Year in Review 2023

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The Harvard Crimson

MAY 2023

COMMENCEMENT 2023

Year in Review

When Harvard’s Clubs Become Companies PAGE 23 SOPHIA SALAMANCA—CRIMSON DESIGNER

A BILLIONAIRE’S BOON

NUCLEAR OPTION

ACADEMIC FREEDOM

DENAMING DILEMMA

CRIMSON COMMONWEALTH

Ken Griffin’s $300M gift raised questions about donations and naming at Harvard.

Harvard professors have endured major scandals in recent years — and never lost tenure.

Affiliates are split on whether Harvard has an academic freedom problem on campus.

Students have sought to dename spaces on campus named for controversial figures.

Harvard alumni are elected across Mass.

How do they work with their alma mater?

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023

Year in Review STAFF MANAGING EDITOR Brandon L. Kingdollar ’24 ASSOCIATE MANAGING EDITORS Leah J. Teichholtz ’24 Meimei Xu ’24 SECTION EDITORS Isabella B. Cho ’24 Sarah Girma ’24 James R. Jolin ’24 Ariel H. Kim ’24 Vivi E. Lu ’24 Mayesha R. Soshi ’24 Andy Z. Wang ’23-’24 Eric Yan ’24 DESIGN EDITORS Ashley R. Ferreira ’24 Toby R. Ma ’24 Sophia Salamanca ’25 Sophia C. Scott ’25 Sami E. Turner ’25 COVER DESIGNER Sophia Salamanca ’25 PHOTO EDITORS Julian J. Giordano ’25 Marina Qu ’25 Claire Yuan ’25 Frank S. Zhou ’26

Contents

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Year in Headlines

The biggest stories, investigations, and features of 2022-23, as shown in the headlines of The Crimson.

Year in Quotes

The most memorable statements, spoken and written, that made it onto the pages of The Crimson in 2022-23.

The Black Box of HUPD

Amid renewed transparency concerns, how much is publicly known about Harvard’s private police force?

What’s in a Name?

Inside Ken Griffin’s $300M donation to Harvard and its implications for the graduate school renamed in his honor.

The Bacow Presidency

A brief tenure defined by defending Harvard and higher education from political and public health threats.

TECH EDITORS Kevin Luo ’24 Justin Y. Ye ’24

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PRESIDENT Cara J. Chang ’24

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Rich Clubs at Harvard

As Harvard clubs grow in wealth and size, the line between student group and corporation has blurred.

A Multicultural Center?

Some students are reviving efforts for a multicultural center at Harvard, though questions remain.

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The Nuclear Option

Through major scandals, top Harvard professors have avoided termination, protected by their tenured status.

Rejecting the Rankings

Harvard’s law and medical schools exited the U.S. News and World Report rankings amid a higher ed reckoning.

From FAS to Presidency

President-elect Claudine Gay is set to take office July 1. Follow her tenure as Harvard’s most powerful dean.

Year in Photos

From Harvard-Yale to Housing Day, see top moments of 2022-23 through the lens of Crimson photographers.

The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023

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Critical Race Theory at HLS

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Harvard Square Returns

Critical race theory, which today faces attacks from conservatives, was shaped by Harvard Law School.

Quitting Varsity Sports

Student-athletes cite commitment overlaps, injury battles, and a desire to explore Harvard in their exits.

Free Speech on Campus

Faculty and students at Harvard are creating spaces for the free exchange of potentially controversial ideas.

Denaming Dilemma

Students have sought to dename spaces on Harvard’s campus bearing controversial namesakes.

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Harvard’s Growing Admin Amid climbing staff numbers in Harvard’s administration, some claim unforeseen harms.

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As businesses in Harvard Square surge back from Covid-19, some pandemic pains still linger.

Crimson Commonwealth

When alumni enter Mass. government, it often falls to them to shape policies affecting Harvard and its interests.

Cambridge Under Review

For the first time in more than 80 years, Cambridge is considering a rewrite of its plan of government.

Leaving Legacy Behind

With the Supreme Court set to rule on affirmative action, donor and legacy preferences are under new scrutiny.

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YEAR IN HEADLINES 2022-23

JUNE

JULY

AUGUST

Harvard President Lawrence Bacow to Step Down in June 2023

City of Boston Approves First Phase of Harvard’s Allston Campus Expansion

Harvard Holds Human Remains of 19 Likely Enslaved Individuals, Thousands of Native Americans, Draft Report Says

The Harvard Crimson to Shift to Weekly Print Publication Starting This Fall

Harvard Graduate Student Rodrigo Ventocilla Dies After Alleged Police Mistreatment in Indonesia

Following Sexual Harassment Allegations, Comaroff Returns to Teaching at Harvard, Sparking Outrage

Top Corporations, Universities Ask Supreme Court to Uphold Affirmative Action in Harvard Case

SEPTEMBER

OCTOBER

NOVEMBER

‘Long Overdue’: Leverett Affiliates Say Former Faculty Deans’ Early Departure is Years in the Making

Harvard Endowment Value Falls $2.3 Billion Following First Negative Returns Since 2016

Maura Healey ’92 Becomes First Woman Elected Governor of Massachusetts

Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments in Harvard, UNC Affirmative Action Cases

In Six-Year High, 27 Undergraduates Forced to Withdraw from Harvard in 2020-2021 Due to Honor Code Violations

Carolyn Bertozzi ’88 Becomes First Female Harvard College Graduate to Win Nobel Prize

Harvard Students and Dining Hall Workers Call for Hot Breakfast Expansion to All Houses

DECEMBER

JANUARY

FEBRUARY

Claudine Gay to Serve as Harvard’s 30th President

More than 100 Students Walk Out of Embattled Harvard Professor Comaroff’s First Class of Semester

Longtime Harvard Women’s Ice Hockey Coach Faces Allegations of Abusive Behavior

Harvard Student Body President Draws Criticism for Defending Previously Sanctioned Campus Christian Group Harvard Pledges to Return Human Remains of Enslaved People to Descendents

Ex-Harvard Fencing Coach and Harvard Parent Acquitted of Bribery Charges ‘Growing Pains’: Harvard Undergraduate Association’s First Semester Draws Mixed Reviews

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Harvard Unveils Search Committee to Select 30th President

LGBTQ+ Harvard Affiliates Receive Homophobic Emails Threatening Violence

Former Human Rights Watch Head Says Harvard Kennedy School Dean Blocked Fellowship Over Israel Criticism Judge Dismisses Claims Against Harvard in Wrongful Death Lawsuit Over 2015 Student Suicide

Harvard Students Circulate Petition Calling for Denaming of Winthrop House, Named After Slaveowners Harvard Misinformation Expert Joan Donovan Forced to Leave by Kennedy School Dean, Sources Say

