The Harvard Crimson - Volume CXLV, No. 139

The Harvard Crimson The University Daily, Est. 1873 | Volume cxlv No. 139 | Cambridge, Massachusetts | Wednesday, December 12, 2018

editorial PAGE 6

sports PAGE 8

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Harvard should make Narcan more readily available on campus.

Track falls to the University of Pennsylvania in an indoor meet.

Dean of the College Rakesh Khurana won’t discuss the sanctions lawsuits.

Bacow Takes On Flurry of Suits

By Kristine E. Guillaume and Jamie D. Halper Crimson Staff Writers

Harvard may be facing a seemingly endless stream of lawsuits these days, but University President Lawrence S. Bacow is trying to bring some levity to the situation.

“I looked at my watch and I said ‘it’s four o’clock and I haven’t been sued yet, but the courthouse is still open for another hour’,” Bacow said with a laugh during an interview Monday, recounting a conversation he had with a friend last week.

When he took office on July 1, Bacow inherited a high-profile admissions lawsuit alleging that Harvard’s admissions process discriminates against Asian-American applicants.

The trial concluded last month, but Bacow expects the suit to eventually reach the Supreme Court.

But Harvard’s legal team will have little rest in the interim — just last week, three lawsuits were filed against the school. The first two suits allege the College’s single gender social group sanctions discriminate against women, and

Leverett Workers Call for Change

the other argues the University does not have jurisdiction to conduct a Title IX investigation into a student who allegedly committed sexual assault against a non-Harvard student hundreds of miles away from campus.

“I think they’re busy,” Bacow said, referring to the University’s Office of General Counsel, which oversees Harvard’s legal affairs.

University spokesperson Melodie Jackson wrote in an emailed statement that amid the onslaught of legal challenges, the Office of General Counsel remains committed to fulfilling its tasks.

“OGC is fully engaged in advancing the University’s mission in all that it does, including how it approaches lawsuits,” Jackson wrote.

The pair of suits against Harvard’s sanctions — brought forth by two sororities, two fraternities, and three College undergraduates — allege the policy violates students’ civil rights and discriminates against students on the basis of sex. Experts have said the suits rely on

By Shera S. Avi-Yonah and Molly c. MCcafferty Crimson Staff Writers

Amid concerns over the lack of separate changing rooms for workers of all genders, dining hall employees in Leverett House are calling for a meeting with management to address issues of “safety, dignity, and respect on the job,” according to a statement issued Tuesday.

The 24 male and female dining workers in McKinlock Hall — the building that houses Leverett’s dining hall — have only one locker room to store their personal belongings and change into their uniforms.

Within that room, there is only one dressing room. In other houses, including nearby Quincy House and Adams House, Harvard University Dining Services workers have two changing rooms separated by gender.

See Bacow Page 3

Simon S. Sun—Crimson Designer

HUPD Investigates ‘Indecent Assault’

SEE PAGE 3

By molly C. Mccafferty Crimson Staff Writer

band plays to tradition

Continuing a long-held Primal Scream tradition, members of the Harvard University Band — scantily clad themselves — played tunes as naked students ran a lap around Harvard Yard on the eve of finals week. delano r. franklin—Crimson photographer

Eck, Austin Talk Leading Lowell

By Camille G. Caldera and Amanda Y. Su

Eck and Austin celebrate 20 years as faculty deans of Lowell House.

By Tamar sarig and sahana G. Srinivasan Crimson Staff Writers

Two cats chase each other across the sitting room floor of the residence of Lowell House Faculty Deans Diana L. Eck and Dorothy A. Austin.

A photograph of Eck’s parents sits atop a cabinet, and images of the Hindu god Krishna adorn the walls. A set of chairs — plush, soft — face each other in an intimate circle on one side of the room. The house is cozy, eclectic, and welcoming, which Lowell students say translates perfectly to the deans’ personalities.

“They’re just warm,” Salvatore R. DeFrancesco ’19, co-chair of the Lowell House Committee, said.

Harvard Today 2

“When you see them sitting together in the dining hall, I don’t think there’s a person from a senior to a sophomore that’s scared to sit next to them or say hi.”

Eck and Austin — the first openly gay, married house masters and now faculty deans of a House at the College — have stood at the helm of Lowell for 20 years and lived together in Cambridge for even longer. Eck is a professor of comparative religion and Indian studies, and Austin a lecturer in religion and psychology.

At the end of the academic year, both will retire as faculty deans, though Eck will continue to teach.

“It really is time,” Eck said. “Lowell House has

News 3

Editorial 6

­ he Harvard University PoT lice Department is investigating a female undergraduate’s report that she was “indecently assaulted” while walking on Plympton Street early Tuesday morning, HUPD spokesperson Steven G. Catalano wrote in an email to Harvard affiliates Tuesday.

The incident occurred near Quincy House at around 12:45 a.m. Tuesday, and HUPD is investigating the incident as indecent assault and battery, according to Catalano.

The woman reported that two men approached her and called out to her. One of the men then grabbed her, threw her against a wall, and kissed her and fondled her chest, she re-

ported.

The woman then screamed and fled, per Catalano’s Tuesday afternoon email. The student was unable to provide a detailed description of the two individuals involved in the incident.

Catalano urged Harvard affiliates to report suspicious activity, travel in groups, and utilize University resources like the evening van service, taxi escorts, and shuttle buses.

He also referenced the department’s typical advisement against talking on cell phones, listening to music, or “walking too close to persons unnecessarily.”

“The Harvard University Police Department wants to remind students, faculty, and staff

See assault Page 4

Bayoumi, Ragab Get Politically Engaged

Lowell PAGE 5

Inside this issue

See Leverett Page 4

Crimson Staff Writers

Professor Ahmed Ragab and Professor Soha Bayoumi sit at their dinner table in their Kirkland House home. Amanda Y. SU—Crimson photographer

Sports 8

Today’s Forecast

sunny High: 35 Low: 17

On Sept. 5, 2017, Donald Trump announced that he was ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, an Obama-era program that protects undocumented individuals who had been brought to the United States as children from deportation.

Professor Kirsten Weld had received word of the rescission a few days earlier, and was already in the midst of planning a response. In the hopes of making a clear public statement, she decided on an act of nonviolent civil disobedience by professors.

As soon as he received word of the protest, Professor Ahmed Ragab wanted to participate.

There was just one problem: he wasn’t yet a United States citizen, and being arrested could jeopardize his impending naturalization.

The night before the protest, however, Ragab realized that he and his wife, Professor Soha Bayoumi, who are both

Egyptian immigrants, had been scheduled to be naturalized the next morning.

He emailed Weld to tell her that he wanted to participate in the protest immediately after.

“I got a bit tearful, actually, when I read his email because it was so powerful to me that that was the first thing he wanted to be able to do with his new privilege of United States citizenship,” Weld said.

For Ragab, there was a special significance to the fact that his naturalization coincided with the protest.

“The naturalization itself, and in a way the arrest afterward, was part of how I was thinking about what it means to belong in this country,” Ragab said.

“This protest was kind of an affirmation of a moment of self-discovery, of subscribing to a particular version of American-ness,” he explained. For Ragab, that version is related to the “culture of protest and of change and of dissent” that is present throughout America’s

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THE HARVARD CRIMSON |

December 12, 2018

Page 2

Harvard Today

For Lunch Chicken and Cheese Enchiladas Dan Dan Noodles Kale and Goat Cheese Pizza

For Dinner Chicken and Green Curry Sauce Fresh Seared Swordfish Cajun Black Bean Cakes

Today’s Events

in The Real World

Pop-Up Holiday Market Porter Square, 2-8 p.m.

Surge in Warmth-Resistant Coral Growth

Head to 9 White St. for a Porter Square pop up holiday market. Get yummy food and take a break for self-care during exams week. The From Russia With Art gallery and Porter Square books with co-host the market.

