20 minute read
Editorial
THE CRIMSON EDITORIAL BOARD
March 10, 2020: Harvard Stops, But the World Cannot
Harvard does not shut its doors. Even during the 1918 Spanish Flu — when 50 million died and 500 million were infected — Harvard did not close. There have been days off — hurricanes, blizzards, the Boston Marathon bombing — but as Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III quipped, “Harvard University will close only for an act of God, such as the end of the world.”
Yet here we are. If not at the end of the world, then as President Lawrence S. Bacow announced yesterday morning — to students waking up, walking into midterms, touching up the final clauses of senior theses — we likely find ourselves at the end of our physical time on campus this semester.
And though we have much to say in the days to come — words of hope, critiques of process, fears of personal and global proportions — we find ourselves first wanting to speak to the obligations, which out of necessity or as a troubling abdication, the University in sending students home indefinitely abandons. We want to highlight the concerns of those most vulnerable in our community and for the world our institution seeks to serve.
Pandemics exacerbate inequality — from who can and can’t afford not to work to who has and lacks health insurance. Harvard’s decision has already begun to lay bare these inequalities and will no doubt continue to do so in deeply troubling and dangerous ways.
Coronavirus will hit the most vulnerable members of our community and Cambridge at large with force. Those who stand to lose include people experiencing homelessness, University employees making hourly wages, students with pre-existing risk factors, international and low-income students — particularly those from countries the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has classified as warning level three — and students who may face other forms of precarity.
The University must extend support to these groups. It could start by compensating all workers, allowing international students who find themselves in a broad array of challenging immigration conditions to stay on campus, and supporting those from unstable home backgrounds — many of whom will struggle with Zoom-ing and the other means of remote learning. Furthermore, the University should support organizations that serve vital community service functions, like the Harvard Square Homeless Shelter and Y2Y, which run on student labor, to ensure they can perform their work going forward. And it might also consider collaborating with Cambridge on supporting the local economy and small business owners.
Beyond these first concerns — concerns of life here and now — there is also the message Harvard sends to the world. It may not be an exaggeration to say that in removing students from its campus, Harvard has conceded that knowledge production and transmission has effectively stopped. With empty classrooms, archives, laboratories and offices, the closed gates of Harvard University turn away those who see in it the promise of institutions devoted to learning, knowledge, and open dialogue. At times of instability and catastrophe, our institutions should be beacons of hope. In desperate times, they must continue the vital human work of being, thinking, and acting together. As one of the leading institutions of scholarship in the world, Harvard’s response will inevitably amplify a growing sense of global collapse.
Especially as our government — in its messaging, policies, and aid — fails to put together anything even approaching a coherent response to the pandemic, institutions of knowledge should fill the void — step up where President Donald Trump has now repeatedly stepped away from waiting eyes. The production of knowledge has a significance that, at its best, shines through uncertainty, confusion, and doubt. And as we feel an existential humility in the face of this pandemic, Harvard’s choice to close its doors gives us deep reason for worry as students and global citizens.
We must as a community remain courageous, compassionate, and committed to each other. We must, as a University, remain committed to the ideals and hard work and of knowledge as a human enterprise and an enterprise for the betterment of humankind.
This staff editorial solely represents the majority view of The Crimson Editorial Board. It is the product of discussions at regular Editorial Board meetings. In order to ensure the impartiality of our journalism, Crimson editors who choose to opine and vote at these meetings are not involved in the reporting of articles on similar topics.
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OP-ED
The Three Percent in the Face of the Coronavirus
Four years ago, I was in the hospital going through chemotherapy to treat my leukemia. At the time, I had 0.0 neutrophils — the white blood cells that protect you against foreign pathogens; a healthy range is considered 2.5-7.5 neutrophils.
I spent two and a half years undergoing chemotherapy, which killed all rapidly reproducing cells, like hair and blood cells, along with the leukemia. Thus, for two and a half years, I had chronically low white blood cell counts. If I had gotten even a whiff of the novel coronavirus, officially known as COVID-19, then, I would have almost certainly been dead within a matter of days.
I am lucky that I am no longer in treatment and that I do not have such an extreme white blood cell deficiency anymore.
However, there are thousands of children and adults currently undergoing chemotherapy to fight for their lives, just as I was those four years ago.
They, like people over 65 years old, are in danger during this pandemic. As I walk around campus during the days leading up to spring break, I hear many people in my classes talk about their travel plans. They are going to Paris, to Seattle, to Spain … to myriad places that are critically affected by this viBy RAQUEL CORONELL URIBE
rus. When prompted to rethink their plans, they often respond, “I’ll be fine”; “I would survive the coronavirus;” “It has a 97 percent survival rate — I’m taking my chances” or “I paid! Why would I cancel my trip now?”