MARCH

APRIL

MAY

‘Still Unresolved’: Harvard Student Group Missing Approximately $30,000 After Leadership Dispute

Hedge Fund CEO Ken Griffin ’89 Makes $300M Donation to FAS, Harvard to Rename GSAS in His Honor

New Hampshire Man Arrested for Planting Fake Bomb on Harvard Campus in Bitcoin Extortion Attempt

Harvard Establishes First University-Wide Policies on Bullying and Discrimination

Four Harvard Students Held at Gunpoint by Campus Police in ‘Swatting’ Attack

Harvard Reaches Tentative Agreement with Clerical and Technical Union After 13 Months of Negotiations

Harvard Adams House Residents Frustrated by Delays as Renovations Approach Second Year

Dan Schrag, Top Harvard Climate Scientist, Faces Allegations of Bullying and Toxicity Spanning Two Decades

Harvard Drops Covid-19 Booster Requirement as U.S. Public Health Emergency Ends

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YEAR IN QUOTES 2022-23 From Harvard’s presidential transition to new unionization campaigns to the sentencing of a top Harvard professor, The Crimson covered the major events of 2022-23 extensively. Read some of the year’s key moments in the words of the people impacted by these stories.

JUNE 2022 I left my position in Leverett House for one reason and one reason only — the unrelentingly toxic work environment created by Brian Farrell and Irina Ferreras. My thoughts are with all the students and staff for whom this decision came far too late.

SEPT. 2022 For us, it is very painful. There is evidence of torture, and we want to clear Rodrigo’s name.

ANA VENTOSILLA Mother of Rodrigo Ventocilla Ventosilla, a transgender man who died in police custody at a hospital in Denpasar, Indonesia.

NOV. 2022 ... We will no longer participate in the U.S. News process. It does not advance the best ideals of legal education or the profession we serve, and it contradicts the deeply held commitments of Harvard Law School.

Our future as a country depends on having leaders who have enjoyed wide exposure to students as diverse as the nation itself, and so, as this court has consistently held, if necessary to achieve genuine diversity, a university need not blind itself to race.

SETH P. WAXMAN ’73

JOHN L. PULICE III ’15 Tutor who triggered a College inquiry into former Leverett Faculty Deans Brian Farrell and Irina Ferreras, who unexpectedly stepped down from their positions in June.

OCT. 2022

DEC. 2022 When I imagine Harvard in the years ahead, I see a university that is even more connected to the world through our scholarship . . . The idea of the ivory tower — that is the past, not the future, of academia. We don’t exist outside of society, but as part of it.

CLAUDINE GAY

Attorney for Harvard in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard during oral arguments before the Supreme Court.

DEC. 2022 The money in HUFPI is still under my name and I have no issue resolving this by freezing funding if you can’t honor me as your equal.

SAMA E.N. KUBBA ’24

Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences speaks at an event announcing she had been selected to serve as the University’s next president.

Former Harvard Undergraduate Foreign Policy Initiative president in a text to Sciences Po Policy Project Louai Allani.

APRIL 2023

APRIL 2023

I regret the things that brought me here . . . I hope that in the future — and this is whatever transpires — that I am again able with whatever life I have left to help young scientists learn to be successful, encourage and support them in their careers, and contribute to science that benefits humanity.

We assert that Black students should not have to live in fear of the police force being used as a weapon against them.

We condemn the University’s failure to, at large, protect its Black community’s emotional and physical wellbeing in the aftermath of such trauma.

JOHN F. MANNING ’82 Harvard Law School dean announces the school would no longer participate in U.S. News & World Report rankings, citing concerns with methodology and socioeconomic diversity.

JAN. 2023 I’ve been teaching a long time. I’ve lost students to overdoses. I’ve lost students to accidents. I have never lost a student like this.

MARIA KHWAJA Former senior year English teacher of Sayed Faisal, who was killed by a Cambridge Police Department officer on Jan. 4.

CHARLES M. LIEBER Ex-Harvard Chemistry professor speaks at sentencing hearing following his conviction for lying to federal investigators.

OPEN LETTER Signed by 45 Black student organizations and supporters following a “swatting” attack that targeted a suite of Black seniors living in Leverett House.

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023

The Black Box of HUPD INCREASED SCRUTINY. In April, the Harvard University Police Department received a hoax 911 call in an apparent “swatting” that targeted a suite of Black seniors living in Leverett House. The attack made national headlines and led Harvard students, alumni, and the public to scrutinize HUPD’s response and the potential racial implications underlying the attack.

TOBY R. MA—CRIMSON DESIGNER

By RYAN H. DOAN-NGUYEN AND YUSUF S. MIAN CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

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n the pre-dawn hours of April 3, a false 911 call sent Harvard University Police officers equipped with assault rifles and riot gear into a suite occupied by four Black seniors — triggering a wave of scrutiny of the University’s private police force and its practices.

At around 4 a.m., HUPD dispatched at least five armed officers to the students’

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suite in Leverett House, an upperclassman dormitory, in response to a hoax 911 call from an individual claiming to be armed and holding a woman hostage in the dorm.

The students awoke to banging on their doors and were ordered out of their rooms with their hands up as officers pointed assault rifles at them.

Jarah K. Cotton ’23, one of the seniors, said the experience was “terrifying” in an interview later that day.

“We were all extremely scared, particularly because my roommates and I are

Black students who have been bombarded our whole lives with stories and images portraying how situations such as this had ended up terribly,” Cotton wrote in an email that morning. “We felt our lives were in danger. We are traumatized.”

The false 911 call, an apparent swatting attack, made national headlines and led Harvard students, alumni, and the public to scrutinize HUPD’s response and raise questions about the potential racial implications underlying the attack.

HUPD Chief Victor A. Clay said that the

swatting was “an unprecedented incident.”

While the swatting itself may have been unprecedented, concerns surrounding transparency have long surrounded the more-than-century-old police force.

“My trust for HUPD is very low,” said Prince A. Williams ’25, a labor activist on campus. “I see them every day as sort of someone who’s looking over my shoulder when I’m at a labor rally, or looking over my shoulder when I’m at a Palestine rally.”

“They’re there to intimidate,” added Williams, who is a Crimson Editorial editor.

The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023 How much does the public know about the University’s police force? In what ways is HUPD a “black box” — a system whose inner workings are unknown to outside observers?

‘SOMEBODY WEAPONIZED HUPD’ Following the Leverett swatting attack, students and affiliates raised questions about HUPD procedures and Harvard’s response to the attack.

“One of my first reactions was, ‘Somebody weaponized HUPD against Black students,’” Williams said. “Clearly, whoever called knew who was in that room, and they — just like everyone else — they understand the relationship between the police and Black people historically.”