Coral bleaching events in the Great Barrier Reef caused concern among the scientific community regarding the effects of warming oceans, but now scientists are seeing a surge in coral that is more resistant to warm waters. They are referring to this phenomenon as a large-scale example of natural selection, and they see this as hope that coral reefs will survive warming waters.

Blink! Light and Sound Show Faneuil Hall, 4:30-10 p.m.

At Faneuil Hall Marketplace, there is going to be a light and sound show called “Blink!”. It will feature the signature holiday tree at Marketplace Center and continues throughout December. Go and get your holiday cheer on!

GRRL HAUS CINEMA Brattle Theatre, 8-11 p.m.

At Brattle Theatre, go and see films from woman filmmakers courtesy of GRRL HAUS CINEMA. Many of the filmmakers will be in attendance and will be taking questions, so it’s a really great opportunity. Don’t miss out!

Dutch Church Holds Non-stop Service

Crimzoids celebrate chair’s return. Poonies celebrate their total lack of humor, relevance, and/ or significance. Lloyd celebrates nothing. derek g.xiao—Crimson president

Daily Briefing University President Lawrence S. Bacow said in an interview Monday that Harvard’s Office of the General Counsel is \”busy\” with the recent slew of lawsuits filed against the College and University. Between allegations that the College’s single gender social group sanctions violate students’ civil rights and discriminate against students on the basis of sex, and that the University does not have jurisdiction to conduct a Title IX investigation into a student who allegedly committed sexual assault against a non-Harvard student hundreds of miles away from campus, the Office has a lot on its plate.

Bethel Church in the Netherlands has held a nonstop church service for the past six weeks to protect an Armenian family facing deportation.

Under Dutch law, police may not interrupt a church service to make an arrest. People from all around the world have participated in the church service, and it has attracted international media attention.

Trump Threatens Shutdown over Wall In what was supposed to be a more private meeting, President Trump, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer had a combative public debate concerning funding for a border wall. The threat of a government shutdown looms.

Around the Ivies Columbia A Columbia sophomore, Julian von Abele, verbally harassed a group of his classmates — most of whom were black — with white supremacist comments on campus around 4 a.m. Sunday morning. Students who witnessed von Abele’s actions told the Columbia Spectator he shouted comments such as, “White people are the best thing that happened to the world” and “We built modern civilization.” A video of von Abele following the students around Columbia’s campus as he berated them has since gone viral. The deans of Columbia’s undergraduate colleges sent out emails to the student body condemning the incident.

UPENN Several undergraduates presented the University of Pennsylvania’s Slavery Project that documented the historical connections its medical school faculty had with slavery. The students gathered research on medical faculty who produced racist research and owned slaves themselves, according to the Daily Pennsylvanian. Junior Archana Upadhyay found documentation of medical faculty using slaves’ cadavers for dissections and educational presentations. The students’ research comes around three months following Penn President Amy Gutmann sending an email to students and faculty formally acknowledging the university’s historical ties to slavery.

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Corrections The Harvard Crimson is committed to accuracy in its reporting. Factual errors are corrected promptly on this page. Readers with information about errors are asked to e-mail the managing editor at managingeditor@thecrimson.com.

PAGE 3

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | DECEMBER 12, 2018

BACOW FROM PAGE 1

Bacow: Harvard Ready for Suits unusual legal argumentation to achieve their goal of forcing Harvard to retract the policy.

Douglas E. Fierberg, an attorney who specializes in sexual violence cases involving fraternities, said the two suits are unprecedented, marking a “novel way of twisting Title IX.” Bacow said he believes the suit has no merit, though he maintained that anyone in the United States can “pursue their rights in court.”

“In the United States, you can sue anybody for anything,” Bacow said. “The question is: can you win? So, do they have a right to bring the lawsuit? Anybody has a right to bring a lawsuit in the United States. It will be the up to the court to decide whether or not it has merit.”

The University will file a response to the suit in court and Bacow said that response will “probably” include a motion to dismiss the case.

Bacow said he was not sure what his involvement in the response to the suit will be, but that the University will “see what the court does” after Harvard files its response.

Bacow said Harvard’s response to the suit will address the argumentations brought forth by the fraternities and so-

rorities — one of which alleges that the College’s sanctions discriminate against women’s groups.

At a press conference last week, former Delta Gamma President Rebecca J. Ramos ’17 said the sanctions crippled the sorority in the year since she graduated.

“Harvard attempted to tell the female students what would be good for them without bothering to ask them,” Ramos said.

Bacow said Monday he finds it “difficult to understand” how the policy discriminates against women’s groups.

“We’ve asked is that these organizations be co-ed, so that applies equally to all male and all female institutions, so it’s hard to see how that discriminates against women, which is the specific allegation,” Bacow said.

He added that the policy asks students to uphold the ideals of “inclusion and belonging” that embody Harvard’s values.

“If you want to be put forward for certain things at Harvard, we expect you to represent the ideals of the institution,” Bacow said.

In an October interview, Bacow said prospective students

who are not comfortable with the policy should not apply to the College.

“Nobody puts a gun to anybody’s head and says that they have to come here,” Bacow said.

“These are really important issues for students. If they don’t like the way we do things, there are other places which they can go to school that have adopted a different approach, but we’ve tried to be explicit about what we care about, what our values are, who we are.”

The other lawsuit was filed by a Harvard undergraduate who challenges that the University overstepped when it opened a Title IX investigation into allegations that he raped a non-Harvard student in an apartment building almost certainly in Washington, D.C. during summer 2017.

The University’s Office for Dispute Resolution opened an investigation into the student — who opted to remain anonymous in his lawsuit — in Oct. 2018, according to lawsuit filings. ODR handles all allegations of sexual or gender-based harassment at Harvard.

Bacow said he believes it would be “arguably unreasonable” for the University not to look into the D.C. incident.

“Our general position is

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that we have a responsibility to understand and appreciate if there is somebody on our campus who might pose a threat to our students or elsewhere,” he said.

He said the University plans to continue investigating the student despite the suit. University administrators do not typically acknowledge the existence or status of Title IX complaints.

Bacow bears personal liability in these suits, which are filed against the President and Fellows of Harvard College — the official name for the Harvard Corporation, the University’s highest governing body.

Bacow serves as an ex-officio member of the Corporation, a body on which he sat as a member prior to his appointment as president.

The slew of filings is an unprecedented experience for the new president, he said.

“Given all these suits are against the President and Fellows of Harvard College, I’ve been sued more frequently in the last few weeks than any other point in my life,” Bacow said.

“How’s that?” he quipped. kristine.guillaume@thecrimson.com. jamie.halper@thecrimson.com.

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Primal Scream Heard in Yard

By SOPHIA S. ARMENAKAS and LUKE A. WILLIAMS CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

It was a normal Tuesday night.

Then scores of Harvard students dropped their underwear.

The undergraduates unhooked bra straps, let towels fall from their bare bodies, and braved the chill of a 31 degrees-Fahrenheit Cambridge night to sprint a nude lap around Harvard Yard as part of the fall 2018 iteration of Primal Scream.

A biannual tradition, Primal Scream takes place at the end of reading period and just before the start of final exams in both the fall and spring semesters.

Each year, Harvard students face the same questions: Will they abstain totally, preferring warmth and unshrivelled dignity? Will they watch their peers pursue Primal prominence?

Or will they themselves throw clothes and caution to the wind?

For Cameron M. Cashin ’22, the choice was easy.

“This is just a thing that everyone has to accomplish at one point in their career here,” Cashin said. “It’s always just something you want to get out of the way right in the beginning.”

In choosing to run Primal Scream early Wednesday morning — the lap, per tradition, kicked off at exactly midnight — Cashin joined a minor army of students ranging in age from fellow freshmen to seniors to a handful of alumni, who admitted they were alumni but declined to give their names.

One student interviewed for this story tried to give a fake name (The Crimson chose not to include the interview in the article).

Cashin quickly disappeared into a sea of banana suits, shark heads, and — of course — birthday suits.

