The University Daily, Est. 1873 | Volume CXLV No. 50 | Cambridge, Massachusetts | thursday, April 5, 2018
The Harvard Crimson HLS must expand its low income potection program to help graduates in the public sector. Editorial PAGE 6
California natives bring new mentality to Harvard Baseball. Sports PAGE 7
Gov. Prof. Facing Faculty T9 Filing
GSD List Alleges Improper Behavior By Alexandra A. Chaidez
By Angela N. Fu and Jamie D. Halper
Crimson Staff Writer
Crimson Staff Writers
The Faculty of Arts and Sciences has filed a Title IX complaint against Government Professor Jorge I. Dominguez, according to an email FAS Dean Michael D. Smith sent Tuesday to 15 women who are accusing the professor of sexual harassment. Smith’s email came as a private response to a letter the 15 women sent last Thursday. In their letter, the women—comprising former Harvard undergraduates, graduate students, professors, and staff—call on the University to implement several steps they claim are necessary to ensure a “full and fair” review of the allegations against Dominguez. In their letter, the women outlined several criticisms of the Title IX office, which deals with the federal policy—Title IX—that prohibits sex or gender-based discrimination including sexual harassment. Smith wrote in his reply email that he could not comment on women’s criticisms because there is an ongoing complaint against the professor. “Since the FAS has submitted a formal Title IX complaint involving Jorge Dominguez, it is improper for me to opine on the specific issues laid out in your letter while this complaint is open,” Smith wrote in the email, which was obtained by The Crimson. In February and March, the Chronicle of Higher Education reported that at least 18 women were accusing Dominguez, the former vice provost for International Affairs, of repeated instances of sexual misconduct across the past three decades. Soon after the allegations became public, Smith announced that FAS would review the allegations against Dominguez and that Dominguez was being placed on paid “administrative leave.” A day later Dominguez declared he would retire from his teaching position at the end of the school year and would step down from all administrative positions immediately. Though several women have been in touch with the Title IX office about Dominguez, Smith’s email forms the first confirmation from administrators that there is an official complaint against the professor. Formal Title IX complaints in FAS are investigated according to the school’s sexual and gender-based harassment policies and procedures. Once a formal complaint
Harvard Graduate School of Design affiliates are circulating a month-old spreadsheet—publicly available online—that contains anonymous accounts of sexual misconduct and racist acts allegedly perpetrated by more than a dozen GSD students, faculty, and administrators including the current dean. The spreadsheet, titled “Shitty Architecture Men,” does not only list GSD affiliates. As of Monday, the sheet named more than 100 men affiliated with institutions of higher education like Yale University as well as men who work for prominent architecture firms. Up until recently, anyone with Internet access and the link to the document could add in a man’s name, that
See GSD Page 5
elena M. ramos—Crimson Designer
Some HKS Students Concerned by Policies
At HSPH, ‘Insults’ Spark Class Flagging
By Alexandra a. Chaidez
By Luke w. Vrotsos
Crimson Staff Writer
Crimson Staff Writer
Harvard Kennedy School students said they are concerned and confused by the school’s approach to sexual assault prevention and response at a panel Tuesday, arguing HKS needs to clarify its methods for handling sexual misconduct. The panel, hosted by the Kennedy School’s Gender Policy Union, centered around student activism meant to address sexual misconduct at Harvard. The event featured speakers Amelia Y. Goldberg ’19— a member of anti-sexual assault advocacy organization Our Harvard Can Do Better— and MaryRose Mazzola, a 2015 graduate of the Kennedy School and a former co-coordinator of the Harvard graduate school-wide coalition Harvard Students Demand Respect. Goldberg and Mazzola detailed the
Administrators flagged seven classes at the Harvard School of Public Health for review this year after each class drew three or more student reports of in-class “verbal or nonverbal slights/ insults” on online course evaluations. In total, 85 students responded “yes” to a question asking whether they had experienced in-class microaggressions, according to data provided by Nancy Turnbull, senior associate dean for professional education at the School of Public Health. In 43 out of 138 courses evaluated during the most recent two academic terms, at least one student reported hearing insults. Turnbull wrote in an email that there is “a very small number of courses in which students identify this as an issue.” The seven courses with three or
See HKS Page 5
See Insults Page 3
See dominguez Page 3
Total classes
Classes with at Classes with at least one report least three reports
elena M. ramos—Crimson Designer
Students Give Update on New Pre-Orientation Program By Paula M. Barberi Crimson Staff Writer
This August, incoming Harvard freshmen will have a new pre-orientation program option—the First-Year Retreat and Experience, or FYRE, a twoyear funded pilot program developed particularly for under-resourced students. FYRE co-chair James A. Bedford ’20 revealed the new program’s name at a town hall last month. The program’s steering committee, comprising six members, and its director, Sadé Abraham, gathered to introduce themselves, provide program updates, and hear feedback from students and faculty present. Katie W. Steele, director of College initiatives and student development, and Roland S. Davis, the associate dean of diversity and inclusion, both attended the meeting. Andrew Perez ’20 and Bedford said FYRE will be limited to 100 students, though the two expect the number of applications to surpass this cap. Abraham will work closely with the Office of Admissions and Financial Aid to determine who will “benefit the most” from the program, she said. While some town hall attendees
First-Year Retreat and Experience (FYRE), Harvard’s new flagship pre-orientation program, will run from August 23 to August 26. Justin F. González —Crimson photographer
Inside this issue
Harvard Today 2
News 3
Editorial 6
Sports 7
Today’s Forecast
Sunny/Wind High: 43 Low: 27
said they assume the program will serve many first-generation college students, the name of the program deliberately leaves out the words “first generation” in an effort to broaden outreach and avoid stereotypes, according to Bedford. “We wanted to ensure that this program wasn’t stigmatizing in a way that this program was called the ‘first generation’ or ‘low-income group’ on campus—or in any way that students felt outed or couldn’t have pride in that pre-orientation program,” Bedford said. “We definitely want to evoke a sense of excitement and ensure that we embody the continued commitment to students on this campus.” The program co-chairs also said they are aware some incoming students who qualify as under-resourced will not also fall under the first-generation label. “You don’t need to be low-income to feel insecure and uncomfortable coming to Harvard because you haven’t had those resources,” Bedford said. Last spring semester, Dean of the College Rakesh Khurana rejected a similar proposal for a “First Year
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See FYRE Page 3
Now
HARVARD TODAY
Thursday | April 5, 2018
FOR Lunch
FOR DINNER
Buffalo Chicken Fingers
Chicken Marsala
Nachos
Home Style Beef Lasagna
Pork Sausage Sub with Peppers and Onions
Stewed Garbanzo with Tomato and Spinach
Buffalo Cauliflower
around the ivies
HUBBS Panel The Harvard Undergraduate BGLTQ Business Society (HUBBS) hosts a non-profit panel and networking session with representatives from Act Blue, City Year, and Planned Parenthood. Sushi was served.
