NEWS
THE HARVARD CRIMSON APRIL 14, 2023
7
ON CAMPUS
Student Lament Scooter Restrictions KICKED TO THE CURB. Many students express frustration as Harvard College doubles down on scooter, bike restrictions. BY PATON D. ROBERTS AND HANA ROSTAMI CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS
A
s Harvard College doubles down on its restrictions for the usage of bicycles, scooters, and other micromobility devices, some undergraduates are frustrated with security and convenience challenges brought on by the policy. The College’s 2022-23 student handbook prohibits students from riding micromobility devices — lightweight personal transportation vehicles like bicycles, roller blades, skateboards, and scooters — “in Harvard Yard, in Harvard-owned or operated buildings, or on sidewalks or other walkways.” While the policy has been in place since the beginning of the academic year, the College has recently upped its communication and enforcement of the restrictions. A Feb. 16 weekly update email from the College reminded students to park their scooters in “an appropriate location,” and the school has also posted related flyers on the doors of classroom buildings
this month. While the policy has been in place since the beginning of the academic year, the College has recently upped its communication and enforcement of the restrictions. A Feb. 16 weekly update email from the College reminded students to park their scooters in “an appropriate location,” and the school has also posted related flyers on the doors of classroom buildings this month. “Parked micromobility devices must not obstruct accessible pathways, building entrances/exits, driveways, fire safety equipment, or emergency egress paths,” it reads. The policy defers to specific departments and building managers for questions of “scooter parking, charging, or overnight storage.” Jack K. Silvers ’25, a Crimson Sports editor, said he finds the policy to be “unnecessary, harmful, and hypocritical.” “I don’t think that scooters block entrances or exits,” he said. “I think Harvard probably just got one complaint, or someone’s scooter got stolen from inside, and then they wanted to clean up the hallways or something.” Max H. Schermer ’24, a Crimson Design editor, said using a scooter is very helpful since he has back-to-back classes in the Science and Engineering Complex — located in Allston — and Harvard Yard. Schermer said
that he did expect the College to enact restrictions on micromobility devices due to a perceived increase in the number of scooters but “not this soon.” “I do think that they can be a little more accommodating or at least have warned us about this because people need time to get locks,” Schermer said. Samantha C. Sestak ’25 said she had her scooter stolen outside of the SEC after she was forced her to leave it outside without a lock. Despite filing a police report for her stolen scooter, Sestak claimed the Harvard University Police Department told her she is unlikely to get it back. “What the officer told me is that essentially I can count it as gone,” she said. Before the policy was enforced, she said she had never experienced issues with storing her scooter indoors. “I usually just try to make sure to store it not in front of entryways or places where people are walking,” she said. “As long as I’m respectful, I’ve never had any issues.” According to public HUPD logs, seven bikes and scooters were reported as stolen between April 1 and April 12. A spokesperson for the College said the school adapts to meet the needs of different facilities and has asked students to abide by signs posted about the
Some Harvard undergraduates expressed frustrations over newly enforced policies limiting the usage of micromobility devices. CLAIRE YUAN—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER
policies. Riley E. Jenne ’25 — who uses a scooter to travel between football practice, classes, and Ma-
ther House — said he has not been forced to change his scooter use, “I still just bring mine inside. No one said anything to me about it. So
far I’ve been fine with it,” he said. paton.roberts@thecrimson.com hana.rostami@thecrimson.com
Behind the Broadcasting of Harvard Varsity Sports Games BY PATON D. ROBERTS AND SOPHIA C. SCOTT CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS
Today, nearly every Harvard varsity sports home game is televised and streamed on screens around the world — but it wasn’t always this way. Just 11 years ago, Harvard produced broadcasts for only 12 of its sports teams. Harvard Athletics now broadcasts the home contests of 40 of the school’s 42 varsity teams through networks including ESPN+ and the New England Sports Network. The only exceptions are the golf teams. Associate Director of Athletics Imry Halevi, who is responsible for content and strategic communications, has pushed for increases in broadcasting since his arrival in November 2012. “When I came — again, there was nothing here,” Halevi said. “Our facilities, some of them are newer, some are older, cabling was older and there really wasn’t an infrastructure and so that was a big challenge.” In April 2018, the Ivy League and ESPN signed a 10-year deal to broadcast 1,100 events annually through ESPN+, an online streaming service, and at least 24 games per year on ESPN’s cable networks. “ESPN has a linear network
Harvard Stadium’s broadcasting boxes. SOPHIA C. SCOTT— CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER
and they have certain chunks of time that are available,” Halevi said. “And so they work with the Ivy League and make those decisions also with an eye towards gender equity and sports equity to make sure that we have all our teams — or as many teams as possible — getting that opportunity.” A separate deal with NESN allows Harvard to broadcast up to 14 games per year. “We tried to — and succeeded in — spreading out all these games throughout all our seasons and with as much equity as possible between the different sports,” Halevi said. Halevi said he has had a number of conversations with coaches to understand the “intricacies” of each sport and their unique broadcasting challenges, citing the example of the sailing team. “The coach sat here and explained it to me multiple times to make sure that I understood so that we can give the camera operators and the drone operators and the commentators the guidance they need to do the coverage well,” Halevi said. Student athletes welcomed the broadcasting of their home competitions with gratitude. Katie J. Krupa ’26, a forward for the women’s varsity basketball team, said broadcasts of her games have enabled family from back home and internationally to
