The University Daily, Est. 1873 | Volume CXLV No. 16 | Cambridge, Massachusetts | thursday, february 8, 2018
The Harvard Crimson Harvard’s best sustainability strategy is increased funding for climate change research. Editorial PAGE 6
Men’s basketball will return to Lavietes Pavilion to take on Princeton and Penn. Sports PAGE 8
Kunis Pushed Pudding Shift
Smith Says Tax Will Limit Projects
By caroline s. engelmayer and michael e. xie
By Angela N. Fu and Lucy Wang
Crimson Staff Writers
Mila Kunis phoned at least one member of the Hasty Pudding Institute’s graduate board to discuss adding women to the group’s historically all-male cast hours before the Pudding announced its decision to go co-ed, according to two individuals with knowledge of the proceedings. Kunis—in town to accept the Hasty Pudding Theatricals 2018 Woman of the Year award—made the phone call while dining with various Pudding company members at Harvard Square restaurant Parsnip on Jan. 25, according to the two individuals. The actress implied she would apply pressure in some way during the call to push the graduate board to accept women, the two individuals said. Kunis said at the lunch she strongly favored the Pudding announcing its decision to admit women as cast
See kunis Page 5
Crimson Staff Writers
Following a new university endowment tax estimated to cut into Harvard’s endowment by over $40 million, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Michael D. Smith said he will not commit to long-term projects for the time being. Republican lawmakers passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in December, with one provision requiring private colleges with an endowment greater than $500,000 per student to pay a 1.4 percent tax on annual endowment returns. Harvard is one of 35 institutions nationwide affected by the act. Administrators have estimated the University would have had to pay $44 million in taxes if the legislation had applied in fiscal year 2017. Smith confirmed the new legislation will affect the budget of the
Actress Mila Kunis accepts the Hasty Pudding Theatricals 2018 Woman of the Year in January. Kunis may have been involved with the Pudding’s decision to accept women as cast members. TIMOTHY R. O’MEARA--CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER
See Smith Page 5
Faust Reflects on First Female Presidency By kristine e. guillaume and jamie d. halper Crimson Staff Writers
A s soon as she took office, University President Drew G. Faust wanted to make something clear. “I’m not the woman president of Harvard. I’m the president of Harvard,” Faust proclaimed at a news conference held the afternoon of her confirmation as the University’s 28th president. The statement reflected her determination early on to make clear her presidency would be more than just a nod to gender equity. Reflecting on those words 11 years later, Faust said she did not—and still does not—think she should be considered a “special category.” “The way it came to sit in my mind was, there are various sports records where somebody gets an asterisk because they have this many home runs
but it was a longer season, or there’s some special dispensation so it doesn’t really count—I didn’t want to be the president with an asterisk,” Faust said in an interview in Dec. 2017. “I want to be as powerful, as effective, as respected, taken as seriously, as any man.” Nonetheless, after more than a decade at Harvard’s helm, Faust—who announced last summer she will step down this June—sees her role a bit differently. Given white men had occupied the University’s highest office for 371 years prior to her selection, Faust said she soon realized her appointment held a special significance for girls and women around the world. She realized being the “woman president” didn’t necessarily mean relinquishing her authority. “It became very clear to me when I started getting all these letters from girls all around the world about how much it meant that I was president of Harvard, and I thought there’s a
See faust Page 3
Elena M. Ramos—Crimson Designer
HKS to Continue Financial Aid Push
Winthrop Vandals May Face Discipline
By Alexandra A. Chaidez Crimson Staff Writer
Graduate School of Education
Inside this issue
The Monroe C. Gutman Library is a popular study spot for Harvard Graduate School of Education students. Soumyaa Mazumder --CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER
Harvard Today 2
News 3
Editorial 6
Sports 8
Today’s Forecast
As Harvard nears the completion of its record-setting capital campaign, Dean of the Kennedy School Douglas W. Elmendorf reported the school has raised more than $660 million, though he said he will continue to prioritize fundraising for financial aid. By March 2017, the Kennedy School had raised roughly $580 million, surpassing its original $500 million goal. The University-wide capital campaign is set to end in June 2018, but Elmendorf said the school needs more money for its financial aid program to ensure that HKS programs are accessible to students from all income backgrounds. “For all of the progress we made, we still have talented people who have trouble affording to come here so we want to make that possible,” Elmendorf said. In the last few years, the Kennedy
See HKS Page 5 Mostly Sunny High: 30 Low: 17
By William S. Flanagan and Katherine E. Wang Crimson Staff Writers
After repeated reports of “vandalism, theft, and destruction of property,” Winthrop House administrators sent multiple emails to House residents condemning the perpetrators and warning of potential consequences. Linda D. Chavers, Winthrop House resident dean, sent an email to students Sunday afternoon formally addressing the “recurring incidences [sic]” in the third floor bathrooms of Standish Hall, one of three residential halls within the house. “This is unacceptable and just plain disappointing,” Chavers wrote. “It’s frustrating that anyone could be so disrespectful to our House staff. So I’ll remind you that this type of behavior is not going to be tolerated and can be grounds for formal discipline.”
See Winthrop Page 3
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HARVARD TODAY
thursday | february 8, 2018
FOR Lunch
FOR DINNER
American Style Beef Stroganoff
Chicken Dumplings
Teriyaki Chicken with Scallions and Garlic Grilled 3 Cheese Sandwich
Molasses, Soy Glazed Pork Loin with Sesame Seeds Cajun Blackened Tofu
around the ivies Sexual Assault Trial of Former Yale Student to Begin This Week The trial of former Yale student Saifullah Khan, who was accused of sexual assault during his senior year in Nov. 2015, will begin with jury selection on Thursday, according to the Yale Daily News. In Oct. 2017, the judge declared a mistrial due to the Yale Police Department’s late disclosure of notes from interviews of witnesses. The immigration status of Khan, a citizen of Afghanistan who had studied at Yale on an F-1 visa, has been in “jeopardy” for over two years. The case is slated to begin on Feb. 26, with a verdict likely expected by mid-March.
At Columbia, Men of Color Discuss Experiences at Panel
Harvard Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study Located at 10 Garden Street, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study offers valuable resources for students. Soumyaa Mazumder— CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER
Happy thursday, harvard!
will mostly be in the high 20s and low 30s. Also expect slippery conditions from yesterday’s snow and rain.
Welcome to Thursday, Harvard. By now your hearts should be hardened against the Patriots’ loss, or your excitement should be tempered if you’re an Eagles fan, so it’s time to get on with it.
EVENTS
In the Atmosphere… It might be sunny but temperatures
Inside The Panama/Paradise Papers Investigations The IOP will be hosting an event from 6-7:15 p.m. concerning the documents, and there will be many experts in attendance. This is your chance to ask those Paradise Paper
in the real world Budget Deal Reached In a groundbreaking moment senators on both sides of the aisle led by Schumer and McConnell have agreed to a new budget agreement that would increase government spending. However, the bill is expected to face heavy opposition in the House of Representatives.
questions to which you’ve been dying to know the answers. CSA Winter Soiree CSA is providing free opportunities to eat and drink, so what more can you ask for? This time they’re holding a classy wine and cheese night starting at 8:30 p.m. in Ticknor Lounge. Sophie G. Garrett Crimson Staff Writer
Men of various positions on campus - from student, to alumni, to staff - spoke at a panel: “The Ivy League and Male of Color Experience.” This was Columbia’s first event in its history to delve into the experience of men of color on campus. Panelists explained they experienced barriers related to their identities in an institution that was formerly very homogenous. They also described the struggle of maintaining balance in speaking up for their community versus being their community’s spokesperson. One student said “poor,” “stupid,” and “nothing more than an athlete” are the most common stereotypes of black men on campus.