Barnard Transfer Students Say They Do Not Receive Sufficient Support During Transition
BRENDA LU —CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER
According to the Columbia Spectator, Barnard transfer students said they are concerned by aspects of their transition to housing, academics, and social life at a student government town hall. The Spectator reported that Barnard transfers are particularly disappointed in the lack of transfer-specific programming at Barnard’s fall orientation program, which is mostly designed with incoming freshmen in mind. The Spectator also reported that, while Barnard transfer students are placed into orientation groups that include incoming freshmen, Columbia transfers are placed into transfer-only orientation groups, which foster a stronger community for transfers.
Seventy Percent of Yalies Report Feeling “Happy” or “Extremely Happy”
HAPPY Thursday, Harvard! Today’s Events Harvard Veritas Forum: Can We Reconcile Justice and Forgiveness? 8-9:30 p.m. Take a walk to Sanders Theatre tonight to listen to Rachael Denhollander give a talk on justice in the face of personal sacrifice
and Christian forgiveness. A prominent advocate for abuse survivors, Denhollander was the first woman to speak publicly and file a criminal report against former USA Gymnastics team doctor and now convicted child molester, Larry Nassar. Creative Senior Theses Readings 7-8 p.m. Never read a book in your whole damn life? Head to Barker Cafe to
have the creative works of senior English concentrators read to you. You’ll get to see all your amazing, talented peers and the hard work they’ve put in. It’s really a win-win situation.
The Yale Daily News reported that, according to a survey the publication distributed in March, 70 percent of undergraduate student respondents described themselves as either “happy” or “extremely happy” at the College. As the Yale Daily News reported, only seven percent of undergraduates cited being “unhappy” or “extremely unhappy” at Yale. The YDN also reported that students on high levels of financial aid were proportionately more unhappy at Yale, according to the survey results.
Ben S. Rhee Crimson Staff Writer
in the real world
UC Smoothie Study Break The Undergraduate Council sponsored a study break in Ticknor Lounge Wednesday night to raise awareness about mental health services on campus.
Mueller’s Team Questions Russian Oligarchs Special counsel Robert Mueller’s team has ramped up efforts, stopping and questioning Russian oligarchs who traveled into the U.S. and even searching electronic devices. These searches follow Mueller and his team’s focus on investigating the potential flow of money from Russia into the U.S. election to see whether the Trump team colluded with Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Kathryn S. Kuhar —CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER
Tariffs on China Could Make Your Life More Expensive On Tuesday, the Trump administration identified about 1,300 exports from China that could be targeted in the wake of a months-long investigation into intellectual property theft. The lengthy list includes a wide range of items, from airplane parts to syringes. While this 25 percent tariff won’t go into effect immediately, prices on consumer electronics and home appliances would increase rapidly. Striking Oklahoma Teachers Win Historic School-Funding Increase and Keep On Marching Here’s your long read for the day: the Oklahoma walkout met success after state lawmakers passed a bill last week that raised taxes by about $450 million dollars and increased the pay of teachers in OK, some of the lowestpaid educators in the country, by 15 percent. However, teachers are still marching to pass more impactful and longstanding reforms.
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.
WAIting at the dot
QUOTE OF THE DAY
Staff for This Issue
“People pay attention to you because you’re a Harvard student, and that can be a really valuable tool.”
Night Editor Junina Furigay ’19
Design Editor Diana C. Perez ‘19
Assistant Night Editor Anna M. Kuritzkes ’20 Eli W. Burnes ’20
Editorial Editor Robert Miranda ’20
Amelia Y. Goldberg ’19
CORRECTIONS Due to an editing error, a graphic previously accompanying the April 3 article “Diversity Remains HKS Challenge” incorrectly confused the percentage of Kennedy School faculty and staff between academic years 2010-2011 and 2015-2016 that were Asian with the percentage that were female.
