Christie added he believes former President Barack Obama also did not adequately react to Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, setting a precedent that failed to deter Putin from invading Ukraine.

He also said he thinks pressuring Russia to completely withdraw from Ukraine would be “an impossible task” and called for the United States to follow the lead of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in any future negotiations.

“I think we should be guided in large measure by what Zelenskyy is willing to accept,” Christie said. “And if Zelenskyy is willing to accept something that doesn’t morally offend us, we should be willing to back them up.”

Looking forward to the 2022 midterm elections, Christie was optimistic about the Republican party’s future, predicting the party may assume a majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. He noted, however, that the Senate may pose a larger challenge for

SEE IOP PAGE 7

Arts 3

News 7

The Harvard Divinity School will increase its stipend payouts for need-based and merit scholarship packages beginning this fall.

The change, which was announced by HDS Dean David N. Hempton earlier this month, will apply to current and incoming students.

The Divinity School currently provides three levels of needbased financial aid — a package covering 75 percent of tuition, a second package that covers full tuition, and a third that covers full tuition and provides a stipend. The change will increase stipend amounts, but needbased aid that covers tuition will remain the same.

“Our grant aid packages of 75 percent and 100 percent will remain the same, but HDS remains committed to working to identify opportunities to continue to strengthen our aid programs in the years to come,” Tim Whelsky, HDS’s associate dean for enrollment and student services, said in a Q&A posted on the Divinity School’s website.

Whelsky said in the Q&A ­

SEE HDS PAGE 7

Editorial 8

Sports 10

The Harvard Divinity School is located on 45 Francis Ave. in Cambridge. TRUONG L. NGUYEN—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

TODAY’S FORECAST

SUNNY High: 50 Low: 30

VISIT THECRIMSON.COM. FOLLOW @THECRIMSON ON TWITTER.

cupcake

THE HARVARD CRIMSON |

MARCH 22, 2022

PAGE 2

HARVARD TODAY

For Lunch Chicken Vindaloo Grilled Reuben Sandwich Palak Tofu

For Dinner General Gao’s Chicken Honey-Ginger Salmon Beijing Style Crispy Tofu

TODAY’S EVENTS Welcome Spring: Flower Giveaway!

Smith Campus Center Arcade, 12 -2 p.m.

IN THE REAL WORLD

Spring is finally here, so don’t forget to stop by the Smith Center Arcade to celebrate. To make up for the loss of sleep from Daylight savings and get rid of winter blues, the Common

U.S. to Send Soviet Air Defense Systems It Obtained to Ukraine

The United States plans to send air defense systems it secretly obtained from the Soviet Union to Ukraine as the Ukrainian military contends with Russian air and missile attacks. The U.S. secretly obtained the systems decades ago to better understand the Russian military’s technology and is now using it in its effort to bolster Ukraine’s air defense.

Scholar Activism: The Role of Academia in Advancing Social Justice and Racial Equity Virtual, 5-6 p.m.

Interested in academic activism? Join Natalia Linos, ScD, Executive Director of the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard and other panelists to discuss what it means to be a scholar-activist.

Ammonia Leak in Eastern Ukraine Contaminates 1.5-Mile Radius

Students were greeted back to campus with mild weather and blue skies in Cambridge. TRUONG L. NGUYEN—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

AROUND THE IVIES

Founders & Joiners Mixer Harvard Innovation Labs , 6-7 p.m.

PRINCETON: Women’s basketball ousts Kentucky for second March Madness win in program history —THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

Want to meet talented people from Harvard? Want to join a venture?

Looking for team members for your venture? Join the Harvard Innovation Labs for a Founders & Joiners Mixer to form new connections and bonds!

CORNELL: Cornell sailing fares well in weekend competitions —THE CORNELL DAILY SUN BROWN: ‘Black Motherhood Through the Lens’ documentary raises awareness about Black maternal health issues —THE BROWN DAILY HERALD PENN: Penn students commend Penn Medicine professor’s campaign platform in U.S. Senate race —THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN

A chemical plant in the city of Sumy in eastern Ukraine sustained an ammonia leak that has contaminated an area with a radius of at least 2.5 kilometers. The plant is located on the eastern end of the city, which has been under attack

by Russian troops over the past few weeks.

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas Hospitalized, Recovering From Infection

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is recovering from an infection in Sibley Memorial Hospital. He has been receiving intravenous antibiotics and could be released within the next few days, making a full recovery. He will participate in Supreme Court activities virtually, and the Court has confirmed that he does not have Covid-19.

COVID UPDATES

LAST 7 DAYS CURRENTLY

CAMPUS

50

In Isolation

87 0.54%

Total New Cases

Positivity Rate

LAST 7 DAYS

CAMBRIDGE

201 1.71% 76%

Total New Cases

Positivity Rate

Fully Vaccinated

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY Popkin Faces Jail Sentence In Contempt of Court Case

A former Harvard professor of government refused to testify in front of a grand jury regarding the Pentagon Papers. As a result, he was found in contempt of court and briefly jailed.

March 22, 1972

Music Department to Adopt New Curriculum Beginning Fall 2017

The Harvard music department upgraded curriculum to require fewer courses and allow for more classes to satisfy concentration requirements.

March 22, 2017

THE UNIVERSITY DAILY, EST. 1873

The Harvard Crimson Raquel Coronell Uribe ’22-’23 Associate Managing Editors Kelsey J. Griffin ’23 President Taylor C. Peterman ’23-’24 Jasper G. Goodman ’23 Associate Business Managers Managing Editor Taia M.Y. Cheng ’23-’24 Isabelle L. Guillaume ’24 Amy X. Zhou ’23 Business Manager Editorial Chairs Guillermo S. Hava ’23-24 Orlee G.S. Marini-Rapoport ’23-24

STAFF FOR THIS ISSUE Arts Chairs Sofia Andrade ’23-’24 Jaden S. Thompson ’23

Design Chairs Yuen Ting Chow ’23 Madison A. Shirazi ’23-’24

Magazine Chairs Maliya V. Ellis ’23-’24 Sophia S. Liang ’23

Multimedia Chairs Aiyana G. White ’23 Pei Chao Zhuo ’23

Blog Chairs Ellen S. Deng ’23-’24 Janani Sekar ’23-’24

Technology Chairs Ziyong Cui ’24 Justin Y. Ye ’24

Sports Chairs Alexandra N. Wilson ’23-’24 Griffin H. Wong ’24

Night Editor Simon J. Levien ’23-’24

Photo Editor Pei Chao Zhuo ’23

Assistant Night Editors Miles J. Herszenhorn ’25 Nia L. Orakwue ’25

Editorial Editor Manny A. Yepes ’24

Story Editors Jasper G. Goodman ’23 Kelsey J. Griffin ’23 Taylor C. Peterman ’23-’24

Sports Editor William Connaughton ’22

Design Editors Camille G. Caldera ’22 Toby R. Ma ’24

CORRECTIONS Copyright 2022, 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.

Due to a typographical error, the March 21 op-ed “Why I’m Resigning From the UC” featured an extraneous first line that had not been penned by the author; rather the line was from a past Staff Editorial and read: “The world is full of injustice, but never worse than when it affects Harvard students.” In fact, the op-ed’s first sentence should read as follows: “I was first introduced to the Harvard Undergraduate Council at a Virtual Visitas information session last year.”

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MARCH 22, 2022

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ARTS THEATER

SHAKESPEARE SHOULD BE ACTIVISM

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Nothing screams cutting-edge activist theater like a Shakespeare play.

Shakespeare Should Be Activism

THEATER

VIVIENNE GERMAIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

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‘AFTER YANG‘ OFFERS FEW ANSWERS

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PROFILE: CASS DIMICCO AND MATTHEW HOYLE

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‘JOE VS. CAROLE’ IS TOO LITTLE TOO LATE

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ARTIST PROFILE: WELCOME TO SHOCK’S WORLD

FILM

Kogonada’s latest has all the trappings of a modern sci-fi film: stunning cinematography, an experimental premise, and a beautifully austere score.

Meet influencer Cass DiMicco, co-founder of Aureum Collective

CULTURE

As the follow up to “Tiger King,” the latest television adaptation didn’t quite make the mark

TV

“Right to the top, my boy, right to the top,” says Braden Shock Ellis ‘23.

MUSIC

‘THIS IS HOW YOUR MARRIAGE ENDS’ REVIEW: A MISGUIDED MANUAL TO RELATIONSHIPS

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BOOKS

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Teaching men to navigate around the feelings of women doesn’t take into account that women are rational beings capable of understanding logic as well as emotion.

BOSTON BALLET’S CHOREOGRAPHER TAKES THE STAGE AT OPERA HOUSE

CAMPUS

“It was really amazing to see so many of my colleagues stepping into different styles of dance,” company dancer Schuyler C. Wijsen said in an interview about the program.

Though William Shakespeare’s works were written centuries ago, their messages remain topical, and their malleability allows directors, actors, and production teams to push those messages further or even in alternate directions. Shakespeare’s works are timely, controversial, and radical — artists can and should approach them as a vehicle for activism.

The common modern-day sentiment around Shakespeare mischaracterizes his plays as outdated and boring. The misconception is understandable — due to the unexciting way they are presented in many middle and high schools and the barrier of the old, heightened language — but inaccurate. Shakespeare’s plays can make for thrilling performances, with their timeless and labyrinthine plots, fierce and assertive female characters, bone-chilling and coldhearted villains, and carefully crafted verse and prose. With just a couple of choices by the production team to make the stories more accessible, the audiences, too, can find the plays thrilling.

