The Harvard Crimson - Volume CXLVI, No. 12

The Harvard Crimson THE UNIVERSITY DAILY, EST. 1873 | VOLUME CXLVI, NO. 12 | CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS | FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2019

EDITORIAL PAGE 4

NEWS PAGE 3

SPORTS PAGE 5

Harvard should prioritize immigration issues when lobbying legislators.

Linda Greenhouse speaks about the Supreme Court and civil society.

The Crimson chats with basketball star Jeremy Lin.

Bacow Maintains Bacow Rejects Claims CenturyOld Tree Lobbying Priorities in D.C. of Elitism in Panel

By ALEXANDRA A. CHAIDEZ and AIDAN F. RYAN CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

University President Lawrence S. Bacow met with Senator Mitt Romney Friday as part of a series of meetings in Washington, D.C. COURTESY OF THE OFFICE OF SENATOR MITCH MCCONNELL

By ALEXANDRA A. CHAIDEZ and AIDAN F. RYAN CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

University President Lawrence S. Bacow returned to Washington, D.C., for the second time during his presidency to lobby federal lawmakers and a White House staffer to increase research funding, bolster immigration protections, and avoid another government shutdown on Thursday.

The meetings come on the heels of the longest partial government shutdown in U.S. history. The 35-day shutdown left more than 800,000 feder­

al employees either furloughed or forced to work without pay, caused funding lapses, and restricted access to resources used by some Harvard faculty members and graduate students.

“I’ve talked to them about research funding issues — the importance of continued NIH and NSF funding — trying to get a two-year budget deal so that we don’t find ourselves with a sequester again,” Bacow said.

Bacow met with several lawmakers from the House and the Senate across the political spectrum, including U.S. Senators Mitt Romney (R-Utah),

Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), and Roy D. Blunt (R-Mo.), along with Rep. Jim P. McGovern (D-Mass.). Bacow also spoke with Kelvin Droegemeier, the White House’s director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy.

McGovern wrote in an emailed statement that he was appreciative of Bacow’s visit and is excited to work with him moving forward.

“President Bacow and I had a fantastic meeting where we discussed many of the issues facing higher education institutions

SEE LOBBY PAGE 3

University President Lawrence S. Bacow discussed the challengeshigher education institution face and defended Harvard’s leading role among colleges and universities at a American Enterprise Institute and Brookings Institution panel Thursday.

The panel — which included education policy experts from Georgetown University, the Urban Institute, and Strada Education Network — focused on the future of higher education and the issues the industry faces in contemporary times.

Bacow discussed a number problems Harvard itself is facing, among them accusations of elitism and political bias as universities across the country are facing a hostile political climate. Defending the University against these sentiments is nothing new for Bacow — he has spent months traveling across the country to cities like San Diego, Calif. and his hometown of Pontiac, Mich. to make the case for Harvard to people in all parts of the country.

“We are perceived as being elite institutions at a time in which the word ‘elite’ has become a bad word when applied to anything but a quarterback,” Bacow said.

Bacow also noted that a “challenge” for institutions like Harvard is that they are seen

as self-serving, rather than focused on public service. Since taking office, Bacow has publicly pledged his support for public service internships — which are often low-paying or unpaid summer positions — for every undergraduate who would like to pursue a position in that sector.

Bacow also addressed concerns that Harvard leans too liberal, mentioning several prominent conservative speakers that have visited campus in the past few years including U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy D. DeVos and professor Charles A. Murray. He stressed that there has never been “a speaker shouted down at Harvard or somebody who was unable to speak.”

Though Bacow underscored the importance of engaging with and responding to criticisms against Harvard and other universities, he also defended the role research universities play in the world.

“It’s the ability to aggregate and concentrate and create human capital that determines the wealth of nations and regions, and what the great research universities do is exactly that,” Bacow said.

“We are the sink at the end of the rest of the world’s brain drain,” he added. “They send us their best and their brightest and many of them never want to leave and they stay and they

CRIMSON STAFF WRITER ­

Harvard astronomers have identified a cosmic signature that might help scientists understand the origins of the universe.

The findings, co-developed

by Astronomy Lecturer Xiangang Chen, Astronomy Department Chair Avi Loeb, and Physics postdoctoral fellow ZhongZhi Xianyu, have been accepted for publication in Physical Review Letters as an “Editors’ Suggestion” — a distinction awarded to one in six “outstanding” papers.

The paper provides a possible test to determine what happened before the Big Bang. The question of what preceded the event has long puzzled physicists and astronomers alike.

Scientists are generally divid-

ed into two camps: inflationists and contractionists.

Those who advocate for inflation believe the universe underwent a period of exponential expansion at its inception, while those who subscribe to the theory of contraction assert that the universe goes through cyclic periods of contraction and slow expansion.

Inflation theory is more popular among academics because it serves as a more “elegant” explanation of the universe’s inception, according to Chen. But Chen and his colleagues argue that more rigorous testing is needed to determine the validity of the theory.

“Scientific theory is not a beauty contest,” Chen said.

“You cannot just say, this theory is elegant, so it must be right.

SEE COSMIC PAGE 3

A new outpost of coffee chain Darwin’s Ltd. replaced Petsi Pies at the beginning of the month. ANTHONY Y. TAO— CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Harvard Today 2

News 3

Editorial 4

Sports 6

Petsi Pies, a bakery beloved by College students and Cantabrigians alike, closed this week after 13 years at its 31 Putnam Ave. location.

Darwin’s — a chain sandwich shop based in Cambridge — moved into Petsi’s old building Saturday.

The Putnam Avenue bakery is the second Petsi Pies location to close in recent years. The first, on Cambridge Street, shut its doors in late August 2018.

Steven and Isabel Darwin, the owners of Darwin’s, purchased 31 Putnam Ave. in 2012 and allowed Petsi, which had leased the first floor from the building’s previous owners, to keep using it. But Petsi owner

TODAY’S FORECAST

­

SEE PETSI PAGE 3

SEE TREE PAGE 3

Petsi Pies Bakery Replaced by Darwin’s CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

By RUOQI ZHANG CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Renee McLeod decided not to continue renting the space after January 2019, according to Petsi General Manager Jill Remby.

The store’s Somerville location, on Beacon Street, is now Petsi’s only remaining branch.

“It’s much more simple to run one store, and there’s lots of room to grow here,” Remby said in reference to the Somerville Petsi.

