The Harvard Crimson - Volume CXLV, No. 123

The Harvard Crimson The University Daily, Est. 1873 | Volume cxlv, No. 123 | Cambridge, Massachusetts | tuesday, november 13, 2018

editorial PAGE 10

news PAGE 9

sports PAGE 11

The Statistics Department should bolster female representation.

Kristine E. Guillaume ’20 will lead the 146th Guard of The Harvard Crimson.

Men’s ice hockey nabs its first victory against Brown University.

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Data May Determine Fate of Trial Some Students Didn’t Get Ballots 36 % 81 45 0 1 % 19 2 6 9 7 5 04 0 3 7 5 4361 62 3 % 0 1927 840% 5 12 7 1

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By Meena Venkataramanan, Iris M. Lewis, and Benjamin E. Frimodig Crimson Staff Writers

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Simon S. Sun—Crimson Designer

By Iris m. lewis and Sanjana L. Narayanan Crimson Staff Writers

Numbers lie at the heart of the Harvard admissions trial.

The trial, which kicked off Oct. 15 in a Boston courthouse and lasted for three weeks, is the product of a four-year-old lawsuit brought by anti-affirmative action advocacy group Students for Fair Admissions. ­

Now that things have wrapped up in court, the judge in the case — Allison D. Burroughs — has a high-stakes question to answer: does Harvard, as SFFA alleges, reject qualified Asian-American applicants in order to achieve illegal racial balancing?

Burroughs is expected to render a verdict in early 2019.

As she decides, she’ll ponder thousands of pages of internal Harvard documents as well as

While many students eagerly viewed the 2018 midterm elections at campus watch parties last Tuesday, some undergraduates never got the opportunity to vote at all — their absentee ballots failed to arrive in the mail and, in the election’s aftermath, they continue to search for answers.

Emily Zhao ’19 said she requested her ballot on Oct. 25 and that the election commission in St. Louis, Mo., her home city, had mailed her ballot on Oct. 29 — but days after the election, the ballot still had not arrived.

“The election commission in St. Louis said it should have been delivered when I called them,” she said.

Saim Raza ’18-19, a Cabot House resident like Zhao, did not receive his ballot from his home state of Michigan until the day after the election. He confirmed that the ballot was sent by his home post office over a week before Nov. 6.

“I called the [Harvard] Mail Center multiple times throughout the week and what I was ­

evidence and testimony presented throughout the threeweek-long trial.

And she’ll consider numbers.

Lots and lots of numbers.

The trial and lawsuit unleashed mountains of classified Harvard admissions data. Both the University and SFFA employed statistical experts to analyze the data and testify about their results in court.

SFFA paid Duke econom-

ics professor Peter S. Arcidiacono to create a model of the College’s admissions process. He claims his model proves Harvard does discriminate against Asian Americans.

Harvard, though, paid University of California, Berkeley economics professor David E. Card to create his own model of the admissions

See numbers Page 7

told was that mail was slow for some reason,” Raza said. “I don’t know what that means.”

Both Manav J. Khandelwal ’19 and Ryen A. Diaz ’21 also did not receive their ballots.

“I sent in my request for an absentee ballot for Pennsylvania’s 2nd district three weeks before the election but never received my ballot,” Khandelwal wrote in an email.

Michael D. Conner, a spokesperson for Harvard University Mail Services, wrote in an emailed statement that HUMS distributes mail on the same day it is received.

“HUMS always makes absentee ballots the highest priority,” Conner wrote.

“However, we were still receiving absentee ballots from the USPS on the day after Tuesday’s election.”

Zhao and Raza each said they were not completely sure what happened to their ballots.

“I have other friends that experienced very slow absentee ballot delivery,” Zhao said.

Theodore “Teddy” N. Landis ’20, co-founder of the Harvard Votes Challenge, said he was disappointed to hear about the difficulties his peers faced getting their ballots.

See ballots Page 8

Three Undergraduate Council Tickets To Face Off In Election

Undergraduate Council Presidential Candidates Nadine M. Khoury ‘20 and Arnav Agrawal ‘20. Caleb D. Schwartz—Crimson photographer

Undergraduate Council Presidential candidates Sruthi Palaniappan ‘20 Julia M. Huesa ’20. Amy Y. Li—Crimson photographer

Undergraduate Council Presidential Candidates Daniel K. Ragheb ’20 and Samyra C. Miller ’21. Amy Y. Li—Crimson photographer

Khoury and Agrawal Push for ‘Transparency and Accessibility’

Palaniappan and Huesa Pledge They Will ‘Make Harvard Home’

Ragheb and Miller Want UC to Move Towards Inclusivity

By Connor W. K. Brown Contributing Writer

Nadine M. Khoury ’20 and Arnav Agrawal ’20 immediately connected on the Undergraduate Council over a shared experience — living in “The Freshman Quad.”

Both starting on the UC freshman fall representing Crimson Yard — Khoury in Greenough and Agrawal in Pennypacker — the farthest group of freshmen dorms from Annenberg. ­

Now, two-and-a-half years later, the two are vying for the top jobs on the Council, believing their wealth of experience will allow them to accomplish their campaign slogan: “Transform Harvard.”

Presidential candidate Khoury, a Bioengineering concentrator in Cabot House from Brooklyn, New York, is the current Treasurer of the UC. Vice presidential candidate Agrawal, an Economics concentrator

See Push Page 8

By Kevin R. Chen Contributing Writer

Sruthi Palaniappan ’20 and Julia M. Huesa ’20 believe that Harvard needs to support its increasingly diverse student body by listening to student’s various stories and experiences. Together, they are running to lead the Undergraduate Council as President and Vice President under the slogan “make Harvard home.”

Palaniappan, a Government concentrator in Win­

throp House, has served on the UC since freshman year as chair of the Education Committee. Huesa, a Social Studies concentrator in Lowell House, has been a part of the UC since sophomore year, and has served as vice chair of the Student Relations Committee.

Palaniappan and Huesa have worked on many UC projects, such as advocating for the creation of an Education Secondary and the enforcement of

See home Page 7

By Sydnie M. Cobb Contributing Writer

Daniel “Danny” K. Ragheb ’20 and Samyra C. Miller ’21 are involved in a little bit of everything on campus. As of now, however, a role on the Undergraduate Council appears on neither candidate’s resume.

Ragheb and Miller — the only outsider ticket on this year’s ballot — are aware that some may be hesitant about their lack of UC experience, but they don’t think this should delegitimize ­

their campaign. “[This race] is not about who has had more UC experience, it is not about all of our accomplishments so far. It is about finally giving students a chance to be heard,” Ragheb said.

This theme appears in the pair’s campaign slogan, “The Mic Is Ours.”

The two have also shared a microphone outside of their UC presidential campaign. Ragheb and Miller first met last fall

See outsider Page 8

Harvard Holds Memorial Church Event for Veterans Day

By Sophia S. Armenakas, Connor W. K. Brown, and Samuel H. Carter Crimson contributing Writers

Though students did not have the day off for Veterans Day Monday, they and other campus affiliates found a way to honor the holiday, which this year coincided with the centenary marking the end of the First World War. On Sunday, Memorial Church held a service com­

Fall Foliage

Inside this issue

Annenberg, freshmam dining hall through the fall foilage. Amy Y. Li—Crimson photographer

Harvard Today 2

News 7

Editorial 10

Sports 11

Today’s Forecast

memorating Harvard affiliates who have died in war.

The ceremony began with undergraduates in Harvard’s Reserve Officers’ Training Corps leading a procession and laying down a wreath. This was followed by an “act of commemoration” for the dead delivered by Jonathan L. Walton, the minister of Memorial Church.

Walton told the congregation to remember veterans, all of whom “lived generously and served faithfully.”

rainy High: 55 Low: 51

Former Massachusetts Governor Deval L. Patrick ‘78 gave a guest sermon entitled “A Soulful Nation.” He told an anecdote about a Holocaust survivor during World War II who experienced an act of kindness from an American soldier after being liberated. Patrick said this story has had an enduring impact on him and on the Holocaust survivor, who he knows personally.

“The soldier gave him a little

See veterans Page 7

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THE HARVARD CRIMSON |

november 13, 2018

Page 2

Harvard Today

For Lunch Coconut Curry Chicken Philly Cheese Steak Sub Vegetable and Multigrain Spaghetti Caponata

For Dinner Chipotle Chicken Creamy Chilaquile Casserole Haddock Olive Caper Relish w/ Roasted Red Peppers

Today’s Events

in The Real World

H(Y)Q Emerson 105, 7-8:30 p.m.

Want to show off your trivia skills and win cool prizes? Come to HYQ, CEB’s high-stakes quiz show, in Emerson 105! Each attendee will participate in an HQ-style mobile game, and the top 8 ranked contestants will play in a final jeopardy game to determine

Kyrsten Sinema wins Arizona Senate race

In an incredibly close election, Kyrsten Sinema becomes the first Democratic senator elected in Arizona in 30 years. As the first openly bisexual person to be seated in the House of Representatives back in 2013, Sinema is no newcomer to overcoming political barriers. After a hard battle against Republican Representative Martha McSally, Sinema will replace GOP senator Jeff Flake.

Poetry and Coloring The Democracy Center, 7:30-11 p.m.

Midterm season got you feeling blue?

Waltz on down to the Democracy Center to learn some “Ballroomin’ style blues!” Lessons are only $5 and are followed by an open social dance at 8:30, so put on your dancing shoes and get ready to dance the night away!

Mideastcorn The Middle East, 9 p.m.-1 a.m.

Life starting to feel like a joke? Come and laugh away your sorrows at The Middle East’s open comedy mic night!

Stan Lee Is Dead at 95; Superhero of Marvel Comics The Charles River on a Monday afternoon. Amy y. li—Crimson photographer

Daily Briefing Both Harvard and the group suing the University over its admissions practices, Students for Fair Admissions, employed statistical experts to analyze the data and testify about their results in court. The disparities between their models could prove crucial in deciding the fate of the case. In other news, three tickets are vying for the Undergraduate Council presidency and vice presidency.

The nation took a hit when we lost the man who brought to life all of our favorite superheroes from Spiderman and Iron Man to the Hulk. With his incredible creative genius and ability to weave his characters with true human flaws and show that heroes come in all forms, Stan Lee was just as much a hero as the ones we grew up watching on the silver screen.

‘GQ’ Used Quotations To Describe Serena Williams’ Gender

Even if you know nothing about tennis, you have no doubt heard of the impressive accomplishments of professional tennis player Serena Williams.

Featured in GQ’s annual Man of the Year issue, the cover blew up on Twitter where people made a racket when they decided they most certainly did not love the quotations around the word “woman.”

While the quotations may not have meant to evoke a backhanded effect, Twitter is serving up some indignation.

Around the Ivies princeton A coach bus bringing Princeton students to a football game against Yale crashed into a building on Saturday, according to the The Daily Princetonian. A local news station reported that the bus collided into an Anderson Glass Company building in West Haven. Five individuals were treated at a local hospital and two more students sought medical attention once they arrived back at Columbia University. After the crash, some students opted to travel back to Princeton on a train, while others took a different coach bus.

yale The Yale College Council’s Fall Survey received double the amount of last year’s participants, according to the Yale Daily News. About 2100 students completed the entire survey, which was open for a week. The survey showed that 80 percent of respondents would seek a minor if Yale allowed students to pursue minors, and over threequarters of the respondents agreed or strongly supported the formation of a Middle East and North Africa cultural house.

CORNELL Student organization Building Ourselves through Sisterhood and Service held a summit called Mental Health Issues Faced by Women of Color over the weekend, according to the Cornell Sun. The event was attended by approximately 50 people, involved several workshops, and was supported by the University’s Title IX office. The summit has expanded in size since it was first held in 2016 and its organizers say they hope it will continue to expand and serve as a conversation starter on campus.