Cornell Professor Awarded 250,000 Euro Prize by German Government The German government and the Humboldt Foundation is honoring a Cornell anthropology professor, Prof. Annelise Riles, with a hefty sum of 250,000 Euros for her studies on the culture of law and legal institutions. Her research primarily dives into the United Nations, other international organizations, and social activists in other countries working to change the law. On September 12, Prof. Riles will officially receive her award in Germany.university has never rescinded an honorary degree, and the subject is not under active discussion.
datamatch Datamatch, a free matchmaking service originally created by the Harvard Computer Society in 1994, has expanded to include Columbia, Barnard, Wellesley, and Brown University students. Soumyaa Mazumder — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER
Military Parade Met with Opposition Shockingly enough, D.C. officials have negatively responded to Trump’s call for a military parade in the nation’s capital. Officials are mainly concerned with the hypothetical parade’s impact on city infrastructure and budget, in addition to the symbolic message such a parade would convey.
Bad Weather to Continue Apparently bad weather has a scientific cause (we always thought it was just a middle finger from the sky itself), so read up on it here. Luckily for us, the Boston area will only be caught on the fringes of a new big bad weather system, so we won’t be seeing the worst of it.
WAIting at the dot
The Harvard Crimson The University Daily, Est. 1873 Derek G. Xiao, President Hannah Natanson, Managing Editor Nathan Y. Lee, Business Manager 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.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
Staff for This Issue
“They’re perfectly willing to go along with the Trump administration when it affects their bottom line.”
Night Editor Junina Furigay ’19
Andrew B. Donnelly, Union Organizer
CORRECTIONS A previous version of the Feb. 7 article “Datamatch Expands to Three More Colleges” incorrectly indicated that Wellesley College had not secured any partnerships with local eateries for its version of Datamatch. In fact, Wellesley partnered with local eatery Truly Yogurt. 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.
Design Editor Diana C. Perez ’19
Assistant Night Editors Editorial Editor Cristian D. Pleters ’19 Andrea M. Bossi ’21 William S. Flanagan ‘20 Photo Editors Iulianna C. Taritsa ’20 Story Editors Brenda Lu ‘20 Brittany N. Ellis ’19 Hannah Natanson ’19 Sports Editor Mia C. Karr ’19 Claire E. Parker ’19 Joseph W. Minatel ’21 Kenton K. Shimozaki ‘19 Allison W. Steinbach ’19
The Harvard Crimson | february 8, 2018 | page 3
Faust Looks Back On Legacy as First Woman Pres. FAUST From Page 1 special responsibility for me here to demonstrate that this is possible,” Faust said in December. “I wanted to be the president of Harvard, but I recognized that there was this kind of parallel track where I was being the woman president of Harvard in a way that mattered.” From then on, Faust made a point of visiting girls’ schools when traveling internationally, according to Christine M. Heenan, who worked closely with Faust as the former Vice President for Harvard Public Affairs and Communications for six years. “In Beijing, in Tokyo, in Africa, she would speak about leadership and about believing in yourself and about aspiring to what you want to do and she did that very seriously,” Heenan said. Throughout her presidency, Faust has placed considerable emphasis on equality of opportunity, which, according to Heenan, stems partly from her upbringing as the only girl among her brothers. “She grew up both experiencing opportunities that were open to the males in her family that weren’t open to her, but also knowing how to navigate in a world dominated by men,” Heenan said. “She came away from that both with a sense of the opportunity that had yet to be unlocked through creating more opportunity for women and also with a lot of skill and aplomb in how to navigate in a world dominated by men.” From her Mass. Hall office, Faust made a concerted effort to increase the diversity of the student body, expand the University’s financial aid program, and advocate for undocumented students under Trump’S administration. Helen Haste, a visiting professor of Education at the Graduate School
of Education, said that Faust’s “forward-looking” vision brought the University into the 21st century. “I think Professor Faust brought Harvard into that kind of world where issues of contemporary and social importance were discussed openly and addressed and I think she’s done a great job of that,” Haste said. ASSUMPTIONS Faust recalls the world of academia she stepped into as a young professor at the University of Pennsylvania in 1975 as one marked by “repartée and assumptions” about women that Faust likened to those in the television series “Mad Men.” “People made remarks about women, people assumed things about women, and it was a commitment that you had to affirmatively have to kind of maintain your dignity in the face of that,” Faust said. Four decades later, widespread allegations of workplace harassment have brought enduring gender power imbalances to the fore. Sexual harassment allegations have taken down powerful men in the media, government, and corporate worlds. The stream of accusations, which began with allegations against Hollywood titan Harvey Weinstein in Oct. 2017, catalyzed the social media campaign asking women to post stories of sexual harassment with the hashtag #MeToo. Though the field has changed quite a bit since the beginning of Faust’s career, academia, too, has seen some effects of the #MeToo movement, albeit muffled ones. Harvard saw a 20 percent increase in sexual harassment complaints filed with Office of Dispute Resolution in the wake of the Weinstein scandal, according to University Title IX administrators. Alongside that uptick, the Uni-
Winthrop Threatens Vandals with Action winthrop From Page 1 Chavers also noted HUPD had been contacted. Ronald S. Sullivan Jr. and Stephanie Robinson, Winthrop’s faculty deans, sent a more extensive email to Winthrop residents Monday afternoon, citing other instances of “vandalism” to Standish Hall in addition to those in the third floor bathrooms. According to the email, unidentified perpetrators threw toilet paper out of the hall’s windows to litter the courtyard below and also stole a wetsuit from one of the restrooms. “Never in our eight years serving as Masters and, then, Faculty Deans have we experienced the spate of disrespect to Winthrop House, its students, and their personal property,” Sullivan and Robinson wrote. “The foregoing is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.” Like Chavers, Sullivan and Robinson also mentioned that HUPD had been notified and added that disciplinary action would take place immediately if the responsible individuals do not come forward. The faculty deans gave the perpetrators, and those with knowledge of the incidents, 24 hours to speak up or face the revocation of housing privileges and referral to the Administrative Board, the College’s primary disciplinary body. “If our investigation or that of HUDP [sic] uncovers the responsible
parties or those with knowledge of the afore-described misdeeds, and those persons had not come forward on their own accord, we will immediately revoke your housing privileges and simultaneously refer the matter to the Administrative Board, with our strongest recommendation for sanctions,” the Winthrop faculty deans wrote. Standish Hall resident Jacob N. Russell ’19 said he heard about the events through the deans’ emails. He added he was surprised by the “strict” nature of the messages. “Normally if you get an email from the House Master, it’s like ‘have a safe winter break,’ or something along those lines,” Russell said, referring to Sullivan and Robinson. “It’s definitely pretty big to get an email from them just basically letting everyone know that this is unacceptable, and that HUPD will get involved if necessary.” Russell also said that, given Winthrop House recently underwent renovation, “you would think that people treat it with a bit more respect.” Fellow resident Sruthi Palaniappan ’20 said she saw the vandalism firsthand Sunday. ‘They had taken the bottles of shampoo, conditioner, and completely just squirted out everything that was in there,” Palaniappan said. “My retainer was gone, and my very expensive toothbrush was gone, and it didn’t seem necessary at all.”