In response to the vacancy left by the Putnam Avenue Petsi’s departure, Steven Darwin decided to open a third location of his local sandwich franchise.

“The owner of Petsi Pies was not going to renew her lease, so this was going to stop being a Petsi Pies regardless,” Darwin’s employee Savannah Walsh said.

Petsi Pies was popular with

SEE PANEL PAGE 3

The Department of Astronomy at Harvard University, located within the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. KATHRYN S. KUHAR—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

By ELLEN M. BUSTEIN and SYDNIE M. COBB

Arborists recommend HDS tree removal.

Arborists have recommended that a century-old oak tree at Harvard Divinity School be removed, the University announced Thursday evening.

The tree’s future has sparked controversy since last year when the Divinity School announced plans to remove it ahead of implementing the Andover Project, a long-desired renovation of the school’s main campus building, Andover Hall.

Andrew Balon, an arborist representative from Bartlett Tree Experts, the firm commissioned by the University to evaluate the tree, examined the tree’s condition.

He said the tree is in “irreversible decline” and poses “high risk” for buildings and pedestrians, an assessment that validates an earlier review of the tree’s health.

In an email sent to Divinity School students Thursday, the school wrote that “beginning immediately, access to the area around the tree will be restricted.” The email also said that overhead protection will also be installed allowing safe entry into Andover-Harvard Theological Library.

At a two-hour Agassiz Neighborhood Council meeting — attended by Harvard administrators and students, along with Cambridge residents — the announcement of the tree’s impending removal elicited varied reactions from participants.

While some people accepted the arborist’s assessment of the tree, many said they regretted the fate of the oak.

“To think that this tree will come down just breaks my heart, but you know and I even hate to say, but if there is a silver lining, this campus’ awareness about the importance of trees has been raised,” Divinity School student Gretchen T. Legler said.

“It was not what we wanted, but it was what we would have to accept,” said Richard M. Barran, a resident who lives nearby, of the tree’s removal.

Last week, the Cambridge City Council delayed voting on a moratorium on cutting down trees for one year due to concerns over the lack of public input. The moratorium could prohibit the University from taking down trees if it is passed in the future.

Frederick R. “Fred” Meyer — a Divinity and Law School alumnus — moderated the council and said the meeting brought together members of the community to facilitate conversation about the scheduled felling of the tree and the University’s renovation plans.

“People listen to each other, and there was some bad news that surprised me. But I think people took it very well because Harvard has done its part in getting further research and getting another arborist,” Meyer said.

The meeting’s participants raised multiple questions about the possibility of maintaining the tree instead of removing it.

They also asked about a replacement tree and Harvard’s procedures for preserving its tree canopy.

Mediation techniques – including pruning, cabling, bracing, and transplantation – will not work due to the tree’s condition, Balon said.

D i v i n it y S c h o ol

Past Controversy, New Paper on Cosmic Inflation

By JULIET E. ISSELBACHER

Faces Removal

RAINY High: 54 Low: 23

VISIT THECRIMSON.COM. FOLLOW @THECRIMSON ON TWITTER.

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THE HARVARD CRIMSON |

FEBRUARY 8, 2019

PAGE 2

HARVARD TODAY

For Lunch Basil Chicken Pizza Red’s Best Fresh Local Fish Grilled Chickpea Cakes

For Dinner Turkey Meatball Marsala Five Cheese Tortellini Beyond Burger

TODAY’S EVENTS

IN THE REAL WORLD

Harvard Minority Students Career Expo SOCH, 3-5 p.m.

Bezos Accuses The National Enquirer Owner of Blackmail

Make the trek out to the SOCH for the Black Students Association’s third annual Minority Students Career Expo. There will be companies from a variety of industries, including tech, finance, nonprofit, and science. Come and get your networking on.

Jeff Bezos, following a leak of private photos and texts, accused the owner of The National Enquirer, David J. Pecker, of extortion and blackmail to stop his investigations into the leak. Bezos made his accusation over a personal blog post, saying he wouldn’t submit to blackmail.

Chaz Smith - Filling the Void Harvard-Yenching Library, 7:30-9 p.m.

If you’re still mourning Vine, head to the Harvard-Yenching Library for a talk by Viner and YouTuber Chaz Smith. He’s known for his new and fun pronunciations, and this is a chance to relieve Vine’s glory days.

Land Under Siege - Harvard’s Unsustainable Land Investments Smith Campus Center, 3:30-6 p.m.

If you’re the politically active type, swing by the outside of the Smith Campus Center for a political action rally led by the Harvard Undergraduates for Environmental Justice club on Harvard’s land investments.

U.S. Aid Trucks Stopped at Columbian Border City

Timothy Armstrong, an arborist, gives a demonstration of the equipment used to evaluate a tree on Harvard Divinity School’s grounds. RUOQI ZHANG—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

DAILY BRIEFING

The President of Venezuela has refused entry to the first trucks bearing humanitarian aid from the United States. The opposition leader, who is also claiming the presidential title, has warned of the danger of denying entry, saying many Venezuelans would die without the food and medicine.

Louisiana Abortion Restrictions Blocked University President Lawrence S. Bacow traveled to Washington, D.C. Thursday for the second time during his presidential tenure to lobby legislators and a White House aid. Bacow focused on issues like preventing another government shutdown, protecting students who are immigrants, and eliminating a tax on some universities’ — including Harvard’s — endowment.

In other news, Harvard Divinity School said arborists recommend removing a century-old tree whose future on the school’s grounds has caused controversy in recent months.

The Supreme Court blocked a restriction in Louisiana that would have mandated all doctors performing abortions from have admitting privileges in nearby hospitals. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. provided the 5th vote to block the restrictions.

AROUND THE IVIES DARTMOUTH

The Dartmouth reported a record number of 23,641 regular decision applicants will receive letters from Dartmouth Admissions on March 28, mostly rejections. Since last year, regular decision applications increased by 7.3 percent from the Class of 2022. Vice Provost for Enrollment and Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Lee Coffin wrote in an emailed statement that he believes this increase is a “positive response to the refocused communications narrative and the expanded recruitment programming,” which the admissions office started implementing a year and a half ago.

PENN In a first for the university, Penn’s College of Liberal and Professional Studies will offer an online bachelor’s degree program beginning in the fall of 2019, according to the Daily Pennsylvanian.

