The Harvard Crimson - Volume CXLVII, No. 4

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The Harvard Crimson THE UNIVERSITY DAILY, EST. 1873  |  VOLUME CXLVII NO. 4  |  CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS  |  TUESDAY, JANUARY 28, 2020

NEWS PAGE 3

EDITORIAL PAGE 6

SPORTS PAGE 7

Two assaults were reported near Harvard River Houses in recent days

Op-Ed: Law School students’ recent climate protest was misguided

Men’s hockey skated to a hardfought draw against Colgate

Judge Activist Groups Unite for Reorientation Rally Clears Protest Charges By ELLEN M. BURSTEIN and MICHELLE G. KURILLA CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

A Connecticut judge dismissed all charges Monday against ten Harvard students and alumni who participated in a November divestment demonstration at the Harvard-Yale football game, according to Hugh F. Keefe, the students’ lawyer. Police arrested the protesters in November, after dozens of activists and hundreds of spectators stormed the field at halftime during the 136th edition of the Harvard-Yale football game. Staging a 30-minute sitin, they unfurled large banners calling on Harvard and Yale to divest their multi-billion dollar endowments from fossil fuels and Puerto Rican debt, and several refused to leave the field until police placed them under arrest.

Nine graduate and undergraduate student activist organizations gathered in the lobby of the Science Center to hold a “Reorientation Rally” on Monday, the first day of spring semester classes. The Reorientation Rally — which took its name from a play on orientation for classes — was organized by Act on a Dream, Divest Harvard, Harvard Ethnic Studies Coalition, Harvard Graduate Student Union-United Automobile Workers, Harvard Prison Divestment Campaign, Harvard ReproJustice Action & Dialogue, Harvard TPS Coalition, Our Harvard Can Do Better, and Harvard Palestine Solidarity Committee. The rally featured speeches from each of the groups. In a printed statement distributed during the rally, the groups wrote that the rally’s various participants shared a common interest in fighting for social justice on campus. “Today, we joined together to disrupt business as usual in the Science Center and held

SEE DIVEST PAGE 3

SEE PROTEST PAGE 4

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By MICHELLE G. KURILLA CRIMSON STAFF WRITER ­

Connor Chung ‘23 spoke on Monday, representing Divest Harvard at the Reorientation Rally, encouraging Harvard to divest from the fossil fuel industry (left). Student members of the Harvard Prison Divestment Campaign joined them at the rally (right). RYAN N. GAJARAWALA—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

Students Attend First Day of Spring Semester Classes Markey Endorsed By Seven Reps. By AUSTIN W. LI and ANDY Z. WANG CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Blue skies and crowded lecture halls welcomed students back to campus as they shopped classes on Monday, marking the first day of the spring semester. Across campus, students sampled classes including the consistently popular Economics 10b: “Principles of Macroeconomics.” This academic term also marks the beginning of a new Gen Ed lottery process. Instead of individual lotteries coordinated by each course, the new system features a centralized ranked-choice lottery run by the Gen Ed office. Ayana M. Yaegashi ’23 was one of the lucky few to claim a seat in Gen Ed 1051: “Reclaiming Argument: Logic as a Force for Good,” taught by Philosophy Department Chair Edward J. Hall. It meets in Harvard Hall, which recently reopened following half a year of renovations. ­

On the first day of the spring semester, undergraduate students briskly walked to class through Tercentenary Theater. RYAN N. GAJARAWALA—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

“I want to take it because it would be cool to be able to dissect arguments,” Yaegashi said. “It’s kind of interesting to know formal logic, because you always think about it and we all have some sort of instinct for it.” In many cases, classes were filled to the brim, leaving people to claim any space they could, including in aisles and on windowsills. An overflowing student body welcomed Economics 50: “Using Big Data to Solve Social and Economic Problems” to Sanders Theater. Oscar L. Berry ’23 witnessed the overcrowding for the newly-renamed course, taught by Economics Professsor Raj Chetty ’00. “I was physically uncomfortable. We had to move down on our little bench because there were so many people there,” Berry said. “There were more people there than there were in Ec 10b, and I think that’s the measure

SEE CLASSES PAGE 4

Middle East Restaurant Building Up For Sale By AUSTIN W. LI and SIMON J. LEVIEN CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

The Middle East — a landmark nightclub and restaurant on the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Brookline Street in Central Square — was put up for sale last week, co-owner Nabil Sater told Cambridge Day last Sunday. The 23,388-square-foot restaurant, which boasts five adjacent dining and live music venues, is reportedly listed at $40 million, per Cambridge Day. The establishment began as a Lebanese restaurant in 1969 and featured belly-dancing and live performances. Brothers Nabil and Joseph Sater purchased the sprawling property in 2014 for $7.1 million. Sater told Cambridge Day he regularly worked 100-hourplus weeks to pay off its high mortgage installments. “It’s been tough,” Nabil told Cambridge Day. ­

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Harvard Today 2

Business at The Middle East first began to stall when politics throughout the geographic Middle East raised concerns among patrons in Cambridge, Cambridge Day reported. In 2013, the brothers considered a plan to build several floors of condos above the restaurant in response to mounting financial insecurity. “The landlord wants to sell the building, and we have to do something,” Joseph told Cambridge Day in 2013. “I don’t want to give up.” Then, in 2018, the business faced backlash from musical groups slated to perform at the nightclub after Joseph faced a series of sexual misconduct allegations levied against him online. Joseph resigned, though the club’s owners wrote in a Facebook post at the time that the allegations were “unequivocally” false. Hunneman commercial brokers told Cambridge Day that

SEE FOOD PAGE 3

News 3

Editorial 6

The Middle East Restaurant and Nightclub, located at the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Brookline Street in Central Square, is up for sale. STEVE S. LI—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

Sports 7

TODAY’S FORECAST

CLOUDY High: 42 Low: 27

By JASPER GOODMAN CRIMSON STAFF WRITER ­

Seven members of Cambridge’s state legislative delegation endorsed incumbent United States Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) in his re-election campaign Saturday. Markey, who is running in a close Democratic primary race against U.S. Representative Joseph P. Kennedy III (D-Mass.), holds the endorsement of every Cambridge state legislator except for State Representative Joseph A. Boncore, who supports Kennedy. “It was not a hard decision,” state Senator Patricia D. Jehlen said. “He’s been an extremely effective and outstanding leader on things that I care about.” Markey and Kennedy both made their pitches to Cambridge Democrats at an event on Sunday at the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School. “I’m honored to have the delegation endorsing me,” Markey said in an interview after the event. “This is obviously at the heart of the progressive movement in Massachusetts and in the whole country, and so to have their voices — to have their support — just is an incredible validation of what I work on and the fights that I fight.” Kennedy, who has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2013, picked up the endorsement of several high-profile members of Congress earlier this month, including Representative John R. Lewis (D-Ga.), a civil rights leader who delivered Harvard’s commencement address in 2018. Markey also has the backing of his chamber’s national leaders — namely Democratic presidential candidate and senior senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), as well as Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer ’71 (D-N.Y.). Markey also earned a coveted endorsement from progressive firebrand Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

SEE MARKEY PAGE 5

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