The swell of humanity chanted “USA!” and “Free the dick!” as they hurtled into the crisp evening air.

The Harvard Band, some of whom donned an atypical uniform of blazers and boxers, stood in front of University Hall — adjacent to the statue of John Harvard — to provide loud, proud accompaniment.

Cashin said it all felt intoxicating. He said participants were “hyped up” and “amped up,” surrounded and goaded on by friends.

But he was less than thrilled with those students who opted to retain some portion of their undergarments as they ran through the Yard.

“I’m going full nude for this.

It doesn’t count it you don’t,” Cashin said. “It doesn’t count if you don’t.”

Henry R. Lynch ’20, another participant, said nudity really isn’t too bad. Once you start running, he said, you “don’t even feel the cold” because “body heat emanating” from the other sprinters keeps you “nice and warm.”

Lynch would know — it’s at least his second go-round.

Lynch said he participated in Primal Scream his freshman fall but failed to do so last year, a decision he deeply regrets.

“It was great. I had missed it,” Lynch said. “I didn’t do it sophomore year. It was very sad. Good to return.”

One freshman effected a very different kind of return Tuesday night — straight back to his dorm room.

“Why would I want to watch naked people running around campus?” Noah P. Gold ’22 asked before walking into a freshman entryway.

Alison Chen ’22 — who chose to watch the spectacle — offered one possible answer: “Peer pressure is an incredible thing.” sophia.armenakas@thecrimson.com. luke.williams@thecrimson.com.

THE HARVARD CRIMSON |

DECEMBER 12, 2018

PAGE 4

Khurana Won’t Comment HUDS Workers on Sanctions Lawsuits Call for Action LEVERETT FROM PAGE 1

By CAROLINE S. ENGELMAYER and MICHAEL E. XIE CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

Dean of the College Rakesh Khurana refused to answer a single question about the pair of lawsuits alleging the College’s social group sanctions are discriminatory and unconstitutional in an interview last week.

A group of international fraternities and sororities and three anonymous College students filed the pair of suits — one in state court and the other in federal court — on Dec. 3.

The state suit alleges Harvard’s social group policy violates the Massachusetts Civil Rights Act and Constitution by denying students equal treatment on the basis of sex.

The federal suit accuses Harvard of violating federal anti-sex discrimination law Title IX and the United States Constitution.

Harvard’s sanctions — which took effect with the Class of 2021 — bar members of single-gender final clubs and Greek organizations from holding campus leadership positions, varsity team athletic captaincies, and from receiving Harvard endorsement for prestigious fellowships like the Rhodes.

Asked about the sanctions in an interview Friday, Khurana repeated almost verbatim parts of a previous statement issued

by Harvard spokesperson Ra-

chael Dane. Khurana said the College hopes to build a “culture and community” through a “foundation of belonging and inclusion and non-discrimination.”

“Harvard should not have to change its educational philosophy or mission and commitment to nondiscrimination for outside organizations that do not align with these commitments and values,” Khurana said. He added the social group policy is meant to provide support for organizations that promote the College’s “principles of non-discrimination and inclusivity” and that faculty and administrators do not believe Harvard should become a “Greek school.”

“For more than a century, Harvard has not been a Greek school — that is a school that has a fraternity and sorority system,” Khurana said.

“As the faculty, as President Faust, as the Harvard Corporation reaffirmed in 2017, it is the expressed belief and expectation of this community that we should not become a Greek school.”

After providing the statement, Khurana said that — given the lawsuits are pending — he has “no further comment on this topic.”

When asked specifically about allegations listed in the lawsuits, Harvard’s reaction, and the University’s planned

response to the litigation, Khurana repeated the sentence five more times.

In response to a series of other queries about the suits, the dean repeated segments of his initial statement.

...it is the expressed belief and expectation of this community that we should not become a Greek school.

Rakesh Khurana Dean of Harvard College

When asked about his reaction to the state lawsuit’s assertion that current sophomores in sorority Alpha Phi “hold leadership positions in campus groups at this time” — an apparent violation of the College’s social group policy — Khurana said he trusts College students.

“I trust our students. I think our students are remarkable individuals,” Khurana said.

“I know that society believes that Harvard College students should embody the best of what we can possibly be and I trust our students will live up to those standards and expectations.” caroline.engelmayer@thecrimson.com. michael.xie@thecrimson.com.

The situation has caused discomfort for some workers, according to the statement they wrote.

“We have been preparing to address our needs for safety, dignity and respect on the job, especially for enough space and privacy to change into our uniforms without workers of all genders being forced to choose between having to be uncovered in front of others or late to work,” the statement reads.

The workers’ statement also addressed racist graffiti discovered by students on a McKinlock whiteboard in November.

Leverett house staff and the Dean of Students Office are currently investigating the drawings, which depicted two faces — one labeled “Black” and the other “Other blacks, Mexicans, Muslims, Jews” — alongside racist comments.

“We are concerned about another violation in our community,” the statement reads.

“Workers oppose the violent disrespect of the racist graffiti that was recently discovered in a student common area.”

“Now is the time for one community, including workers, students and faculty, to address inclusion and the needs of all of our historically underrepresented members,” it con-

tinues.

Citing an email sent to Leverett students by their House Committee, the workers wrote the graffiti was “upsetting to many HUDS workers who are a very diverse part of the University community.”

Several days after students brought the graffiti to administrators’ attention, Leverett Resident Dean Bilal A. Malik wrote in an email that house staff’s “first and foremost priority is working with our students and other community-members, to understand how they were impacted, and how we can help.”

Dining services workers raised their concerns to management Tuesday, according to Edward B. Childs, the chief shop steward of HUDS union UNITE HERE Local 26. Childs wrote in a text message to The Crimson that Leverett managers are currently “shuffling to their departments” and discussing how to respond to the concerns raised by workers about both the locker room and the graffiti.

University spokesperson Melodie L. Jackson declined to comment on the workers’ statement. shera.avi-yonah@thecrimson.com. molly.mccafferty@thecrimson.com.

ASSAULT FROM PAGE 1

Student Assaulted Near Quincy that we are located in an urban setting and share many of the crime and safety issues that exist in any city,” he wrote.

Community members should be vigilant while walking throughout campus and surrounding areas both during the day and at night and to take the appropriate precautions.

Stephen G. Catalano HUPD Spokesperson

“Community members should be vigilant while walking throughout campus and surrounding areas both during the day and at night and to take the appropriate precautions.” molly.mccafferty@thecrimson.com.

ENGAGED FROM PAGE 1

Bayoumi and Ragab Bring Academic Activism to Cambridge history. Bayoumi felt similarly, emphasizing the contradiction of gaining citizenship as others lose their right to be in this country.

“There’s a really huge paradox in a way, us getting naturalized and supposedly getting all those rights that come with being a U.S. citizen while some of our students are actually being stripped or feel that they’re being stripped of those rights,” she said.

On Sept. 7, Bayoumi and Ragab made their way to Faneuil Hall, where they were naturalized, and immediately returned to Harvard Square to join the protest in the Yard — only stopping to change into more comfortable shoes. Soon after, Ragab and 30 other professors from Harvard and other Boston-area universities blocked Massachusetts Avenue. They were arrested by Cambridge Police, who had been notified beforehand about the demonstration.

Bayoumi attended the protest but could not be arrested alongside Ragab because she had to pick up their daughter, Carmen, from school.

“People pay attention to the people who get arrested, the people who are on the street, but they don’t necessarily pay attention to the activists’ partners who are actually taking care of things at home so that the activists can do their role in social justice,” she said.

Recalling his arrest, Ragab emphasized that the treatment he and other professors received from the police — which he characterized as respectful and relatively noninvasive — served as evidence of the privilege they hold as academics.

The district attorney ultimately decided to drop all charges.

“This is not the experience of immigrants in this country, definitely not the experience of black and brown people around the country, where an arrest means a lot more than just spending a couple of hours at the police station and being arraigned a week later,” Ragab said.