Just over two weeks after the attack, 45 Black student organizations and supporting groups at Harvard co-signed a letter demanding a University-wide statement acknowledging the “significant racial impact” of the swatting, a thorough HUPD investigation, increased HUPD transparency and accountability, “proactive” mental health support, and an in-person town hall with top University officials.

Clay acknowledged the criticisms of students in an interview earlier this month and expressed support for their demands.

“I agree with it 100 percent,” Clay said. “I don’t think their demands were unreasonable at all.”

Clay added that Harvard “dropped the ball” by not issuing a statement to students sooner after the attack. Dean of the College Rakesh Khurana’s email to students came roughly 66 hours after the police raid, a delay that drew criticism from affiliates.

Clay, along with top Harvard administrators including President Lawrence S. Bacow, President-elect Claudine Gay, and Khurana met with eight Black student leaders representing organizations that signed the letter.

But some student leaders said their demands went unanswered during the meeting. Harvard Black Students Association

President Angie Gabeau ’25 told The Crimson in April that she was “a little disappointed in the fact that none of the demands were met” after the meeting.

According to Monica M. Clark ’06, who is president of the Harvard Black Alumni Society, Clay held a May 15 town hall with the alumni group’s members and other administrators following a request from Clark and other leaders of the group.

“I was surprised by how open he was,” Clark said in an interview. “I thought that was really helpful.”

The attack also raised questions about HUPD’s arsenal, with some affiliates expressing concern over the use of assault rifles and riot gear in the raid.

think we have the weaponry that is minimally adequate considering the amount of violence in the United States, ” Clay said.

Clay also said that the department’s possession of the equipment should not be surprising.

“It’s been here for years. How come nobody else asked prior to this incident?” Clay said.

“It’s not like HUPD purchased these things in a vacuum, so why wasn’t this known prior to me getting here?”

HUPD spokesperson Steven G. Catalano declined a request from The Crimson for a full inventory of HUPD’s weapons and equipment, citing a longstanding department policy.

I personally would really rather see HUPD mostly go away and all of those positions get replaced with unarmed emergency first responders TomHenry J. Reagan ’85 HGSU-UAW Executive Board Member

“I was, to be honest, completely and utterly unsurprised,” said TomHenry J. Reagan, an executive board member for Harvard’s graduate student union. “I didn’t really know that they have riot gear capabilities, but I could have guessed it.”

In response to the attack, the Harvard Graduate Students Union-United Automobile Workers passed a resolution calling for HUPD to be disarmed and replaced with “unarmed first responders.”

Williams, who supports HUPD’s abolition, said the department should not have assault weapons, calling for the “demilitarizing” of the campus police force.

Clay defended HUPD’s use of “long guns and body armor” in response to criticisms of the use of assault weapons and raid gear.

“I don’t think we’re militarized at all. I

‘THERE’S ALWAYS BEEN SOME ISSUES’ HUPD has long had a contested presence on Harvard’s campus.

A January 2020 Crimson investigation uncovered a pattern of racism, sexism, and alleged favoritism in the department, and in June 2020, former HUPD Chief Francis D. “Bud” Riley announced his plans to retire after a quarter-century leading the department. Shortly after, The Crimson’s Editorial Board called for HUPD’s abolition, pointing to their presence at a Boston police brutality protest sparked by George Floyd’s murder.

“There’s always been some issues and concerns that in many ways is systemic of just policing in the United States in general,”

said HUPD Advisory Board Chair Tim Bowman in an April interview.

“It’s not necessarily a bad culture, but it may not always be the culture that — at a university campus — we’re ideally looking for,” Bowman said of U.S. policing culture.

Assuming the role of HUPD’s new chief in July 2021, Clay began his tenure with a pledge for transparency, telling the Harvard Gazette ahead of his appointment that police leadership must “change the culture within our departments” and “show compassion and integrity.”

By March, Clay had overseen a significant personnel overhaul, retaining just three members of Riley’s senior leadership staff.

Clay’s HUPD has also engaged with student activists on concerns over the department’s activities. Following years of outcry from students and faculty, HUPD shut down its substation at Mather House — one of four police substations on campus at the time — in February 2022.

Still, Clay faces a campus that is deeply skeptical of policing.

Nearly 50 percent of respondents to The Crimson’s Class of 2025 freshman survey indicated they strongly or somewhat supported defunding the police. Roughly 24 percent of respondents to The Crimson’s Class of 2023 senior survey indicated that they distrusted HUPD “fully or somewhat,” with Black students reporting the least trust.

Some, like Williams and Reagan, even call for HUPD to be wholly abolished.

“I personally would really rather see HUPD mostly go away and all of those positions get replaced with unarmed emergency first responders like mental health professionals and EMTs,” Reagan said.

Catalano, however, wrote in an email that HUPD has become “more diverse, professional, and community oriented” throughout its history.

“We have officers with more diverse backgrounds in order to connect with our community, as well as more females in leadership roles,” he wrote, noting that the department has increased its deescalation and diversity and inclusion training.

TIMELINE OF THE LEVERETT SWATTING ATTACK AND UNIVERSITY RESPONSE

April 3, 2023: Day of Leverett Swatting Attack 3:23 a.m. HUPD receives the first of three 911 calls by someone claiming to be a male Harvard student “kicked out” this semester, armed, and holding a woman hostage.

~3:30 a.m. HUPD calls Jarah K. Cotton ’23 and Alexandra C. René ’23, receiving no answer.

4:15 a.m. Students awake to banging on their door, shouts of “Harvard Police,” and commands of “open up.” At least five armed HUPD officers order the students into the hallway at gunpoint, then search the Leverett House suite with “negative results” for firearms or suspicious individuals.

4:41 a.m. Students are engaged

by Leverett House residential staff following a briefing by HUPD on the reasons for their response.

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023

Black students march in Harvard Yard during a demonstration criticizing the University response to the swatting. CLAIRE YUAN—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

‘THESE RECORDS AREN’T PUBLIC’ Unlike municipal police agencies, HUPD’s status as a private police force allows it to shield police reports and other documents from public records requests, with police reports only becoming publicly available following an arrest.

In 2003, The Crimson — represented by the American Civil Liberties Union — filed a lawsuit against HUPD in an effort to compel the department to release detailed crime reports under Massachusetts public records

laws.

It argued that HUPD officers should be subject to laws allowing the public to access police reports with detailed information on incidents, including testimony from witnesses and officers’ direct accounts of interactions with the public. The Crimson claimed that HUPD’s denial of its requests for incident reports hinders its ability to report fully on crime-related matters.

But in 2006, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled against The Crimson, upholding the University’s position that HUPD, as a private entity, is not subject to the same public records requirements as

April 3, 2023 10:20 a.m. Leverett House Interim Resident Dean John Nowak and Faculty Deans Daniel G. Deschler and Eileen E. Reynolds ’86 email Leverett affiliates, briefly describing the raid and confirming that there is no current threat to house safety.

