The Harvard Crimson - Volume CXLV, No. 94

The Harvard Crimson The University Daily, Est. 1873 | Volume CXLV, No. 94 | Cambridge, Massachusetts | Tuesday, October 2, 2018

editorial PAGE 10

news PAGE 9

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Harvard must take a consistent stance toward single-gender social groups.

A recent Harvard graduate’s push for gun control legislation has paid off.

The women’s field hockey team scored victories against Bryant and Penn.

Embattled Nominee Kavanaugh Is Out At Law School Controversial Lecturer Will Not Teach in January 2019 By aidan f. ryan

Alums Petition Senators to Kill Kavanaugh’s Court Bid

Crimson Staff Writer

E mbattled Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh will not return to teach at Harvard Law School in January, according to an email administrators sent to Law students Monday evening.

“Today, Judge Kavanaugh indicated that he can no longer commit to teaching his course in January Term 2019, so the course will not be offered,” Associate Dean and Dean for Academic and Faculty Affairs Catherine Claypoole wrote in the email, which she sent on behalf of the Law School’s Curriculum Committee.

A Harvard Law School spokesperson confirmed late Monday night that Kavanaugh will not teach his course, titled “The Supreme Court Since 2005” and slated to last for three weeks. Kavanaugh has taught at the Law School for roughly a decade.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday evening. ­

See out Page 11

By jamie d. halper and simone c. chu Crimson Staff Writers

Harvard alumni from across the University are banding together to call on fellow Harvard graduates in the Senate to vote against Brett M. Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court.

Alumni have circulated at least two separate letters in recent days — one addressed to the 13 Harvard alumni who currently serve in the Senate, and one specifically to Sen. Ben Sasse ’94 (R-Neb.) from his College classmates.

Two women have accused Kavanaugh — who President Donald Trump nominated to the country’s highest court over the summer — of sexual assault. The FBI is now pursuing a week-long investigation into the allegations before the Senate proceeds with a vote.

The letter to Sasse, which ­

Katie e. wang Crimson Designer

Students Sought to Block D.C. Judge’s Return By shera s. avi-yonah and JAMIE D. HALPER Crimson Staff Writers

In the days before Harvard Law School announced embattled Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh will not teach in Cambridge this January, undergraduates eager to block his return to campus struck on a new strategy: file Title IX com­

plaints against the conservative judge.

Over the past week, several students filed formal complaints alleging Kavanaugh’s presence in Cambridge would violate Harvard’s policy prohibiting sexual and gender-based harassment — though several Title IX experts said this strategy was unlikely to succeed.

Jacqueline L. Kellogg ’19 —

who said she has filed a complaint against Kavanaugh with the University’s Office for Dispute Resolution — came up with the idea several days ago. She began urging fellow students to follow suit over the weekend, at one point sending an email to a group of students at the College and the Law School that offered

See Title IX Page 7

was posted to Change.org Sept.

27, had gathered more than 250 signatures as of Monday evening.

The open letter to the 13 senators, hosted on a Google document, had garnered almost more than 250 signatures as of Monday evening.

The petition to Sasse was primarily circulated through the Class of 1994 alumni Facebook group, though organizer Aren R. Cohen ’94 said she and others also distributed the petition via emails and direct messages to alumni.

The text of the petition points to Sasse’s 2017 book, “The Vanishing American Adult,” which argues that young Americans are ill-equipped to face the demands of the global economy — and puts forward a vision for raising active and engaged citizens.

“Rather than being ‘a coward

See congress Page 7

Faust, Khurana, Smith to Testify in Admissions Suit Obama

Endorses Gonzalez For Gov.

Top Administrators Will Be Key Witnesses in Courthouse By delano r. franklin and samuel w. zwickel Crimson Staff Writers

Current and former top Harvard administrators — including former University President Drew G. Faust, Dean of the College Rakesh Khurana, and former Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Michael D. Smith — will testify in the University’s upcoming admissions trial, according to Monday court filings.

Lawyers for Harvard and Students for Fair Admissions — the plaintiff in the ongoing lawsuit, which alleges Harvard discriminates against Asian-American applicants in the College’s admissions process — published separate lists of witnesses they “will” or “may” call to testify.

The witness lists include the names of several other administrators, including Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid William R. Fitzsimmons ’67, former Director of Financial Aid Sally C. Donahue, and Director of Admissions Marlyn E. McGrath ’70, along with multiple other ­

admissions officers.

These Harvard figureheads will have to answer questions about how race is considered as part of the University’s “holistic” admissions process.

Current Harvard administrators who recently took their posts, including University President Lawrence S. Bacow and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Claudine D. Gay, did not appear on either of the witness lists.

Another absence from both lists is Edward Blum, the president of SFFA. In a previous petition to the judge, SFFA argued that “he has no relevant information to offer at this trial.”

Both Harvard and SFFA told the court they would call School of Public Health Dean for Education Erin Driver-Linn.

Beginning in 2008, Driver-Linn previously directed the work of Harvard’s Office of Institutional Research, which in 2013 produced an internal, preliminary report which found

See witnesses Page 7

By Meena Venkataramanan Crimson Staff Writer

See obama Page 7

Harvard Hosts Chat About Admissions Trial By delano r. franklin and samuel w. zwickel Crimson Staff Writers

More than a dozen undergraduates ventured to Grays Hall on a rainy Monday evening to enjoy chocolate-chip cookies, recline in beanbag chairs, and engage in conversation about Harvard’s admissions controversy. ­

Diversity Peer Educators — students employed by the College’s Office of Diversity Education and Support — facilitated the Monday discussion, which is part of the office’s fall “Diversity Dialogue Series.”

After an ice-breaker activity, the student facilitators asked students to reflect on the words “diversity,” “merit-based ad-

missions,” “racial discrimination,” and “model minority.” Attendees wrote their thoughts on colored notes and placed them on posters around the room.

The conversation began with an overview of the history and legal background of the lawsuit pending against the

See chat Page 9

Don’t Like Sanctions?

Don’t Apply, Says Bacow By caroline s. engelmayer and kristine e. guillaume Crimson Staff Writers

Just a few months into his tenure, University President Lawrence S. Bacow has a simple message for Harvard hopefuls: don’t apply if you’re not comfortable with the College’s social group penalties.

The sanctions — which took effect with the Class of 2021 — bar members of single-gender final clubs and Greek organizations from holding student group leadership positions, varsity athletic team captaincies, ­

Governor Charlie D. Baker ’79 passed gun control legislation on July 3. Brendan J. Chapuis—Crimson photographer

Harvard Today 2

See sanctions Page 8

Students meet in Grays Hall Basement to discuss the ongoing affirmative action lawsuit alleging the College discriminates against Asian-American applicants. Delano R. Franklin—Crimson photographer

see page 9

Inside this issue

and from receiving College endorsement for certain prestigious fellowships.

In his first full-length interview with The Crimson last week, Bacow said the policy reflects the College’s values of inclusion and belonging, and prospective students should “embrace” those principles before deciding to attend Harvard.

“Nobody puts a gun to anybody’s head and says that they have to come here,” Bacow said.

“These are really important issues for students. If they don’t

Former President Barack Obama endorsed Mass. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jay Gonzalez Monday, as Gonzalez prepares to face popular Republican incumbent Charlie D. Baker ’79 at the polls in November.

The move came as part of a string of endorsements released by the former president via Twitter, which included his support for Ayanna S. Pressley, the Democratic nominee in Massachusetts’s 7th Congressional District who scored a stunning primary upset last month.

“Jay Gonzalez is a bold leader who has the vision, the experience and the heart to be an outstanding Governor for the people of Massachusetts.

I am proud to support his candidacy,” Obama, a Harvard Law School graduate, said in a statement released by Gonzalez’s office. “He has the leadership experience to deliver on an ambitious agenda, including a transportation system that people can rely on and an education system that gives every child the high-quality public education they deserve.”

Though Obama did not comment on this policy in particular, Gonzalez’s “ambitious agenda” on education reform includes an endowment tax proposal that would cost Harvard an estimated $550 million per year.

The former president’s endorsement, which also praised lieutenant gubernatorial candidate Quentin A. Palfrey ’96, follows a Sept. 19 press conference held by Gonzalez at the Harvard T station, where he announced ­

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THE HARVARD CRIMSON |

OCTOBER 02, 2018

PAGE 2

HARVARD TODAY

For Lunch Chicken Vindaloo Philly Cheese Steak Sub White Bean Ragout

For Dinner Coq Au Vin Red’s Best Mussels with Pesto Vegetable Quinoa Paella

TODAY’S EVENTS

IN THE REAL WORLD

Britany Packnet & Angela Rye: The Power of Imagination IOP, 4:30 - 5:45 p.m.

A Year After Catalonia Secession Vote, New Unrest and Still No Resoluion

Head over to the IOP this afternoon for a discussion on how we view incremental vs. revolutionary policy changes. Hear from different agents of change on what it means to take on the “impossible.”

On the one-year anniversary of Catalonia’s illegal independence vote, separatist demonstrators clashed with police in the streets of major cities like Barcelona and Girona. Catalonian society remains very divided over the issue of independence.

Animal-Shaped Vessels: Conexts and Meanings Menschel Hall, 6:00 - 7:15 p.m.

The Harvard Art Museums are hosting a lecture related to their new exhibit on ancient animal-shaped vessels.

The event will be held in Menschel Hall, also known as the room where you attend lecture for your gems.

Bright Lights: Generation Wealth with Director Lauren Greenfield Sanders, 7:00 - 10:00 p.m.

Escape the Harvard bubble and attend a free screening of the documentary “Generation Wealth,” an exploration of materialism in American society.

The viewing will be followed by a discussion with the film’s director, Lauren Greenfield.

Cancer Immunotherapy Researchers Win Nobel Prize in Medicine Hannah Pearce ‘21 drives the ball in a field hockey game against Bryant University on Sunday afternoon. TIMOTHY R. O’MEARA—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

DAILY BRIEFING Embattled Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh will not return to teach at Harvard Law School in January, according to an email administrators sent to Law students Monday evening. Before the announcement, hundreds of alumni signed a letter to Law School Dean John F. Manning ‘82 urging him to “rescind” Kavanaugh’s position as a lecturer and to forbid the judge from teaching this winter.

In other news, former President Barack Obama endorsed Democrat Jay Gonzalez in the Mass. governor’s race.

On Monday, the 2018 Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded to both James P. Allison and Tasuku Honjo for their discovery of cancer therapy by inhibition of negative immune regulation. Don’t worry, premeds, they probably also got their start in LS1A.

Trump Announces New Trade Deal To Replace NAFTA President Donald Trump announced on Monday that United States had reached agreement with Mexico and Canada on a new free trade arrangement. The pact, to be known as USMCA after the initials of the three signatory countries, is set to replace the decades-old North American Free Trade Agreement, which Trump has frequently criticized.

AROUND THE IVIES YALE Posters supporting survivors of sexual harassment were vandalized across Yale’s campus over the weekend, the Yale Daily News reported. The posters — which named the three women who publicly accused Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh of sexual harassment, among others — were posted by the Yale students who organized Yale’s rally against Kavanaugh’s confirmation.

They were torn down from bulletin boards two separate times, at least once by Jack Palkovic, a Yale Divinity School student who participated in a white nationalist rally last year, according to witnesses interviewed by the News.

DARTMOUTH A former Dartmouth student is suing the college for wrongful expulsion, The Dartmouth reported. The student, who filed the complaint under a pseudonym, was expelled last spring for threatening a female student from a former romantic relationship. The student alleges Dartmouth violated his Title IX rights and subjected him to unfair disciplinary hearing procedures prior to his expulsion. According to the Dartmouth, he has asked that the college reverse his expulsion, expunge his record, and compensate him for financial and emotional damages.

THE UNIVERSITY DAILY, EST. 1873

The Harvard Crimson Derek G. Xiao President Hannah Natanson Managing Editor Nathan Y. Lee Business Manager

Associate Managing Editors Mia C. Karr ’19 Claire E. Parker ’19 Associate Business Managers Dahlia S. Huh ’19 Max W. Sosland ’19 Digital Strategists Jamie D. Halper ’20 Caroline S. Engelmayer ’20 Editorial Chairs Cristian D. Pleters ’19 Emmanuel R. R. D’Agostino ’19

STAFF FOR THIS ISSUE Arts Chairs Mila Gauvini II ’19 Grace Z. Li ’19

Design Chairs Morgan J. Spaulding ’19 Simon S. Sun ’19

FM Chairs Marella A. Gayla ’19 Leah S. Yared ’19

Multimedia Chairs Amy Y. Li ’20 Ellis J. Yeo ’20

Blog Chairs Lydia L. Cawley ’20 Stuti Telidevara ’20

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

Sports Chairs Cade S. Palmer ’20 Jack R. Stockless ’19

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.

