The Harvard Crimson - Volume CXLV, No. 124

The Harvard Crimson The University Daily, Est. 1873 | Volume CXLV, No. 124 | Cambridge, Massachusetts | WEdnesday, November 14, 2018

editorial PAGE 4

news PAGE 4

sports PAGE 4

The Palaniappan-Huesa UC ticket’s concrete goals optimize accountability.

Bacow discussed the endowment tax with a U.S. Treasury representative.

Men’s basketball prevails over UMass 74-71 in a close away contest.

Harvard Seeks Change Post-Arrest Bacow Meets with Number of Medical Transports During Yardfest U.S. Treasury Rep. Source: Harvard University Review Committee report

5,400

Number of Transports

20

attendees in 2018*

15

3,000

10

attendees in 2017*

5

*Approximate

0 2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

Transports Highcharts.com ELENA M. RAMOS and brian p. Yu—Crimson DesignerS

By angela n. fu and michael e. xie Crimson Staff Writers

The chief of Harvard’s police force said in a report released Tuesday that he would have preferred University police officers respond to calls made April 13 about a black College student whose arrest later sparked allegations of police brutality.

The night of the arrest, the

Harvard University Police Department initially did not send officers to the scene and instead contacted the Cambridge Police Department. CPD officers arrived at the scene and forcibly tackled the student to the ground and punched him several times. In the wake of the incident, some undergraduates said they wished Harvard police had handled the situation from the start.

The student — who was naked and likely under the influence of narcotics — was arrested while standing on a street median a few feet from the boundaries of campus, meaning he was technically outside HUPD’s jurisdiction and within CPD’s. In the weeks and months after the arrest, Harvard repeatedly cited this geographical distinction as the reason why CPD officers responded to the calls.

HUPD Chief of Police Francis “Bud” D. Riley said in the report, though, that his department would typically have responded to the calls and waited for CPD. He said HUPD was understaffed April 13 due to an unexpected spike in the number of medical transports. The student was arrested on the night of Yardfest, Harvard’s annual

See Yardfest Page 3

By eli w. burnes and andrew j. zucker Crimson Staff Writers

University President Lawrence S. Bacow recently met with a U.S. Treasury Department official as the government prepares final regulations for taxing university endowments, Bacow said in an interview last month.

Harvard’s endowment, valued at $39.2 billion, qualifies for taxation under the new tax codes Republican lawmakers passed last year. The University’s endowment was previously exempt from taxes because the school is a non-profit entity.

The University’s financial report released in October estimates that the tax will cost Harvard $40 million to $50 million annually. Harvard will have to pay the endowment tax for the first time on returns from this fiscal year, which ends in June 2019.

The tax was passed nearly a year ago, but the University is still awaiting final guidance for how to file.

In an October interview, Bacow said he had recently met with an official from the Treasury Department, which is responsible for developing regulations for filing taxes.

“We don’t know yet how the tax is actually going to be lev-

ied since the Treasury Department has not issued final regulations,” Bacow said. “I did meet recently with a representative of the Department of the Treasury to try and explain why certain regulations, and how they get interpreted, will be important to institutions like ours.”

The process of publishing final regulations around a law may take months or years, with plenty of feedback from those impacted, according to Harvard Law School Professor Thomas J. Brennan.

“Taxpayers will often try to provide feedback on how they think the law might best be crafted, and how it may best work,” Brennan said. “There’s a whole long process with lots of input from lots of private parties.”

He added that if regulations are not finalized by the time a tax goes into effect, taxpayers have to interpret the law “as best they can.”

Not only will Harvard have to learn how to file the tax, it may also change how the University invests. Bacow said future investment strategies will depend on how the tax is eventually implemented.

“We’ve not been tax-sensitive investors in the past. And

See bacow Page 4

IOP Elects First All-Female Leadership In Over A Decade By alexandra a. chaidez Crimson Staff Writer

The undergraduate members of the Harvard Institute of Politics elected the institute’s first all-female executive board in more than a decade Monday, according to IOP leaders.

Anna L. Duffy ’21 and Maya Jenkins ’21 ran uncontested on a presidential and vice-presidential ticket. Grace K. Bannister ’21 was elected communications director, and Olivia M. Ferdinand ’21 won her bid to be the organization’s treasurer.

The IOP elects a team of four undergraduates annually to head its organization and student advisory committee.

All undergraduate members of the Institute of Politics are eligible to vote in the executive elections. ­

Ferdinand, the former chair of the Women’s Initiative in Leadership program at the IOP, said it is “incredible” for her to serve on the first female-led executive team since 2007.

“It really is an honor,” Ferdinand said. “As the former chair of the Women’s Initiative in Leadership, it was so great to see so many women running to lead the IOP.” Duffy said one of the shared priorities of the incoming executive team is to expand access to the IOP’s programs.

She also said it is a goal of the new leaders to create a more social culture in the organization.

“One of the criticisms of the IOP sometimes is that people don’t feel like they have a community there,” Duffy said. “So going forward, we want to make

sure people feel looped in and have more socials, especially early on in the semester.”

Jenkins added that the IOP should become “a place where people feel supported as people, not just as fancy politicians in the making.”

Jenkins said she decided to run to be vice-president because she wanted to promote the IOP as a supportive place for people of all backgrounds and identities.

“I want to be able to expand the IOP’s reach to students, particularly students of color but also students who haven’t typically felt welcome at the IOP and haven’t as welcome as I have always felt and have been lucky to feel,” Jenkins said.

See iop Page 5

Anna L. Duffy ‘21 is the next president of the IOP and Maya Jenkins ‘21 is the next Vice President of the IOP. PHOtO courtesy of Anna L. Duffy.

Harvard Prevails in Votes Challenge

Sotomayor Judges Ames Competition at HLS

By CAmille G. caldera and Bridger j. Gordon Contributing Writers

By simone c. chu Crimson Staff Writer

A fter a month of voter registration drives and vote pledge collections on the rival Ivy League campuses, Harvard has emerged the victor of the first Harvard-Yale Votes Challenge.