Story Editors Joshua J. Florence ’19 Hannah Natanson ’19 Mia C. Karr ’19 Claire E. Parker ’19
Photo Editors Iuliana C. Taritsu ’20 Brenda Lu ‘20 Sports Editors Cade Palmer ’20
The Harvard Crimson | APRIL 5, 2018 | page 3
Dominguez Faces FAS Filing Dominguez From Page 1 is filed, the Office for Dispute Resolution is tasked with investigating the allegations. Both individuals and the institution itself can file Title IX complaints. Nienke C. Grossman ’99, one of the 15 women who signed the Thursday let-
Come forward and share. Michael D. Smith
Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences ter to Smith, said staffers in the Title IX Office told her on March 26 that the office had prepared a complaint including a list of potential complainants or witnesses. She and Suzanna E. Challen, another alumnus who has made public allegations against Dominguez, first reached out to the Title IX Office about the professor in Nov. 2017. “The Title IX Office offered for us to serve as witnesses to the Title IX complaint or to file our own complaints. They gave us the option of doing either,” Grossman wrote in an email last
month. Once ODR receives a formal complaint, it assigns an investigator to the case, who then performs an initial review. If the investigator decides there is sufficient grounds for further investigation, the respondent—the person against whom the allegations have been made—is contacted to submit a response to the accusations against them. The respondent can submit a list of witnesses; ODR will build an expanded list of witnesses including those whom the complainant lists as well as other individuals the investigator considers valuable to the investigation. At the investigation’s conclusion, the investigator will create a report including recommendations for FAS to “eliminate any harassment, prevent its recurrence, and address its effects.” “We share a commitment to a full and fair investigation of the allegations surrounding Jorge Dominguez,” Smith wrote in the email he sent to the women Thursday. “I continue to encourage anyone who may have witnessed or experienced sexual harassment, whether recently or in the past, to come forward and share their experiences.” The women claimed in their letter last week that Harvard is “illequipped” to complete such an investigation due to a variety of factors includ-
ing a lack of resources and a previous failure to recognize Dominguez’s decades of alleged harassment. The letter’s signatories also called for an independent investigation into the circumstances surrounding Dominguez’s alleged history of sexual misconduct, claiming the University could not be objective in investigating itself. Smith’s emailed response did not address the topic of an independent investigation. The women wrote last week they are addressing Smith because the University’s policies afford the FAS dean authority over the investigation of misconduct and discipline of professors, including the ability to modify the normal procedures “in cases involving grave misconduct.” “As detailed in our procedures, the administration of discipline in cases against Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) faculty is subject to the authority of the FAS Dean,” Smith wrote in his response Thursday. Smith added he has forwarded the women’s letter to Provost Alan M. Garber ’76 because Garber oversees the Title IX office and ODR. The women sent a copy of their letter to Garber, University President Drew G. Faust, and Government Department Chair Jennifer L. Hochschild last week. “You should be hearing from the Provost’s Office directly,” Smith wrote.
Students Give Update on Summer Program Fyre From Page 1 Institute,” a summer pre-matriculation program designed specifically for low-income and first generation students. But Khurana announced in August that the College would debut a new pre-orientation program for freshmen from “historically marginalized com-
We’ll be there for you. Andrew Perez ‘20 munities” in 2018. Perez said FYRE will heavily focus on community-building. In an effort to create concrete relationships that extend past the pre-orientation program, FYRE staffers will form “families” comprised of two team leaders and 10 students. Perez said Alyssa J. Britton ’21, head of mentorship for the program, is still planning out how families will be paired.
“I think that’s something that we’re trying to do among other things—just really stressing the mentorship and the community aspect of the program and the mission statement of saying that it’s not just ‘We’re going to give you tools and you’ll figure it out on your own,’ but rather ‘We’ll be there for you just like there have been people that have been there for us,’” Perez said. The application for team leaders is now closed, and the co-chairs are currently conducting interviews. The steering committee for FYRE is also currently creating its own resource guide with the ultimate goal of supporting more Harvard students, including those who may be rejected from the program. “The resource guide kind of exemplifies one of the ways in which we could be showing continued commitment to the students not to just do three and half days and leave them with something they can really take away as something tangible,” Bedford said. The resource guide is still being workshopped, and Bedford said the committee is still actively seeking student feedback.
School of Public Health Students Report Insults via Online Form Insults From Page 1 more “yes” responses received 36 total reports of microaggressions. These classes have now been “flagged for special review and attention,” Turnbull wrote. Meredith B. Rosenthal, senior associate dean for academic affairs, said administrators sometimes meet individually with faculty members to discuss these kinds of issues. “On a case-by-case basis, we’ll meet individually with faculty where we see concerns to help them understand what their students’ experiences are, but also to help them figure out how to address them,” she said. Administrators also share data with the faculty as a whole in an effort to
spark conversations about diversity issues at the school, Rosenthal said.
We share data in the aggregate with the faculty. Meredith B. Rosenthal
Senior Associate Dean “We share data in the aggregate with the faculty at faculty meetings,” she said. “We have workshops for our faculty that help them think about how to manage sometimes difficult, but im-
portant, conversations in classrooms around diversity and inclusion.” The question on the course evaluation forms specifically asks students if they have experienced any “verbal or nonverbal slights/insults (whether intentional or unintentional) that negatively targeted a particular identity group.” The form lists “age, disability status, gender, immigration status, linguistic background, nationality, political views, race/ethnicity, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, socioeconomic class” as examples of identity groups. In an email, Rosenthal wrote that students can report “student-to-student” comments as well as remarks made by faculty.
Students have been able to report information about classroom climate via the evaluation form for around three years, though the question has not always been phrased in exactly the same way, Rosenthal said. On average, nearly 90 percent of students complete the evaluations. At a town hall last month, a School of Public Health student asked Dean of Undergraduate Education Jay M. Harris if he plans to include a similar question on undergraduate Q Guide forms. “There will be a question of some kind that at least is trying to get at that,” Harris responded. He added the exact phrasing of the question was yet to be determined. Harris later penned an op-ed in The Crimson asserting that the question, if
included, will ask “whether the teaching staff has created a welcoming environment conducive to learning” and “is not intended to invite reports on breaches of professional conduct.” Across the University more broadly, faculty and administrators are stepping up efforts to address issues of diversity and inclusion. Last week, a University-wide task force released its final report proposing eight key steps Harvard should take to become more inclusive, including creating two new research centers. According to the report, 5 percent of School of Public Health faculty are underrepresented minorities. Only the Medical School has a lower percentage of underrepresented minority faculty, clocking in at 4 percent.