Not only are Shakespeare’s plays entertaining, but they also offer unparalleled potential to address contemporary issues. In fact, the content suggests that Shakespeare wanted his plays to be used in this way. He packs many of them with sociopolitical commentary: “The Tempest” urges audiences to question colonialism and slavery, “Othello” prompts reflection on racism and misogyny, and “Twelfth Night” begs for consideration of gender and sexuality. It would be remiss to ignore these opportunities, and even his seemingly non-activist plays can be performed through an activist lens.

Shakespeare’s plays hold a huge potential for activism, and they also serve as a blank slate because so much about them is unclear and unknown, rendering it appropriate and even necessary for theatermakers to contemporize them. Half of Shakespeare’s plays were never performed in his lifetime, the earliest known publication of his complete works was not arranged until after his death, and the various early editions of his texts have significant variations, which means it is impossible to know his original intentions. With Shakespeare, the pursuit of authenticity is futile, which gives artists greater flexibility and creativity with the source material. Artists should take advantage of this interpretive potential, because as recent stagings show, by doing so, the plays become the perfect platform for activism.

In 2021, Shakespeare’s Globe in London presented an edgy, fast-paced, contemporary “Romeo and Juliet” directed by Ola Ince. The play commented on adolescent mental health. Statements such as “about 20% of teenagers experience depression before they reach adulthood” and “75% of children with mental health issues are not receiving treatment” hung above the stage during the play; one deliberately chosen statement at a time framed the audience’s comprehension of each scene. The choice was slightly heavy-handed but powerful and effective, particularly in conjunction with red heart Converse high-tops, a Squishmallow plush, and Mercutio’s e-cigarette vaping habit, which ensured the audience never forgot the characters were representing present-day teenagers.

“Romeo and Juliet” is usually an exhausted play, but Ince re-energized it and reworked it to make audiences reflect on modern-day societal issues she finds important. She examined Shakespeare’s text and highlighted moments and concepts that resonated with her. When Juliet killed herself — in this adaptation, shooting herself in the mouth with a handgun — it was devastating and painful to watch, but it did not feel silly and meaningless, as it does in many productions. It felt like she and the other teenage characters were vulnerable to mental health struggles and not provided with sufficient support from adults, a message that rang relevant to 2021

theater-goers.

In 2019, The Public Theater brought Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing” to New York City with an all-Black cast, directed by Kenny Leon. The play was jubilant, it was full of both laughable and soft, heartfelt moments, and crucially, it was unapologetically Black. It embraced Black culture through music, hair, costumes, and other key choices, like a distinct “okurrr” uttered by Brooks. Aside from the “Stacey Abrams 2020” banner positioned onstage, this production of “Much Ado About Nothing” was not overwhelmingly political — but it was a celebration of Black joy and Black excellence, which is in many ways a radical act.

Casting only Black actors in a play featuring happy, affluent, confident characters allowed Leon to uplift and center Blackness — a powerful and much-needed endeavor in today’s America — through a play written in 1599. Shakespeare probably did not have this goal while creating “Much Ado About Nothing,” which contributes to the brilliance of Leon’s work. Leon reclaimed the play, and another director may reclaim the same play in a different way. Not only did Leon add the unexpected racial dimension, but he also identified ideas that already existed within the text (the value of protest, appreciation of nonconformity, and challenging the patriarchy) and emphasized them in harmony with the racial messaging. “Much Ado About Nothing” is not inherently an activist play, but Leon realized it as such.

Some Shakespeare plays are socially problematic, but they can still be shaped into activist theater.

For example, the Royal Shakespeare Company’s 2020 London production of “The Taming of the Shrew,” directed by Justin Audibert, reimagined the misogynistic play by gender-swapping the roles and setting it in a matriarchal society. Perhaps there is space to develop a progressive production of Shakespeare’s misogynistic “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” or his antisemitic “The Merchant of Venice.” It would require intense creative reworking, but it may be possible.

Activist productions such as Ince’s “Romeo and Juliet,” Leon’s “Much Ado About Nothing,” and Audibert’s “The Taming of the Shrew” are the most successful approaches to Shakespeare performances.

They resonate with modern-day audiences and fully exploit the opportunities extended by the text. Art is political; artists should claim this fact and use it to their and others’ benefit. Shakespeare’s works are too valuable for theatermakers and theatergoers to allow them to fall out of relevance. There is no need to paraphrase the language; Shakespeare’s 16th-century words can and should be used to speak to 21st-century issues.

Michelle Liu—Crimson Designer

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22 March 2022 | Vol CXLIX, ISSUE 12 Arts Chairs Sofia Andrade ’23-’24 Jaden S. Thompson ’23

Editors-at-Large Clara V. Nguyen ’23-’24 Sara Komatsu ’23 Chibuike K. Uwakwe ’23

Editor Associates Hannah T. Chew ’23 Isabella B. Cho ’24 Daniel S. de Castro ’24 Nina M. Foster ’23 Anya L. Henry ’24 Ryan S. Kim ’23

Zachary J. Lech ’24 Charles W. McCormick ’24 Jamila R. O’Hara ’23 Harper R. Oreck ’23 Alisa S. Regassa ’24

Executive Designer Nayeli Cardozo ’25

Design Associate Ashley E. Bryant ’23

THE HARVARD CRIMSON |

MARCH 22, 2022

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FILM ‘After Yang’ Offers Few Answers CHASE MELTON CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Courtesy of IMP Awards

“After Yang” has all the trappings of a modern sci-fi film: stunning cinematography, an experimental premise, and a beautifully austere score (in this case composed by the legendary composer Ryuichi Sakamoto). Its setting is futuristic, but the technology that the characters interact with is not particularly exciting; we’ve seen similar holographic glasses

and humanoid robots in last year’s “Swan Song” and A24’s own “Ex Machina.” What is undeniably new about “After Yang,” though, is its ultimate undertaking: By building a world in which families may buy synthetic, “Chinese” humanoid robots meant to connect their adopted Chinese children to their heritage, the film approaches the question of whether culture can be programmed.

At times, this theme is tackled with painful blatancy. At one point, a prominent character asks in reference to Yang, one such robot or “techno,” “What makes someone Asian?”

The remainder of “After Yang” lords the question over the audience, as if leading up to an answer. Despite some poignant metaphors and standalone tearjerker moments, though, the question is left sorely underexplored, and the film’s impact is dampened by this ultimate failure to rise to its occasion.

“After Yang” centers on a family living in a futuristic setting, possibly the United States — minimal other clues are provided. The mother, Kyra, is Black; the father, Jake, is white; and their daughter, Mika, is Chinese. And then there’s Yang — the family’s “techno,” who is somewhat considered Mika’s brother, though the fact of the parents’ ownership of him and their overdependence on him to guide Mika through everyday life casts him as more of a servile figure. When Yang malfunctions and begins to decompose during a nationwide family dance battle, Jake turns to several specialists for help, some sketchier than others. One sketchy specialist has flyers reading both “No yellow in the red, white, and blue,” and “YELLOW PERIL” on a corkboard in his breakroom. (Whether this literature is intended to situate the film’s futuristic setting within the modern-day movement against AAPI hate is not immediately evident, but it is immediately confusing.) The specialist, named Russ, grants Jake access to a gadget loaded with short clips of Yang’s memories. Jake’s findings cause him to rethink his relationships: with Yang, with his daughter, and with the uber-advanced technology so intertwined with his conception of humanity.

The incredibly specific premise of “After Yang” is refreshing, regardless of the confusion it may cause its audience. (In this future America, do considerably more couples adopt Chinese children? If not, what is the market for “technos” like Yang?) However, the film’s themes of displacement and ethnic belonging — sorely under- or misrepresented themes in film today — are not adequately addressed. In short, the film bites off more than it can chew. The tragedy of Yang’s undying subservience to the family, even amid their neglect to affirm him

as an individual, is left to the viewer to bemoan. But it would be easier for the viewer to mourn this loss of individuality if Yang were given more screen time. Despite some flashbacks, Yang’s character growth is stunted by the fact of his deadness; he is a robot corpse for three-quarters of the film.

Kogonada, the director of “After Yang,” also directed the 2017 film “Columbus,” at once a story of intellectual love and an ode to the architecture of the American Midwest. Kogonada’s directorial tendency to decenter plot in favor of more spontaneous, nonlinear filmmaking does not succeed in “After Yang” the way it did in “Columbus.” “After Yang” would have benefitted from additional backstory as well as a more concrete form of world-building — which “Columbus,” backlit by predictable American suburbia (while itself not a predictable film), didn’t quite need Yang’s character shines in its fullest form in various flashbacks, after Mika’s dependence on him over her overworked parents is established. Yang applies a repository of fun facts to questions in Mika’s life, and even uses the metaphor of grafted fruit trees to assuage Mika’s complicated thoughts on familial belonging. Jake ultimately sees these moments through Yang’s eyes — the chip in Yang’s body seems to have stored his prominent memories as rewatchable clips. More tree imagery appears when a love interest of Yang’s reads him an excerpt of Maya Angelou’s poem, “When Great Trees Fall.”

Had the reference been more prominent, rather than relegated to a hazy montage, it would have struck harder. Instead, any pathos stemming from the inclusion of the poem is Angelou’s own doing.