The Harvard-Yale Votes Challenge, launched on Oct. 9, aimed to increase voter turnout by ensuring students committed to vote. Student organizations Harvard Votes Challenge and Yale Votes jointly planned the competition in an effort to use the longstanding school rivalry to encourage civic engagement. “It was a tough competition, but Harvard ­

See VOTES Page 5 Inside this issue

Harvard Today 2

People gather in classrooms on the first floor of Austin Hall Tuesday night to watch a live stream of the final round of the Ames Competition, which was taking place a floor above. Kathryn S. Kuhar—Crimson photographeR

News 3

Editorial 6

Sports 7

Today’s Forecast

Hundreds of Law School students and affiliates gathered to see Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor preside over the final round of the school’s annual Ames Moot Court Tuesday night.

The competition, founded in 1911, tests law students’ skills in appellate brief writing and advocacy. Qualifying rounds begin in the fall of the second year of law school. Competitors must advance through semifinals and then to finals. Sotomayor — who has judged the competition once before, in 2011 — was joined by Jennifer Walker Elrod, a judge in the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and Susan Carney, a judge in the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Students who couldn’t squeeze into the live court proceedings filled multiple over-

partly cloudy High: 37 Low: 21

flow rooms at the Law School.

Prior to the start of the trial, Sotomayor and the other judges visited the overflow rooms to briefly speak to the students gathered. “You don’t get a chance to see us live, but nevertheless you show up to watch, and so I’m very grateful to you for your attention and your dedication,” Sotomayor said.

The case for the final round focused on the First and Second Amendments and gun control — specifically, the right to publish instructions for 3D-printing guns and the right of convicted criminals to purchase firearms.

Sotomayor remarked on the timeliness and relevance of these mock scenarios. “These are cases that are going to come through the courts,” Sotomayor said. “They’re wending their way through the courts right now.” Teams of six students represented each side, though only

See Ames Page 3

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THE HARVARD CRIMSON |

November 14, 2018

Page 2

Harvard Today

For Lunch Meatball Sub Shrimp with Fettucini Spicy Rice, Bean and Lentil Casserole

For Dinner Breaded and Baked Pork Chops Reds Best Fresh Local Fish w/ Lemon Butter Capers & Parsley Basil Pesto Roasted Tofu

Today’s Events

in The Real World

Mr. Burns: A Post Electric Play Loeb Ex, 7 p.m.

Queen and I Bonded Over Sore Feet, Reveals Michelle Obama

Stop by the Loeb Ex to see the “4th greatest American play” from the last 25 years, according to the New York Times. Directed by Nick Hornedo, Mr. Burns: A Post Electric Play is an apocalyptic Tex-Mex dark comedy.

We all know about Michelle Obama’s arms, but let’s back things up a little bit and focus on her feet.

Turns out, even royalty suffer at the hands of heels.

The body of this blurb was anatomically confusing, but if Michelle Obama can bond with the Queen over sore feet, you can put up with me being a royal pain.

The Great Pumpkin Run Marathon Sports, 6:30 p.m.

Running might not be everyone’s thing, but pies most definitely are. After running (or realistically, walking), stuff your face with pies and vote for the best one!

The Miseducation of Cameron Post Brattle Theatre, 8 p.m.

If you’re into the whole high school “exploring-your-identity” movie genre, then this is perfect for you.

Starring Chloë Grace Moretz, at one time a widely popular meme, The Miseducation of Cameron Post will have you in your feels.

Brexit: UK and EU ‘Agree Text’ of Draft Withdrawal Agreement Aenean massa. Cum sociis natoque penatibus. First M. Last—Crimson photographer

Daily Briefing University President Lawrence S. Bacow released the final report of a committee reviewing the April 13 arrest of a black College student that sparked allegations of police brutality. The report acknowledged that University police officers would typically have responded to an incident so close to campus. It also laid out a number of recommendations, which call on University emergency services to clarify their policies, health services to offer additional counseling, and College administrators to tweak Yardfest. In other news, Bacow met with an official at the U.S. Department of Treasury about regulations for the endowment tax, and Harvard beat out Yale in a competition over student pledges to vote.

Given midterm elections, we’ve all been more than a little wrapped up in US affairs. To be fair, who really remembered that Brexit was still a thing?

It’s been two years. We don’t know the fine print of the draft withdrawal agreement yet, but we’re all curious to see how things are moving across the Pond.

Death Toll in California Wildfire Rises to 42, Making Worst in State History The record of the 1933 Los Angeles brush fire has officially been replaced in terms of death toll by the current campfire in Northern California. With the number of deaths indefinitely on the rise, we can only pray that no one else gets hurt.

Around the Ivies UPENN The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office charged Penn lecturer Desiree Peterkin Bell with six counts of public corruption, the Daily Pennsylvanian reported Tuesday. During her time as chairperson of the Mayor’s Fund — a nonprofit organization — Peterkin Bell misused public funds for two years, according to court documents.

Peterkin Bell, who was arraigned Tuesday, is currently the president, co-founder, and CEO of a public affairs firm. If found guilty of all charges, Peterkin Bell could serve up to 35 years in prison.

PRINCETON Princeton University President Christopher Eisgruber argued against the Ban the Box campaign — a movement that advocates for colleges and universities to remove application questions about criminal history — at a meeting with Princeton affiliates Monday, the Daily Princetonian reported. “There are some kinds of criminal activity that may be related to risks that could occur on campus. So we take those risks seriously,” Eisgruber said. Princeton junior Nathan Poland, who presented at the meeting, argued that asking for conviction status “systematically discriminates against students” who answer in the affirmative.

DARTMOUTH Researchers at Dartmouth have developed batteryfree, eye-tracking glasses that could bolster augmented reality technology, The Dartmouth reported Tuesday. Tianxing Li, a graduate student in Computer Science, and Xia Zhou, a professor of Computer Science, collaborated on the project, which places an eye-tracker for everyday glasses that has the ability to identify the location and size of the pupil. “There are still improvements that we need to do in order to make it more realistic and also more energy efficient,” Zhou said.

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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.

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

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THE HARVARD CRIMSON | november 14, 2018

Yardfest From Page 1

AMES From Page 1

Harvard Issues Report on Arrest of Black Student

Sotomayor Judges Contest at HLS

spring concert.

“If HUPD had been less busy, it ordinarily would have responded to an incident involving a student that close to campus and stayed at the scene until CPD arrived,” Riley said in the report.

Riley made these remarks in a report authored by a Harvard committee tasked with reviewing the events leading up to and following the night of the arrest. The report, emailed to students by University President Lawrence S. Bacow Tuesday, outlines a series of recommendations for HUPD, Harvard University Health Services, and administrators meant to “foster institutional improvement.”