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municipal police departments and thus is not obligated to disclose incident reports — even to the victims of crimes themselves.

Exceptions to the rule are rare and limited to specific circumstances, such as when victims of theft and accidents require a copy of their incident report for insurance purposes. In those cases, the University’s Office of the General Counsel authorizes HUPD to provide them.

“I think it’s kind of ridiculous that these records aren’t public,” Reagan said. “I think that they should, at the very least, be held to the same level of accountability as a municipal police force.”

“Ideally, I would like to see a step beyond that — maybe, disarmament or just replacing them entirely with unarmed emergency first responders,” he added.

Clay objected to calls to make all police reports publicly available.

“It’s just a popular way of saying, ‘We don’t trust you,’” Clay said. “I’d rather you just say, ‘We don’t trust you, and we want to know more,’ than to say, ‘All your reports should be released.’”

“There’s some things that could cause irreparable damage if they’re released, and I’m not going to do that,” he added. “I don’t care what the cry is.”

April 5, 2023 7 p.m. A gathering is held in Leverett’s Junior Common Room to discuss the incident.

Shortly before 10 p.m., Dean of the College Rakesh Khurana and Havard Police Chief Victor A. Clay send an email to students, marking the first official communication from administrators to the College on the attack. Half of Harvard’s houses had issued statements to residents by that evening.

The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023

Students have expressed distrust of Harvard University Police Department in the wake of a swatting attack in April. JULIAN J. GIORDANO—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

Catalano wrote in a statement that the policy is upheld “in the interest of maintaining community members’ privacy.”

But “if the laws and rules around info sharing change,” Catalano wrote, HUPD will comply “as required.”

A PROJECT OF REFORM Following a 2020 external review commissioned by Bacow, HUPD introduced an online workload and crime dashboard that “serves to improve communication, information-sharing, and transparency,” according to the HUPD website.

The dashboard spans three years of data, displaying a detailed breakdown of arrests, criminal complaints, and calls of service from lockouts to medical situations. The dashboard’s initial release of data showed that the department disproportionately arrested Black people from 2018 to 2020.

The tool has not been updated since June 2021.

Reagan criticized the lack of availability of recent data, noting that he was unable to find information after 2021. He added that he has “personally been dissatisfied” with HUPD’s reporting practices and feels “that they’re not really up to par.”

“It doesn’t feel great that we don’t have data on what kinds of arrests are being made, who HUPD is interacting with,” Reagan said.

In a recent interview, Clay explained that the delay in dashboard updates is “to look and make sure that this stuff is actually accurate, and that it rises to the level of what Harvard University would like to see of HUPD.” “That takes time, and it drags it out,” Clay said, noting that the update has been “ready to go” since March. Clay said that his goal is to release an update every April, though he is “not making any promises.”

Clay stressed HUPD’s commitment to transparency with regard to accessible data.

“I’m proud to say we’re one of the few people that we will put out our data, regardless of what it looks like. We are ready to take the criticism,” Clay said. “It’s not because we’re trying to win some prize.”

Clay added that equipping HUPD officers with body cameras, a measure presently absent, could help enhance accountability.

“It’s a recording of what actually occurs at a scene, so you can’t dispute it — there’s very little room for interpretation,” Clay said. “That makes it very simple for me to

April 19, 2023

April 28, 2023

May 5, 2023

May 15, 2023 May 19, 2023

45 Harvard organizations send a letter to administrators demanding action from the University in response to the swatting attack.

Eight Black student leaders of Harvard organizations meet with University President Lawrence S. Bacow, President-elect Claudine Gay, Khurana, and Clay on their demands. More than 50 students rally outside Massachusetts Hall in solidarity with their peer representatives.

Clay says in an interview with The Crimson that he “100 percent” backs student and alumni demands.

Clay holds a town hall with members of the Harvard Black Alumni Society.

Gay, Clay, and CAMHS Director Babara Lewis hold a listening session with students.

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023 say this occurred or this didn’t occur, or officers should have done this, or that was remarkable that an officer did do that thing.

So I love it.”

Still, Clay said that he has not “done a deep dive” on implementing body cameras due to student privacy concerns.

Catalano wrote in an email that the dashboard already highlights the “demographics of the persons impacted by our enforcement actions.”

According to Catalano, the second phase of the dashboard will be released in June and will include updated data through 2022 on HUPD calls, arrests, and criminal complaints, which were previously available through 2020.

It will also display three new dashboards with data on field stops, use of force, and personnel complaints, which have not previously been publicly reported.

Catalano added that members of the HUPD Advisory Board — a committee of

modifications.”

Clay said that the new data will make the

Story after story, it doesn’t seem like this entity is there to really protect and serve people, but more so to protect and serve this big corporation and its property Prince A. Williams ’25 Labor Activist

Harvard affiliates tasked with overseeing HUPD’s activity and providing recommendations — “complimented the transparency of the Dashboard” and offered “a few minor

department “by far” more transparent than “any other part of this University.”

“I don’t recall seeing data like this from anyone else,” he said.

Harvard University Police Department is the main police force on Harvard’s campus. JULIAN J. GIORDANO—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

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The student and alumni backlash and calls for greater transparency following the Leverett swatting attack mark a new challenge for Clay’s tenure and his project of police reform.

“The Chief has made community engagement a priority,” Catalano wrote. “He wants the officers to be approachable to be seen as a resource in our joint effort to maintaining a safe and secure campus.”

Some students, however, remain unconvinced by Clay’s moves toward a more open HUPD. “Story after story, it doesn’t seem like this entity is there to really protect and serve people, but more so to protect and serve this big corporation and its property,” Williams said. ryan.doannguyen@thecrimson.com yusuf.mian@thecrimson.com

The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023

What’s in a Name?

Griffin Donation Brings Cash, Questions A BILLIONAIRE’S BOON. After a $300 million donation by GOP megadonor Kenneth C. Griffin ’89 redubbed the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences with his name, affiliates expressed concern over his support for controversial political figures. In the donation’s wake, some wonder how, why, and for how much Harvard sells the naming rights to its schools.

SAMI E. TURNER—CRIMSON DESIGNER

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023

By RAHEM D. HAMID, MILES J. HERSZENHORN, ELIAS J. SCHISGALL, AND CLAIRE YUAN CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

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hen Harvard’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences raised its new flag bearing the name of Kenneth C. Griffin ’89, it was just the fourth time the University had ever renamed a school following a donation.

The first happened in 1639 after a donation by Reverend John Harvard changed the College’s name, and it would be another 375 years before the University renamed another school following a donation.

But in the past decade, top Harvard officials have shown a renewed willingness to exchange the naming rights of schools for nine-figure donations — decisions that have raised questions and eyebrows.