All of these things are true. If you are a healthy, young individual, the odds are overwhelmingly in your favor. You can tour Europe at all time low prices and come away from it with nothing but a mild cough.
But the problem is that you might carry the coronavirus to someone who won’t survive it as you likely will. Your actions will have consequences for the people you come into contact with, but also for those you don’t; exposing the caretakers of people undergoing chemotherapy, relatives of vulnerable grandparents, and mothers of toddlers risks the lives of people many degrees of separation away from you.
You’re right. You deserve to travel to a place you paid good money to go to. And it’s unfair that these invisible pathogens are uprooting your entire life when they probably wouldn’t even cause you harm. However, whether you like it or not, you are a part of society. Consider the ramifications your leisure activities could have on the lives of those who coexist in this community with you. Your trip to the Eiffel Tower could cause the lives of people who, without any fault of their own, have precarious health conditions.For a disease like this, a 3 percent mortality rate for the general population may not seem bad at all, but in reality, it’s a death sentence to the millions who are categorized as “high risk” populations. And these people are not “the others” — they are your professors, your classmates, and your grandparents.
As we leave Cambridge prematurely this semester, we would do well to remember that we all have the right to live our lives. That means visiting different places, learning about new cultures and pursuing happiness. But at the same time, in the most literal sense, a right to live also means a right to continue breathing. As privileged members of the world, we must be cognizant of our role in protecting this right and ensuring opportunities for those more vulnerable than us.
And when it comes to this virus, the most vulnerable are the elderly, the immunocompromised and those who are left stranded once college housing closes on Sunday.
In the face of a global health crisis like the novel coronavirus, we must remember that looking out for the vulnerable doesn’t stop even when we’re inconvenienced or scared.
COLUMN
Connection Means More Than Instagram Stories
Javhlan Amgalanbaatar DARING TO BE
The summer before college, before we all went to separate countries or states for college, my friends and I reassured ourselves that we would keep in touch.
Even with an ocean between us, we promised to talk to each other frequently and share updates of our lives since we have Instagram and Facebook to bring us together at any given moment. Since then, the promises have been, as expected, held infrequently and a surprising reason for that has been an impersonal use of the social platforms.
Moving on to the first semester of college, during the often lonely and busy days of the transition to a new culture and environment, I often spent all the free time I had on scrolling through Instagram and Facebook.
Sitting on my bed after a long day of school, tired and still adjusting to my new environment, I would see the smiley faces of my friends from home and watch their daily adventures on social media.
One friend posted a beautiful profile picture, another shared their thrilling travel experiences over the past few months, and third shared moments of wild parties with their new friends. I would experience these moments of my friends’ lives through bright pictures or twenty seconds of their Instagram stories, but I was usually left feeling drained and more disconnected afterward.
This one-sided interaction through stories and pictures on social media, as opposed to reaching out and talking, was enough for me to form mental images of how my friends were doing.
That friend of mine with a beautiful picture is glowing - they must be happily enjoying their new chapter of college; the friend who was traveling seems to have had so much fun, and the other one, with all the partying, must have found their close friends so fast. These would be the assumptions that would float around in my head and I would compare my mostly sad and stressful days to my friends’ experiences.
On top of that, since now I “knew” what my friends were up to, my curiosity about their lives diminished and I was usually left feeling inadequate and unworthy of direct interaction with others I haven’t talked to in a while.
I am certain that at least some of us have gone through a similar mental process in engagement with specific social platforms like Instagram. Even though the concept of virtually being there with the people we care about in the moments of their lives is incredible, sometimes we can find ourselves on the detrimental side of its usage. Rather than using the social applications as tools for directly talking and connecting screen-toscreen, hearing each other’s voices and sharing our respective lives with each other, we at times act as an audience of the public personas of people we know on social media.
This act of “watching” small segments of others’ lives for a long period of time, specifically the fun, happy, and best moments they choose to share, can often lead to lower self-esteem and social isolation.
This does not mean, however, that social media usage corresponds automatically to worse mental health and disconnection. It can be very fulfilling to engage with the people we care about fast through social platforms and we can find incredible community and connection online, leading to more socialization and happiness.
Although the discussion on the effects of social media on mental health has been extensively focused on its negative aspects, there are also some that show that the issue is not entirely one-sided and depends more on how we engage with it. As long as we approach social media positively, to create genuine connections, time spent on it might even contribute to our mental well-being.
The social media platforms are powerful in that they allow us to create or continue connections even thousands of miles apart, regardless of time and location. But in its usage, we have a choice every time we click and scroll: to engage with people we care about intentionally or be swept in the negative loop of comparison and disconnection. By being more aware of how we are interacting and learning about the lives of others online, we can surely create healthier habits on social media.
After last semester ended and I went home during winter break, I met my friends I haven’t talked to since I came to Harvard. It turned out that I was very wrong with my assumptions about my friends’ lives.