The report calls on HUPD and HUHS to clarify their policies related to student medical emergencies. It also suggests several small changes to Yardfest in an effort to combat undergraduates’ tendency to use drugs and drink heavily at that event.

Former University President Drew G. Faust established the committee — chaired by Harvard Law School professor An-

More generally, the report serves as an essential reminder about how interconnected any community is.

Lawrence S. Bacow President

nette Gordon-Reed — after the April 13 incident to reflect on the arrest and undertake a “systematic examination” of an array of University policies.

The forcible arrest of the student roiled campus and attracted national attention. Most of the controversy centered on CPD’s physical treatment of the student. CPD officers ultimately arrested the student for a number of charges including inde-

cent exposure, disorderly conduct, assault, and resisting arrest.

The charges were later dropped in May, according to the student’s lawyers.

A CPD report filed after the arrest stated that an officer tackled the student after he clenched his fists and made aggressive moves towards the officers. Eyewitnesses, however, stated that this account of events is incorrect and that the officers tackled the student “without provocation.”

A video of the incident published by CPD depicts officers talking to the student for at least two minutes. The student then takes two steps towards an officer before stepping back. The video shows the student raising his arms to chest-level before an officer tackles him from behind. The officer delivered five punches to the student’s stomach area in an effort to unpin his arms and handcuff him, the police report states.

Hours later, the Harvard Black Law Students Association released a statement condemning the incident as an example of “police brutality.” Days later, students at the College organized a new campus group dubbed Black Students Organizing for Change, which held a protest that attracted more than 200 attendees. BSOC also released an open letter containing a list of demands for change.

The review committee investigated the context surrounding the arrest, focusing specifically on Yardfest. The group’s final report noted that Yardfest made a “significant” and “unexpected” demand on Harvard and Cambridge medical resources.

In 2018, Yardfest saw 17 medical transports, more than five times the number of transports that occurred the year before. All transports were for intoxication or overdoses. Both Mt. Auburn Hospital and Cambridge City Hospital became so “overloaded” that they refused to accept several intoxicated

Harvard students that night, Bacow wrote in his email.

Bacow wrote in the email that he is “troubled” by student behavior at Yardfest 2018.

“More generally, the report serves as an essential reminder about how interconnected any community is—how one person’s actions can have profound implications for others— and underscores the need for all of us to be cognizant of our responsibilities both to ourselves and to the broader community,” Bacow wrote.

Dean of the College Rakesh Khurana also flagged the high rates of drug and alcohol use at Yardfest as problematic in an email sent to College students Tuesday.

“Current data – as well as some of the evidence presented in the report about Yardfest – indicates an increased use of drugs and alcohol in our community, as well as an increase in related dangerous behaviors,” he wrote. “While we are a community in which individual responsibility matters, we also have a collective responsibility to provide support and resources for students in times of need.”

The committee recommended several updates to Yardfest in order to make the event safer for students. The group’s report proposes Harvard consider alternate times for Yardfest, specifically Sunday afternoons.

The report also suggest that the College ensure water is available throughout the event, not allow for re-entry to the concert, and enforce a strict “no bag” policy.

The University committee offered several recommendations for specific Harvard bodies involved in the April 13 arrest.

The report suggested HUPD clarify its role in responding to incidents involving Harvard students. The committee wrote that the department should “communicate clearly and accurately” about their role in emergency situations both on and off campus.

In response to one of BSOC’s demands — that Harvard create special response teams not involving police — the committee proposed that HUPD and HUHS work together to explore hiring mental health professionals as first responders.

The report also included several recommendations specifically targeting issues of mental health and substance abuse on campus. The report suggests that HUHS work to promote awareness of its programs under the Office of Alcohol and Other Drug Services and Counseling and Mental Health Services.

HUHS, like HUPD and CPD, drew criticism from some students for its response to the April 13 arrest. A friend of the arrested student first called HUHS to report that the student required urgent medical care. HUHS then contacted HUPD, which transferred HUHS to Cambridge Emergency Communications.

In the wake of the arrest, some students argued HUHS should not have contacted the police. The report noted, however, that it is University policy that the police respond to all emergency calls made to HUHS. Another criticism levied at HUHS was that CAMHS did not offer the mental health services that some students said they needed in the aftermath of the arrest, according to the report.

“In the wake of the incident, a number of students, particularly from marginalized groups, felt stress and a need for mental health services that they do not feel exist,” the report reads.

“Some students voiced concerns both about the availability of services, particularly mental health services, and about demographics and multicultural competency of the clinical staff.”

In an effort to address these issues, the committee recommended that HUHS expand its informal counseling services and seek feedback from

students on barriers they face when seeking care at CAMHS. The report suggests that House and Yard staff undergo training for “multi-cultural competency in mental health support” and regularly review cases with CAMHS staff.

Though BSOC called on Harvard to run a student-staffed ambulance, the report recommends against a private ambulance.

“We were told that it is highly unlikely that an ambulance for a private institution would be approved today,” the committee wrote. “Additionally, conversations with both HUHS and HUPD suggested that even if permission could be secured, a Harvard ambulance would not be desirable or practical given liability concerns and discomfort some students may feel with being treated by their peers.”

CPD and the City of Cambridge are also conducting their own reviews of the arrest. Per department policy, CPD conducts an internal investigation whenever an officer uses force.

The City of Cambridge hired Roderick L. Ireland, the first African-American appointed Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, to direct its own independent investigation, the results of which will be made public.

Khurana offered an initial timeline for implementing the recommendations included in the report in his email to students. He wrote that he has already instructed the Dean of Students Office to work with HUPD and HUHS to enact the report’s suggestions.

“President Bacow has asked the College to provide concrete plans by the beginning of the next semester for implementing these recommendations,” Khurana said. “In the coming months, we will communicate the next steps we will take to address the recommendations.” angela.fu@thecrimson.com michael.xie@thecrimson.com

two oralists on each team engaged in back-and-forth argumentation with the three presiding justices. who were vocal throughout the arguments, asking questions specific to the fictional case and established Supreme Court precedents.

Students who attended the competition said they were impressed by their peers’ performance. “The people who participate in this competition are very brave, and I’m incredibly impressed by their ability to stand there in front of three very esteemed members of the judiciary,” Solange Etessami, a second-year Law student, said.