Night Editor Phelan Yu ’19 Assistant Night Editors Andrea M. Bossi ’21 Grace A. Greason ’21 Story Editors Joshua J. Florence ‘19 Hannah Natanson ’19 Claire E. Parker ’19 Kenton K. Shimozaki ’19 Alison W. Steinbach ‘19 Brian P. Yu ‘19

Design Editors Morgan J. Spaulding ‘19 Katie E. Wang ’20 Photo Editors Justin F. Gonzalez ’21 Editorial Editor Jenna M. Wong ’20 Sports Editor Joseph W. Minatel ’21

CORRECTIONS The Harvard Crimson is committed to accuracy in its reporting. Factual errors are corrected promptly on this page. Readers with information about errors are asked to e-mail the managing editor at managingeditor@thecrimson.com.

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | OCTOBER 2, 2018 | PAGE 3

ARTS Cambridge Arts Creative Marketplace Supports Local Artists in Hidden Exhibition

the week in arts

02 03

ALEXANDRA C. KIM CONTRIBUTING WRITER

04 05

TUESDAY FAERIE KNITTING: 14 TALES OF LOVE AND MAGIC Join Harvard Book Store in welcoming author Alice Hoffman and designer Lisa Hoffman as they share their new collection of 14 fairy tales, each coupled with exquisite knitwear. The conversation will be followed by a book signing.

Harvard Book Store. 7 p.m. Free.

Wednesday SUMMER INTERLUDE Celebrate the end of summer with a showing of staff pick, “Summer Interlude,” directed by Ingmar Bergman, following regretful reflections on a tryst between a famous ballerina and a student.

The Brattle Theater. 7:30, 9:30 p.m. $8.50$11.50.

Thursday MFA REMIX: WHO TELLS YOUR STORY? ART, POWER, POLITICS & HAMILTON Visit the MFA to browse artwork created during the American Revolution that interprets and relates to global issues of the 18th century and American politics.

Museum of Fine Arts. 7-8:30 p.m. $12 for members, $15 for non-members.

Friday MFA FIRST FRIDAY: MASQUERADE Peruse the MFA’s current exhibition, “Casanova’s Europe: Art, Pleasure, and Power in the 18th Century,” and participate in a masquerade ball complete with a mask-building station.

Museum of Fine Arts. 6-9:30 p.m. Free for members, $25 for adults.

COURTESY OF CAMBRIDGE ARTS COMMUNITY SUPPORTED ART

Tucked into the Cambridge Community Television building in the heart of Central Square lies a hidden exhibition showcasing the work of local artists: “Sprouts: Fresh Work from Cambridge Art’s Community Supported Art Program.” As a part of the Cambridge Arts Creative Marketplace, the idea behind the program is similar to a farm share: One can support local artists just as one supports local farmers and agriculture. A jury of curators and other art professionals have selected just a small handful of artists to showcase their work in this space. In addition to showcasing the artists’ work and paying them to make art to sell, the program provides training in business and other career advancing opportunities.

Magali Maiza, the program director at Cambridge Arts explained the idea behind the Cambridge Arts Creative Marketplace was an intention to create and maintain a visual art scene that seems alive. Maiza said she understands the “realistic pressure” of being an artist in a city such as Cambridge.

“Part of our work at the Cambridge Art Council is to support the artists. This is really the core of the program,” she said. Now in its third year running, this exhibition has helped over 20 local artists get on their feet. Magali said she sees the program as a “small cultural startup.” Not only does this exhibition provide a platform for these local artists to sell their work, the training and programming propels these artists to continue creating. Though the Sprouts Exhibition only occupies a small physical space, there is a larger meaning and vision behind it.

The exhibition dedicates a small space for the work of each of the seven artists. There is a vast array of mediums and ideas, ranging from photography to watercolor to monotype print to glass work. Cory Shea, a digital artist, displays her experimental ceramic tiles adjacent to her digital images. Some artists, like Leah Pillsbury, instead produced sketches and monotype prints of figures on the

beach. Other artists, like Emily Cobb, created a series of playful watercolors that are meant to be assembled in a folding book. Artist Susan Murie works with cyanotype prints on cotton and linen paper, and Xian Ho displays a woodblock painting of decaying raspberries and blackberries.

In addition to displaying their art, each artist provided a short statement and answered two questions: Why have they joined the Community Supported Art Program?

What is behind their Community Supported Art Project?

One artist, Jessica Caponigro, describes herself as an interdisciplinary artist who displays a work of digital photography as well as a performance ephemera piece at the exhibition. She wrote about how much she appreciates the accessibility of the Community Arts Program on a caption hung by her work at the show.

“Accessibility and the idea that art should be for everyone, not just the very wealthy or very privileged, is at the core of everything,” she wrote.

For artist Peter McCarthy, being a part of the Sprouts exhibition has offered remarkable opportunities for his career as an artist. McCarthy primarily focuses on glass making, and he said he is continually experimenting with this medium.

“I wanted to become more serious with my art as a profession and the program has been wonderful to help me do that,” McCarthy said. He says being a part of this program has been guiding and pushing his art on this business aspect of artmaking as well.

“In terms of marketing, in terms of figuring out how something is a good product, what the marketplace looks like, it has given me some real tools both for that marketing but also some physical tools, like here at the CCTV, the ability to use their photography equipment,” McCarthy said.

06 07 08

Saturday SAMORA PINDERHUGHES’ THE TRANSFORMATIONS SUITE Visit the Oberon theater for a high-profile jazz interpretation of contemporary social issues like the prison industrial complex, set to lyrics that borrow from Tupac Shakur and other poets.

Oberon Theater. 7 p.m. $25.

Sunday SUMMER WITH MONIKA Enjoy Ingmar Bergman’s 1953 breakthrough film, about young lovers from working-class families who run away to spend a romantic summer at the beach, before they’re thrust back into reality.

Brattle Theater. 5:30 and 9:30 p.m. $9.50 for students.

MOnday FALL OPEN HOUSE AT MFA BOSTON Visit the MFA for its Open House and participate in art-making activities, spotlight talks, and special tours. In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, learn how to salsa, and listen to Colombian-American artist Natalie Arbelaez discuss her work.

Museum of Fine Arts. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Free.

02 October 2018 | Vol CXLv, ISSUE xIV Arts Chairs Mila Gauvin II `19 Grace Z. Li `19

Editor Associates Kaylee S. Kiam ’20 Caroline A. Tsai ’20 Aline G. Damas ’20

Noah F. Houghton ’20 Edward M. Litwin ’19 Petra Laura Oreskovic ’20 Ethan B. Reichsman ’19 Yael M. Saiger ’19 Caroline E. Tew ’20 Jonathan P. Trang ’19 Lucy Wang ’20

Executive Designer Hanna Kim `21

Design Associates Mireya C. Arango ‘20 Julia Reed-Betts ‘19 Alysssa D. Truong ‘21

Executive Photographers Kathryn S. Kuhar `20 Zennie L. Wey `20

ARTS

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | OCTOBER 2, 2018 | PAGE 4

BOOKS

Hank Green Visits Boston for his ‘An Absolutely Remarkable Thing’ Book Tour CLAIRE N. PARK CRIMSON STAFF WRITER Fans of Hank Green packed into Boston’s Wilbur Theater this past Wednesday to see him introduce his recently debuted novel, “An Absolutely Remarkable Thing,” along with viral videos featuring kittens and a Hermione Granger cosplayer breakdancing in feverish fashion. “Human nature expanded itself into a space it was not built to exist for, and its culture did not have structures to support. But we learned a great many things, things about ourselves, things about people who are different from us, things about giraffe sex,” Green said. Throughout his presentation, coordinated by local bookstore Brookline Booksmith, Green celebrated the wackiness of cyberspace and underscored the insoluble tension between the destructive and promising consequences that technological innovation entails.

Green and his brother John, the author of beloved young adult novels “The Fault in Our Stars” and “Looking for Alaska,” comprise the popular Youtube channel “Vlogbrothers,” and recently, “Dear Hank & John,” which they call “a comedy podcast about death.” Hank Green, who has dabbled in numerous web projects and invented glasses that render 3D movies in 2D, fittingly discussed the trappings of fame and the trend of public figures creating recognizable brands or personas, and whether there is something to be said for beholding a work apart from its creator.

“That sounds a little like a Vlogbrothers script,” he said of his philosophizing, to laughter from a familiar audience. “In these times, I sometimes feel like I should read all the books by the people I know, that I interact with on Twitter, but I also really want to spend time consuming content in a different way where I don’t see the author as a lens or as a part of the work.”

“We’ve been watching them ever since eighth grade...and we just kind of grew up with them,” Erin E. Hattamer, a student at Emerson College and audience member, said. “I love the meaning they put behind it, how they really care...I’ve never seen them in real life, and it’d just be so weird because I’ve seen them through this little camera my whole entire life, and now I’m going to see them as 3D people.”

Green’s novel centers on the sudden and inexplicable appearance of Carls, Transformer-esque, samurai-like robotic beings, and the young characters who must grapple with the complications of newfound stardom after they make a viral video about the Carls. Green returned to the stage in a bumblebee costume (recalling the Transformer hero Bumblebee), as the fictional Professor Alfred Bumbley, Professor of the History of Robotics at Boston College. He then narrated

a slideshow on everything from the etymology of “robot” to primitive humanoid robots, Hollywood robots, and the robots taking over manufacturing jobs, while making sure to lampoon his own authority. “I’m just your average middle-aged bumblebee professor who can transform into a Kia Sorento,” he said.

Concerns about the increasingly accessible and mechanized world undergirded Green’s presentation. Embedded in his lighthearted jokes and tangents was a warning and a prompt to reflect on the otherworldly creatures in his own novel. “Robots have solved and will continue to solve so many human problems. Except for all the ones that they cause. Ultimately, our ideas about robots are not about robots. The robot is a canvas onto which we project our hopes and our dreams and our fears...they become embodiments of those hopes and dreams and fears.

That’s especially true since the Carls have arrived. What you see when you look at the Carls says so much more about you than it says about them. The Carls remind us that just as reality, of course, shapes our beliefs, our beliefs also shape our reality. And so we have to be careful what we believe and what we value. Because we will pass it all on to the humans who will come after us,” he said.

Green also delighted fans with personal ramblings. He explained his baby obsession after noticing a 13 month-old baby in the audience and demonstrated his fondness for popular music.

“Hit me Daddy Yankee,” he said, later picking up his own guitar and singing a cover of Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe” as well as an original song about humorous Harry Potter fan theories.

Then he invited John onstage for a live “Dear Hank & John” podcast, during which they discussed Wimbledon, politics, parenting tips, and the idleness of the Mars Curiosity rover. They allayed an audience member’s shame over deferring her bachelor’s degree, and tried their best to answer the question, “When and where would be the worst place to release a quail?”

“I’ve always said that [Hank and John are within] the top five people I want to meet in my lifetime,” said Tia F. Moores, a student at Emmanuel College. “They’re like the top three, I’m not gonna lie...they’re the top two, but I can’t pick who I’d want to meet over the other because I love both of them equally.”

Staff Writer Claire N. Park can be reached at claire.park@thecrimson.com.

MUSIC

On ‘iridescence,’ BROCKHAMPTON Go Interstellar HIRSH SISODIA CONTRIBUTING WRITER

BROCKHAMPTON is a boy band of contradictions. Among the most explosive underground acts of the last few years, the group’s 12-odd members make hip hop music that’s uncomfortably blunt, evasive, fiery, and intimate. So in a world of increasingly popular indie rap music and playlists — in which emotional rap artists churning out shadowy R&B fusions are rewarded — BROCKHAMPTON’s popularity is all the more confusing. The group commands festivals where college kids scream, “I just want a friend that I can hang out with,” and then mosh over lyrics about Heath Ledger and oral sex. They don’t rap over trap beats, but they’re no Pro Era. Their music can be gratuitously violent and occasionally naive, but they’re no Odd Future. Their collective identity is hard to pin down — partly because it works greatly to their music’s benefit, and partly because they refuse to stick to one.

Even the band’s artistic growth is contradictory. While active since 2015, the group made their name releasing three top-notch albums within the last half of 2017, fittingly titled “SATURATION I,” “II,” and “III” — the first of which was a refreshing and surprisingly emotionally versatile fusion of hip hop, pop, R&B, and even emo elements. On “SATURATION II,” the group somehow got more polished while laying down more aggressive verses over plucked strings and whimsical horns, while on the trilogy’s concluding album, the brightest, poppiest tracks in the group’s discography stood toe to toe with their freakiest sonic experiments yet.