versity is currently facing three separate Title IX investigations from the federal government. The cases stem from complaints filed with the US Department of Education’s Office of Civil rights in 2014, 2016, and 2017, alleging that various Title IX offices at the University mishandled sexual harassment claims in ways that amount to sex discrimination. In a University-wide email sharing an annual report by the Office of Dispute Resolution and the Title IX Office on sexual assault prevention and response in Dec. 2017, Faust brought up the #MeToo movement and condemned sexual harassment. “Sexual harassment and sexual assault degrade human dignity, and they have no place at Harvard. The powerful forces of presumption and hierarchy shape our lives and our communities in profound ways,” Faust wrote. “Over the past few months, this reali ty has been underscored by revelation after revelation of sexual misconduct by individuals across the country, and we have witnessed an unprecedented movement on social media and elsewhere to share experiences, seek support, and pursue justice.” More recently, at a Faculty meeting Tuesday, Faust emphasized the importance of using the available resources on campus and urging “members of our community to both speak and listen.” “With the emergence of the #MeToo movement, we’ve been made highly aware of how widespread incidents of sexual harassment are,” Faust said. “Sexual harassment violates fundamental values of justice and fairness. It threatens our efforts to build an environment where everyone can learn and flourish.” A WOMAN AT THE TOP Some hypothesize that academia’s
entrenched hierarchies help explain the #MeToo movement’s relatively muted manifestation to date, given they can inhibit women from speaking out and can help hide harassers. “I think in a way, harassers can hide better here, because the power structures are so deeply embedded,” History of Science and Women, Gender, and Sexuality lecturer Leena M. Akhtar told Fifteen Minutes, The Crimson’s magazine. Harvard has made strides towards mitigating gender disparities under Faust, according to Judith D. Singer, the Senior Vice Provost for Faculty Development and Diversity. Singer said Faust’s work on gender issues began before she stepped into Massachusetts Hall. During her years as the dean of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Faust made improving the status of women at the University a priority. And Singer said Faust worked to establish the Radcliffe Institute not only as a place for advanced study, but also as a forum for celebrating women in the United States. “That has been part of her research agenda and part of her administrative agenda for her entire time at Harvard,” Singer said. Prior to her presidency, Faust oversaw the efforts of two campus task forces on women in 2005: one University-wide group and another focused on science and engineering. Those committees recommended creating Singer’s office, funding for recruitment programs, and enacting substantial changes to childcare support and maternity leave policies. The Faculty Development and Diversity Office now runs recruitment and talent-spotting training programs with Harvard’s various schools. The University also now spends over $1
million each year on subsidizing childcare costs for its faculty and has policies providing maternity leave to both male and female employees, according to Singer. And Harvard has created a procedure for making tenure track extensions available to individuals who must take maternity leave. “As the chair of the task forces on women, she put in place even before she was president a whole set of activities in motion that when she became president she was able to continue,” Singer said. “It is a quite clear part of her agenda to diversify the faculty both with respect to gender and with respect to race and ethnicity.” The standing of women at Harvard has changed noticeably beyond just the numbers, Singer said. She recalled a conversation she once had with a longtime male dean at the University. Despite this progress, significant gaps in female leadership at the University remain. Only two of Harvard’s 15 deans are female, and only 5.4 percent of tenured faculty and 13.6 percent of tenure-track faculty of are women of color. Still, Singer said she thinks Faust’s presidency will have a lasting impact on the University’s quest for gender parity. In Nov. 2016, some professors prepared an internal report showing the retention rate for women faculty in science, engineering, and mathematics departments at Harvard is almost 20 percent lower than it is for male faculty. Still, Singer said she thinks Faust’s presidency will have a lasting impact on the University’s quest for gender parity. “She’s leaving a different Harvard,” Singer said. “There’s nothing like having a woman at the top to say that women can lead.”
UC Reps Praise New Electronic Voting System, With Some Reservations By JONAH S. bERGER Crimson Staff Writer
T wo weeks after the Undergraduate Council transitioned to an anonymous voting system for most pieces of legislation, representatives say the change means they can more freely vote their conscience, even if it may lead to less transparency. Under the new system, each representative votes for resolutions, motions, and amendments with an electronic clicker. While the electronic system used by the UC does alloW vote tracking, UC Secretary Jackson C. Walker ’21 said individual members of the Council’s votes will not be tracked. The clickers will replace hand and voice votes, which comprised the primary voting methods for most legislation last year, according to Council Rules Committee Chair Wilfried J. Zibell ’21. Roll-call voting can still be employed if motioned for by a Council member and agreed to by a one-fourth vote of the body, Zibell said. In addition, certain votes—including constitutional amendments and changes to bylaws—will use roll-call votes, per UC policy. Representatives said they largely support the anonymous voting method compared to hand and voice votes because they feel reduced pressure to
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conform with the majority. “I think that this new clicker voting system has made it even more comfortable for people to vote independently and to kind of think their own mind,” said Sruthi Palaniappan ’20, a Winthrop House Representative. “I have seen a few instances where maybe people are influenced by what they see around them in terms of hand votes.” Some Council members acknowledged, though, that the new system
It’s important to be responsible to our constituents. Wilfried J. Zibell ‘21 UC Rules Committee Chair
may decrease the transparency of the UC as a whole. “I think that it’s important to be responsible to our constituents, the people who voted for us,” Zibell said. “I would much prefer if...voting records were made public, and I think that taking votes you can be held accountable to is something that’s very important.” Lowell House Representative Michael Scherr ’20 argued that floor de-
bates before voting will allow observers to maintain a “pulse” on the Council and that the benefits of the anonymous system far outweigh the costs. “It’s not as if, if a representative feels strongly one way or the other, people won’t know about it,” Scherr said. “It’s more those people who were torn in between are now going to be empowered to vote where they want to vote.” As secretary, Walker is responsible for deciding whether or not a piece of legislation has the requisite number of votes to pass. He said the electronic system will provide more precise vote totals and will prevent unnecessary counting errors. While individual members’ votes will not be tracked under the new system, the vote totals will remain publicly available on the UC website. In an emailed statement, UC President Catherine L. Zhang ’19 defended the new voting system. “Prior to using electronic voting, the only votes that would be placed on the public record were roll call votes,” Zhang wrote. “Electronic voting gives us the exact number of council members who vote “Aye,” “Nay,” and “Oye.” “Making these numbers public is just one of the many initiatives we are doing to follow-through on our promise of transparency,” she added.
In Capital Campaign, GSE Passes $250 Million By sarah j. hong Crimson Staff Writer
The Harvard Graduate School of Education beat its $250 million capital campaign fundraising goal in March 2017, according to the school’s Senior Associate Dean for Development and Alumni Relations Daphne N. Layton. Harvard’s University-wide capital campaign launched in Sept. 2013, with each of the individual schools kicking off their own fundraising efforts, too. As of June 2017, the University had raised $8 billion, shattering its original $6.5 billion fundraising goal. The School of Education campaign amassed contributions from over 8,000 donors, 81 percent of whom are alumni. Layton noted that—because most School of Education graduates are educators—gifts from alumni represent only 3 percent of the total dollars raised in the campaign. “Three quarters of our campaign total comes from foundations and individual donors outside Harvard who are supporting our faculty and our strategic initiatives because they believe HGSE will cultivate the leaders and innovators the field needs, and generate new knowledge to solve education’s most pressing problems,” Layton wrote in an emailed statement. Layton largely credited the campaign’s success to the leadership of Dean James E. Ryan, work of the
school’s research centers and faculty, and GSE students’ “passion.” “The funds we have raised during the campaign have enabled the launch of many new initiatives that further HGSE’s mission and extend our impact in the world,” Layton wrote. Though the campaign has been a success for the School of Education, it has also had to overcome unique challenges specific to the school. “It is correspondingly hard to find donors who will give the institution unrestricted funds, or gifts for core priorities like faculty chairs, financial aid, and facilities—which ultimately are critical to our ability to thrive in the long term,” Layton wrote. Regardless of the school’s success in the capital campaign, Layton said the School of Education still has unmet needs—particularly related to student financial aid and endowed professorships—and plans to continue fundraising past the campaign’s conclusion in June 2018. Fernando M. Reimers, a professor of international education at the School of Education, agreed the institution still has a ways to go in achieving its mission for the future. “The school has ambitious goals to meet and a very important mission to advance the field of education,” Reimers wrote in an email. To do, this more resources are needed for research and even more, he said.