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The Harvard Crimson | April 5, 2018 | page 5
Parkland Survivors Call Univ. GSD List Reveals Sexual Affiliates, Urge ‘Stories Untold’ Harassment Allegations By Andrea M. bossi Crimson Staff Writer
Harvard affiliates at America Adelante—an invitation-only conference hosted at the Kennedy School meant to foster leadership and collaboration between Latinx individuals—listened to students of color from Parkland, Fla. talk about the #NeverAgain movement to stop gun violence on a conference call last weekend. In February, 17 people were killed after a shooter opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. Since then, students from the school have spoken out against gun violence on social media, ultimately organizing a march in Washington D.C that drew thousands and galvanized support for gun control. Ten Parkland students called into the conference to share their experiences with attendees, who ranged from Harvard students to politicians and executive directors of various companies. The students said they hoped to convey the many voices in the #NeverAgain movement, especially those of students of color, whom they said have so far not comprised the focus of the movement. “There’s been a shared message across many voices at this school. We all share the same message, and we want to tell the world,” said Carlos “Carlitos” Rodriguez, a Stoneman Douglas junior. “More than 3,300 students go to Marjory Stoneman Douglas, and we all were affected.” The group of students that called into the conference is currently working on a campaign to share and broadcast personal stories of gun violence in all situations—stories that may not have appeared in national publications and news outlets. The campaign, called “Stories Untold,” is available on Twitter and Instagram. A different group of students from
Parkland—including Emma González, who has largely become the face of the #NeverAgain movement—visited the Institute of Politics earlier in February. The students on the conference call said different stories took place in every classroom across Stoneman Douglas. “I don’t have the words for it,” said Lorena Sanabria, another Stoneman Douglas junior. “It makes you think that at that point where you think you don’t know what’s going on, there were already people lying dead.” Several conference attendees said they have changed their approach to the movement against gun violence after hearing the students speak. “For weeks, we have been telling ourselves, we need to get a hold of Emma [González]. Never did it occur to me, there are other Latinos there. It’s Florida for God’s sake,” Lucy Flores, Vice President of Public Affairs at Mitú—a media company that focuses on Latinx perspectives and issues— said. “Your voices are as valuable and as powerful as everybody else’s.” She added that she is making a “commitment” to feature the students’ stories on a video series for Mitú. “This isn’t just a moment. This is a movement. We want to propel the ideas that come out of these wonderful people into the culture at large,” Herb Scannell, CEO of Mitú, added. Sindy M. Benavides, the COO of civil rights organization League of United Latin American Citizens, said the event helped her see the importance of “taking a step back and actually asking them what help they need versus making an assumption of what I can provide.” “A lot of times you forget that as youth, they also have answers,” Benavides said. “On our end, our job is to make sure we’re helping them harness the creativity and the power they already have.” Rodriguez is a vlogger, and, amid the
chaos that ensued during the shooting, he captured some footage of his experience. Some of that footage depicts students running and hiding. Other students described their fear and uncertainty during the shooting. “I was on the first floor of the building: room 1213. We could hear shots down the hallway but didn’t really have an idea of what was happening,” said Morgan Williams, a Stoneman Douglas junior. “It was a weird feeling; we were all confused and didn’t know what was going on.” Four people in Williams’s class were shot. She described having to run past bodies in the hallway to get out of the building. “Nothing felt real in that moment,” she said. The students on the call also talked about what happened after the shooting and detailed their activism around the issue of gun violence. “They should have realized it at Columbine. They should have done something then,” Rodriguez said. “When all this starts to calm down and people start to forget, I don’t want people to forget,” Williams said. “I want people to still remember what happened and what continues to happen in this country because of gun violence.” Sanabria said in an interview after the discussion that she laments not having the chance to remind conference attendees to actively continue having conversations. “Don’t let this be a passing memory because this is very relevant. I mean, look at what happened at Youtube just yesterday. They witnessed a shooting as well.” A shooter opened fire at YouTube headquarters Tuesday, injuring three and killing herself. Daniel Tabares, a freshman at Stoneman Douglas, asked, “How are you, Harvard, going to help us and keep this movement going?”
At Panel, HKS Students Detail Concern, Confusion Over School Title IX Policies HKS From Page 1 histories of their respective groups and actions they have taken to push forward initiatives meant to end sexual violence and harassment on campus. Emily M. Ausubel, a first-year Master in Public Policy student and a cochair of the Gender Policy Union, said the group decided to focus on sexual assault policy after the Chronicle of Higher Education reported that 18 women have accused Government Professor Jorge I. Dominguez of sexual harassment. The Faculty of Arts and Sciences last month placed Dominguez on “administrative leave” as Harvard investigates the allegations, and Dominguez has since announced he will retire from post. “That created a big stir across campus and suddenly a lot of people were talking about this issue in a much more directed way and including myself and the rest of the Gender Policy Union members,” Ausubel said. The Dominguez allegations prompted Kennedy School students to consider the school’s method of handling sexual harassment. The Kennedy School follows University-wide Title IX policy and procedures for handling complaints of sexual misconduct, and in recent years has taken a number of steps to implement the recommendations of a University-wide task force on sexual assault prevention. The school now holds mandatory trainings at student orientation,
has designated four staff members as Title IX coordinators, and provides workshops to train faculty on how to facilitate conversations around gender-based and other sensitive issues in the classroom, according to Kennedy School spokesman Doug Gavel. Still, some students said these actions are not enough. At the panel, Ausubel spoke about several concerns students have shared about the current implementation of the Title IX policy at HKS, which she said students raised at an off-the-record town hall about sexual misconduct the Union hosted last week. “Some of the big takeaways of that conversation was a lack of clarity on Title IX policy, including all of the nitty gritty of the steps,” Ausubel said. In addition to confusion over Title IX policy, Ausubel said students at the town hall called the mandatory orientation program was inadequate. Specifically, Ausubel said students worried that the training—currently mandatory for all first-year students but not for returning students—did not do enough to spark discussions around consent and community norms at Harvard. The four current Title IX coordinators at the school all hold additional administrative roles; Debra Isaacson, the Title IX coordinator specifically for students, also serves as dean of students. Ausubel said students believe the four administrators are “overworked” and unable to prioritize Title IX concerns as a result.