In return for the privilege they receive as academics, Ragab and Bayoumi said they have sought to challenge the longstanding ideal of objectivity in the academy — deliberately bringing politics into their scholarship and into their classrooms to advocate for marginalized groups.

“It was a way of using some of that privilege to lend their voice, or use their megaphone to lend their voice, to the cause of our students and many many others in this country who do not have that privilege, whose voices are usually silenced,” Bayoumi said of the DACA protest.

Activism on Harvard’s campus has proliferated in the Trump era, and Ragab and Bay-

oumi represent models of the new politically engaged professor.

FROM CAIRO TO CAMBRIDGE

Ragab and Bayoumi grew up in Cairo, Egypt and met as high schoolers through theater and poetry competitions.

After high school, they entered different degree programs — Ragab to medical school, Bayoumi to study the social sciences — but continued to cross paths through their political, intellectual, academic, and extracurricular activities.

“I fell in love with her very early. And it took her quite some time to fall in love with me,” Ragab said. “There’s this brilliant, powerful fantastic woman, and I was this little shy boring kid in the medical school, and I was trying to find a way or a moment to just see, can I even take her out on a date? She was way out of my league.”

“There was a first attempt on my part, and she was in a relationship so that didn’t work, and so about a year later I tried again, and that time it worked,” Ragab added.

They dated for a couple years in Cairo until Bayoumi entered a political philosophy Ph.D. program in Paris. They maintained a long-distance relationship while Ragab finished medical school.

“I think it sort of showed us that if we can survive a couple of

It is really an important thing for the community to speak for each other and to protect each other.

Ahmed Ragab History of Science Professor

years of long-distance relationship, we can survive a lot of other things,” Ragab said.

Eventually, Ragab began a Ph.D. program in the history of medicine in Paris, briefly practicing psychiatry at the same time. Bayoumi first came to Harvard as an exchange Ph.D. student. After finishing his degree, Ragab joined her and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Harvard’s History of Science Department.

“And she stayed with me, so one thing led to another,” he said.

ACADEMIC WORK MEETS ACTIVISM

Now, despite their different intellectual backgrounds, both Ragab and Bayoumi teach interdisciplinary Harvard courses that relate to the history of science.

“I started from studying the social sciences and then orienting my social science studies to-

wards thinking about medicine and health. And he went the other way, and we met somewhere in between,” Bayoumi said.

Currently, Bayoumi serves as the resident dean of Kirkland House and a History of Science lecturer at the College. Ragab is a professor of science and religion at the Divinity School, as well as an associate professor in the History of Science.

Both have brought politics into their work. Bayoumi’s work spans multiple disciplines, though it primarily focuses on contemporary intersections of science, medicine, technology, politics, and gender and sexuality, with a focus on the Middle East. A growing interest of hers is the cultural prestige of doctors in post-colonial Egypt, particularly how they acquire social capital and deploy medical expertise in situations of political turmoil and violence.

Ragab’s work is similarly interdisciplinary, focused on science and medicine in the Middle East and the broader Islamic world, including some Muslim communities in the United States. He said he strives to focus his work on individuals, rather than broad concepts.

“The more common and traditional way of studying science and religion is to think very theoretically about whether Science — capital S — and Religion — capital R — can coexist together,” he said. “The way that I’m interested in studying them is to think about science — small s — and religion — small r — and how they manifest in the lives of people.”

While Bayoumi’s work focuses on contemporary issues and Ragab’s on the medieval, Bayoumi noted that their relationship encourages a “cross-pollination” of ideas, as they help each other understand the modern and historical contexts of their own research.Ragab also works to connect medieval history to modern questions, many of which are related to identity and social justice.

Some of these questions have emerged from national political developments that touch Harvard’s campus. After the Trump administration reportedly considered changing the definition of gender in Title IX — a federal anti-sex discrimination law — to exclude transgender individuals, Ragab pointed out the history of gender fluidity.

“They rely on the assumption that [gender] has been around forever and that being trans is a new thing, but that’s a lie,” Ragab said. “People lived and existed in various sexes and genders throughout history, and they moved in between sexes and genders throughout history.”

After Ragab spoke to his students about the issue, they invited him to speak at a walkout

for trans rights at the Divinity School. He spoke about the importance of standing up to the Trump administration and protecting trans students.

Bayoumi also brings a consciousness of social justice into her classroom. Though she used to see herself as an activist, she said she now prefers the term “engaged scholar.”

“It does not necessarily erase the tension between being an activist and being an academic.

But it highlights the importance of being cognizant of those tensions while also channeling our scholarly efforts, not in propagandistic ways,” she explained.

Debunking the “myth” in academia that scholars and researchers ought to be neutral or objective, Bayoumi said everyone, including academics, holds implicit biases that inform the work they do and how they approach it.

“I try to acknowledge my biases as much as possible,” she said. “One thing that I believe in, which I think is important as well, is to think about who we are accountable to as academics. And that’s something that I grapple with all the time.”

Ragab agrees, acknowledging that being “completely free from what is outside” the classroom is a privilege that many students and faculty members do not have. He and Bayoumi certainly don’t.

“For me, personally, as faculty of color, and a Muslim person in an increasingly secularized discourse, and in an administration that was and continues to impose the ban on Muslims and continues to float the idea of creating a registry for Muslims, my life comes into the classroom,” Ragab said.

‘POLITICALLY AND PERSONALLY IMPORTANT’

For some, activist professors are sometimes precisely what students are looking for. Students who have worked with Bayoumi and Ragab voiced their appreciation for the couple’s cognizance of and work on social issues.

“I think they are both just very authentic, empathetic, humble, interested, and interesting people. They have a fire in them,” Sara S. Surani ’18, a former Kirkland House resident and student of Bayoumi’s, said. “Ahmed was willing to get arrested while advocating for DACA students and I’ve seen Soha relentlessly advocate for many of my friends through personal and academic challenges.”

“They are both restlessly dedicated to improving the lives of people close and far from them -- whether in Kirkland House or in the Middle East,” Surani said. “They also have an analytical, creative, and multidisciplinary view of the world,

which is incredibly refreshing and challenges people around them to think differently.”

For Eli Nelson, a former student of Ragab’s, the professor’s desire to bring lived experiences into the classroom proved life-altering.

Nelson began his Ph.D. work on the history of physics, but found it “miserable.” A remark from Ragab permanently altered his academic trajectory. Nelson recalled Ragab telling him, “You know you could study what you find politically and personally important in the academy, right? You don’t have to work on physics because you think it’s more intellectually rigorous or important.”

At that point, Nelson, who is Mohawk, began working on Native Science, postcolonial theory, and queer theory. He also became Ragab’s first dissertation advisee.

“There’s no one else who does this in the history of science,” Nelson explained. “I’m incredibly grateful that he, being a medieval Islamist, taught himself Native studies so he could work with me.”

Nelson, now an assistant professor of American Studies at Williams College, attributes his ability to graduate a year early to Ragab, “because he was that good at training me.”

As a professor, Nelson said he seeks to emulate Ragab, even occasionally quoting him while teaching.

“He’s still by far the smartest and best scholar I’ve ever met,” Nelson explained.

In addition to his work inside the classroom, Nelson admires how Ragab “cultivates a community among his students, which is really rare.”

“He has a really good understanding of what it takes to get through the academy, especially for people who weren’t necessarily meant to be here in the first place,” Nelson said.

Students who had Bayoumi as their thesis adviser found her equally impactful.

“Professor Bayoumi was an exceedingly patient and thoughtful advisor,” Lindiwe P. Makgalemele ’18 said, calling their meetings “some of the best parts of my senior year and undergraduate career in general.”

Surani, also one of Bayoumi’s advisees, said her meetings with Bayoumi “were what kept [her] grounded” and helped her grow as a person and advocate around social issues.