This program will replace on-campus weekend and evening classes currently offered to nontraditional students, a move that has sparked concern among some LPS students who see in-person class time as integral to the Penn experience. LPS Vice Dean Nora Lewis described the change as an effort to expand Penn’s reach to a broader pool of potential students.

YALE A recent survey of undergraduates by the Yale Daily News found that 14 percent of respondents had cheated during their Yale career, while 24 percent admitted to copying problem set solutions this fall. The survey found that cheating rates were higher in science and math classes than in other fields, and that student athletes reported cheating at a slightly higher rate than the general student population — 22 percent of athletes who responded to the survey said they had cheated during their time at Yale.

THE UNIVERSITY DAILY, EST. 1873

The Harvard Crimson Kristine E. Guillaume President Angela N. Fu Managing Editor Charlie B. Zhu Business Manager

Associate Managing Editors Caroline S. Engelmayer ’20 Jamie D. Halper ’20 Associate Business Manager Amy E. Zhou ’20 Editorial Chairs Jessenia N. Class ’20 Robert Miranda ’20

STAFF FOR THIS ISSUE Arts Chairs Kaylee S. Kim ’20 Caroline A. Tsai ’20

Design Chairs Elena M. Ramos ’20 Akhil S. Waghmare ’20

FM Chairs Norah M. Murphy ’20 Abigail L. Simon ’20

Multimedia Chairs Kathryn S. Kuhar ’20 Kai R. McNamee ’21

Blog Chairs Lorenzo F. Manuali ’21 Trula J. Rael ’21

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

Sports Chairs Joseph W. Minatel ’21 Henry Zhu ’20

Night Editor Kaylee S. Kim ’20

Design Editor Matthew J. Tyler ’22

Assistant Night Editors Andrea M. Bossi ’21 Tamar Sarig ’22

Photo Editor Shera S. Avi-Yonah ’21

Story Editors Angela N. Fu ’20 Jamie D. Halper ’20 Caroline S. Engelmayer ’20 Sonia Kim ’20

Editorial Editor Emily A. Romero ’21 Sports Editor Eamon J. McLoughlin ’21

CORRECTIONS Copyright 2019, 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.

The Feb. 7 article “Grad Council Talks Mental Health” incorrectly stated that the GSC, working in coordination with HUHS director Paul Barrera, had been told by the University to stop submitting departmental mental health survey reports until the student union had finished negotiating its first contract. In fact, it is the Student Health Planning Committee which chose to stop meeting with the University concerning proposals on the Student Health Insurance Plan.

PAGE 3

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | FEBRUARY 8, 2019

Linda Greenhouse Speaks on Supreme Court and Civil Society at Law School

By SAHAR M. MOHAMMADZADEH CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Pulitzer Prize winner and Harvard Law School lecturer Linda J. Greenhouse ’68 spoke to a packed room of University affiliates about the role of the Supreme Court in threatening civil society Wednesday evening.

More than one hundred undergraduates, graduate students, faculty, and others gathered at the Law School Library to hear Greenhouse, a former Crimson editor, give the Kissel Lecture in Ethics, an annual talk on the intersection of law and morality. Greenhouse argued that some people have opted out of the norms that historical court cases had adhered to in the past.

“Civil society, by definition, exists outside the formal structures of government,” Greenhouse said. “A democratic society cannot flourish if its citizens pursue their narrow personal interests.”

By linking and scrutinizing recent Supreme Court decisions from Masterpiece Cakeshop v.

Colorado Civil Rights Commission to Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, Greenhouse argued the Court should consider a moral framework in addition to case law and precedent when deciding cases.

Greenhouse questioned the Court’s past decisions on dismissing certain cases, claiming ­

that these actions can ultimately threaten civil society and affect the daily lives of people not directly involved in the case itself.

“What we are seeing in the Supreme Court’s recent behavior is a threat to the foundation of civil society,” she said. “We as a society are not united in a common cause. We are not all in this together.”

Civil society, by definition, exists outside the formal structures of government .

Linda J. Greenhouse Pulitzer Prize Winner

Greenhouse also discussed partisan issues the Supreme Court currently faces, addressing the role of contraceptives, abortion, and religious incentives in relation to court packing.

When asked about whether she believed that abortion issues were “red meat” for conservatives to pack the Court, Greenhouse answered affirmatively and referred to her book “Before Roe v. Wade: Voic-

es That Shaped the Abortion Debate Before the Supreme Court’s Ruling.”

College students at the talk had their own opinions on the power of civil society on the Supreme Court’s politics.

“It was a very new angle,” Grace E. Sullivan ’19 said. “I think that addressing the whole weight of the issue to civil society doesn’t speak to the whole partisanship of the Supreme Court, but it is part of the problem.”

Greenhouse said she believes open communication, voting, and “intentionality” are instrumental to addressing the issues she identified within the court system.

“People need to talk about the cases in an open way that links them all together,” she said. “We are afraid to talk about religion and religious claims because they are not seen as polite.”

Attendee Samuel S. Oh ’19 said Greenhouse’s recommendations left him “concerned” for the American population’s faith in the rule of law in the Supreme Court.

“There doesn’t seem to be much else we can do besides each individual following through on their own due diligence,” Oh said.

Lauren D. Spohn ’20, who also attended the talk, said she believes there is still room for hope and improvement and sug-

gested that the United States look toward other federal court models.

There doesn’t seem to be much else we can do besides each individual following through on their own due diligence.

Samuel S. Oh ’19 Student

“Greenhouse’s response to a few audience questions about the Canadian court system made me think about how we can look outwards for solutions,” Spohn said.

When asked whether she thought that the media should focus on what the Supreme Court is doing well in addition to the aforementioned criticism, Greenhouse responded with a strict “no.”

“When it comes to inspiring faith in the next generation, I don’t think sugarcoating the diagnosis is the way to go.

It’s taken a long time to get to this point, and it will take a long time to get it undone,” she said. sahar.mohammadzadeh@thecrimson.com

COSMIC FROM PAGE 1

LOBBY FROM PAGE 1

After Controversy, New Paper on Cosmic Inflation

Bacow Stays the Course in D.C.

You have to derive the consequences and derive experiments to test it.”

