The Harvard Crimson - Volume CXLVI, No. 2

The Harvard Crimson THE UNIVERSITY DAILY, EST. 1873 | VOLUME CXLVI NO. 2 | CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS | FRIDAY, JANUARY 25, 2019

EDITORIAL PAGE 4

NEWS PAGE 3

SPORTS PAGE 6

Harvard should cut meat consumption to reduce its carbon footprint.

Sociology Professor Emeritus Nathan Glazer died Saturday at age 95.

Men’s basketball star point guard Bryce Aiken returns to the court.

Prof. to Shutdown Might Delay Some Fellows’ Funding Defend 34 8 $4500 Ex-Film Exec. days of government shutdown

postdocs in FAS affected

monthly stipend

By AIDAN F. RYAN CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Harvey Weinstein, the Hollywood film producer who has been accused of sexual misconduct by dozens of women, has hired Harvard Law School professor and Winthrop House Faculty Dean Ronald S. Sullivan, Jr. to represent him in his Manhattan sexual abuse case.

Sullivan — who heads the Law School’s Criminal Justice Institute — will serve on Weinstein’s legal team with lawyers Jose Baez and Pamela Mackey.

The New York Post first reported the news Wednesday.

Sullivan confirmed he would be joining Weinstein’s legal team along with Baez and Mackey in an email Thursday morning.

“I am pleased to confirm that I, along with Jose Baez and Pamela Mackey, have been retained by Harvey Weinstein,” Sullivan wrote.

SEE WEINSTEIN PAGE 5

ELENA RAMOS, HANNA KIM—CRIMSON DESIGNERS

By RUOQI ZHANG and JAMES S. BIKALES CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

Come February, some Harvard researchers might not receive their paychecks on time because of the ongoing partial federal government shutdown.

At least eight postdoctoral fellows, whose research is funded by government agencies including the National Science Foundation, will not receive their monthly paychecks at the beginning of February if the governmental gridlock stretches on for another week.

During the shutdown, the agencies are unable to process their payments.

The shutdown — now the longest in American history — has lasted thirty-four days as of

Thursday as President Donald Trump and Democrats in Congress have sparred over the administration’s plan to build a wall on the United States-Mexico border.

Trump has asked for $5.7 billion to fund the project, while Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi and other high-ranking Democrats have staunchly refused to provide the cash.

“I could imagine people that are on the NSF and don’t have some savings up, or they don’t have friends that, you know, could just lend you some money before you’re paying back,” said Christopher Gerig, a postdoctoral fellow in the mathematics department whose funding comes from the NSF. “Then, that’s a huge issue.”

A spokesperson for the NSF did not respond to a request for comment.

As some students face the possibility of not receiving their February paychecks on time, the University is also considering how to support affected postdoctoral researchers, Stephen Kargère, director of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Office for Postdoctoral Affairs, wrote in an emailed statement.

“The plan is to support them through this really tough time for them and their families,” he wrote.

He noted, however, that specific plans for helping the researchers are still “under consideration.”

One possibility is that Harvard could give them loans, he wrote.

As some fellows wonder when they will receive their next paycheck, they cannot turn to the NSF to answer funding questions.

Roughly 1,700 of the NSF’s 2,000 employees are not designated essential personnel, meaning they have been on furlough during the shutdown.

As a result, the agency cannot process grant requests, make payments, or respond to inquiries.

“I don’t have anyone I can ask,” Joel R. Leja, a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, wrote in an email.

The shutdown has also removed another resource that some postdoctoral fellows use to seek answers to questions they have about their NSF fund-

Houghton Library to Be Renovated

By ANNIE C. DORIS and SAHANA G. SRINIVASAN CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

Houghton Library, located in Harvard Yard, is home to the University’s rare books and manuscripts and is set to undergo renovations this fall. KATHRYN S. KUHAR—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

Houghton Library will undergo significant changes beginning this fall as part of a year-long renovation project designed to increase accessibility to the building, which houses Harvard’s rare manuscripts and books.

The renovation will include redesigning the building’s entrance, increasing library security, and creating group study and research consultation spaces.

The renovation will also add accessible restrooms, an elevator, and a gender-neutral restroom. Administrators have wanted to renovate Houghton ever since the implementation of the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act, according to Houghton Librarian Thomas Hyry.

The University first started making formal plans to renovate Houghton three years ago, and a recent donation of children’s literature — which includes first editions, manuscripts,

SEE HOUGHTON PAGE 5

Harvard and SFFA File Clashing Briefs

By SAHAR M. MOHAMMADZADEH and CAMILLE G. CALDERA CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

Harvard and Students for Fair Admissions continued to spar over whether the College’s admissions process discriminates against Asian-American applicants in clashing court filings submitted Wednesday.

In the documents — rebuttals to the “proposed findings of fact” and “proposed conclusions of the law” that each side submitted in December — Harvard and SFFA object to each other’s interpretations of the most relevant evidence and testimony from a three-week trial that began in mid-October.

The filings are the latest development in a five-year lawsuit that could determine the

fate of affirmative action at private colleges and universities nationwide. SFFA originally sued Harvard in 2014, arguing the College’s admissions protocols discriminate against Asian-American applicants.

SFFA’s brief alleges that Harvard engages in racial balancing in the College’s admissions process. Lawyers for the organization scrutinized the 259 claims that lawyers for Harvard made in their December filing, concluding that just 10 are “accurate,” while the other 249 were “inaccurate,” “incomplete,” or “misleading,” according to the SFFA document.

Lawyers for SFFA argue in their brief that Harvard’s admissions process discriminates

SEE ADMISSIONS PAGE 5

A pile of melting snow lines Massachusetts Avenue across the street from the Harvard Book Store in Harvard Square. KATHRYN S. KUHAR—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

ing: because of the shutdown, the annual NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowships conference — usually held in early January — did not take place in 2019.

“This is our venue to get guidance regarding the NSF AAPF rules, how we are allowed to spend our research fund, how to best fulfill our obligations to the NSF, etc.,” Leja wrote.

“As the NSF administrators were furloughed this year, none of this happened. This has caused a lot of confusion, particularly among new fellows.”

Postdoctoral fellows are not the only ones whose research funding might be affected by the shutdown; some faculty

SEE NSF PAGE 3

Purdue Didn’t Impact Hospital

By JONAH S. BERGER CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Harvard Medical School affiliates who worked at Massachusetts General Hospital in the years after the hospital cemented ties with Purdue Pharma — manufacturer of the addictive painkiller OxyContin — say they perceived the company’s influence as minimal at the time.

A lawsuit filed by Massachusetts Attorney General Maura T. Healey ’92 against Purdue in June 2018 alleges the company and its top executives knowingly deceived the public about the risks of OxyContin.

Purdue allegedly attempted to influence doctors, residents, and medical students at MGH through donations to the hospital from 2002 through at least 2011, according to a memorandum filed by Healey’s office Jan. 15.