First-year Law student Daniel M. Sieradzki said he came to the event to take a break from classes and learn from more senior students. “It was nice to see how they argue, how they cite cases, how they reason through their arguments, and how they deal with the other side,” Sieradzki said.

Third-year Law student Maxwell F. Gottschall ultimately won the award for “Best Oralist.” The award for best overall team went to a team composed of Gottschall, Erika A. Herrera, Benjamin R. Lewis, Catherine H. McCaffrey, Eliza J. McDuffie, and Jacqueline K. Sahlberg.

Prior to announcing the decision, Sotomayor said the teams were “a hair apart” and lauded the finalists in the competition. “Every time I come to one of these and I see the extraordinary performances of the students at these exercises, it fills me with hope about the future,” Sotomayor said.

“It shows me that you are being trained to think and to respond in extraordinary, lawyerly, professional ways, and that you carry in your hands our future in a really good way.”

THE HARVARD CRIMSON |

November 14, 2018

Bacow From Page 1

Bacow Met U.S. Treasury Rep. the question is: do we need to become tax sensitive investors going forward?” he said.

Experts have said that university endowment managers may change investment strategies to reduce tax burden, including considering when to sell assets.

“It can affect both your choice of what to invest in, and also probably more importantly for Harvard, how often to sell,” Georgetown Law Professor Bri-

Every law, no matter how well it’s written, is going to have some non-specificity, some grey area, some lack of detail that can be filled in.

Thomas J. Brennan Law School Professor

an D. Galle ’94 said. “We only calculate the amount of taxable gain or loss on your investments in the year in which you sell or otherwise get rid of the property.”

“The timing can be very important, and it can keep you from switching into a better investment than the one you’ve got,” he added.

Bacow said it was still uncertain whether the University would be expected to pay taxes

on unrealized returns — those from assets that have grown in value but have not been sold.

Galle said he understands the law — which levies a tax on the University’s net investment income — to only apply to realized returns, which result from assets being sold.

“You don’t include something in income unless it’s been sold or otherwise disposed of,” Galle said.

The Internal Revenue Service released draft guidance on the endowment tax in August, indicating that universities will not be taxed on an asset’s gain in value that occured before 2018.

The IRS also released draft guidance on other changes from the tax overhaul that affect universities, including the executive compensation tax levied on the amount of a salary that exceeds $1 million and changes to how Unrelated Business Income Tax is calculated.

Brennan said that IRS regulations fill in ambiguities in tax laws.

“Every law, no matter how well it’s written, is going to have some non-specificity, some grey area, some lack of detail that can be filled in, and that’s the job of the regulations,” Brennan said. “The substantive content of the regulations should be determined by the professionals at Treasury in light of how they read the law.”

Page 4

Scientists Say Object Could Be From Aliens

By Amy L. Jia and Sanjana L. Narayanan Crimson Staff Writers

“‘Oumuamua,” the first interstellar object observed in the solar system, could be a probe sent by intelligent life elsewhere in the universe, according to a paper published by Astronomy Department Chair Abraham “Avi” Loeb and Shmuel Bialy, a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

‘Oumuamua — which Loeb said means “a visitor from a great distance” in Hawaiian — was first discovered in October 2017 by a telescope in Hawaii. It has since moved out of the range of satellites and rockets, making it very difficult to study its composition and leaving its galactic origins a mystery.

The interstellar object is an anomaly for several reasons, Loeb said. After analyzing sunlight reflected from its surface, he and Bialy concluded that the object is at least five to ten times longer than it is wide and potentially cigar- or pancake-shaped, much more elongated than the ­

typical asteroid.

But ‘Oumuamua’s defining characteristic — and the primary reason why scientists believe it could be a probe from an alien civilization — is the “extra push” in its trajectory, which propels it forward more than the sun’s gravity alone could, Loeb said. One possibili-

I admit, my imagination is limited to what I know, but that’s true for everyone.

Abraham “Avi” Loeb Astronomy Department Chair

ty is that ‘Oumuamua is a comet because they too have an extra push, caused by ice evaporating on their surface and creating a rocket-like appearance. But Loeb said the comet hypothesis doesn’t match observations of ‘Oumuamua.

“In that case, we should have seen a cloud of dust or gas around it, because when you look at comets, you see a come-

tary tail,” he said. “But there is no evidence for anything like that.”

Loeb instead theorized that ‘Oumuamua’s unusual trajectory was caused by “radiation pressure” from the sun pushing it like a sail. For this to be true, the object would have to be less than a millimeter in thickness.

“Light sails — sails that are pushed by light — are being contemplated now in space exploration,” he said.

Loeb currently chairs the Breakthrough Starshot Initiative, which aims to create this exact kind of technology for astronomical research. He and others are in the process of designing a lightweight sail propelled by a powerful laser that will be able to search for life in the Alpha Centauri star system.

He suggested that ‘Oumuamua might be a similar effort on the part of other civilizations.

“I admit, my imagination is limited to what I know, but that’s true for everyone,” Loeb said. “I was inspired by my involvement in this project.”

Loeb said he was surprised by the overwhelming interest

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— both from distinguished astronomers and the general public — in his paper. He said the paper was accepted for publication only a few days after its submission, a very fast turnaround in the scientific community.

“I think the public is very interested in this subject, and scientists very much shy away from this,” Loeb said. “For me, personally, it’s a completely legitimate thing for us to consider because a quarter of all stars have habitable planets like the Earth that could have liquid water on its surface and the chemistry of life as we know it.”

Despite ‘Oumuamua’s puzzling characteristics, Loeb was hesitant to definitively classify it as an object of alien origin.

“I prefer not to assign probabilities to the nature of ‘Oumuamua,” he wrote in an email. “We just need to be practical and collect more data on it or other members of its population. The interpretation of existing and future data is my plan for the future.”

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | november 14, 2018

iop From Page 1

IOP Elects All-Female Executive Leaders Duffy said the new executives will reach out to more on-campus groups in order to bolster more diverse representation within the Institute.

“Our politics are only stronger when they’re more informed,” Duffy said.

“It’s really essential to be reaching out to different identity groups on campus,” she added.

Ferdinand said another major priority of the new executive team was to “strengthen pathways to careers in public service” by hosting more career fairs, offering interview preparation, and making jobs in the

BLACKLISTED? BLACKLISTED BLACKLISTED? BLACKLISTED?