The University Daily, Est. 1873

The Harvard Crimson Derek G. Xiao President Hannah Natanson Managing Editor Nathan Y. Lee Business Manager

Associate Managing Editors Mia C. Karr ’19 Claire E. Parker ’19 Associate Business Managers Dahlia S. Huh ’19 Max W. Sosland ’19 Digital Strategists Jamie D. Halper ’20 Caroline S. Engelmayer ’20 Editorial Chairs Cristian D. Pleters ’19 Emmanuel R. R. D’Agostino ’19

Staff for This Issue Arts Chairs Mila Gauvini II ’19 Grace Z. Li ’19

Design Chairs Morgan J. Spaulding ’19 Simon S. Sun ’19

Night Editor Sarah Wu ’19

FM Chairs Marella A. Gayla ’19 Leah S. Yared ’19

Multimedia Chairs Amy Y. Li ’20 Ellis J. Yeo ’20

Assistant Night Editors Karina G. Gonzalez-Espinoza ’21 Andrew J. Zucker ’20

Blog Chairs Lydia L. Cawley ’20 Stuti Telidevara ’20

Technology Chairs Nenya A. Edjah ’20 Theodore T. Liu ’20

Sports Chairs Cade S. Palmer ’20 Jack R. Stockless ’19

Copyright 2018, The Harvard Crimson (USPS 236-560). No articles, editorials, cartoons or any part thereof appearing in The Crimson may be reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the President. The Associated Press holds the right to reprint any materials published in The Crimson. The Crimson is a non-profit, independent corporation, founded in 1873 and incorporated in 1967. Second-class postage paid in Boston, Massachusetts. Published Monday through Friday except holidays and during vacations, three times weekly during reading and exam periods by The Harvard Crimson Inc., 14 Plympton St., Cambridge, Mass. 02138 Weather icons made by Freepik, Yannick, Situ Herrera, OCHA, SimpleIcon, Catalin Fertu from flaticon.com is licensed by CC BY 3.0.

Story Editors Jamie D. Halper ‘20 Edith M. Herwitz ’19 Sonia Kim ‘20 Hannah Natanson ’19 Kenton K. Shimozaki ‘19 Michael E. Xie ’20

Design Editors Margot E. Shang ‘21 Simon S. Sun ‘19 Katie E. Wang ’20 Photo Editors Karina G. Gonzalez-Espinoza ’21 Amy Y. Li ’20 Editorial Editor Jessenia N. Class ’20 Sports Editor Cade S. Palmer ’20

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.

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | NOVEMBER 13, 2018 | PAGE 3

ARTS

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Perfect Places

the week in arts

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ALLISON J. SCHARMANN CRIMSON STAFF WRITER When I was a child I knew exactly how my life would turn out. I knew that at 16 I would get a job at Mrs. Murphy’s Donuts. I knew where I would go to college. I knew I would eventually become a surgeon. My parents still poke fun at me for the way I talked to adults like I had it all figured out. Unsurprisingly, only one of my predictions turned out to be true, but I was so desperate to reach the future I meticulously planned that I became bored with the present. The time for these dreams to be realized was fast approaching, but they began to feel farther and farther out of reach. I was just one month into my freshman year of high school, reluctantly confined to the tobacco-farming hilltown I had called home for 15 years, when Lorde released her debut album “Pure Heroine.”

In “Pure Heroine,” I found a roadmap for navigating the collective adolescence that I entered into just as Lorde left it behind. It didn’t matter that I didn’t yet have a car, job, relationship, or any of the other tenets of the typical teenage rebellion — Lorde lent her low, breathy voice to experiences beyond the tropes. In “Ribs” she sings, “This dream isn’t feeling sweet / We’re reeling through the midnight streets / And I’ve never felt more alone / It feels so scary getting old.” She held up a mirror to the exact mix of disillusion with the future and longing for the past that, in my hurry to grow up, I hadn’t allowed myself to feel.

Pulsing beneath each song on the album is the heightened awareness that neither she nor I nor any of us have control over our own timeline. Lorde revels in her ambivalence to this truth. Like she sings in “Tennis Court,” “It’s a new art form showing people how little we care.”

For the next four years I took the lyrics from “Still Sane” — “all work and no play never made me lose it” — to heart. Lorde’s debut carried me through hour after hour of early morning shifts, lengthy homework assignments, and an array of club meetings, rehearsals, and tech weeks which culminated in three straight months of college applications. By December of my senior year of high school, I had the college acceptance I had dreamed of, but I was mentally and physically exhausted. I had my fair share of adventures and had made wonderful friends, but there was still something missing. I had yet to really let go.

As I entered the last semester of high school I embarked on a mission to make the most of the waning time I had left at home. I sought out the world of bad dates, first loves,

and messy teenage nights that I had previously denied myself. Once again reading my mind, Lorde released her anthem “Green Light” my senior spring and second album “Melodrama” two weeks after I graduated high school.

The sophomore album, its cover a saturated portrait of the artist herself, lived in my car’s CD player until the day I left for college. It accompanied me as I chased experience across miles of open fields, backyards, and secret haunts.

“Green Light” sent me, like Lorde, chasing after my own fresh start. “Homemade Dynamite” underscored my sleepless nights out, driving hours with friends in search of adventure, food, art, and sometimes nothing at all. I chased love, or something close to it, up and down Interstate 91. I belted the words “Okay I know that you are not my type (still I fall) / I’m just the sucker who let you fill her mind (but what about love?)” along with Lorde in “The Louvre” as I made the drive to waste time with my first summer fling and cried to “Liability” each time I made the same drive home, always alone.

All in all I waited nearly five years to see Lorde live. Five years of love, friendship, fear and nostalgia, growing older all the way. As I took my spot in TD Garden, the tobacco farming town growing farther away by the second, two new friends to my left, and that same summer fling (no longer really a fling) to my right, I prepared myself for what I knew would be an emotional experience. At the end of the concert, my face smeared with mascara and tears, voice hoarse from singing along, I realized how much I had grown alongside her albums. That from early adolescence to my last summer at home, from ambition to boredom and back again, and from my first love (and first love-induced tears) her music accompanied me each step of the way. There is a Lorde song for each road in my hometown and for the interstate, for each of my friends, and for the person sleeping next to me while I type this sentence. As I made my way down the escalator into North Station, arm-in-arm with the people I love, the faintest hum of “Perfect Places” escaped my lips before the T doors opened and we stepped onto the train.

Staff writer Allison J. Scharmann’s column, “Music as Memory,” explores music through personal narratives.

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TUESDAY

JONATHAN FRANZEN PRESENTS NEW ESSAY COLLECTION Renowned novelist Jonathan Franzen is coming to the Harvard Book Store on Tuesday for a discussion of his latest essay collection, “The End of the End of the Earth.” The collection is made up of essays and speeches from the past five years, and it has received glowing reviews from Kirkus Reviews and Publishers Weekly.

Harvard Book Store. 7 p.m. $8 ($28 with book).

Wednesday

THE CITY TALKS: BELONGING The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston is hosting a discussion on how migration stories can help Boston communities deal with gentrification. The talk is based on themes found in the MFA exhibit “Candice Breitz: Love Story,” which will be on view until January 21, 2019.

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. 7 p.m.

Free.

Thursday

THE ARTIST’S VOICE: JASON MORAN WITH GLENN LIGON A decade ago, Jason Moran and Glenn Ligon collaborated on “The Death of Tom,” an abstractionist recreation of the original 1903 movie “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” On Thursday, they will revisit their film at the Institute of Contemporary Art with a screening and live performance of Moran’s score.

Institute of Contemporary Art. 7 p.m. Free but ticketed.

Friday

BOSTON INTERNATIONAL ANTIQUARIAN BOOK FAIR OPENING NIGHT The Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair, now entering its 42nd year, features the collections and treasures of 132 booksellers from across the world. The Fair gives visitors the opportunity to see, explore, and purchase artifacts (including books!) in Boston’s Back Bay. Hynes Convention Center. 5 p.m. $20.

Saturday SONGS IN THE FOGNOVO AMOR W/ RACHEL BALDWIN AT THE SINCLAIR Novo Amor, a Welsh indie-folk artist whose music has received attention from outlets such as The Line of Best Fit and THE FADER, is coming to Harvard Square’s The Sinclair in promotion of their latest record, “Heiress.”

Rachel Baldwin, the opening act, is an up-andcoming indie-folk artist from Boston.

The Sinclair. 8 p.m. $17 advance, $20 day of show.

Sunday

BOSTON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA COMES TO SANDERS THEATRE The Boston Philharmonic Orchestra is coming to Sanders Theatre with a program including Ginastera, Ravel, and Strauss. The orchestra is composed of student, professional, and amateur musicians.

Sanders Theatre. 3 p.m. $10 .

MOnday

ELEMENTS OF CINEMA: NEAR DARK JCultural anthropologist Cynthia J. Miller will lead an audience discussion after a free screening of the 1987 film “Near Dark.” The film is about a farm boy who falls in with a bad crowd in what the Brattle Theatre’s website calls a “bloody vampire western.”

Brattle Theatre. 6 p.m. Free.

12 november 2018 | Vol CXLv, ISSUE xVIII Arts Chairs Mila Gauvin II `19 Grace Z. Li `19

Editor Associates Kaylee S. Kiam ’20 Caroline A. Tsai ’20 Aline G. Damas ’20

Noah F. Houghton ’20 Edward M. Litwin ’19 Petra Laura Oreskovic ’20 Ethan B. Reichsman ’19 Yael M. Saiger ’19 Caroline E. Tew ’20 Jonathan P. Trang ’19 Lucy Wang ’20

Executive Designer Hanna Kim `21

Design Associates Mireya C. Arango ‘20 Julia Reed-Betts ‘19 Alysssa D. Truong ‘21

Executive Photographer Kathryn S. Kuhar `20

ARTS

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | NOVEMBER 13, 2018 | PAGE 4

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Garbage Nails the Art of Optimistic Retrospection in ‘Version 2.0’ 20th Anniversary Concert LIANA E. CHOW CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

I was painfully aware of how much I didn’t fit in at Garbage’s Oct. 23 House of Blues concert. The tour meant to celebrate the 20th birthday of their sophomore album, “Version 2.0.” I had just turned 19. I felt like a baby. Trying to find fellow people of color among the sea of grunge adults, I severely strained my eyes. I overheard an audience member say, “I hate to be that person, but rap is just people saying a lot of curse words,” and I instinctively sidled away. To top it all off, to reach the House of Blues, I had waded through not only thunderstorms but also Red Sox fans and was doing my best to not let on that I had been raised on Yankees games. I stuck out like the sore thumbs, pointer fingers, and pinkies of the devil’s horn hands that prodded the air far more often than was appropriate for pop-angled post-grunge.

It’s possible that without any memories of the ’90s at my disposal, I was poorly equipped to love a “20 Years Paranoid” tour concert. As much as those songs have been hailed as timeless, and as much as their choruses have latched onto my brain — seriously, I can’t shake them off — their performances of the first several songs failed to convince me of the continuing relevance of “Version 2.0” any more than listening to the album versions had. Flat-sounding percussion patterns, Shirley Manson’s weird superhero costume, and predictable rhyme schemes struck me as intriguing but unsubtle. Even the electro part of their electro-rock sounded plain.

But I was won over by Garbage’s eagerness to put the past in its place even while unabashedly celebrating it. “Some of these songs we may not play again,” Manson said. If Garbage really was throwing any of the tracks a goodbye party

on this tour, they let them go out with a bang. They mixed up the order of the album, threw in b-sides and covers, and smartly pushed the punch of “I Think I’m Paranoid” and pop of “When I Grow Up” toward the end. For the most part, Garbage deftly walked the line between tormented and confident that characterized “Version 2.0.”And they were not afraid to update some material: Commenting on the relevance of a rearranged “Soldier Through This,” Manson said, “I love the idea that things are changing and gender is dead.” (Manson made this aspirational oversimplification charming and sincere.) And their performance of “No Horses” proved that they still write strong tracks.

Manson was in control of the show. Her voice was full-bodied, her charisma even more so. She glowed with a cheeky sincerity that almost justified her superhero getup. In a speech right before the encore, she even convinced me (for a minute) that I was glad the Red Sox were in the lead next door. She ribbed a long-time fan (“Back then she was just this little school girl, fucking weirdo freak”), made demands of the audience (“I want that poster of my dog. Pass that the fuck up”), and gave well-deserved praise to their opening act, Rituals of Mine (“They’re very disciplined, which turns me on a little”). Upon the first notes of “Only Happy When It Rains,” concertgoers, channeling Garbage’s parody of its own angst, transformed into parodies of their 1990s teenage selves, enraptured — perhaps

by Manson, perhaps by the fact that a thunderstorm raged outside, or perhaps by an awareness of how far they had come.