“Soha taught me how to be more comfortable with uncertainty and to fight for what I care about more fiercely,” Surani said. “Soha challenged me to think more about what I can do for people and the world around me and to fight for those opportunities, even if they are unconventional.”

Professor Ahmed Ragab and Professor Soha Bayoumi sit at

their dinner table in their Kirkland House home.

LIFE AT HARVARD

When they’re not teaching or advising, Bayoumi and Ragab live in Kirkland House with their five-year-old daughter, Carmen, and six-year-old cat, Jesse. They said they enjoy seeing movies together at least once or twice a month, attending plays and concerts, and exploring local restaurants, like Waypoint and Alden & Harlow.

Still, they said their work permeates their daily lives.

“We’re always talking about work,” Bayoumi said. “It’s not a 9-to-5 job.”

“Being an academic is a very difficult line of work because the job doesn’t end,” Ragab agreed. “You’re always about this, you’re always thinking about the next project, and this project and things that you’re reading.”

Both noted that academia can be “isolating” and “lonely,” which, they said heightens their appreciation for each other and the Kirkland community.

“Having a partner in Soha who is so smart and with a fantastic focus and a very critical mind continues to challenge and help me in thinking about a lot of my work,” Ragab said.

“Whatever I do, the ideas that I have, a good part of it is coming from the conversations and discussions that we have.”

Bayoumi said she and Ragab really have become a part of the “fiber” of Kirkland: “We feel like we’re really embedded in every aspect of our own lives in the Harvard community and Harvard cultural, intellectual, and social life.”

Even their cat, Jesse, has become an integral part of house life. A social cat, he frequents the dining hall, participates in skits, and maintains a busy schedule full of playdates with Kirkland residents.

Surani, the former Kirkland resident, said she has “many fond memories of having lunch or dinner with them and their incredible daughter Carmen in Kirkland.”

“They genuinely care about the interests, lives, strengths, and challenges of each student whose path they cross,” she said.

Ragab appreciates the opportunity living in Kirkland has afforded him to experience Harvard in a different way.

“One is able to see different aspects of what it means to belong into this community. That makes me more and more cognizant of the importance of the community standing up together,” Ragab said. “It is really an important thing for the community to speak for each other and to protect each other.” camille.caldera@thecrimson.com. amanda.su@thecrimson.com.

PAGE 5

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | DECEMBER 12, 2018

LOWELL FROM PAGE 1

Lowell Faculty Deans Reflect on 20 Years of Service a tradition of rather long periods of faculty deans, but we didn’t imagine we would be there for 20 years; we really didn’t.”

When Lowell House came up for renovation in 2017 as part of the College-wide House Renewal project, Eck and Austin decided they should stay on longer than they had planned to maintain House traditions in the flux of swing housing.

But since Lowell’s renovations would last two years, they said they saw the midpoint as a good time to “hand over the reins.”

MONTANA, MASSACHUSETTS, AND MULTICULTURALISM

Though the plains and mountains of the Rocky Mountain West seem a far cry from Lowell House and the pair’s current residence at 8 Prescott St.,, Eck’s path to Harvard began in Bozeman, Mont.

Eck was raised in Bozeman by her father, then an architect at Montana State University, and her mother, who served as vice president of Montana’s 1972 constitutional convention and then as a state senator for several decades.

Growing up in a Protestant household with little contact with other faiths, Eck did not find an interest in studying different religions until she left home for Smith College in the 1960’s, at the height of the Vietnam War. “I got very interested in the fact that we knew — as a culture, and I as a person — very little about the part of the world in which we were so deeply engaged,” she said. Since a junior year trip to Vietnam would have been “quite out of the question,” she enrolled in a program in Banaras, a holy city in India, where she felt fascinated by learning about a culture and religion different from her own.

Returning from the trip, Eck knew that religion would become the focus of her studies.

She went on to earn her PhD in Comparative Religion at Harvard, and became a tenured professor at the University in 1983.

“It’s impossible to be a scholar of religion and not know anything about Diana Eck,” Catherine A. Brekus ’85, chair of the Committee on the Study of Religion, said. Having worked with Eck since arriving at Harvard in 2014, Brekus knows her as a “remarkable scholar” but also as a committed and caring professor.

“She encourages a really vibrant conversation and makes room for people with different interpretations to have a voice,” Brekus said. “So this is clearly something that’s really important to her in her work around inter-religious dialogue, that she wants everyone to be heard.”

Eck’s interest in religious pluralism has blossomed into a project of its own: the Pluralism Project, which she founded in 1991 with the goal of documenting the United States’s growing religious diversity and the ways in which America changes and is changed by the new religious groups that have arrived here.

“The things that I had studied primarily in India were now part of my own country, and I hadn’t known that much about it, really,” Eck said of her reasons for starting the project. “I mean, I’d never been to a mosque in America.”

Curious about the shifting “religious landscape” of the United States, Eck decided to send the project’s interns, many of them students, back to their hometowns over the summer to take stock of the country’s increasing number of religious minorities.

“Professor Eck has been crucial to, number one, documenting the incredible religious diversity of the United States, and two, helping religious communities think about inter-religious dialogue,” Brekus said of the project.

“THE BEST JOB AT HARVARD”

Though Eck has earned a reputation as a groundbreaking scholar in her field, she is perhaps best known and most beloved by Harvard students

and faculty alike in her role as co-faculty dean of Lowell House, a position she and Austin have held since 1998.

“I cannot emphasize enough how much they’ve done to revolutionize the role that they’re in,” DeFrancesco said. “The sheer amount of contact they have with students on a day-today basis, the personal connections they’ve built, that has just totally changed the game. They are kind of the model to look up to, going forward.”

Austin, a clinically trained psychologist, ordained Episcopal Church minister, and Harvard Divinity School lecturer, grew up in Massachusetts and obtained a Masters from Boston University and a doctorate from Harvard in psychology and religion.

There’s a lot of warmth and love here, and it starts with Diana and Dorothy.

Elizabeth Terry Lowell House Administrator

Eck and Austin’s relationship has intertwined with Harvard for decades.

They met during graduate school at an organ concert in Memorial Church, moved in together in Somerville and then moved back to Cambridge. In 1999, they fostered four teenage refugees from Kosovo in their Lowell House residence — they all still spend the holidays together.

Eck and Austin married in front of Memorial Church in 2004, soon after Massachusetts legalized same-sex marriage, processing back to Lowell House after the ceremony.

“What makes them different from a lot of people is this quality of receptivity. It’s almost an emotional quality. There’s a lot of warmth and love here, and it starts with Diana and Doro-

thy,” Elizabeth Terry, a Lowell House administrator, said.

“Both Diana and Dorothy possess humility and intelligence in equal measure and that is also an interesting combination to model as human beings,” Terry said.

Now, Eck and Austin often dine at Lowell with students and also host what Lowellians say is the longest-running tradition at any of the College Houses — Lowell Tea. Every week, they serve tea to Lowell undergraduates, pouring and adding milk and sugar as requested.

“It’s just a very exciting, multi-generational, multi-sided job. And I loved it. I thought it was the best job at Harvard, by far,” Eck said. “It also enabled me to really focus more on the local, on what was happening right at Harvard, and in our own communities.”

Eck and Austin’s simple presence at Lowell has changed the House.

“I think Abbott Lawrence Lowell...had a history of being pretty anti-Semitic and homophobic, and I think having them as the first openly gay, married faculty deans on Harvard’s campus, I think kind of took that and co-opted all the traditions that Lowell had and brought them into what they are today,” Nicholas C. Colon ’19, Lowell House Committee co-chair, said.

Before 1970, then-House masters interviewed and admitted sophomores into Houses via a “draft” system. From 1970 to 1996, when the class of 1999 was sorted, the College used a preference-based lottery system. Students ranked choices, which led to Houses becoming increasingly homogeneous in socioeconomic status, identity, and concentration.

Eck and Austin began their deanship two years after the housing system changed, the first year in which all undergraduates had been randomly assigned a House.