Page 4 | february 8, 2018 | The Harvard Crimson
After Years, HMS Building Nameless By Luke W. vrotSOS Crimson Staff Writer
As it enters its fifteenth year of operation, the Medical School’s New Research Building is long past new but has yet to be named after a donor or prominent graduate. The building, on the Medical School’s Longwood Campus in Boston, cost $260 million when built in 2003. This New Research Building is not Harvard’s first. In 1992, Harvard opened a $57 million facility with the same moniker, but that building earned a real name the next year, recognizing a $20 million gift from New York businessman Warren Alpert. While parts of the current New Research Building have been named after Medical School affiliates, the building itself still retains its original placeholder designation despite over a decade of use. At the time, it was the largest structure Harvard ever built, measuring 525,000 square feet. More than 800 researchers work inside the building, which houses the Medical School’s genetics department and the department of microbiology and immunobiology. It also contains a fitness center, café, courtyard, and auditorium. Chairs in the auditorium can be named for a $10,000 donation to the school. Philanthropy experts say there are many reasons why a large building on a university campus could remain nameless for an extended period of time. Bob Carter, chairman of a Florida-based fundraising consulting firm, said the University might be waiting to name the building after a donor who could help fund renovations or other
funding needs. “They must be in the hunt somewhere for a name,” he said. He explained the easiest time to secure a name for a new building falls before construction is finished, given this allows the university to lure donors with the prospect of groundbreaking research taking place at a facility named in their honor. Carter also said it is possible the Medical School could not find a donor “at the right level.” The cost of emblazoning your name on a building typically comprises half the price of construction, he said. The University’s website offered to sell naming rights to the building for $50 million in 2013 and 2014, but this opportunity no longer appears on the list of naming opportunities. Gene R. Tempel, former dean of Indiana University’s Lilly School of Philanthropy, said it used to be common practice for universities to name buildings after donors. He added, though, there has been a slight shift away from the custom in recent years. “Among younger donors today, there’s just a lot less interest in naming buildings than [before],” he said. In an emailed statement, Harvard spokeswoman Gina Vild did not give a reason for the building’s 15-year unnamed status. Rather, she pointed to several gifts the school received in recent years and the Medical School’s fundraising success as part of its capital campaign. As of December, the school had achieved 96% of its fundraising goal of $750 million, which has been used to establish other programs.
Gordon Hall of Medicine, an administrative building at Harvard Medical School, sits overlooking the HMS’ Longwood campus. Another building, the New Research Building, has not yet been named after a donor. MEGAN M. ROSS—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER
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The Harvard Crimson | February 8, 2018 | page 5
Kunis Urged Pudding’s Change Urban Planners to Study Allston Transit kunis From Page 1
members that day, according to the two individuals, who spoke only on the condition of anonymity. Hours after the meal in Harvard Square, Pudding undergraduate president Amira T. Weeks ’18 mounted the stage in Farkas Hall—the Pudding’s longtime campus digs—and declared the group would open its cast to women starting in fall 2018, breaking with almost 200 years of precedent. Weeks read aloud a letter from former Pudding President Andrew L. Farkas ’82 disclosing the policy shift. Farkas wrote in his letter that the Pudding had decided to go co-ed “some time ago” and chose to keep the decision “absolutely silent” until the Woman of the Year celebrations. But up until the lunch in Parsnip, almost no members of the company knew or thought the co-ed policy would be debuted during the festivities Jan. 25, according to the two individuals. Representatives for Kunis did not respond to repeated requests for comment. In an emailed statement, Farkas pointed to the letter Weeks read onstage. “My letter speaks for itself and is factual in the extreme,” Farkas wrote. “Anything to the contrary would be an inaccurate statement of fact.” Weeks directed a request for comment to the Pudding’s graduate board. Kunis sat down for lunch at Parsnip, a white-walled farm-to-table restaurant located across an alleyway from the Pudding’s social clubhouse, with undergraduate members as well as adults employed by the theatrical group. Soon after arriving, the actress— who dined on winter chicory salad, farm-roasted chicken, and a brownie sundae while sipping a glass of Chardonnay, according to Parsnip staff— started asking her lunchmates how they felt about accepting women as cast members, the two individuals
said. Since its inception in 1844, the Pudding has retained an all-male cast of performers, though women have long held positions on other boards like business and technology. The vast majority of those surveyed at the table said they wanted to see women on cast, the two individuals said. Kunis stopped asking when she got halfway around the table, according to the individuals. Instead, she asked the group why the decision to go co-ed had not yet been made and publicly announced. She also asked who had final say over the Pudding’s gender policies, the two individuals said. After attendees pointed to the graduate board, Kunis stepped out of earshot of those sitting at the table and
I knew that this was going to happen, a version of this, and maybe this was something they’ve been talking about for a long time. Mila Kunis
HPT Woman of the Year phoned at least one member of the board, according to the two individuals. It is unclear exactly what Kunis said on the call. Later that day—after she had been hailed as the Woman of the Year and after Weeks made the official co-ed announcement—Kunis said at a press conference she would not have attended the festivities had the Pudding not
debuted its new policy. “I wouldn’t be here otherwise,” she said. Kunis also told reporters she had advance notice of the move. “I knew that this was going to happen, a version of this, and maybe this was something they’ve been talking about for a long time,” she said. “I don’t want that to be taken away from the students, the infrastructure. They’ve been fighting for this, and they have wanted this, and they’re the reason this happened.” Women on campus first began auditioning to join the Pudding’s all-male cast in 2015, with no success then or in the years since. In Sept. 2016, at least 86 Pudding alumni signed a petition urging the group to end its all-male casting practices. Following the Pudding’s announcement of its new casting policy, undergraduate women across campus vowed to audition for the cast next year. Some said they appreciated what they called Kunis’s support for the Pudding’s co-ed move. In the days leading up to the Woman of the Year celebrations, Kunis garnered negative attention from at least one national media outlet calling on her to turn down the Pudding’s award given her past advocacy for women’s rights. Kunis responded to this criticism at the press conference Jan. 25. “If you’re going to ask someone to not show up, it’s a pretty weak stance to take,” Kunis said. “The smarter thing [to] ask me of would’ve been to take a stance. Backing down is not taking a stance.” Staff writer Michael E. Xie can be reached at michael. xie@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @MichaelEXie1. Staff writer Caroline S. Engelmayer can be reached at caroline.engelmayer@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @cengelmayer13
By Truelian Lee and Jacqueline M. Patel Crimson Staff Writers
Boston’s urban planning agency will pursue a large-scale study of Allston transit in response to locals’ concerns about new transportation development and traffic congestion. The planned short-term and longterm study will address concerns about traffic flow and propose alternative transportation models, particularly in the face of upcoming development plans in Allston—including Harvard’s. The University officially filed plans to expand its campus into Allston in Dec. 2017; its science and engineering complex is scheduled to open in the fall of 2020. During an Allston community meeting last month, residents shared their worries that the University’s plans “hugely privileged” vehicular over pedestrian transit, adding pressure to an already strained transit system. Gerald Autler, a senior project manager at the Boston Planning and Development Agency, first brought up the idea of a transit study at an Allston community meeting in January. The BPDA decided at a Monday meeting, though, to split up the proposed study into separate short-term and long-term reviews. The study will be completed in conjunction with Massachusetts Department of Transportation. According to Autler, the short-term study aims to examine opportunities for transit improvement in the near future and during the upcoming development of West Station—a proposed commuter rail station connecting Allston to downtown Boston and the surrounding area. In Jan. 2018, Harvard pledged $50 million to fund approximately half the costs of the station. “There’s huge amounts of develop-
mental potential, but [Allston] lacks the richness of transit resources you see in some other parts of the city,” Autler said. “I think people see that in order to see the area realize its full potential in terms of development—which means housing and jobs and neighborhoods for the city—we need to address these transportation challenges, and we need to address them in the shorter-term and longer-term,” he added. Autler said the short-term study will examine ways to improve existing transit options and alleviate traffic pressures. In particular, the study will focus on bus lines, Autler said “Some of the things we want to look at include tweaking existing bus lines,” he said. “Maybe the start point and the endpoint can be changed so that they are more effectively serving community populations.” Autler also proposed the upcoming transit study at several recent town meetings to address the ongoing transportation concerns of local residents. Harry E. Mattison, an Allston resident, said he agrees something must be done to address traffic problems in the neighborhood. “Transportation in Allston is big mess, and it’s only getting worse as Harvard and other people develop, and as more people are brought in everyday,” he said. At the same time, Mattison said he is weary of city organizations conducting transportation studies. He said Allston has been the subject of several such reviews, including ones in 1998 and 2009, and that he thinks these studies have not led to concrete results. “I think it’s nice that the city is doing a study, but Allston is a regional traffic bottleneck today, and it’s getting worse and worse, so we need to do more than just to study things,” he said.