Staff Writer Liana E. Chow can be reached at liana.chow@thecrimson.com.

THEATER

‘Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play’ Brings the Contemporary Political Climate to Stage

COURTESY OF RICHARD TONG ’19

KALOS K. CHU CONTRIBUTING WRITER Anne Washburn’s “Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play” is a charged show.

It’s a part-comedy and part post-apocalyptic social commentary in which survivors work first to piece together an episode of “The Simpsons,” then to form a theater company that reenacts those scenes exclusively, and, finally, to transform that episode into a hip-hop, operetta, Greek tragedy mash-up of epic proportions. The story unfolds in the aftermath of a nuclear-meltdown that has left the country in a destroyed, electricity-less darkness. This week, Harvard students are bringing the eclectic show to the Loeb Ex. Director Nick D. Hornedo ’19 takes this premise one step further.

The action takes place, geographically, at the border between the US and Mexico. The set is a border wall, rendered defunct by the collapse of both countries. In one scene, a baby is ripped out of its mother’s arms. The audience is placed, quite literally, within one striking, poignant reflection on contemporary society.

The border wall set is designed by Connie K. Zhao ’19, who describes it as a “3-D puzzle piece.” It is a monolith of cardboard boxes whose purpose is to reveal a bit more about the story and, as it shifts from act to act, move the story forward. The show’s venue, the Loeb Ex, also enhances the experience as this black box theater puts the performers on the same level as the audience. Zhao hopes that

by immersing the audience into the scene, by seating them among the actors, they can connect more deeply with the story. “We want the audience to feel that these are their people,” Zhao says.

Bianca I. Rodriguez ’20, who plays one of the survivors, Colleen, and Simpson matriarch Marge, spoke further about the implications of the show. “Everybody knows Marge from The Simpsons, right?” Rodriguez says. Yet, in the context of the violent postapocalyptic America, wrought with gun violence, these characters are transformed. Rodriguez draws a striking parallel to her Latin American heritage. “Where my family’s from, Tamaulipas, there’s a gang, the Zatas...that just made violence for violence’s sake,” Rodriguez says.

Hornedo, in the end, is trying to show how people in the wake of great violence use memory and storytelling to make sense of it all.

“Art is a memorial to the loved ones that have been lost,” Hornedo says. Whether it’s the sugar skulls of Día de Muertos or “The Simpsons” in a post-apocalyptic North American wasteland, people use art to remember the past and solidify a new identity. During its two week long run, this show will attempt to do just that.

“Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play” will run this week at the Loeb Ex: Nov. 11, Nov. 15, Nov. 16, and Nov. 17 at 7 p.m., and Nov. 18 at 2 p.m.

ARTS

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | NOVEMBER 13, 2018 | PAGE 5

TV

COURTESY OF STEVE DIETL/NETFLIX

‘The Haunting of Hill House’ Manages to Both Scare and Stir Emotions

SAMANTHA J. O’CONNELL CONTRIBUTING WRITER Regarded as one of the most iconic and well-written ghost stories of all time, Shirley Jackson’s novel “The Haunting of Hill House” has terrified audiences since its release in 1959.

The tale has already been turned into a play and adapted into two movies, but that didn’t stop Netflix from announcing it would be producing a 10-episode series based off the classic ghost story back in August. Mike Flanagan, the director, has already earned buzz for his work on “Oculus,” “Hush,” and most recently “Gerald’s Game,” but “The Haunting of Hill House” might be his most ambitious project yet. A classic plot of a family living inside a house filled with ghosts stretched out into 10 hours is risky, but Flanagan and his committed actors have created something thoroughly gripping, terrifying, and equally refreshing.

The show follows the Crain family of seven, showing both their history living in the house of horror, as well as the present day. This allows them to interweave their childhoods with the psychological scars that have lasted into their adult lives. Unlike the creative and brilliantly original concepts behind movies like “Get Out” and “A Quiet Place,” this horror series might seem too reliant on clichés. From the first few episodes alone, we are blasted with the typical tropes of ghosts terrorizing people in their sleep, a mysterious locked room, a dark, decrepit cellar, and even a kid drawing creepy, ominous monsters in crayon. Of course, while the plot from an outside perspective might appear stale, Flanagan still manages to demonstrate his unique skills and bring his own inventive flavor to the story. One of the creepiest and arguably the most brilliant detail of Flanagan’s masterpiece is the hidden ghosts — and no, not the “Bent-Neck Lady” or the rotting zombie in the basement who get an ample amount of

bone-chilling screen time. It’s difficult to notice every single pale, mysterious figure in an initial viewing, but that isn’t necessary. Adding to the overall dark tone and enhancing the creepiness factor, spotting even one in this twisted version of “I Spy” is enough to keep a viewer on edge.

Another way “Hill House” escapes horror tropes is through its unique perspective on trauma and the residual, life-altering effects it can have. The five Crain children, Steve (Michiel Huisman), Shirley (Elizabeth Reaser), Theodora (Kate Siegel), Luke (Oliver Jackson-Cohen), and Nell (Victoria Pedretti) each grow up to lead tormented lives, still haunted by grief and fear from their days in the evil house.

Perhaps horror writer Steve sums it up best when he tells a fan, “A ghost can be a lot of things: a memory, a daydream, a secret, grief anger, guilt. In my experience, most times, they’re just what we want to see.” Their psychological ghosts lead them down paths of addiction, denial, and emotional repression. What may make “Hill House” so refreshing is not the grotesque ghosts dwelling in the old mansion but rather the raw, human-scale problems that slowly deteriorate this scarred family.

Another hurdle Flanagan needed to surmount is the the overall run-time. While a typical horror movie only has to maintain suspense, keep the audience on their toes, and provide an ample amount of spooks for two hours, Flanagan somehow had to translate that same effect into 10. The key to sustaining the tension and preventing the audience from becoming too habituated to the horror is the nonlinearity of the show. Working to reveal the whole story slowly but deliberately, each episode focuses in on a specific character’s unique, traumatic experience and attempts to lay the story’s

foundation piece by piece.

While such a compelling story structure results in some shocking plot twists and a satisfying, climatic finale, it also allows the audience plenty of time to grow emotionally connected to its characters. Liv Crain’s (Carla Gugino) descent from loving mother into tormented insanity might be the most tragic arch of the show, and Gugino’s performance is both breathtaking and heartbreaking. However, the most fascinating, groundbreaking part might be Theo Crain (played by Katie Siegel as an adult and McKenna Grace as young girl). Blessed but also cursed with the ability to experience others’ emotions merely by touch, Theo chooses to isolate herself, constantly wearing a pair of gloves and unwilling to open up to her family or romantic partners.

Despite her closed-off nature, her strong-willed, no-nonsense attitude makes her extremely likable. Theo is lesbian, but the show thankfully does not tokenize her sexuality as her primary character trait. Setting an example for fair BGLTQ representation in the media, “Hill House” treats a complex character like Theo with the nuance and proper care she deserves. Effortlessly exuding confidence and intensity while also breaking down in one of the show’s most tear-jerking scenes, Siegel thrives in her role.

While sitting through 10 hours of horror might seem like a major commitment, the show is worth it without a doubt.

Using the classic haunted house trope merely as a branchingoff point, “The Haunting of Hill House” weaves a scary and profound narrative. To fans of both the horror and family drama genres alike, this series will not disappoint. Prepare to jump out of your seat a few times with fright but also to walk away clinging to loved ones a little tighter with appreciation.

‘The Grinch’ is Two Sizes Too Small of a Film SIENNA R. SANTER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

“Every Who down in Whoville liked Christmas a lot; / But the Grinch who lived just North of Whoville did not!” So begins Dr. Seuss’s classic tale and the 2018 remake of the 1966 animated film. Narrated by Pharrell Williams, “The Grinch” paints a candy cane-coated Christmas wonderland that lives up to contemporary standards, yet ultimately fails to add nuance to the famous storyline, distracting from the themes and charm of Seuss’s original. While “The Grinch” provides some mindless holiday cheer, this rendition will certainly not remain a classic for years to come.

Directors Yarrow Cheney and Scott Mosier don’t stray far from Dr. Seuss’s original storyline, in which a bitter grump (Benedict Cumberbatch) lives alone with his dog, Max, on a mountain overlooking the village of Whoville. Orphaned as a child with no family to celebrate with on Christmas, the Grinch hates the joy of the holiday season. Determined to ruin Christmas for everyone, he fabricates a plan to become Santa Claus and steal Christmas in its entirety, from the lights to the presents to the Christmas trees of Whoville.

While from an adult perspective the execution leaves a lot to be desired, the film is, after all, a children’s cartoon at heart. The Grinch runs into a tree face-first and, of course, walks away completely unharmed. Childish humor, such as a screaming goat that pops up at random moments throughout the film, is added for quick comedic effect. It is a mindless kind of comedy that will have children giggling in their seats, while the parents pick up on the subtle details — such as the Grinch’s “Mold Spray” deodorant and the labels on the hangers of all of his green furry pants, which spell out enough different ways of saying the word “miserable” to make a thesaurus giddy.

The adult — specifically parent — targeted humor dispersed throughout is somewhat refreshing, from a candy cane cigarette dangling from the mouth of a six-year-old boy to a “Who Foods.” reference. One little boy complains that he can’t stay out late, explaining, “My parents set the timer. Don’t ask, it’s new,” poking fun at the diverse and sometimes weird ways in which parents try to raise their children. Even the incessant caroling is a nod to many adults’ stressful holiday experiences, such that parents who are dragged to the movies by their children will be able to sit through the film with a little less agony.

If there’s one thing in the film the directors nail, it’s the colors. Visually stunning, “The Grinch” is a treat to look at, from the wonderland that is Whoville to the saturated cartoon Christmas decorations frosting every inch of the screen. Whoville is every kid’s dream, from inner-tubing to class to zipping down the mountain on bobsleds, with sledding hills substituting for roads. The details and shading make the winter scene pop off the screen in the way that only modern animations can do, yet the almost too-perfect animation is a little unsettling, and a stark contrast from the not-so-perfect story.

Although he only produces two original songs, the real star of the film is Tyler the Creator. “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” and “I Am the Grinch” are the only divulgements from Suess’ original vision that actually bring complexity and a touch of modernity to the film. In “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch,” the rap track is set over a simple, catchy, beat as children chorus in the background, making for a dichotomy between Christmas carol and hip hop that somehow manages to both fit the holiday

COURTESY OF ILLUMINATION ENTERTAINMENT / UNIVERSAL PICTURES

FILM

theme and offer a refreshing exception to the otherwise childish, mundane soundtrack. “I Am the Grinch,” featuring Fletcher Jones, follows the same theme, but sounds a bit more like a typical Tyler the Creator track, with the exception of the kid-friendly lyrics and the jingle bell beat in the background.

Perhaps the most irritating part of the film is Cindy Lou Who (Cameron Seely). Depicted as a wideeyed, sickeningly sweet, innocent little girl, the 2018 rendition of Cindy Lou has lost all of the spunk and originality from her storybook and 1966 film original. Stating that all she wants for Christmas is for her mother to feel less stressed, Cindy Lou is painted as a perfect child who manages to be incredibly perceptive yet ridiculously dim-witted at the same time, noticing her mother’s misery one second but falling down the stairs wrapped up in four coats and three hats the next. No six-year-old child is ever entirely selfless or well-behaved at all times, and to depict her as such is unbelievable.

Despite being the protagonist, she experiences no character development, and is ripped of the nuances that make her a realistic child. Subsequently, every such character is depicted as static, defined only by a single stereotypical trait, from the lovely yet overworked mother to the well-meaning yet simple-minded neighbor (à la Ned Flanders of “The Simpsons”). The Grinch’s dog Max is perhaps the most likeable character in the film, and he only barks.