“I would not have wanted to be in Lowell House under those circumstances,” Eck said, refer-

Allstonians Petition for Dog Park

By AIDAN B. CAREY and DEVIN B. SRIVISTAVA CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

Allstonians are calling for the creation of a dog park in the Boston neighborhood in a recent petition circulating among residents.

The petition proposes a number of sites between Lincoln Street, which abuts the Massachusetts Turnpike, and the Charles River. This area includes Harvard Business School and the University’s athletics complexes.

The petition’s author, Allston resident Christopher J. Arena, wrote on the online form that Allstonians are open to location suggestions from the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, the city of Boston, and Harvard.

Arena said he arranged a meeting to discuss the topic with a member of Harvard Public Affairs and Communications, the

University’s public relations and lobbying apparatus. He publicized the meeting, which he expects to take place before Christmas, over “A-B 2006”, an email list that includes Allston-Brighton residents.

University spokesperson Brigid O’Rourke declined to comment on whether the University has plans to donate land or contribute funds to building a dog park.

The petition cites the locations of other dog parks in the area, which it says are all at least 2-3 miles away or privately owned. It indicates a desire for a public dog park that is well-maintained. As of Sunday, Arena said the petition has received 112 signatures.

Because of Harvard’s longterm plans in Allston, Arena said he believes that it should continue to invest in the community, which he said includes supporting an accessible and well-kept dog park.

“Harvard has capital, Harvard

has the land, Harvard is an organization who’s trying to make up for some, you know, land grabs in the past in Allston-Brighton,” he said.

Harvard has ramped up its development and involvement in Allston in recent years as it prepares to transition its School of Engineering and Applied Sciences across the river, set to open in fall 2020. The University has invested in the Allstonian community through its Ed Portal, which is a hub for outreach efforts such as the mentorship program.

Arena, who moved to Allston last fall, said he started the petition because he and his partner have not been able to find a satisfactory park for their two dogs, a sentiment that has resonated with other residents. He said that dog parks build community, citing a group of friends he met taking his dogs to local Mansfield Park.

“We have a Facebook message

group going — we spend a lot of time with these people — we’re doing a Secret Santa together,” he said. “These are our friends now.”

Mansfield Park, however, is “not maintained, not grassed… it’s rock-covered and just sort of a poop-place,” according to Arena.

Allston-Brighton resident Melissa Scarpa Van Horn, who signed the petition, said that she should not have to drive to a dog park, which is what she does right now.

“I end up usually having to take them to the South End where there are dog parks,” Scarpa said.

If unable to secure land through Harvard, Arena said residents would have to raise funds on their own and coordinate the project through the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation.

ring to the years before blocking assignment was randomized.

After the system had already changed, the two assumed their roles and watched the Houses evolve into “microcosms of the diversity that Harvard has become.”

John “Sean” G. Palfrey ’67 and Judith “Judy” S. Palfrey ’67, the faculty deans of Adams House, stepped into their role just one year after Eck and Austin. In a turbulent time of increasing diversity at Harvard, major reforms to the housing assignment system, and a variety of campus protests, the Palfreys remember their Lowell House counterparts as a critical support system.

“They’re warm as friends and family and they’ve been able to keep a flavor all of their own at Lowell House and for the students,” Sean Palfrey said. “[Diana] absolutely loves Harvard, not in a rah-rah Harvard way, but in a truly embedded and family way,” Judy Palfrey added. “And that’s shown in the fact that she and Dorothy support their senior common room so deeply, and all of the history that is Lowell House.”

Eck and Austin have continued traditions like tea and the May Day Waltz — in which students dance on Weeks Bridge toasting champagne and strawberries on May 1 —, have helped cultivate new traditions like Bacchanalia and Yule Ball, and have supported the House Committee in hosting events even as residents moved into swing housing during the renovations.

“She eats with students all the time; they invite students into their home all the time, and I think that that ongoing eagerness to learn about students’ experiences and not to assume that because they’ve been doing this for 20 years they know what the Harvard student experience is like, but to actually realize that each student’s experience is unique — that sort of continued eagerness to learn about the individuals in the House has been inspiring

to watch,” Caitlin M. Casey ’03, resident dean of Lowell House, said. Casey has worked with Eck and Austin since 2012.

Eck and Austin have also helped foster new traditions, like dinnertime speeches in the Lowell dining hall.

“Diana and Dorothy were open and receptive to the idea, gave it plenty of room to grow or be modified, and did not try to manage results instantly,” Terry said. “That ability to simply let things evolve on their own is a type of skill. They understood that this is a whole organism, the House, and in order to grow and to flourish like a plant, you have to leave it alone and let it do its thing a little bit.”

Twenty years after the duo first took up residence in Lowell House, the end of an era is fast approaching. Dean for Faculty Affairs and Planning Nina Zipser and Economics Professor David I. Laibson ’88, the incoming Lowell faculty deans, have begun pouring for students at the weekly Lowell tea with Eck and Austin.

“They’re quite lovely people and both with a long history at Harvard, and they have so enthusiastically embraced the idea of House life. They’ve seen it, experienced it themselves, and are really excited about it,” Eck said. “We’re leaving it in good hands.”

With her newfound spare time, Eck intends to renew her work on a forthcoming book, centered on an idea she calls “The Age of Pluralism.” She and Austin will also spend more time in Swansea, near Austin’s hometown by the water.

But Eck plans to continue teaching at the College for the foreseeable future.

“It’s bittersweet. It’ll be sad,” Eck said of their upcoming departure. “There will be so many things that we’ll miss, but we live right in Cambridge.

We’ll move to the house that we have here. We’ll keep an eye on what’s going on.” tamar.sarig@thecrimson.com. sahana.srinivasan@thecrimson.com.

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THE HARVARD CRIMSON | DECEMBER 12, 2018

PAGE 6

EDITORIAL THE CRIMSON EDITORIAL BOARD

COLUMN

Harvard Should Consider Providing Narcan

The Ideas Behind the Words

T

wo seniors inspired by their class on the opioid epidemic are lobbying Harvard’s administration to make Narcan — a nasal spray form of the drug naloxone — widely available on campus to combat opioid overdoses. The drug delays the symptoms of an overdose until the patient can get to a hospital and receive more comprehensive medical care. The students have indicated that they are considering private funding for the initiative, which would put Narcan in automatic external defibrillator cabinets throughout the University.

These students’ efforts to bring Narcan to AED cabinets are praiseworthy.

Nevertheless, the University should investigate legal, financial, or other barriers that may pose a problem for the initiative. This initiative is especially commendable in light of the seriousness of the opioid epidemic nationwide, the fact that other universities have taken similar actions, and public support from the Surgeon General for easy access to Naloxone.

To the extent that opioid abuse is a problem on campus, making potentially lifesaving treatments available to students should be a non-issue. Given that an emergency kit that contains two doses of Narcan costs around $140, the price of the initiative is not high enough to merit hesitation should this remain the case. The possibility that a member of

our community will need this treatment, even once, should convince the administration to support the initiative.

While we recognize the need to prioritize harm prevention, if the University is going to make Narcan available, it is incumbent on the University to explore the deleterious effects of doing so, including potential increases in overdose rates.

The University should additionally investigate where to put these emergency kits for the sake of efficiency. At schools like the University of Texas at

it may not be cost-effective to place emergency kits everywhere on campus, so it would be wise for the University to determine the most beneficial areas.

Austin or Bridgewater State University — where Narcan has been made widely available — none of the kits have been used on-campus. However, some of the kits that were placed in social spaces off-campus have been successfully administered. This indicates that it may not be cost-effective to place emergency kits everywhere on campus, so it would be wise for the University to determine

the most beneficial areas.

If Narcan is added into the dorms and other buildings, the University needs to teach students how to administer the drug if it wants the program to be effective. Students are already required to take an orientation course for dealing with drugs and alcohol as they begin their first year here, and a tutorial for administering Narcan could easily be incorporated into this course.