Page 5

public sector “financially accessible.”

Currently, the IOP provides summer stipends of up to $4,000 to undergraduates pursuing non- or low-paying summer internships in public service.

The IOP also runs the Director’s Internships program, which arranges paid summer opportunities in the public sector.

At his inauguration last month, University President Lawrence S. Bacow announced a commitment to funding public service internships for every undergraduate who would like

VOTES From Page 1

to pursue such a position.

Jenkins said that though having an all-female executive team will not drastically alter the daily operations of the organization, it can send a message to students across Harvard’s campus.

“The fact that we are all girls, if it will have one kind of bigger impact, is really in showing other female students, other students who don’t identify as male that the IOP is a place where we all deserve to have leadership positions,” Jenkins said.

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In Harvard-Yale Vote Challenge, Harvard Prevails Over Rival pulled through,” said Theodore “Teddy” N. Landis ’20, who co-founded the Harvard Votes Challenge and helped coordinate the competition with Yale.

At final count, 22.7 percent of Harvard undergraduates had pledged to vote or complete a

Our victory over Yale is a good omen for both democracy and The Game.

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

civic action, compared to 17.8 percent of Yale undergraduates.

“Our victory over Yale is a good omen for both democracy and for The Game on Saturday,” Landis said, referring to

this year’s iteration of the annual Harvard-Yale football game, scheduled to take place at Fenway Park Saturday.

Harold Ekeh, a co-founder of Yale Votes and the president of get-out-the-vote initiative Every Vote Counts, said he was “really excited” that both schools had acquired so many pledges to vote.

“The general goal here for both schools was really to get people excited about voting, and we saw that happen,” he said. He also said “congrats” to Harvard for winning.

In 2016, 77.6 percent of Harvard’s undergraduates were registered to vote, and 57.8 percent of students voted in the presidential election, according to the National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement.

Meanwhile, Yale had a higher voter registration rate at 79.3 percent, though its actual vot-

ing rate came in slightly lower than Harvard’s at 56.7 percent.

Midterm elections typically see significantly lower voter turnout, however. In 2014, the NSLVE reported an average voting rate across all surveyed colleges and universities of just 18.8 percent. Landis said once the NSLVE completes the final tally for voter turnout at Harvard and Yale, the schools will know which institution had the higher actual participation rate.

At Yale, Ekeh said get-outthe-vote initiatives brought administrators, student groups, and cultural centers on campus together to have a “direct impact” on student attitudes toward voting. “We will definitely have another challenge or pledge of some sort come time for the 2020 elections,” Ekeh added.

simone.chu@thecrimson.com

*Seriously. http://bit.ly/2nVu317

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | November 14, 2018

Page 6

Editorial The Crimson Editorial board

column

Vote for Palaniappan-Huesa

Filling the Holes in History

The Palaniappan-Huesa ticket’s concrete goals optimize accountability

T

he Undergraduate Council’s election period for president and vice president officially opened on Monday. Like all other election seasons, this time calls for reflection on the past year and critical evaluation of what can be improved in the year to come. Which people should occupy these positions should be incumbent upon whether their election promises to affect these changes.

One of the largest issues plaguing the UC and presidential campaigns is a lack of accountability. Year after year, candidates offer programs or push for initiatives that do not come to fruition. Pledges to complete certain improvements or to communicate progress to the student body continuously fall short. There is little done to ensure that candidates are held liable for the plans they lay out in their campaigns.

The next UC president and vice president should place precedence on being transparent in their inner workings as well as communicating effectively with the student body. Accountability is crucial in sparking change; we encourage the UC to make tangible efforts to be more accountable to their fellow students and actually create goals that are reachable.

Given that, we believe that the two tickets that bring UC experience — Sruthi Palaniapppan ’20 with running

mate Julia M. Huesa ’20 and Nadine M. Khoury ’20 running alongside Arnav Agrawal ’20 — are very similar, and we see positive aspects in each. While both of their particular experiences within the UC will be especially valuable in improving how the UC operates internally, we believe that the Palaniappan-Huesa ticket presents the most attainable goals.

In the long run, we believe that making the greatest impact on the student body today is of primary importance.

Palaniappan and Huesa aim to do so in their prioritization of the first-genera-

We endorse the PalaniappanHuesa ticket because we believe they make the most realistic promises. tion faculty mentorship program and in their emphasis on communication. Specifically, they plan to communicate with the student body by way of videos and by keeping in conversation with many cultural and identity groups on campus. We endorse the Palaniappan-Huesa ticket because we believe they make the most realistic promises and have goals that are more likely to take shape in the undergraduate community.

Regardless of how the elections results turn out, all of the candidates echo one another in their platforms, underscoring the pressing need for many changes to occur. For example, the ticket of Daniel K. Ragheb ’20 and running mate Samyra C. Miller ’21, like the Palaniappan-Huesa ticket, places crucial import on spearheading sexual assault and mental health reforms, and, similar to the Khoury-Agrawal ticket, focuses on improving social spaces. These are real and urgent issues across campus that evidently require addressing. All tickets should take a careful look at their peers’ proposals and attempt to incorporate the spirit of those ideas into their objectives as president and vice-president.

Ultimately, we hope that the winning ticket will not only work to achieve their vision for the College, but also prioritize designing accountability mechanisms, and following through on their implementation, to keep the student body informed of their progress.

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.

Megan M. Ross—Crimson photographer

Op-ed

Un-Democracy

By Patrick c. barham

L

ast week, Harvard students headed to the polls here in Cambridge or mailed in their absentee ballots. It marked the conclusion of months of University-wide efforts, including the student-founded Harvard Votes Challenge, to increase voter turnout. As part of this, Harvard students received an email from University President Lawrence S. Bacow with the subject line “Democracy” on Nov. 6.”

In the email, Bacow reminded students to exercise their civic duty and vote. He said, “Americans will head to the polls for the midterm elections and fulfill the first responsibility of citizenship in a democracy.” But is this really a democracy?

Rather than a fair and democratic system, our election process is ruefully undemocratic, and the process of voting here on campus sheds a different light on the great American ritual of casting ballots every other November.

The first question you were often asked upon walking up to one of the Harvard Votes Challenge registration tables around campus was “What state are you from?” This question, though seemingly simple, seemed to conceal a deeper question. Essentially, you were asked “How much will your vote count?”