Ultimately, “The Grinch” does offer touching commentary on family and community. The addition of characters such as the overworked mother, the well-meaning neighbor, and even a family of what can only be wooly yaks add several diverse layers to the “family is most important” narrative of the original. While the melancholy depiction of the young Grinch alone in the orphanage will certainly tug on heartstrings, the film fails to produce any conscious emotional reactions other than the occasional rudimentary chuckle. Kids, siblings, and grandchildren alike will enjoy this film — but only if there’s nothing better on this holiday season.

ARTS

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | NOVEMBER 13, 2018 | PAGE 6

FILM

‘MARIA BY CALLAS’ A HUMANIZING PORTRAIT OF A DIVA Dir. Tom Volf

CLAIRE N. PARK CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

COURTESY OF SONY PICTURES

When Maria Callas dazzles an audience into silence with her undulating soprano, one might expect the heavens to part and for an angel to beckon her home. There is an otherworldliness to the legendary opera star, the subject of director Tom Volf’s documentary film. Just watch how thoroughly she enlivens dramas in languages that aren’t her own, as her dark eyes flash with emotion. Volf explores the central tension between the rather demure “Maria” and her monolithic persona as one of the 20th century’s most vaunted artists, whom she distinguishes as “Callas”: “I would like to be Maria, but there is the Callas that I have to live up to.”

Callas was born and raised in New York and groomed for fame at an early age by her mother, who harbored her own artistic dreams. Throughout her illustrious career, Callas was as beloved as she was excoriated for not being perfect, for missteps that probably wouldn’t ensnare a man of the same stature.

Volf trains a largely uncritical eye on Callas’s life, and does not include perspectives other than Callas’s, aside from a few interviews within her trusty inner circle.

Perhaps Volf neglects to investigate any of the spurious rumors that hounded Callas throughout her life because, like her, he doesn’t find them worth investigating. Such an oversight might read as a rhetorical maneuver to paint Callas unilaterally as a victim in her rarefied universe, although it does not detract from the film’s understated beauty.

As central as the idea of the original, unmasked “Maria” is to the title of the film and to her contrived “Callas,” Volf doesn’t explore her childhood aside from a hurried montage that is tediously factual rather than insightful. Other biographical sources have probed the dark underbelly of her glamorously steep rise to fame, and detail her parents’ infelicitous marriage. Callas herself has elsewhere spoken severely against her mother and how her micromanaging robbed her of a proper childhood and eroded her self esteem. Her voiceovers in this film then

seem eerily scrubbed of emotion considering the events and interpersonal relationships that must have made for a toxic psychological cocktail and that shaped the course of her life.

For someone as candid as Callas proves herself to be in the written correspondences and interviews that Volf stitches together, the film seems somewhat incomplete without that side of “Maria.”

Volf deftly curates Callas’s most revelatory off duty moments and ponderous side comments to portray her quiet dignity, so that “Maria” breaches the surface of “Callas” in beautifully simple and unexpected moments. Callas is panned as a high-maintenance diva after she cancels her highly anticipated performance at the Rome Opera, and later remembers the critical drubbing by the media as “my lynching.” With knowing sadness, she states, “I didn’t endanger the life of Italian lyric theater. I simply had bronchitis.” She isn’t precious about her image, resigning, “Time does heal lots of things and I’m sure time will prove what I am actually.” Her jaded wisdom and acceptance of the inexorable, preordained arc of her life manifest in her prayer to God: “Give me what you want. I have no choice,” she says, emphatically but ruefully, knowing how the world works. “You can never fight the public.”

Volf’s singular focus on Callas’s perspective proves effective in that he gives her the opportunity and space to speak for herself, so that each of her lines resonates with the finality of a printed word. Her scattered contemplations amount to profound revelations on the difficult contradictions of womanhood. Callas knows when and why men fail her, and speaks plainly on how glory ruined her marriages, likening it to a heady wine. When she’s severed from the Metropolitan Opera over creative disagreements with its director, she bristles at his claim that she is difficult to work with, and publicly retorts, “He’s a weak man.” Her championing of her rigorous artistic standards and personal choices against her discreditors almost becomes an act of

Thanking Frankenstein

political resistance: “I cannot do those — excuse me — lousy performances. That’s not art.”

Despite her evolving artistry, Callas espouses surprisingly traditional values. She considers familymaking the natural vocation of a woman, but felt forced by her mother and her ex-husbands, and interestingly by a sense of destiny, to pursue her career as relentlessly as she has. Her compulsion to sustain “Callas” begs the timeworn question: Can women have it all? When asked if she’s a happy woman, she responds after a pause, “I don’t always realize it.” She finds herself guilty of performing an acceptable brand of femininity and of downplaying her intellectual self, making efforts to be seen as affable, with “simple tastes.” She’s also presciently aware of the limitations of “Callas” as a specifically female public figure and ruminates matter-of-factly on age pressure: “I’m a young woman, but not so young anymore.” In almost admitting to not having it all and even hinting at the impossibility of it given the brutalizing power of public opinion, there is something revolutionary about her honesty.

Despite her steely public persona, a childlike idealism tinges Callas’s words. When Barbara Walters quotes Callas back to her, “I wanted someone, Prince Charming, to take me away,” “Maria” emerges as her plainspoken and unabashedly romantic self to reflect on the primacy of love. She writes forlornly to Elvira de Hidalgo, her beloved teacher and longtime friend, “You know me, rather shy and strange. But you know how to love me as I am.” Volf is able to interlard the collectively embellished life story of “Callas” with her secret thoughts so meaningfully yet so enigmatically that one can see exactly how fascinating “Maria” is, and how deeply misunderstood.

Staff writer Claire N. Park can be reached at claire. park@thecrimson.com.

BOOKS

ISABEL C. RUEHL CONTRIBUTING WRITER

“Whence, I often asked myself, did the principle of life proceed?”

These are the words of Victor Frankenstein — and among the first words that I read at college. Much to my surprise, I fell in love with Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus” in my very first English class. I typically like Melville, Yeats, Morrison — a random assortment to demonstrate my non-science-fiction-y taste. Ignorantly, I thought that fantasy and monsters lurked outside my sphere of interest — unless, of course, I was in the mood for a Harry Potter marathon. I just couldn’t imagine taking a course on science fiction.

But from page one, “Frankenstein” is uncannily, wonderfully realistic, insidious, spooky, and beautiful. Mary Shelley begins with a frame narrative: a series of letters between the arctic researcher Robert Walton and his sister, Mrs. Saville of England. Only after the reader has been eased into the story through genteel correspondence may Victor Frankenstein begin his tale, wrought with guilt and caution.

He opens Volume I with an account of his childhood and the great ambition brewing inside him: “No one can conceive the variety of feelings which bore me onwards, like a hurricane, in the first enthusiasm of

success. Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world.”

Doesn’t this sound admirable? And, if it’s not embarrassing to admit, mildly relatable? We’ve all felt elated by purpose and praise. Students are told, over and over, that we are young and soon we’ll go off to do big things. Well, this is the very scene where Victor creates his Creature and wreaks havoc. He is soon punished for his ambition.

My professor discouraged us from using the word “monster.” Victor creates “the Creature,” who soon tells his own story in Volume II. “Listen to my tale,” the Creature says, and describes his memory of abandonment, his hopeless wandering, and, finally, his acquisition of language and knowledge of human cruelty. We empathize deeply with the Creature as he grows into the world that surrounds him.

Shelley thus presents two immersive stories that seemingly clash but are, in fact, disquietingly similar. Often, Victor and the Creature speak using the same key words, like “wretch.”

I won’t say how the book ends; if you haven’t read it, go do so.

Let’s just say that creator and creature meet a similar fate.

Read “Frankenstein” because, quite literally, it contains a bit of everything. There are sublime scenes of nature, scenes

in courtrooms, scenes in filthy laboratories and the barren Arctic; there are references to the French Revolution, the creation of man, Promethean mythology, Benjamin Franklin, Coleridge, Milton, and more. Pulsing with guilt and anxiety, the pages turn over and over in your hands. Though I recommend a slow reading, poring over descriptions, you could quite easily read this in one sitting.

In a word, it’s arresting: It feels as though you’re in contact with everything, filled with that same (dangerous) sense of bigness and possibility as Frankenstein. Pretty remarkable that one little book can be a portal to all that.

Naturally, I decided to concentrate in English. It’s been two years since I’ve read “Frankenstein” cover to cover, but it lives on my bookshelf where I frequently pull it out and flip to a relevant passage. It’s as natural to think about Frankensteinian creationism in my American Politics lecture on the railroad as in my poetry unit on Romanticism. And if I’m having trouble with an essay for my creative writing class, I remind myself that Mary Shelley wrote “Frankenstein” when she was just 19.

So happy 200th birthday, “Frankenstein,” and thank you for endless scares and endless inspiration. I know that I’ll keep turning to you for a long time to come.

PAGE 7

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | NOVEMBER 13, 2018

NUMBERS FROM PAGE 1

Data is at the Center of Harvard Admissions Trial

process. He claims his model proves the College does not discriminate.

So, who’s right?

Economics professors and statisticians across the country say Arcidiacono and Card built their models almost the same way. Both used a technique called “regression” that estimates the relationships among different variables — in the trial, these variables represent factors that admissions officers weigh when evaluating Harvard hopefuls.

Still, Card’s and Arcidiacono’s regressions differ on a few meaningful points.

In his analysis, Card included the personal rating — a score that measures applicants’ character — and so-called “ALDC” applicants, meaning students who are athletes, legacies, linked to top Harvard donors, or children of faculty members.

Arcidiacono left out both. Card also ran his analyses year-byyear for the six years’ worth of Harvard admissions data made available as part of the trial; Arcidiacono pooled the data together.

The disparities between the models could prove crucial in deciding the fate of the case.

The Crimson breaks down what these differences mean — and what you need to know about each model.

THE PROBLEM OF THE PERSONAL RATING When admissions officers sit down to assign a personal rating, they consider students’ interviews with alumni, application essays, and teacher recommendations. Then they rank applicants on a scale of 1 to 4, with 1 being the highest and 4 being the lowest score.

Experts on both sides of the trial say Card’s inclusion and

Arcidiacono’s exclusion of the personal rating may mark the most important difference between the economists’ models.

SFFA supporter and economics professor Michael Keane called the personal rating the “single biggest factor” in proving or disproving alleged discrimination.

Those on Harvard’s side argue that Arcidiacono’s omission of the personal rating makes his model less representative of the admissions process.

Harry J. Holzer ’78, an economics professor and Harvard supporter, said it is a good idea to consider all the variables that admissions officers weigh.

“The whole trick,” Holzer said, “is to find measures that on the one hand are objective, that aren’t themselves contaminated by bias, but at the same time that are fairly complete.”

Tyler J. VanderWeele, a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health, also said he believes Card was correct to include the personal rating. VanderWeele wrote in an email that, given Harvard’s admissions process has many facets, “it seems the coefficient in Card’s model is the more reasonable one.”

Arcidiacono and SFFA supporters, however, argue that Card’s inclusion of the personal rating allows him to obscure bias inherent in Harvard’s admissions process. Asian-American College applicants typically earn lower personal scores than do applicants of other races with similar academic accomplishments — a statistic SFFA attributes to prejudice and Harvard attributes to weaker recommendations from high school teachers.

By including the personal rating in his model, Card is treating the personal score as a

VETERANS FROM PAGE 1

valid measure of a candidate’s worth — and failing to acknowledge that admissions officers’ biases may have influenced the metric, SFFA supporters say.

“How can we use these subjective personal ratings, which may be biased against Asian applicants, to investigate the biased admissions decisions against Asians?” pro-SFFA economics professor Yingyao Hu asked in an email.

Pro-SFFA economist Matthew Shum agreed.

“The personal rating is itself a function of Asian-American status,” Shum said. “When you include both these things, it’s hard to estimate the effect of Asian-American status directly on admissions.”

The problem of the personal rating, economists on both sides agree, boils down to burden of proof. Who has to show what?

Harvard says SFFA needs to prove that the disparity in ratings assigned to applicants of different races stems from intentional discrimination. SFFA, though, says Harvard needs to prove that this discrimination does not exist.

Pro-Harvard economist Jesse Rothstein framed the issue as more of a “legal question” than a “statistical” one.

“I think if you’re trying to allege that there’s discrimination, you have to do more than just show differences in outcomes,” Rothstein said. “You have to go further than that.”