Isaacson did not respond to a request for comment. Kennedy School spokesperson Doug Gavel wrote in a statement Wednesday the school has been working to address these issues. “We have been discussing many of these concerns with students, and we share the frustration of many students about how challenging the issue of sexual harassment can be,” Gavel wrote. Goldberg and Mazzola concluded the panel by offering strategies so students can better communicate their feedback and apprehensions about current sexual misconduct-related procedures to administrators. Goldberg urged Kennedy School students to connect with students at other graduate schools and Title IX experts. She also discussed what she called “the capital H policy,” a strategy of using the Harvard name to push for change. “People pay attention to you because you’re a Harvard student, and that can be a really valuable tool,” she said. Gavel wrote in a statement that the Kennedy School will continue to listen to student feedback in order to improve their programming on sexual assault prevention and response. “We also have been engaging in conversations with our students to hear their concerns, and their ideas, so that we can enhance and improve our policies and our orientation sessions moving forward,” he wrote.
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GSD From Page 1 individual’s associated institution or firm, and a description of the inappropriate acts the man allegedly committed.
I think what is positive about the list is that it is bringing to the forefront of the conversation a critical dialogue as to how we define sexual harassment. Natasha H. Hicks GSD Student
The list is now temporarily unavailable and will return April 9, according to a message posted by the document’s anonymous administrator Tuesday. In anonymous postings on the sheet, commenters accused 18 GSD affiliates of treating students improperly in the classroom and in professional settings; the accusations comprise both allegations of sexual harassment and allegations of racist behavior. Accused Design School men range from studio instructors to lecturers to top leaders at the school, including current Design School Dean Mohsen Mostafavi and former chair of the school’s Department of Architecture Iñaki Ábalos. In a statement provided Monday by GSD spokesperson Travis Dagenais, Design School Executive Dean Patricia Roberts wrote the school is “aware” of the list but cannot comment on the specific allegations. “At the GSD, we take such issues very seriously,” Roberts wrote. “While I cannot comment on specific aspects of the list or individuals included on it, it is itself a signal that we must do better to promote an open dialogue about these issues and to strive for transparency in how we as a school deal with them.” In a disclaimer posted on the spreadsheet, sheet administrators emphasize that none of the content in the document is “legally true.” “We do not represent anything here as fact,” the disclaimer reads. “This is a compilation of thoughts, experiences and memories and things we have overheard.” GSD administrators have taken several steps to respond to broader concerns over sexual misconduct at the school across the past few weeks. Mostafavi held an open forum conversation last week with GSD students to discuss actions the School of Design has taken in the past regarding sexual misconduct and to solicit ideas for the path forward. “It was a conversation we are eager to continue,” Roberts wrote in her emailed statement. Roberts also sent a March 26 email to Design School affiliates affirming the school’s commitment to “personal accountability.” The email did not specifically reference the list. “As most of you know, the national conversation about sexual and gender-based harassment in professional and educational environments… has intensified over the past several months, most recently within the design disciplines,” Roberts wrote in the March email. “We take all disclosures of sexual
and/or gender-based harassment, including sexual assault, very seriously.” Roberts also pointed out Title IX resources available at the GSD and Harvard more broadly in her March email and encouraged students to share their concerns with GSD Title IX coordinators. The School of Design has “augmented” its policies and procedures related to preventing sexual harassment and assault in recent years, according to Roberts. The school is planning to hold a series of discussions related to issues of sexual misconduct in coming weeks, Roberts wrote in her emailed statement to The Crimson Monday. The “Shitty Architecture Men” sheet comes amid heightened national consciousness of sexual harassment and assault, spurred in large part by viral social media campaigns like the #MeToo movement. The movement has unseated men in industries ranging from Hollywood to academia. At Harvard, Government professor Jorge I. Dominguez retired in March after at least 18 women publicly accused him of sexual harassment—and after the Faculty of Arts and Sciences placed Dominguez on “administrative leave.” The Design School list parallels a previous public spreadsheet, dubbed “Shitty Media Men,” in which anonymous contributors made allegations of sexual assault and misconduct against men who worked for magazines and in the publishing industry. In its final form, that list included accusations against more than 70 men. Natasha H. Hicks, a student pursuing her master’s degree in urban planning and design at the GSD, wrote in an email Wednesday that the spreadsheet has been “well-circulated informally” among students and faculty. She wrote she thinks the spreadsheet has encouraged conversations about sexual harassment and Title IX at the school. “I think what is positive about the list is that it is bringing to the forefront of the conversation a critical dialogue as to how we define the spectrum of sexual harassment and assault,” Hicks wrote. “It has also provided a lot of questions and conversations around insufficiencies in current protocol and procedures, namely how universities handle Title IX requirements.” Taylor J. Halamka, a GSD student who heads the Design School’s Student Forum, wrote in an email that the Forum—a student governance body—is
At GSD, we take such issues very seriously. While I cannot comment on specific aspects of the list or individuals included on it, it is itself a signal that we must do better. Patricia Roberts Design School Executive Dean
committed to working with administrators and students to address “larger pervasive issues” raised by the spreadsheet. “These discussions are ongoing, and we are just at the beginning,” Halamka wrote. “It is our hope that we have begun not merely a conversation but a call for action within our walls and outside of them.”