Purdue’s executives — including members of the wealthy Sackler family — targeted MGH due to its prominence and past propensity to prescribe OxyContin, the filing alleges. The company contributed $3 million to a pain program at MGH and at least another $500,000 in additional donations. “[Purdue] staff told the Sacklers that the Massachusetts General Hospital Purdue Pharma Pain Program gave Purdue name recognition among

SEE HMS PAGE 3

Shop & save close to campus at Massachusetts Ave & Pearl St © 2019 Target Brands, Inc. C-000807-03-011

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Harvard Today 2

News 3

Editorial 4

Sports 6

TODAY’S FORECAST

SUNNY High: 39 Low: 19

VISIT THECRIMSON.COM. FOLLOW @THECRIMSON ON TWITTER.

The Eucharist

THE HARVARD CRIMSON |

JANUARY 25, 2019

PAGE 2

HARVARD TODAY

For Lunch Red’s Best Fresh Local Fish Penne With Sausage Morrocan Stew

For Dinner Fried Chicken Drumsticks Shaking Beef Veggie Burger

TODAY’S EVENTS

IN THE REAL WORLD

Spring Job Fair Memorial Church Basement, 2:30-4:30 p.m.

Did your Berryline/Zinneken’s/Starbucks habit catch up to you last semester? Want some extra cash this semester? Head to the Spring 2019 Job Fair in the Memorial Church Student Oasis (the basement) to find a campus job and meet people specifically looking to hire Harvard students!

50% Off at the Garment District Garment District, 11a.m. - 8p.m.

If you’re looking to strut into Spring semester with a whole new ~lewk~, then look no further than the Garment District. This new/thrift/vintage spot in Cambridge is offering 50 percent off clothes, accessories, and shoes, so there’s sure to be something for everyone. Start the new year right with some cheap and unique finds!

Italy Must Pay Amanda Knox Damages After Amanda Knox spent years in prison for a murder of which she was later acquitted, she took Italy to court over claims that her rights were violated. The European Court of Human Rights has since ruled that she did not have adequate access to a lawyer and interpreter during her initial police treatment. Italy has been ordered to pay more than $20,000 in damages to Amanda Knox.

Is Lack of Sleep a Public Health Crisis?

The Harvard shuttle stoped outside Lamont Library as snow melted with warming temperatures Wednesday. MARGARET F. ROSS—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER,

DAILY BRIEFING Harvard Law School Professor and Winthrop House Faculty Dean Ronald J. Sullivan has joined Harvey Weinstein’s legal team. Weinstein, a Hollywood film producer who has been accused of sexual misconduct by dozens of women, faces charges in Manhattan. In other news, some postdoctoral fellows funded by the National Science Foundation will not receive their monthly paychecks at the beginning of February if the U.S. partial government shutdown continues for another week.

Sleep is garnering more research than ever, and almost all of it is pointing to the importance of getting some shut-eye. Longitudinal studies, however, have shown that the American’s average nightly sleep has declined significantly in the last half-century, causing some experts to go as far as to call lack of sleep a public health crisis.

Two Senate Bills Fail With the government shutdown setting a new record each day it stretches on, many are desperate to see an end. Two Senate bills that would have ended the shutdown, one proposed by Democrats and the other by Republicans, however, failed in the Senate Thursday. This leaves Congress and Trump at an unclear junction with no obvious solution towards ending the shutdown.

AROUND THE IVIES YALE The University of Texas/Texas A&M Management Company surpassed Yale’s $29.4 billion endowment by finishing its 2018 fiscal year with $30.9 billion, according to the Yale Daily News.

Yale previously held the title of the second largest endowment in higher education behind Harvard’s $39.2 billion. Roger Ibbotson, a hedge fund manager and professor of finance, emphasized that Yale’s Investments Office “has done and continues to do phenomenal work,” despite the drop in rankings.

COLUMBIA Columbia University has declined to provide an update on whether one of their students will face disciplinary measures after he was caught on video using racist and white supremacist rhetoric towards a group of mostly black students, according to the Columbia Daily Spectator.

Barnard College has banned the student from campus, but Columbia has not released any information about potential disciplinary measures.

Various student groups on campus have called for the school to bring disciplinary action against the student. A Columbia University spokesperson declined to comment on the case but said the University closely follows regulations that require them to disclose information about crimes that pose a threat to students.

PENN

Faculty and students at Penn’s School of Dental Medicine will provide free emergency care to furloughed federal workers who have been without pay for 33 days due to the government shutdown, The Daily Pennsylvanian reported. Furloughed employees who bring proof of employment and a zero-dollar pay stub can now visit the dental school to receive treatment for emergency and urgent needs. Records of care provided during the government shutdown will be sent to the employees’ regular dentists once the shutdown ends.

THE UNIVERSITY DAILY, EST. 1873

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

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

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

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

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

Night Editor Caroline S. Engelmayer ’20 Assistant Night Editors Alexandra A. Chaidez ’21 Aidan F. Ryan ’21 Story Editors Caroline S. Engelmayer ’20 Angela N. Fu ’20 Jamie D. Halper ’20

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Photo Editor Amy Y. Li ’20 Editorial Editor Robert Miranda ’20 Sports Editor Henry Zhu ’20

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

Copyright 2019, The Harvard Crimson (USPS 236-560). No articles, editorials, cartoons or any part thereof appearing in The Crimson may be reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the President. The Associated Press holds the right to reprint any materials published in The Crimson. The Crimson is a non-profit, independent corporation, founded in 1873 and incorporated in 1967. Second-class postage paid in Boston, Massachusetts. Published Monday through Friday except holidays and during vacations, three times weekly during reading and exam periods by The Harvard Crimson Inc., 14 Plympton St., Cambridge, Mass. 02138

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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.

PAGE 3

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | JANUARY 25, 2019

Sociology Prof. Emeritus Glazer Dies at 95

By REBECCA S. ARATEN CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

When filmmaker Joseph Dorman interviewed Sociology Professor Emeritus Nathan Glazer at City College on 137th street in Harlem, he offered to hail a cab or order a car service to take the professor, then in his 90s, to wherever he wanted to go next.

Glazer refused the offer.

“He said, ‘Absolutely not, I want to take the subway home,’” said Dorman, who wrote and directed the film “Arguing the World,” which featured Glazer and three of his fellow New York intellectuals. “That was a point when they were just beginning to produce subway art in each of the subway stations, and he wanted basically to stop at all the stations on the way home to look at the subway art.”

Glazer, who died Saturday at the age of 95 in his home in Cambridge, studied issues of ethnicity and immigration, often examining them from a global perspective. He is known for being one of the first sociologists to focus on ethnic studies, according to Dorman. But Glazer also explored topics stretching beyond sociology, venturing into varied fields like education, architecture, and urban planning. His

work often touched on city life.

Glazer’s free-thinking attitude allowed him to connect his studies to a variety of different fields, according to Sociology Department Chair Jason Beckfield.

“He couldn’t be bound by a certain school or a certain discipline,” Beckfield said. Glazer started his career in academia, teaching at University of California, Berkeley in 1963 before moving to Harvard in 1969, where he taught in the Sociology department. During his time at Harvard, his courses spanned three schools: the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the Graduate School of Education, and the Graduate School of Design.

Tufts History Professor Reed T. Ueda, who was one of Glazer’s students at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, called him a “true thinker” and an “independent spirit.”