Earlier in another flashback (which, in an innovative and effective strategy, staggers slightly varying visuals and dialogue to mirror the subjectivity of each person’s memory), Yang and Jake chat over tea and question a line from a documentary in which a German man claims that an authentic tea can transport its drinker to a different place and time. The two down their cups and ultimately disagree with the German man. The message is clear: The notion that technology can replace cultural experience is a myth. This tea metaphor is fitting; the premise of “After Yang” hints toward immense possibility, but its execution ultimately leaves little taste in the mouth.

CULTURE

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Profile: Cass DiMicco and Matthew Hoyle ANNA MOISEIEVA CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

ureum Collective, founded by Cass DiMicco and Matthew L. Hoyle ’13, is a jewelry brand combining high quality metals with timelessly beautiful designs to create pieces that exude luxury and versatility. Hailing from backgrounds in fashion and finance, respectively, DiMicco and Hoyle decided to pursue their passion for design, marketing, and direct consumer interaction in 2019 by founding Aureum Collective. In a recent Zoom interview with The Harvard Crimson, the pair sat down to discuss their growing brand.

DiMicco and Hoyle were excited to talk about what inspired Aureum’s founding and what makes the brand stand out. Motivated by a hole they saw in the market, DiMicco and Hoyle wanted to create pieces that had a “high-fashion feel at a more accessible price point.” Hoyle emphasized on the Zoom call how 24-carat gold wasn’t prevalent in pieces they saw from other brands.

“It’s kind of like our brand ethos, it differentiates ourselves and really stands out when people wear it,” Hoyle said of their use of material.

According to DiMicco and Hoyle, customer feedback is at the core of Aureum’s values. The brand launched in September of 2019 with an eight-piece collection, a short five months from its initial conception. Hoyle said this quick turnaround was made possible by direct communication with customers.

“We really had this direct feedback that we used to design the pieces and design the company itself,” he said.

DiMicco left her corporate job several years prior to Aureum’s founding to become a full-time influencer. Around the same time, Hoyle left his finance job, giving the pair time to focus on getting the brand off the ground. Their experiences in fashion influencing and finance, while not directly related to their current work, helped DiMicco and Hoyle find their true passions and set them on this path. “It gave us a specific bit of professionalism, and working in a corporate environment helps when starting to run a company,” DiMicco said.

Aureum’s jewelry is a unique combination of effortless classical style and modern trends that remain wearable for months and years to come. When asked about design influences for Aureum’s pieces, DiMicco said her and Hoyle took inspiration from a variety of sources, from high-end fashion to trending time periods or colors to even the furniture in DiMicco’s home.

Though Aureum has seen success since its launch, DiMicco described the challenges they’ve faced finding people to join their team. While Hoyle and DiMicco have been at the helm since Aureum’s inception, giving up total control and hiring a team has been a difficult but necessary step. “Matt and I really pour our heart and soul into Aureum and work like seven days a week,” she said. “So finding people that will maybe share even just a fraction of that passion for it has been difficult,” DiMicco said.

Social media has also been invaluable to Aureum’s success.

DiMicco has always wanted to start a brand and envisioned social media being a key part of that brand’s marketing. Of the brand’s aesthetics, DiMicco said, “We always put a lot of effort into what our packaging looks like and the unboxing, because we’ve had so many people who will share the unboxing of their Aureum products and it’s nice to have a more personable touch to everything we do.”

DiMicco and Hoyle are quite proud of the community that they’ve created through Aureum. Going beyond influencers, celebrities, and models, Aureum caters to a wider audience and encourages active engagement over social media.

Looking to the future, DiMicco said Aureum is in search of companies to do co-branded products and social shoots with.

Hoyle and DiMicco hope to expand into categories beyond jewelry with brands that share their values.

Quality, style, and community are at the heart of Aureum Collective, making up the brand’s past, present, and undoubtedly its future. For now, readers can check out DiMicco’s Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok for more information on her work.

Staff writer Anna Moiseieva can be reached at anna.moiseieva@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter at @AMoiseieva.

Courtesy of Sam Dameshek

THE HARVARD CRIMSON |

MARCH 22, 2022

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PAGE 5

TV

W

hen the documentary “Tiger King” premiered on Netflix in March 2020, it quickly became a cultural phenomenon. With families across the world suddenly plunged into quarantine, binging television together became a bonding experience many turned to in adjusting to the new normal. “Tiger King”’s absurdity made it an instant success in this domain. With a slew of eccentric characters and an outlandish story, there was immediate interest in adapting the story to a scripted series. In the documentary’s height, production began on “Joe vs. Carole.”.

Two years later, the show has finally premiered exclusively on NBC’s streaming platform Peacock.

By now, excitement for “Tiger King” has certainly died down. The Nov. 2021 release of the second season theoretically could have drummed up more interest, but instead was met with poor reviews and accusations of beating a dead horse. “Joe vs. Carole” had a large hurdle to overcome, and unfortunately it didn’t quite make the mark.

When recreating a story that has already been told, it’s important to figure out what a new adaptation adds to the conversation. Because “Tiger King” tells the entire tale of big cats and murder in retrospect, “Joe vs. Carole” adds in the way of recreation. It’s much easier to relate to a lived experience when a viewer can see the events firsthand, rather than through an interview response. In “Joe vs. Carole,” the audience can better relate to Carole Baskin on a human level. She may be odd, she may make some shocking fashion choices, but Carole Baskin should never have been perceived as the villain of the “Tiger King” story. Joe Exotic garnered his audience support through his boldness and charisma, rather than his actions. According to the scripted adaptation, viewers were far too quick to believe his side and dismiss all of the troubling allegations against him. “Joe vs. Carole” fleshes out both characters in a more sympathetic and well-rounded manner, pushing the viewer to agree that, in the end, Joe Exotic should never have been rallied behind. his series also features a standout performance from Kate McKinnon as Carole Baskin. John Cameron Mitchell also does an admirable job in his role as Joe Exotic, but he’s a far less complex character to portray. McKinnon’s performance is more nuanced and genuine, which informs the uncharismatic reception of Baskin as an interviewee in “Tiger King.”

Despite Baskin’s humorous personality, McKinnon entirely deviates from her comedic roles in a more grounded portrayal. Her dynamic with Kyle MacLachlan, who plays the role of Baskin’s husband Howard, is perhaps the most compelling element of the show. The remainder of the cast, with a few exceptions, has clear difficulty hitting the mark of realistically depicting these characters and storylines, with many performances coming off as forced and awkward.

What the series lacks compared to the original documentary is the element of surprise. What made “Tiger King” so compelling was the unbelievable twists and turns in the plot.

Any scripted adaptation of this material will inherently lack the suspense that created the foundation for the franchise. In “Tiger King,” we knew the outcome from the first episode, but the path to get there was unwaveringly fascinating. In “Joe vs.

Carole,” we are following a path that we already know. Those that have delved into the “Tiger King” universe, including those who watched Season Two, would already know all of the information provided. “Joe vs. Carole” merely repackages it.

Another glaring shortcoming of “Joe vs. Carole” is its underwhelming use of visual effects. Of course, using real tigers would defeat the purpose of protecting the wildlife that was shown abused in “Tiger King.” Still, the CGI animals are painfully distracting. Furthermore, the cinematography also remains uninspired and flat. The scripted series would have been the perfect opportunity to diverge from the documentary’s straightforward visual style and try something more experimental, but it is shot in essentially the same way as the original.

While “Joe vs. Carole” may cement Carole Baskin as a maligned woman in the scope of public opinion, it adds exceptionally little in the way of entertainment and information.

Even the most loyal fans of the “Tiger King” franchise will have difficulty connecting to the series. When a new fad show reaches popularity, it’s important to evaluate its longevity.

“Tiger King” benefited heavily from a miracle of timing — but given “Joe vs. Carole”’s two year production timeline, it was unrealistic to expect the audience would stick around.

‘Joe vs. Carole’ Is Too Little Too Late JULIA R. KENNISH CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Staff writer Julia Kennish can be reached at julia.kennish@thecrimson.com.

Courtesy of Mark Taylor/Peacock.

MUSIC Artist Profile: Welcome to Shock’s World A.J. VENEZIANO CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

The Harvard Crimson: “What’s your trajectory in the next five years?

Shock: “Right to the top, my boy, right to the top.”

Shock picked up the violin when he was four. Then he moved to the cello. Then the bass. Between the Juilliard Pre-College program, NYO, Curtis Summerfest, and Interlochen, he found a new love: producing. “My dad produces for fun and used to do it a lot back in college and I was like ‘that’s so cool’ so I started doing it myself; so I taught myself,” he said in an interview with The Harvard Crimson. “I learned, outside of bass, how to play guitar, electric bass, drums, and a little bit of trombone when I need to, and piano most prominently.”

In high school, rather than the typical path, he took college classes and allowed his musical exploration to take over his academic free time.“I had all this other time where kids are in school from seven to three … to explore my sound and develop,” he said. Collaboration with other artists, he found, became an integral part of the musical journey.

“One of my friends I used to play with in high school, Julian Miltenberger ’22. I was in a band with him. We had a really nice pianist named Micah Graves. The way that they meshed together, I wanted to be them so bad. They had so much groove, so much style, and I would just try to imitate that,” he added. “rriving at Harvard, a world of artistic freedom and possibility opened up for Shock. “In high school, I was always really busy with the classical stuff,” he said. “I have mad ADHD, so making beats was like my escape from everything else; I would always be making all this kind of random stuff, but since I got here more people have a demand for one kind of thing over the other.”