Over the past few years, Chen and his colleagues developed the idea that primordial standard clocks — heavy particles existing before the Big Bang that swung back and forth like pendulum clocks — would have left distinctive imprints on the universe that could be used to differentiate between the contraction and inflation models. Chen compared the primordial standard clocks to a watch in a film.

“All the information we have about the primordial universe is like a movie, but we only have the stack of frames,” Chen said.

“But somehow that stack of frames gets messed up, and we don’t know how to run the movie. Should I run this backwards or forwards?”

He explained that astronomers could theoretically determine the direction of the film, or the universe, by following the ticking of the watch. The debate about the falsifiability of inflation started in 2017, when Loeb — along with Princeton professor Paul J. Steinhardt and then-Princeton postdoctoral fellow Anna Ijjas — wrote an article in Scientific American in which they challenged the dominance of the inflationist theory.

“One of the inevitable consequences of inflation is the notion of the multiverse. Anything that can happen will happen an infinite number of times,” Loeb said. “So is inflation really falsifiable? We think that a scientific

i­n Massachusetts and across America,” McGovern wrote.

“I’m grateful he took the time to stop by, and I look forward to continuing to work with him on behalf of students.”

Spokespeople for Romney, Alexander, and Blunt did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

In past visits to Washington, Bacow met privately with legislators like Senate Minority Leader Chuck E. Schumer ’71 (D-N.Y.), U.S. Senator Michael D. Crapo (R-Idaho), and U.S. Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.).

This trip marks Bacow’s first journey to Washington since the U.S. House of Representatives flipped from Republican to Democratic control in January — a shift that Bacow noted did “change things.” Bacow said, however, that the new Congress hasn’t “really changed” his lobbying strategy in Washington.

Similar to previous visits, Bacow lobbied against an excise tax on some universities’ — including Harvard’s — endowment returns that will likely cost the University between

theory is one that you can falsify. If inflation can accommodate anything, it’s a problem.”

The 2017 piece provoked what Loeb characterized as a “odd” response from Massachusetts Institute of Technology Professor Alan H. Guth — a letter co-signed by 32 of Guth’s colleagues, including Stephen Hawking and five Nobel Prize Laureates.

“People — especially people that invented inflation — got really upset, and said that it cannot be falsified, it must be true, it should be true, and therefore there is no need to test it because it must be true,” Loeb said.

Guth wrote in an email that

All the information we have about the primordial univerise is like a movie.

Xiangang Chen Astronomy Lecturer

he has never argued that inflation “cannot or should not be tested.”

Loeb said Guth’s letter prompted them to search for a way to test the theory of inflation, leading them to publish their most recent paper.

Loeb said he hopes the data needed to complete the test will come within the next decade. juliet.isselbacher@thecrimson.com

PETSI FROM PAGE 1

Darwins Replaces Petsi Pies on Putnam Avenue Harvard undergraduates, especially those living in Mather House because of its proximity to their residence, students said.

Austin D. Fuller ’21, a Mather House resident who said ­

I’m a little disappointed just because that was a study space for me that wasn’t the Mather Library.

Austin D. Fuller ’21 Student

he frequented Petsi “about once a week,” said he was upset that the store had closed.

“I’m a little disappointed, just because that was a study

space for me that wasn’t the Mather Library, which can be a bit depressing if you go there too much,” Fuller said.

Fuller also said the suddenness of the closing surprised him.

“One day they announced it and the next it was closed,” he said.

Though Petsi is no longer at the Putnam Avenue location, Walsh said Darwin’s still attracts some of the College students who had frequented the bakery.

“We’re very popular with Harvard students because of our location,” she said.

Though Petsi Pie fans may miss the bakery’s offerings, patrons can still look forward to the cafe’s menu of savory sandwiches and coffees. ellen.burstein@thecrimson.com sydnie.cobb@thecrimson.com

$40 million and $50 million per year.

He also made the case for continued research funding and for protections for students in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program — an Obama-era measure that allows undocumented youth to live and work in the United States — and workers with Temporary Protected Status.

Regarding the endowment tax, Bacow said that “it’s difficult to predict at this point” the future of the tax.

“At a time in which other countries are supporting their universities, we are taxing ours,” Bacow said.

“And in a world that is increasingly competitive, especially, literally a global market for academic talent, this is not helpful.”

The University previously stated that they hadn’t yet received guidance on how to file its taxes with the new levy in place.

As of Thursday, Bacow said that was still the case. alexandra.chaidez@thecrimson.com aidan.ryan@thecrimson.com

TREE FROM PAGE 1

Century-Old Tree to be Removed spokesper­son Michael P. Naughton wrote in an emailed statement that the Divinity School has a long comittment to “sustainability and resilience.”

“Throughout the past decade, it has contributed sig-

nificantly to the tree canopy of Cambridge by planting 123 trees across its campus, while only removing four unhealthy and potentially unsafe trees,” he wrote. ruoqi.zhang@thecrimson.com

PANEL FROM PAGE 1

Bacow Rejects Claims of Elitism in Panel enrich not only our institutions, they enrich this country.”

Brain drain is the phenomenon of students from around the world coming to study at universities like Harvard and deciding to remain after graduation, rather than returning home with their degrees.

During the roughly one hour and fifteen minute panel, Bacow touched upon a number of Harvard-specific issues that he has had to face down during his first year as University President. He focused on a new $40 million to $50 million tax on Harvard’s endowment and an ongoing anti-affirmative action lawsuit alleging Harvard discriminates against Asian-American applicants in its College admissions processes.

When a discussion about admissions surfaced, Bacow brought up the lawsuit and defended the University’s position.

“We’ve spent millions of dollars defending against the lawsuit, that I think many of you are aware of, in which we’ve made the case that… we are all more than just our numbers, that it shouldn’t be reduced to just one’s grades and SAT scores,” ­

Bacow said.

During the discussion, moderator Richard V. Reeves of the Brookings Institution pressed Bacow on a number of points, including Bacow’s argument that students in the U.S. “can get a great education” and “succeed” after going to almost any institution.

“Having an Ivy League degree definitely helps,” Reeves countered.

Bacow responded by saying he was “proud” when he was president of Tufts that “three of the Fortune 50o CEOs were Tufts graduates.”

Bacow also talked about the importance of creating broad access to higher education across the country.

“Historically, the nation’s colleges and universities have enabled the American Dream,” he said.