So of course, on “iridescence,” their first major project released after nine turbulent months — which included the departure of tentpole member and rapper Ameer Vann following allegations of sexual assault — BROCKHAMPTON takes their old sound and, in all senses of the word, oversaturates it. The bass is squelching and distorted. The synths are tinny and textured. The flows are more rhythmic than ever — even the album art is a disturbingly blown out negative. And yet the emotion on this BROCKHAMPTON pours out unlike any of their other albums, because, for the first time, the group sacrifices all of their subtlety for overwhelming sincerity. Strings soar and choirs holler. Rappers belt out hooks and the group’s resident singer tells us he’s got his weapon tucked.

It’s a whole new world for moody teenager music.

The album’s opening two tracks, which may as well be one given their identical hooks and drums, are a thesis statement of sorts. “NEW ORLEANS,” kicking off the album with bombastic if tedious bass synths and floating ghost choir samples, is the yin

to “THUG LIFE”’s yang, with its rich, understated pianos. Rapper Dom McLennon (the group’s best bar-for-bar rapper) drops verses equally confrontational and somber on the respective tracks, speaking to the isolation, paranoia, and euphoria of newfound fame. In doing so, the group brazenly shows their hand — applying their template of contradiction to an updated sound, punctuated by the growing pains of the last year and the momentum of their burgeoning success.

“SOMETHING ABOUT HIM” is where the album truly breaks new ground. A tender and vocoder-ed Kevin Abstract is enamored with his boyfriend among shy synths and muffled percussion — speaking far more in the emotional language of something like Björk’s “Vespertine” than anything the group had approached in the SATURATION trilogy. The track might not feature what one would call a structurally sound song, but it displays a vulnerability that’s refreshing even for BROCKHAMPTON. This vulnerability makes its most masterful appearance on “WEIGHT,” one of the best examples in their entire catalogue of the group’s various sounds and moods coalescing into something truly stunning. The track first gives us what every BROCKHAMPTON album wouldn’t be complete without — a showstopping Kevin verse reminiscing about youth and the pains of sexual awakening. This time, however, the group is unashamedly emotional — lacing his verse with lush, wistful strings and following it with a monumental chorus. The song develops beautifully phase after phase. It’s on tracks like “WEIGHT” where Ameer’s departure seems like an artistic blessing in disguise. The track is unabashedly pained and lonely — zero percent tough talk, zero percent unearned swagger.

Verses by a surprisingly breakbeat and poetic Joba and Dom don’t feel an inch out of place. Joba whimpers the conclusion of the songending, snappy refrain. It’s an airtight moment on an album that’s purposefully, though not always satisfyingly, messy with ideas.

This messiness shows up most glaringly when the group, instead of distributing their cornucopia of musical and thematic ideas across the album evenly, overcompensate dazzlingly to make up for tracks that are fundamentally lacking. “SAN MARCOS,” in which a meditative guitar loop and vaguely rueful verses from Matt, Kevin, and Dom only remind listeners how much better this idea was pulled off on “SUNNY” (off “SATURATION II”), is transformed when we’re inexplicably joined by the London Community Gospel Choir and a bar-rock groove to close the song. “FABRIC” is one of the oddest closers to ever appear on a BROCKHAMPTON album, with angry ruminations from Kevin over fuzzy synths transitioning to a Joba verse over plucked guitar, and ending with club-ready kicks, blaring sirens, and pillars of static. What helps is that BROCKHAMPTON seems to be completely aware of when a song is lacking in traditional, let’s-develop-this-song-logically ideas,

COURTESY OF RCA RECORDS

and so their gratuitous virtuosity often shows up exactly when one is feeling disengaged. On “HONEY,” a so-so set of verses over a nocturnal (if slightly bland) synthpop instrumental is violently tossed overboard two minutes in. In comes a soaring, hair-metal guitar lead. Next a gospel choir with cathedral-reverb. And, of course, Beyoncé — yes, Beyoncé — vocal cuts. BROCKHAMPTON is daring listeners to tell them they’ve lost their minds. Even if they have, there’s enough fun happening to want to stay.

On the original SATURATION, Dom opens an iconic verse on “STAR” by tempting the audience: “I might go Interstellar / I feel like Matthew McConaughey.” On “iridescence,” BROCKHAMPTON take up that challenge. They go interstellar — revising proven formulas, exploring new sonic and lyrical identities, and, like the movie, accompany every stroke of brilliance with moments of meandering, excess, and trite emotion. With magnetic protagonists on a compelling journey, though, “iridescence” is fundamentally unafraid in its ambition to show just how hard it’s trying. Just like the album art, even at its most garish, it’s hard to turn away.

ARTS

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | OCTOBER 2, 2018 | PAGE 5

FILM

COURTESY OF NEAL PRESTON / WARNER BROS

In ‘A Star is Born,’

Lady Gaga Peels Away the Poker Face JOY C. ASHFORD CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Whether she’s wearing slabs of meat, inflatable tentacles, or a Picasso painting, Lady Gaga has always been larger than life. She is glamorously, defiantly exaggerated, putting on a carefully curated display of performative female power that refuses to be sweetened or tamed. She is a show in and of herself — and beneath the bedazzled eyebrows and infamous poker face, she’s untouchable.

At least, that is the Lady Gaga we’ve come to know and love. But in Bradley Cooper’s exuberant directorial debut “A Star is Born,” Lady Gaga peels away the costumes to reveal a raw power that is, in many ways, more of a thrill than any of her wildest costumes.

“A Star is Born” centers around the personal and professional relationship between aging country legend Jackson Maine (Bradley Cooper) and his new prodigy, waitress-turned-popstar Ally (Lady Gaga). It is the third in a series of remakes of the 1937 original, the first in 1954 and the second, and more famous, in 1976 (starring Kris Kristofferson and Barbra Streisand). Thankfully, Cooper’s version is not only freshly reimagined in many ways, but far ahead of its predecessors in the nuance and agency of its protagonists and the quality of its powerhouse soundtrack.

With much of its momentum resting on its established celebrity leads, Gaga in particular determined to forge a new career path, “A Star is Born” would seem like a movie with something to prove.

But unlike many of its genre-defying artist counterparts — like “Dunkirk” with Harry Styles or “Beauty and the Beast” with Emma Watson — “A Star is Born” will obliterate any doubt about Cooper’s singing and Lady Gaga’s acting abilities from the outset. In the very first shot, Cooper saunters on stage in front of a waiting audience, grabs hold of the microphone, and delivers a gripping, grimy,

rendition of his original song “Black Eyes” that is both technically and emotionally thrilling. Cooper leaves no doubt in our minds: He is just as capable of spellbinding a rock-concert audience as he is at capturing the layers of his volatile protagonist.

Lady Gaga, for her part, is absolutely riveting as Ally, reinventing the “girl who needs a man to believe in her” archetype by imbuing it with a kind of brittle compassion that is just as devoid of ulterior “sweetness” as it is fiercely, selflessly unshakeable. Like Cooper, she takes full advantage of her first scene, letting out a scream of “Fucking men!” into a bathroom mirror before switching, almost out of nowhere, to a deadpan nonchalance while she sulks back out to her waitressing job. From that moment on, Lady Gaga delivers a soulful, glassy-eyed, down-to-earth performance that is sure to establish her as a serious — and enchanting — actress.

While Cooper and Lady Gaga are both incredible on their own, the relationship they build is what makes this iteration of “A Star is Born” really worth seeing. Their relationship is far from a storybook romance, and it is its messiness, not its perfection, that makes it compelling. The movie’s most memorable moments revolve around that messiness, as Jackson and Ally throw themselves into each other’s arms in an attempt to fill the voids inside themselves, and reel from the fissures in the deep, violent bond they form. Jackson’s alcoholism plays a large part in the dysfunction in their relationship and, unlike in previous versions of the story, it’s a part of his character from the very beginning. That choice, motivated perhaps in part by Cooper’s own struggles with alcoholism and recovery, makes the narrative of Jackson’s spiral less about competition with Ally and more about his own demons. As a result, Cooper’s Jackson reads as sympathetic, even if he’s hard to love in many of his lowest moments. But for all the ways Cooper supposedly reinvents himself in “A Star is Born,” he never loses his signature ability to sell a

vulnerable, kind-hearted antihero.

Cooper is perhaps less adept at defining the limits of the “forgiveness” that Ally owes to Jackson. There are points where the movie feels so solely focused on Jackson that it never bothers to question Ally’s willingness to put up with his destructive behavior. This imbalance is only heightened by the assumption — one that’s accompanied this storyline from its first iteration — that it’s inevitable, even reasonable, for Jackson to feel jealous and humiliated by Ally’s success. Given the way Lady Gaga plays Ally as a tough, self-possessed character, her almost unquestioning loyalty to Jackson feels very out of character. Cooper’s version of “A Star is Born” may allow Ally more agency than its predecessor, but it still falls into the trap of romanticizing her until she feels more idealized than real. As a result, the movie can feel like it’s waffling between real female empowerment and its elusive approximation.

Perhaps Ally’s willingness to put up with Jackson’s jealousy would feel more understandable if it was grounded in character, but it seems to conflict with the strength and firmness we see in Ally earlier in the movie. Cooper’s version of “A Star Is Born” may allow Ally more agency than its predecessor, but it still falls into the trap of romanticizing her until she feels more idealized than real. As a result, the movie waffles between real female empowerment and an elusive approximation.

Cooper’s take on “A Star Is Born” is not a perfect movie. But buoyed by outstanding performances from Cooper and Lady Gaga, thrilling concert scenes, and a fabulous original soundtrack, it manages to turn a simple story into something that is thoughtful, exhilarating, and incredibly fun to watch. After it leaves its signature song, “Shallow,” stuck in your head, it will also leave you convinced that Lady Gaga is a true tour-de-force, no matter which side of the “fame monster” she’s on.

BLOG

What the Hell Happened:

Voldemort’s Snake is Actually an Asian Woman LIANA E. CHOW CRIMSON STAFF WRITER The final trailer for “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindewald” broke the news that Voldemort’s pet snake, Nagini, used to be a human long before she appeared in the Harry Potter series. How long had J.K. Rowling been harboring this backstory in her mind? “Only for around 20 years,” she tweeted. In Rowling’s novels, Nagini slithers around Voldemort’s feet, lives to obey his murder orders, houses part of his soul, and habitually sinks her venomous fangs into his victims. By contrast, the upcoming spinoff will show her as a human circus performer whose blood curse will eventually turn her into a snake forever. To complicate the situation even more, the trailer reveals that her human form is South Korean actress Claudia Kim dressed as a reptilian cabaret goth.

The casting of an Asian woman in Nagini’s role has been controversial. It should be. From the little information we have about pre-Horcrux Nagini, it still looks awfully possible that the screenwriters designed the persona by dumping several Hollywood-produced Orientalist stereotypes into a cauldron and stirring them with a pinch of magic. (Warner Bros. is a Hollywood studio, though they filmed in Leavesden.)

The Nagini we know from the books is not just subservient, but a literal servant whose every tail flick is attuned to Voldemort’s will. She also harbors the coldness and aggression that mark a “Dragon Lady” caricature when transferred onto an East Asian woman, and she renders literal the monster-human dichotomy that is usually a figurative description. Finally, the character seems to approximate the Asian woman prostitute caricature as well. Though she does not do sex work, the display of her body in a circus is a queasy plot point, especially when combined with her sexually suggestive presentation (as seen in the trailer) and future of servitude to a man (as seen in the book series).

These are the same stereotypes that facilitated the United States’ xenophobia, systematic deportations, and colonialism and militarism in Asia. These themes, in turn, are manifestations of the theme of intolerance that “Harry Potter” as a whole condemns. In other words, this character has the potential to be terrible.

However, no character can be fully assessed based on a trailer, and she also has the potential to be an unconventional and bold addition to the films. A few things could redeem the new Nagini, and I am holding out hope for these developments come Nov. 16, when “Fantastic Beasts” hits theaters.

This backstory could be a puzzle piece filling a gap in the main book series. Though some are skeptical that Rowling had planned Nagini’s human backstory for decades, one reason to believe her is that the name “Nagini” comes from a mythology of human-snake creatures. This origin might also explain how Nagini was able to embody Bathilda Bagshot in “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.” Hopefully, the character will be consistent with and enhance the stories we are familiar with.

In the Muggle universe, another helpful development would be accurate cultural citations.

Though Rowling defended the casting by tweeting that the myth of the Naga came from Indonesia, author Amish Tripathi responded by writing that the myth is of Indian origin.

Yikes. Attributing an Indian myth to Indonesia to justify casting a South Korean actress was not a strong strategy. On the bright side, it has introduced a fiery conversation about Eastern mythology to this Western-centric franchise.

Still, the best thing to see from Nagini would be a non-stereotypical character arc. We know how her story ends. Her subservience is inevitable, as is her brutal death. But along the way, her motivations, relationships, and personality traits could very well be more compelling than the prostitute, servant, and “Dragon Lady” identities implied so far.