Glazer wrote several books including “Beyond the Melting Pot,” which explored the plausibility of assimilation as a goal for immigrants. He came to the conclusion that total assimilation of minority groups was impossible and that America would never be a country of “unhyphenated Americans,” but rather would comprise multiple identities.

The city often inspired Glazer’s work, according to multiple people who knew him. Dorman said Glazer’s research showed attention and care to the specifics of city life and its realities.

“He really observed on the ground, he was not a man of grand theories,” Dorman said.

“He really in a lot of ways disdained grand theories, because he saw all the ways that large, abstract theories obscured one’s ability to understand particularities of life...all those particulars added up themselves to something larger than any overarching theory could get at.”

Glazer’s appreciation of the “quirks of the city” caused him to disagree with modernism’s bleak views of city life, according to Dorman.“ He really, in that sense, had a wonderful eye and a love for what makes a city a city,” Dorman said.

Glazer grew up in New York City, living in East Harlem and the East Bronx as the child of Jewish immigrants from Warsaw. Though he left the city after his marriage to writer Ruth Gay ended in a divorce, Glazer remained “absolutely fascinated by New York City,” according to his daughter Sophie B. Glazer ’74.

“Long after he left New York

he would come back very specifically, to make sure we saw some particular architectural wonder that he delighted in,” Sophie Glazer said.

To celebrate Glazer’s 80th birthday, the two went on an architectural walk around what used to be the Jewish neighborhoods of Harlem, looking at the changes that had taken place since Jewish families had left there to move to the Bronx.

Early in his career, Glazer became involved in radical politics and joined a group called the New York Intellectuals while he was in his 20s. He later built up a reputation as a neo-conservative, a label which Dorman said was applied “erroneously.”

“He was always a kind of independently ascending neo-conservative. He never stopped being one, but he was never a pure one in any way,” said Eugene J. Dionne ’73, Glazer’s undergraduate thesis advisee.

Dionne said that while Glazer took a neo-conservative approach to academic policy research, he cared a lot about economic injustice and was anti-war. Glazer was not afraid to change his stance on political subjects, according to Boston College Political Science Professor Peter N. Skerry, who worked

with Glazer as a Ph.D. student.

“Nat Glazer was always a man who was constantly re-evaluating his views, particularly his political and policy views,” Skerry said.

Dorman said one example of Glazer recanting a previous position is when he changed his stance towards affirmative action. Glazer initially stood strongly against affirmative action, even writing a book about the topic, “Affirmative Discrimination,” in 1987. Eleven years later, Glazer published “In Defense of Preference,” an article that argued the country had not yet reached a point at which affirmative action was unnecessary and could be dismantled.

“He was very, very comfortable with contradictions, with the contradictions in his own thought,” Dorman said.

Glazer retired in 1993, but he continued his research and shifted his focus to architecture. Even as he neared the end of his days, when his vision made it difficult for him to read print books, Glazer continued to read history books off of a computer screen.

“He always said he felt lucky to do what he did,” Dionne said. rebecca.araten@thecrimson.com

HMS FROM PAGE 1

Purdue Pharma Had Minimal Impact on HMS medical students, residents, and the public, as well as political protection against efforts to address the opioid crisis,” the filing reads.

But according to more than 30 former medical students who spent time at the hospital between 2003 and 2010 — many of whom went on to work as residents and physicians at MGH after graduating — Purdue’s attempts to curry favor with hospital staff did not appear to have any tangible effects.

Most said they did not feel Purdue’s presence at all, and some praised safeguards in place at the hospital designed to prevent pharmaceutical companies from possessing undue influence over hospital activities.

As part of their training, Medical School students regularly cycle through the University’s 15 teaching hospitals, including MGH, to gain experience.

Joseph W.T. McQuaid, a urologic surgeon who graduated from the Medical School in 2009 and then stayed on at MGH as a resident until 2015, said he never felt “pushed” to prescribe a particular narcotic while at the hospital, and treatment decisions

largely hinged on the patient’s individual needs.

“In urologic surgery, which is my specialty, we use a lot of narcotics and certainly are prescribing them frequently, and not once in my training did I ever hear about any of this,” he said. “I never experienced any pressure to prescribe a certain type of a narcotic as a trainee.”

Other former students said that though the medical community did not yet fully grasp the dangers of long-term highdose opioid use at the time, policies at MGH and the Medical School shielded them from feeling Purdue’s efforts to promote its narcotic to doctors and Medical School students.

“As a student, I remember MGH doing a good job of insulating us from any pharma influence, and don’t recall being exposed to any pharma companies,” Anthony D. Sung, a 2008 HMS graduate, wrote in an email.

Purdue began selling OxyContin in 1996, and prescriptions of the drug soon exploded, producing over $1 billion annually in revenue for the company.

But in 2007, Purdue settled with

the United States Department of Justice for roughly $600 million for misleading doctors, patients, and regulators about the narcotic’s risk of addiction and potential to be abused. The company pledged at the time to change its practices. But last week’s memorandum alleges that Purdue’s deceptive behavior continued after that settlement, leading to the deaths of hundreds of Massachusetts residents.

A key element in the company’s strategy, according to the filing, was donating large sums to leading hospitals and universities, including MGH and Tufts University.

Though Healey portrays the Purdue Pain Program and other donations to MGH as a beneficial investment for the pharmaceutical company, the reality is more complicated, according to O’Neil Britton, chief medical officer at MGH. Britton says the hospital’s relationship with Purdue faltered after an MGH researcher — using funds from Purdue — published a “sentinel” study in the New England Journal of Medicine highlighting the dangers of prescribing high-dose opioids

for non-oncological pain management.

Robert Josephson, a spokesperson for Purdue, did not directly refute Britton’s account, referring only to a previous statement from the company.

“Purdue’s led industry efforts to combat prescription drug abuse, which has included collaborating with law enforcement, funding enhancements and improvements to state prescription drug monitoring programs and directing health care professionals to the CDC’s Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain,” Josephson wrote.

As deaths from prescription painkillers — as well as heroin and other synthetic drugs such as fentanyl — increased exponentially and quickly grew into a national crisis, the consensus among doctors has evolved.

Whereas physicians used to commonly prescribe opioids for chronic pain, these drugs are now largely reserved for patients with cancer, in hospice, or recovering from a serious surgery.In order to reduce the risk of improper pressure to prescribe, MGH officials have

Harvard, from the Law School to Longwood.

The Crimson thecrimson.com

sharply limited the ability of pharmaceutical companies to meet with doctors and medical school students in the past ten years, according to Britton.

“We have gone from probably an open-door policy to a very closed-door tight-knit process,” he said.

Britton said Purdue’s attempts to fund MGH research are not inconsistent with the behavior of other pharmaceutical companies, especially when dealing with highly-regarded hospitals such as MGH, where studies carry disproportionate weight in the medical community.

“From their standpoint, when there is good news around a trial, and when it comes from a prominent place, where everyone considers that place to have great scientific integrity, it’s a boon for them,” he said.