“It’s important that all of us work to continue to ensure that opportunity exists for future generations, just as it was created for so many of us who are privileged to be sitting in this room.” alexandra.chaidez@thecrimson.com aidan.ryan@thecrimson.com

Robinson Hall Renovation Complete

By ASPEN H. BUCK and EDWARD W. CARR CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

Harvard has finished an eightmonth renovation of Robinson Hall, the building housing the History Department, according to Associate Dean for Physical Resources and Planning Michael N. Lichten.

The construction project — which lasted from May 2018 to January 2019 — added an elevator, modernized offices and classrooms in the building, and relocated the bathrooms.

Before the renovation, Robinson Hall, which dates to the early 20th century, was one of the last buildings in Harvard Yard that was not wheelchair accessible.

“The main driver for renovation was to make the building and the History Department more accessible,” Lichten said in an interview Thursday.

“With Robinson Hall, really only the first floor was accessible, but the main departmental office was on the second floor. I think this is a great benefit.”

Some College students said they haven’t noticed much change since the completion.

History concentrator Isaac A. Walker ’19 said the new building has made a minimal impact on his time there.

“It hasn’t affected my experience much and I’m actually surprised they didn’t change more,” he said. “The only major change I’ve noticed is moving the bathrooms.”

During construction, some History classes met in other buildings.

“We had to find a new build-

ing for classes during the fall semester,” Lichten said. “A number of faculty had to move to other places. It was too bad we had to inconvenience people, but it was worth it.”

History concentrator William G. Strang ’19 said the construction’s main effect on him was that it relocated some of his courses.

“A lot of my history seminars that would otherwise be in Robinson were in [the Center for Government and International Studies],” he said.

Some students praised the outcome of the renovations.

Walker said he is particularly glad the construction did not change the Great Space, a large room in Robinson designed to foster collaboration.

“The Great Space is the most important part and they didn’t change that, thankfully,” he said. “It’s already a great building to meet people or study, so as long as that doesn’t change, I’m happy.”

Though he said the renovation will only affect him a little, Walker said he is glad it will help others.

“Hopefully it will make using the building a more pleasant and modern experience,” he said.

Lichten, too, praised the University’s decision to make the building more accessible.

“Robinson represented the last major building in the Yard without accessibility,” Lichten said. “We’re always trying to listen and see where accessibility can be improved.” aspen.buck@thecrimson.com edward.carr@thecrimson.com

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THE HARVARD CRIMSON | FEBRUARY 8, 2019

PAGE 4

EDITORIAL THE CRIMSON EDITORIAL BOARD

COLUMN

Harvard’s Lobbying Efforts Stay the Course

Winthrop, Weinstein, and Why We Need Faculty Dean Accountability

L

ast year, Harvard spent $600,000, more than any other Ivy League school, lobbying the federal government on issues relating to the University and its students. The University has indicated that its lobbying efforts have been primarily focused on thwarting the endowment tax, protecting research funding and student aid, and ensuring legal protection for undocumented “Dreamers.”

We commend the University’s efforts to defend the interests of its community and encourage Harvard to continue doing so. These issues have real implications for many members of our community, and it is crucial that the University supports them.

While prevailing political attitudes have become increasingly hostile towards Harvard and other institutions of higher education in the last few years, the University’s steady increase of lobbying funds since 2011 shows its commitment to confronting this challenge head on.

While lobbying funds this year are $10,000 less than last year’s, this decrease does not seem significant or indicative of a shift in stance regarding the intensity of lobbying efforts.

Furthermore, we are comforted by Harvard’s reassurances that it is fully committed to continuing the fight against policies in Washington that are dangerous for higher education or students in our community.

In light of this commitment, we encourage the University to specifically

continue to prioritize immigration issues, given their tremendous human impact.

Harvard has a responsibility to fight to ensure the status of its students, faculty, and staff, and we hope that the University takes up the task at hand with moral conviction and seriousness of purpose.

Former University President Drew G. Faust set a precedent of advocating for undocumented members of the Harvard community, and we are pleased to see that so far University President Law-

Harvard has a responsibility to fight to ensure the status of its students, faculty, and staff, and we hope that the University takes up the task at hand with moral conviction and seriousness of purpose. rence S. Bacow has followed her lead.

The University should also continue to combat endowment taxation with the full force of its political clout.

Harvard must operate at its full financial capacity to adequately provide the infrastructure and support that faculty, staff, and students depend on every day. The more Harvard receives through its endowment, the more capably it can provide financial aid for students, wages for staff, funding for research, as well

as many other provisions for its community.

It is reassuring that lobbying in support of sanctions seems to have taken a backseat to these more important issues.

Though our support for the University’s sanctioning of male final clubs remains, we believe that the University should focus its lobbying priorities elsewhere.

While the issue is at the heart of debates over social life on campus, concerns for the safety of undocumented students and the integrity of the critical research agendas across the University must take precedence.

While we stand in favor of Harvard’s lobbying practices, it bears mentioning that as a systemic phenomenon, lobbying has a pernicious effect on American politics.

It incentivizes politicians to often act on the behalf of donors as opposed to actual constituents, and reform is necessary to cure the many of these problems.

Nevertheless, until reform is achieved, Harvard should continue to work within the system to protect members of our community and promote its policy goals.

wage growth in non-farm industries also tracked slightly above two percent, narrowly outpacing inflation. And staff economists predicted “larger-than-usual upward pressure” on labor force participation rate (a measure of working or work-seeking adults as a fraction of the total working-age population).

These data paint a singularly optimistic picture of the American labor market (lethargic wages notwithstanding). The takeaways from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ most recent data, however, were more ambiguous.

On the one hand, as labor market economist Julia Pollak ’09 pointed out, the tight labor market meant more choices for workers, whether as better pay packages, expanded non-wage benefits, or more professional advancement opportunities.

But amid the “arms race to bring in people,” certain sectors saw their greatest increases in the low-skilled bucket. In health care, the fastest growing sub-sector was ambulatory services, which saw 22,000 new jobs. In “transportation and warehousing,” the largest job gains materialized among “couriers and messengers” and “warehousing and storage.”

Additionally, two of the fastest growing sectors year-over-year for 2018 were manufacturing and food services, industries known for slim worker protections and ultra-high turnover. At the state level, job-growth data gives similar reason for pause. Florida reports that it needs more construction workers; Texas more truckers; and Carmel, Indiana more fast food workers. These are fine jobs, but perhaps not ones that offer citizens a better alternative to Jefferson’s dreaded “work-bench” or Franklin’s dependency job.