Keane, who supports SFFA, made the opposite point.

“You’re making quite a dramatic claim, if you’re saying that Asians have systematically inferior personal qualities to the other groups,” Keane said.

“And to convince me that’s true, you’re gonna have to offer me some very strong evidence. Because my prior is that people are

basically equal.”

Near the end of the trial, Burroughs offered her own assessment of the different variables populating Card and Arcidiacono’s models. She compared the factors added in and left out to an ever-changing “a la carte menu.”

Card, standing in the courthouse, laughed.

“You start with my recipe,” he told Burroughs. “Then [in Arcidiacono’s] you take out some ingredients.”

ALDC APPLICANTS AND A YEAR-BY-YEAR BREAKDOWN

The personal rating is not the only disparity between Card and Arcidiacono’s analyses.

Card’s inclusion of ALDC applicants in his model has proven controversial, too. Students in these categories typically benefit from acceptance rates far higher than those seen by non-athletes, non-legacy candidates, those not of interest to top donors, and those unrelated to Harvard faculty.

Pro-Harvard Economics professor Cecilia E. Rouse said it does not make sense to omit ALDC applicants from any model of the Harvard admissions system.

“The question is, why would one do that, if they are competing and are part of the same admission?” Rouse said.

But Hanming Fang, another economist supporting SFFA, had an answer for Rouse: he pointed to ALDC students’ dramatically increased acceptance rate as proof that these applicants go through a fundamentally different admissions process.

“Pooling two applicant pools with different admission processes is not a sound modeling choice in my view,” Fang wrote

in an email.

Card also chose to run his model year-by-year. Arcidiacono, though, pooled the data.

Experts were again divided over the merits of each approach. Harvard supporters argued that, in the real world, the admissions cycle is annual, so Card’s model is the best approximation. SFFA supporters, by contrast, claimed that combining the years increases the strength of the statistical analysis.

Analysts said it is unclear how these smaller differences between the two men’s models may have affected the conclusions and correctness of their analyses.

WHY BOTH MODELS COULD BE WRONG

Both paid experts may be wrong.

Some outside statisticians said they think Arcidiacono and Card may have oversimplified the realities of the Harvard admissions process.

Statistics Professor Jun S. Liu argued the regression analysis both experts performed is insufficiently sophisticated to determine causation between variables such as race and likelihood of acceptance to Harvard.

Liu wrote in an email that, though he has not studied the analyses in depth, it seems to him that the regression technique is ”fundamentally flawed.”

“A more appropriate causal inference analysis needs to be done to make any statistically convincing statement/judgement,” he wrote.

VanderWeele also recommended employing more nuanced methods. He suggested relying on machine learning — a form of artificial intelligence in which computers create and

improve a statistical model as they “train” on more data — or cross-validation, which involves divvying data into different subsets to test the effectiveness of a model.

He said both approaches can be completed using software that is readily available and “easyto-use.”

“There are methods now that estimate differences, standardized by a given set of covariates, but that use machine learning and cross-validation to choose the appropriate functional form and set of interactions,” VanderWeele said. “I would be inclined to think the most unbiased analysis would be one in which both analysts agreed on the set of covariates and then used this type of modeling approach.”

‘IT CAN’T TELL A STORY’ As Burroughs inches towards her final decision, she faces a perhaps intractable problem.

According to multiple economists, neither Arcidiacono’s nor Card’s model is clearly and universally more correct than the other.

“The one thing that’s important for you to understand is that you can’t prove things with statistics,” Keane said. “It’s not like doing pure math, where you just get the right answer. There’s not really a right answer.”

Whether or not Harvard intentionally discriminates against Asian-American applicants is a question statistics has largely failed to answer. So come April, Burroughs will ultimately be forced to make what several economists dubbed a “judgment call.”

“What statistics is doing, basically, is just looking for relationships in the data,” Shum said. “It sanjana.narayanan@thecrimson.com iris.lewis@thecrimson.com

HOME FROM PAGE 7

Harvard Honors Palaniappan and Huesa Vie for Votes Veterans mandatory online sexual harassment training.

The pair’s campaign focuses on five key areas to increase a sense of belonging at Harvard: diversity and inclusion, academic life, mental health, sexual violence prevention and response, and social spaces. ­

American flag. He has carried this for the rest of his life,” Patrick said. “The seed that soldier sowed in him, was in turn sowed in others in all the good he has done, in all the ways he could do it, for all the people he could, for as long as he has.”

Patrick said his story shows the importance of patriotism.

“We honor all service today, but we are especially mindful of this special brand of patriotism, because this type of patriotism shows that our goodness makes us great,” he added.

On Monday, Memorial Church hosted guest speaker Richard Martinez III ’21 for their weekday morning prayers. In an interview after the ceremony, Martinez, who served in the U.S. army stationed in Iraq for three-and-ahalf years, talked about what he considers to be the importance of Veterans Day. “Veterans Day means to me not what most people normally associate with it, in the sense that there is a huge distinction

between Veterans Day and Memorial Day, and it’s not the majority of people’s fault that they get the two mixed up,” he said.

While Memorial Day commonly recognizes members of the armed forces who have died, Veterans Day intends to commemorate all veterans.

Martinez said some veterans face challenges upon returning home due to the political nature of the military. He added that people should not let preconceived notions get in the way of respecting veterans.

“Very often today, veterans are not perceived in the most beautiful light,” Martinez said.

“We are often stigmatized, and, so, it’s easy to then on this day reflect on those that are gone, those that are passed, and not focus on the ones that are still here and feel like they have something.”

“Veterans Day is more so about the people that are still here, that are still trying to do things,” he added.

BRINGING STUDENTS INTO THE CONVERSATION

Palaniappan and Huesa said that an important part of their campaign involves connecting with students to understand their needs and making the UC more accessible to them.

“The UC can and needs to improve the ways that we communicate with the student body and actually bring in students to ensure that the policies that we’re pushing for, that the initiatives that we’re working on, aren’t done in a detached measure that is out of touch from what students actually need here on campus,” Palaniappan said.

The pair said they have worked towards including different student voices through the UC caucus system. Palaniappan helped create the Asian American caucus in the UC to represent the interests of Asian American communities on campus.

Palaniappan and Huesa plan to pair student representatives on the Council with student organizations. By assigning a “point person” to each organization, Palaniappan and Huesa said they hope to create a more direct line of communication between the Council and the student body.

“It seems only natural that if you’re running for an elected position, you should have to interface and interact with the students that you’re claiming to represent,” Huesa said.

CHANGING THE CLIMATE ON CAMPUS A significant portion of Palaniappan and Huesa’s campaign

The Crimson thecrimson.com

addresses ways to transform the social scene through what the pair has coined “cultural climate.”

With regards to preventing sexual violence, they are proposing cultural climate committees in all academic departments, similar to the standing committee created last year in the Government Department in reponse to allegations of sexual misconduct against professor Jorge I. Dominguez.

They also plan to design a cultural climate survey addressing topics such as mental health, inclusion, and belonging that will be released along with course guide evaluations at the end of every academic year.

“We know that students are expecting course evaluations to come out, are expecting an evaluation of their academic experience, but not necessarily one of their cultural experience outside of the classroom,” Huesa said.

“But this is equally important to framing their life at Harvard. So it’s something that we think is really important to evaluating how the administra-

It seems only natural that if you’re running for an elected position, you should have to interface and interact with the students that you’re claiming to represent.

Julia M. Huesa ‘20 UC Vice Presidential Candidate

tion can better support students and how the UC can better support students.”

To promote a more accessible social scene on campus, the pair said they want to start their own grant project to subsidize

student-initiated social events that provide inclusive spaces.

“One of the ideas in our platform that we hope will move social life back to the Houses and back to the dorms and student communities — things that the administration said that it would do, but has not really followed up on — is our social inclusion grant,” Huesa said.

The grant, Palaniappan explained, uses the ‘burst pack’ system within the Council — “sums of $3,000 each that aren’t connected to the traditional UC funding structures, so we’re able to use it in a no-strings-attached fashion in order to support such a program like this.”

AN INTEGRATED TEAM

Palaniappan and Huesa said their prior experiences on the UC and their strong friendship make them well-suited to successfully carry out their platform’s goals.

“These experiences both on the Council and off the Council have really informed our idea of the fact that students still don’t feel like they belong here at Harvard,” Huesa said. “Harvard still doesn’t feel like home to a lot of them.”

The pair said while they have a grand vision, they also have a practical plan of action to see their goals come to fruition.

“Whereas a lot of people in the past have put forth proposals that are very ambitious and wonderful for us to be focusing on, Julia and I have gone through the process of vetting these things to really see what is feasible within the scope of the UC within the term of the presidency,” Palaniappan said.

With full faith in each other’s ability to work together, Palaniappan and Huesa said they can create tangible changes to make Harvard feel like home for all students.

“After having been on the Council for this period of time, and seeing how closely the president and VP need to work to-

gether and need to be there to support each other and support the UC and the College, that relationship is extremely important and will only help us do our work better,” Palaniappan said.

As part of her work on the Education Committee, Palaniappan has fought to preserve “shopping week,” a period at the beginning of each semester where students can try out classes before officially committing to them, which the administration is currently exploring the possibility of eliminating.

She helped organize town halls regarding shopping week so students could interact with administrators, as well as a working group of students outside the UC to allow more students to serve as advocates.

As a Diversity Peer Educator, Huesa said she has been involved in making the culture on campus more inclusive.

Serving as a Peer Advising Fellow has helped her stay in touch with and improve the freshman experience, Huesa said.

“Something that’s really important to us is bringing students into the conversation in a way that is not just a tokenizing involvement,” Huesa said.

Palaniappan and Huesa also highlighted their campaign’s emphasis on supporting mental health issues on campus. They plan to meet directly with faculty and teaching fellows to address these issues.

“TFs and faculty respond one way to a note from UHS saying that a student needs to be excused, but we don’t think that mental health has been treated with the same sense of legitimacy,” Huesa said.

Palaniappan and Huesa emphasized that they are not only running mates, but friends.

“Something I think is really special that makes our ticket unique is Julia and I have been friends far beyond our scope in the UC,” Palaniappan said.

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THE HARVARD CRIMSON |

november 13, 2018

Page 8

Push From Page 1

outsider From Page 1

Khoury-Agrawal Want Open UC

Outsider Ticket Seeks Leadership

in Eliot House from New Delhi, India, is the sitting chair of the UC’s Student Life Committee.

The two touted their ability to lobby administrators and their policy achievements throughout their freshman and sophomore years as evidence of their ability to succeed as UC leaders.

“We worked on free menstrual hygiene products for Crimson Yard together freshman year,” Agrawal said.

“Then in sophomore year we worked on a bike subsidy program for students living in the quad, and summer storage for students living in those houses.”

“We work together very well, and we are excited to embark on this journey together,” Khoury added.

If elected, the two hope to use their skills to tackle what they see as the most important issues on campus, including bolstering social life, improving mental health resources, and increasing transparency on the UC. “Our platform is based around what problems students are facing and what can we do to solve that,” Agrawal said.

A Place to Call Home

After leaving their freshman dorms, Khoury and Agrawal realized that much was lacking for freshman. In particular, they recalled very few places exclusively for freshman to meet and interact.

“What we’ve really benefited from coming from the Houses is that you have this place to call home, you can relax in the JCR, the dining hall, but you do not have that as first year students,” Agrawal said.

To fill this perceived void, he said that he and Khoury plan to create “a social space exclusively for first year students.” According to their campaign website, the duo hope to use Pusey Library — home of the Harvard University archives — as that space.

Beyond spaces exclusively for freshmen, Khoury and Agrawal also hope to bolster undergraduate social life as a whole.

To better inform College students of events on campus, the ticket hopes to create a comprehensive events calendar available to all students. They plan to populate the events calendar with student-run events funded through the Council in order to increase awareness of social events.

“Right now we have a system where the UC funds student organizations every week and we have a list of people that come to apply from student organizations,” Khoury said.

“To be able to streamline all of that information into a calendar, push it to everyone so no one has to sit in their dorm room Friday night and wonder what is going on; people will know in the Cabot Aquarium this club is hosting a big party.”

