The Harvard Crimson THE UNIVERSITY DAILY, EST. 1873
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VOLUME CXLIX, NO. 67
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CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS
| MONDAY, MAY 9, 2022
EDITORIAL PAGE 4
OP ED PAGE 4
SPORTS PAGE 6
Harvard should be at the forefront of reckoning with the evils of slavery
Reckoning with Harvard’s ties to slavery requires prison divestment
Women’s lacrosse fell to Princeton in the Ivy League tournament
Gay ‘Satisfied’ with FAS Vote By ARIEL H. KIM and MEIMEI XU CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS
Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean Claudine Gay said in an interview Wednesday she is “satisfied” with the faculty’s vote to approve of a new previous-term course registration system that will do away with shopping week, adding that she is “confident” the FAS can still provide a “transformative Harvard College experience.” More than 60 percent of Harvard faculty voted last Tuesday to end shopping week — a decades-old scheduling quirk that allowed students to sample courses the first week of each semester before enrolling — in favor of the previous-term system. The vote came despite student and faculty efforts to preserve shopping week. The new system will require students to register for classes at the end of the previous semester, starting with Spring 2024 classes. Until then, a committee of faculty, administrators, and students will create an implementation plan for the new system. “I’m satisfied with the outcome and look forward to, first,
HKS Hires Climate Change Faculty By MILES J. HERSZENHORN CRIMSON STAFF WRITER
the work of the implementation committee, and then the launch of the new system in two years,” Gay said Wednesday. Faculty members, teaching fellows, and departmental staff had long voiced concerns that shopping week complicated course planning and left teaching assignments uncertain. In spring 2019, the FAS Committee on Course Registration was tasked with reviewing the FAS’ course registration policies following months of discussion among faculty members. The committee released its final report in December 2021, recommending that the College replace shopping week with previous-term course registration. Gay said Wednesday she feels the committee was dedicated to ensuring that students have “meaningful opportunities both to explore, as well as to engage with thoughtfully-developed, properly-staffed courses.” “I feel confident that all the things that we aspire to make available to our students as part of the transformative Harvard College experience will still be
SEE GAY PAGE 3
At a time when major American universities are placing a high premium on the study of climate change, the Harvard Kennedy School has “successfully recruited a junior faculty member focused on climate change,” HKS Dean Douglas W. Elmendorf said in an interview Wednesday. Charles A. Taylor, a Ph.D. candidate in Sustainable Development at Columbia University, will join the Kennedy School in July 2023 after completing a one-year postdoctoral fellowship at UC Berkeley. Elmendorf said HKS also has offers out to two senior faculty members at other universities who study climate change. In recent months, several peer institutions have taken major steps to increase their resources dedicated to studying sustainability and the climate crisis. Columbia University founded the Columbia Climate School in July 2020. Stanford University announced on Wednesday it plans to establish a new school of sustainability with the help of a $1.1 billion donation. Stanford’s school will launch with 90 faculty members and will focus on policy to combat climate
change. While Harvard has not established its own school focused on studying climate change, Elmendorf said “developing the people and the ideas to slow climate change is one of our highest priorities at the Kennedy School.” “We want to build more courses for Kennedy School students and also students elsewhere at the University who want to come take these courses,” Elmendorf said. “We want to continue to be on the leading edge of research on policy related to climate change.” Elmendorf said the future hires are meant to “build the next generation of faculty members” studying climate change. “They are leaders and will be for decades to come,” he said. “Leaders in thinking about the consequences of climate change, and practical ways to slow climate change.” “We view this as a really important part of building the school’s capacity to help our students — and students around the University — to learn more, and go forth, and be more effective advocates for developers of policies that will slow climate change,” Elmendorf added. Elmendorf said the Kennedy School’s initiatives related to climate change are “very much
Douglas W. Elmendorf is the dean of the John F. Kennedy School of Government. JULIAN J. GIORDANO—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER
in coordination with work elsewhere around the University.” “So I think you may hear broader University plans at some point as well,” he added. Elmendorf said that the Kennedy School is also trying to hire a faculty member studying China “given the growing importance of China’s role in the
world.” During the interview, Elmendorf also addressed Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine’s weekly protests against retired Israeli Defense Forces general Amos Yadlin, who is serving as a senior fellow at the
SEE ELMENDORF PAGE 5
Crimson Faces Backlash for Editorial Supporting BDS By VIVI E. LU and LEAH J. TEICHHOLTZ CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS
The Harvard Crimson is facing backlash from campus Jewish groups, along with some high-profile Harvard faculty and alumni, after the newspaper’s Editorial Board last month endorsed the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement, which calls on Western institutions to cut ties with Israel. In a staff editorial published on April 29, The Crimson’s Editorial Board reversed its precedent and endorsed BDS, which seeks to put international pressure on Israel over the country’s treatment of Palestinians. Many critics of the movement charge that it is antisemitic and implicitly denies the legitimacy of Israel. The editorial sparked inter
The Harvard Crimson is located at 14 Plympton St. in Cambridge.