If your home state is Wyoming, the answer is a lot. This year, the race for Wyoming Senate seat was decided for incumbent John A. Barrasso, who won 136,329 votes as of publication. If you voted in Texas, your vote counted significantly less. Texans cast a majority of their votes for another incumbent, Ted Cruz. However, Cruz was elected by a far greater number of votes. It took 4,244,204 votes,

as of publication, for the senator from Texas to keep his seat — more than 30 times the number of votes it took the senator from Wyoming. Nonetheless, both senators will get equal voting rights.

The just-over-half-a-million residents of the state of Wyoming will share the same representation in the country’s highest deliberative body as the morethan 28 million residents of the state of Texas.

This discussion of the gross inequality in democratic power does not even include those U.S. citizens who aren’t afforded any electoral power at all.

It took 4,244,204 votes, as of publication, for the senator from Texas to keep his seat — more than 30 times the number of votes it took the senator from Wyoming.

The 3.3 million U.S. citizens who live in Puerto Rico will have an even smaller voice in deciding the composition of the Senate. Puerto Rico receives no voting representation in the Senate or the House. It is hard to overstate just how staggering this is. Despite having a larger population than Vermont, North Dakota, Alaska, and Wyoming combined, Puerto Rico will have no representation in Congress, while those states together have eight senators and four representatives.

Essentially, a voter’s opinion in Puerto Rico is worth nothing at all.

It’s not a democratic system if everyone’s vote and everyone’s voice is not equally weighted.

It’s time to change our system in favor of a system where each vote matters. Perhaps turning toward a more European system which allots seats in legislative bodies in proportion to the votes they receive can begin to make the system more equitable and truly representative. Only then will our system begin to resemble a democracy.

As much as we might treasure our Electoral College and our two chambers of Congress, they do not constitute a proper democracy.

When this country was founded and the legislature conceived, the 13 states of the original union each had a unique role to play. Today, when moving between states is as easy and accessible as a bus ticket or an Uber ride, why should certain states get outsized roles in our democratic process?

It’s unacceptable that someone living in New York, with a population of almost 20 million, can move just a few feet, into Vermont, with a population of about 600,000, and have their representation increased by a factor of around 30.

Everyone should vote. It’s our civic duty, and it’s a privilege that too many across the world and even across the U.S. are not always afforded. But the system we have is not just, not fair, and not democratic.

For those of us who voted, regardless of which state received our ballots, we should be proud that we did our part.

We should be outraged, however, that some of our fellow students’ votes mattered any more than our own. This must be changed.

—Patrick C. Barham ’21, a Crimson Editorial comper, is a Government concentrator in Pforzheimer House.

The need for greater diversity in curricula Becina J. Ganther the feminist closet

I

remember the first time I ever heard the word “gay” used in a classroom setting. It was early on in my first year, and I was shopping a class on the history of sexuality. Even though I was well aware of the subject matter of the course, hearing a professor even utter the word “gay” still shocked me; queerness felt like a personal topic to grapple with outside of school, not something an academic would concern themselves with. I had long since resigned myself to the fact that most parts of my identity, such as my race, gender, and sexuality, were not worthy of discussion in the classroom. In my mind, people like me did not exist in history. Or if they did, they were not worth remembering.

I’ve since had the opportunity to take many more courses that talk about sexuality, gender, race, class, and myriad other identities in a way that doesn’t center only the dominant narratives.

But these courses shouldn’t be the exception to the rule; diverse, complete curricula should be standard.

If the purpose of education is to prepare us to think critically about important issues and lead meaningful lives, how can we achieve that if we have an incomplete picture of where our society has been and where we can go? Thus, Harvard has an obligation to make sure that no one leaves its gates without having at least a basic grasp on issues that center people who are not wealthy straight white men — such as abolition, the AIDS epidemic, civil rights movements, the waves of feminism, labor reform, gender inequality in the workplace, and police brutality.

All these and more are important parts of both history and our present times — and just as important as knowing the Founding Fathers or Abraham Lincoln. No education is complete without them.

One major part of curricula that needs to be changed is the breadth of topics covered. Too often, it feels like there’s the “normal” history (read: history about wealthy straight white men) that everyone knows, and then there’s the “niche” history (read: history about literally everyone else) that’s optional. And this issue doesn’t start in college; K-12 curricula are notoriously incompetent at including information about notable women, people of color, and BGLTQ people, choosing to gloss over more difficult topics like racial or gender inequality in favor of perpetuating dominant narratives about straight white men.

Due to these holes in primary and secondary curricula, it’s no wonder that a large portion of Harvard students seem to come in with little knowledge of any history not involving wealthy straight white men in Western cultures. I came in knowing that I wanted to have a better understanding of minority identities, so I actively sought out courses that focused on these topics.

But diverse curricula shouldn’t be opt-in; every department should be conscious of these topics and weave them cohesively into all their courses.

Just having a week dedicated to race or gender is a good start, but far from enough. Race, gender, sexuality, and class impact every aspect of our current lives and every aspect of history, and that should be fully reflected in curricula.

Another consideration is not just which topics are presented, but also how they are presented.

Faculty and staff should avoid simplistic generalizations or revisionist history. It may take a little longer to find or conduct quality research on these frequently less-explored topics, but it’s important to be thorough to prevent misinformation and mischaracterization.

For example, one class I took last year framed European colonization and its role in the Atlantic slave trade as entailing the “movement and exchange of ideas and materials across different countries and cultures,” which is an incredibly simplified if not downright inaccurate view of history. The course focused on the positive gains to scientific discovery for Europeans and completely glossed over the horrific human rights violations that Europeans committed when they invaded, pillaged, colonized, killed, and enslaved indigenous peoples in order to obtain these “ideas and materials.”

The excuses from the course heads seemed to echo an overused narrative: that there weren’t enough sources about colonialism that didn’t center the benefits for white people, so this was the best they could do.

Above all, faculty and staff creating curricula must be mindful of whose voices are included. The courses I’ve taken that explicitly address race, gender, sexuality, or class tend to have minority, intersectional authors for our assigned readings.

But for most of the ones that aren’t, the professor might assign readings by dozens of white men and only a handful by women, non-binary people, or people of color (and that’s being generous).