By responding to requests for “slimy” and “Young Thugtype” beats, Shock found a new niche. Indeed, his status as a musician on campus is well-known to both friends and peers

Dylan J. Goodman—Crimson Photographer

alike. “Mostly, what people know me as is the producer or the guy who makes music… that’s kind of been becoming part of the brand that I’ve been developing, which is cool because I always get to share with people what I’ve been working on recently,” Shock said.

The moniquer “Shock” is also a testament to his transforming brand in college. Originally, he went by Brady Williams but changed the name to Shock Apollo upon a friend’s suggestion. As he said, “I dropped the ‘Apollo’ later. It stuck because the phrase became ‘Ayo Shock, gimme a beat.’”

Musically, partly thanks to his rigorous classical training aided by natural talent, Shock sees — or rather, hears — the world with a unique perspective. “As someone with synesthesia and perfect pitch, any time I hear a note I immediately get to thinking something I can’t get away from,” he said. “If I’m at a party, I’m immediately starting to break down what the kick pattern of a song is, what key it’s in, what I feel like they — the producer — could’ve done better. It’s instant.”

He integrates this dynamic relationship into his music, allowing him to create not only a complex product, but a fresh one.

“When I play certain notes, I see certain colors, so when I play chords or chord progressions I see this thing happening…. I try to make my beats kind of vivid in that sort of way,” he said. “ I try to make my beats feel kind of surreal, but very familiar at the same time. It’s also what I try to do when I play bass: keep it interesting, but also something you’ve never heard before.”

When it’s time to make a track, Shock follows one of three paths. One option is to go to YouTube, search by least-viewed first, find a sample, and chop it up as necessary. More often than not, however, he starts with piano and crafts the other sounds around as necessary. Or, if low on inspiration, he searches through his libraries and finds a sound he likes.

Impressively, Shock works without professional machines or studios; all he needs is his mind and his computer. “My dad had this Akai MPC3000 that he got in 1994 or something — the week it came out — but I always thought it was a hassle to use,” the producer said. “Logic has this function called musical typing where you can use your keyboard to play beat pads, although it only uses one velocity … but I’ve gotten really good at that.”

In Logic, Shock is able to craft his sound and come into his own. To his surprise, people often tell him his tracks sound like Ye’s. He said, “‘I’m like ‘ok, that’s interesting’ because I don’t listen to a whole lot of Kanye stuff nor do I really follow Kanye that much. I suppose that’s a good sign, I guess. I like to chop a lot of gospel and soul samples, so that might be why people get that idea.”

Rather than listen to other producers for inspiration — even

his favorites Brock Berrigan and 40 Ali — Shock describes his sound as “self-inspired.” “Because I would just listen to my own stuff a whole lot, it would give me new ideas based off of my own sound,” he said. “I’ve been trying to branch out a little bit — learn something new — which is how you keep developing.”

In terms of genre, Shock doesn’t consider himself tied to one specific area. “I produce pop stuff, future funk, oldies-style 90s-style ballads,” he added. “So whatever you need, I know how to do,” he said. However, Shock’s journey does not stop here. In fact, this is just the beginning. While Shock is currently known as a producer, the goal is to be the headliner.

“I’d like to rap and stuff, too,” he said. “It’d be crazy if I could just hop up on stage and then play every instrument that’s up there, on some Prince-type stuff. I’m not trying to repeat what Lil Wayne did with that little guitar solo back in the day; I know what I’m doing on the instruments.”

The vision is there, and it’s a fresh one. ““I just think that’s the type of artist you didn’t see that much: someone who can rap, but also be able to play a lot of instruments — like a musician who’s also a rapper but a rapper who’s also a really good musician. When was the last time you saw that? Hopefully I can combine those too and bring some good music,” he said.

The ride to the top can be lonely at times, but Shock has a team of supporters following him closely.

“The first person I’d probably shout out is my brother, who’s also a freshman here. When I would be making beats or just any kind of music … he’d always let me know when something sounded fucked up: ‘Nah that was boof bro you’ve gotta take that one back to the studio. Work on it again.’ Even if I thought it was fire, I could always trust his judgment, which has been invaluable,” he said.

The future is bright, but Shock’s vision is brighter. He said, “If anyone sees me out in the street say ‘ayo Shock what’s up?’

If you need beats, I got you. Watch out for me in five years.”

Staff writer A.J. Veneziano can be reached at aj.veneziano@ thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @aj_veneziano.

THE HARVARD CRIMSON |

MARCH 22, 2022

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PAGE 6

BOOKS ‘This Is How Your Marriage Ends’ Review: A Misguided Manual to Relationships SARAH W. FABER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

I

n “This Is How Your Marriage Ends,” Matthew Fray argues that marriages end not with a bang but with a whimper. In his debut self-help book, the relationship counselor offers readers insight into how to save their relationships using examples from his own marriage and those of his clients. Unfortunately, the advice he offers fails to consider the female perspective and in fact often infantilizes and vilifies women.

To start, take the so-called “Fish Sandwich Incident” that Fray highlights in the introduction to the book. In the anecdote, one of Fray’s clients, Grayson, calls him in an irate panic. He has eaten a fish sandwich and is calling preemptively to solicit advice on how to deal with his wife, who is sure to freak out about his eating a fish sandwich despite their collective resolution to be vegan. Grayson is defensive and attempts to dismiss his wife’s hypothetical anger, blaming his decision on a lack of restaurant options during the pandemic and his overwhelming hunger. But Fray tells Grayson that none of that matters — the wife would be hurt that Grayson betrayed her and a promise they made. It’s not about the fish sandwich, it’s about the way she feels.

The problem with this approach, as with many of Fray’s pieces of advice to his presumably male audience, is that teaching men to navigate around the feelings of women doesn’t take into account that women are rational beings capable of understanding logic as well as emotion. In this example, Grayson’s wife is so hypothetically blinded by the stinging betrayal of Grayson’s fish sandwich consumption that she cannot grasp any of his reasoning. By advising Grayson to cater to his wife’s feelings, Fray perpetuates the image of Grayson’s wife as irrational and driven by emotion rather than reason.

Another example of Fray magically projecting the feelings of women is when he explains the true problem with leaving dishes in the sink instead of in the dishwasher. For three-quarters of a page, Fray urges his readers to imagine themselves as a woman who spends all day thinking about her husband: what to make him for dinner, what gifts to get his parents for the holidays, how he would feel about every decision she makes. At the end of the day, how frustrating is it that she also has to deal with his dishes? While his intentions are good, Fray sounds blatantly misogynistic in assuming that there is very little going on in any given wife’s life outside of

her husband and her kids.

Fray initially gained traction on the internet from this very anecdote about his dishes in a blog post titled “She Divorced Me Because I Left Dishes By The Sink”. Many portions of the book are lifted from his blog posts — for example, his “Monster-Under-the-Bed-Theory” comes from a blog post he wrote for “The Good Men Project,” a site with the copyrighted slogan “the conversation no one else is having” to which Fray often contributes. The theory goes like this: When a kid says there’s a monster under his bed, you don’t dismiss his feelings and tell him there’s no monsters. Instead, you tell him that you hear him, that it sucks to have that feeling, and that you’ll check and make sure there’s no monsters. He applies this to relationships, and argues that everyone should use the same tenderness with their partner. Like in the fish sandwich example, Fray has decent intentions but infantilizes women and reduces them to illogical emotions.

Fray’s framework is to explain how the way he hurt others helped him become a better person and attempt to guide others towards self-improvement. Fray relies on self-deprecating humor to describe the ways in which his actions hurt his wife, emphasizing his poor character to establish credibility for the advice he gives. This has two negative effects: First, it makes readers feel uncomfortable and guilty to support, with their time and money, someone making a career and profits off of treating his wife poorly. Second, it erodes readers’ trust in the author.

IIn one section, Fray describes the adverse effects of toxic masculinity, citing the statistic that men are more likely to commit suicide and have more trouble reaching out for mental healthcare. While this is an incredibly important issue to discuss, 50 pages earlier, Fray recalls how he and his friends bullied a gay kid at their high school into attempting suicide.

His hypocrisy makes readers less sympathetic to his struggles, which he blames vaguely on the way society treats men.

Fray’s book is bound to leave readers with more feminist rage and less faith in men than when they started reading.

While the author has good intentions, “This Is How Your Marriage Ends” reads more like a guide to making readers feel better about the people they hurt, rather than a roadmap to a successful 21st-century marriage.

Courtesy of HarperCollins Publishers

CAMPUS Boston Ballet’s ChoreograpHER Takes the Stage at Opera House

T

he curtain at the Citizens Bank Opera House raised on March 3rd to the first show of Boston Ballet’s ChoreograpHER, which runs until March 13th. The opening night featured five world premieres choreographed by female artists from a variety of creative fields, ranging from visual arts to modern dance.

The pieces were created by New York City Ballet principal dancer Tiler Peck, award-winning modern dancer Melissa Toogood, Boston Ballet’s own principal dancer Lia Cirio, internationally[-]acclaimed visual artist Shantell Martin, and renowned choreographer and Harvard alumnus Claudia Schreier ‘08.

The program features a diverse set of ballet and dance styles, each representing different meanings.

“It was really amazing to see so many of my colleagues stepping into different styles of dance,” company dancer Schuyler C. Wijsen said in an interview about the program.

Melissa Toogood’s dance featured contemporary styles and techniques, a contrast to some of the other more classical pieces in the program.