Just last month, GSAS was renamed following a $300 million unrestricted donation from Griffin to the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. The gift prompted heavy criticism, with affiliates questioning the University’s choice to publicly honor a donor with a record of supporting controversial political figures.

But the donation also raised further questions about Harvard’s donor practices in general, with many wondering exactly how, why, and for how much Harvard sells the naming rights to its major schools and institutions.

AN EXTENDED TIMELINE In the fall of 2013, when Gerald L. Chan called William F. Lee ’72 — then the newly-appointed senior fellow of the Harvard Corporation, the University’s highest governing body — renaming the Harvard School of Public Health was just an idea. But one year and $350 million later, it became reality as the University announced the re-

named T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

The next year, hedge fund magnate John A. Paulson donated $400 million to the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and saw his name emblazoned on the school. This time, the negotiations lasted two years.

But talks for Griffin’s donation lasted more than twice as long.

Harvard Corporation Senior Fellow Penny S. Pritzker ’81 has served on the University’s highest governing body since 2018, but said she was not a member of the Corporation during the negotiations for the Griffin donation.

ed to the FAS and that Griffin would be recognized through the renaming of GSAS. Griffin’s donation sparked intense backlash from Harvard affiliates over the billionaire’s public support of Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor who Griffin is expected to back in the 2024 Republican presidential primary.

Negotiations for his donation to the FAS, however, began before DeSantis’ election to his first term as governor.

At the start of negotiations, Smith and Griffin agreed that the money from the gift would be transferred to the University before any public announcement was made.

They’re probably going to be a lot more cautious about putting somebody’s name on a building because they’ll probably get another nine-figure gift the following year.

Maria Di Mento Senior Reporter for the Chronicle of Philanthropy

Michael D. Smith confirmed in an emailed statement that he helped negotiate the gift during his tenure as dean of the FAS, which lasted from 2007 to 2018. Then-University President Drew G. Faust was also kept informed of the ongoing talks.

However, the University did not announce the gift until April 2023 — five years after the end of Smith’s term.

Roy Y. Chan, a higher education expert, said gifts of this size typically require just three to six months to finalize, a figure that raises questions about the half-decade gap between the negotiation and announcement of Griffin’s donation.

During his time as dean, Smith negotiated the terms of the agreement with Griffin, including that the gift would be unrestrict-

In a Friday interview with The Crimson, outgoing FAS Dean Claudine Gay declined to comment on the details of the negotiations or her involvement.

Faust also declined to comment on Griffin’s donation. Professor Xiao-Li Meng, who served as GSAS dean between 2012 and 2018, did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

‘SOMEBODY’S NAME ON A BUILDING’ Nine-figure donations to colleges and universities “have been common for quite a while now,” said Maria Di Mento, a senior reporter for the Chronicle of Philanthropy and director of its annual Philanthropy 50.

But Di Mento said at top schools with large endowments, renaming institutions after donors is not as common, noting that Harvard routinely receives large donations.

She said renaming for donors “has been far more common” at smaller schools.

“They’re probably going to be a lot more cautious about putting somebody’s name on a building because they’ll probably get another nine-figure gift the following year,” she said of wealthy schools.

Hansjörg Wyss, a Swiss billionaire who has given more than $700 million to the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering since its establishment in 2009, said his donation negotiations began with then-Provost Steven E. Hyman.

That the institute would bear his name was a foregone conclusion, Wyss said. The whole project, bringing together different disciplines, scholars, and ideas together, was his idea.

“It had to be named in my name,” Wyss said.

Paul A. Buttenwieser ’60, a longtime Harvard donor who is the namesake for a University professorship — Harvard’s highest faculty rank — said the University can either solicit its donors and tell them how much it would cost to endow a professorship, or the donor can give Harvard a certain sum and let the University decide how it wants to recognize the gift.

Buttenwieser pointed to his recent gift to the Harvard Art Museums as an instance in which naming rights were agreed upon after the donation was finalized.

“I decided what amount of my gift to Harvard should go to the Art Museum,” Buttenwieser said. “Then they came back much later and said, ‘For a gift of that size, we’d like to recognize you by naming a gallery after you.’”

“So it might be that I would have said, ‘How much does a gallery cost?’” Buttenwieser added. “Which, I can assure you, a lot of people do.”

HISTORY OF MAJOR DONATIONS AND SCHOOL RENAMINGS 1639

2014

2015

2023

Harvard College is renamed after the clergyman John Harvard, who donated his library and £779 to the College in 1638.

The Morningside Foundation donates $350 million to Harvard’s School of Public Health.

HSPH is renamed the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health after the father of HSPH alumnus and a director of Morningside Gerald L. Chan.

John A. Paulson, a hedge fund billionaire, donates $400 million to the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. As a result, SEAS is renamed the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

Harvard announces a $300 million donation to the Faculty of Arts and Sciences from billionaire hedge fund CEO Kenneth C. Griffin ’89. The donation renames the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences as the Harvard Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023

‘HIS POLITICS ARE HIS POLITICS’ Harvard megadonors Pritzker and Griffin stand on opposing sides of the political spectrum.

Hailing from a family of Chicago political titans, Pritzker served in a Democratic cabinet as the United States Secretary of Commerce under Barack Obama. Her brother, Democratic Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker, also has a well-publicized feud with Griffin, a Republican who gave nearly $60 million to GOP candidates in the 2022 midterm elections.

Griffin has also given to Democratic candidates, including $500,000 to President Joe Biden’s inaugural committee.

Despite their political differences, Pritzker said in a phone interview earlier this month she was “grateful” for Griffin’s financial support of the University.

“He’s given us over $500 million. That’s a heck of a vote of confidence, which I think is great,” she said.

Pritzker praised Griffin’s fundraising efforts for Harvard’s financial aid program, highlighting the more than $600 million he’s raised in support of undergraduate education. Griffin himself donated $150 million to support financial aid at the College, prompting Harvard to rename its undergraduate financial aid office in his honor.

Pritzker, however, declined to comment on Griffin’s politics.

“He’s philanthropically very generous,” she said. “His politics are his politics.”

But concern among affiliates over Griffin’s political leanings extends beyond his contentious relationship with the Pritzkers.

Critics point to Griffin’s public support for DeSantis for president, noting that the controversial governor has passed anti-gay legislation and spoken out against gender-affirming healthcare for transgender people.

“Ken is a passionate supporter of individual rights and freedoms and ensuring that future generations have access to the American Dream,” Jaquelyn M. Scharnick ’06, a spokesperson for Griffin and a former Crimson News editor, wrote. “Ken has supported candidates from both parties whom he believes advances these important values and has both publicly and privately engaged with politicians from both parties who undermine them.”

Former Harvard President Neil L. Rudenstine, who led Harvard’s first University-wide capital campaign, highlighted the importance of maintaining a balance between the school’s reputation and its need for financial support.