Smith Says New Tax HKS to Continue Push for HLS Forms May Constrain Projects Increasing Financial Aid Workshops With Thai Institute smith From Page 1
Faculty of Arts and Sciences, which receives almost half of its income from the endowment. “It will have an impact on us,” Smith said. “It is taking money we could’ve used for academic programs, could’ve used for financial aid, could’ve used for a bunch of other things we try to accomplish here.” According to Smith, administrators are still working to understand the bill’s impacts in detail. In the meantime, Smith said he plans to refrain from making “long-term commitments.” “I just don’t know how big of an impact this is going to be and how badly it’s going to hit us. So we’re trying to do things in the short term to continue to innovate and push our programs forward,” Smith said. “If you came in and asked me to commit a whole bunch of money for the next ten years, I’d say, ‘Come back and talk to me in six months.’” Other top administrators spoke out against the bill. At a Faculty meeting on Tuesday, University President Drew G. Faust called the bill a cause for concern. She wrote that the tax would affect the University’s ability to fund financial aid in a December emailed statement. “The provision will constrain the
resources that enable us to provide the financial aid that makes college more affordable and accessible and to undertake the inquiries that yield discoveries, cures, innovation and economic growth,” Faust wrote. Provost Alan M. Garber ’76 wrote in a November email to Harvard affiliates that an earlier version of the bill “would broadly reduce benefits that support higher education.” The FAS funds several major endeavors, like an ongoing effort to renovate the College’s upperclassmen Houses, and provides resources for Harvard’s financial aid program. Recent lackluster endowment returns have strained the division’s budgets. According to last year’s FAS fiscal report, the endowment created a “larger than budgeted deficit once again.” This financial shortfall was one reason FAS has decided to slow down the House Renewal Project, Smith wrote in the report. Smith said on Wednesday, though, that the faculty is working to ensure that current ongoing projects like House renewal won’t be impacted. “We’re committed to doing House renewal,” Smith said. “We’re trying to figure out the best ways to make it work without doing something completely crazy that cuts into the financial aid system.”
hks From Page 1
School made major renovations to its campus and added 40 new fellowship programs as a result of its fundraising efforts, according to Elmendorf. “The Campaign for Harvard Kennedy School is allowing us to expand financial aid for our students, enhancing our student recruiting efforts and allowing our graduates more opportunities to choose public service as their career path,” Kennedy School spokesperson Doug Gavel wrote in an email. Gavel wrote that 52 percent of Kennedy School students currently receive financial aid. In 2017, the University raised $1.28 billion, surpassing all other American universities for the second straight year. Since the campaign launched in 2013, the initiative has raked in over $8 billion, as of last June. While Kennedy School students said they support an expansion of the program, they added they want further reforms including fully-funded scholarships. Thomas B. Stephens, a mid-career student pursuing a masters in public administration degree, said he was encouraged to apply for a Kennedy School fellowship after accepting his admission offer to Harvard.
Even after winning the Native American Public Service Fellowship, though, Stephens said he needed to sell his house in order to have enough money to cover living expenses while at Harvard. “I was prepared and did sell my house in the process to have enough money to come to Harvard—but in the process I received the fellowship,” Stephens said. “The fellowship does not cover everything.” While Stephens said he was fortunate to have the financial support of his tribal government to fully fund him during his time at the Kennedy School, many students do not have the same financial support. Many students, he said, have to take out loans to afford their schooling— and the Kennedy School offers to help students repay educational loans. “The Dean remains committed to growing financial aid for our students through a variety of current and future fellowship and scholarship programs,” Gavel said. Stephens said Kennedy School graduates often have difficulty repaying loans because of the typical salaries offered in public service work. He said he thinks students should ideally be spared this burden. “I’m not going to be a rich man as far as financial capital,” Stephens said.
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By Edith M. Herwitz and Sonia Kim Crimson Staff Writers
The Institute for Global Law and Policy at Harvard Law School has partnered with the Thailand Institute of Justice to launch workshops focused on strengthening the rule of law and global sustainable development. The most recent collaboration, held in Bangkok last month, comprised three sessions designed for faculty and scholars titled “TIJ Workshop for Emerging Leaders on the Rule of Law and Policy,” “IGLP Workshop for Scholars,” and “Student Workshop for Next-Gen Global Leaders.” The workshops covered topics like the evolution of law, economic policy regulation, and social governance. While attending the initiatives, an international cohort of scholars and faculty discussed new ways of solving issues related to ongoing legal and policy debates throughout Asia. Law School professor David W. Kennedy, who serves as the director of the Institute for Global Law and Policy, said both institutes—at Harvard and in Thailand—bring something to the table in developing legal education around the world. “They [TIJ] offer their own programs and workshops for emerging leaders from the region and we [IGLP] provide them with some of the curriculum and offer them some of our faculty to help them implement their workshops,” Kennedy said. “It’s a two way street.” Founded in 2009, the Institute for Global Law and Policy works to develop new approaches to international law that can be used to tackle potential legal conflicts. Part of the institute’s mission is to facilitate international dialogue with academics. Established by the Royal Thai government in 2011, The Thailand Institute of Justice is a semi-private organization that promotes the rule of law through research on crime prevention and criminal justice. “The Institute for Justice is very committed to strengthening the rule of law and governmental accountability in the area in which it works and we join them in that,” Kennedy said. This year more than 120 people from 51 different countries were selected to attend the workshops, according to Kittipong Kittayarak, the executive director of the Thailand Institute of Justice, who also serves as permanent secretary of the Ministry of Justice. Kennedy underscored the importance of collaborative thinking. “We need new ideas and ideas matter for global governance,” Kennedy said. “We can’t think of them all on our own here, so what we need to do is engage people around the world who are thinking in new ways.”