Wijsen continued, “Watching Melissa’s ballet in the studio for the first time I was blown away, and I thought these are my colleagues; I take class with them every day and here they are doing these incredible things.”

For many of the performers and choreographers, the show was a long time coming. Another company dancer, Louise C. Hautefeuille, recounts the process of starting Lia Cirio’s piece, “Chaptered in Fragments,” two years ago during the pandemic: “The 60 [or so] person company was divided into 5 or 6 different pods. We were masked, and we relied on big screens in front of the room to connect each of the studios so we would have entire rehearsals over zoom. There were these big massive cameras in front of the room. And that’s how we started Lia’s piece.”

In fact, Hautefeuille learned the entire choreography of “Chaptered in Fragments” over Zoom. The piece is split into several parts, each highlighting different small groups of

JENNIFER Y. GAO CONTRIBUTING WRITER dancers, making it easier to safely create over the pandemic.

One part seamlessly transforms into the next with help from creative lighting and music changes.

“I think that’s part of what inspired her piece `Chaptered in Fragments’–the fact it was choreographed in fragments and different moments in time,” said Hautefeuille.

Dancers Hautefeuille and Wijsen both expressed their admiration for the choreographers, especially pulling off their work in such a challenging time. “[Claudia] was so organized with her vision … It was really cool to see the whole thing being put together and how she would work with the dancers to make the movement she wanted but also fit each dancer’s personal artistry. I think that was my favorite part … seeing how she would adjust and how the dancers would adjust to make it a cohesive piece,” said Wijsen.

Hautefeuille described working with Lia Cirio, who, as a principal dancer at the Boston Ballet, is also a colleague of Hautefeuille’s: “Lia I have watched and admired for years and years now, and getting to know her better through this process has been amazing … She has this very distinct vision and mind that is really impressive to me … she knew exactly what she wanted and she knew the things to say to help us get to that place because she’s been in our position before.”

Hautefeuille adds, “[Lia] managed to find the right balance between choreographer and colleague, which I think is really hard.”

The Boston Ballet started the ChoreograpHER initiative in 2018 to celebrate female creators, who have been historically underrepresented in that side of the dance field.

In 2018 and 2019, ChoreograpHER performances showcased in BB@home, a series that takes place in the Boston Ballet rehearsal studio with limited tickets for the general public.

The initiative was set to debut a show at the Opera House in 2020, but it was delayed due to the Coronavirus pandemic. As a result, the current program featuring at the Opera House is the first time the initiative has taken stage there.

Many have expressed appreciation and gratitude for the

initiative.

“Ballet is such a women dominated artform that you would want and hope that women have an equal voice in more artistic leadership positions. Seeing that I’m in a company that really prioritizes giving a platform to those voices is amazing,” said Wijsen.

Not only has it pushed barriers on the artform, the initiative has helped open up a new realm of possibilities for many female artists.

“When Mikko first approached me [to choreograph a piece] I thought no, this isn’t what I do. But then he gave me total permission to fail and I thought, ‘I should try,’” said choreographer Melissa G. Toogood.

Hautefeuille said, “When I was watching the ChoreograpHER choreographers, I felt like it spoke to me a bit more because it was women only. I remember it being like `Oh. Maybe someday I could do this,’ and that was something special.”

Courtesy of Rosalie O’Connor

PAGE 7

THE HARVARD CRIMSON |

MARCH 22, 2022

IOP FROM PAGE 1

UC FROM PAGE 1

Gov. Christie Speaks at IOP

UC Pres. Cheng Unveils Constitution

the Republican Party.

“It’s tougher math in the Senate for Republicans in 2022,” Christie said, referring to the upcoming midterm elections in the fall.

“So I’m not supremely confident we’ll take the Senate, but I think it’s more likely than not,” he said.

“I am supremely confident we’ll take the house, as long as we don’t do anything stupid,” he added.

Mikaël H. Scaramucci ’22, who attended the forum on

Monday, said he was eager to hear different political perspectives regarding the country’s future.

“I’m always open to hearing other perspectives and other opinions, and Chris Christie has been a bit more critical on some aspects of Trump and the political party,” he said after the event.

“I thought I’d want to hear him out because he’d do so in good faith here,” he added. rafid.quayum@thecrimson.com

The new constitution was drafted over the course of several months by the Citizens’ Assembly, a group of randomly selected undergraduate students convened by Cheng.

The HUA constitution differs radically from the body’s current governing documents.

It spans just 11 pages, a stark departure from the 59 of the current UC constitution.

“It is a lot shorter than the UC constitution, but it has everything you need,” Cheng said in an interview.

But other members of the UC saw the document’s short stature as a downside.

Dunster Representative

Samuel H. Taylor ’24 defended the length of the current constitution in an interview in late February.

“It’s big for sure, but it’s a complex document,” Taylor said. “All constitutions for all organizations that fill complex roles, like the UC, are going to be complex documents.”

Financial grants for clubs would be distributed through semesterly budget requests or monthly grant applications.

Any requests above a designated threshold, which is yet to be determined, would be at the discretion of the treasurer, while any amount under the threshold would be handled by

the finance team with approval from the treasurer. The document promises clubs would receive their funding “within 1 week of [their] application being approved.”

Leadership would also shift drastically from its current form.

The HUA constitution details a system in which two co-presidents, running on a single ticket, are elected by the student body to serve a one-year term.

The co-presidents would preside over seven teams — finance, social life, extracurriculars, academic, residential life, well-being, and sports — each

led by a popularly elected “officer.”

These teams would be staffed by volunteering students, deemed “team members,” who would work on specific projects.

These project teams would be managed by “team leaders” appointed by the officers.

Cheng said he is confident that the proposal will pass.

“It’s not gonna be perfect — no systems are perfect — but I think it’s hard to do worse than the UC,” Cheng said in an interview. sellers.hill@thecrimson.com mert.geyiktepe@thecrimson.com

MASKS FROM PAGE 1

HDS FROM PAGE 1

Mask Usage Mixed Among Harvard Undergraduates

Harvard Divinity School to Up Stipend Payouts in Fall

­ ask-usage has been mixed, M with some students eager to pull them off and others more apprehensive.

“It’s not necessarily something I feel comfortable with taking off yet,” said Sonya R. Ganeshram ’24. “It’s important to protect my own health, but also protect the health of the people around me.”

Other undergrads are comfortable saying goodbye to face coverings with case counts down across the country.

“I feel comfortable not wearing it,” said Sawyer Cooper ’24.

Still, he said, “If I’m ever in doubt of whether I am healthy or not, then I’ll wear a mask.”

that the change reflects increases in the cost of living for students.

Niara C. Botchwey ’23, who previously contracted Covid-19, said she would be personally comfortable taking off her mask. However, she said she would continue to wear one in common spaces out of respect for others.

“Particularly in common spaces, for people like dining hall workers that need to be here, I think it just makes sense to have that sense of safety for them,” she said.

Some students said they would take a hybrid approach, continuing to mask in crowded areas, but not small groups.

“I’ll probably keep masking for now,” Nimer said. “Maybe

not in smaller social environments — but in bigger social environments, I’ll absolutely be masked and probably encouraging some of my friends to stay masked for now.”

Others said they would wait to see how case numbers look post-spring break before making a decision.

“My plan right now is to continue wearing a mask,” George C. Guarnieri III ’22 said.

“I’m definitely open to taking off by the end of the semester, obviously seeing how things go,” he added. lucas.walsh@thecrimson.com vivian.zhao@thecrimson.com

Our hope is that the new stipend levels will allow us to provide meaningful support to our students.

Tim Whelsky HDS Associate Dean

“Our hope is that the new sti-

Pictures worth a thousand words.

The Crimson thecrimson.com

pend levels will allow us to provide meaningful support to our students and keep pace with the rising cost of living,” he said.

In a message sent to Harvard Divinity School affiliates announcing the change, Hempton wrote that the stipend increases for the scholarship package would help make the Harvard Divinity School more accessible to students.

“This latest increase in vital financial support will enhance both our merit and needbased offerings and ensure an HDS education is accessible to a greater number of students,” Hempton wrote.

“Our commitment to invest-

ing in our students will open doors of opportunity and will serve to strengthen HDS overall,” Hempton wrote.

Whelsky added that the increase in stipend amounts for merit scholarship packages for Harvard Divinity School will help the school remain competitive.

“While our need-based programs are our priority and comprise much of the aid we award, merit awards remain a valuable tool for helping us stay competitive amongst other institutions who only award based on academic merit,” Whelsky said. kenneth.gu@thecrimson.com

THE HARVARD CRIMSON |

MARCH 22, 2022

PAGE 8

EDITORIAL COLUMN

COLUMN

Divest from Corporate Prisons

Telemental Care: A No-Brainer

By HANA M. KIROS

L

In early 1971, Terrell Don Hutto was the warden on a cotton plantation the size of Manhattan. About a decade later, he’d use lessons learned on the plantation to create something new, crude, and often in Harvard’s portfolio — the world’s first corporate prison.

Hutto began his career in incarceration on the Ramsey Prison Farm in the 60s.In many ways, Ramsey was a typical Southern prison. After slavery’s abolition, former Confederate states realized the 13th Amendment handed them a path forward. “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude” would exist in the U.S., it declared, “except as a punishment for crime.” So states with economies bruised by emancipation eyed prison labor as new fuel for the old slave economy. They purchased plantations, attached them to prisons, and began filling them with Black men — many for crimes, like selling crops without a white person’s permission, invented to incarcerate them.

