The Harvard Crimson THE UNIVERSITY DAILY, EST. 1873 | VOLUME CXLVII, NO. 19 | CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS | WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2020
NEWS PAGE 5
EDITORIAL PAGE 6
SPORTS PAGE 8
Cambridge crime numbers reach a five-decade low
Freshman should enjoy exploring concentrations
Women’s basketball splits a pair of games in New York
Baron Named Grad Speaker By MICHELLE G. KURILLA and RUOQI ZHANG CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS
Washington Post executive editor Martin “Marty” Baron will travel to Cambridge this May to speak at Harvard’s 369th commencement ceremony on May 28, according to a University statement released Tuesday. As top editor at the Post, Baron manages the paper’s news operations and staff. Holding top jobs in several newspapers over his more than 40-year career, Baron’s has led teams to 16 Pulitzer Prizes, according to the press release. Last year, under Baron’s guidance, the Post published the “Afghanistan Papers,” an investigation that detailed previously undisclosed malpractice by United States government officials who supervised America’s military involvement in the Middle Eastern country. Before he began his cur-
Khurana Talks Faculty Dean Search By JULIET E. ISSELBACHER and AMANDA Y. SU CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS
rent position at the Post, Baron served as the executive editor of the Boston Globe for more than 11 years. There, he oversaw the newspaper’s investigation on sexual abuses by Catholic priests in Boston, for which the Globe won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. Before he joined the Globe, Baron served as an editor at the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and the Miami Herald. Born in 1954 and raised in Tampa, Fla., Baron started his journalism career at the Miami Herald as a reporter in 1976. University President Lawrence S. Bacow said the University looks forward to welcoming him to campus for Commencement in the press release Tuesday. “Marty Baron has led some of our nation’s most respected newspapers through a
As Harvard College searches for five new pairs of faculty deans in the upperclassmen houses, Dean of the College Rakesh Khurana spoke about the value of having tenured faculty fill those posts in an interview Tuesday. The College is currently seeking to fill faculty dean openings in Eliot House, Cabot House, Kirkland House, Quincy House, and Winthrop House. Faculty deans helm each of Harvard’s 12 upperclassman residential houses and are responsible for overseeing residential deans, House staff, and tutors, as well as facilitating Housewide events and advising affiliated students. In recent weeks, Winthrop students have lobbied for the College to keep current interim faculty deans Mark D. Gearan ’78 and Mary Herlihy-Gearan — who have led the House since
SEE BARON PAGE 3
SEE KHURANA PAGE 3
Dean of the College Rakesh Khurana announced in November that he and his wife Stephanie R. Khurana will step down from their role as faculty deans of Cabot House at the end of the year. AMANDA Y. SU—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER
SFFA Files Appellate Brief in Admissions Lawsuit By BENJAMIN L. FU and DOHYUN KIM CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS
Representatives from the Harvard Admissions Office host information sessions and tours for prospective applicants at Agassiz House. STEVE S. LI—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER
Anti-affirmative action group Students for Fair Admissions filed its opening appellate brief in federal court Tuesday as part of a longstanding lawsuit pending against Harvard over allegations that the College discriminates against Asian Americans in its admissions process. SFFA argued throughout its brief that a previous district court ruling against it was incorrect and that the appeals court should reverse the decision. The group’s lawyers argued that the district court failed to apply strict scrutiny and failed to appropriately consider evidence of the alleged discrimination. SFFA’s filing comes roughly four months after district court judge Allison D. Burroughs issued her final ruling at the conclusion of a five-year-long phase of the lawsuit. Her Oct. 2 ruling rejected SFFA’s arguments that the College’s race-conscious admissions policies are discriminatory toward Asian American applicants. Three days after Burroughs published her opinion, SFFA