To best evaluate the success of this program, the University should work diligently to gather as much data as possible regarding the current state of opioid use on campus, and should continue to gather such data after Narcan is made available. Narcan, though it is widely available in pharmacies, has failed to stop the rise of opioid deaths, mainly because it cannot prevent an overdose or subsequent overdoses. Thus, the University should also look for other strategies to reduce potential opioid deaths on campus and in the wider world.

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.

Becina J. Ganther THE FEMINIST CLOSET

T

here was a time when referring to the BGLTQ community as “the gay and lesbian community” was considered by many to be inclusive because it included women (as opposed to simply “the gay community”). But I think many people today would, rightfully so, point out that it’s exclusive of people who are transgender, non-binary, gender non-conforming, bisexual, asexual, pansexual, and countless other identities. And I’m sure that in 10 years, our current names for the community (such as BGLTQ, LGBTQ+, LGBTQIAP+, etc.) will seem outdated and exclusive to most people.

Another example of language change is the evolution of our conception of people who are attracted to multiple genders. The first time the word “bisexual” was used in the English language was in 1892 when Charles Gilbert Chaddock described it as a sexual attraction to both men and women. Note how this definition relies on a strict gender binary of men and women, conflates gender with sex, and erases trans, gender non-conforming, and non-binary people.

We’ve come a long way since then in our understanding of gender, and we now understand that bisexual can mean attraction to multiple genders (not just two), with the “bi” referring to attraction to genders which are similar to and different from yours. The 1990 Bisexual Manifesto even clarifies that bisexuality does not assume a binary, and that there are indeed more than two genders. This definition is inclusive of trans, gender non-conforming, and non-binary people. The term “bi+” has also emerged as an umbrella term to include all terms that can mean attraction to more than one gender, such as pansexual, omnisexual, polysexual, multisexual, fluid, and queer.

All this is to say: Words matter. Language is important because it can both shape and reflect the way we think. In the case of the name for our community, updating the acronym is about more than adding letters; it’s about providing visibility to and affirming the identities of those often left out of our community. Similarly, our updated definitions of bi+ identities affirm the existence of people outside the gender binary and more accurately show the wide range of possible attractions.

Language around gender, sexuality, and identity is constantly changing. This is because our conceptions of gender, sexuality, and identity are constantly changing as we learn more and gain a more expansive, inclusive understanding of the range of human experiences. We’re constantly improving our language to more accurately and more inclusively describe exactly what we mean when we talk about a particular identity or experience.

What was considered inclusive a decade ago may be considered outdated and offensive today

Language is important because it can both shape and reflect the way we think.

DEREK G. XIAO—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

OP-ED

The Time to Divest Harvard is Now

By ILANA A. COHEN and ISA C. FLORES-JONES

R

ecently, The Crimson published a piece reporting on Harvard Undergraduates for Environmental Justice’s online petition to divest the University’s $39.2 billion endowment from the fossil fuel industry. Many of the responses to this piece disparaged the petition and student organizing efforts to achieve divestment more broadly.

These same sentiments were voiced by The Crimson Editorial Board last month, when it urged students to vote “no” on the UC referenda for fossil fuel and private prison divestment. Writing that “there is little … the student body can do to change the very tangible actions of the Harvard Management Corporation,” the Editorial Board expressed the same disregard for the imminent need for climate action displayed not only by Harvard but also by corporations and institutions around the country and world.

HUEJ’s petition, like the recent UC referendum showing 71 percent support from students for divestment, is one of many tools we are using to generate more discourse around Harvard’s refusal to divest. It is, as the writers for The Crimson point out, largely symbolic. But this symbolism matters: The more we emphasize our collective commitment to an equitable and just future, the closer we get to achieving that goal. And this isn’t just symbolism. The petition, like the referendum, carries with it the potential to inspire more students to join the movement. The actions of fellow organizers — this week’s occupation of Yale’s investment offices to call for the cancel-

lation of Puerto Rican debt is the most recent but certainly not the only example — speak to the strength of a cross-campus call for climate accountability.

As HUEJ looks toward the spring semester, we hope to see many more students on our campus and on campuses across the nation participate in our teach-ins and public actions. For now, we want to clarify what this movement means and why it’s so important.

It is utterly insufficient to claim that environmental research and on-campus initiatives can compensate for investing in and thus actively supporting the industry at the epicenter of accelerating global climate change. It is, unequivocally, a moral failure.

Harvard is an institution with a unique amount of moral influence. Yes, it is also the most major economic player within the context of university endowments, but the real resonance of Harvard making the responsible choice to divest from fossil fuels would be in its modeling leadership in climate action for its peer institutions. The name “Harvard” means something. It can drive other educational institutions to make change or it can justify their opposition to doing so.

Let us make one thing clear: Harvard retaining its investments in the fossil fuel

industry is not a form of inaction. It is a form of completely unethical and unsustainable action. By actively investing in the fossil fuel industry, Harvard is not only betraying the moral principles it so often espouses but also refusing to value the lives and livelihoods of its students and of citizens around the world.

Divestment is as political a statement as investment. When an institution divests from fossil fuel companies, it puts the well-being of our planet and its inhabitants above short-term economic gains. The potential for profitable, sustainable, and ethical reinvestment is clear, and that’s also an important component of the divestment movement.

What we want to emphasize right now, however, is that it is utterly insufficient to claim that environmental research and on-campus initiatives can compensate for investing in and thus actively supporting the industry at the epicenter of accelerating global climate change. It is, unequivocally, a moral failure.

That’s why HUEJ, along with our student, faculty, and alumni allies, are calling to #DivestHarvard. Climate change is not going away, so neither are we. Our call for action is part of a global movement for change. Harvard has already lost the opportunity to be at the forefront of that movement; the question remaining is whether Harvard will join before —Ilana A. Cohen ’22 lives in Pennypacker Hall. Isa C. Flores-Jones ’19 is a History and Literature concentrator in Dudley House. The writers are the Vice President and Outreach Coordinator of Harvard Undergraduates for Environmental Justice, respectively.

— and that’s a good thing. People aren’t just more sensitive today. Problematic language and concepts have always been harmful to marginalized groups; it just took time for privileged people to realize it. To return to an earlier example, trans people have always existed, and our community was always supposed to include trans people.

In fact, trans people, particularly trans women of color, were and continue to be at the forefront of the fight for equality. Referring to our community as “the gay community” or even “the gay and lesbian community” is harmful erasure that perpetuates transphobia within society and even our own community. It’s terrible that it took cisgender people so long to realize this and then update our (for I am a culprit of this as well) language accordingly. The damage can’t be undone, and trans people continue to face structural and physical violence, but we can strive to be more aware in the future.

As we work to be more inclusive, it’s important to remember that just updating our own language is not enough. Being BGLTQ-informed and BGLTQ-inclusive isn’t just about following rules of what you should or shouldn’t say. For those just starting out, simple tips on pronoun usage and learning basic definitions of gender and sexuality can be helpful. But ideally, we would all move beyond that and change not just our words but also our mindsets to think more expansively about gender and sexuality.

Don’t assume that what you learned in the past is still true. Keep looking for new information that challenges your assumptions. Ask questions! But do be mindful of not asking marginalized people to do the labor of educating you. If you know BGLTQ people who have explicitly stated that they’re comfortable answering your questions, ask away. If you don’t know any, there are organizations, websites, and articles that have offered to do the work of answering questions and providing information on BGLTQ issues. Check out GLAAD, The Human Rights Campaign, bisexual.org, or The National Center for Transgender Equality. For Harvard College students of all identities seeking more information about gender and sexuality, check out the website for the Harvard College Office of BGLTQ Student Life, or visit the office in Grays basement during typical working hours.

Most importantly, keep an open mind and always look for opportunities to learn, think critically, internalize new ideas, and — of course — update your language accordingly.

—Becina J. Ganther ’20, a Crimson Editorial editor, is a History of Science concentrator in Leverett House. Her column appears on alternate Wednesdays.