When Hutto ran Ramsey, every Black person it imprisoned was forced to work the cotton plantation, plus a fraction of the prison’s few white prisoners.

Dusk to dawn, they picked cotton across sprawling fields. None were paid. Slow hands in the field often meant solitary confinement or being fed a punishment diet, which one man testified he lost 30 pounds on. Academics flocked to Texas to document the old slave songs, reaching back to West Africa, that rang out on its prison plantations.

In the 1960s, plantation prisons brought Texas $14.7 million annually in today’s dollars. Hutto’s success running them like labor camps for startling profits led to every Arkansas prison being placed in his care.

In 1978, the Supreme Court Case Hutto v. Finney ruled that, under Hutto’s leadership, Arkansas’ prison system committed “cruel and unusual punishment.” Testimony revealed the cruelty reserved for those on his fields who missed cotton quotas: the “Texas TV” — you pressed your forehead against the wall, took several steps back, and were forced to hold that stance for hours upon hours, often after being stripped naked — and forcing cuffed inmates onto the hood of a truck, then driving them at breakneck speed across the plantation.

Many fell.

Luckily, this history didn’t shake investors.

At Ramsey, Terrell Don Hutto learned to view incarceration as a lucrative industry. Like most successful founders, he was just slightly ahead of the curve.

By the 1980s, the war on drugs had engulfed state legislatures. Annual spending on prisons quadrupled and, in a decade, the prison population nearly doubled. America scrambled for space to incarcerate everyone it convicted.

To Hutto and his co-founders, this looked like demand. They wondered: Could they transfigure this influx of people behind bars into profit?

So on Valentine’s Day, 1983, Hutto co-founded the Corrections Corporation of America — a company whose product would be the imprisonment of people in detention centers it’d build, own, and operate. In 2016, after a scathing Department of Justice report declared private prisons unsafe, the company rebranded as CoreCivic.

Hutto’s cofounders were Tom Beasley — a former chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party who brought political connections — and Robert Crants, a Harvard Law and Business School graduate with real estate know-how and the legitimacy Harvard confers.

They wooed shareholders with the pitch that, far from uncouth, explicitly introducing profit motives to incarceration would foster competition and consequently improve conditions. Beasley bragged: “We’re the best thing that ever happened to corrections since they stopped beating ’em.”

If only.

Since CoreCivic opened its door 40 years ago, prison privatization has been a race to the bottom — which, in this context, is torture.

Charles A. Fried, a Harvard Law Professor and Solicitor General under President Ronald Reagan, is a vocal opponent of Harvard’s investments in private prisons.

University spokesperson Jason A. Newton declined to comment on this article. A spokesperson for the Harvard Management Company did not respond to a request for comment Monday afternoon.

Fried’s high-level post in the Reagan administration — the militant drug policies which helped birth CoreCivic — has led some to paint him as an unlikely objector.But to him, the case against profiting off prisons is obvious.

Fried describes prison to me as “a kind of prolonged mutilation.”When you incarcerate someone, “you take over a large part of a person’s life, the totality of it, for a period of years, or months, or decades.” This degree of domination, he emphasizes, is “drastic.”“What you’re doing is, in principle, a very terrible thing. To do it right is expensive.”

He articulates the danger of for-profit prisons simply.“Corporations have the

obligation to their shareholders to be profitable. And that is inconsistent with the obligation which the government has to its prisoners and to wider society” — which is to behave humanely.

Prison operators fight tooth-and-nail to expand incarceration. The pursuit of profit leads them to imprison people, for similar sentences, months longer than their public counterparts. In the 1990s, CoreCivic began building prisons “on spec” — before a contract for a new prison was even signed, assuming need. Tellingly, prison operators have spent tens of millions successfully lobbying Congress for harsher sentencing laws, and block carceral reform.

Bribery is also on the table. In the infamous “Kids for Cash” scandal, judges were caught accepting bribes from private prison executives to imprison kids for offenses, including fighting in class, where lighter sentencing was warranted: inflating the population and profits of juvenile prisons.

“So, the private prison system encourages — and of course, its corporate rate on debt encourages — longer terms of imprisonment for more people” Fried tells me. “It’s more business, which is exactly the opposite incentive that we want.”

He describes the for-profit prison as “a kind of slow-motion version of the death penalty.”

In 2014, while undercover in a CoreCivic prison, investigative journalist Shane Bauer saw a man lose both his legs and every finger to gangrene after his nine requests to visit a doctor were ignored.

Claudio Fajardo Saucedo, a man held in a Texas for-profit prison, complained at least 18 times over two years of ratcheting pain, only to be handed Tylenol and denied access to a doctor. Eventually, he collapsed and, at a local hospital, was instantly diagnosed with a treatable virus that killed him days later. This extreme medical neglect, highlighted by reporter Seth Wessler, was found to be pervasive.

“Essentially, the private prison system is a way for the state to ignore its moral obligations,” Fried tells me.

Most major banks, including Wells Fargo and Bank of America, cut ties with private prison companies in 2019, citing these abuses. Columbia University divested from private prisons in 2015.

Still, Harvard has decided to hold on.

CoreCivic is now the country’s largest private prison operator; GEO Group is close behind. Both are publicly traded, and, alone, manage over half of America’s private prison contracts.

Through investments in these companies, Harvard’s $53.2 billion endowment grows each time their prisons fill a cell or cut a corner.

Or at least, it definitely did until the end of the last financial quarter. And might still. And surely will again.

It’s complicated.

CoreCivic, GEO Group, G4S, and Serco. These are the for-profit prison operators Harvard invests its endowment in, and consequently reaps returns from when they ink lucrative prison contracts.

Harvard’s investment in prison companies is contained within two exchange-traded funds — bundles of hundreds of companies any investor can place in their portfolio with a few clicks.

In a 2019 meeting with student activists, University President Lawrence S. Bacow admitted Harvard had $18,000 invested in private prison operators through two ETFs. This calculation excludes potential private prison investments contained in the 98 percent of Harvard’s portfolio it is not federally mandated to disclose, despite Bacow’s access to this staggeringly fuller picture.

Harvard’s most recent filings reveal that, in the last quarter of 2021, HMC sold every ETF it invests in. This means Harvard has sold the slim part of its endowment publicly known to be invested in private prisons.

Yet this ETF dump is not a moral statement or divestment, which implies a commitment to scrubbing an entity from your portfolio permanently.

As soon as they become profitable, Harvard will surely purchase ETFs again, including those containing for-profit prisons. It may already have.

This coming quarter’s SEC filings will tell.This moment — when whether Harvard bets billions on more people being imprisoned is a question and not dreadfully certain — begs: Why can’t Harvard just quit private prisons?

Since 2018, the Harvard Prison Divestment Campaign has called for Harvard to divest from the prison-industrial complex, which it defines as private prison operators and other players like bail bondsmen and taser manufacturers.

Harvard administrators have met with prison divestment activists but dismiss them. Rather, they hold the party line: How Harvard invests its money is apolitical and irrelevant. The endowment exists to feed itself and is beholden to no other aim. Bacow says students find many industries “offensive.” Do they really expect him to hear out the case against each one?

In a 2019 press release, Harvard Divinity School graduate and HPDC organizer Ismail Buffins wrote: “Harvard gets to look good by meeting with us. But of course, they’ll just dangle the carrot

on the stick forever.”

The idea that Harvard’s endowment exists in a realm detached from societal consequences is directly contradicted by modern instances in which Harvard chose to divest.

In 1986, from companies doing business in apartheid South Africa.

In 1990, from the entire tobacco industry.

In 2005, from a company tied to the Darfur genocide.

And, perhaps most famously, its 2021 pledge to halt investments in the fossil fuel industry.

On Earth Day 2020 Harvard pledged its endowment would be carbon neutral by 2050. To simultaneously announce, with fanfare, socially conscious endowment decisions while scorning the idea HMC managers should consider ethics is obvious hypocrisy. Clearly, the endowment is only apolitical when grappling with Harvard’s investments gets sticky.

Bacow has conceded that his endowment philosophy has given way to rare exceptions. Why doesn’t the cruelty of corporate prisons qualify?

Fried chalks it up to “a lack of imagination.”

Terell Don Hutto passed away in 2021 after dedicating much of his life to running CoreCivic. How long his company and for-profit prison model can outlive him is an open question.

“If private prison businesses were to be treated as a pariah, I think they would die,” Fried tells me.

“The fact is, of course, organizations like Harvard have a great deal of leverage over the mutual funds and the private equity funds, and generally how they do things,” he argues.

“If they said to a Fidelity, or Vanguard, or some other private equity groups, ‘No, we will not invest with you, as long as you have private prisons in your portfolio,’ they wouldn’t have them. It’s clear that that’s what would happen.”

There’s precedent. Companies including BlackRock, which manages one of the ETFs Harvard has prison investments through, have created new funds that exclude other contested industries, including weapon manufacturers. It’s easy to imagine asset management firms providing investors the option to select ETFs which don’t bet on the profitability of incarceration.

The for-profit prison industry has already shown it’s susceptible to divestment blows. When major banks cut ties with private prison companies — cutting an estimated $2.4 billion in loans to industry giants GEO Group and CoreCivic — both companies’ stock prices nosedived. Their stocks similarly plunged over 40 percent when the Obama administration announced in 2016 it would restrict the Justice Department’s use of for-profit prisons, and again in 2021 when the Biden administration announced a similar measure.

So what’s been keeping private prison operators afloat?