When academia consists of research by straight white men studying straight white men, we lose valuable perspectives. There are academics of color, women and non-binary academics, and BGLTQ academics, and they should all be represented in curricula.

Professors, faculty, and teaching staff in all fields need to be better equipped to create comprehensive curricula that cohesively address issues of race, gender, sexuality, class, and other identifiers. Failure to do so will mean Harvard has failed its students.

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

Page 7

THE HARVARD CRIMSON |

Sports

mEN’S basketball

about the team

november 14, 2018

2017-18 Overall Record 2-1 ______________________________________

Field Goal % 51.2 ______________________________________

upcoming games ______________________________________

Conference Record 0-0 ______________________________________

Free Throw % 70.0 ______________________________________

Games

3 ______________________________________

Rebounds Per Game 29.0 ______________________________________

Men’s Basketball vs. Rhode Island 7pm, Friday, at Rhode Island

Streak

WIN 1 ______________________________________

Assists per game 16.7 ______________________________________

Points Per Game 74.3 ______________________________________

3-Point % 38.6 ______________________________________

Men’s Basketball vs. San Francisco 10pm, Wednesday at San Francisco

Men’s BasketBall

Harvard Grabs Win Late-Game Thriller Over UMass By henry zhu Crimson Staff Writer

In a thrilling back-and-forth battle that was decided by one possession for the second straight season, the Harvard men’s basketball team knocked off UMass 74-71. Despite a dominant 36-point outing from Minutemen junior guard Luwane Pipkins, the Crimson held the rest of the UMass side to a combined 13 field goals.

Junior forward Chris Lewis had another commanding night in the paint, converting 8-of-11 from the field alongside three rejections. As a whole, Harvard distributed the ball for 21 assists with 32 boards. The theme of depth resonated once again, with five bench players tallying more than 10 minutes in the contest for 22 combined points.

“We just had to have an edge about us,” junior wing Justin Bassey said. “Come in with a certain spirit and a fight…to get a big, gutsy win for us here on the road.”

Minutemen coach Matt McCall was highly critical of his side’s defense, particularly in the transition game. The second-year coach praised the Crimson for its talent level and depth, even without juniors Seth Towns and Bryce Aiken.

“Just knowing their team, a veteran team [that has] won championships,” McCall said.

“They weren’t going to beat themselves and every single mistake that we made tonight they capitalized on.”

Sophomore forward Danilo Djuricic impressed early for the Crimson, finding two easy baskets at the rim before draining a three at the 15:45 mark to bring the Harvard lead to 13-7 at the 15-minute point.

Early fouls on both ends of the floor for the Crimson significantly disrupted team momentum, with four calls within the first nine minutes of the contest. Harvard put in its second unit after the first seven minutes of play, but sluggish offense led Amaker to quickly re-insert his starters at the 11-minute mark, with the lead narrowed to 18-17.

Djuricic continued to pick up important points for the Crimson, tallying his 10th point in the form of a triple off a baseline feed from junior point guard Christian Juzang at 9:13.

UMass kept in toe with the Harvard offense, holding the visitor’s margin within six in the first 12 minutes of the half.

Aggressive play at the rim from both junior big Henry Welsh and first year Noah Kirkwood brought back a four-point cushion for the Crimson, but junior guard Luwane Pipkins answered back with nifty footwork at the rim and kept UMass within striking distance. The 2018 A-10 Most Improved Player led the Minutemen with a resounding 18 points in the first frame, followed by six from fifth-year big Rashaan Holloway. “[Pipkins] is a dynamic offensive player,” Amaker said. “I think the key obviously with us was to be able to guard the other players. I’m not sure we want to be able to contain him or stop him… but we did a really nice job elsewhere and pretty much was the difference for us.”

A triple from junior wing Justin Bassey followed by another easy look at the basket by Welsh carried the Crimson to its largest lead of the half at 7 heading into the final two minutes. UMass coach Matt McCall

A MOUNTAIN Junior forward Chris Lewis led the Crimson in scoring in Tuesday night’s contest at UMass. timothy r. o’meara—Crimson photographer

was markedly infuriated at the team when he called a timeout.

“I would say probably four or five times, [the Crimson] could grab a box of popcorn, ate it, and shot a three I mean, that’s how open they were.” McCall said.

“That’s lack of urgency, we’ve got to get better there.”

Before the end of the first half which saw the Crimson bring an eight-point lead, Welsh accomplished a personal first.

The Redondo Beach, Calif., native drained his first career-triple in a Harvard uniform, much to the delight of a surprised Crimson bench. Amaker noted postgame that his long-range game was a key offseason prior-

NOAH’S ARC Noah Kirkwood earned four rebounds against UMass. timothy r. o’meara—Crimson photographer

ity for the big man.

“I didn’t realize it was first career one,” Amaker said. “We need him to take that when it’s there.”

The beginning of the second frame was defined by Chris Lewis and Luwane Pipkins.

A sloppy first play coming out of halftime for the Minutemen was followed by a Lewis righty hook, but Rutgers transfer Jonathan Laurent answered with a contested trey. Lewis again repeated the same hook shot over Holloway and ensuingly smothered him on the defense end. “[Holloway]’s a great player, he knows how to screen well and always goes for the offensive rebound,” Lewis said. “It’s always a tough matchup play him but the coaches told me how to do my work early.”

Amaker quickly added, “[Be] cause he is a mountain.”

Lewis limited Holloway to just one basket in the second frame, who finished the night with nine rebounds and seven field goal attempts.

For UMass, it was Pipkins who continued his scoring acuity from the first frame as he quickly added two more buckets. The Minutemen narrowed the lead to five within the first four minutes of the latter frame, but a jumper from captain Corey Johnson — who has so far this season created more opportunities of the dribble — maintained the Crimson lead at seven at the first media timeout.

Harvard’s second unit struggled to produce offensively for Harvard, and much like the first frame, Amaker quickly rein-

serted Lewis back into the lineup. The Alpharetta, Ga., native immediately responded, quelling the UMass run that saw the margin dwindle to one point with another lay-up.

Pipkins again was the defining shining point for the Minutemen, tallying point 29 and triple number three at the 12:40 mark. UMass then took a brief 50-49 lead — its first of the contest — but Bassey reciprocated with a corner triple on the other end.

Although Djuricic and Lewis led the point tally for the majority of the game, Bassey was a lead contributor in the rebound and assist columns. The thirdyear wing finished the contest with seven boards and seven dishes.