“It’s a moral judgment,” Rudenstine said.

“You have to make that moral judgment, I think, in order to keep the University’s reputation and its integrity intact.”

“You have to be willing to turn down things — you really do,” he added.

Outgoing University President Lawrence S. Bacow — who did not assume the presidency until 2018 but served on the Harvard Corporation during the negotiation of the Griffin donation — defended the University’s acceptance of the gift in an April interview.

“One of the things which we do not do — nor should we do — is have political tests for who donates,” Bacow said. “The institution does not speak with one voice.”

In response to widespread criticisms that renaming GSAS in Griffin’s honor would create a hostile environment for LGBTQ+ affiliates, Bacow insisted on the differentiation between Griffin’s own political views and those of the candidates he financially supports.

“Ken himself is a libertarian,” Bacow said. “I suspect if you talk to him about this specific view, you might get a different response than what some politicians that he has supported might give.”

“We don’t hold individuals responsible for the actions of their countries,” he added. “We also should not hold individuals responsible for every action, every opinion of every candidate that they support.”

Faculty members, too, have said the political views of donors should not influence whether or not Harvard accepts money from them.

“I don’t think it makes sense to screen out donors based on their politics any more than it makes sense to screen out students or faculty members based on their politics,” said Flynn J. Cratty, a lecturer in the History Department.

Harry R. Lewis ’68, a former Harvard College Dean, pointed to the unrestricted nature of Griffin’s donation.

“He’s not giving to support a particular political agenda or political program,” he said in an April interview. “I don’t believe Harvard should be picking and choosing its donors that way.”

THE GRIFFIN GSAS On the day of the announcement, many noted the speed at which the flag that flies outside Lehman Hall, the GSAS student center, was replaced with one that bore Griffin’s name.

But as more details about the name change emerged, amusement was replaced with unease for some GSAS student leaders over what they viewed as highly stringent

requirements on the use of the school’s name. The renaming, as it turned out, applies to all formal and informal references to GSAS. According to outgoing GSAS Student Council president Zachary Lim, this means that names of all institutions that include “GSAS” — from offices and programs to student organizations — will also be required to include a reference to Griffin.

During a Thursday meeting with GSAS student leadership, GSAS administrators “told us that the contract is ironclad, and that they made it such that only two names were permissible: either the full name, which is ‘the Harvard Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences,’ or ‘Harvard Griffin GSAS,’” Lim said.

When GSAS student groups go through a renewal process in October, “all student groups are going to have to repropose a new name that it is in realignment with these standards, otherwise it will not be reapproved,” Lim said. “This includes the student council.”

Lim noted that Paulson’s name is generally omitted from colloquial references to SEAS and the names of student organizations, including the SEAS Graduate Council.

SEAS spokesperson Paul Karoff wrote in an email that he was “not aware of any specific mandate to that effect” for including Paulson’s name in the name of SEAS student organizations.

In contrast, Todd Datz, a spokesperson for HSPH, wrote that “Harvard Chan student organizations are required to have the ‘Harvard Chan’ or ‘Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’ in the name of the organization.”

Griffin’s donation agreement was standard for a gift involving naming rights, a Griffin spokesperson wrote.

Ashley Cavanagh, a Ph.D. candidate in Applied Physics and the president of the Harvard LGBTQ@GSAS Association, said the prospect of having to change the group’s name to include a mention of Griffin was “hurtful,” citing Griffin’s support of DeSantis, who has signed and proposed anti-LGBTQ+ legislation.

Griffin’s name “cannot be attached to an LGBTQ+ students group,” Cavanagh said.

“That is not okay with me. So if there’s not wiggle room, I’m hoping to be able to fight it.”

Scharnick, the Griffin spokesperson, declined to comment on criticism of student group name restrictions or specifics of the gift agreement. GSAS spokesperson Ann Hall did not comment for this article.

FAS spokesperson Anna G. Cowenhoven

GRIFFIN

BY THE NUMBERS 5 years, the amount of time between the end of former FAS Dean Michael D. Smith’s term in 2018 and the announcement of Griffin’s donation in 2023

$60M The approximate amount Griffin donated to Republicans in federal elections in the 2022 midterms,

$500K Griffin’s donation amount to President Joe Biden’s inaugural committee.

$150M Griffin’s 2014 donation amount, most of which went to support undergraduate financial aid. The Harvard College financial aid office was renamed after him

$300M Griffin’s 2023 donation amount to the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, which resulted in the renaming of Harvard’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023

Students noted the speed at which the flag that flies outside Lehman Hall, the GSAS student center, was replaced with one that bore Griffin’s name. FRANK S. ZHOU—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER declined to comment on the details of the negotiations.

Many GSAS affiliates have also called for Griffin’s funds, which came as an unrestricted gift to the FAS, to be spent in part to support graduate students or graduate education.

Lim said he hopes to see some of the gift go toward GSAS projects, such as a

long-awaited renovation of the student center, but said he and other students were “discouraged” about that coming to fruition.

Gay did not confirm whether any of Griffin’s gift would go toward GSAS. Instead, she said graduate education was an “enduring priority” of the FAS and that she could not give a “line item accounting” of the gift’s allocation during Friday’s interview.

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“Ken is proud to support the research and scholarship of this great institution in debating ideas on their merits in the pursuit of truth,” Scharnick wrote of the FAS. “There was a $300 million unrestricted gift, but it was unclear to us if we would ever see any of that money,” Lim said. “We spoke to our deans. Our deans said that our budget lines have not changed and there’s no pro-

jection that it will change.”

“It didn’t come with any victories for us,” Lim added. “It’s like, ‘Here, have a new name that came with a lot of money, but you’re not going to see any of it.’” rahem.hamid@thecrimson.com miles.herszenhorn@thecrimson.com elias.schisgall@thecrimson.com claire.yuan@thecrimson.com

The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023

As Bacow Departs, Political Tensions that Defined His Presidency Endure LEAVING OFFICE. Harvard President Lawrence S. Bacow will step down later this summer after serving just five years in the role.

Bacow’s brief tenure, however, was marked by steering the University through the heightened politicization of the Trump presidency and overcoming challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023

By MILES J. HERSZENHORN AND CLAIRE YUAN CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

­O

ne day after the Trump administration blindsided thousands of international students by barring them from remaining in the country during the Covid-19 pandemic, MIT President L. Rafael Reif was eating breakfast and drafting an op-ed to express his outrage.

Reif was interrupted by a call from Harvard President Lawrence S. Bacow. Though he was also furious about the barring, he suggested a different strategy: suing the government.

“I was thinking, ‘How do I express my anger?’” Reif recalled. “He was thinking, ‘How do I stop this?’”

Reif said the decision that morning in July 2020 to join Harvard in the lawsuit was a “no-brainer.”