EDITORIAL
The Harvard Crimson | APRIL 5, 2018 | page 6
What They Don’t Teach
The Crimson Editorial board
Law in the Public Interest Expanding the Low Income Protection Plan should be a priority for the Law School
P
ursuing a law degree at Harvard Law School is an extraordinarily expensive undertaking. For the 2018-2019 term, tuition is set at $63,800. It is no surprise, then, that 73 percent of last year’s Law School class graduated in debt, or that those debts averaged $162,672. Debts of this magnitude are more than just worrisome; they can disincentivize careers in the public sector, where average salaries are often substantially smaller. In the 1970s, Harvard was the first law school in the nation to establish a “Low Income Protection Plan” for graduates who work full-time in government, the public sector, or academia. LIPP helps Law School graduates manage their financial obligations. Enrollees pay a percentage of their salary toward their loan payments, and the program covers the rest. This is commendable, but there is room for improvement yet. While we commend the Law School for instituting LIPP, the program needs to be expanded to meet the needs of today’s graduates. A broader, more comprehensive LIPP would help low-income undergraduate students resist the pressure to enter a lucrative field directly out of school and instead consider a career serving the public interest. A recent open letter, published in The Harvard Law Record and supported by 37 Law School student
groups, outlines a set of reasonable strategies for expanding LIPP. These include changing the amount participants in the program give from their salaries by altering the participant contribution scale, increasing transition time in order to eliminate risk of losing coverage when Law School alumni are moving between jobs, and improving family and dependent leave programs. Additionally, the stu-
The current program is not enough. LIPP, at present, stands to more adequately protect students engaged in the selfless pursuit of the public good. dent groups recommended that LIPP lift caps on eligible undergraduate borrowing and retirement asset protections to enable more working class individuals to utilize the program and allow more graduates to save for their futures, respectively. We hope the Law School takes the letter seriously, and that the school communicates any reforms to potential applicants, who might otherwise be unaware of LIPP and other sources of financial aid. The Law School is, of course, not responsible for pay gap between the
By Natalie J. Gale
J
ohn Locke, father of the social contract. David Hume, great skeptic of the 18th century. These are the names that appeared in the slideshow in front of me on my first day of “Introduction to African-American Studies.” I saw them, and I flashed back to hours spent with World History II flashcards my sophomore year of high school, methodical memorization of their seemingly enlightened theories that left my head spinning at a beautiful new world of ideas. I relived hours spent poring over debate cases back in my hometown, reciting these names in front of panels of judges, taking these concepts that were so new and exciting and molding them to fit the world that I saw around me. As my eyes refocused on the projection in front of me, I was jolted back to reality. John Locke, David Hume: racists, eugenicists, conceivers of bigoted ideologies that pervade to this day. As I struggle like so many other first-years at the College to select a major, I find myself drawn more and more to the social sciences. The unique blend of skills that it requires and the incredible potential to shed light on new solutions to old problems is inarguably appealing to me. Despite this, I find my classes tainted by a history that no one wants to talk about—in fact, one that I heard mentioned only in passing until enrolling in a course specifically dedicated to tracing the path of racism through modern-day society. The reality that we need to face is that many of the disciplines that we consider today to be our most powerful tools in the fight towards equality have roots in hate, fear, and prejudice. This should not come as a revelation to anyone. Anthropology, the study of people, has long been used as a sophisticated tool to reinforce racial biases. Sociology, as we saw this fall when Charles Murray visited campus, has similarly been used to oppress. And yes, even those whom I first encountered as the gatekeepers to philosophy years ago are so canonically racist that their texts are assigned in Harvard’s introduction to African-American Studies as required reading for understanding where eugenicist ideas started. And yet, there I sat, shocked by this revelation. I didn’t consider myself an expert Many of the disciplines on these philosthat we consider today ophers by any to be our most powerful means, but I asthat sometools in the fight towards sumed where in one of my high school equality have roots in somehate, fear, and prejudice. courses, one would have mentioned their troublesome past, if only to give us an idea of the broader framework that was informing their ideas. Believe it or not, it is possible to acknowledge someone’s contributions to a field without excusing or erasing their troublesome paths. My classes have just brushed the surface of this topic in the past few months, and I can’t for the life of me determine why that is. This part of Western history is something that we are generally pretty awful at speaking about—we like to paint ourselves in the best light possible, as one would imagine. Some might protest that if we were to have this conversation about these prominent figures, we would end up having this conversation about all of our prominent figures because—you guessed it—white people have been racist for a long, long time. This is a conversation that we need to have. If we are going to achieve any kind of progress towards the racial tension that obviously still pervades in America and beyond, we must have this conversation, and we must have it early. In my sophomore year of high school, I was old enough to learn what the social contract is. I was certainly also old enough to learn that the man who thought of it also wrote explicit justifications for slavery. To the teachers and professors out there at all levels designing courses in history, philosophy, economics, or anything else: In addition to reading Locke, let’s read something that, instead of fitting into our worldview, challenges it. Let’s read something that goes into issues of racism, of black and brown struggles and of white If we are going to flight, a topic that achieve any kind of would’ve been very relevant inprogress towards the deed in my suburracial tension that ban public school. obviously still pervades I focus on social because in America and beyond, science that is arguably the field where we must have this this is most inconversation, and we tense, but the reality is that we must have it early. need to expand the diversity of our syllabi in every subject. Let’s read black and brown authors—not a radical idea by any means. Let’s institutionalize them, give them a voice in our canon, rather than pushing them to the margins for students to discover years after they graduate high school, years after they become eligible to vote. I am not the first person to write this. I will still enter the social sciences, and I will use them to work towards a better world for all of us, no matter what race, ethnicity, religion, sexuality, gender identity, ability, or any other possible basis for discrimination. But I will do so while informed about the social scientists who came before me, racism and all. With this knowledge, I will seek out DuBois, and Frazier, and the many other social scientists who have earned and deserve so much more space in mainstream social science classes than they get. And ultimately, it will make me a better student, a better activist, and a better person.
public and private sectors. Money aside, some students simply find the public sector uninteresting, unappealing, or unrelated to their skills. There is nothing wrong with this. However, the Law School has a responsibility to our national and global societies to empower students who care about positively affecting the world and the people who live in it. If financial issues are preventing students from pursuing their dreams of helping others, the Law School should strenuously work to alleviate them. The Low Income Protection Plan is, in some sense, a statement of intent. It represents the Law School’s commitment to legal study in the public interest. The current program, however, is not enough. LIPP, at present, stands to more adequately protect students engaged in the selfless pursuit of the public good. A protected and expanded LIPP would help the Law School break down the financial obstacles that prevent students from pursuing careers in the public sector. 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.