Though much of the Harry Potter plotline is an allegory for racial discrimination, J.K. Rowling has not provided readers with any strong characters of color — around nine minor characters are identifiable as people of color. None are “favorite character” material. The novels feature three Asian American women (Cho Chang and Padma and Parvati Patil), whose personalities are best summarized as “annoying” and whose most prominent moments are [as romantic placeholders in the main characters’ love lives. So the stakes for each new non-white character are high. Along with Nagini, the “Fantastic Beasts” movies have two more opportunities for complex characterizations in Leta Lestrange (Zoe Kravitz) and President Seraphina Picquery (Carmen Ejogo). My dream is that “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindewald” will provide us with an even bigger plot twist than Nagini’s human origin story. The happiest surprise would be for the character to wriggle free of Hollywood’s stereotype boxes and, in the process, amplify the franchise’s call for diversity.

Staff writer Liana E. Chow can be reached at liana.chow@thecrimson.com.

ARTS

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | OCTOBER 2, 2018 | PAGE 6

COLUMN

A SEAT AT THE TABLE NICHOLAS P. WHITTAKER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

In 2009, the year after Beyonce Knowles released “Single Ladies,” Kanye West stormed the Video Music Awards stage. Taylor Swift had just won Best Female Video for “You Belong With Me” when West grabbed the microphone from Swift and yelled, “Beyonce has one of the best videos of all time. One of the best videos of all time!” This infamous story is the starting point for an important inquiry into the intersection of Blackness and art. Kanye made a normative claim about Beyonce’s work. He did not say that Taylor Swift won because she is white, or that Beyonce lost because she is Black. These claims, indeed true, were certainly implied by his outburst. But what he said was that “Beyonce has one of the best videos of all time.” What he said was that Beyonce’s art was good, was better, was the best.

Does Beyonce make good art? In the history of the Grammy Awards, a hip-hop album has only won twice. In fact, a Black woman has not been awarded the prestigious Album of the Year prize since 1999, when Lauryn Hill won for “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.” And worse, this most prestigious honor has been awarded to only 12 albums made by Black artists over the course of its 60-year existence.

Beyonce has never won Album of the Year. So does Beyonce make good art? If we trust music awards and those responsible for their winners, then she clearly does not. What Kanye was saying is that this lack of validation is not a sign of poor quality but is rather rooted in anti-blackness and misogynoir.

In 2018, after years of disregard by the Academy — by any Academy, really — Beyonce finally decided to weigh in on Kanye’s claim. In August, without warning, she dropped the music video for “Apeshit,” a single from her and Jay Z’s joint album “Everything

Is Love.” In this video, she quite effectively attempts to convince the world that Kanye was right: Her art, Black art, is fine art.

“Apeshit” frames the Carters among the art showcased in the Louvre. They first appear in the video in front of the Mona Lisa.

The three faces — Mona Lisa’s, Jay Z’s, and Beyonce’s — stare at the camera, united as a Trinity of masterpieces. From there on, the Carters rap and dance among the artistic masterpieces, often mimicking or bleeding into them. Beyonce begins her first verse on the ground in front of the famed sculpture “The Winged Victory of Samothrace.” Her white gown matches the color and texture of the marble from which the sculpture is hewn. As she lies on the ground beside the piece, she essentially becomes part of it.

The Carters, and the Black bodies they carry, establish themselves as equal to the Mona Lisa herself. Blackness, for Beyonce, is no barrier to aesthetic perfection. Beyonce asserts that she should have won that VMA. She announces, in no uncertain terms, that she is better than a Grammy. She is fine art. She, hip hop, Black art, Black people, belong in the Louvre.

Beyonce’s realignment of the bounds of fine art, welcoming Black creation into the realm of the aesthetically good, certainly seems radical. But is it? The aesthetic quality of “Apeshit” is in line with the Carters’ broader financial ambitions. Beyonce’s and Jay Z’s verses are stunts. They flex their cash, and their power. Beyonce opens her first verse with the line “Gimme my check.” In the video, the Carters wear high-end fabric, and weigh down their necks with gold chains. They are art because they have money. Beyonce receives the status of fine art only through absorption into and dependence on capitalism. This is quite literal: As commentators have pointed out, it is only thanks to the Carters’ substantial wealth

and power that they are able to stage their art in the Louvre in the first place.

The category of “fine art” depends on power. Goodness, as it is commonly construed, depends on whiteness, but only inasmuch as whiteness depends on power. To become “good,” to bring Blackness into the realm of high art, Beyonce embraces the power of wealth. While distinct from that of whiteness, power derived from capitalist notions of wealth remains deeply problematic.

This, after all, is the central debate over the validity of Black Capitalism, a Black liberation ideology often criticized for its focus on assimilation into capitalist structures.

Is this use of problematic power the only option Black artists have? Of course, it remains to be seen if this strategy will even succeed. Can we expect a Grammy for “Apeshit”? Only time will tell.

But beyond questions of success, we might wonder if there exists other options for Black artists, and indeed all marginalized artists.

Can these artists find liberation without institutionalized power?

Can their art can find value and meaning outside of the oppressive definitions of good art? It is possible that the notion of “good art” itself ought to be dismantled and discarded, that wanting to be good — where good means fitting in the conditions of a white, patriarchal, classist art world — is not even worth our time? What if Beyonce didn’t want a Grammy? What if we don’t need a seat at the table?

Nicholas P. Whittaker’s column, “Low End Theory,” digs deep into the archive of bad, taboo, and ugly art, seeking political liberation in the low.

TV

‘Maniac’: Where Weirdness Might Become Wonderful SAMANTHA J. O’CONNELL CONTRIBUTING WRITER

COURTESY OF NETFLIX

Owen (Jonah Hill) and Annie (Emma Stone) undergo a disturbing drug trial in “Maniac” on Netflix.

With a blur of color and a plot that will always keep you guessing, “Maniac,” a new Netflix original directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga and starring Emma Stone and Jonah Hill, came out on Sept. 21. Fukunaga, who landed himself an Emmy in 2014 for his masterful direction of “True Detective”’s first season, manages to craft a dramedy with enough ambiguity to keep the audience enticed and unapologetically walk the line between bizarre and ludicrous.

Although its important, positive message about friendship is partially smothered by the show’s overwhelmingly dark tone, “Maniac” and its talented cast deliver something refreshing, unpredictable, and surprisingly hilarious.

Set in an aggressively consumerist, highly medicated, near-future world where everything is slightly off-kilter — N.Y.C. features a monument known as the “Statue of Extra Liberty,” and people know as “Ad-Buddies” follow you around all day, reciting commercials — two strangers named Owen (Hill) and Annie (Stone) end up tangled in an experimental drug trial at Nerberdine Pharmaceuticals and Biotech.

What really shines through in this psychedelic trip of a show is the generally stellar performances from most of the cast — not that we’d expect anything less from its star-studded group of bright Hollywood A-listers. Considering Stone recently won the hearts of millions as the young-hearted, vulnerable, and determined Mia in“La La Land,” her ability to transform

into the crazy-eyed, thick-skinned, and defeatist junkie Annie demonstrates her versatility as an actor. Her slow crawl from the pit of grief towards eventual acceptance of her sister’s tragic death is the most satisfying character arch as well as the most emotionally stirring aspect of the show.

Though the wacky, disastrous interactions between the scientists at Nerberdine Lab is technically the “B-plot,” they are the fuel that powers the bizarre but charming humor of the show. In particular, despite Justin Theroux having the magnetism and good looks to portray a “McDreamy”-esque doctor heartthrob, he instead repulses and amuses the audience as Dr. James Mantleray, the original creator of the U.L.P. drug treatment. Never wavering in his commitment to the character, Theroux lures us in as a brilliant yet pathetic psychologist with a virtual-reality hentai addiction, an Oedipus complex worse than Hamlet’s, and a hilariously obvious toupee. He’s like a car crash you can’t look away from.

To the true fans of “Superbad,” the notion of an Emma Stone and Jonah Hill reunion is exciting, yet the two initially lacked the anticipated natural chemistry. Considering Hill’s real-life charisma and brilliant comedic timing, his portrayal of the hopelessly alienated and schizophrenic Owen Milgrim is — just notice his gaunt face, intense eye bags, low, mumbling voice, and seemingly extinguished lifeforce — yet also particularly disturbing. His guarded and timid personality left little for me to cling to and made me hope that he’d start hurling insults at Mclovin like the good ol’ days.

“Episode 4: Furs By Sebastian,” however, marks a significant turning point in the AnnieOwen relationship and acts as an adrenaline shot to the show’s previously dreary heart. As this therapeutic drug trial of three separate pills that are supposed to replace the need for therapy continues, the show abruptly transports us into Annie and Owen’s conjoined mind for some vivid yet fictional dream sequences. Shifting to the vibrant, tacky world of the ’80s, Owen and Annie are now a trashy married couple hunting down a pet lemur that has been stolen by furcoat makers. While such a sudden change in style could destroy the pace of the series, Fukanaga and writer Patrick Somerville’s risk ends up being the show’s saving grace mainly because of the freedom it lends its actors, especially Jonah Hill. It brightened the entire dark world of “Maniac” to see the suddenly invigorated Owen shapeshifting between episodes into a dimwitted, football-loving, but ultimately good-hearted husband with a mullet and a hilarious Icelander whose cartoonish accent is the only thing more ridiculous than his blonde wig.

But while trying to juggle hope with the crushing harshness of reality, this dark comedy leans too strongly toward bleak emptiness, creating an off-balance and undermining its overall message about the importance of connection. The writers prove they do have heart by cheesily teaming Annie and Owen up. Unfortunately, this moment of sunshine is diluted when contrasted with so much human failure and ugliness. If anything, the show, though undoubtedly entertaining, seems to suggest that the human mind, naturally adapted for a hunter-gatherer lifestyle in the desert, doesn’t seem capable of handling the exponentially growing pressures of modern life and moves closer and closer to total mental breakdown.

“Maniac” provides enough mad science and drug experimentation to fill the “StrangerThings”-sized void in America’s soul as they wait for the third season, yet lacks nostalgia or a much needed, warm, fuzzy feeling. Even still, if you are craving something dark and twisted after the plague of gushy Netflix rom-coms or like the sound of Wes Anderson’s delightful awkwardness, mixed with Stanley Kubrick’s ambitious aesthetic, and sprinkled with some Martin Scorsese-style brutalism, certainly give “Maniac” a try.

PAGE 7

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | OCTOBER 02, 2018

TITLE IX FROM PAGE 1

OBAMA FROM PAGE 1

Students Bring Title IX Complaints Obama Endorses specific instructions on how to bring a formal complaint to ODR. By the time The Crimson reported late Monday that Kavanaugh had left his teaching position at the Law School, at least 48 students had signed an online petition certifying they had filed a Title IX complaint against the nominee. But at least one signatory said that not all of those who signed the petition had actually filed complaints as of Monday evening.

The flurry of complaints comes as Kavanaugh — a Yale Law School graduate who has long served as a D.C. circuit court judge — awaits a Senate confirmation vote delayed by a week-long FBI investigation into allegations that he sexually assaulted at least two women decades ago. Kavanaugh became a household name when President Donald Trump nominated him to fill a vacant seat on the Supreme Court in July.

At first, the judge’s confirmation seemed all but certain. But it didn’t last.

First, Christine Blasey Ford told the Washington Post that Kavanaugh had tried to rape her at a house party the two attended in suburban Maryland in the 1980s. Days later, Deborah Ramirez told the New Yorker that Kavanaugh had pushed his penis in her face at a party both attended while students at Yale.

Last Wednesday, Julie Swetnick said in a sworn affidavit that Kavanaugh was present

while a group of teenage boys drugged and raped her at a D.C.-area party in 1982.

The cascade of accusations prompted some Law School students to protest Kavanaugh’s confirmation and to demand Harvard investigate the allegations against the nominee before allowing him to return to campus to teach a course on the Supreme Court in Jan. 2019. Kavanaugh has taught at the Law School since 2008.

Kellogg’s email to students included an explanation of ODR’s operating procedures and encouraged recipients to reference Harvard’s policies barring gender-based harassment. The University defines gender-based harassment as “verbal, nonverbal, graphic, or physical aggression, intimidation, or hostile conduct based on sex, sex-stereotyping, sexual orientation or gender identity.”

Kellogg and Julia B. Wiener ’19 — who also signed the petition and filed a complaint against Kavanaugh — both argued the nominee’s presence on campus would create a “hostile environment” as defined in Harvard guidelines related to sexual harassment.

Kellogg said she hopes students who have previously felt reluctant to file complaints with the University — whether related to Kavanaugh or to other experiences — will see that the formal process gives them “power” and “a right to our feeling of being safe.”