The same thing that keeps any stock afloat: Faith.

Through investing in private prisons, Harvard actively affirms the idea that incarceration is a financially and morally viable industry to put money in. Divestment, then, is a wedge to erode that faith.

The divestment spring witnessed after Harvard announced its intended fossil fuel divestments — many universities and trusts followed suit — demonstrates that Harvard has considerable power to shape how others invest. Harvard pulling its investments in private prisons has the potential to deal the final blow to this kneeling industry.

Instead, Harvard is helping CoreCivic weather the storm.

Fried paints Harvard’s willingness to profit from imprisonment as the result of passivity. “Many institutions have refused, for instance, to have even a smidgen of tobacco stocks in their portfolios.

So I think it’s a kind of laziness, a moral laziness, which allows this.”

These portfolio decisions suggest our institution’s concern for the torture of prisoners ranks somewhere below our distaste for cigarettes and misleading advertising.

Yet the line connecting slavery and modern private prisons is straight and glaring. If we can see the evil in big tobacco, how can we not see the evil in profiting, however marginally, from the imprisonment and torture of the over 100,000 people held in America’s private prisons? Of propping up a model we could help erase?

Maybe we view the suffering of anyone convicted as justified. Or think of their lives as too foreign to our own.

What does it mean for the richest university in the world — one which has dedicated $5 million dollars to plumbing its relationship to the institution of slavery, and sent out countless emails affirming its anti-racist commitments — to continue to seek profits from, and therefore uphold, America’s last legal home for slavery?

It means we’re not being serious.

—Hana M. Kiros ’22, a former Crimson Editorial Chair, is an Integrative Biology Concentrator in Pforzheimer House. Her column, “Harvard Everywhere,” runs on alternating Mondays.

By GEMMA J. SCHNEIDER

T

he nation’s harrowing mental health crisis has offered a ripe opportunity for bipartisan action, and the current administration has snatched it: Earlier this month, President Joe Biden touted his mental health care plans in his first-ever State of the Union address, including expanding access to telebehavioral health care coverage to every corner of the nation.This is promising: Behavioral telehealth services — especially video therapy sessions — are demonstrably safe and effective, reduce administrative costs for providers, and ensure faster and more affordable access for those who are most struggling to enter and navigate the system. Dr. Risa L. Gold ’78, a New York psychiatrist who began offering video therapy at the height of the pandemic – and whose patients have swiftly embraced the benefits of the new modality – is highly hopeful that telehealth is “here to stay.” Less promising, however, is the fact that the same opportunity for digital reformation hasn’t been grabbed at Harvard.

The University’s Counseling and Mental Health Services has been pierced by daggers of excess capacity — leaving gaping holes in their provision of mental health care. But while a brief stint with the telemental health care provider iHope back in 2017 offered some hope, the prompt shut-down of the system suggests that, if anything, Harvard seems to be moving in the wrong direction. The lackluster character of CAMHS’ virtual options becomes particularly pressing when brought into conversation with the importance of early mental health intervention at colleges. There exists an evidence-based need for colleges to build mental health support systems that are proactive, rather than reactive, according to Dr. Caitlin M. Nevins, instructor in Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Yet from the student standpoint, Harvard’s approach embodies reactivity to a tee — those in need of urgent support are given priority to skip ahead on CAMHS’ months-long waiting lines, while those with less immediately dire concerns are left to wait.

Telehealth, according to Nevins, is “adding more resources, but it’s doing it in a way that I think can happen a lot quicker for students.”

In the face of such strained choices, CAMHS’ prioritization of crisis intervention over prevention is the safest, most straightforward of moves.

What remains problematic is the fact that such impossible trade-offs stand so firmly in the first place. That problem is, to be sure, largely attributable to CAMHS’ seemingly unchangeable funding strains. But on some level, these trade-offs are also self-imposed. Unwittingly, I suspect, CAMHS has spent years scrambling within a maze that has become outlined by boundaries of its own creation, too busy dealing with immediate, shortterm crises to address surmountable long-term shortcomings. The fact that CAMHS’ most creative digital explorations are all internally based serves as a testament to this point. As of today, CAMHS offers a series of digital group sessions led by their own clinicians, plus a tangled array of external links on their website. A new 24/7 hour hotline was also thrown into the mix this academic year, but it still fails to address the empirically-backed need for continuous, not sporadic, care. Worse still, students have been put on hold for what should be an on-demand 24/7 service — highlighting the limitations of working within CAMHS’ own strained internal ecosystem.

Let me be clear: CAMHS’ efforts are clearly well-intentioned. But that doesn’t change the difficult truth that their dedicated staff can’t fix this problem on their own. Ultimately, CAMHS continues to spend too much time working within the limited architecture of its own internal world – and nothing will change until it dives into the universe of opportunities that live beyond it. Institutions like our own seem to have grown used to a very specific, short-term approach to behavioral care. “Do they have to rethink that, given what’s going on in their student population? Rethink their role entirely, and their model?” Dr. Haiden Huskamp, Henry J. Kaiser Professor of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School, tellingly asked when we spoke on the phone in February.

Some colleges, in fact, are beginning to blaze such innovative external trails. Key among them, a chorus of community colleges across California, whose mental health teams managed to combat internal resource problems by partnering with TimelyMD, a telehealth company that specializes in higher education. Duke and the University of Virginia have also entered the video therapy domain, and other schools have made similarly innovative moves – including Penn State, which began this year by offering students three months of free access to telehealth behavioral coaching using an evidence-based messaging service. The impact of these offerings speaks for itself: As Harvard’s students watch the clock tick away with wait times of six weeks, some of these schools have been able to bid farewell to ungodly wait times entirely. And as wait times themselves repeatedly deter prospective patients from seeking care, telehealth actively pulls students in: In one case study, 82 percent of student patients reported that, if digital services had not been available to them, they would have “done nothing.”But doing nothing — or what feels like nothing, compared to the options offered by Harvard’s more innovative peers — is rarely enough. The precedents set elsewhere illustrate that Harvard has been entrapping itself within a prison of avoidable trade-offs — plagued by impossible choices that, with digital innovation and expansion, it wouldn’t be so pressed to make. Ultimately, to achieve their desired ends, CAMHS needs to stop dipping its toes within familiar yet shallow waters; and to instead submerge itself within the expansive sea of online possibilities out there — head, neck, toes, and all.

—Gemma J. Schneider ’23, a Crimson Associate Editorial editor, is a Government concentrator in Pforzheimer House. Her column, “Wilted Wellbeing,” usually runs on alternating Tuesdays.

PAGE 9

THE HARVARD CRIMSON |

Profs. Talk Black History at Forum

By YUSUF S. MIAN and CHARLOTTE P. RITZ-JACK CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

Harvard Professor Danielle S. Allen, who recently ended her bid for governor of Massachusetts, spoke at a panel on Black history at the Cambridge Forum on Monday.

Harvard Law School Professor Randall L. Kennedy and Cheryl T. Gilkes, a professor at Colby College and a pastor at Union Baptist Church in Cambridge, spoke as panelists.

The event also featured introductory remarks from Cambridge City Councilor E. Denise Simmons and was moderated

by PBS producer and filmmaker Roberto Mighty.

The event, entitled “Black History: On Rewind,” was co-hosted by the Cambridge Forum, the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, and also the Har­

vard Square Business Association. The Lincoln Institute is a think tank that advises local, national, and international governments and organizations on land policy.

Launching the discussion, Mighty confessed that witnessing Ketanji Brown Jackson ’92 become the first Black woman nominated to the Supreme Court has been very emotional.

“What made me want to cry about this? Why is this so important?” he said.

Kennedy admitted to feeling “choked up” in response to the nomination as well, attributing the emotion to the centuries-long lack of racial and gender diversity on the court.

“The fact that this is a first says something — that’s an indictment of our country and that’s something about which everyone should be very sad,” he said.

But Kennedy also acknowledged the progress that led to Jackson’s historic nomination.

“There is a tremendous struggle that has been waged to make this day possible,” he said.

“I bet she will be confirmed, and that will be wonderful.”

Allen — who has spent the past few months on the campaign trail discussing the challenges Massachusetts faces — cited the immense racial wealth gap in Boston as evidence that an understanding of the history of racism is crucial for addressing today’s challenges.

“The median wealth held by a white family in Boston is $250,000. For an African American family, it’s $8,” she said.

Denise A. Jillson, executive director of the Harvard Square Business Association, said in an interview after the panel that she began planning the event as a way to celebrate Cambridge’s

history of giving a platform to Black social justice leaders.

“It occurred to me that, really, what we ought to be doing is having an event that celebrates the Cambridge Forum,” she said.

The fact that this is a first says something.

Randall L. Kennedy HLS Professor

“Because for 50 years, Harvard Square — through the forum at First Parish — had been celebrating and welcoming Black leaders to our community to talk about these really hard issues,” she added. yusuf.mian@thecrimson.com charlotte.ritz-jack@thecrimson.com

Harvard, 24/7.

The Crimson thecrimson.com

MARCH 22, 2022

GARLAND FROM PAGE 1

Garland to Speak at Joint Ceremony the 1995 Oklahoma City bombings — a domestic terrorist attack that killed 168 people and injured scores.

“From his unfailing resolve in the wake of the Oklahoma City bombings, to his widely respected service as a judge, to his leadership at the Department of Justice, he has demonstrated deep devotion to the rule of law and to the cause of justice,” Bacow said. “It is an honor to have him join us for what will surely be a memorable address.”