The candidates also want to expand and institutionalize some of the recent changes to the freshmen experience, including the new First Year Retreat and Experience pre-orientation program aimed at under-resourced freshmen.

‘Barrier to Entry’

Khoury and Agrawal said issues of mental health will be a central tenet of their platform.

They see several recent developments on campus as having a particularly negative impact on students’ mental wellbeing.

In particular, Harvard is awaiting the verdict of a high-stakes and high-profile admissions lawsuit accusing the University of discrimination against Asian-American applicants to the College.

“It represents a time where people might be questioning whether they belong here in the first place,” Khoury said.

“That’s a barrier to entry, if you keep having this imposter syndrome, and that people say you do not deserve to be here, we do not need that to permeate into Harvard student life.”

Agrawal added that increasing the transparency of the admissions process would alleviate some of the concerns.

“As an Asian I didn’t know how different things factored into my decision; more transparency there will make the

Harvard community feel like home.” Agrawal said.

Additionally, faculty and administrators are currently debating a proposal to ending shopping week — a period at the beginning of the semester in which students can freely explore courses. The pair asserted that the policy plays a beneficial role in balancing student welfare.

“This will help the mental health of students as well, knowing that you are not locked in you can change if you find that this course is too hard, it is not for you, or you want to take it at a different time slot,” Khoury said.

“All of these logistical chang-

As an Asian I didn’t know how different things factored into my decision; more transparency there will make the Harvard community feel like home.

Arnav Agrawal ‘20 UC Vice Presidential Candidate

es get maintained if you are able to maintain shopping week,” she added.

To alleviate student mental health issues, the duo is proposing assigning personal Counseling and Mental Health Services specialists to each student, which would appear on student portal my.harvard.

“People are very reluctant to go and speak with a CAMHS counsellor,” Agrawal said.

“This can be improved by assigning a personal counselor to every person, just as you are assigned a doctor from UHS. This will be an additional face on my.harvard.”

Always Room for Improvement

The pair also have plans to make multiple improvements to the UC’s own policies. In par-

The T closes.

We don’t.

ticular, during their time on the Council, they said they found a lack of accountability and insufficient minority representation concerning.

“We have discussion during meetings and people do not know what happened... or what each representative actually said,” Agrawal said.

Specifically, Khoury and Agrawal want to improve students’ access to Council meeting notes to allow students to see how they are being represented.

“We can do a better job by publishing the minutes to the entire student body,” Agrawal said.

“So for example if you are an Eliot student, you have no idea what your representative is actually saying, whether they are representing you properly.”

Besides Council transparency, Khoury and Agrawal said representation of student opinions — particularly those of minorities — is lacking with upper level administrators. They are proposing a new board on the Council that would have direct contact with these administrators in order to amplify the voices of underrepresented students .

“One of our ideas is to make a minority voices board where we have one representative from each identity, minority, cultural and ethnic-group that reports directly to the upper administration, from the Deans to the President,” Khoury said.

They emphasized that it is the UC’s responsibility to unify such student voices on campus.

“I believe it’s the UC’s job to pull these groups together,” Khoury said.

“We can say we are a coherent majority and we want to make change — that is when they will start listening and enacting real change.”

Khoury and Agrawal said that their vision is to bring the ideas of all College students into the Council.

“We have poured our hearts into the UC over the past two and a half years,” Khoury added. “We want to bring all the students into it so everyone can feel like they’re involved.”

ballots From Page 1

Students Await Absentee Ballots “ I hope that impacted folks will reach out to the National Voter Protection Hotline or to their local election board to find out why their ballot came late and if there’s anything they can do to resolve the situation,” he wrote in an email.

Although Zhao said she was disappointed, she said she was also looking toward possible solutions.

“It’s hard to say this is someone’s fault and that I want retribution,” she said. ­

Breaking news, 24/7.

I hope that impacted folks will reach out to the National Voter Protection Hotline or to their local election board to find out why their ballot came late.

Theodore N. Landis ‘20 Co-founder of the Harvard Votes Challenge

“I just mostly want people to be aware that this happens and there are some things we can do as voters to fix it, even if it’s not that much.” meena.venkataramanan@thecrimson.com iris.lewis@thecrimson.com benjamin.frimodig@thecrimson.com

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following a performance hosted

by The Lowkeys, a campus a capella group. Ragheb started the conversation by complimenting Miller’s singing abilities showcased in that night’s concert.

They began to discuss potential improvements to campus life, and this casual conversation would evolve into their UC presidential campaign. After their initial encounter, despite occupying different spaces on campus, the two continued to exchange ideas. Ragheb is a Neurobiology concentrator in Currier House, while Miller is a Sociology concentrator in Lowell House. Ragheb is involved in an improv group and Harvard Model Congress. Miller is involved in the Black Students Association, Association of Black Harvard Women, The Lowkeys, and 21 Colorful Crimson.

During a lunchtime conversation in the Lowell dining hall a few months ago, Ragheb asked Miller to be his running mate for the upcoming Undergraduate Council presidential elections.

“My initial reaction was, ‘Oh, Lord.’ Then, I thought about it for two or three days. I realized that a lot of the issues that [Ragheb] was passionate about, I was passionate about as well.

My ultimate decision was to tell him yes,” Miller said.

“One complaint you hear about

If you’re not happy with the way the UC is working, vote for us.

Daniel K. Ragheb ’20 UC Presidential Candidate

the UC is that the environment is toxic, and the leaders are not always kind to other individuals. I wanted someone who would be kind to individuals and let them give their own ideas but also be firm,” Ragheb said.

Ragheb and Miller’s platform is focused on amplifying student voices that they believe are currently unheard in the UC. “The UC, the way that it is, does not work, does not create change, and the reason why, is it does not listen to students,” Ragheb said.

Pupils and Power

In the nascent stages of their campaign, Ragheb and Miller sat down with Alexander R. Miller, the associate dean for student engagement, for advice on their platform.

The pair wanted Miller’s expertise as UC faculty advisor to learn what constitutes a realistic bill within the Council. One such idea that emerged from this meeting was the pair’s proposal to allow Board Plus — points allocated to students each semester that they can spend at on-campus eateries — to cover laundry fees. While speaking to Miller, the pair was surprised to learn of the UC’s waning influence in significant administrative decisions.

Ragheb said he believes the UC once had enough sway to enact substantial change on campus. He pointed to the UC’s successful petition to move finals from after winter break to before the break.

Both Ragheb and Miller said they believe the Council can regain this level of influence.

Their platform is centered upon creating more social spaces for students, rallying for better identity-based therapy sessions on campus, and expanding the caucus system within the Undergraduate Council.

Social Scenes and Sanctions

Ragheb and Miller hope to improve Harvard’s social scene by promoting the creation of new social spaces.

“We are pro-inclusive spaces on campus,” Ragheb said. “I have been very fortunate to enjoy social life at Harvard, but a lot of kids here aren’t very comfortable in the social scene.”

Ragheb and Miller said the College’s policy of sanctioning members of single gender final clubs and Greek organizations — which took effect with the class of 2021 — has disproportionately affected women’s groups on campus. Still, the pair said they appreciate the administration’s attempt to miti-

gate the harmful impacts of final clubs.

“Everyone needs a space that includes those they identify with and people that identify similarly. I agree with the administration’s choice to do something to ensure that finals clubs don’t affect the social scene as much as they do now,” Miller said.

Ragheb and Miller said they want to create social spaces for all, including those who do not like parties.

“We care about creating physical social spaces on campus that people can feel comfortable in. We want spaces for students to have a wide variety of enjoyments on a Friday night, whether that’s a game night, wine and cheese night, or a fullon rager,” Ragheb said.

Diversity and Democracy

In addition to creating more social spaces, the pair also hopes to reform the College’s identity-based therapy programs.

The foriclbe arrest of a black student near campus last semester lead Ragheb and Miller to advocate for the need for multiple counselors of color to better help students of color grapple with issues tied to their identities. The pair also advocates for more proactive discussion about diversity issues on campus.

“During Opening Days, we would like to see workshops from the Office of Diversity and Inclusion,” Miller said. “In my freshmen year, there were a lot of microaggressions at the beginning of the year. If Harvard

The UC, the way it is, does not work.

Daniel K. Ragheb ’20 UC Presidential Candidate

is going to bank on diversity, then we should address the elephant in the room to show people how to work with diversity.”

The duo has also taken a stance on the admissions lawsuit the University is currently facing; an anti-affimative action group alleges Harvard discriminates against Asian-American applicants to the College.

“I think affirmative action is a good way to recognize an entire person and what they had to go through to get to where they are today,” Ragheb said. “It enriches the school itself by creating a diverse environment for the students here.”

“Race-conscious admissions helps the goal of creating access [to higher education] to people who would not have had it before, which is important,” Miller added.

The pair also noted that some students may currently feel under-represented within the UC. “This is a hypothetical situation, but if I lived in Currier and my reps were three straight white men and I did not identify as either of those three — no matter how well-intentioned they are and how much they want to advocate for me — how could they possibly advocate for me as well as they need to if I have an issue that’s intricately tied to something they’ve never had to experience,” Ragheb said.

Ragheb and Miller said they hope to address this feeling of underrepresentation with an expansion of the Council’s caucus system. Their proposal, they argue, will give a voice to a greater number of students and not just those on the Undergraduate Council.

“The idea is this: every single community, including those that aren’t currently represented on the UC like the Native American community, can elect a caucus leader. That individual will be mandated and can go to all meetings in the UC,” Ragheb said. “It is extremely beneficial to have somebody in that room who is thinking about how legislation could negatively impact your community.”

When asked why students should support their campaign, Miller’s reply was simple: “A fresh perspective.”

“If you’re not happy with the way the UC is working, vote for us. If you do not like your situation on campus, vote for us. If you’re fed up, vote for us,” Ragheb added.

Page 9

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | November 13, 2018

Guillaume To Lead 146th Guard of The Harvard Crimson

By Crimson News Staff

K ristine E. Guillaume ’20 will lead the newly elected 146th Guard of The Harvard Crimson, the organization’s President announced on Monday. Guillaume is the first black woman to serve as President of The Crimson in the paper’s 145-year history.

Guillaume, a joint African American Studies and History and Literature concentrator, is currently one of The Crimson’s Central Administration reporters.

In that capacity, she interviewed two successive University Presidents — Drew G. Faust and Lawrence S. Bacow — and worked as part of the reporting team that covered Harvard’s 2018 presidential search.

She is also one of three Chairs of The Crimson’s Diversity and Inclusivity committee, responsible for formulating and overseeing initiatives meant to make the paper more diverse and welcoming to students from all backgrounds. Guillaume, who lives in Lowell House, will begin as President on Jan. 1, 2019.

“I have the utmost confidence in the 146th Guard’s ability to carry on our proud mission of covering and informing Harvard and its affiliates,” current Crimson President Derek G. Xiao ’19 said. “I could not be more excited to see the direction the next President, Managing Editor, and Business Manager will take The Crimson in 2019.”

News writer and designer Angela N. Fu ’20 will serve as Managing Editor, overseeing the production of The Crimson’s daily newspaper, magazine, arts, and sports sections, and blog. Fu, a Government concentrator and Dunster House resident who hails from Birmingham, Ala., currently serves as a Faculty of Arts and Sciences Ad­

ministration reporter. In that role, she interviewed two successive FAS Deans — Michael D. Smith and Claudine Gay — and helped report on the presidential search along with Guillaume. She also led The Crimson’s Design Board comp for two semesters.

Fu was one of two reporters who broke a story revealing that star Economics professor Roland G. Fryer, Jr. was being investigated separately by Harvard and the state of Massachusetts over allegations of sexual harassment. She faced down a threatened lawsuit to report the piece, which later earned “Honorable Mention” for Associated Collegiate Press 2018 Story of the Year.

Next year’s Business Manager will be Charlie B. Zhu ’20, an Applied Math and Economics concentrator and resident of Winthrop House from Warren, N.J. He will take the helm of The Crimson’s finances and operations after serving this year as a Director of Staff Development for the Business Board.

Prior to that, he worked as an Advertising Associate.

Founded in 1873, The Crimson is the student newspaper of Harvard University. It is the oldest continuously published daily college newspaper in the United States and the only breakfast-table daily publication of Cambridge, Mass. The paper is proud to provide news and analysis to a wide range of Harvard affiliates, Cambridge residents, and readers across the nation.