“I hope that, as students file these complaints and engage with this process of singling out accusers and harassers on campus, that it actually can be seen that this process is a little less formidable than the reputation of the process is on campus,” she said.

Kellogg and Wiener said they believe students who have suffered sexual assault or harassment would have been negatively affected had they encountered Kavanaugh around campus.

“If you had a meeting in Wasserstein, you don’t know if he’s going to be there,” Wiener said.

“It would be pretty terrifying for any survivor or any person to walk into a building on campus and see someone who has been alleged of a very serious crime.”

William D. McCants, the director of ODR, declined to comment via a spokesperson. The University typically does not comment on the existence or status of Title IX investigations.

Some Harvard Law School professors were not sold on Kellogg and Wiener’s tactics.

Jeannie Suk Gersen, a professor at the Law School and a Title IX expert who has written extensively about Kavanaugh’s confirmation, said that — while she supports the students’ freedom to protest the nominee’s former teaching role at Harvard — the notion of filing Title IX complaints is “misplaced.”

“Such an abuse of process

would undermine the legitimacy and credibility of complaints that the Title IX process is intended to deal with, as well as of the Title IX office to focus on its duties,” Suk Gersen wrote in an email. “It might be effective in drawing further attention to some students’ objection to Kavanaugh’s teaching appointment, but I don’t expect him to be found to have violated Harvard University’s Sexual & Gender-Based Harassment Policy based on the currently known public allegations against him.”

Janet Halley, another Law School professor with a background in Title IX law, also called the students’ strategy of filing formal complaints unlikely to succeed.

“I urge the students to divert their energy from this implausible claim that he’s going to create a sexually hostile environment by teaching at the Law School to the really grand issue of whether he’s fit to be in his current judgeship or promoted to the Supreme Court,” Halley said.

Had Kavanaugh not chosen to leave the Law School, administrators would have been forced to review students’ complaints under the school’s Title IX procedures.

It is unclear what will become of the complaints now that the nominee has severed his ties to Harvard. shera.avi-yonah@thecrimson.com jamie.halper@thecrimson.com

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Gonzalez for Gov.

his proposal to levy a 1.6 percent tax on private, nonprofit colleges and universities in Massachusetts whose endowments total $1 billion or more.

Harvard would qualify for the tax, in addition to four of its fellow research institutions — MIT, Tufts, Boston University, and Boston College — as well as four small liberal arts colleges – Wellesley, Amherst, Williams, and Smith.

Harvard officials declined to comment on the endorsement, but previously noted that if Gonzalez’s endowment tax had taken effect in fiscal year 2017, it would have cost Harvard over $500 million.

The university is currently facing an estimated $43 million in federal taxes this fiscal year after the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in Congress last December.

Baker, as well as U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Michael E. Capuano, have criticized Gonzalez’s endowment tax proposal since its annoucement. Baker compared it to the Republican-lead tax bill.

“I start with the proposition that when President Trump proposed this idea, I thought it was

a bad idea then, and I still think it’s a bad idea,” Baker said, according to the Boston Globe two weeks ago.

Gonzalez said in the statement that he he was “honored” to receive the former president’s endorsement.

“I am so honored to receive the endorsement of a United States President as inspirational and as accomplished as President Obama,” he said. “President Obama’s approach to public service ought to serve as a model for political leaders everywhere, and I hope to have the honor of following his example as Governor.”

Palfrey, a Harvard alum, previsouly served in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy during Obama’s first term.

“It was the honor of a lifetime to serve in President Obama’s administration,” Palfrey said in the statement.

“As President, he made sure his administration put people first, and as Governor and Lieutenant Governor Jay and I promise to do the same.” meena.venkataramanan@thecrimson.com

WITNESSES FROM PAGE 1

Faust, Khurana, Smith to Testify in Admissions Trial the College’s admissions process produces “negative effects” for Asian-American applicants.

Harvard and SFFA will also call their expert witnesses, Berkeley Economics Professor David Card and Duke Economics Professor Peter S. Arcidiacono, respectively.

Both experts produced commissioned statistical reports which came to opposite conclusions over whether racial differences in applicants’ personal scores were the product of systematic discrimination.

The administrators and expert witnesses will appear throughout a trial at the U.S. District Courthouse in Boston beginning Oct. 15.

The lawsuit has picked up steam steam since it was first brought by anti-affirmative action organization SFFA in 2014.

Experts say that regardless

of the conclusion of the case at the trial level, the decision is likely to be appealed until it reaches the level of the Supreme Court — a development that could decide the fate of affirmative action in higher education.

SFFA is not alone in threatening Harvard’s admissions policies; the Department of Justice is independently conducting an ongoing probe into discrimination allegations and in August filed a “statement of interest” in the lawsuit saying the College’s admissions process is “infected with racial bias.”

The submission of the witness lists comes in advance of a Wednesday hearing in which the attorneys will meet in front of Judge Allison D. Burroughs to discuss logistics of the trial. samuel.zwickel@thecrimson.com delano.franklin@thecrimson.com

CONGRESS FROM PAGE A1

Alums Write to Congress, Sasse or a weakling, a bully, a shirk, or a prig ‘ as an elected official, we urge you to demonstrate bravery and commitment to the American democratic principles you have so often celebrated on the Senate Judicial Committee by citing ‘Schoolhouse Rock’ civics,” the letter reads, quoting from the book.

Cohen said she hopes that Sasse “can be a part of the solution, not the problem.”

Cohen added in an email, “The Class of ’94 were students together. Now we’re the grownups in the room.

Senator Sasse is concerned about the state of adulthood in America, so I thought the Class of 1994 could encourage him to be an adult and a patriot since this political environment looks more and more like a children’s sandbox.”

Sasse’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

Beth A. Johnston ’93, who penned the letter to the 13 Harvard alumni in the Senate, said “Veritas” — Harvard’s motto — was a driving theme in their message to the legislators.

“Obviously when we’re trying to make a direct connection in terms of Harvard, we immediately thought of ‘Veritas’ and the question of the fact that we did not feel that Judge Kavanaugh had been as truthful or as forthcoming as he could have been in his hearing with the senators,” she said.

That letter, dated Sept. 30, bears signatures from a number of Harvard classes and schools, with the College Class of 1993 comprising a majority as of

Monday evening.

The letter charges that Kavanaugh was “evasive and mis-

“Obviously when we’re trying to make a direct connection in terms of Harvard, we immediately thought of ‘Veritas’ and the question of the fact that we did not feel that Judge Kavanaugh had been as truthful or as forthcoming as he could have been in his hearing with the senators.”

Beth A. Johnson ’93 Harvard College leading in much of his testimony to the US Senate about a range of issues” during an explosive hearing Thursday.

It urges those who have not already opposed Kavanaugh’s placement on the court to do so.

“Other candidates unquestionably exist who can be both more forthcoming and more balanced,” the letter reads.

The alumni letters come as students on Harvard’s campus have organized in recent weeks to bar Kavanaugh from teaching at the Law School, as he has as a visiting lecturer since 2008. simone.chu@thecrimson.com jamie.halper@thecrimson.com

THE HARVARD CRIMSON |

OCTOBER 02, 2018

PAGE 8

BACOW FROM PAGE 1

Sanctions Will Stay, Bacow Tells Harvard Hopefuls if they don’t like the way we do things there are other places they can ­go to school that have adopted a different approach, but we’ve tried to be explicit about what we care about, what our values are, who we are.”

For Bacow, the sanctions are specifically intended to promote gender inclusivity.

“We want every student that comes to Harvard to feel welcome and included,” he said.

“We don’t want students by virtue of their gender to feel like they are not part of the institution more broadly.”

Gender, though, has not always been the rationale Harvard administrators have relied on to make the case for the social group penalties.

When former University

President Drew G. Faust first announced the controversial policy in spring 2016, she said the penalties aimed to reduce sexual assault.

Since then, administrators have pivoted to gender-based inclusivity as a justification, then diversity of all stripes.

Despite administrators’ pivot to gender as a rationale, the sanctions have taken a disproportionate toll on all-female social groups.

All 10 formerly all-female groups applied for and received official College recognition in September, in exchange for vowing to go gender-neutral.

In contrast, some all-male final clubs have resisted the sanctions and refused to go co-ed.

The Cambridge Coalition — a

group comprising the Fly Club, the Porcellian Club, and the AD Club, and the national organizations of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Sigma Chi, and Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternities — has traveled to the nation’s capital to lobby Congress to pass a law that could imperil Harvard’s social group policy.

Bacow said students in organizations are “responding in their own way” to the sanctions.

He added that, in his first months on the job, he is still examining how the policy is playing out.

“I’m still, as a new president, getting to know and understand sort of the impact of our policies and how it’s affecting folks,” he said.

This isn’t Bacow’s first en-

counter with Harvard’s social group policy; before taking of-

We’ve said you decide, but there are consequences to those decisions.

Lawrence S. Bacow University President

fice in July, he served as a member the Corporation — the University’s highest governing body — when the group voted in Dec. 2017 to keep the sanctions once and for all, ending more than a year of uncertainty surrounding the policy’s future.

Bacow said he thinks it is im-

portant to highlight what the College has “not done,” which is to bar students from joining single-gender social organizations entirely.

He referred to similar, but not identical policies at Amherst College, Bowdoin College, and Williams College that effectively banned the existence of single-gender social groups on their campuses.

“We haven’t said to students they cannot belong to these organizations. They can,” Bacow said. “We’ve said you decide, but there are consequences to those decisions.”

Bacow said the College, in that respect, has attempted to give students flexibility in how they construct their social lives at Harvard.

“If you want to hold yourself out as being the best that Harvard has to offer, we have expectations that you would live up to the ideals of inclusion and belonging that are embraced by the University,” he said.

The landscape of Harvard social groups will likely evolve in the years to come, Bacow predicted. In examining the impact of the policy, Bacow said he will see “how it all sorts out.”

“I suspect that it wouldn’t surprise me if things look different a year, two years, three years from now then they look now. I don’t think we’ve reached equilibrium yet,” he said. “But we’ll see.” caroline.engelmayer@thecrimson.com. kristine.guillaume@thecrimson.com.

Ec. Prof. Gopinath Is First Woman Chief IMF Economist

By CECILIA R. D’ARMS CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Economics Professor Gita Gopinath was appointed chief economist of the International Monetary Fund on Friday and will become the first woman to hold the position when she begins her two year term in January.

Gopinath said the appointment, announced by the IMF Monday morning, is “very exciting.”

“Stepping out there and engaging with policy makers when their countries are either going into crises or you have to make important policy decisions,” Gopinath said, “that’s ­

an experience that’s hard to replicate just sitting in my office at Harvard.”

Gopinath first came to Harvard as an assistant professor in 2005 and received tenure from the Economics Department in 2010.

She has since served as an economic adviser to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, co-director of the National Bureau of Economic Research, and co-editor of the American Economic Review. In 2014, the IMF named Gopinath one of the top 25 economists under age 45.

She will now take a two-year leave from Harvard to serve on the IMF, an international or-

ganization of 189 countries working to encourage economic growth and facilitate trade across the world.

In the chief economist role, Gopinath will lead a team of more than 1000 researchers while also serving as the most influential policy adviser to the managing director of the IMF. “This is a spectacular appointment,” said Economics Professor Kenneth S. Rogoff, who has worked closely with Gopinath in various capacities since 1996, when he served as her dissertation adviser at Princeton University. “They couldn’t have picked anyone better.”

The IMF’s current chief

economist, Maurice Obstfeld, a professor at University of California, Berkeley, described the role as one of the most influential positions an economist can hold. He also noted that Gopinath will serve as editor of the biannual “World Economic Outlook,” which Rogoff called “by far the most cited” indicator of the global economy’s health.

Rogoff — who himself served as IMF chief economist from 2001–2003 — called Gopinath “absolutely one of the couple most influential researchers of the past decade.”

“Her most influential work shows the ever-rising role of the dollar in the global finan-

cial system,” Rogoff said.

He and Mohamed A. El-Erian, who served as CEO of the Harvard Management Company from 2005–2007, both noted that Gopinath’s work has challenged “conventional wisdom.”

In particular, Rogoff noted Gopinath’s research on flexible exchange rates, which has indicated that their benefits are less significant than the IMF previously thought.

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde announced today that global economic prospects may be dimmer than previously thought, and warned that the impacts of a trade war could be “devastating.”

Gopinath agreed in an interview, citing the recent rise in oil prices, the trade tensions incited by tariffs, and the Federal Reserve’s decision to raise interest rates as possible causes of an economic downturn.

Jeremy C. Stein, Economics Department chair, said Gopinath’s temporary departure will be a “loss” for the department, but that she will bring invaluable experience to her new role.

“She’s terrific and she’s going to be great in this job. She’s clearly one of the best international economists in the world,” Stein said. “

Proud to cover Harvard for 145 years and counting.