Early in his career, Garland served as a lecturer at Harvard Law School while he was a partner at the law firm Arnold & Porter.

Garland was also elected

to serve on the Harvard Board of Overseers — the University’s second-highest governing board — in 2003. He presided over the body as its president during the 2009-2010 academic year before leaving the board when his term expired.

Harvard will host two Commencement ceremonies this year — one for the Class of 2022 on May 26 and a separate belated celebration for the Classes of 2020 and 2021 on May 29.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is set to address Harvard’s Class of 2022 at the first of the two ceremonies. cara.chang@thecrimson.com isabella.cho@thecrimson.com

SPORTS

WEEKLY RECAP

SCORES

BASEBALL VS. UCLA W, 3-2 ___________________________________________________________

MEN’S VOLLEYBALL VS. SACRED HEART W, 3-1 ___________________________________________________________

SOFTBALL VS. YALE L, 3-4 ___________________________________________________________

MEN’S HOCKEY VS. QUINNIPIAC UNIVERSITY W, 3-2 ___________________________________________________________

MEN’S TENNIS VS. UNIVERSITY OF SAN DIEGO L, 3-4 ___________________________________________________________

SAILING BOSTON COLLEGE TEAM RACE 1ST/3RD ___________________________________________________________

WOMEN’S TENNIS VS. BYU W, 4-2 ___________________________________________________________

WOMEN’S LACROSSE

Harvard Falls to Ranked Jacksonville Squad, 21-8

By SYDNEY FARNHAM CONTRIBUTING WRITER

While the rest of the student body dispersed for a much-needed mid-semester recess, the Harvard women’s lacrosse team (3-3, 1-0 Ivy League) traveled to Jacksonville, FL for two Spring Break matchups. Following a hardfought loss on Monday to MAAC opponent Monmouth (5-3, 0-0), the Crimson came ready to battle with No. 20 Jacksonville (4-3, 0-0 ASUN) on Thursday.

Despite two early goals from sophomore midfielder Maddie Barkate, the high-powered Jacksonville Dolphins stormed back and then some, defeating the Crimson 21-8.

“Those programs…the style of the game, are gonna give us a lot of good experience heading into this next stretch of games with our Ivy opponents,” said Harvard head coach Devon Wills. “Jacksonville was really skilled in some of the offenses that they were running against us. They were really patient defensively. So again, it kind of helped to prepare us even though it was a disappointing trip. You have to play these top 15 opponents to be prepared for your Ivy League games.”

The pair of goals by Barkate were quickly followed by eight Jacksonville goals to close out the first quarter of play. Although the Crimson fought an uphill battle for the remainder of the game, they certainly never gave in. As Harvard headed into the second quarter down seven, Coach Wills made a swap at the goalkeeper position, subbing in first-year goalie Lizzie Francioli for sophomore Chloe Provenzano, who already has

46 saves on the season. Wills commended both of her keepers, who constantly help each other improve even while competing for time.

“My mentality has been to always be ready if my name were to be called. At that point in the game I just wanted to do whatever I could to help my team. I was just thinking about trying to generate a little bit of offense and be a spark for the team,” said Francioli, who was recently cleared to return after an ACL injury. She made eight saves on the day, bringing that spark in the second quarter, though Harvard headed into the second half down 13-4.

Francioli and Provenzano are two of 19 underclassmen on the 33 member women’s lacrosse roster. In addition to the obvious inexperience of first years and sophomores due to the pandemic, it should be noted that the junior class also played very few games before the pandemic hit. Nevertheless, the group attacks every challenge and carries itself with an impressive maturity and levelheaded-ness on the field.

Seven of the eight goals contributed in the loss to the Dolphins were secured by sophomores. Along with Barkate, sophomore attacker Riley Campbell and midfielder Callie Hem each scored a pair of goals. Junior captain Grace Hulslander also contributed a beautiful diving goal from the crease. Three of these goals came in the third quarter, when the Crimson was able to match the tempo of Jacksonville, but it would not be enough.

“I’m just really pleased with how they’ve embraced the challenges of every different game

ON THE DEFENSE Harvard had their hands full with a strong Jacksonville offense, earning great experienced for a young Crimson defense. BRENDAN J. CHAPUIS—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

and really how they’ve…handled themselves out on the field, both from a tactical standpoint as well as a mental standpoint,” Wills said when asked about the contributions of her younger players. “It’s not always going to be about the X’s and O’s—but the process that they’re embracing, and it’s really fun to watch.”

The team certainly reflects the optimism and drive of their coach, who gives credit to a talented and well-coached Jacksonville team, but also recognizes the potential of her squad.

“They are really eager. They want to keep learning. They want to keep competing. They have a vision for this program,”

said Wills.

Francioli echoes the message of her coach when asked about what this game means for Harvard moving forward.

“Games like that give you an opportunity to show what your team is about and what we can do as a team,” said Francioli, referencing the challenge

of playing a ranked opponent.

“It was the perfect opportunity for us to gauge what we need to work on.”

The Crimson get their next opportunity to compete on Saturday, March 26th at home in an Ivy League matchup against Cornell.

MEN’S LACROSSE

Crimson Notches Victories Over Michigan and Brown

By KATHARINE FORST CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

An around-the-world finish on a bullet of a feed from first-year midfielder Owen Gaffney to junior attackman Hayden Cheek set the tone for a week of decisive play by the men’s lacrosse team as it toppled two ranked opponents, Michigan and Brown. The wins set up Harvard well for conference play, as the team enters the season with a 4-1 record.

The Crimson battled against The University of Michigan on Saturday, March 12. At the time of defeat, it was ranked no.

13 with a 7-0 record. Harvard came in with a sense of determination to prove itself, as the young team took on its second ranked opponent in almost two years.

The squad took control of the game as it made plays on both ends, playing a solid game all around the field. The attack was able to pick apart the Wolverine

defense with coherent and connected sets.

The offensive effectively drew the Michigan slides, which enabled them to move the ball quickly to open players as the defensive rotations were a step behind.

Junior midfielder Nick Loring is a great example of this as he facilitated play with five assists and two goals. The veteran commented that the win came down to the team’s grit.

“It was a hard-fought, full

team win. Our guys fought till the final whistle and made plays on both sides of the ball that allowed us to stay ahead for most of the game and hold off some of their runs.

Obviously any time you’re playing a top-15, undefeated team you know it’s going to be a battle but I think we proved to ourselves that regardless of the opponent, we can play at a really high level.”

Gaffney said that the team worked hard on cleaning up the

DEFENSIVE BOX OUTS Harvard played a scrappy pair of games against Michigan and Brown, sending multiple defenders to box out in order to pick up loose group balls. BRENDAN J. CHAPUIS—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

offense. An emphasis in practice was on looking for the right, simple, play instead of forcing the ball.

“I think we were all motivated by our past three games, win or loss,” Gaffney said “We knew what we could do as a team, and we just needed to prove it to ourselves. We obviously have much more to work on, but it was nice to get a win against a great team.”

Gaffney was particularly complimentary not only of his offensive unit, but of the defense as well.

“I think our defense played a great game. Michigan has a great offense, and our defense was really impressive in stopping them. Kyle Mullin really took charge and led our defense and team as a whole.”

The defense was strong on and off the ball as it solidly forced the Michigan team to stretch its field and was quick to talk through its slide packages.

The unit was scrappy on ground balls and sent two or three to box out, a major change from the team’s last showing. This gave Harvard a much higher percentage of possessions, and set the team up for clean and quick clears.

The team won 14-9 after senior goalie Kyle Mullin saved two buzzer beater attempts by Michigan with about twenty seconds left on the clock. This shut-down mentality carried into their next game against no.

15 Brown, in which The Crimson won its first league contest of the season.

This past Saturday, The Crimson took on its first Ivy League competitor in its home game against Brown. Harvard built on a lot of what it did well against Michigan, but also had some areas in which the team needed to improve for later games.

An area to focus on would be the face off, as Harvard had difficulty winning that aspect of the game cleanly. The game against Michigan started off

favoring the Wolverines until senior fogo Steven Cuccurullo was able to figure out how to get the ball out of the initial clamp in order to factor in the solid play of the wings, which was driven by a rotation of guys including sophomore lsm Greg Campisi and first-year defensive-middie Andrew O’Berry.

The Brown game exposed this weakness despite Mullin and the defense warding off countless fast-break attempts. Harvard went 4 for 26, which is something that the team needs to work on in order to capitalize on possession time.

The defense led by Mullin, who had 18 saves, did a phenomenal job locking down the players flying in for the fast break, and did a heads-up job of talking through these faster sets. The team excelled at communicating for the entirety of play, and forced Brown to play wider and sloppier than it had been. Harvard looked solid on ground balls and cleared really well.

The offense capitalized on its possession time and put in action the mantra of smart shots over volume of shots, like Gaffney noted after the Michigan game.

Cheek was a standout, facilitating play on the offensive end with four goals.

“Our offense worked well off the ball. We found great opportunities and didn’t force shots, Cheek said “We need to focus on clearing the ball as well as getting extra opportunities in special teams situations.”

Cheek is looking forward to the game on Tuesday, March 22nd in which Harvard will take on No. 12 ranked Boston University on Jordan Field at 7pm.

“We are super excited about the opportunity to play another top 20 opponent in BU on Tuesday. I think we are playing at a high level right now but need to focus on ourselves and make sure we get better everyday.” katharine.forst@thecrimson.com