The plan, he said, also reflected Bacow’s approach to leadership — a willingness to act decisively based on his convictions.

“He was ahead of me. He was already taking an action,” Reif said. “He knows very clearly what’s right and wrong — and this he felt was very wrong.”

Bacow’s was a historically brief presidency, tied for the shortest at Harvard since the Civil War. Yet during the five years he held office, he encountered a unique convergence of challenges — one that reflected a higher education landscape under attack.

Woven through all this was the pandemic, a crisis during which Bacow — a seasoned higher education leader — was forced to make consequential decisions without a blueprint.

With his time in Massachusetts Hall coming to a close, colleagues reflected on a man whose presidency was defined by defending Harvard — and the rest of higher education — from political and public health threats.

‘IMPERATIVE TO RESPOND’ Before Bacow became the University’s 29th president, he was charged with finding

them.

Bacow joined the Harvard Corporation — the University’s highest governing body — in 2011. One of the board’s responsibilities was finding the 29th president of Harvard after former President Drew G. Faust announced she would step down from the post in June 2018.

However, in December 2017, as the search neared its end, Bacow was asked whether he would step down from the committee to be considered for the post himself.

He agreed.

Bacow had a pedigree that many would call unsurprising for the role — a recipient of three Harvard degrees, Bacow had served as president of Tufts University from 2001 to 2011. During his time there, he led Tufts’ largest capital campaign and expanded initiatives related to financial aid and diversity.

After the presidential search committee selected Bacow as Harvard’s 29th president, he sat down with members of the Corporation to discuss his tenure. It was a time — in the midst of Donald Trump’s presidency — where universities faced increased attacks from lawmakers and other political figures in Washington.

Bacow told the Corporation members — all of whom served on his search committee — to expect two things from his presidency: It would last five to seven years and he would use the role to defend higher education from political and existential attacks.

“I thought we were facing serious challenges,” Bacow recalled of his mindset going into his presidency in an interview earlier this month. “For the first time in my lifetime, people were asking questions about the value of higher education and I thought that it was imperative to respond.”

At his presidential inauguration in October 2018, with dozens of university presidents in attendance, Bacow reiterated the vow he made to the Corporation.

“We must defend the essential role of higher education in the life of our nation and the broader world,” Bacow said in his speech from Tercentenary Theatre.

Just 10 days later, Bacow faced the first major test of his pledge to defend higher

education when Harvard went on trial in a case brought forth by the anti-affirmative action group Students for Fair Admissions.

The lawsuit argued that Harvard illegally discriminated against Asian American applicants in its use of race-conscious admissions practices.

A federal judge ruled nearly a year later in Harvard’s favor. Over the course of Bacow’s presidency, however, the case has been appealed up to the Supreme Court,

“For a long time, I saw him as a sort of Gerald Ford of Harvard presidents. A sort of bland, no drama Obama kind of guy,” Parker said. “But when you read his stuff about immigration and international students and the way he stood up for international students in some tough situations, I gotta give him some credit.”

Bacow, who traveled to Washington during his first month as president, said he met individually with more than 70 mem-

For the first time in my lifetime, people were asking questions about the value of higher education and I thought that it was imperative to respond.

Lawrence S. Bacow Harvard University President

which legal experts widely expect will overturn decades of precedent allowing colleges to consider race in admissions practices. A verdict in the case is expected to arrive at the tail end of Bacow’s presidency in June or in early July, days after he departs office.

With affirmative action on the brink, some of Bacow’s legacy still remains to be written. But higher education experts and several of Bacow’s current and former colleagues said in interviews that he will go down in history as a president who was not afraid to take a stand — from both Cambridge and Washington — not just for Harvard and its students but for higher education at large.

FROM CAMBRIDGE TO THE CAPITOL Bacow’s advocacy for international students and immigration reform helped put a stamp on his presidency, according to Thomas D. Parker ’64, an expert on higher education.

bers of Congress over the past five years — a figure he said would have been even higher if not for the pandemic.

“I’ve spent a lot of time in Congress,” Bacow said. “I’d like to think that my efforts in D.C. have also changed how people think about a number of these issues.”

Former U.S. Representative Ronald J. Kind ’85, a Democrat from Wisconsin, said he would often organize a bipartisan lunch for fellow lawmakers to meet with Bacow when he visited Capitol Hill.

During these trips, Bacow frequently advocated for “a lot of social issues,” according to Kind.

“It was immigration reform — the need for that. It was trying to maintain a welcome mat for foreign students to come and learn and hopefully stay, so we’re not sending them back only to compete against us in the future,” Kind said. “He brought a bigger world picture with him, too, not just solely on the education front.”

On other occasions, Bacow was also willing to go to bat for individual students.

BACOW BY THE YEARS

September 1, 2001

February 8, 2010

July 2011

December 2017

Lawrence S. Bacow becomes president of Tufts University, leaving his post as Chancellor of MIT.

Bacow announces in an email to students that he will step down from the Tufts presidency in June 2011.

Bacow is one of three new members to join the Harvard Corporation, the University’s highest governing body.

Bacow secretly steps off Harvard’s presidential search committee to be considered for the post.

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023

ASHLEY R. FERREIRA—CRIMSON DESIGNER

In the fall of 2019, then-freshman Ismail B. Ajjawi ’23, a Palestinian student who lived in Lebanon, was denied entry and deported

by United States border officials after arriving at Boston Logan International Airport.

When the news reached Harvard’s administrative offices, “it was quite a shock,” according to Vice Provost of International Affairs Mark C. Elliott.

“This was early in President Bacow’s tenure, and it was early in the days of the previous administration and when it became clear that people from certain parts of the world were not going to be so welcome anymore in the U.S.,” Elliott said.

Elliot said Bacow immediately began asking questions: “‘Who can we contact?

How do we reverse this?’”

“That instigated a flurry of mails and phone calls and texts,” Elliott said. “Strings were pulled, calls were made, and this decision was reversed.”

Ten days later, Ajjawi successfully arrived on campus in time for the beginning of classes.

‘HE ROSE TO THAT CHALLENGE’ To Neil L. Rudenstine, Harvard’s 26th president, managing the Covid-19 pandemic was the most difficult moment of Bacow’s presidency.

“The possibility of a good education for students was challenged by the pandemic in a way that very, very few things we can

imagine were challenged,” said Rudenstine, who taught a seminar during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“I think he rose to that challenge,” he said. “I don’t know anybody who did it better.”

In March 2020, as the Covid-19 outbreak continued to grow globally, all Harvard courses moved to remote instruction, and the University asked students not to return to campus after spring break.

Rudenstine noted the importance of viewing Bacow’s tenure in the context of the pandemic.

“There’s only so much you can do in five years, of course, so you have to take that into account. And if three years are consumed by the pandemic, that also makes it harder,”

Rudenstine said. “Within the constraints, and within five years, I think it’s been a really unusually fine presidency.”