“It’s a publicly traded company, they announce successful trials all the time, and with a shared brand, around a Harvard institution or Stanford or any other big hospital, it’s a big boon for them.” jonah.berger@thecrimson.com

NSF FROM PAGE 1

Harvard Fellows May Not Get Paid ­ embers have been unable to m renew and receive grants, collaborate with federal scientists on furlough, and access some government databases. Though fellows funded directly by the NSF might not see their February paychecks on time, not all Harvard postdoctoral re-

As the NSF administrators were furloughed this year, none of this happened.

Joel R. Leja Harvard Postdoctoral Fellow

searchers whose funding originates with the NSF face that risk.

Some Harvard graduate students participate in the NSF’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program, which provides monthly stipends, covers students’ tuition, and sponsors their research. Those individuals are still able to receive their monthly stipends because the NSF funded those grants in lump sum payments to the University before the shutdown

The University is continuing to pay fellowship stipends.

Jonathan L. Swain University Spokesperson

started.

Harvard is responsible for distributing those NSF funds to students — a responsibility University spokesperson Jonathan L. Swain wrote in an emailed statement that Harvard would continue to fulfill.

“The University is continuing to pay fellowship stipends for fellowships awarded to Harvard University, even if the federal agency that is the source of funding is included in the partial federal government shutdown,” he wrote.

It is unclear when the political gridlock will end. The Senate voted on two bills Thursday that proposed ways to end the shutdown, but ultimately the legislative body rejected both. james.bikales@thecrimson.com luke.williams@thecrimson.com ruoqi.zhang@thecrimson.com

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | JANUARY 25, 2019

Page 4

Editorial Op-ed

Op-ED

Harvard Must Cut Its Meat Consumption

The Dark Reflection of Smartphone Screens

By Jacob A. Fortinsky

I

n early 2018, Harvard published its Sustainability Plan, laying out new environmental goals in order to be fossil fuel-free by 2050 and fossil fuel-neutral by 2026. Though the University’s goals are admirable, they are noticeably lacking in one important area: meat consumption.

Meat production is one of the primary sources of environmental harm. Anyone who cares about reducing their carbon footprint should put as much effort into cutting meat from their diet as they do into recycling or other environmental initiatives. Those who care about Harvard being environmentally friendly must seriously consider the ramifications of their food choices and pressure the University to be environmentally conscious in purchasing food.

It is too often overlooked how detrimental it is for our society to raise, kill, and eat billions of livestock each year.

It is easy to acknowledge that there are harmful effects of throwing out trash instead of recycling; doing so requires little change. Though just as necessary, it is far harder for us to drastically change our diets. But we must do so. The fate of our climate is at stake.

Meat production is one of the largest contributors to global greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. Because of the unnatural raising of cattle, buffalo, sheep, and goats, animal livestock is the leading contributor to emission of methane, one of the most detrimental greenhouse gases. Additionally, meat production has an incredibly adverse effect on land consumption, water usage, effluent waste, and fossil fuel usage. (And that does not even take into account the cruelty that these animals endure and the billions that are needlessly killed.) According to a recent study, avoiding meat and dairy is the “single biggest way” to reduce one’s impact on climate change.

The study demonstrates that though livestock account for only 18 percent of calories consumed in the world, it accounts for 83 percent of land used for food production and the majority of greenhouse gas emissions (58 percent), water

pollution (57 percent), and air pollution (56 percent). For example, one pound of meat uses nearly the same amount of water as does six months of showering or 100 pounds of wheat.

The importance of cutting meat consumption is analogous in many ways to the importance of being environmentally conscious when buying clothing. The clothing industry is one of the most environmentally destructive industries.

However, it is overlooked because of the ubiquity and affordability of environmentally harmful clothing. Unlike more comfortable tweaks that environmental neo-liberalism asks of modern-day citizens, it is hard and often expensive to change core aspects of our lives and behavior that negatively affect the climate, like diet and clothing.

This change is necessary, but it should not come from the bottom up. The onus of environmental change should be placed equally, if not primarily, on large institutions and corporations responsible for the design and preservation of this environmentally harmful system. It is not consumers that earn billions of dollars from torturing animals, dumping waste into our oceans, and polluting our skies.

And it, therefore, should not be solely the responsibility of consumers to create environmental change.

I do believe that consumers should still strive to avoid meat or food that has a larger carbon footprint in order to actively minimize environmental impact.

But it is more important for us to pressure institutions that are responsible for the problem to shoulder the economic costs of environmental consciousness.

Thus, it is critical that we place this pressure on Harvard. We must ensure that institutions that buy meat in large quantities, such as Harvard University Dining Services, are aware of the consequences of the food that it purchases.

Among the long list of goals, standards, and initiatives listed in its Sustainability Plan, Harvard has only one point listed under the section titled “Food.” Its sole commitment in altering its vision for dining at the university is to “develop sustainable and healthful food standards that include Green

Restaurant Association certification, and achieve University-wide compliance by 2020.” Attaining the bare minimum for Green Restaurant Association certification requires very little change. To be fair, HUDS has published impressive guides like “VER-EAT!-TAS” that advocate more environmentally conscious diets and articulate the importance of changing the food we eat. As outlined on its website, HUDS has also produced tips on how to eat better in dining halls and has put icons on menus to denote foods with less harmful impacts.

Nonetheless, HUDS should not just publish tips on how to be more environmentally conscious when eating in the dining halls; it should be proactive in effecting positive environmental change.

Harvard ought to follow the lead of other institutions and radically expand local, environmentally friendly, vegetarian, and vegan options.

It could also experiment with initiatives like Meatless Monday, a program that cuts meat entirely from the menu each Monday and has already been adopted by 159 universities. There are many other initiatives that seek to reduce the amount of meat consumed in university dining halls and other segments of society.

Many of these initiatives suggest that the placement of options in the dining hall influences diners’ selection. In that vein, HUDS could make meals that disproportionately impact the environment, like hamburgers, less prominent in the dining hall.

When it comes to other aspects of Harvard’s impact on the environment — energy spending, fossil fuel usage and investment, recycling and waste collection — students hold the University to highest standards.

We should unequivocally demand the same when it comes to reducing the impact that our diets have on the environment. Doing so requires thinking boldly when it comes to cutting meat in our dining halls.

—Jacob A. Fortinsky ’21, a Crimson Editorial editor, is a Social Studies concentrator in Winthrop House.

Vicky Z. Xu—Crimson Designer

Op-ed

Harvard Time Runs on Loneliness

By Linda Lee

C

lass at 10:30 a.m., interview at 4 p.m., meeting at 7 p.m., study the rest of the night. From sunrise to nearly sunrise again, every minute is neatly assigned to a colorful task on our Google calendars, creating a rainbow of responsibilities for each day.

Something seems to be missing within all of the orderly chaos, though. What is it? Oh, right. We forgot to schedule time for our friends.

With so much time blocked out for our own obligations, we inevitably fail to make time for others (and no, the 30 seconds of promising to grab a meal sometime do not count). We may sometimes drop everything to offer our friends a shoulder to cry on, but this opportunity rarely presents itself when we are constantly caught up in meetings, study sessions, and other concrete obligations. As friends become less and less of a priority within our schedule, we may find that we ourselves have no one to turn to, which breeds a campus culture burdened with loneliness and resentment.