BE A CRIMSON CARTOONIST Submit a sample cartoon or any questions to Associate Editorial Editor Wonik Son ‘19 (wonik.son@thecrimson.com).
Fast Food for the Summer Think outside the bun Emilee A. hackney southern accented
W
hat are your summer plans? The question’s been floating around dining halls and classrooms for a few weeks now, slowly and stealthily infiltrating its way into those conversations that necessitate small talk. It’s an innocent question, especially for those who have booked flights, confirmed internships, or received job offers. But to those without concrete plans, to those who have missed deadlines or didn’t get the offers or acceptances they hoped for, that question is bound to cause a little anxiety: it’s a reminder that the end of the semester is fast approaching. Summer’s right around the corner—What are you going to do? When I started planning my summer, I was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of opportunities Harvard had to offer. Teaching, traveling, interning, researching—for the first time in three years, I had the chance to do something besides working in fast food. Browsing the seemingly endless options felt almost like a betrayal to the restaurant in which I’d spent so much time. I halfheartedly submitted applications to internships I was barely interested in and would later get rejected from, conflicted by the opportunity to do virtually anything I wanted and an irrational desire to return to making sandwiches. When I left that job last August, I never would’ve expected to miss it. I know it sounds crazy, but if you’re still trying to decide how to spend your summer, I recommend fast food. Seriously: I owe a lot to that job. It afforded me the savings that now pay my tuition, and it inspired the essay that got me into Harvard (true story—I wrote about a chicken sandwich). But, perhaps more importantly, it taught me life skills and values that I probably wouldn’t have learned at such a young age. I left a better person, wizened to the ways of the real world—or at least
the world beyond the coddling walls of high school. There’s something truly valuable about working long hours for minimum wage. Fast food will teach you so much. First, you’ll learn humility. You’ll feel just the slightest bit degraded wearing a nametag that says “Sandwich Artist.” Every time you catch a glimpse of yourself in a stainless steel appliance, you will cringe at your garish matching visor and polo (although you will be given many polos, none will be in your size). Your work appearance will be a great ego check.
I know it sounds crazy, but if you’re still trying to decide how to spend your summer, I recommend fast food. You’ll learn to be patient. When the line of customers is out the door, the 25 seconds it takes to toast a sandwich is an absolute eternity. All eyes will be on you. Annoyance will rumble through the ever-growing line of customers; you will be blamed for being unable to condense time. You’re not allowed to show even a flicker of frustration, though, or the customer feedback surveys will be brutal. Fast food is a great lesson in anger management. You will get yelled at, and frequently. People will insult your intelligence, if only because you work in fast food (also a good ego check). You will want to yell right back, but all you’re allowed to do is muster a fake smile. Later you will take out your anger on trash bags by throwing them into the dumpster a little more aggressively than usual. You’ll learn to multitask. One customer is asking you for an extra packet of mayonnaise, one is trying to pay for his sandwich, one is telling you that the toilet is clogged. The oven, toaster, and microwave are all beeping, the dish water is running over, you just ran out of chocolate chip cookies, your coworker has mysteriously disappeared, and an entire high school football team just walked in the door. After a while, though, this won’t scare
you anymore. Finally, you’ll become grateful. At the end of the day, you will relish the feeling of finally sitting down in your car, alone, in the quiet. Your clothes are covered in various sticky sauces and rogue pieces of lettuce; after a few weeks, your car will begin to smell like a much more stale version of the restaurant you work in. But there’s something very satisfying about being able to put your feet up for the first time after a long, demanding workday, and something even more satisfying about opening up a paycheck you worked very, very hard for. It won’t be a huge check, of course, but you will treasure it. These are only a few of the skills I learned from that job. I look back now and wonder at how much I grew in an environment I expected nothing of, but I guess that’s the beauty—if you can call it that—of fast food. I really encourage you to give it a try for the summer. You’ll be surprised that you can learn all this from simply making sandwiches, flipping burgers, or stuffing a taco, and these skills will benefit you both as now a student and later in a future career. Fast food helped get me here, and it helped make me who I am. Give it a try this summer—it might just change your life, too. Emilee A. Hackney ’20 is an English concentrator living in Adams House. Her column appears on alternate Thursdays.
Natalie J. Gale ’21, a Crimson editorial editor, lives in Grays Hall.