What I suggest is that as new figures on the size of the economy continue to emerge, we also apply to them our ageold civic questions. Do these jobs foster livelihoods? Do they fortify character?

And most importantly, do they pave the way to individual improvement?

When we can answer all these questions in the affirmative, then we will have achieved strong economies both fiscal and moral. That kind of achievement would truly signal American greatness.

—Henry N. Brooks ’19 is a Social Studies concentrator in Currier House. His column appears on alternate Fridays.

—Danielle O. Strasburger ’18 graduated from Harvard College. She served as Winthrop House Committee Chair in 2017.

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.

The Crimson

op-eds@thecrimson.com COLUMN

How Past Generations Thought Differently About the Economy SOCIALLY LIBERAL, FISCALLY LIBERAL

T

he Federal Reserve’s two most recent unemployment reports remind us that the nation’s top economists remain optimistic about the job market. It’s a familiar tune by now: Business is scrambling for new employees and work is plentiful. As Chair of the Federal Reserve Jerome H. Powell put it plainly in his January report, “The jobs picture continues to be strong.”

Yet something about economists’ unwavering optimism seems to offend the progressive sensibilities. Several Democratic presidential hopefuls, including California Senator Kamala D. Harris, Massachusetts Senator and Law School Professor emeritus Elizabeth A. Warren, and former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julián Castro, have already made fixing the economy a keystone issue — adding to a raucous chorus of new progressive voices in Congress that are raising concerns about subsistence wages and what they consider the growing ranks of working poor.

There’s also something unsettling, as the conservative British author Tim Montgomerie once put it, about the amorality of the capitalist marketplace in general. Something about divorcing economics from civic or moral judgment naturally unsettles us.

As government economists continue to laud the current job climate, we might stop to consider the question of work from a civic perspective. Are we missing something important about the quality and dignity of labor in the American economy, as so many Democrats — particularly from the party’s progressive wing — would have us believe? As with all civic questions, the Founders are a safe place to start. What do they tell us about the kind of work Americans should aspire to?

Thomas Jefferson, perhaps the most interested of the Founders in the course that labor might take in an industrial age, was deeply skeptical of factory work. In Query XIX of his “Notes on the State of Virginia,” Jefferson laid out his skepticism explicitly, noting, “[L]et us never wish to see our citizens occupied at a work-bench, or twirling a distaff.”

In his essay on a “Project for Mor-

al Perfection” from his autobiography, Benjamin Franklin supplied another kind of insight on the question of dignified work, listing “Industry” as a cardinal virtue, whose chief precept he described succinctly as “Lose no Time.” In that same essay, Franklin characterized industry as “producing Affluence and Independance [sic].”

Abraham Lincoln, perhaps America’s greatest public philosopher (though not technically a Founder), would also speak on several occasions about work.

In a speech from 1860, Lincoln observed, “When one starts poor, as do most in the race of life, free society is such that he knows he can better his condition.” It is the promise of improvement that justifies the unequal division of endowments in a free society.

As long as a person can expect to see returns on their hard work, what does it

When we can answer all these questions in the affirmative, then we will have achieved strong economies both fiscal and moral. That kind of achievement would truly signal American greatness. matter if they start out as a hired hand?

For a long time, these civic and moral questions of economic thinking received similar neglect from Republicans and Democrats.

In his book “The Age of Reform,” the great historian of American populism Richard Hofstadter describes a sense of disinterest in the grander moral and ethical questions of the economy following Roosevelt’s New Deal.

The new faith was in “enlightened administration” and no longer in the moral project that that solution was meant to underwrite. Now that disinterest, I think, has evolved into full amoral rot.

To recover the project, I think it would do us good to introduce some healthy normativity into the “dismal science.”

We can consider the jobs question.

The Federal Open Market Committee’s December 2018 report was in many ways promising. Unemployment bottomed out at 3.7 percent, near all-time “tights” (job openings per worker). Year-over-year

I

am not the first person to take issue with Winthrop Faculty Dean Ronald S. Sullivan Jr. defending Harvey Weinstein. As others have pointed out, one can believe that Weinstein deserves a competent legal team while also believing that Sullivan should not have taken the case. He may be a lawyer, but he also chose to serve as a faculty dean, and that role comes with obligations to the Winthrop and Harvard communities that should not be taken lightly. There are many, many lawyers that Weinstein can hire. There are only two faculty deans of Winthrop House.

As someone who loves Winthrop and served as its House Committee chair, Sullivan’s choice feels like a personal betrayal. I spent three incredible years in Winthrop and invested myself deeply into the house community. I credit Winthrop House for many of my happiest memories and best friends, and I’ve always been incredibly proud of my Winthropian identity. As students, we were told to view Winthrop as a home and to consider the staff and students as our family, and I did. My love of Winthrop is what makes reading the headline “Harvard Law Prof. and Winthrop Dean Ronald Sullivan Joins Harvey Weinstein’s Legal Team” so painful. I don’t just disagree with Sullivan’s actions; I’m ashamed of them. Where are those values of family and community that he always spoke about? How am I supposed to be proud of my affiliation to a house which now links me to a man whose crimes are so egregious that they launched a whole movement?

I know I am not the only Winthropian to feel this way. In his email to Winthrop residents, Sullivan invites students with questions or concerns to his office hours. But let’s be real: Does anyone think Sullivan is going to drop this high-profile case because of unhappy students and a few op-eds? I don’t think so.

This raises a question I have asked myself multiple times throughout my experience with House life: Who actually has the power to hold faculty deans accountable for their actions?

The housing system is a defining characteristic of Harvard. And while the idea of smaller residential communities within a large college makes a lot of sense, the way the system is actually run is fairly absurd. For all intents and purposes, each House is its own fiefdom. Faculty deans reign over their domains with a large amount of independence, and it’s up to them whether their House feels like a democratic institution or an authoritarian state. Deans can set their own House rules, leading to discrepancies between Houses in things like party registration systems, available social spaces, and quality of House programming. Deans can also oversee hiring their own staff, which has resulted at least once in concerns about biased hiring.

One thing all Houses have in common, though, is that the faculty deans are in charge. And if students or staff have complaints about the way faculty deans are running a House, often the only people they have to turn to are the deans themselves.