The Crimson selects is leaders through an election process called the Turkey Shoot, in which all outgoing members of the masthead are invited to participate.

A candidate for a senior leadership position must receive at least 75 percent of the vote to be elected.

NEWS Caroline S. Engelmayer ’20, Associate Managing Editor Jamie D. Halper ’20, Associate Managing Editor BUSINESS Amy E. Zhou ’20, Associate Business Manager EDITORIAL Jessenia N. Class ’20, Editorial Chair Robert Miranda ’20, Editorial Chair ARTS Kaylee S. Kim ’20, Arts Chair Caroline A. Tsai ’20, Arts Chair BLOG Lorenzo F. Manuali ’21, Blog Chair Trula J. Rael ’21, Blog Chair DESIGN Elena M. Ramos ’20, Design Chair Akhil S. Waghmare ’20, Design Chair MAGAZINE Norah M. Murphy ’20, Magazine Chair Abigail L. Simon ’20, Magazine Chair MULTIMEDIA Kathryn S. Kuhar ’20, Multimedia Chair Kai R. McNamee ’21, Multimedia Chair SPORTS Henry Zhu ’20, Sports Chair Joseph W. Minatel ’21, Sports Chair TECHNOLOGY Nenya A. Edjah ’20, Technology Chair Theodore T. Liu ’20, Technology Chair

Kristine E. Guillaume (top) will lead The Crimson’s 146th Guard as President. Angela N. Fu (left) will be the Managing Editor. Chalie B. Zhu (right) will be the Business Manager. Amy Y. Li—Crimson photographer

Proud to cover Harvard for 145 years and counting.

Keep the old sheet flying.

The Crimson thecrimson.com

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | November 13, 2018

Page 10

Editorial The Crimson Editorial board

op-ed

Statistics Department Should Further Its Lead in Including Women

Where Are My Parents?

O

ver the past ten years, the Harvard Statistics Department’s efforts to promote gender inclusivity have achieved measurable results, from an increase in female teaching staff and tenured faculty members to an improved departmental climate overall. We commend the Statistics Department for its efforts at bridging the gender gap in STEM at Harvard, and believe that it can do even better moving forward. Specifically, to build on its progress, we believe that the Statistics Department should continue using tools like cross-faculty hiring and the bolstering of female representation in its advising network so that it can continue to bridge the gender gap and serve as a model for other STEM departments to follow.

First established in 1957 as a very small department, the Statistics Department has made great progress diversifying its ranks in a fairly short amount of time. In its early years, undergraduate concentrators in statistics were something of a rarity, and even as late as 2008, there were only 20 undergraduates who declared a concentration in Statistics. But as of last year, that number has ballooned to nearly 200 undergraduate concentrators. We believe this rapid increase can be partly explain by the department’s recent effort to diversify its staff. Today, about a quarter of the tenured faculty in the department are female. When the department was founded, it did not have a single tenured female member.

In order to recruit female faculty members, the Statistics Department

implemented “full-time equivalent appointments” to tenured faculty members in other departments and schools at Harvard. For example, Xiaole “Shirley” Liu and Xihong Lin are both tenured professors in the Biostatistics Department at the School of Public Health — and now in the Harvard Statistics Department as well through equivalent ap-

We commend the Statistics Department for its efforts at bridging the gender gap in STEM at Harvard, and believe it can do even better moving forward. pointment. We commend the Statistics Department for using this solution to increase its gender diversity, and hope to see the department continue to use this method of recruitment to increase diversity in the future.

Nonetheless, the recruitment of female faculty members itself is not enough. The predominantly male department must also reflect on how it can change its culture as well. Along these lines, we applaud the department for its active emphasis on making the “climate” of its courses more inclusive. For example, Professor Joseph K. Blitzstein has made active efforts to diversify his teaching staff, recruiting many female teaching fellows for his very popular course Statistics 110: “Probability.” Students also have given positive feedback

about the encouragement and support received by professors in the Statistics Department.

Yet in the upper level statistics courses, the gender imbalance becomes more apparent with fewer female teaching staff. The Statistics advising network is still lacking in diversity as well, with students complaining about having to rely on student-run groups such as Gender Inclusivity in Mathematics for mentorship.

Overall, we appreciate the Harvard Statistics Department’s efforts toward gender inclusivity, especially in the face of other notable STEM lapses in diversity at the University such as the Harvard Math Department.

Every department must ensure that all students feel both supported and included in their classes, and the Statistics Department can serve as a model for other departments on how to deliberately reform internal culture to be more diverse. Of course, there is still room for improvement, but we hope to see other STEM departments step up and follow the example that the Statistics Department has set.

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.

Column

isabella c. aslarus—Crimson illustrator

On True Illusions

Isabella C. Aslarus art for non-artists

A

few years ago, a dress embroiled the Internet in a fierce debate over its true colors. Was it blue and black? Or white and gold? This simple photo made countless people question their grip on reality. It’s disturbing to realize that the colors we see, indisputable in our minds, are different from others’ perceptions — and that they may be blatantly incorrect.

We trust our eyesight, above all our other senses, to guide us through the world. But optical illusions like the dress reveal glitches in our vision, suggesting that it’s far less reliable than it seems.

And our vision’s glitches extend beyond optical illusions. It turns out that everyone has a blind spot in the center of their visual field, and that our eyes are only able to fully focus on a patch of space the size of a thumbnail.

So why don’t we constantly have tunnel vision, or notice the glaring empty hole in space?

Because our brains compensate really well for our vision’s weak points: They use memories to enhance our peripheral vision so it doesn’t appear blurry, and they fill in our blind spots with educated guesswork about what belongs there.

It’s as if our eyes provide rough, incomplete sketches of our surroundings, and our brains are responsible for coloring them in.

Back to the dress: Objectively, it’s blue. But the facts don’t matter — every time I see the dress, its fabric appears unquestionably white.

The problem isn’t my eyesight, but rather how my brain interprets what I’m seeing. People like me whose brains (mistakenly) detect a bluish tint in the ambient lighting will “subtract” the blue color from the dress, thus seeing it as white.

But others who interpret the lighting correctly will see the dress as blue.

Thus we can’t always trust our vision to be objective. Our brains’ predictions may help us make up for our eyesights’ flaws, but they aren’t always right.

And it’s almost impossible to recognize when our brains use incorrect information to color in the rough sketch that our eyes provide. Optical illusions are a fascinating, and often unsettling, reminder that our view of reality is deeply subjective.

And our brains’ ability to seamlessly predict and fill in details isn’t limited to vision. Like our eyesight, our memories feel vivid and authentic, but they’re merely hazy outlines of long-past experiences.

When we relive a memory, a lot of psychological guesswork goes into fleshing out the details we’ve forgotten.

As a result, we’re vulnerable to false memories, which can be implanted in our minds as long as they seem vaguely credible.

And there are real, sobering consequences to this. False memories of assault, implanted in therapy patients, have burdened many individuals with trauma they never experienced, and led to wrongful convictions of innocent people.

And this same mechanism fuels biases and stereotypes: It’s easy to make sweeping assumptions about people from small pieces of information, to jump to conclusions that feel indisputable, since our brains blindly trust predictions that may or may not be right. The conflict, hatred, and distrust that often follow are built on flawed foundations.

In order to correct these mistakes, we first have to recognize when we’re wrong. And art is really good at messing with our assumptions about reality, since any work of art is an illusion.

As a high school student in art class, I remember learning techniques like perspective drawing, shading, contours, and negative space, which take advantage of the psychology of vision to make art look more believable. But as soon as I learned these techniques, I also learned how to misuse them.

By distorting perspective, I could

create optical illusions like the Penrose staircase, which impossibly loops back into itself. By tampering with contours and negative space, I could mimic the Rubin vase image, which can be interpreted as either a vase or two faces in profile.

By breaking these rules, artists refuse to fulfill our expectations for reality. Take Pablo Picasso’s paintings, which depict contorted figures with scrambled body parts, or Andy Warhol’s pop art, which replaces natural colors with supersaturated, gaudy hues, or abstract art, which utterly abandons any semblance of the real world.

These works of art are fascinating because they defy our brains’ predictions about what the world around us looks like.

And by defying our predictions, they force us to realize how much we rely on our brains’ predictive skills in the first place.

Art has the power to challenge not only our visual assumptions and expectations, but also our assumptions and expectations about the people and cultures around us.

In a climate defined by fear and misunderstanding — of immigrants and refugees, of rural poverty in America, of the political right or political left, of climate change, of science, of the law — art provides a way to tell stories that call our biases into question.

We come to understand people and places distant from ourselves when we encounter their emotions, struggles, and humanity through photojournalism, documentaries, articles, books, or films.

Our brains may be vulnerable to stereotypes and eager to jump to conclusions, but art forces us to slow down and rethink our expectations when they don’t match up with what we’re seeing.

Recognizing this dissonance is the first step to starting productive conversations about our biases, spreading compassion, and changing the tides of conflict and distrust.

—Isabella C. Aslarus ’21, a Crimson Design editor, is a Neuroscience concentrator in Leverett House. Her column appears on alternate Tuesdays.

By andrew s. ham

I

always knew that coming to Harvard would be one of the most difficult transitions of my life. Swapping one’s bedroom for a dorm is always a challenge for any new college student, but in my case I would be leaving behind my native country, flying 13 hours across an entire ocean, and essentially moving to a completely new community and culture that I had rarely been exposed to before.

As an international student, I knew that I would not hear my mother tongue in public, that I would not be able to eat authentic Korean food anywhere near the Yard, and that I would have to adapt to a completely new society whose rules and characteristics I did not yet know.

After my first two months here, although I struggled heavily with those many cultural differences and the massive physical distance separating me from my home country, in some ways I have become accustomed to college life; sometimes, I even mistakenly refer to my dorm room

In a way, I have not been able to ground myself as effectively as those who live close enough to have their parents travel here for a weekend. as “home”.

I have been fortunate enough to meet many others in similar situations, and have discovered an incredibly supportive community here for students just like me.

But this past Parents’ Weekend, I was hit once again with that familiar feeling of loneliness as I navigated the countless crowds of parents, families, and students milling about in the Yard.

Walking past smiling and proud moms and dads, I found myself longing for a time when I could share my daily life with the people I love most.

Although I knew from the beginning of the semester that it would be impossible for my parents to brave a 13-hour flight just for a weekend, I can’t say that it hasn’t been difficult seeing so many students meeting with their families, enjoying the fall weather together, and reconnecting as much as they can with their homes.

In a way, I have not been able to ground myself as effectively as those who live close enough to have their parents travel here for a weekend.

Even now, Harvard effectively feels like a summer camp, just a simple interlude in my life I have to wait out before being able to return home — and I know I am not alone.

Whether it is that one’s parents live too far away or cannot afford the flight to Harvard (both in my case), many Harvard students experience this feeling of isolation whenever Parents’ Weekend comes around.

Considering that such a small, but still significant, portion of the student body is unable to partake in the healing experience that Parents’ Weekend can be, it is only reasonable that the College take steps to address those concerns.

It is true that there was a student-faculty dinner for those students, but Harvard could do so much more to create supportive student-student environments during the Weekend.

Whether it be fun activities, some kind of social, or a meal, Harvard should strive to make campus life as approachable and welcoming to all students, not just those whose parents can come visit them during Parents’ Weekend.

Perhaps those events could be support sessions for students missing their families and serve as a collective healing and recovery space for all.

Especially for students who are already thousands of miles away from their homes, having that kind of support at a time when many are strug-

Whether it be fun activities, some kind of social, or a meal, Harvard should strive to make campus life as approachable and welcoming to all students, not just those whose parents can come visit them during Parents’ Weekend. gling with midterms, seasonal affective disorder, or just feeling homesick can go a long way.

Moreover, holding such events would have symbolic significance, a demonstration of the university’s dedication to diversity.

It is strange that a university so committed to building a student body of such varying countries of origin does not pay as much attention to the real, valid struggles that many of these students face during a time that is so celebratory and joyous for others.

Actively recognizing these issues and showing students a willingness to ameliorate the conflicts they have would, at the very least, illustrate the administration’s genuine concern for all of its students.

