THE UNIVERSITY DAILY, EST. 1873 | VOLUME CXLV, NO. 26 | CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS | FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2018
The Harvard Crimson HCFA’s actions represent both practical ineptitude and moral deficiency, but there is a real path to reform. EDITORIAL PAGE 8
Softball makes season debut at Citrus Classic Tournament in Florida. SPORTS PAGE 10
College Places HCFA on 12 Mo. ‘Probation’ Faust Continues Federal Advocacy By CAROLINE S. ENGELMAYER and MICHAEL E. XIE CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS
The Office of Student Life has placed religious group Harvard College Faith and Action on “administrative probation” for a year after the organization pressured a female member of its student leadership to resign in September following her decision to date a woman. College spokesperson Aaron M. Goldman announced the move to put HCFA on probation in an emailed statement sent to The Crimson Wednesday afternoon. “After a thorough review and finding that HCFA had conducted itself in a manner grossly inconsistent with the expectations clearly outlined in [the Office of Student Life’s] Student Organization Resource and Policy Guide, OSL has placed HCFA on a one year administrative probation,” Goldman wrote in the statement. Goldman did not specify how HCFA, the largest Christian fellowship on campus, had violated Office of Student Life “expectations.” In an emailed statement Wednesday, HCFA co-presidents Scott Ely ’18 and Molly L. Richmond ’18 were slightly more specific. “Earlier today, we met with an administrator who informed us that the College would place HCFA on probation, citing our relationship with Christian Union as well as
SEE HCFA PAGE 4
By KRISTINE E. GUILLAUME CRIMSON STAFF WRITER
A mid turmoil in Washington over immigration reform, Harvard administrators are doing “everything we can possibly think of” to push for legislation securing legal protections for undocumented students and staff, University President Drew G. Faust said in an interview earlier this month. “We are committed to our undocumented students and their security and safety and their ability to continue with their programs of study and likewise, the TPS individuals—many of whom are employees—have for the most part been in the United States for a very long time,” Faust said. Faust said earlier this month the University planned to communicate with the Massachusetts congressional delegation about the importance of passing definitive legislation on immigration. She pointed to an open letter penned by four Harvard Medical School students protected under Deferred Action
Harvard College Faith and Action occupies offices in a building on Massachusetts Avenue near Harvard Yard. CALEB D. SCHWARTZ—CRIMSON
SEE IMMIGRATION PAGE 6
PHOTOGRAPHER
Tax Will Limit Univ. Spending, Faust Says By WILLIAM L. WANG CRIMSON STAFF WRITER
The unprecedented federal tax on university endowments will likely have a “pretty significant” impact on Harvard’s ability to fund certain initiatives, though it is unlikely to change Harvard’s investment strategy, University President Drew G. Faust said in an interview earlier this month. The new tax—passed by Congress in December—requires universities with endowments greater than $500,000 per full-time student to pay 1.4 percent on investment gains. Harvard is among the 35 schools that could pay tens of millions in total taxes per year. According to an estimate by University Provost Alan M. Garber ’76 last November, Harvard would have paid $43 million if the tax was in effect in 2017. According to some business professors, the Harvard Management Company—stewards of the University’s $37.1 billion endowment—is unlikely to alter its investment strategy given the relatively low tax rate. While Faust said she didn’t expect the tax to have a “gigantic impact” on
the University’s investment strategy, she said the tax will “have a big impact on what those investments are able to fund.” “What [the endowment tax] will do is put constraints on our ability to fund the variety of undertakings that are central to our mission—financial aid and research, public programs, the variety of endeavors across the University,” Faust said. “Its ultimate impact will be on limiting the growth in the endowment, and the growth in the endowment is what funds the programs.” In 2017, the University gave over $561 million in total scholarships and other student awards. Faust said that since each of the University’s schools have “differential dependence on the endowment,” the excise tax will impact each school differently. Faust said the Divinity School, which relies heavily on the endowment, would be most affected. The School of Public Health—whose operating budget depends more on annual grants from NIH and other government agencies than on the
SEE ENDOWMENT PAGE 4
MIRROR IMAGE
Memorial Hall, home to Sanders Theatre and Annenberg Hall, is reflected by a puddle on Cambridge Street. AMY Y. LI—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER
Donoff Through the Decades
UBIT Changes Could Cost Harvard
By LUKE W. VROTSOS
By ELI W. BURNES
CRIMSON STAFF WRITER
CRIMSON STAFF WRITER
Harvard School of Dental Medicine Dean R. Bruce Donoff jokes that his biggest accomplishment is making 80 percent of the University aware his school exists. With just 240 total students, the Dental School boasts a much lower enrollment than the majority of Harvard’s other professional schools—and many other dental schools. The school graduates 35 D.M.D.s per year, a number smaller than the graduating classes at many American high schools. The school also has a small physical footprint, occupying just two buildings in the shadow of the Harvard Medical School, located in Longwood, Mass.
Dean R. Bruce Donoff of the Harvard Dental School poses for a photograph in his Longwood Medical Area office. KAI R. MCNAMEE—CRIMSON
SEE DONOFF PAGE 9
PHOTOGRAPHER
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Harvard Today 2
News 4
Editorial 8
Sports 10
TODAY’S FORECAST
Hidden in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passed last year is a change in the way taxes are calculated for nonprofits that could lead to increased expenses for Harvard. The act slapped a 1.4 percent tax on some university endowments, a impost which administrators have estimated would have cost Harvard $43 million in fiscal year 2017. The tax, which University President Drew G. Faust has called “unprecedented,” saw widespread media coverage. But Congress also mandated a less-noticed change in the way Unrelated Business Income Tax is
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SEE TAX PAGE 9
baseball bat