filed a notice of appeal in the United States First Circuit Court of Appeals, marking the organization’s intent to challenge Burroughs’s ruling. SFFA’s Tuesday brief reiterates previous arguments that Harvard penalizes Asian American students in the admissions process, practices “racial balancing” when selecting each incoming class, weights race too heavily in considering students’ applications, and has failed to sufficiently explore alternative race-neutral processes. Harvard has repeatedly denied allegations that its admissions process is discriminatory, and has argued that it considers race as one factor among many in a “holistic” admissions process. Harvard spokesperson Rachael Dane defended the College’s inclusion of race as a factor in admissions in an emailed statement Tuesday. “We will vigorously defend the Court’s decision, which makes clear that Harvard does not discriminate on the basis of race in its admissions process, and that Harvard’s pursuit of a diverse student body is
SEE SFFA PAGE 7
Ballot Lists All Harvard Forward Candidates By MICHELLE G. KURILLA and RUOQI ZHANG CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS
After a five month campaign, the University announced Tuesday that all five of Harvard Forward’s candidates made it on the annual Board of Overseers election ballot. Harvard Forward — a student and alumni group working to bring attention to climate change and add recent alumni representation to Harvard’s governance boards — put forward five candidates to sit on the Board of Overseers, the University’s second highest governing body, last fall. By Feb. 1, each candidate had received more than 4,500 alumni signatures on petitions to get onto the Board of Overseers ballot, according to a Harvard Forward press release. The process requires 2,936 signatures — 1 percent of all eligible voters — to put a candidate on the ballot for the election, which is scheduled to take place from April 1 to May 19. INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Harvard Today 2
The University verified and validated petition submissions two weeks after receiving the nomination forms, according to a release from the Harvard Gazette, a University-run publication. “This year, five candidates, listed below, qualified for the ballot through this process by obtaining a required number of signatures from eligible voters,” the Gazette release read. Harvard Forward’s platform advocates for the University to divest all of its assets from fossil fuels, reserve 20 percent of Board of Overseers seats for recent alumni, and develop more transparent investment guidelines. Harvard Forward Campaign Manager Danielle Strasburger ’18 said in the group’s Tuesday press release that the candidates’ success indicated a desire amongst alumni for Harvard to “become a leader in the fight against climate change.” “We believe a majority of vot-
SEE BALLOT PAGE 3
News 3
Editorial 6
Boston Harbor — the site of the Boston Tea Party in 1773 — is about 14 miles from Harvard Square. Today, it is home to the Port of Boston, which is a major shipping facility. AMANDA Y. SU—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER
Sports 8
TODAY’S FORECAST
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Prison Divest Activists Sue Univ. By ELLEN M. BURSTEIN and MICHELLE G. KURILLA CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS
Members of the Harvard Prison Divestment Campaign announced Tuesday afternoon that they plan to sue the University over its alleged investments in companies tied to the prison industry. The five student plaintiffs, who are representing themselves, wrote in a draft of their complaint that the University has benefitted from those alleged investments when it should be trying to help break down a “system of human caging,” according to NBC News, which first reported on the students’ plans. The complaint is set to be filed in Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court for Suffolk County. “Instead of helping to dismantle the entanglement of profiteering, government interests, and the system of human caging, Harvard makes profit off of it,” the plaintiffs wrote. “That money funds the opulent lifestyles of Harvard’s top administrators who are prison profiteers.” University Spokesman Jason A. Newton declined to comment on the planned lawsuit. The plaintiffs have argued they have grounds to sue based on the fact that all five have donated to the University during the past year. They argue that the Harvard Management Company has violated its commitment to them as donors. “This is one way to hold Harvard’s feet to the fire,” one plaintiff— Xitlalli Alvarez, a doctoral student in Anthropology — told NBC. Representatives for HPDC declined to comment on the suit. In a report released in October 2019, HPDC estimated the University has at least $3 million invested in companies with ties to the prison industry. University President Lawrence S. Bacow said in April 2019, however, that Harvard’s total prison-related financial holdings amount to roughly $18,000. University administrators
SEE DIVEST PAGE 5
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