EDITORIAL The Crimson Editorial board
The Harvard Crimson | February 8, 2018 | page 6
Climate Change Beyond Cambridge
Beyond Climate: A Student Perspective
U
E
University President Drew G. Faust announced Tuesday in an email to Harvard affiliates that the University will “seek to become fossil fuel free by 2050 by meeting [its] energy needs with sustainable sources.” The announcement comes in light of recent attention directed toward climate change both on campus and internationally. In her email, Faust wrote, “We have continued to witness the detrimental effects of climate change here in the United States and around the world.” To tackle this challenge, the University created a 10-year sustainability plan in 2008 and ultimately accomplished its emissions goals with the assistance of its task force on climate change. While Harvard’s increased sustainability may not significantly reduce global emissions, we commend the University for building off its previous success and taking action that will encourage other institutions to do the same. As a prominent institution of higher learning and fixture of the Boston area, Harvard’s ability to set precedent is a powerful tool to fight climate change in and of itself, as evidenced by Boston and Cambridge’s collaboration in the 2050 plan. We further support the University’s efforts to use its own progress in sustainability as a testing ground for future innovation. In her email, Faust described plans to “strengthen and expand” the Living Lab Research Initiative, whose efforts include bringing
together “multi-disciplinary teams of students and faculty on our campus and in neighboring communities to pilot innovative and creative solutions to the climate crisis.” Indeed, this initiative offers a model that showcases the practical applications of the newest research and innovations in sustainability, and, in addition to the rest of Harvard’s on-campus efforts, has the potential to inspire other universities and largescale institutions to seriously consider courses of action similar to Harvard’s 2050 plan. Although we commend these recent efforts and look forward to those stemming from Tuesday’s announcement, the University can best address climate change on a global scale by expanding the resources it dedicates to research on climate change and sustainable innovation. We applaud the efforts of the Climate Change Solutions Fund and the Harvard Global Institute, which—through Faust’s efforts—have dedicated more than $11 million to research that offers insights into fighting climate change. Eleven million dollars clearly represents significant investment on the University’s part, although it feels insufficient in light of, for instance, the $50 million the University has pledged to developing an Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority station in Allston, or the 36 percent decrease, by one estimate, that climate change will have on the country’s GDP per capita
By emily t. Broas, Aldís Elfarsdóttir , Piers I.I.O. MacNaughton, and CHARLOTTE C. WAGNER
by the end of the century. While Harvard should not bear sole responsibility for fighting climate change through research, its position as a leader of and role model for higher education should mandate a greater allocation of resources toward this task. Without increasing investments in climate change research, Harvard risks limiting its positive environmental impact to its own campus, which is completely insignificant when compared to the global problem of climate change. Given the conclusive evidence supporting the existence of anthropogenic climate change and its pernicious effects, Harvard must take advantage of every efficacious strategy to fight it. We have previously decried ineffective methods of fighting climate change, and we are glad to see the University take on this initiative for its presumably meaningful impact through both direct effects and influence in inspiring other institutions. Nevertheless, if the University aspires to be a true leader in the fight against climate change—as it should—it must devote much more to researching strategies to curb it. 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.
A Ph.D. Does Not A President Make Why a Ph.D. and tenure should be optional for number 29 Derek K. CHOI WHAT’s NEXT?
T
hree weeks ago, in one of the weirder things I’ve done in my short life, I stood for five hours outside the suburban home of Tracy P. Palandjian ’93, a member of the Harvard presidential search committee. I’m not a reporter by training, but I am an extra body and my phone has a camera, so I got drafted by the Newsies to stand in the street and take pictures of large black Secret Service-esque Chevy Suburbans that were driving up and down this leafy green Belmont neighborhood. I’ll be quite honest: I don’t know who was in those SUVs. (Until Dec. 31, I served as president of The Crimson, but now I am old and washed up and out of the loop, and so even if one of the reporters knows, I do not.) It doesn’t seem that hard to guess, however. Past presidential searches suggest that candidates are only invited to meet with larger segments of the search committee at a relatively advanced stage in the process, so it seems reasonable to suggest that the dozen people convened at Palandjian’s house were searchers. With some likelihood, the search committee is zeroing in on its top few choices. As they debate those final few, I’d like to make the case for being willing to break with some tradition: Specifically, that the corner office in Massachusetts Hall be the province of former deans and provosts, themselves former professors, and with Ph.D.s all. University President Drew G. Faust was the Dean of the Radcliffe Institute and an accomplished professor of history. Her predecessor, Lawrence H. Summers, was an economics professor. Before him was Neil L. Rudenstine, a professor of English who was a dean and provost at Princeton for decades, and before him was Derek C. Bok, the dean of Harvard Law School. There’s a certain elegance in this tradition. Like the citizen-soldier called up to defend their home, Ameri-
ca’s universities are led by the academics themselves, learned men and women who give up their scholarship for a few years to serve as dean or provost or even president. They know their roots, and they’re willing to fight for them. In some sense, this represents the actualized peak of faculty governance. Regardless of the ritualized food fights between administrators and professors, ultimately a faculty member governs. Yet today faculty governance seems on its deathbed thanks to administrative centralization and the Harvard Corporation, the University’s highest governing body, and it’s hard to think of any other major unit in American society that requires its leaders to have been drawn from its own ranks. Politics has been friendly to late-career entrants long before President Donald Trump. CEOs, too, hardly need have started from the bottom, for studios aren’t run by actors, nor airlines by pilots. Even in the military, that bastion of hierarchy, the philosophical commitment to civilian leadership runs deep. Don’t get me wrong: There’s nothing bad about having a former professor as president, and holding a Ph.D. should only ever be a plus. Yet I hope that is a secondary consideration to the skills needed for the job, regardless of from whence they’re found. Presidents are not deans. Though ultimately charged with the core academic mission of Harvard University—undoubtedly the most important objective—the president’s responsibilities are wider-ranging. The academic and curricular decisions of the schools have often historically fallen to Harvard’s many deans. Indeed, though perhaps sharing an appreciation for scholarship and the life of a professor, a future president-née-academic will only have expertise in a singular field, knowledge that cannot possibly expand to cover all of Harvard’s myriad schools, departments, faculties, and individuals. After all, the challenges and opportunities that Harvard faces today are not primarily academic in nature, but financial, governmental, and political. The trajectory of this institution is shaped, more so than by any academic decision, by the stewardship of its
The Harvard Crimson President Derek G. Xiao ’19 Managing Editor Hannah Natanson ’19 Business Manager Nathan Y. Lee ’19
budget, the performance of its endowment, and the success of its fundraising. Everything, quite obviously, is underpinned by money. Faculty hiring, the size of the student body, research funding, and even the success of the General Education program are all dependent on the budget. So much, too, depends on the University’s relationship with Washington. Financial woes are exacerbated by a recently-imposed endowment tax on universities. Harvard’s lawyers are busy responding to a Department of Justice investigation of the Admissions Office. The College’s sanctions on unrecognized single-gender social organizations, after surviving two committees, two faculty motions, and almost 20 months of campus sturm und drang, may well be ended, not by a vote of the Corporation but by an Act of the Congress. It makes sense that the searchers might have lobbying for Harvard as a key qualification. These questions are too important to outsource to the Development Office, Harvard Management Company, or the three-person Washington lobbying office. Perhaps that is one of the reasons the Corporation—a diverse body of academics, business leaders, lawyers, and ex-government types—has taken on a more active role. (It is more than a little surprising that the Corporation is willing to weigh in on where undergrads spend Saturday evenings.) To her credit, Faust has taken a relatively hands-on role with the highly successful capital campaign, a place where she said in 2014 that she was devoting half her time, and on advancing Harvard’s interests in D.C. It is good fortune that she seems to have been a good choice for the turbulent times through which she has led Harvard. But that happy coincidence of academic leadership and financial or governmental adroitness may not always occur, or if it does, it necessarily will occur more rarely. We need a firm, experienced, and knowledgeable hand on the tiller in uncertain times, whatever the romanticized elegance may be of a former dean learning the ropes. Derek K. Choi ’18, a former Crimson President, is a Government concentrator in Leverett House. His column appears on alternate Thursdays.