But students rarely do so, because they don’t want to risk damaging their relationships with their deans, who are the most powerful figures in their day-to-day lives. If I were still in Winthrop and needed Sullivan’s approval for HoCo events, or wanted a recommendation letter for a fellowship, or was applying to Harvard Law School, I would not be writing this op-ed. House administrators and staff have even more to lose, as the faculty deans are their bosses. Residential tutors are in an especially difficult situation; though they are the ones who interact most with students on a day to day basis, they remain in the Houses (their permanent residencies) only at the discretion of faculty deans.

I am not suggesting that any faculty deans are intentionally vindictive against those who express criticism of them. However, the combination of the residential nature of Houses and the rigid, vertical power structure can create an environment where House members do not feel comfortable critiquing the people who have power over their daily lives and future opportunities. Ideally, faculty deans would be receptive to direct feedback, but a system cannot rely upon the goodwill of the individuals in power.

There needs to be another channel of accountability.

Currently, it is not even clear who oversees the faculty deans. The Dean of Harvard College is the only position that obviously outranks the faculty deans, but many students might not feel comfortable approaching such a high status and busy individual with their concerns. Furthermore, as a faculty dean himself, there is a clear conflict of interest.

Students and staff with criticisms of their faculty deans should not have to turn to another faculty dean when seeking assistance. There is also the additional issue of Dean of the College Rakesh Khurana’s own students not having a higher power to turn to. As someone who has pushed hard for House life to truly be at the center of College life, Khurana has an obligation to review the current structure with scrutiny and make improvements.

Harvard College needs to make faculty deans more directly accountable to their students and staff. This is not an honorary position that should play second fiddle to another profession; it’s a very serious commitment to lead and represent a community of people. This is not to say that deans can’t occupy various roles; indeed, their many experiences are part of what they bring to their house community. However, the office of the faculty dean needs to better defined and more transparent. The current lack of oversight, consistency, and established avenues for complaints make it very difficult to hold faculty deans accountable. For the sake of the staff and students they serve, this must change.

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Henry N. Brooks

By DANIELLE O. STRASBURGER

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THE HARVARD CRIMSON | FEBRUARY 8, 2019

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Remembering His Origins: A Chat with Jeremy Lin

By AMIR MAMDANI CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

­ even years ago this week, an S unheralded point guard from Harvard catalyzed the Knicks to a 99-92 victory over NBA AllStar Deron Williams and the Nets at Madison Square Garden. Scoring 25 points, five rebounds, and seven assists off of the bench — all career highs — undrafted Jeremy Lin quickly became one of the most popular players, and people, in New York City.

The phenomenon known as “Linsanity” thrust the Torrance, Calif., native into the global spotlight in the world’s most famous arena, and fueled an NBA career that is now in its ninth season.

During a three-week stretch for the Knicks, Lin became a household name across New York and NBA-watching households — during the first 10 games of Linsanity, the former Crimson guard averaged 24.6 points and 9.2 assists, shooting nearly 50 percent from the field.

The fervor, both in New York, and internationally, caused then-commissioner David Stern to say that, “No player has created the interest and the frenzy in this short period of time, in any sport that I’m aware of, like Jeremy Lin has.”

Lin, the first American of Chinese or Taiwanese descent to ever play in the NBA, stoked a cult following almost immediately, which eventually culminated in the production of the film “Linsanity”. In February of 2012 alone, Lin was largely responsible for boosting the market capitalization of the Madison Square Garden Company, but over 250 million dollars. No NBA jersey sold more than Lin’s No. 17 through February and March of that season.

Lin is often credited with drawing attention to, and helping bolster the competitiveness of Ivy League basketball. Lin remains the only Ancient Eight alumnus active as a player in the NBA, and is undoubtedly responsible for the increasingly

competitive recruiting and performance of Ivy League basketball teams. The ninth-year pro, who now plays for the Atlanta Hawks, is quick to deflect the praise to Coach Tommy Amaker.

“He’s been the ultimate game changer for the Harvard basketball program,” Lin said about Coach Amaker. “He will try to say it’s me — it’s not, it’s him, and he’s the one who turned everything around.”

Regardless of his modest outlook, it is difficult to overstate the sensation that Lin became, practically overnight. After just 12 starts before the AllStar Break, Lin was selected as a last-minute addition to the Rising Stars Challenge, a testament to the rapid ascent of Lin’s stock.

In the years following Lin’s emergence, the Harvard basketball program successfully recruited multiple Top 100 high school players, including the vaunted Class of 2020 — dubbed the best recruiting class in the history of Harvard basketball.

“Proud of him and his journey,” said Coach Amaker on Lin’s journey. “You know, what he’s been able to accomplish, on and off the court.”

By the end of the 2012 NBA season, Lin had gone from an undrafted D-Leaguer playing with the Warriors’ Reno Bighorns affiliate, to the second most popular jersey in the NBA, behind only Derrick Rose.

The renewed attention that Lin brought the Knicks also played a significant role in breaking a 48-day dispute between Time Warner Cable and the MSG Network, preventing many New Yorkers from watching Knicks games.

Although Lin’s success in the Big Apple was in large part a month-long phenomenon, the 30 year-old has since built a solid career in the League, averaging double-digit scoring in each of his eight seasons with the Knicks, Rockets, Lakers, Hornets, Nets, and his new team, the Atlanta Hawks.

And while Lin’s future with Atlanta is tenuous, as he re-

mains on the last year of his contract and plays for a team that will likely look to swap expiring assets for draft picks, he values the impact that his experience can have on a younger Hawks team. For once in his career, with a team focused around rookies Trae Young, Kevin Huerter and other young players like John Collins, Lin plays the role of veteran NBA player, helping mentor the youthful Hawks. He’s played in 17 playoff games, and averaged over 10 points per game in three postseason stints with the Rockets and Hornets — opportunities that few in Atlanta have experienced.

Despite graduating from Harvard in 2010, Lin has been in the spotlight on campus more recently, because of a million-dollar donation to the college that he made in October of 2016, after signing a threeyear contract with the Brooklyn Nets. Much of the coverage about his donation focused on the completion of the Lavietes Pavilion reconstruction, which was a long-awaited process for the Athletics Department. A significant portion of Lin’s million-dollar donation, however, was directed towards the college’s financial aid program.