Keep the old sheet flying.

The Crimson thecrimson.com

cecilia.d’arms@thecrimson.com.

Page A9

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | october 2, 2018

Gun Control Bill Backed By Harvard Grad Passes By nina h. pasquini and jordan e. virtue Crimson Staff Writers

A n “extreme risk protection order” firearms bill inspired by recent Harvard alumnus Reed T. Shafer-Ray ’18 — allowing family members, housemates, and law enforcement officials to file temporary firearms restrictions in civil court — is now Massachusetts law.

Driven by the suicide of a childhood friend, Shafer-Ray contacted Massachusetts Rep. Marjorie C. Decker in 2016 to share his ideas for improving gun safety in Massachusetts.

They first met in fall 2016; soon after, Decker’s office drafted versions of two bills, H.3610 and H.3611.

In July, H.3610 went into immediate effect as Massachusetts law. H.3611, a counterpart bill allowing Massachusetts residents to voluntarily put themselves on a firearms “nosell” list, is stalled in the Massachusetts House Ways and Means Committee.

Governor Charlie D. Baker ’79 signed H.3610 — “an act temporarily preventing firearm access for extremely dangerous or suicidal individuals” — on July 3.

Once petitioners file to limit an individual’s access to firearms, a judge considers the petition within a court day and determines whether there is reasonable cause to believe the person “poses a significant danger” of injury to themselves or others.

If the judge sides with the petitioner, a temporary protection order prohibits the individual’s access to any firearms for two weeks.

A full court hearing then allows the presentation of “credible evidence,” which may bar firearm access for up to one year.

Shafer-Ray said he first received news of the bill’s passage while he was driving.

“When it all sunk in while ­

I was driving, I just burst into tears, and I think it was the first time I had cried in — I don’t really know when the last time I cried was,” he said. “It was truly one of the most powerful moments for me, just the sense that something I was part of had come to fruition in a way that I knew was going to truly help other people.”

Decker wrote in an email that Shafer-Ray was a critical force in the inception and passage of the bill.

“I filed the ERPO bill as a direct result of meeting with Harvard Dems and Reed’s personal commitment to ensuring that we enact safer common sense gun laws that have been shown to save lives,” she wrote.

“I am thankful to Reed not only for his support and commitment to the the ERPO law, but as an individual who made an effort to get to know his State Representative,” she added.

Mass. Senator Michael O. Moore, who chairs the Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security that reviewed the bills, said he supported its aims.

“I think if you look at the tragedies that have occurred across the country, and you look at the content of these bills and what they’re trying to accomplish, they make sense,” he said.

“It protects right to access and Second Amendment rights, but also balances with our need to preserve people’s public safety.”

Shafer-Ray said various groups also worked to advocate for the bill, including Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America and Stop Handgun Violence, two organizations that lobby for gun violence prevention. John E. Rosenthal, the president of Stop Handgun Violence, said he believes the law will save lives from preventable gun violence.

“It’s just common sense for family members who know their relations the best to be able to petition a court to re-

Reed T. Shafer-Ray ‘18 has been working for the past year to get two different gun control-related bills into the Massachusetts House. Brendan J. Chapuis—Contributing photographer

move a gun if the person is a risk to themselves or others,” he said.

Rosenthal said that his advocacy for the bill included speaking with House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo and introducing him to people affected personally by gun violence.

“I have a close relationship with the House Speaker, and I was very involved with getting him to move on this bill,” Rosenthal said.

“I introduced him to students from Parkland and other areas from the country where mass shootings have happened, and largely by people who were

known, either to the authorities, and certainly known to have problems by their families.”

DeLeo credited conversations with students — “including activists at Harvard” — as fundamental in driving gun control measures in the state legislature. He wrote in an email that the ERPO bill as well as a recent ban on bump stocks enhanced the state’s “already toughest in the nation gun laws.”

Molly H. Malloy, the Massachusetts chapter leader of Moms Demand Action, said the group pushed for the bill by vis-

iting the statehouse, calling legislators, and writing letters to the editors of various publications.

“We are extremely pleased that it passed, and we really felt that lawmakers took into account the wishes of the citizens of Massachusetts, so that people could be safer and guns could be out of the hands of people who are in crisis,” she said.

Given that the Senate has now moved into informal session, Moore said that H.3611, the voluntary do-not-sell list bill, is unlikely to be reconsidered until the spring of 2019.

“I don’t think you realistical-

ly would see any further movement on that bill until it’s refiled next year,” Moore said.

Shafer-Ray said he believes the bill was tabled because the idea that someone would voluntarily disavow themselves of a firearm is a new concept for many people.

“I think this is a really groundbreaking and innovative solution for a lot of the gun-related deaths we’re seeing in the country,” he said. “I think [it] will need some time to be understood.” nina.pasquini@thecrimson.com jordan.virtue@thecrimson.com

Business School Opens Klarman Hall Extension School

By Grace a. greason Crimson Staff Writer

A fter months of fine-tuning acoustics and calibrating technology, Klarman Hall — Harvard Business School’s latest construction project — made its debut Monday as a state-of-theart convening center.

Though the project was completed in June, Klarman Hall celebrated its official opening on Monday.

Business School Dean Nitin Nohria, University President Lawrence S. Bacow and Massachusetts Governor Charlie D. Baker ’79 spoke at the dedication ceremony, followed by a symposium on democracy featuring faculty from several of the University’s schools and ­

other leaders in the field.

The project, which broke ground in 2016, replaces Burden Hall, an older conference center strained in capacity by the growing Business School community, said Business School spokesperson Brian C. Kenny.

The project was funded by its namesakes, Seth and Beth Klarman, who also led the dedication ceremony.

Seth A. Klarman, who received his MBA from the Business School in 1982, is CEO and portfolio manager of The Baupost Group, an investment management firm.

The total cost of the project was $120 million, according to Kenny.

In addition to an auditorium with state-of-the-art technolo-

gy — including a 32 million pixel screen, the largest of its kind in Boston, according to Kenny — the center boasts recording studios for podcasts and webinars and a black box room for filming for HBX, the online extension school.

In addition to hosting large-scale conferences, Klarman Hall will be used for class events, musical and artistic performances, and smaller “more intimate” discussions, according to Kenny.

This is made possible by a unique architectural design that allows the auditorium to convert into several smaller spaces.

“Harvard Business School and Harvard University more broadly have tremendous con-

vening power,” Kenny said.

“To have these kinds of substantive conversations about real issues that are affecting the world...we can have a global conversation out of a facility like this,” he added.

At a panel discussion following the dedication ceremony, former Dean of the Law School Martha L. Minow led a faculty discussion on the current state of democracy around the world.

Minow was joined by Law School professor Michael Klarman, Government Lecturer Yascha B. Mounk, Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of the Atlantic, and Bret Stephens, an Op-Ed columnist for the New York Times. grace.greason@thecrimson.com

CHAT From Page 1

Students Discuss Diversity, Admissions Suit University over allegations that the College discriminates against Asian-American applicants in its admissions process.

Organizers distributed copies of a “fact sheet” that provided Harvard’s perspective on its “holistic” admissions process.

It also referred students to a University informational website about the suit, as well as to the webpage for Students for Fair Admissions — the anti-affirmative action organization suing the University.

Some of the discussion centered around how the case is being discussed throughout the student body.

Some students expressed concerns that their peers are uninformed about the case, while others voiced criticism of media coverage of the suit.

“I think it definitely makes you realize that there are so many more people who are be­

ing affected by it. This topic is not spoken much about. People aren’t discussing as much about this conversation in my immediate surroundings,” Jane Li ’22 said after the event.

When discussing recent developments in the lawsuit, some students highlighted the June revelation that a 2013 internal report conducted by University researchers found that Asian Americans suffer “negative effects” in the admissions process.

Harvard administrators have disputed the conclusions, calling them “incomplete.”

Many attendees said, though they were concerned about allegations of systematic bias, they were also hesitant to conflate affirmative action with discrimination. Several students said they believed components of the college admissions process — like the personal essay,

teacher recommendations, and standardized test scores — are inherently discriminatory and provide an advantage to students of certain socioeconomic backgrounds.

About 20 students — including DPE organizers and representatives from the Harvard Foundation, the Harvard Black Students Association, the Harvard-Radcliffe Asian American Association, the Task Force on Asian and Pacific American Studies, and the Harvard South Asian Association — attended the event, which had been advertised over student email lists and on dining hall table-tops.

Before closing, facilitators extended an invitation to future discussions about the admissions lawsuit that will be held by several of the racial affinity groups represented at the event.

Samantha G. Um ’21 said she appreciated the conversa-

tion because of the opportunity it provided to engage students from different backgrounds in dialogue surrounding the controversy.

“I think it’s really important for us to have this discussion because there aren’t many events that have happened that foster racial dialogue between different racial groups, so I think that’s one of most important things looking forward in this lawsuit,” Um said after the event.

Other students have hosted events to share information about the admissions lawsuit and affirmative action at Harvard.

The suit is slatd to go to trial on Oct. 15 in downtown Boston.

It could wind up before the Supreme Court. delano.franklin@thecrimson.com samuel.zwickel@thecrimson.com

Holds Convocation

By Cindy h. zhang Crimson Staff Writer

Harvard Extension School held a convocation for admitted students for the first time in its 108year history Saturday.

Addressing an audience of 875, the speakers emphasized community and celebrated student achievements.

“My message to you today is simple,” said Robert Neugeboren, dean of students and accessibility at the Division of Continuing Education. “This is your community. You belong here.”

The Extension School, part of the Division of Continuing Education within FAS, offers part and full-time programs for students seeking a bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, or graduate certificate.

Out of approximately 2,700 admitted students, more than 400 attended the convocation ceremony in Cambridge, which was also live streamed.

“Our students are global and they’re all around the world, so we are live streaming this event for them,” said Jill N. Felicio, convocation organizer and a DCE administrator.

The brainchild of three Extension School students — Cheniece N. Kelleher, a recent graduate, Payum Noshiravan, and La’Toya P. Jackson — the inaugural convocation was organized after the students won the first-ever Dean’s Community Building Challenge.

“As we’ve grown online, we’ve been focusing on how do we do more to create community amongst the students,” Dean of DCE Huntington D. Lambert said. “The winning proposal was that we start having a convocation where we actually bring all the admitted students together, give them a chance to be here and meet us and meet each other.” ­

Kelleher, who attended a different institution for her undergraduate degree, said the convocation came from a desire to give students a “full welcome” resembling what she had experienced as an undergraduate.

Although Kelleher graduated last May without experiencing a Harvard convocation herself, she said she was happy to see the student proposal implemented and was excited that other students would have a “strong beginning” at the Extension School.

“It’s nice to have everybody come together at the beginning of the year. You meet new people and set the tone for the year,” Kelleher said. “This is a great step forward.”

Extension School student Rangesh R. Vittal said he would like to see additional events similar to the convocation to help foster a sense of community at the University.

The convocation itself, however, exceeded his expectations.

“It was quite inspiring, it wasn’t just people from different countries, it was people from different ages, different backgrounds, different walks of life,” Vittal said.

“I met people who are currently working, parents, firsttime college-goers in their family,” he added.

Though the students came from many different backgrounds, DCE Dean of Academic Programs Suzanne Spreadbury said they were all part of Harvard’s legacy.

“Harvard Extension School has flourished, firmly representing an important part of Harvard’s history, as well as the future of education,” Spreadbury told the audience. “You have become part of Harvard’s history and tradition.” cindy.zhang@thecrimson.com

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THE HARVARD CRIMSON | October 1, 2018

Page 10

Editorial The Crimson Editorial board

The Cultural Greek Life Dilemma The status of Alpha Kappa Alpha and Alpha Phi Alpha demonstrate the University’s inconsistency in sanctioning.

L

astweek,theUniversityannouncedthattwocultural Greek organizations targeted to African-Americans would remained unaffected by its sanctions on social groups. The University ostensibly did so because these groups — Alpha Phi Alpha and Alpha Kappa Alpha — have memberships that span multiple schools, and are therefore technically exempt from Harvard’s new sanctions regime.

However, the administration seems to be addressing these two organizations with a very tenuous line of logical reasoning. If Harvard truly believes that all social organizations that are gender-exclusive must go co-ed, then groups like Alpha Phi Alpha and Alpha Kappa Alpha must be sanctioned. There should certainly not be an exception

merely because these groups have memberships that span multiple universities, and the distinction on this front between these groups and sanctioned Harvard sororities and fraternities with chapters at other universities is shaky.

If Harvard believes that social groups with an explicit cultural focus deserve special treatment in a way that groups that lack that focus do not, it should make that case and defend it. One possible defense would be that some organizations serve dual purposes. Perhaps Alpha Kappa Alpha and Alpha Phi Alpha are both social clubs and affinity groups.