The University Daily, Est. 1873 Associate Managing Editors Mia C. Karr ’19 Claire E. Parker ’19
Blog Chairs Lydia L. Cawley ’20 Stuti Telidevara ’20
FM Chairs Marella A. Gayla ’19 Leah S. Yared ’19
Associate Business Managers Dahlia S. Huh ’19 Max W. Sosland ’19
Design Chairs Morgan J. Spaulding ’19 Simon S. Sun ’19
Multimedia Chairs Amy Y. Li ’20 Ellis J. Yeo ’20
Editorial Chairs Emmanuel R. R. D’Agostino ’19 Cristian D. Pleters ’19
Digital Strategists Caroline S. Engelmayer ’20 Jamie D. Halper ’20 Dianne Lee ’20
Sports Chairs Cade S. Palmer ’20 Jack R. Stockless ’19
Arts Chairs Mila Gauvini II ’19 Grace Z. Li ’19
Technology Chairs Nenya A. Edjah ’20 Theodore T. Liu ’20
ach time we eat a meal, throw out the garbage, or hop into a car, we participate in a global system that emits increasing amounts of greenhouse gases and air pollution into the atmosphere and directly fuels a feedback loop of environmental and social damage. Current climate science tells us that we have exceeded safe levels of greenhouse gas emissions. Present and future generations depend on us to build a resilient world in the face of the significant climate-driven changes that we are seeing in our lifetimes. Some of the largest companies and universities in the world have recognized that, by setting institutional greenhouse gas reduction goals, they can meet their ethical obligations and possess a competitive advantage in a future of constraints on carbon footprint. On Tuesday, Harvard recognized its own obligation and announced its new climate commitment: to be fossil fuel-neutral by 2026 and fossil fuWe are ready to el-free by 2050. hold the University As students on the Climate Change accountable to its Task Force who reccommitments. ommended these goals, we recognize that we bear the responsibility to build resilience, limit emissions, and mitigate damages, and we are ready to hold the University accountable to its commitments. To achieve fossil fuel neutrality by 2026, the University will need to aggressively reduce on-campus fossil fuel emissions and compensate its remaining fossil fuel emissions through off-campus emission reduction projects. By 2050, all energy heating, cooling, and powering the University’s facilities will have to come from fossil fuel-free energy sources. In addition, the University must significantly reduce the carbon footprint of its externally purchased services, including food, waste, air travel, and investments. We believe that all actions to mitigate emissions, direct or indirect, are equally crucial to Harvard’s achievement of a truly fossil fuel-free university. Much has changed since Harvard last convened a task force, in 2008, to establish its own emissions standards. While Harvard successfully achieved its 2008 goal of a 30 percent reduction of emissions from 2006 levels by 2016, it has become clear that we need to do more. The impacts of climate change are happening faster—and with greater impact—than scientists previously thought. Meanwhile, as a society, we lack basic awareness of the many ways we can limit the impact of the carbon footprint associated with our lifestyles. Harvard’s commitments are a promise to fight climate change and mitigate the social damages that extend beyond a single institution, consistent with global efforts to avoid the dangers associated with two degrees Celsius warming by 2100. As students affiliated with the College, Kennedy School, Business School, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, School of Public Health, and School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, we affirm that becoming fossil fuel-free is necessary in this endeavor. With each passing year, the trend in increasing global greenhouse gas emissions has continued, and more people suffer the impacts of extreme and unusual weather conditions and sea level rise. We experience the rapid melting of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets and record global temperatures year after year. It’s time to act. The damages do not stop at melting ice sheets and extreme weather conditions. Fossil fuel combustion releases other air pollutants, such as sulfur dioxide, oxides of nitrogen, and fine particulate matter, which have been shown to increase the frequency of asthma attacks, heart attacks, and premature mortality. By reducing energy use by 30 percent, Harvard is averting $10 million of health damages each year compared to 2006, but the health damages of are still conservatively estimated to be $25 million as of 2016 (estimated using CoBE, a tool that determines the health damages related to energy consumption). Our action on this front is overdue. While climate change is a global pollution problem, its effects are distributed unevenly at local and regional levels. Coastal and desert We believe that communities receive the brunt of the imHarvard has a pacts of sea-level rise and desertification. unique opportunity Toxic air pollutants to influence local from energy production and transportaand global fossil fuel tion affect the health emission and air of our local communities, and research pollution reduction has shown significant disparities in air quality between low- and high-income neighborhoods. As we learn more about the scale at which our impacts occur, we must target our interventions to meet diverse needs. We believe that Harvard has a unique opportunity to influence local and global fossil fuel emission and air pollution reduction strategies by following the Task Force’s recommendations. Cutting-edge and collaborative research allows Harvard to develop climate change solutions and address its impacts. Centrally, Harvard provides coursework and educational tools that enable students and community members to understand and actively respond to climate-related issues. We are encouraged by the growing number of applied science and policy courses available to students at all schools, including the threeyear Climate Change Living Lab course which seeks to develop off-campus emission reduction strategies that the University can use. Abiding by the mission of the College, “to educate the citizens and citizen-leaders for our society,” Harvard’s operational practices and policies can provide a model for other large, complex institutions to set and achieve their own goals. Above all, we believe that Harvard must conduct its decision-making with transparency to allow fossil fuel reduction and elimination strategies to advance along with current best practices. Such transparency ensures lessons learned can benefit local, regional, and global decision-makers and communities. As global citizens, we can all take climate action—and we must. We can start by taking responsibility for our daily choices about our food, travel, waste, and energy use. We can broaden our impact by holding our institutions accountable to act alongside us with the urgency and transparency the world deserves. Emily T. Broas is a third-year master’s student in Public Policy at the Kennedy School and in Business Administration at the Business School. Aldís Elfarsdóttir ’19 is an Environmental Engineering concentrator in Eliot House. Piers I.I.O. MacNaughton is a graduate of the School of Public Health. Charlotte C. Wagner is a third-year Ph.D. student in Environmental Science and Engineering at the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. They were the four students appointed to the University’s Climate Change Task Force.