Despite posting cool pictures or travels or parties, we all in the end had unspoken common struggles of finding our places, missing home, and managing the chaos of college. I realized that only after talking to them personally, hearing their stories by asking them questions and sharing mine in return.
We can create the same genuine connection and better mental state on social media — we just have to reach out, tune in and connect.
Coronavirus Closes Campus VACATE FROM PAGE 1
who are our colleagues, to understand enough about this disease to mount a reliable defense against it. Now more than ever, we must do our utmost to protect those among us who
Thank you all for your patience and your resilience as we all learn to temper increased distance with deeper care for one another.
Lawrence S. Bacow University President
are most vulnerable, whether physically or emotionally, and to treat one another with generosity and respect,” Bacow added.
The University previously took a number of steps to reduce risk to affiliates, including launching a dedicated coronavirus website and cancelling Visitas, the visiting weekend for the Class of 2024.
Administrators also began sending biweekly updates to College students last week from FAS Registrar Michael P. Burke and the Harvard College Emergency Management Team. On Monday, Burke informed undergrduates the College would cancel Housing Day festivities.
It remains unclear how the outbreak will affect other spring events like alumni reunions, Class Day, and Commencement exercises.
Bacow wrote that administrators from various Harvard schools will continue to update their faculty, students, and staff about Harvard’s response to the virus in the coming weeks.
Conference Cancels Basketball Tournament
By EMA R. SCHUMER CRIMSON STAFF WRITER
As coronavirus concerns spoil plans for events across Harvard’s campus, Harvard Athletics will require many student-athletes to sit out from trips and tournaments.
As a result of the virus, Harvard will no longer host the Ivy League basketball tournament, which was scheduled for this weekend. Harvard Athletics has also prohibited air travel for varsity teams, preventing several teams from going on their spring break trips. The Ivy League has not canceled conference competitions and training for the upcoming spring season, though it has imposed restrictions on attendance.
Ivy League Executive Director Robin J. Harris said in a Tuesday interview that the league considered several scenarios before settling on the decision to cancel the tournament. She said the presidents of the eight Ivy League institutions — including University President Lawrence S. Bacow — made the decision in a conference call at 7:30 a.m. that morning. Harris said the leaders of the eight schools put thought into contingency plans for the tournament.
As a result of the tournament’s cancelation, the number one seeds in the men’s and women’s conferences will automatically advance to the NCAA National Tournament. Harvard men’s basketball, which finished its season in second place, will not have the opportunity to compete for a berth in the tournament. Instead, Yale University will represent the Ivy League. Harvard women’s basketball did not qualify for the conference tournament, which invites the top four teams.
Harvard men’s basketball Head Coach Tommy Amaker wrote that he supports the decision to cancel the tournament in a statement published on Twitter Tuesday evening.
Harvard men’s basketball player Bryce L. Aiken ’20, however, took to Twitter to condemn the league’s decision Tuesday morning.
“Horrible, horrible, horrible decision and total disregard for the players and teams that have put their hearts into this season,” Aiken wrote. “This is wrong on so many levels and the @IvyLeague should do its due diligence to find a better solution. Everyone knows the risks of playing!”
A petition circulated online Tuesday demanding that the league reinstate the tournament. The petition, which has earned over 8,000 signatures, criticized the league for canceling the event while letting other sports competitions proceed. Responding to the petition, Harris noted that regular league competitions are much smaller than the conference tournament, which would have brought eight teams to Harvard’s campus.
She also addressed precautions the league is taking as the spring sports season moves along.
“The spring sports are moving forward with very limited attendance, no general spectators or fans, only a limited number of guests of team members and essential personnel,” she said.
Harvard Senior Associate Director of Athletics Nathan Fry wrote in an emailed statement Monday that the department has prohibited air travel for all of Harvard’s varsity sports teams until April 30.
As a result, the department canceled nine varsity teams’ spring break trips, including the softball team’s.
Harvard softball player Morgan T. Melito ’21 said Harvard student-athletes who play a spring sport are currently “in a holding pattern.”
Dean of the College Rakesh Khurana asked College students in a Tuesday email to leave campus by Sunday evening. Melito said Athletics has not yet indicated how that University-wide policy will impact athletes whose season has not been canceled by the Ivy League. In the meantime, Melito said she and her teammates will continue to train. “We had practice today,” she said. “We got dressed and went out to have practice and just made the most of it.” In his statement, Fry wrote that Athletics will continue to monitor the situation and update its policies.
ema.schumer@thecrimson.com
International Students Work to Coordinate After Closing
By ELLEN M. BURSTEIN and CAMILLE G. CALDERA CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS
Students across campus were shocked by Harvard’s unprecedented decision to transition to virtual instruction and require students to leave campus by Sunday, March 15 as a result of the coronavirus outbreak. But for international students, the news was particularly worrisome, with concerns ranging from securing visas and immigration statuses to coordinating housing and travel plans.