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THE HARVARD CRIMSON | DECEMBER 12, 2018

Proud to cover Harvard for 143 years and counting.

Keep the old sheet flying.

The Crimson thecrimson.com

SPORTS

WOMEN’S HOCKEY

ABOUT THE TEAM

2018-19 Overall Record 4-6-2 ______________________________________

2017-18 Overall Record 13-16-2 ______________________________________

UPCOMING GAMES ______________________________________

Conference Record 3-3-1 ______________________________________

Conference Record 10-10-2 ______________________________________

Games

12 ______________________________________

Games

31 ______________________________________

Women’s Hockey vs. Princeton Jan 4, 3:30pm, at Bright-Landry

Goals

26 ______________________________________

Goals 79 ______________________________________

Goals Per Game 2.17 ______________________________________

Goals Per Game 2.55 ______________________________________

Women’s Hockey vs. Quinnipiac Jan 5, 3:00pm, at Bright-Landry

WOMEN’S ICE HOCKEY

Harvard Drops Contest to Maine, Ties New Hampshire

By MOHAMED AHMED CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Coming off a home victory against Union, the Harvard women’s ice hockey team welcomed Maine to the BrightLandry Hockey Center, with the home team eventually falling short. Following its loss against the Black Bears, the Crimson traveled to Durham, N.H, to face the University of New Hampshire. A nail-biting game eventually went to overtime, but neither team could capitalize, resulting in a tie at two goals apiece.

HARVARD 2, NEW HAMPSHIRE 2 After its loss to Maine, Harvard (4-6-2, 3-3-1 ECAC) looked to finish the semester with a victory at New Hampshire (6-9-4, 4-8-1 Hockey East). However, neither team could separate itself during an overtime period, resulting in a 2-2 tie. The visitors were led by goals from two first-year players, an encouraging sign of things to come.

Early in the first period, the Crimson was able to take the lead thanks to freshman defender Maryna Macdonald.

With a little under three minutes played, sophomore defender Kate Glover managed to steal the puck from a Wildcat defender and passed it to Macdonald, who then sent the puck flying toward the Wildcats’ net, putting Harvard on the scoreboard.

“We struck first,” junior defender Ali Peper said. “We had a freshman get her first goal, which is always huge. That was great for getting us out and getting us together in the beginning of the game.”

The Wildcats responded to Harvard’s tally in the second period, with a goal from ju-

nior forward Meghara McManus. Just under four minutes after McManus’s goal, Harvard freshman forward Kristin Della Rovere answers back, assisted

by Macdonald and sophomore forward Becca Gilmore.

In the third period, a frightful moment occurred involving Macdonald. Along the boards, Macdonald collided with a Wildcat skater, resulting in Macdonald being taken out of the game on a stretcher.

“She is doing alright right now,” Peper said. “[Macdonald] did not end up finishing the game and kind of a tough moment for the team to see someone go down like that.”

Down by one, the Wildcats found the back of the Crimson net thanks to another score by McManus. With the score tied at two at the end of regulation, the match went into overtime.

“The mentality going into overtime is what can we do to get the job done,” said captain and forward Kate Hallett. “We only have five minutes to lay it all out on the line.”

During overtime, neither team could pull out a victory, resulting in the Crimson’s second tie of the season. Harvard’s next game is on Jan 4., at home against the Princeton Tigers.

MAINE 2, HARVARD 1 Facing the Black Bears, Harvard looked to add another tally to their win column. However, after sixty minutes of play, the Crimson were unable to generate a victory, falling 2-1 at home.

During the first period, both teams were unable to score, thanks to a substantial show of defensive effort.

“We are trying to be resilient as we can in the defensive zone,” Peper said. “Playing [defense] is about hard work and

GLOVE SLIDE Sophomore defender Kate Glover winds up for a shot in an earlier matchup against UMass. QUINN G. PERINI—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

moving your feet.”

In the second period, junior forward Tereza Vanisova snuck the puck past the Crimson goaltender, giving Maine a one point lead. The Black Bears would score again in the third thanks to a breakaway goal by junior forward Vendula Pribylova, in-

creasing Maine’s lead to two.

“A 2-0 deficit is a hard lead to hold being Maine,” Hallett said.

“We knew that and we wanted to keep piling on the pressure towards their net.”

Harvard eventually found the Black Bears’ net late in the third period thanks to a late

power play goal by sophomore forward Keely Moy. Shortly after sophomore forward Brooke Jovanovich’s shot rebounded off of the Maine goalie, Moy rushed forward in front of the net, dived towards the loose puck and scored, cutting Maine’s lead in half.

Looking to tie up the game, Harvard pulled its goalie in favor of another attacking skater. However, even with the extra offensive power present, the Crimson was unable to capitalize and fell to Maine at home. mohamed.ahmed@thecrimson.com

TRACK AND FIELD

Brief: Harvard Falls in Season’s Second Indoor Meet to Penn

By MAHTAB SHIHAB CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

This past weekend Harvard indoor track and field competed against Penn in a home dual meet at the Gordon Indoor Track. The men’s team lost by a score of 59-44 while the women’s team was defeated 63-41.

Despite the defeat at home, there were bright spots that

should encourage the Crimson going forward.

The men’s team continued to have strong performances in the sprints while the women’s team excelled in the hurdles and jumps.

The men’s team was led by its captain Myles Marshall and sophomore Jovahn Williamson. Marshall started his season with a victory in the 600

meter (1:18.51), an indicator that he has not missed a step after a 2018 outdoor season where he earned the first team All-Ivy distinction in three different events. Williamson meanwhile claimed his second straight victory in the 300 meter and is proving to be one of the best sprinters in the Ancient Eight, having already broken his own school record in the 300 (33.75).

Both Marshall and Williamson led a winning 4x400-yard relay (3:15.38) winning the event by over three seconds.

The men also had exceptional performances in field events by both veterans and underclassmen.

Junior Donagh Mahon moved into second all-time in the high jump with a mark of 2.18 meters (7-1.75). The junior

is looking to secure the record by the end of the season having already set a personal best in his first meet. Freshmen Kyle Murphy and Sam Welsh also had standout marks in the long jump (23-10) and shot put (53-.25), respectively.

These star-studded underclassmen, despite winning their events, have still not hit their personal bests leaving room for

STAY IN YOUR LANE The men’s and women’s teams both loss this weekend by 15 and 22 points, respectively, to the University of Pennsylvania. AMANDA M. DIMARTINI—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

improvement.

The women’s team was highlighted by a pair of sweeps in the 60-meter dash and the 60-meter hurdles. Juniors Livia Gauntlett (8.50) and Karina Joiner (8.58) earned first and third, respectively, in the hurdle event while freshman sensation Jada Jones (8.52) tabbed second.

Harvard’s dominance in the hurdles will be essential towards its success against the rest of the Ivy League. Another highlight against the Quakers was the Crimson’s assertive performances in the short sprints.

Sophomore Olivia Okoli along with freshmen Kelisa Cain and DaLoria Boone swept the 60 meter going 7.57, 7.58, and 7.62, respectively.

Like the men’s team, the women’s team’s prospects look bright thanks to their underclassmen. Junior Maya Miklos earned her second win of the season with a personal best of 1:31.99 in the 600 meter. If the underclassmen can continue to develop, Harvard will be a force in the Ancient Eight.

Even though the Crimson had notable performances across the board, their loss ultimately came about due to a few critical events. On the men’s side Penn had the advantage in both the 1000-meter and 3000-meter events sweeping the distance competitions.

The women’s team also lost the battle to the Quakers in the mile and the 300-meter. The improvement of Harvard’s distance runners will be critical to the Ivy League championship goals of both the men’s and women’s teams.

The Crimson will have the chance to prove their championship capabilities again in 2019 when they compete at the Harvard Multi Meet and the Beantown Challenge on January 11th and 12th. mahtab.shihab@thecrimson.com