Should the University make this argument, it should also clarify the role of other cultural social groups. For example, after the sanctions were announced, the cultural Jew-

‘Just’ Visiting?

By Simon I. Döbele, Michael Gritzbach, and Asusa Sue Iida

W

hile Harvard is very proud that 12 percent of the newly-admitted students this year come from abroad, there is another group of international students many students don’t know about. Each semester, dozens of American and international students enroll at Harvard through the Visiting Undergraduate Student program.

When we received our acceptance letters to the VUS program at Harvard, our first reactions were immediately to be overjoyed.

We called our parents and best friends and immediately started thinking about where this next step would take us.

One of us imagined that they could finally work with Professor of Economics and Philosophy Amartya Sen, a world-renowned thinker at the intersection of economics and equality.

And we had done so much to get in: three letters of recommendation from important faculty and teachers, an extensive plan of study, exam scores, and more. We’re lucky to say the effort in applying paid off.

Our studies turned out great — we

When we received our acceptance letters to the VUS program at Harvard, our first reactions were immediately to be overjoyed.

We called our parents and best friends and immediately started thinking about where this next step would take us. One of us imagined that they could finally work with Professor of Economics and Philosophy Amartya Sen, a world-renowned thinker at the intersection of economics and equality. took classes with incredibly motivated students, and our professors asked questions we had never thought about before. However, we did not live the complete Harvard experience. As international students coming from foreign countries, one of our goals at Harvard was to be integrated into the Harvard community as much as College students are. However, this we could not achieve.

The living situation for students in the VUS program is extremely challenging. Some of us live in the DeWolfe housing, where some College students live as well. However, College students in DeWolfe are affiliated with one of the Houses for their social activities.

We are affiliated only with Dudley House — the 13th House that does not offer anything close to the experience in the other Houses.

One of the biggest aspects of being part of the Harvard undergraduate community is to be affiliated with these Houses. Harvard’s House system offers everyone a family to live with and be part of.

Such an affiliation should be feasible for students in the VUS program.

As visiting students, we pay all University fees and tuition in full, and we would just as easily pay for on-campus housing to live in the Houses. Perhaps the College will be unable to offer sufficient housing for all the visiting students. But just some spots, along with an affiliation with the Houses, would go a long way to integrating visiting students.

Harvard should consider the experiences our friends had at MIT or Co-

lumbia University. Their universities offered them exactly what we want: an opportunity to stay with degree-seeking students.

Before coming to Harvard, we didn’t realize how this would impact our lives. We miss the formals, dinners, and gatherings that are central parts of the Harvard experience.

There are other ways, most importantly in financial aid, that the University disadvantages visiting students.

Harvard’s aim to bring a diverse group together should consider socioeconomic diversity. And they do — for degree-seeking students, for whom needblind admission is offered. Students in the VUS program do not receive any financial aid. This shrinks the pool of students who can enroll to either individuals who can afford such an experience or students with outside scholarships.

This tends to attract a certain type of student: Most have good economic standing and come from highly-developed countries. Seldom does one find

VUS program do not receive any financial aid. This shrinks the pool of students who can enroll to either individuals who can afford such an experience or students with outside scholarships. This tends to attract a certain type of student: Most have good economic standing and come from highly-developed countries. a student in the program from less developed countries or who received a scholarship to attend Harvard, in our experience.

This, however, is important. The VUS program adds a lot to the layers of diversity found at Harvard. Sudents come from universities with different educational approaches, with different topics taught, from countries with different politics, with different customs and manners.

Some students in the VUS program helped College students find internships, study abroad programs, or research contacts abroad. In that way, the VUS program promotes creative solutions and new ideas, the development of which is fostered by such diversity.

Given the range of differences in experiences and viewpoints between students in the College and in the VUS program, the University should take whatever steps it can to integrate the two groups, including through shared orientation or activities.

All of us are grateful to study at this wonderful University, but we VUS program students are denied basic parts of the experience. We lack certificates of program completion, advisors affiliated with our fields of study, and alumni email addresses, and we even have an earlier move-out day than College students.

Now back home, we look back at our time in Harvard as some of the most formative and fascinating months of our lives.

While these issues leave a bitter taste, we hope future VUS program generations will be able to have the full Harvard experience and feel as integrated and valuable as their full-time counterparts.

—Asusa Sue Iida, Simon I. Döbele, and Michael Gritzbach participated in the Visiting Undergraduate Program.

ish fraternity Alpha Epsilon Pi became the gender-neutral Aleph last year. However, under this argument, that move might have been unnecessary.

The claim that it is Alpha Phi Alpha and Alpha Kappa Alpha’s multi-school membership that protects them from being sanctioned may also open a new loophole for clubs dealing with sanctions. Can any final club on campus simply admit a single non-Harvard student in order to become ineligible for sanctioning?

Ultimately, Harvard needs to make some type of decision. Instead of citing membership from multiple schools as the reason for the lack of sanctions, it should either recognize and accept these cultural social groups as is, or it should sanction these groups as unrecognized single-gender social organizations.

Any other course of action is insufficient. Indeed, any sort of special categorization of these cultural groups — in this case, groups with a focus on the black community — would otherize them in a peculiar way. The University should be able to discuss race openly. Unfortunately, it seems as though the University has seized upon any other reason to avoid having such a discussion. If the University truly believes that its sanction policy is right as is, then it ought to stand by it and apply it fairly. However, if it believes that the sanctions do not provide sufficient protections for important cultural organizations, then it should state so explicitly and seek to change its policy.

This staff editorial 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.

‘For a Socialist Future’ Posters Deserve Our Skepticism What we really need is ‘enlightened administration’ at the local level Henry N. brooks Socially Liberal, Fiscally Liberal

I

’ve been seeing signs outside Canaday, Sever, and the Science Center advertising a “socialist future,” and I have to say I’m not entirely opposed — provided we’re talking about the same socialism.

By socialism, I mean government intervention on a small scale. Think Alaska’s Permanent Fund, which draws revenues from oil companies to distribute an annual monetary stipend to state residents. That model is overwhelmingly supported by Alaskans and has shown sustainable growth over its five-decade lifespan (in addition to spillover economic benefits). It’s also smarter than the average wealth transfer, taking into account fund size, growth, and government spending needs in its calculation of dividend amount. If this is socialism, it’s socialism with an economic conscience.

Or think North Dakota. The staterun Bank of North Dakota was founded in 1919 by the Non-Partisan League (a party of ex-socialists) to shield farmers from high-cost, out-of-state loans.

Today, the bank extends low-interest credit to farmers, students, and local businesses. This model, which saw profits even at the height of the great recession, has now inspired Los Angeles residents to consider a similar bank for themselves.

Many of us were taught the failures of old-school socialism as children — its grandiose world-building schemes and dreams of a new “Soviet man,” which failed to convince citizens amid food shortages and rampant corruption.

We learned that China’s Communist Party voted for market-based reforms after Mao’s death to lessen the suffering of millions.

Strangely, the new socialist models seem to have inherited a penchant for politics from on high. The Democratic Socialists of America— the U.S.’s largest and fastest-growing socialist organization — commit in their platform to “internationalist politics,” “deeper cross-national ties” between workers, and nationalizing key industries.

Even from a grassroots activist organization, these slogans evoke the Soviet world-stage mentality of old. “No ‘rank-and-file activism’ outside of global ends” seems to be the message.

Yet it’s not hard to envision a different sort of big government: public banks and credit unions at the state level, municipal social safety nets, and tailored tax-and-spend policies designed for local contexts.

These models of public economic reform would emphasize proximity, accountability, and direct democracy over the diffuse solidarities invoked

by the DSA and generations of past socialists.

Public economic reform of a local variety ought to be more fashionable among politicos nowadays than it seems to be. It appeals to the coveted blue-collar rural voter (if Alaska and North Dakota are any indication) as well as to coastal liberals, underscoring a rare point of agreement among Americans across the political spectrum. It also seizes on a burgeoning skepticism toward the traditional mechanisms of power (trust in local government exceeded trust in government generally by a whopping 48 percent in 2014).

As I’ve argued in the past, the tradition of the New Deal affords us a trove of democratic strategies with which to empower reform. But America’s first go at big government was also clunky in certain ways, with its bloated federal bureaucracies and frequent non-compliance by the states. For a second go, we need to reinfuse politics with a feel for the local.

America’s first go at big government was also clunky in certain ways, with its bloated federal bureaucracies and frequent non-compliance by the states. For a second go, we need to reinfuse politics with a feel for the local..

Support for this idea is longstanding. Conventional wisdom going back to Plato has held that a country’s size determines what can or cannot be achieved politically. One common retort to public health care is that America is much larger than, say, Sweden or Norway (both of which provide that service with taxpayer funds). What if instead we re-envisioned the American public services model? Could we work toward fifty Nordic-style systems?

Another example is job training programs. Why does the federal government have an entire agency devoted to organizing these? The division of labor idea suggests that states might more effectively pursue this task, specializing in populations for which they have a better sense and closer contact.

I’m not saying cut federal funding — just the federal bureaucrats.

Naturally, I’m skeptical of the “socialist future” advertised around campus. I don’t imagine common-sense reform is their priority, nor am I convinced that justice — whether, as they claim, for separated immigrant families or others — requires class-based organizing.

I agree though that the moment is ripe for new experiments in good government. That’s why I propose gathering around the call for “enlightened administration” from Franklin D. Roosevelt, Class of 1904. All (including radicals) are welcome.

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

PAGE 11

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | OCT 2, 2018

OUT FROM PAGE 1

Students Protest Kavanaugh’s Teaching Appt at HLS The D.C. appellate courst judge became a household name over the summer when President Donald Trump nominated him in July to fill the vacant seat left

by Justice Anthony M. Kennedy.

Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the nation’s highest court seemed all but certain until several women stepped forward over the past two weeks to allege he had sexually assaulted them or others decades ago.

Palo Alto psychology professor Christine Blasey Ford was the first woman to go public with her story, alleging in a Sept. 16 article published by the Washington Post that the judge tried to rape her when both were attending a house party in 1982 in suburban Maryland.

Ford said that Kavanaugh pushed her onto a bed, sought to remove her clothes, and ground his body into hers. She restated these allegations in vivid detail last Thursday when she testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee in a nationally televised hearing that riveted the country and divided legislators.

Soon after Ford’s interview with the Post, a second woman — Deborah Ramirez — came forward with her own set of allegations, stating in an interview with the New Yorker that Kavanaugh had shoved his penis in her face at a party both attended while freshmen at Yale College.

A third woman, Julie Swetnick, later issued a sworn statement asserting that she saw Kavanaugh engage in “inappropriate contact of a sexual

nature with women during the early 1980s.”

Kavanaugh has repeatedly denied all of these allegations.

During Thursday’s hearing, he angrily insisted that the women’s tales of sexual assault formed part of a Democratic plot to derail his nomination.

The showdown over Kavanaugh has roiled the campus where he spent ten years instructing Harvard Law students on issues such as the separation of powers and the very Court on which he hopes to serve.

Though Law School Dean John F. Manning ’82 has remained largely silent regarding the controversy over the nominee, Law students and alumni — as well as Harvard undergraduates — have been outspoken in their desire to see Kavanaugh investigated and possibly barred from teaching in Cambridge.

A few days before Claypoole announced Kavanaugh’s decision to sever ties with Harvard Law School, hundreds of school alumni signed a letter to Manning urging him to “rescind” Kavanaugh’s position as a lecturer and to forbid the judge from teaching this winter. The alumni had not sent the letter to Manning as of Monday evening, though it is available online.

“We believe that Judge Kavanaugh’s appointment as an HLS lecturer sends a message to law students, and in particular female students, that powerful men are above the law, and that obstructive, inappropriate behavior will be rewarded,” the

letter states.

“Judge Kavanaugh is not leadership material, and he is not lectureship material. HLS would be tarnished to have him on campus in any position of authority.”

“We ask that you rescind his lectureship,” the letter continues.

As of Monday at noon, the document had garnered over 700 signatures from alumni — some of whom graduated as early as 1959. Lauren Birchfield Kennedy, who works in health care policy and is the wife of Rep. Joseph Kennedy III (D-Mass.), co-authored the letter.

Current Law School students have also put pen to paper to voice their displeasure with Kavanaugh’s teaching role.

Enrollees in at least six of seven first-year Law student “sections” — class sub-groups comprising roughly 80 students each — organized and sent separate letters to Manning over the weekend.

Every single letter asked Manning to launch a Harvard-conducted investigation into the sexual assault allegations levied against Kavanaugh.

The F.B.I. opened its own probe into the accusations last week.

The Bureau is supposed to produce a report on Kavanaugh some time in the next few days, after which the Senate plans to take a final vote on the nominee.