An open letter from Harvard Undergraduates for Decent and Urgent Accommodations — a newly formed student group — said the news sparked “raging” questions from international students at the College and University.
“As of now, questions are raging about international students on this campus, and how the aforementioned 5-day deadline will affect them,” the petition read.
Chin-I “Teddy” Lin ’23, who is from Taiwan, called Tuesday’s news “surreal.”
“Today is a little bit surreal for me. I was sleeping in bed. My roommate woke me up and he was like, ‘Teddy, you need to see this email.’”
The Harvard International Office sent an email to international students Tuesday assuring them that their immigration status would not be impacted, as long as they kept up with their online course work.
“Government guidance issued yesterday assures us that international students can participate in online classes without concern for their immigration status, provided they continue to make normal progress in a full course of study as required by federal regulations,” the email read.
But some students are still concerned about visas for future internships. David A. Paffenholz ’22, who is from Germany, said that despite the guidance from the University, there were “a lot of unanswered questions.”
“In one international group chat, some things that were being asked about how things such as like visa permission are going to be handled, whether we still count as full time students while the college goes on pause, whether our like visas for summer internships are still open, whether we can still apply for them,” he said.
Michael D. Conner, a spokesperson for Campus Services, said students with concerns about working in the U.S. this summer should contact their advisor at the International Office. Paffenholz said the International Office was a “chaotic scene” earlier Tuesday. Still, he applauded their efforts.
“The International Office staff was really trying their best and handling it quite well,” he said.
Students can request an exception to campus closure through an online portal application, which is due at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, March. 10.
The application notes that “there will be no automatically pre-approved category of exception,” though exceptions will be considered for students who “reside in countries where a travel ban has been announced” and “who reside in countries currently at a Level 3 coronavirus threat level.”
Doh Hyoung “Daniel” Kim ’21, who is from South Korea, said that he has concerns about staying on campus, given increasing numbers of coronavirus cases in the United States.
“In countries like Korea or China, the epidemic seems to have reached its peak already, although we’re not too sure, and it’s starting to wind down and the number of new cases are decreasing. But here in the U.S., it seems like the government isn’t really feeling the urgency,” Kim said.
“There is the kind of worry that like, even if I stay here, what if the epidemic blows up here while back in my home, things are getting better?” he added.
Noah N. Furlonge-Walker ’23, who lives in Trinidad and Tobago, said that he was worried that the island nation would not be “well equipped” to handle a potential outbreak of COVID-19. “I’m just kind of battling that now, over what is really the safest decision to make — whether to stay or to go back home,” Furlonge-Walker said.
Satoshi Yanaizu ’23 said he believes that by requiring him to return to Japan, which the Centers for Disease Control has rated a Level Two in risk, the University is increasing risks to his health.
“It might be even more given that, like, the town I’m from, we have like 70 cases already, the same as the entire state of Massachusetts,” he said. “Even if I go back, I have no guarantee I will be in a safer environment. It might be even worse.” College spokesperson Rachael Dane wrote in an email that the College will review applications to remain on campus “as soon as possible.”
“The College will review all applications and announce decisions as soon as possible, which will include information on the length of stay for students,” Dane wrote. “We are committed to ensuring that each case receives the full attention it deserves, while also remaining mindful of students’ need to get an answer quickly.”
After the University’s announcement, international students also raised concerns about their ability to take their belongings home. Paffenholz said he was worried about the potential cost of shipping his belongings back to his home in Germany. The College is not providing any on-campus storage, according to faculty dean emails.
“I’m not quite sure on why that’s the case, particularly given that we have to take out everything and are able to store it here,” he said. “For people who live nearby, it’s easy to put it in a car, but shipping it back to Germany really isn’t quite flexible.” Students also voiced apprehension about completing their virtual classes. given time differences.
Yanaizu said that he is concerned about his ability to complete coursework online if sent back home to Japan.
“Let’s say I have to go back to Japan. That means its a 13 hour time difference. When you guys are taking the actual session, I should be sleeping,” he said. “My worry is, if the class takes attendance, will it still take attendance into account? I can’t be physically present at the same time so how do they deal with it?”
Paffenholz echoed these worries, particularly for his tutorial, “where participation is quite critical.”
Conner wrote in an email that individual faculty will communicate “expectations, formats, and necessary modalities to the students in their courses.” “Faculty have received guidance about planning for remote teaching and are being supported in the different forms that may take,” he said. “Many courses can move to an online modality through existing tools, like Canvas and Zoom, without significant disruption.”
ellen.burstein@thecrimson.com camille.caldera@thecrimson.com
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