The Harvard Crimson | February 8, 2018 | page 7
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Sports
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Harvard Will Return Home to Play Princeton and Penn MEN’S BASKETBALL By Henry Zhu Crimson Staff Writer
A weekend of the heavyweights. Harvard men’s basketball returns home to Lavietes Pavilion this weekend, clashing with Princeton on Friday night followed by Penn on Saturday afternoon. In its month-long stretch of games away from Cambridge, the Crimson (10-11, 5-1 Ivy League) gritted its way to late-game wins against Yale, Dartmouth, and Cornell. Only against Columbia was Harvard unable to fight back after squandering a halftime lead. Coach Tommy Amaker’s squad currently holds the second spot in the Ancient Eight after the first month of conference play. The group trails neither the Bulldogs nor the Tigers—preseason Ivy favorites—but rather the Quakers (16-11, 6-0), who have largely dominated their conference opponents up to this point. Penn was winless after the first six Ivy games last season, pointing at a complete program reversal for third-year coach Steve Donahue. Furthermore, the Quakers will come into this weekend as confident as ever, having just blown out Princeton (11-10, 3-3) on Tuesday night, 82-65. In that contest, five Quakers finished in double-digits on 53.6 percent shooting from the field. Senior guard Darnell Foreman was the lead man with 21 points and 5 takeaways, while Tigers junior guard Devin Cannady—Princeton’s offensive focal point—was held under 10 points for the first time since Dec. 23. With the loss, the Tigers now sit in a three-way tie for third place on the Ancient Eight leaderboard alongside Brown and Columbia. “I wish we are in a slightly different place than where we are in the standings, but I think you are what your record says that you are,” Princeton coach Mitch Henderson said. “So we got a lot of work to do, and I just ask the guys to tune out all the different stuff they are thinking about and zero in on each other.” For Amaker and the Crimson, both games will be likely must-wins if Harvard intends on competing for the No. 1 seed heading into the Ivy League Tournament. The Crimson was outdueled by both teams in last season’s final Princeton-Penn weekend, albeit after securing the No. 2 spot in the postseason tournament. This year, Harvard is the favorite
BIG 0 DOWN LOW After the Crimson fell to Columbia last Friday, sophomore forward Chris Lewis had a bounce-back performance the following evening against Cornell, recording a team-leading 17 points and three blocks in Harvard’s victory. HENRY ZHU—Crimson photographer
against the Tigers but stands in a rare predicament as the underdog against the Quakers on Saturday. “We’ve consistently talked about, through the years...about how important and how we think that the league is eventually won on Saturday nights,” Amaker said. “No matter what happens on Friday.” Complicating the weekend for the Crimson is the possibility it will again be without sophomore point guard Bryce Aiken, who re-injured his left knee in the final minutes of last Friday’s Columbia defeat. The Randolph, N.J., native had just logged his second straight game with more than 18 minutes of action for the first time since early December. Spectating in jogging clothes against Cornell, Aiken’s outlook is doubtful-at-best for this weekend. Sophomore guard Christian Juzang has averaged 11 points per game
in the three conference games Aiken has missed, particularly earning praise from Amaker for his defensive play. “We’ve been a very good defensive team as of late,” Amaker said. “[Juzang]’s been one of the key cogs when it comes to that so I’m really, really pleased with how he’s helped our team in areas that may not necessarily go on the stat sheet or headlines.” Against Princeton, Harvard’s improved defense will be put to the test against the three-headed threat of Cannady, junior guard Myles Stephens, and senior guard Amir Bell. All three guards enter the weekend with double-digit scoring averages, including 27- and 23-point performances from Cannady and Stephens, respectively, in last Saturday’s loss to Brown. Bell has elevated several non-scoring facets of the game, doubling his totals last year in both assists per game (3.9) and rebounds per game (5.4).
“Tough stretch but we have Miles, Amir, Devin, who have been through some really big games on the road,” Henderson said. “Sometimes when you go on the road things come together a little bit more, your focus tends to get a little more laser-like. I’m hopeful that will be true for us.” The following evening against Penn, Harvard sophomore Chris Lewis will need to maintain his defensive composure against sophomore forward AJ Brodeur, who has a particular knack for maneuvering his body around the rim to create scoring opportunities. Lewis was mired in foul trouble in the Jan. 27 game against Brown, limiting himself to just 15 minutes of play. The aforementioned Foreman and the team’s leading scorer, sophomore guard Ryan Betley, are also extremely aggressive in challenging opponents at the rim. Betley has gotten to the foul line seven times in the past three
games, while Foreman has reached the charity stripe eight times in that same span. The Crimson, nevertheless, has readied itself for various situations when foul trouble may be an issue. “We actually practice at times in those situations when a certain person has fouled out or a certain has four fouls, so they can hopefully get in the mindset of how to play in those moments,” Amaker said. “And that’s hopefully one of the reasons we talk always so much about our bench and our balance, that we can overcome it.” Evidently, Harvard will head into this weekend well-prepared for what is to be an exciting docket of home games. As the final two Ivy teams that Harvard has yet to face, Princeton and Penn will shed some light on the Crimson’s current postseason prospects. Staff writer Henry Zhu can be reached at henry.zhu@thecrimson.com.
Harvard Will Do Battle for Ivy League Driver’s Seat
BEN THERE, DONE THAT Sophomore guard Katie Benzan has reached the 20-point plateau in three straight games. The Wellesley, Mass., native is averaging seven assists over that
span and will look to continue facilitating this weekend against stingy defensive squads Penn and Princeton. LU SHAO—Crimson photographer WOMEN’S BASKETBALL By Joseph w. minatel Crimson Staff Writer
In an all-important weekend, Harvard women’s basketball will travel to Princeton, N.J., and Philadelphia, Penn., to take on the only other two teams in the Ivy League with just a single loss in a two-day battle for the top of the conference. The Crimson (13-6, 5-1 Ivy League) is coming off an impressive home winning streak of six straight games. Harvard has yet to lose in Lavietes Pavilion, posting a perfect 10-0 record at home this season. The team’s away record of 1-5, however tells a different story. Nevertheless, Harvard will hit
the road this weekend looking to take down Princeton (14-4, 4-1) and Penn (13-5, 4-1) for control of the conference. “The home stretch has been great. It’s really built our confidence,” senior co-captain Kirby Porter said. “One of things we’ve been emphasizing this week is that we don’t care where we’re playing, our mentality home and away should be the same by taking that energy from home and replicating it.” The Crimson hopes to flip the script against the two squads. The Tigers have swept Harvard in conference play for three straight years, with the Crimson’s last win over Princeton coming in January 2014. The Quakers have also swept Harvard three years in a row, and the Crimson has not won in Philadelphia in nearly six years, as its last
successful trip to Penn came in February 2012. This is not to say both rivalries have been completely one-sided, however. Harvard has taken the Tigers to overtime in each of the last two seasons, and the margin of victory between the two teams has not eclipsed 10 points since 2015. The Quakers, on the other hand, have seen an average margin of victory against the Crimson of 19 points in the last four matchups between the two teams. Decisive victories have become the norm for Penn, as it boasts a whopping plus-12.6 scoring margin on the year. While there is something to be said for history, Harvard doesn’t seem to care.
“One of the strengths of this team is we don’t care who [we’re] playing,” Porter said. “We have this mentality that we’re going to keep doing what we’re doing.” It is not easy to ignore the major implications of this weekend for all three squads. Each team sits atop the Ancient Eight with only one conference loss. Harvard is currently in first place by half a game, trailed closely by Princeton and Penn. The team that comes out of the weekend with the best record will be in the driver’s seat for the second half of the conference season, as the Tigers and Quakers both also host Dartmouth (12-7, 4-2). The Big Green are nipping at the heels of the three leaders in a close fourth place. Coach Kathy Delaney-Smith’s
group enters Friday’s contest at Princeton in peak form. The Crimson’s explosive offense has scored over 80 points in four straight games. Over the course of its dominant homestand, Harvard has averaged 82.5 points per game thanks to double-digit performances from six different players. “I think that says so much about our team,” Porter said. “It’s been our identity all year, we don’t care who’s scoring, and on any given night anyone can be the top scorer or performer.” In the team’s victory over Cornell, every single player saw the court—a further statement of the group mentality central to the Crimson’s success. The contributors included freshman forward Jadyn Bush, who recorded her first career double-double that night. Bush saw extended playing time due to injuries causing sophomore forward Jeannie Boehm and junior guard Sydney Skinner to leave the game. Despite the thin bench, Harvard’s offense did not slow down. “Our team is pretty deep and no matter who’s in the game,” senior guard Taylor Rooks said. “We always show the same amount of intensity from the start of the jump to the end of the game.” Harvard’s electric offense will encounter resistance this weekend in the form of the top two defenses in the Ivy League. Princeton allows the fewest points per game at 56.3, while Penn follows closely behind at 56.9. No other team in the conference allows fewer than 61 on an average night. “This weekend might be slower,” said Porter, referencing the defense-minded style of both upcoming opponents. “The key for us is staying on the same page on offense, not rushing our shots, and being confident in our shot selection.” Throughout the 2017-2018 campaign, the Crimson has been showcasing its offense talent, averaging 70.5 points per game this season. The versatile offense will face its toughest challenge yet in the stout defenses. “It comes down to us playing our game and staying composed by playing within ourselves,” Rooks said. Whether defense or offense prevails, Harvard will be looking to reverse the trends of the past in order to take control of first place. Staff writer Joseph W. Minatel can be reached at joseph.minatel@thecrimson.com.