“I wanted to give back to the team and also help others,” Lin said of his donation. “I was a financial aid person and I needed a lot of help, and my grandma helped me get through one of those years and it took plenty of loans and things like that.

I don’t want to forget where I come from.”

Lin’s role in the NBA is, in itself, a bit of a contradiction. In the post-Linsanity era, he has settled into his role as a highly capable role player off of the bench, for one of the NBA’s least appealing teams. A far cry from his three weeks in the New York City spotlight, Lin still remains an icon to many — both as a Taiwanese/Chinese American, and as the only representative of the Ivy League on basketball’s biggest stage. In essence, Lin is both just an every-day rotation-

FLYING HIGH Jeremy Lin ‘10 goes for the layup during a game in December 2007 versus Michigan. Lin averaged 16.4 points per game for the Crimson during his senior season . HILLARY W. BERKOWITZ—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

LINNING Harvard alum Jeremy Lin ‘10 is currently in his ninth season in the NBA. He’s spent time with the Hawks, Lakers, Warriors, and Rockets, among others during his career. COURTESY OF NBAE/GETTY IMAGES

al NBA player, while simultaneously representing much more than that.

But make no mistake about Lin’s legacy. Since arriving in the NBA, Lin has never shied away from the opportunities provided to him by one of the world’s most popular sports leagues to make his opinions heard. In an era in which politicians and pundits have frequently chastised players for taking public views on inflammatory issues, Lin is no stranger to controversy.

Since his arrival in the League, Lin has been outspoken on issues from discrimination against Asian-Americans, and has been subject to multiple offensive comments by sports media and journalism personalities. As a member of the Brooklyn Nets, Lin penned an article titled “So… About My Hair” for the Players Tribune, explaining his choice to wear dreadlocks, arguing for the importance of different minorities sharing their cultures with each other.

“The conversations I had weren’t always very comfortable, and at times I know I didn’t say the right things,” wrote Lin, in the Players Tribune article.

“But I’m glad I had them — because I know as an Asian-American how rare it is for people to ask me about my heritage beyond a surface level.”

Long before gaining the platform to speak, Lin was an unknown high school basketball player from California, born to two Taiwanese emigrants, who were both only 5 feet 6 inches.

Born in the Los Angeles area, Lin’s family moved to Palo Alto, where he learned to play basketball at a local YMCA with his brothers.

Despite captaining Palo Alto High School to a 32-1 record in his senior year and a California Division II State Championship victory over nationally-ranked powerhouse Mater Dei, Lin did not receive a single athletic scholarship to play Division I basketball. Unrecruited by local schools Cal-Berkeley and Stanford, who encouraged him to walk on, Lin found himself at Harvard, one of the few schools that showed interest in the 6’3 guard.

“Those four years there turned me into somebody different,” Lin said of his time at Harvard. “Tommy and the organization, they gave me a chance to develop into my own and really have a chance, and I

was able to play in the NBA because of the growth I was able to make as a player and as a person, at that school on that team.”

Lamar Reddicks, a former assistant coach for the Crimson, described Lin as “the weakest guy on the team”, in his freshman year. Even after garnering three All-Ivy recognitions, including two unanimous firstteam selections his junior and senior seasons, Lin went undrafted, despite being invited to eight pre-draft workouts.

One of the 11 finalists for the Bob Cousy Award, presented to the nation’s best college point guard, Lin eventually signed with his hometown Warriors, but received little playing time while backing up Stephen Curry and Monta Ellis.

A year and a half later, after stints with the Warriors, Rockets, and a patellar ligament injury, Lin found himself in the spotlight on the NBA’s biggest stage — as starting point guard for the Knicks at Madison Square Garden.

In many ways, Lin’s story is emblematic of so much that is beautiful about sports. The belief that anyone, regardless of background or circumstances, can rise to prominence with the right amount of hard work and determination, is a cliché that frequently appears throughout American sports culture. Perhaps it’s Lin’s status as an underdog that made his popularity so contagious. The idea that a first generation American could rise to become one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People, and compile a long NBA career after attending Harvard, is as compelling a storyline as could ever be scripted.

“Jeremy is a wonderful guy, he’s had an amazing career thus far,” Coach Amaker said. “He’s going to do even greater things beyond and off the court.”

Lin’s popularity and ascension to worldwide fame is undeniable, especially to the Chinese and Taiwanese American communities, for which he represents the first to ever play in the NBA. Even more impressive, however, is the fact that despite his success and unique story, Lin has never forgotten where he came from. His generous donation to the college’s financial aid program are a literal reminder of this, but even a brief conversation with him is enough to convey his love for Harvard and the basketball team.

“It’s just different, you know, the whole experience is different,you’re kind of redefining what it means,” said Lin of his experience in Ivy League basketball. “You can take this path and go to the NBA, you can be a student athlete.”

With the trade deadline looming this afternoon, there is a very real possibility that Lin will play for another team by the end of today. After this season, Lin will be an unrestricted free agent, free to pursue whatever options the market offers him. So, once again, the former Crimson point guard will be faced with the uncertainty that has repeatedly appeared throughout his basketball career. But you can rely on Lin to approach the deadline and impending free agency with the same humility and grace he’s brought to the hardwood since he was learning to dribble and shoot at the Bay Area YMCA. “He has that kind of personality and also you know what’s in his heart you know to be a good person,” Coach Amaker said. “We talk all the time about here — he’s doing it, not just to do well, but also to do good. Jeremy’s doing both, and we’re proud of that.”

At some point in his life, once his NBA career is over, many expect Lin to become increasingly involved in social activism.

It’s reasonable to say that, while his Harvard education has yet to benefit him in the league, it will in his life after basketball. Wherever his experiences take him, Lin will bring his four years of basketball in Cambridge, and over 10-year NBA career to the table — which is something few people have ever experienced.

“I’m sure my degree will come into play somewhere down the road,” Lin said. “Although right now it doesn’t really help me with getting buckets or winning game.”

Whether it’s for the Hawks, or another team for the rest of the season and beyond, you can count on Lin to worry about winning games. But anyone who’s met the 30 year-old that took the world by storm seven years ago, knows that Lin’s future is much brighter than just basketball.

But for now, he’ll be focused on getting buckets — in Atlanta, or wherever the trade deadline may take him. amir.mamdani@thecrimson.com