The Harvard Crimson President Derek G. Xiao ’19 Managing Editor Hannah Natanson ’19 Business Manager Nathan Y. Lee ’19
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Sports
The Harvard Crimson | April 5, 2018 | page 7
California Natives Bring Golden State Mentality baseball
By Eliel ig-izevbekhai contributing Writer
California loves its warm weather, clear waters, laid back lifestyle and maybe, above all else, its baseball. At the start of the 2015 Major League Baseball season, there were twice as many California-born MLB players than athletes hailing from any other state in the nation. Almost as soon as they walk, kids are handed their first baseball glove and are sent out into the sun to fall in love with “America’s pastime.” Perhaps it’s the influence of storied MLB franchises like the Los Angeles Angels, the San Francisco Giants, or the Los Angeles Dodgers. Perhaps it’s the easygoing culture of California aligning perfectly with the relaxed game that is baseball. Maybe it’s that California’s weather is conducive to year-round play. Some might say it’s a combination of all three that makes California the nation’s hotbed of baseball. “There are a lot of good professional teams out there,” said junior first baseman Patrick McColl, a native of Los Altos, Calif. “It’s kind of a year round thing, kids start playing travel ball when they’re really young. It’s obviously warm enough to do so.” Other players agreed, citing the conducive nature of the state’s environment. “I think it’s just a big part of the weather which just influences the culture of baseball in California,” said Los Gatos native and sophomore pitcher Hunter Bigge. Weekends are filled with travel team baseball tournaments; parents drive their kids hours away just to attend practices during the week, satisfying their hunger for the game. “Baseball was all I did,” Bigge said. “Before I got to high school, I’d play baseball every weekend. It always something I bonded with my friends over.” The love and passion for baseball manifests in commitment and competition. Every Californian will say the atmosphere simply breeds talent. “The baseball in California is extremely competitive,” said Moraga native and junior outfielder Ben Skinner. “There’s a lot of talent within that region. It’s really a hotbed of talent.” Moraga, Calif., is a two-day and 3,087 mile journey to Cambridge. Los Altos boasts a 3,130 mile trip and at 3,133 miles away Los Gatos is even further. Combine that with resort weather, top notch competition, and the “Cali” lifestyle, and you would not expect to find more than a few Californians braving the cold on the Harvard baseball team. Before only a few years ago, the assumption match the state of the roster. “When I came in my recruiting class, there was actually no one on the team before from California,” McColl said. Now, the team is lined from top to bottom with Californians, 11 in fact. More than a third of the team calls California their home, while Yale and Princeton both claim only two players from the Golden State.
Quinn peaks In a sophomore class that is more than 70 percent Californians, Del Mar native Quinn Hoffman is one of the five from the state. eunice n. michieka—Crimson photographer
The Crimson has built this this new-look baseball team on the grounds of ambitious recruiting, a newfound chemistry, and the adoption of new playing styles. Many of these kids did not have any plans of coming to Harvard, but they were given an offer they could not refuse: give up the warm weather of their home and gain the opportunity to continue playing competitive baseball coupled with an elite level education. “Ivy Leagues weren’t even in the question,” Bigge said. “[They] were always kind of in the back of my mind. One of the coaches flew out to watch me play junior year, and they offered me a couple days later. I came to the realization that if Harvard offers you on the spot, you kind of have to take it. If baseball doesn’t work out, nobody can take a Harvard degree away from you.” The Crimson’s recent ability to venture across the country and create a
presence in camps and showcases has made it a more coveted name in the baseball world on the West Coast. “They saw me at a few different events…[first] in Stockton,” Skinner said. “Then they saw me again at Stanford Camp, and after that, I received my offer from Harvard, and I accepted that pretty quickly. I was extremely thankful and excited for that.” Extending these offers to a new area has created a chain reaction in commitments. It started with five California players in the current junior class, followed by five more in the subsequent year. Now, even though California is on the other side of the country, the state’s players can now see a piece of home in Harvard. “My roommate right now, we’re from the same town,” Bigge said. “We played travel ball together when we were 10 years old. It was nice having that hometown connection.”
Others have even used their connections at home for recruitment. “I actually played on the same travel ball team as Hunter Bigge,” Skinner said. “ I knew him beforehand. He texted me before he made the decision to come to Harvard. I told him that I loved it and i’d be stoked to have him.” However, simply having a few familiar faces was not enough to complete the transition to this side of the country. California has easy access to baseball facilities. Warm weather comes with batting cages in backyards and baseball fields that are always open for play. Now they come to Harvard. Preseason practices take place on the football field, under a covered bubble to protect from frigid northeastern temperatures. The first couple months of the season are not even played in the Northeast. This season, the Crimson played its first 18 games on the road,
chad boys Warming up prior to last season’s beanpot, sophomore Chad Minato—also a Golden State native—hails from Huntington Beach. ryosuke Takashima—Crimson photographer
no further north than South Carolina, while its home field was draped in snow. “Once we got into the season it was definitely a big adjustment,” McColl said. “My first Ivy League game…it was about 35 degrees and it started sleeting. I was like, what did I get myself into? In the end, it turned out alright.” The weather isn’t the the only thing that requires adjustment. There is definitely a culture shock that comes with the transition to the Boston area. The city offers a fast paced atmosphere that juxtaposes the chill California culture players leave. “It’s definitely different coming from California,” said McColl, speaking on the change in atmosphere. “It’s more slow paced out there [in California]. I think Boston in general is a different city. Part of the reason I wanted to come here was because I thought Boston was really cool when I came and visited.” Nonetheless, the players have made this transition together, forming a bond over their California roots. Harvard has become their home away from home with so many players from the native area. Their common beginnings have built team chemistry that extends far past O’Donnell field. California players have become friends and even roommates. “It made it a little bit easier,” McColl said. “I room with two other guys that are from California. We hang out when we’re at home now. It’s definitely a cool thing to have.” Together, the players feel they offer not only a unique personality and background, but also a different brand of baseball. The Californian’s feel they bring the “West Coast” side of baseball to the team, which perfectly complements the East Coast style of play the team has benefited from in the past. “The classic West Coast, East Coast difference,” Bigge said. “Georgia, Florida baseball is hit the ball as far as you can, and throw the ball as hard as you can. California is a lot more structured around hitting your spots on the mound, getting your bunts down, paying more attention to the skilled aspect of the game and doing the little things well. I’d agree there’s a lot of skill there.” What Harvard has built is truly unique. The team is now full of talented players that hail from across the continent. Each brings their ability, personality, and piece of friendship that are all essential to the teams’ success. With 11 Golden State natives on the roster, this chain of Californians may not end soon. Especially not with the current players taking on a larger role in the western recruiting. “Kids from California are worried about coming out to the northeast to play baseball,” McColl said. “Know that it’s not gonna be too much of a worry. It’s been a great experience overall.”
Page 8 | APRIL 5, 2018 | The Harvard Crimson