The problem lies in the fact that students here simply do not have the emotional space nor the time to genuinely be there for others. With so much pressure to be high-functioning and constantly busy, students no longer feel comfortable with having free time. Every second has to be spent productively — or at least that’s what it has to look like. There have been times when I have climbed into bed for a nap, exhausted and sleep-deprived, only to roll around

in vain due to pacing thoughts about the emails to which I need to reply, the pset that’s due, all the other work I could be doing. Even free time isn’t truly “free” when there’s always something that could be done. And when every second is devoted to focusing on themselves and their own paths to success, how can students have the space to pause and consider what their friends may need?

I can say that I am not the only student on this campus who has felt this way. Too often, we cry, panic, break down, and burn out. Yet this cycle of overloading our plates not only isolates us from our peers, but it also makes us hesitant to be vulnerable to them. To imply that you’re struggling is to imply failure, after all, and who can afford to do that? None of us have the time anyway; an hour spent unloading to a friend is quickly followed by self-loathing and regret over how much time was wasted.

Prior to this year, the College operated on Harvard Time, in which everything began seven minutes later than the written time. But we now run on a different kind of Harvard Time, one in which no minute can go to waste, one that pushes the limits of the 24-hour cycle and prioritizes ceaseless productivity over emotions and relationships.

Harvard Time now runs on loneliness, and the seconds that tick by are heard by no one until it is too late.

Perhaps if Harvard Time can be removed, so too can our culture of isolation and silent burnout. Scheduling is truly a matter of prioritization. If it means enough to you, coffee with a friend can just as easily own its own col-

orful block in your calendar as a meeting for a club or class. As for those of us who simply can’t avoid a packed week, we can make time for genuine friendship in other ways. A text checking in on someone goes a long way, and I’ve found that studying or working with friends has been one of the most effective ways of growing closer to others while still knocking something off of your to-do list.

At the very least, we must offer ourselves as a sincere and genuine presence within the lives of others because the comfort of knowing that you have people nearby may be what carries someone through a particularly dark day.

Unless we all take proactive steps to truly be present for others, we will continue feeling unsupported, burdened, and alone, which is a recipe for disaster for a stressed out college student. I’m not saying it’s going to be easy. If we can barely make time for ourselves, then it’s no wonder that we struggle with making time for others. In a culture of business and time efficiency, perhaps we should learn to change what we prioritize.

If every minute must be scheduled in our lives, then we can choose to schedule minutes for our friends as well.

Maintaining strong relationships is helpful and necessary to not only others but also ourselves, and it’s time to redefine what we consider to be important enough for our time.

—Linda Lee ‘21, a Crimson Editorial editor and Blog Comp Director, is a Computer Science concentrator in Eliot House.

By Samuel h. Carter

O

n paper, I should be a full-fledged Generation Z smartphone lover. I run an online business. I stay in touch with my best friends by texting and using FaceTime. I even dated a girl for five months after I got her number by direct messaging her on Twitter. (She sat next to me in homeroom for three years. We had only ever spoken once.)

Despite all this, smartphones scare me. Why? Though they expand our opportunities, they also demand less of us.

In 1993, author and essayist David Foster Wallace wrote an essay titled “E Unibus Pluram” to articulate what he felt was wrong with and addicting about television. Almost 30 years later, the objects of our addiction have evolved from large “piece[s] of furniture” (as Wallace described television sets) to sleek, portable cell phones.

According to the Pew Research Center, 94 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 own a smartphone, as do 89 percent of Americans between the ages of 30 and 49. Flurry Analytics, which, according to Forbes, can track 1.2 billion smartphone users’ daily activity, published that the average U.S. smartphone user is on his or her phone for five hours a day. This usage is a problem because smartphones make two essential components of all relationships — truth telling and the devotion of full attention — more difficult.

On truth telling, electronic communication is rudimentary. I text you something. You read it and reply. I read that and reply to you. Rinse and repeat. But in between messages are long periods of paranoia, frantic backspacing, and overthink-

We get to wear masks with our own faces on them, and honest cues and responses are lost in translation. ing. “He used a period. Does that mean he’s angry? How long should I wait before replying? Is this too much information?”

In person, we can reassure each other with a pat on the back, subtly ask for a change in topic by shifting uncomfortably, or communicate passion with rapid speech. Most importantly, we cannot hide our genuine reactions.

In all face-to-face interactions, there is an “interactional synchrony” (a term coined by William S. Condon in a 1960 study and popularized by author Malcolm Gladwell in his book The Tipping Point) when people’s micromovements (occurring about every 1/45 of a second) become synced and their speech patterns align. This synchrony is crucial to human connection, and simply put, it cannot occur over text. By communicating electronically, we get to wear masks with our own faces on them, and honest cues and responses are lost in translation. We see curated versions of each other, not our true selves. More abstractly, one lesson you learn from substantive conversations is that there are different shades of truth.

The truest conversations are easier spoken than typed: The passions we have need not be filtered or retouched. To truly know a person is to look him in the eye as he describes his favorite movie, to laugh with her as she makes an offhand remark about the cold restaurant food. These moments are what truly connect us, andthey cannot consistently occur through text on a screen.

Smartphones also add unnecessary competition to relationships. As a result, they have negatively reoriented our value systems. Case in point: This month, a tweet went viral and gained over 240,000 “likes” and 68,000 retweets. The tweet read: “If I’m watching Netflix on my phone and if I have to pause the movie every 2 mins for me to reply to your ass best believe you matter [sic]” The popularity of this tweet — one that equates relationships with curated entertainment — goes to show how deeply flawed smartphone-based relationships are. Wallace wrote that television viewership “trains us to see real-life personal upclose stuff the same way we relate to the distant and exotic, as if separated from us by physics and glass, extant only as performance, awaiting our cool review.” Smartphones have the same effect.

Our phones are the places where conversations with friends are on the same plane as media, memes, and viral vapidity. In a society already obsessed with control and indifference, smartphones pit our friends against corporations and celebrities that make money by pulling our heart strings and distracting our minds.

In the words of MIT professor Sherry Turkle, “People can’t get enough of each other if and only if they can have each other at a distance, in amounts they can control.” This is a losing battle for everyone. It is easy to fall into the trap of passive relationships where people become words.

We text friends in group messages for days in a row, but then we realize we haven’t seen them in a month. We forget what color their eyes are, how their laughs sound, what it feels like to hug them.

When texting, it becomes easier to ask questions with one-word answers.

We are connected to others, but we do not truly know them. When we lock our phones, we have no one to smile with: All we see is our own reflections. Smartphones are not going away, so we cannot simply blame them for these problems.

We must look at ourselves not as victims being acted upon but as people capable of self-reflection and care. Use phones for good. Do not be afraid to be honest. Fall in love with someone’s affect, not their words. Use your phone to stay in touch with people, but turn it off to truly know them.

—Samuel H. Carter ’22, a Crimson Business and Editorial editor, lives in Canaday Hall.

Page 5

admissions From Page 1

SFFA, Harvard Submit Filings admissions policies. Harvard’s lawyers defended the College’s admissions protocols, arguing the “Court should enter judgment in Harvard’s favor” on all issues Burroughs is currently considering.

The University’s attorneys argued a race-conscious admissions process is the only way to secure diversity on campus,.