tune in to support her. “I have family not just from around the country, but also around the world, and the fact that they get to stream my games is just very, very exciting to them,” Krupa said. Ludovico A. “Ludo” Rollo ’25, a member of the men’s soccer team, said there was “no way to overstate” his gratitude for the broadcasts. Rollo said the broadcasts are a benefit for international students. “Thanks to a game being streamed through ESPN and the New England Sports Network, they have the ability to at least watch their kid play over the weekend and still share those same emotions that they had growing up, even though they’re a whole ocean away,” he said. Halevi said broadcasting is “not just pointing a camera,” adding that Harvard Athletics is pursuing an initiative to highlight students’ non-athletic achievements during live commentary. “We try to encourage our commentators to share that information as well on the air to make sure that people who watch us know, ‘Hey, these are not just amazing athletes, but they’re also amazing students,’” he added. paton.roberts@thecrimson.com sophia.scott@thecrimson.com
EVACUATION FROM PAGE 1
Science Center Plaza Evacuated for Suspicious Package tape, with officers instructing students to leave the area. Students were also evacuated from the first floor of the Science Center and its Cabot Science Library. An advisory through the University’s alert system sent at 4:47 p.m. instructed students to avoid the plaza. “HUPD and CPD officers are at the Science Center Plaza on the report of a suspicious bag. Please avoid the area. Officers are evaluating the situation,” the alert read. A loud noise was heard in the area at 5:34 p.m., though Catalano wrote in an email that the noise “was not an explosion,” and that it was instead produced by a water cannon. A follow-up alert indicated that loud noises in the area were due to equipment being used to assess the package. “The assessment into the bag is still ongoing. It includes using equipment that will generate
loud noises. Please continue to avoid the Science Center Plaza,” the alert read. “More information to follow.” A photo taken by The Crimson appeared to show fireworks in the vicinity of the bag. FBI spokesperson Kristen M. Setera said in a Thursday phone call that the FBI is unable to provide comment at this time. Dean of Harvard College Rakesh Khurana and Interim Dean of Students Lauren E. Brandt ’01, both present at the scene, declined to comment on the situation. “You should refer to the information that HUPD has been communicating via MessageMe for questions about the ongoing situation,” College spokesperson Jonathan Palumbo wrote in an emailed statement. “We are communicating with students and Houses about allowing interhouse dining in order to account
for access to dinner for this evening.” The potential threat disrupted several classes held in the Science Center, postponing a midterm exam for Math MB: “Introduction to Functions and Calculus II.” Freshmen, who typically eat at the adjacent Annenberg Hall, were instructed to eat at upperclassman houses instead. Sidechat, an anonymous social media platform for students to post text and photos to other undergraduates, sees widespread use on Harvard’s campus. Students falsely reported on Sidechat that the bag had exploded, including a post that appeared to show a bag detonating — but in fact depicted the use of a water cannon on the bag. Lucy H. Vuong ’26 and Jackson T. Moody ’26, who were both in the Science Center at the time of the incident, said they monitored Sidechat for news of the sit-
uation. “We had some vague sense of what was going on just through people updating on Sidechat — as much as you can trust rumors,” Vuong said, adding that she felt “worried and confused.” “We kind of knew that we weren’t going to get anything official from the University until a while later,” Vuong added. “They sent out the MessageMe about them using things that might cause large noises after their purposeful detonation occurred.” Vuong, who was on the fifth floor of the Science Center, said her class Math 99R: “Decision Theory” stalled for 10 to 15 minutes as “we tried to figure out what that detonation noise was.” During that time, Vuong said she and other students went down to a fourth floor balcony to observe. Vuong said the possible threat factored into her decision not to eat at Annenberg Thursday eve-
ning. “We were trying to build a robot — just building, building, building — and then we all got the text on our phones from HUPD,” said Moody, who was in the midst of his Physical Sciences 70: “Introduction to Digital Fabrication” lab on the first floor. “We were kind of freaking out because it said stay clear of that area, and we were in that area.” Moody said his class was evacuated after a student came down the hall and told them they were supposed to evacuate and leave the building. “I saw on Sidechat that the bomb blew up. Apparently that’s not true, or maybe it is true — I don’t even know,” Moody said. “There was a lot of uncertainty around what was happening, which obviously, leads to anxiety.” Emily Parke ’24 said in an interview that her Thursday eve-
ning lab section for Life Sciences 1B: “An Integrated Introduction to the Life Sciences: Genetics, Genomics, and Evolution” was canceled. “It’s not a huge disruption because the stuff that we’re doing in lab, I guess it can just be done on our own, but it is a two hour, 45 minute lab,” she said. Parke said she felt there was a lack of information available to students between the alerts sent out by campus police to the student body. “I got all my information about what happened from Sidechat, which is — I don’t know — maybe not the most reputable source,” Parke said. Staff writers Rahem D. Hamid, Miles J. Herszenhorn, John N. Peña, and Neil H. Shah contributed reporting. ryan.doannguyen@thecrimson.com yusuf.mian@thecrimson.com