“I thought Bassey was terrific just with his physicality and his size,” McCall said. “ I thought offensively in the first half we were consumed with how it was going and it allowed us to be affected defensively,” Heading into the final six minutes, the Crimson held tight in the paint, forcing missed layups at the rim. Pipkins launched another made triple, but sophomore guard Rio Haskett successfully responded with a three of his own at the 4:55 mark to preserve a fourpoint margin. Outside of the Pipkins three, Harvard did not allow a single bucket for over four minutes.

A Juzang and-one brought the score to 68-63 heading into the final two minutes, but Holloway responded with an andone play of his own, but was un-

able to convert.

With a minute to play, the Crimson lead remained at three. A missed Juzang three was followed by a Haskett foul, bringing Pipkins to the line with 39.1 seconds to play. Pipkins knocked down both.

Coming down to the wire, the ball was placed in Bassey’s hands. Bringing the shot clock to the final seconds, Bassey drove in to the basket and drew a blocking foul at the hands of Laurent. Coach McCall attempted to ice the free throw shooter, but Bassey calmly drained both. 72-69, Harvard.

With nine seconds to go, the ball was unsurprisingly placed in Pipkins’s hands. Instead of going for the triple, Pipkins decided to attack the basket where Harvard allowed for the uncontested two points.

Only three seconds remained, and Harvard closed the tight contest out with two Juzang free throws.

“It seems like this is par for the course for our games against UMass,” Amaker said. “…I was really pleased to see the balance we had, and also ability to share the ball.”

Former Harvard basketball coach Frank Sullivan was calling tonight’s game on NESN. Before the contest, Amaker was able to share a few words with his predecessor.

“He’s a class guy and I’ve known him for quite some time,” Amaker said. “I was happy to see him happy, and see how well he’s doing.” henry.zhu@thecrimson.com.

squash

Egypt Holds Special Place in the Heart of Squash Players

By Lev Cohen contributing Writer

Of the six freshmen joining Harvard’s storied squash program this year, three hail from Cairo, Egypt. They are the latest set of top recruits from a country that dominates the international squash scene.

Egypt cruised to the World Squash Federation World Team Championships last year and populates the top of the PSA World Squash Rankings, accounting for the top four men’s and the top three women’s squash players. The Middle Eastern country has been a squash superpower for decades, which junior Saadeldin Abouaish, the only non-freshman Egyptian on the squash team, partially attributes to former president Hosni Mubarak’s love for the game.

“It started in the ‘90s when there was a tournament in the pyramids,” Abouaish said. “We had one good Egyptian player at that time [Ahmed Bara-

da] and he got a lot of publicity because the president was very into squash at that time too.”

Egyptian players are renowned for their exciting, attack-minded style of play. Admirers of creativity and flair are sure to be drawn to the Egyptian technique, which is set to become more prevalent at the college level as more and more Egyptian players make the move over to the United States.

“They are so skilled with the racket and are very offensive players,” freshman Marwan Tarek said. “They maybe aren’t as strong physically as Europeans or South Americans but they have the know-how to win.”

Freshman Hana Moatez said that squash is an expensive sport played mainly by wealthy people in Cairo and, to a lesser extent, Alexandria. But over time, Tarek claimed, it has become significantly more accessible for less well-off Egyptians.

“If you asked me 10 years ago I would have told you that it was

only wealthy people playing squash in Egypt but now I think the availability of the sport has increased,” Tarek said. “There are now coaches who take less money. It’s become more for the people who are workhorses rather than just being for the wealthy.”

This accessibility has led to an explosion of participation in squash at the youth levels. And young Egyptian squash players have plenty of role models to look up to, which freshman Amina Yousry believes is a catalyst for her success on the squash court.

“We have many players who went down the same path before we did,” Yousry said. “They succeeded and we’ve grown up having big role models to look up to and follow their paths.

Amr Shabana, Ramy Ashour, Karim Darwish to name a few.

They are Egyptian squash legends.”

Among the scores of emerging Egyptian squash players are Tarek, Moatez, and Yousry,

Harvard’s three standout freshmen. They have known each other for years. Moatez and Yousry have competed against each other since they were nine years old. Abouaish, has also long known the younger Egyptians. He played on the same club team as Tarek in Egypt, and the two have been friends for nine years. But the decision to play for the Crimson was not equally easy for them all.

“Since I was a kid I had my eyes on a few schools in the US since my brother moved here six years ago,” Yousry said. “I didn’t want to ditch academics or squash and I found it hard to do both in Egypt. Here in the US and especially at Harvard it’s way easier to balance between both.”

While Yousry knew for years that she wanted to play college squash in the United States, the decision was much tougher for Tarek and Abouaish.

“I wasn’t thinking of coming to a school in the US. I just wanted to finish my junior tourna-

ments and go pro,” Tarek said.

“But then I got an email from the Harvard coaches, Princeton coaches, and Yale coaches about coming to the US. I visited and felt so excited about coming here.”

Abouaish explained that he was extremely hesitant to join the Crimson because he was extremely close to his family and friends. In the end, he said he was convinced to come by Ali Farag ’14, whom he labeled a pioneer of Egyptian squash at Harvard. Two years later, he played a similar role to the one that Farag — currently ranked No. 2 in the world — played for him.

“I think me being close in age to the three freshmen allowed me to advise them and push them to come here,” Abouaish said. “It started with Ali and he kind of led the way.”

The four Crimson Egyptians universally agree that their time with the Crimson has been made much more enjoyable by the fact that there

are other Egyptians around to support them and talk to them.

Abouaish, the lone upperclassman, has been making Tarek feel at home and enjoys having someone to speak Arabic with.

And the pair of freshmen women has the added benefit of entering college together.

“I’ve never been part of a team before so being here with international people and having one of my best friends [Moatez] along with me on the team is the best thing I have here,” Yousry said. “This is actually what’s keeping me going.”

There is no reason to believe that the pipeline from Egypt to Harvard’s squash team will close anytime soon. Given Egypt’s squash dominance and the Crimson’s recent success on the court — the women have won four straight Howe Cups and are on a 53 match winning streak, while the men have finished as national runner-ups to Trinity College twice in a row — it seems to be a connection that should endure going forward.

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THE HARVARD CRIMSON | november 14, 2018