They argued the lower personal ratings that some Asian-American Harvard applicants received stem from recommendations written by high school teachers and evaluations penned by alumni interviewers, rather than judgments made by admissions officers.

They also contended the school had explored non-raceconscious admissions options and found they would not result in a diverse enough student body. The two sides also sparred over who should shoulder the burden of proof in the case.

SFFA claimed the University has a burden of proof to show that it does not discriminate, while lawyers for Harvard argued the plaintiff needs to prove conscious “racial animus” toward Asian-American applicants in order to show discrimination.

Legal standards of proof were not the only topic of contention in Wednesday’s filings; the two sides also continued their long-standing argument over admissions data that formed a key part of the evidence presented at trial. Harvard’s brief reiterated the University’s objections to analysis performed

by Duke economist Peter Arcidiacono, hired by SFFA as an expert witness, that concluded the data showed recurring discrimination against Asian-American Harvard hopefuls.

Echoing an argument they had made in multiple previous filings, lawyers for the University wrote that Arcidiacono’s decision to exclude personality ratings, athletes, and legacy students from his statistical model marked a “failure to model how the admissions process actually works.”

SFFA called Harvard’s objections to Arcidiacono’s analysis “disappointing,” and argued he designed his model to compare “apples-to-apples” and eliminate all metrics in the admissions process that race influences, including personality ratings.

SFFA also attacked the analysis conducted by David E. Card, a University of California, Berkeley professor and Harvard’s hired expert, whose statistical model found that Asian-Americans are not the target of discrimination.

Lawyers for the group argued Card did not adequately investigate whether an applicant’s race influences his or her personal scores.

Harvard’s attorneys defended Card’s analysis in their filling. camille.caldera@thecrimson.com sahar.mohammadzadeh@thecrimson.com

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | January 25, 2019

Union, Harvard Reach First Agreements

By JAMES S. BIKALES, LUKE A. WILLIAMS, and Ruoqi Zhang Crimson Staff Writers

After months of contract negotiations, Harvard’s graduate student union and the University reached tentative agreements on accessibility to employment records and resources for professional development Wednesday, union bargaining committee members wrote in an email Thursday.

The two agreements mark the first moment of consensus between the two sides in a bargaining process that has otherwise been characterized by disagreement and deadlock.

Union members have met with University officials once every two weeks since October.

Until this week, the union had not been able to come to an agreement with the university about any provisions in the union’s contract, according to union organizers.

The University’s primary goal in these negotiation sessions is to ensure that this initial binding contract makes sense and is fair.

Jonathan L. Swain University Spokesperson

Wednesday’s tentative agreements granted student workers the right to view their employment records including course evaluations that students write about teaching fellows, as well as files that

document leaves taken by HGSU-UAW members.

The employment records agreement also lets graduate and undergraduate teaching and research assistants petition Harvard to remove evaluations that are “horribly inaccurate” or “discriminatory,” according to a video posted on HGSU-UAW’s Instagram.

The other agreement — which secures some professional development resources for student workers — allows union members to “request options for additional training in areas where they feel like they want to enhance their work,” bargaining committee member Jenni K. Austiff said in the video.

The University also tentatively agreed to compensate student workers for attending training sessions.

The HGSU-UAW bargaining committee hailed both agreements as “valuable protections and benefits to our members” in an email to union members Thursday, calling the University’s pledge to provide greater access to employment records a “critical component of job security.”

University spokesperson Jonathan L. Swain wrote in an emailed statement that Harvard’s goal in contract negotiations is to work with the union to arrive at a contract that takes “into account the interests of both the members of this bargaining unit and the entire University community.”

“The University’s primary goal in these negotiation sessions is to ensure that this initial binding contract makes sense and is fair,” he wrote.

Despite Wednesday’s tenta-

tive agreements, however, disagreement persists between the University and the union on several other issues including sexual harassment policies.

The union put forward a proposal on harassment and discrimination policies in November but quickly rejected a counter-proposal the University made days later, according to union representative Madeleine F. Jennewein.

On Wednesday, the University made another counter-proposal, and the union once again declined.

Both the University and the union have not released the details of their respective sexual harassment and discrimination proposals.

The University’s counter-proposal drew criticism from bargaining committee members in their email to other union members Thursday.

“While the administration has made some incremental movement in increasing protections for student workers, their proposed process still leaves the final decision making in hands of administrators with no option for an impartial third party,” the committee wrote.

Swain wrote in an emailed statement the University’s counter-proposal “responds to concerns HGSU-UAW members have expressed and gives HGSU-UAW a seat at the table in ongoing efforts to strengthen policies and procedures to ensure a safe and healthy educational and work environment.”

It is unclear when Harvard and the union will agree on a contract, though the process could stretch on for months.

At New York University — one of the first private univer-

sities to recognize a graduate student union and subsequently negotiate multiple contracts — the union and the school were at the bargaining table for 14 months before reaching an agreement on the union’s contract.

As negotiations continue,

When people have stories they want us to hear...we can transmit to the administration the reality of what is happening at this place.

Hector Medina Bargaining Committee Member

bargaining committee members are calling on student workers to communicate any suggestions and concerns they have to the committee during the contract talks.

“When people have stories they want us to hear ... we can transmit to the administration the reality of what is happening at this place,” bargaining committee member Hector Medina said in the video posted on the HGSU-UAW Instagram page Thursday.

“We are actively listening to our members,” Medina told student workers. “It’s a two-way street.” james.bikales@thecrimson.com luke.williams@thecrimson.com ruoqi.zhang@thecrimson.com

Houghton From Page 1

Houghton Library Faces Yearlong Renovations and letters — by Susan Solomon and Peter J. Solomon ’60 has accelerated those plans.

“We’re doing things to literally make it more accessible, but then accessible more metaphorically as well,” Hyry said.

“We’re trying to make a more welcoming and inviting atmosphere so that when you walk in

We’re doing things to make it more accessible, but then more accessible more metaphorically as well.

Thomas Hyry Houghton Librarian

you think ‘I’m in a special place’ but you don’t immediately wonder whether you’re supposed to be there or not, but your presence there is reinforced.”

The renovation coincides with other recent initiatives to increase visibility.

Houghton’s staff began hosting an undergraduate research fellowship four years ago and has digitized much of its collection in recent years.

“It’s a really wonderful opportunity for the library to

demonstrate physically that there’s change afoot and at the same time that we respect our traditions and the very valuable collections that we have,” University Librarian Sarah Thomas said.

In deciding where to donate his collection of children’s literature and illustrations, Solomon said he considered Princeton University, the Morgan Library and Museum, and even the Metropolitan Museum of Art, but ultimately settled on Houghton.

“I’ve been involved with Harvard since my graduation in 1960...so I went up and talked with Houghton and I said, ‘You know I really should give this to you,’” Solomon said. “The Houghton collection is very strong in the areas I’m strong in, but they don’t have a lot of the material I have.”

During a visit to Houghton to discuss donating his collection, Solomon noticed some of what Thomas referred to at the time as the building’s “deficiencies,” remarking that Houghton is not very accessible and is rather “like a fortress.”

He said he wanted to see the hidden “jewel” that is Houghton become a “more integral part of Harvard.”