Contacted multiple times over the past week, Harvard Law spokespeople repeatedly refused to say whether the

school has launched its own investigation into Kavanaugh or whether it plans to do so.

Some of the letters sent to Manning over the weekend stated that Law School students — especially those who have suffered sexual assault or harassment — would be made uncomfortable by Kavanaugh’s physical presence on campus.

Close to 300 first-year students signed the six letters.

“Allowing a person credibly accused of sexual assault to teach students prior to a full investigation surely creates a hostile environment for many students, and especially survivors,” students wrote in one letter.

Enrollees in at least one section also penned letters to Law School professors.

In these missives, students asked their teachers to contact administrators on their behalf to request that Law School officials “reassure students that Judge Kavanaugh will not be allowed to teach a class at Harvard until there has been a full investigation into the allegations of sexual assault he now faces.”

Alexa R. Richardson, the head organizer of the section that sent these letters, wrote in an email Monday that she and other section members received responses from most of the professors contacted.

The professors replied “saying they passed on our concerns to the administration,” Richardson wrote. Some instructors noted that “they were moved/ thanked us for our efforts,” she added.

The spate of student letters also criticized administrators for failing to make a public statement acknowledging the existence of sexual assault allegations against Kavanaugh.

“The administration’s silence diminishes students’ trust that HLS will hold its faculty accountable for wrongdoing,” one letter read.

When Trump first announced Kavanaugh’s nomination over the summer, Manning lauded the conservative judge and Yale Law School graduate, writing in a post on a Harvard website that Kavanaugh was “an inspiring teacher and mentor.”

But Manning remained quiet regarding Ford, Ramirez, and Swetnick’s allegations of misconduct — even as students mounted a series of escalating protests against Kavanaugh.

First, four Law students involved with student advocacy group the Pipeline Parity Project published an op-ed in the Harvard Law Record calling on the school to bar the conservative judge from teaching pending a “full and fair investigation” into the women’s stories.

Following the op-ed, Law students staged a rally last Monday that saw hundreds of students across the University walk out of class to stand in solidarity with Ford and Ramirez.

During the tense and highstakes Kavanaugh-Ford hearings Thursday, students staged further protests. Some cheered when the nominee lamented during his testimony that accusations of sexual misconduct might prevent him from re-

turning to teach at Harvard.

Throughout the week of turmoil, Law School spokespeople said the Dean of Students Marcia L. Sells supported students’ activism but responded to questions regarding Kavanaugh’s employment status by noting that they could not comment on “personnel matters.” Manning refused to comment entirely.

On Friday, the Law School dean finally broke his silence.

Sort of.

He wrote in an email to Law students that he understood some on campus were “unsatisfied with the answer that we cannot comment on personnel matters in particular cases.” He argued that “the policy serves important purposes even in stressful times.”

“Still, I can provide you this assurance: When concerns and allegations arise about individuals in our teaching program, we take those concerns and allegations seriously, conduct necessary inquiries, complete our process, and then act,” he wrote in the email.

Yale Law School Dean Heather K. Gerken, by contrast, has been much more outspoken than her Harvard counterpart.

She joined the American Bar Association in calling for “an additional investigation into allegations made against Judge Kavanaugh” in a statement posted on a Yale website Friday.

As of Monday evening, Kavanaugh’s profile appeared to have been scrubbed from the Law School’s public faculty directory.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words.

Good thing we’ve got both.

aidan.ryan@thecrimson.com

SPORTS

IN OTHER NEWS

WOMEN’S SOCCER

MEN’S SOCCER

Harvard’s defense has been dominating the competition recently, notching its fifth shutout in a hard-fought 1-0 victory over long-time Crimson rival Yale at home over the weekend.

The Crimson, also facing off against rival Yale, held the Bulldogs scoreless in a matching 1-0 victory just before Women’s Soccer took Jordan Field.

FOOTBALL

Rhode Island Tops Harvard Despite Strong Defense

By JACK STOCKLESS CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

At the outset of the 2018 football season, Harvard coach Tim Murphy was struck by the level of competitiveness his team would face from outside its own conference. In a year in which both parity and skill was expected within the Ivy League, the Crimson would also have to deal with three teams — San Diego, Rhode Island, and Holy Cross — which could all roll into Harvard Stadium and emerge with a victory.

Over the duration of the current senior class’ time in Cambridge, the Crimson boasts an 8-3 record against non-league competition, and two of those losses have come at the hands (or hooves) of the Rams. Currently ranked 17th and 18th in the AFCA and STATS polls, respectively, Rhode Island (3-1, 2-0 CAA) put together a complete victory for its second consecutive win over Harvard.

“We knew they were an outstanding football team,” Murphy said. “They just made more plays than we did. We’ve...got to make more plays on offense to beat a really, really good scholarship football team.”

TYING UP LOOSE ENDS

As it had to contend with a ranked team for the first time all season, the Crimson (2-1, 1-0 Ivy) showed many more signs of weakness than it had against either San Diego or Brown. Harvard managed to coast to victories over both of these programs on the strength of dominant play early in the games. This time, however, the Crimson had to play catch up, and its deficiencies were magnified in a situation with a razor-thin margin of error. Harvard’s shortcomings took the form of both offensive stagnation and a handful of mental lapses or physical mistakes.

In the first quarter, the Crimson defense set the tone that it would maintain for much of the rest of the game, save for an electric second-quarter performance by quarterback JaJuan Lawson that netted the Rams 14 points. However, Rhode Is-

land managed to avoid an opening-period shutout on a Harvard punt attempt.

After a sack brought quarterback Jake Smith down for a loss of seven, the Crimson was set to punt from its own five. The snap came in slightly inaccurate to freshman Jon Sot, who bobbled the ball and had to rush a kick. His effort bounced off a lineman’s back and bounded out the back of the end zone to give the Rams their first lead of the game, 2-0.

In the third quarter, during a stretch in which the defense was having its way with Rhode Island sophomore backup signal caller Vito Priore, Harvard allowed the Rams to add to their 16-6 lead, again on special teams. This time, after the Crimson’s Jake McIntyre hit his second of three field goals, Rhode Island’s Ahmere Dorsey fielded the kickoff at his own three and jetted 97 yards for a return touchdown.

Finally, with 3:34 left in a back-and-forth final quarter that featured five consecutive punts, Harvard had the ball with a chance to tie the game at 23 apiece. On second down, however, Smith tossed the ball directly into the waiting hands of Rams safety D.J. Stewart.

Priore threw a pick of his own on a play on which senior defensive back Wes Ogsbury made a fully-outstretched leaping grab, but Smith returned the favor during his next series, again on the second snap. In all, Smith now has four interceptions through three games.

DEFENSE KEEPS ON CHUGGING

The week before Rhode Island visited Cambridge, it traveled to the University of Connecticut and nearly defeated the host FBS program in an offensive shootout. Despite the fact that the 56-49 ballgame ended in a loss for the visitors, the Rams must have been feeling confident in their offense re-entering FCS play.

However, when the dust settled at Harvard Stadium this past Friday night, Rhode Island had scored less than half of the points it had the previous week-

DOUBLE-DOG DARRINGTON Sophomore running back Devin Darrington jukes out a Rhode Island defender.. TIMOTHY R. O’MEARA—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

end. Despite the Crimson’s offensive struggles, one could argue that the Crimson limited the Rams’ offense more so than the other way around. Harvard recorded more first downs, rushing yards, and total yards.

The teams tied in the turnover battle, and the Crimson tallied one more sack and one more tackle for a loss. As outlined above, Rhode Island’s nine special teams points proved to be a deciding factor.

“They played really hard, they played really well, they did a little better coaching job than I did, and the combination of those things made it a very tough, hard-fought game,” Murphy said. “There were two outstanding defenses out there.

I thought our defense played heroically. Just got to make more plays offensively.”

In the second half, the Harvard defense conceded just sev-

en points and 20 total yards on 21 snaps. Dorsey’s kick return represented the lone time the Rams even came close to scoring in the final 30 minutes; otherwise, the farthest Rhode Island advanced was to the Crimson’s 28, and the Rams did not cross into Harvard territory on offense during the third quarter. This sustained stellar defensive effort allowed the Crimson to stay within striking distance and have a chance to tie the game An important factor in Rhode Island’s lackluster scoring was losing Lawson in the second quarter. Lawson was 12-for-16 for 153 yards and two touchdowns, one passing and one rushing. The touchdown he took in himself caused his removal from the game, as he suffered a leg injury colliding with a Harvard defender at the goal line. Rams coach Jim Fleming

indicated that Lawson could have re-entered the game if absolutely necessary, but Priore took command of the offense for the remainder of the game.

LOSING THE BATTLE, WINNING THE WAR

Rhode Island now has a twoyear winning streak against the Crimson, but that streak will not grow in the near future. The two programs were booked for a four-game series which started in 2015, and Harvard took the first two matchups before falling in the most recent two.

However, the Crimson also prevailed in the first-ever meeting between the two schools. In 1923, Harvard shut out Rhode Island, 35-0, at home, making the all-time series 3-2 in favor of the Crimson.

“When I first came and took this job and I saw we had Harvard on the schedule for

four straight years, I wanted to punch somebody because they’re a very good football team,” Fleming said.

Discounting that 20th century matchup, the two teams have split their head-to-head games roughly according to the general success of their respective programs. In 2015 and 2016, Harvard put together a 16-4 overall record and won the Ivy League in 2015. The team went through a rough patch last year and is currently in the middle of what some would call a rebuilding phase. The Rams, on the other hand, are a team on the rise, and their wins over the Crimson in 2017 and 2018 demonstrate the now-dominant nature of their squad. For context, in 2015 and 2016 Rhode Island won just three of its 22 contests. jack.stockless@thecrimson.com

FIELD HOCKEY

Crimson Victorious Pair of Games Against Bryant, Penn

By SHUVOM N. SADJUKA CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Not once this season has a Harvard field hockey opponent scored at the team’s home turf,

Berylson Field. That didn’t change this weekend, as the hosts downed Bryant, 2-0, in front of a friendly crowd following a 2-1 victory at Penn the day before.

On the heels of the best 10game start in program history, the No. 12 Division I program racked up its fifth and sixth straight wins over the weekend.

HARVARD 2, BRYANT 0

The Crimson traveled back home for a game against Bryant on Sunday. In spite of the limited rest, Harvard had a strong all-around performance

against Bryant and came away with a shutout win, its fifth of the fall. On an assist from junior midfielder Casey Allen and senior midfielder Emily Duarte, senior back Olivia Allin scored her first goal of the weekend 19 minutes into the game.

The team tallied another point in the second half, this time on an unassisted goal from freshman forward Rachel Greenwood over the goalie pad.

As usual, the Crimson played excellent defense, holding Bryant to zero shots, and complemented their defense with 31 shots on offense —16 of which were on goal — cutting out a large chunk of work for Bulldogs goalie Marjin Jaarsma.

“Our defense was solid today, we kept them to zero shots on goal,” senior midfielder Victoria Boylett said. “We were able to use the width to get some good passing patterns moving forward.”

The win was also somewhat symbolic and uplifting for the team, given the hectic schedule.

“We had to show that we can step up, that we’re a top team, even if we’re tired, even if it’s not an Ivy League game, and we did just that,” Allin said. “We have a lot of talent, freshmen who are starting, every player on the bench and on the field is strong, we can distribute the ball well; every layer of the team is doing its job well.”

HARVARD 2, PENN 1

THE TURF IS ALWAYS GREENER Freshman midfielder/forward Rachel Greenwood in action against Bryant.. TIMOTHY R. O’MEARA—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

Harvard routed Yale 6-0 last week in its first Ancient Eight

game but found Penn to be a more formidable opponent. After a scoreless first half, the team struck early in the second behind a conversion from junior midfielder Bente van Vlijmen in the 39th minute. Van Vlijmen’s goal put her in the lead for most points in the Ivy League this season, with 23. The junior has been an offensive force for the team with those 23 points resulting from nine goals and five assists.

The Crimson couldn’t rest long though, as the Quakers evened the game just seven minutes later behind a goal off of a penalty. The match remained tied for the next 17 minutes before sophomore forward Natalie Sicher slung a shot past the goalie on an assist from freshman midfielder Kiley Allen with 7:30 left to play.

“We had some good transfers, defense really set up well, so that was a huge part of our game,” Allin said. “Also [we had] a fantastic goal by Natalie Sicher, straight into the top corner, which gave us the lead.”

Despite the close score, Harvard remained on the offensive attack for most of the game, attempting eight shots, three on goal, to Penn’s two shots, only one of which was on goal. The Quakers drop to 4-5 — 1-1 in conference play — after the defeat.

“Yesterday’s game was tough,” Allin said. “Ivy League games are always tough, because there’s a lot of pressure on us.”