Of course, it would be very difficult to actually resolve the physical or financial challenges that prevent some students from spending time with their family during Parents’ Weekend.

However, simple acknowledgement of the issue would help such students realize that they are not struggling alone, that their concerns are totally normal and valid, and that they too are visible, valued members of the larger Harvard student community.

No one at Harvard, regardless of national origin, social class, or any other aspect of their identity, deserves to be alone in the most family-oriented time of the school year.

—Andrew S. Ham ’21, a Crimson Editorial comper, lives in Thayer Hall.

Page 11

men’s ice hockey

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | november 13, 2018

Sports

Harvard Nabs First Victory By stuti r. telidevara Crimson Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — After 20 minutes of play, the Harvard men’s hockey team found itself in an uncomfortably familiar position. Its opponent, Brown, had broken the ice late in the first period, on a power play goal from rookie Tristan Crozier.

That left the visitors staring at a deficit for the fourth time in five games so far this season.

To lose to the yearly ECAC bottom-dwellers Bears on top of a winless start would have been a new low.

By the start of the middle frame, though, Harvard (1-2-2, 1-2-2 ECAC) fired up its offensive talent, and stormed back to defeat Brown (1-4-1, 1-3-1) by a score of 5-2. With tallies coming from five different skaters, the Crimson secured its first win of the 2018-19 campaign and nabbed three of four possible points on the weekend roadie after a tie at Yale.

“We knew what we had to do,” said sophomore defenseman Reilly Walsh. “[We were] pretty much just sick and tired of losing, to be honest…. We just played with a lot more desperation.”

Harvard came out of the gate with a jump to its play after a lukewarm first frame — a consequence, perhaps, of Friday’s high-energy rivalry game as compared to the quiet environs of Meehan Auditorium. Sophomore forward Jack Donato carried into the Bears zone on a ­

2-on-1 with junior Justin Szeto two minutes in, but he did not need to set up his teammate. Instead, Donato notched his first of the season and tied the game with a backhand over the glove hand of Brown junior net-minder Gavin Nieto.

Though the visitors were unable to capitalize on a 5-on-3 opportunity, the Bears’ penalties allowed the Crimson to take back control of the game. Harvard snatched the lead on that momentum swing, as junior Frédéric Grégoire picked up his first point on a hard-angle shot from Nieto’s right.

“Oftentimes I choose to get pretty fired up myself [to motivate the team],” said head coach Ted Donato ’91 when asked how the team bounced back in the middle frame. “But tonight I went the opposite direction and said, ‘Hey, listen, we weren’t very good. But ultimately the standard’s got to be set by the guys in this room.’”

The Crimson was handed a chance to convert on the man advantage and extend its lead 14 minutes into the middle period. Sticking to a tried and tested system, Harvard set up its umbrella with junior defenseman Adam Fox quarterbacking, and Walsh and rookie forward Casey Dornbach manning the circles. A passing play between those three allowed Walsh to rip a one-timer right into the cage, putting the Crimson up 3-1.

Walsh currently leads the team in goals (4), all of which

up, up, and away Harvard’s 40.9% power play efficiency is second only to Princeton in the NCAA. timothy r. o’meara—Crimson photographer

came on the power play. It’s difficult to overstate the effectiveness of the man advantage unit, which has converted 40.9% of its chances so far, good for the second-best rate in the country.

Nine of Harvard’s 21 tallies this season have come from 5-on-4s.

Fox is crucial to the efficiency of that unit — he paces the squad with 12 points (2–10—12), and his 2.4 points per game are tied for best in the NCAA. “As great players do, [Fox] makes others around him better,” coach Donato said. “He really is a special player. As coaches, we realize that. I’ve been around the game long enough and seen enough great play-

ers to know one when I see ’em.

He’s a wizard up there, really utilizing the skillset of the other guys on the power play.”

Another penalty burned Brown midway through the third period, and once again, the Crimson found its target. Rookie forward Baker Shore held the puck at the goal line just long enough to feed sophomore Jack Badini in the slot; Badini snuck the biscuit past Nieto for Harvard’s fourth goal of the night.

Though the Bears got one back courtesy of co-captain Tommy Marchin, an empty-netter from Fox sealed the deal. The Crimson escaped with no leads lost, and a decisive result after two

straight tie games.

Of all the players that showed an improvement, perhaps the most important was senior goaltender Michael Lackey. A high-event contest at Yale may have tested Lackey more, but the result at Brown (2 GA, .920 SV%) further bolstered his numbers. Though Harvard fans can expect the coaching staff to test the waters sometimes with sophomore backstop Cam Gornet, two solid games may put Lackey between the pipes again come Friday.

The Crimson returns to Bright-Landry to host Arizona State in a break from conference play next weekend. The

Sun Devils are coming off a series of triumphs, including wins against Michigan State and No. 8 Penn State. That is just one of the tests Harvard will face, as ASU happens to own the nation’s best penalty kill percentage.

“We can still tweak some things and continue to improve,” coach Donato said. “We have some guys that are looking more comfortable with the roles they have…. [Playing Arizona State] is a great opportunity for us to test ourselves and develop more of an identity as a team.” stuti.telidevara@thecrimson.com

women’s GOLF

Royston Aims for Success in Her Rookie Campaign

in the swing of things The women’s team wrappped up its fall season on Oct. 19. courtesy of harvard athletic communications

By william boggs Contributing Writer

“ I wanted to come to America to swim. That was my plan.”

Growing up in South Africa, freshman golfer Chloe Royston was always a tremendous competitor. In the classroom, she excelled as a student. In the pool, she aspired to become a Division I swimmer. Halfway through high school, however, she hit a major health roadblock and her athletic career was thrown into jeopardy.

Persistent ear infections and complications from Type I Diabetes forced her to give up her swimming career as doctors advised her to stay out of the pool. Under such conditions, one would probably assume that Division I sports were out of the picture — but not for Chloe.

“I always wanted to come to a Division I school for sports,” Chloe said. “[I] just changed sports in the middle of high school.”

Determined to reach the pinnacle of college athletics, ­

she pivoted her focus to golf, a sport she had played all her life, but not yet at top competitive levels.

Fortunately, she did have a mentor to help her through this daunting process: her brother, Greg Royston ‘18, 2017 Ivy League Player of the year in golf.

Golf runs in the family for the Roystons, so Chloe has always had experience. Over holidays growing up, she had gotten out on the course with her brother and picked up a strong repertoire of skills even before she transitioned away from swimming.

That being said, the Division I pursuit presented a whole new set of challenges, and the learning curve was steep. As a swimmer, Chloe had reached the top of South Africa’s competitive ranks — she had made a name for herself as a prolific swimmer and earned a level of comfort with her craft that every athlete hopes to achieve after enough years of experience.

With swimming now out of the question, Chloe had to return

to square one.

“I had a bit of humbling experience having to go back to the beginning,” Royston said.

“Having really been high up in competitive swimming, and then now having to start in the B-division again, was interesting, but I loved it. Now, looking back, I prefer golf to swimming.”

Coach Kevin Rhoads, coach of both the Harvard men’s and women’s golf teams, reflected on the rarity of Chloe in being able to achieve the swimming to golf transition so quickly and completely.

“That, in it of itself, is such an outlier — people don’t do that,” Rhoads said. “The fact that she was able to excel really speaks for, yes her physical talent level, but just what she’s like. She’s fearless and basically just sets her mind on stuff that she’s going to do and goes after it really hard.”

In the second half of high school, now fully committed to golf, Chloe had to push her game to the next level. Royston had a tremendous foundation

from playing throughout her childhood, but she still needed that next level of precision in shot-making.

“Because I started so late, I didn’t have all the shots to start with, and I’m still learning,” Chloe said. “He would say, ‘Oh, just try this, just try that,’ and that really [helped] me develop as a player.”

Greg stressed that the key to helping someone learn new skills in golf is to take a trial-and-error approach. Because different players’ games can be very different, he felt that it was crucial to present Chloe with the range of different shots possible and allow her to find her own niche.

“I played more golf growing up; I was very passionate about it from a very young age,” Greg said. “I developed the feel and ability to see the shots, so maybe more than teaching specific skills, I encouraged her to try stuff. Golf is a game where different people achieve things in slightly different ways.”

Similarly, Rhoads emphasized that something he saw in Greg’s time at Harvard was his attention for detail and shot-making precision.

According to Rhoads, in golf teaching circles in the last few years, there has been a huge increase in attention on standardized technique.

Over the last few years, golf swings have generally grown to become more similar amongst players, which on one hand has brought new efficiency to the game.

On the other hand, the trend has led to a decrease in crafty shot-making. Greg, however, was able to reconcile the efficiency with creativity.

“Greg really was able to work both of those big values,” Rhoads said. “He continued to get more efficient with his big technique, but he’s also a really, really creative player. He’s able to see shots and put those into physical manifestations better than most people of this newer, younger generation…[Chloe] is definitely able to bring some of that to the table, and if she continues to develop her game, I think she’ll just have more and more access to that.”

One specific area of the game that Greg tried to highlight to Chloe was the difference in short game approaches.

Compared to other elements of golf, chipping and putting may be the most dependent on course and grass conditions.

In South Africa, kikuyu grass, a tropical species is the norm, and the ball will generally sit relatively nicely on the grass for a solid lie. Conditions in the Northeast, however, can be significantly less temperate. The rough can be gnarly, and the ball can sink deep.

“The grass is very different in the U.S. compared to South Africa, so I struggled with my short game and chipping,” Greg said. “The ball would sit in the grass a little more than in South Africa.”

Chloe conveyed a similar thought, describing short game conditions as “particularly quite different compared to home.” Nonetheless, she mentioned that she values the opportunity to broaden her game to new conditions.

Realizing that Chloe would probably (and did) experience this challenge, Greg made sure to highlight it to her. That being said, he tried to make the lesson a more universal one than just a golf tip, hoping to remind her that challenges are not a reflection on ability.

“I told her to expect finding it difficult at the start and not to be too hard on herself,” Greg said. “If you’re more attuned to the change, you’ll know it’s not just that you’re all of the sudden struggling with chipping.”

More broadly, a lot of the advice Greg did strive to impart did in fact go beyond golf, addressing topics like positive mindset on the course and the transition to college in the States.

“I had no idea what Harvard was going to be like,” Greg said.

“The whole experience was learning what Harvard was about. The Northeast can be very different from South Africa.”

In learning what Harvard was about, Greg reflected that one of the most important lessons he learned was a new mindset: an ability to truly analyze practice and the game in a way that he hadn’t been exposed to before. He credits the coaches with teaching him this skill, one that can also be universalized to academics and broader life at Harvard. Chloe has seen this skill manifest in

her life at Harvard in many areas of the transition to college, but especially on the course.

Although Greg and Chloe never did overlap at Harvard, she stressed that that didn’t mean he wasn’t a resource, as he always was just one phone call away.

While she would have loved to overlap with him at least for a year, the fact that Greg had already graduated also gave a certain retrospect to his advice.

“I think this has allowed him to give even more advice looking back over his experiences,” Chloe said.

In giving advice, Greg too explained that he strayed away from incredibly specific details in order to avoid forcing his vision of Harvard onto her.

Echoing a similar trend, Rhoads also noted that, from a coaching perspective, the staff will highlight the older sibling as resource but make sure that the experience is completely individualized.

“We also have a huge value for treating this as its own experience,” Rhoads said. “We try not to reference the older sibling on a regular basis.”

Reflecting on Greg’s advice about trying new approaches, staying resilient, and keeping a positive, focused mindset, Chloe appreciates that the words of wisdom have always been very applicable to her own experiences. In no way did she ever feel that Greg tried to force his four years onto her.

“He’s been very careful not to push his experience on me, which has been amazing, but at the same time been able to give me a lot of advice about everything,” Chloe said.

Outside of advice and guidance, friendly competition has contributed to both siblings’ respective successes.

In fact, the siblings both mentioned how competition between them drives them to their bests.

As Greg said, “golf can be anonymous,” and the bond between them helped to break down that anonymity.

Chloe and Greg haven’t been able to play together in a while living on different continents, but they both made sure to emphasize that they can’t wait for their next competition over the semester break.

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | November 13, 2018

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