“I wanted to open it up, I wanted to have accessibility,

Transformative coverage.

The Crimson thecrimson.com

including real handicapped accessibility [and] I wanted the whole area in front of it be repaired and enlivened, it had

The gift itself is quite accessible because people will have grown up with these children’s classics, and they’ll be like magnets to draw in students Sarah Thomas University Librarian

been left in neglect. I said, ‘I’m too old to wait to get this funded, I’ll just pay for it,’” Solomon said, though he acknowledged that some of the money for the renovation will also come from Harvard and other sources.

Solomon estimated that his collection encompasses some six hundred or seven hundred items.

The collection features works mostly by American and British authors and illustrators like Helen Beatrix Potter, known for The Tale of Peter Rabbit, and Lewis Carroll, known for Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

Houghton will receive the

entirety of Solomon’s collection over the next few years, according to Solomon.

The library plans to exhibit the works it has already received when it reopens in fall 2020.

“The gift itself is quite accessible because people will have grown up with these children’s classics, and they’ll be like magnets to draw in students who will want to not just relive their childhood experience, but actually come to it with a more mature pair of eyes and understand why these particular books are worthy of study and worthy of enjoyment,” Thomas said.

Approximately 300 classes and 3,000 students via their classes use Houghton’s facilities in a year.

When the building closes in the fall, Houghton will still host classes — albeit fewer — in facilities in Widener, Pusey, and Lamont Libraries.

Houghton’s reading room will relocate to Widener Periodicals Room, which under its previous name the “Treasure Room,” hous housed some of Houghton’s collections from 1915 to 1942, after Widener finished construction . annie.doris@thecrimson.com sahana.srinivasan@thecrimson.com

Weinstein From Page 1

HLS Prof.

Joins Weinstein Defense Sullivan also wrote that he looks forward to defending Weinstein, pointing to the producer’s continued claim of innocence.

“Mr. Weinstein steadfastly maintains his innocence in this matter and we are looking forward to assisting Mr. Weinstein in his defense,” Sullivan wrote in the email.

Weinstein faces five charges as a result of allegations that he raped one woman and forcibly performed oral sex on another.

Sullivan has taken on several high-profile cases during his legal career, including defending former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez in his double murder trial and the family of Michael Brown, an 18-year-old black man who was shot and killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Mo. in 2014.

The Harvard Law professor also defended — along with fellow Law Professor Dehlia Umunna — the black Harvard undergraduate arrested last spring by Cambridge Police, an incident that sparked allegations of police brutality. A judge later cleared the student of all charges. Additionally, both Sullivan and Mackey represented the actress Rose A. McGowan in her 2017 Virginia drug possession case. In October 2017, McGowan publicly accused Weinstein of rape. McGowan told the New York Times that Baez’s decision to represent Weinstein is an “egregious conflict of interest,” though she did not mention Sullivan. Sullivan wrote in an emailed statement that after consulting with an ethics counsel, he does not believe a conflict of interest exists.

“We were pleased to represent our former client, Ms. Rose McGowan, in a matter unrelated to Mr. Weinstein’s current charges. After consultation with ethics counsel, we are certain no conflict of interest exists.

We wish Ms. McGowan well with all her future endeavors,” Sullivan wrote.

Widespread accusations of Weinstein’s sexual misconduct were first reported by the New York Times in October 2017, which detailed allegations against Weinstein that stretched back over three decades. Since then, several more women have come forward with their own allegations.

The board of The Weinstein Company — the film studio Harvey Weinstein co-founded with his brother — fired him, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences stripped him of his membership.

Weinstein is the subject of several lawsuits, including the Manhattan sexual assault case where Sullivan, Baez, and Mackey will represent him. The reporting on Weinstein helped spark the #MeToo movement, which has seen countless women come forward and share their own allegations of sexual misconduct.

Weinstein’s Manhattan sexual assault trial is set to begin May 7. aidan.ryan@thecrimson.com

Sports

Weekend event

schedule

Friday ______________________________________

saturday ______________________________________

sunday ______________________________________

Men’s Ice Hockey 7 p.m., vs. Clarkson

Men’s Basketball 2 p.m., vs. Dartmouth

Women’s Water Polo 12:30 p.m., vs. Villanova

men’s basketball

On MLK Day, Aiken Returns for Harvard Basketball

By Henry Zhu Crimson Staff Writer

Ever since the dawn of the 20182019 campaign, there has been an underlying aura of impatience at Harvard men’s basketball games, home and away.

“When is Bryce coming back? What about Seth?”

These were not just rumblings in the stands. When asked about the timetables of arguably this program’s two most talented players in presser after presser, coach Tommy Amaker’s answers remained the same from preseason through early January.

“Out indefinitely.”

“I don’t know.”

“No timetable.”

“When they’re ready.”

As non-committal as these answers were, one merely had to arrive a tad early to Crimson games (or stay postgame in some occasions) to sense that the return — especially for Aiken — was fast approaching. In warmup gear, Aiken moved swiftly through drills. Elevated for layups. Knocked down shot after shot.

To put it briefly, Bryce was finally ready. ­— Fast forward to the present — Martin Luther King Day, 2019.

In the frigid, breathless D.C. air, a usually bustling metropolis was at a standstill both by the holiday and month-long government shutdown.

Inside the Burr Gymnasium on the campus of Howard University, though, was a scene atypical of the dullness and inactivity of the city.

For starters, Howard alum and current U.S. junior senator Kamala Harris had that morning announced her bid for the 2020 presidency. In paying tribute to the very location where she first ran for office as a freshman class representative, Harris fittingly chose the Harvard-Howard game at Burr for her first large public appearance as 2020 candidate.

Beyond the buzz on the sidelines, there was something equally as palpable on the hardwood, at least for the strong Crimson contingency at the game.

After dressing but not playing in Harvard’s Ivy opener loss on Jan. 12 to Dartmouth, Bryce Aiken would make his junior season debut. It was 348 days ago to the date since he went down in agony in Morningside Heights as the Crimson suffered a rare loss to the Columbia Lions, clutching a left knee that would require offseason surgery.

Loose ball

For someone whose breadand-butter had been the craftiness to maneuver around defenders, Aiken was left with no choice but to go through the humbling, monotonous, and slow path to recovery.

Rehab session after rehab session, the Randolph, NJ native paid his dues and went through the “grind”. Usually very vociferous on social media, Aiken posted less frequently but provided encouraging updates on occasion.

In mid-May, for example, Bryce uploaded a video on Instagram jogging on the anti-gravity treadmill at Harvard, his first time since his surgery two months prior. In the caption, he commented, “It’s the little things that make the journey so beautiful…I’m feeling super super blessed!”

Alongside keeping up his work with the athletic training staff, Harvard strength coaches played an instrumental role in pushing his confidence forward. Doo, a former strength coach with the Boston Celtics, was an important mentor to Aiken during his recovery.

“I think our role is with Bryce is giving him confidence on ‘Hey this can happen, but that’s okay.’” Doo said last season. “Give him the preparation when you do this [rehab], the work, this is what you are going to feel, don’t be afraid of that.

That’s nothing new.”

When asked about the journey back, Aiken let out a sigh of relief before giving a brief reflection.

