The Harvard Crimson The University Daily, Est. 1873 | Volume CXLV, No. 112 | Cambridge, Massachusetts | Monday, October 29, 2018
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news PAGE 5
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Harvard should pay its fair share to boost the economy, Gonzalez writes.
UC votes down a funding proposal for student dinners and advising outings.
Men’s ice hockey drops a close overtime contest to Dartmouth 6 to 7.
How Harvard Admissions Really Works College: what they can expect to happen next — and how the Harvard admissions process really works.
By Delano R. Franklin and Molly C. Mccafferty Crimson Staff Writers
In the coming months, tens of thousands of Harvard hopefuls around the globe will grit their teeth, cross their fingers, and hit “Submit” on applications to attend the world’s top-ranked university. The vast majority will fail. Harvard — the second-most selective four-year college in the United States — typically sees an acceptance rate of about 5 percent. But this year’s crop of high school dreamers have an advan-
interview
tage their predecessors did not: an inside understanding of how the College decides who qualifies as Harvard material. This year’s application cycle comes soon after the highstakes and high-profile Harvard admissions trial that spurred the release of previously confidential documents and data that shed unprecedented light on the inner workings of the College’s admissions process. The trial, which kicked off Oct. 15 in the John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse in Boston, marks the latest development in a four-year-old law-
First Read
suit alleging Harvard discriminates against Asian-American applicants. For the past two weeks, lawyers for the University and Students for Fair Admissions — the anti-affirmative action advocacy group that sued Harvard in Nov. 2014 — have traveled to court every day to debate the legality of race-conscious admissions. The trial is slated to end Friday, but experts have predicted a cascading series of appeals will bring the case before the Supreme Court. If it does, it could mean the end of affirmative action in America as we know it.
Regardless of how the nation’s highest court rules, one thing is certain: Harvard’s super-secret admissions process is secret no longer. Documents made public over the summer and in court across the past two weeks unravel what University lawyer William F. Lee ’72 once called “the secret of Coke.” The early decision application deadline for the Class of 2023 is Nov. 1 and the regular decision deadline falls on Jan. 1. As students pore over their transcripts and put the finishing touches on their personal essays, here’s a run-down of
Sub-Committee
Full Committee
Step One: Recruitment Harvard’s admissions office starts thinking about prospective applicants well before many high schoolers start thinking about the College. Things typically kick off when Harvard purchases students’ test scores and contact information from standardized testing companies such as the College Board and ACT Inc., which administer the SAT and the ACT, respectively. Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid William R. Fitzsimmons ’67 testified in court Oct. 17 that the University buys information for “well in excess of 100,000” students each year. “It’s a good start,” Fitzsimmons said. The College uses this data to identify “accomplished students” and then floods their inboxes and mailboxes with emails, letters, and shiny booklets stuffed with glossy photos of Harvard’s campus. Sometimes, the College starts recruiting promising applicants as early as freshman year of high school, according to the 2013-2014 iteration of the Harvard Admissions Office interviewer handbook. Next, admissions officers put rubber to the road to seek out candidates across the country. Sometimes alone and sometimes traveling alongside representatives from other top-tier schools — such as the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University, and Yale University — Harvard officials trekked to 130 cities in all 50 states in the 20132014 school year, the handbook states. Once arrived, staffers typically rent out public spaces like hotel conference rooms and give presentations meant to explain the admissions process and advertise Harvard.
Race Can’t Be Factor By Delano R. Franklin, Iris M. Lewis, and Cindy H. Zhang Crimson Staff Writers
nlike in admissions cyU cles past, Harvard officials will abide by specific, written guidelines detailing how and when they may consider an applicant’s race when deciding whether to admit that student to the College’s Class of 2023 this year. A copy of the guidelines obtained by The Crimson — in which Harvard outlines application “reading procedures” for the Class of 2023 — explicitly prohibits officers from pondering a candidate’s race when assigning scores for personal traits. The admissions office
See Personal Page 5
sports PAGE 10
Harvard field hockey clinches Ivy League title with 6-0 win over Dartmouth.
See Admissions Page 3
HKS Still White, Male, Per Harvard Holds Vigil in Wake of Pittsburgh Shooting Report President Bacow speaks at the vigil. Jocelyn Wang—Crimson photographer
By Aidan F. Ryan Crimson Staff Writer
University affiliates gathered at Harvard Hillel Sunday evening to support each other as they honored the victims of the deadly mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue Saturday morning. Close to 100 individuals — Jewish and non-Jewish alike — packed into the vigil to pay their respects for the eleven victims of Saturday’s tragedy. Students gathered in front of the room and called out the names of the victims, lighting a candle for each one as the crowd looked on. Rabbi Dani Passow spoke first, holding back tears as he shared a story from the book of Genesis. He described God instructing Abraham to kill his
Inside this issue
Harvard Today 2
son Isaac before an angel stops Abraham at the last second. Passow connected the parable to synagogues across the world on Saturday morning. “In every synagogue that relived this story, the angel cried out and Isaac was saved. In every synagogue but one,” Passow said. “Since then, millions and millions of Isaacs have been slaughtered. May these be the last of Isaac’s ashes that lay on the altar.” The shooting occurred Saturday at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Penn., claiming the lives of eleven worshipers and wounding six others. Witnesses said the shooter yelled anti-Semitic statements before he opened fire, according to the Washington Post. Prosecutors charged the shooter with 29 counts of fed-
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Editorial 8
Affiliates gather at Harvard Hillel to pay their respects to the fallen. Jocelyn Wang—Crimson photographer
By Alexandra A. Chaidez
eral civil rights crimes Saturday night. The shooting is the deadliest attack against the Jewish community on American soil. At the vigil, University president Lawrence S. Bacow took a few moments to speak on the tragedy and how the nation can move forward. “We can do more than simply comfort each other,” Bacow said. “We can vote for those who would bring us together as opposed to those who would divide us.” Bacow also said the tragedy affects everyone, regardless of religion or identity. “This was not simply a crime against Jews,” Bacow said. “It was a crime against all who stand for social justice. It was a crime against all people of
demographic report at the A Harvard Kennedy School last year provoked outrage when it revealed the school was mostly white and male and struggles to recruit and retain minorities. A year later, that remains the case, according to the latest data. The data, released to Kennedy School affiliates in a fourpage report Thursday, indicates little change in the low numbers of underrepresented minorities who attend, teach, and work at the school. “The report shows that the Kennedy School community is not as diverse along various dimensions as it should be in order to achieve full excellence in our mission,” Kennedy School Dean
See Vigil Page 5
See Diversity Page 5
Sports 9
Today’s Forecast
Crimson Staff Writer
rainy High: 57 Low: 38
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