JULIAN J. GIORDANO—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER
national furor, drawing condemnation from the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), and columnists in several Israeli newspapers. It also came under fire on Harvard’s campus, where the leaders of Jewish groups condemned the editorial and some high-profile faculty denounced it as antisemitic. Late last week, several prominent Harvard faculty members — including Psychology professor Steven A. Pinker and former University President Lawrence H. Summers — signed onto a faculty petition denouncing the editorial. “I thought the BDS movement was taking positions that were basically antisemitic, immoral, poorly thought out, and would be very damaging if actually acted on,” Summers said in an interview. “I was appalled
by the content and really troubled that a usually serious and thoughtful organization like The Harvard Crimson would enthusiastically endorse them.” Rabbi Jonah C. Steinberg, executive director of Harvard Hillel, wrote in an email to Hillel affiliates on April 29 that the editorial “reflects a descent away from close analysis, as well as a difference from a notso-distant time when there was more considerable overlap between our Harvard Hillel community and the leadership of the Crimson.” According to The Crimson’s 2021 staff diversity report, 5.3 percent of The Crimson’s editors identify as Jewish. Per The Crimson’s annual freshman survey, 5.2 percent of the College’s Class of 2024 identify as
SEE CRIMSON PAGE 3
73 Seniors Awarded Committee Assembled for City Manager Search Hoopes Prizes By ELIAS J. SCHISGALL CRIMSON STAFF WRITER
By LEAH J. TEICHHOLTZ CRIMSON STAFF WRITER
Seventy-three Harvard undergraduates were awarded the Hoopes Prize, an award that recognizes outstanding scholarly work on an academic project, last Thursday. Chosen each year from departments across the University, recipients receive $5,000 in recognition of “excellent undergraduate work” on their projects, which are typically senior theses. Faculty advisors will also be awarded $2,000 for “excellence in the art of teaching.” The Hoopes Prize is funded by the estate of Thomas T. Hoopes, Class of 1919. Winning projects are available in Lamont Library for two years. Susan L. Lively, secretary of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, wrote in a statement on behalf of the Prize Office that the winners’ projects were “deeply researched and insightful.” “The range and depth of their interests and the quality INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Harvard Today 2
of their work reflects the high caliber and academic strength of Harvard undergraduates,” Lively wrote. Alec J. Fischthal ’22, who wrote a 145-page thesis on the politics of immigration reform from 1952 to 1965, said he was on the phone with his dad when he received an email notifying him of the award. “My mind went totally blank and I was like, ‘Oh my god, that’s crazy,’” Fischthal said. “You never know how good your work really is, but once you see that, it’s really affirming that people read your work and thought deeply of it.” Tucker R. Boynton ’22 said he was “flattered and proud” when he learned he had received the Hoopes for his Economics senior thesis, which examined pricing inefficiencies in the National Football League labor market. “I was pretty surprised,” Boynton said. “Frankly, I didn’t
SEE HOOPES PAGE 5
News 3
Editorial 4
A n initial screening committee composed of Cambridge City Councilors, representatives from community organizations, and local residents has begun meeting to evaluate candidates for Cambridge’s next city manager, the city’s most powerful government post. The 19-person committee had its first of three full-day, closed-door meetings to evaluate and interview candidates for the position last week. The group will meet again Friday and Saturday to continue deliberations. A wide array of representatives from city institutions including the School Committee, the Cambridge Housing Authority, the Kendall Square Association, and Cambridge Bike Safety serve on the committee alongside four City Councilors. In an interview last month, Councilor Marc C. McGovern, who oversaw the committee selection process, said more than 100 Cambridge residents
SEE CITY PAGE 3
Sports 6
Cambridge City Hall is located at 795 Massachusetts Ave. in Cambridge. CORY K. GORCZYCKI—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER
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