“That’s a long answer,” Aiken said. “But the short answer, just got to stay tough and be patient.

Keep working for each and every day, take it one step at a time and just persevere through it all.

Stay positive.”

These mantras carried him through his recovery, and now it was time to pay off the dividends.

— Coach Amaker had no hesitancies about making a statement of confidence in Bryce. In the past, the Harvard coach sent symbolic messages to the team through who he started — one may recall his decision last year against BU to remove all of his usual starters from the opening lineup.

After Harvard and Howard locked arms in pregame as the Gospel Choir of Harlem honored Martin Luther King Jr, it was Aiken who took off his warmups first. Yes, there would be no adjustment period. Bryce was back, and he was in.

It only took 16 seconds for the point guard — whom Coach Amaker last season pronounced

aiken to play

the team’s best player — to declare his return.

Off a high perimeter feed from classmate big Rob Baker, Aiken received the ball at the upper-left arc and calmly swished the triple. As the bench rose in elation, Bryce looked down, pounded his chest twice, and backpedaled confidently back the other way.

Things settled down from there, but Aiken would stay hungry on the perimeter. In the opening minutes, Bryce never ventured far beyond the arc as the Crimson moved the ball from one side to another at will.

Aiken quickly tallied his first dish of the afternoon, locating combo guard partner Christian Juzang in the left corner for the trey in Harvard’s third possession. This Aiken-Juzang pairing was a rarity before Bryce’s injury last season, but noticeably brought about improved court spacing and dynamic movement on the offensive end.

“I actually used to play two guards in high school and coming back to it was a good experience,” Aiken said. “It gives me an opportunity to get off the ball a little bit and [defensively] switch which we will definitely get better at.”

In his first game on the court in 348 days, an MLK day game against Howard, junior guard Bryce Aiken logged 16 points in 29 minutes of action. Rodney Pierce—Courtesy of Harvard Athletics COMMUNICATIONS

On the other end, Aiken was matched up with lanky junior guard Charles “CJ” Williams.

This was not the easiest of opening-game matchups, as the 6-foot-5 Bison had a much longer wingspan than the 6-foot-0 Crimson guard.

Williams quickly drew a fastbreak foul on Aiken at the 17:30 mark and Howard coach Kevin Nickelberry would continue to try to exploit the mismatch, drawing isolation plays for taller Bison guards in the left baseline against Aiken throughout the contest.

Back on offense, Bryce continued to make an impact even without scoring. Now, positioned on the left corner, Aiken ran consecutive plays in which he wrapped around to the front of the arc or cut back to the corner. The first set landed in a Baker three to extend an early 9-2 lead, while another resulted in an open-but-missed baseline triple for Aiken.

Amaker kept his guard in for the first six minutes, and right before hitting the bench Aiken completed an efficient transition lay-up, accelerating ahead of the pack before curling it in on the other side. By then, the Crimson had jumped out to a

The last time Aiken took the floor was against Columbia in Feb. 2018, when the point guard could not play through a knee injury that had bothered him for much of the calendar year. Rodney Pierce—Courtesy of Harvard

The last time Aiken took the floor was against Columbia in Feb. 2018, when the point guard could not play through a knee injury that had bothered him

15-7 lead.

The freshman year Aiken, with the flair to break ankles on every possession or make Derrick Rose-like drives to the paint wasn’t completely there.

But as classmate Justin Bassey commented, there was a noticeable increase in offensive creativity and pace to the team with #11 on the court.

“What he brings in terms of not just on-the-court stats and the ability to score, but also just energy, enthusiasm, and the way he carries himself,” Bassey said. “That does a lot more beyond pointing what’s up for us.

Having Bryce back is a huge game changer for us.”

Amaker gave Aiken three more minutes on the half, balancing time with his now abundance of guards including Juzang, sophomore Rio Haskett, as well as freshmen Spencer Freedman and Noah Kirkwood.

On the sidelines, Aiken stood in the corner rather than take a seat on the bench, engaged and ready to go back in at moment’s notice.

In that short span of time before the end of the first frame, Amaker edged his point guard to be more aggressive. On the sidelines, coach pleaded with Aiken to “shoot the ball!” particularly with the Bisons operating a 3-2 zone that left open opportunities in the corners.

Aiken responded with increased fervor and intensity. On a fast-break drive at the nine-minute mark, Bryce pushed the ball downhill and drew the foul inside over two Bison defenders. Rather than operating from the corner, Aiken came back to the top and began to generate playmaking opportunities of his own. Twice, he located Bassey for triples after cutting inside— the second which brought the Crimson lead to 26-19 at 7:23.

At halftime, Bryce had a respectable six points, three assists, and two fouls as his team led 45-31. After the statement three to start the contest, Aiken was unable to connect on three more opportunities from deep. ~ Whatever was said in that locker room, even with the large margin, seemed to catalyze the team to initiate the half. CJ Williams of the Bisons attacked the basket but was smothered by Chris Lewis. Immediately, Aiken called for the ball and located a streaking Baker. And bang!

Baker vaulted into the air to finish the alley-oop.

That budding chemistry of the first half between Aiken and Baker — the latter who finished with a double-double, will certainly be something to watch.

Baker finished another dunk followed by one from Lewis.

This looked like the opposite of the first frame, as the Crimson sought opportunities inside rather than outside.

Aiken was now also guarded defensively by 6-foot-1 sophomore guard RJ Cole, a fellow New Jerseyan. With a smaller defender, Aiken began to capitalize on a newfound offense aggressiveness. Despite some setbacks including two turnovers while driving inside, Aiken fearlessly attacked the basket while showing greater consistency on the outside.

Still, Bryce did not back down from three. His most memorable of the night came with just six minutes left in the game. The Bisons had gnawed at the Crimson’s double-digit lead for most of the game, but it still stood around 9-12 points.

In what could be only described as a dagger, Aiken nailed a step-back three at the end of the shot clock with Cole in his face. If this was not a bit of old Bryce, then there is little other evidence. One of the commentators said in steadfast fashion, “That’s dangerous.” The other commentator, let out a “Wooo… haha.”

Oh, and it is also worth mentioning that Bryce played all 20 minutes of the second half. Yep, this did not look like a player in need of a minutes restriction.

Final stat line for Bryce on the night: 16 points, 29 minutes.

4-of-10 from the field, 3-for-7 from three. 2 turnovers, 3 personal fouls. Coupled with a team-high 5 assists, about as well of a debut as the team could expect. ­— Postgame, when asked about Bryce’s performance, Amaker made sure to temper his enthusiasm.

“He can play better,” Amaker said. “I’ve seen him play a lot better. But for his first time back, it’s really neat to see him back on the court.”

It has felt like an eternity for the team to even hear the words “back on the court” associated with Bryce Aiken.

With partner-in-crime Seth Towns’ return looming in the near future (again no official word from the team), the spark that is brought with these two players is undeniable to a team that Amaker noted “should be a little better than what we are right now.”

That said, the Ivy season has already started. With a healthy Bryce, this begins an exciting new chapter in the season for the Crimson one in which his services have been sorely missed.

Let the Ancient Eight madness begin. henry.zhu@thecrimson.com