As Covid-19 cases began to rise in the U.S., Reif also debated whether to move MIT to online instruction, a decision he “knew was gonna be controversial.” But just hours before Reif announced his decision, news came from up the river: Harvard would be sending its students home.

“It was very comforting to me to see,” Reif said of Harvard’s decision. “I was clapping my hands and applauding him for doing that because he made my decision so much easier to announce.”

Peter L. Malkin ’55, a prominent Harvard donor, called Bacow’s tenure a “pretty outstanding performance.”

February 11, 2018

July 1, 2018

October 5, 2018

October 15, 2018

Bacow is introduced by former Corporation Senior Fellow Bill Lee as the University’s 29th president.

Bacow formally begins his duties as Harvard president.

Bacow is inaugurated in a ceremony at Tercentenary Theatre as Harvard’s 29th president.

SFFA federal trial begins in Boston at the John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse.

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023 “He acted quickly, rallied the faculty and administration and provided as well for Harvard students as circumstances permitted,” Malkin wrote in an emailed statement.

While colleagues lauded his approach to the pandemic, some students raised concerns about more specific features of Harvard’s pandemic response. For instance, when the University announced in spring 2022 that students would no longer have to self-isolate, some criticized the policy for placing others living in proximity at risk.

Rudenstine, who headed Harvard’s first University-wide capital campaign in 1994 and raised more than $2 billion, also voiced confidence in Bacow’s ability to shepherd Harvard finances and said he “would have been” a successful fundraiser in a capital campaign given a longer presidential tenure.

“We didn’t get our campaign in the 90s going until my fourth year,” Rudenstine said of his own fundraising efforts. “So the real returns came in between years five and nine.”

“That’s an opportunity that I think President Bacow just, in a sense, did not have,” he added.

tive to defend higher education.

Now at the end of his tenure, Bacow said “higher education is certainly in the crosshairs.”

“We’re being criticized from both the right and the left, and I don’t think much of the criticism — or most of the criticism — is at all fair,” he said.

In recent months, some prominent Republican lawmakers — including potential 2024 Republican nominee and HLS graduate Ron DeSantis — have taken sharp aim at disciplines such as gender and sexuality studies that they contend is part of the left’s “woke” agenda.

Other politicians have lobbied successfully for the imposition of an endowment tax that would chip away at Harvard’s status as a nonprofit organization immune from taxation due to its broad benefits to society.

Harvard Corporation Senior Fellow Penny S. Pritzker ’81 affirmed that the

ability to successfully defend higher education was “front of mind” for the Corporation in selecting the University’s next president.

“It’s extremely important that the leader of Harvard be able to speak on behalf of higher education,” she said.

“They’re not the only voice, but we need a powerful and effective voice.”

Harvard Corporation member Kenneth I. Chenault also highlighted the importance of fostering a “high level of dialogue reflecting a wide range of perspectives.”

“What’s absolutely critical is the ability, in fact, to foster an environment for civil discourse, and that’s what Larry was able to do,” Chenault said. “I’m very confident that that’s what Claudine will be able to do.”

As Bacow prepares to hand off the reins of the University to Gay, many of his closest colleagues and confidants look

back on his tenure favorably.

However, a broader survey of University faculty paints a more ambivalent picture. In The Crimson’s 2023 annual survey of the FAS, more than 37 percent of the 386 respondents indicated that they neither agreed nor disagreed that Bacow represented their interests well.

Others somewhat and strongly disagreed with the statement — approximately 18 percent and 11 percent, respectively.

Harvard University Provost Alan M. Garber ’76 said he believes Bacow “consistently made the best decisions that people can make under the circumstances.”

“His legacy is that he enabled Harvard to advance in meeting important goals, despite the pandemic,” Garber said. “His legacy is really about Harvard’s future.” miles.herszenhorn@thecrimson.com claire.yuan@thecrimson.com

THE RIGHT TIME TO GO When Bacow’s fellow university presidents — including Reif — began announcing their intentions to step down, he decided to follow suit.

“I concluded that this was a good time because I thought we had a lot of talent within the University that is capable of leading an institution like this,” Bacow said. “If I stuck around for another year or two, some of those people might have gone elsewhere.”

Claudine Gay, outgoing dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and incoming 30th University president, is an example of such talent.

Poised to move from University Hall to Massachusetts Hall in just over one month, Gay will be faced with many of the same challenges that Bacow confronted half a decade ago, including the impera-

18

Harvard President Lawrence S. Bacow will depart office in late June after five years in the role. MARINA QU—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

March 10, 2020

July 8, 2020

June 8, 2022

July 1, 2023

Bacow announces that Harvard will shift to online instruction in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Harvard and MIT sue the Trump administration over its decision to rescind visas for international students taking online-only classes.

Bacow announces to affiliates that he will step down as Harvard’s president after the 2022-23 academic year ends.

Claudine Gay will take office in Mass.

Hall, succeeding Bacow as Harvard’s 30th president.

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023

What Happened to the Push for a Multicultural Center?

MAKING SPACE ON CAMPUS. In the years following the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, some believe students have stopped asking for a multicultural center — a physical space on campus to foster inclusion for diverse groups of students. But three years after the pandemic began, activists are beginning to revive — and refocus — their efforts.

TOBY R. MA—CRIMSON DESIGNER

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023

CULTURAL CENTERS AROUND THE IVIES BROWN Third World Center, founded in 1976, rebranded as The Brown Center for Students of Color in 2014

COLUMBIA Intercultural Resource Center, founded in 1988

PENN Greenfield Intercultural Center, founded in 1984 La Casa Latina, founded in 1999 Makuu: The Black Cultural Center, founded in 2000 Pan-Asian American Community House, founded in 2000

PRINCETON Third World Center, founded in 1971, rebranded as rebranded the center as the Carl A. Fields Center for Equality and Cultural Understanding

YALE Afro-American Cultural Center (known as “The House”), founded in 1969 La Casa Cultural de Julia de Burgos, the Latino Cultural Center, founded in 1977 Asian American Cultural Center Native American Cultural Center

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By MADELEINE A. HUNG AND JOYCE E. KIM CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

­F

or decades, activists at Ivy League schools have pushed for the establishment of multicultural centers — physical spaces on campus to foster inclusion for diverse groups of students.

Many of Harvard’s peer schools — including Princeton, Columbia, and Yale — ultimately established these spaces, either for individual groups or diverse identities as a whole.

Still, since the 1960s, Harvard administrators have rejected undergraduate proposals for a multicultural center. In the years following the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, some believe students have stopped asking for a multicultural center, even as activism supporting an ethnic studies department and race-conscious admissions has persisted.

Three years after the pandemic began, activists are beginning to revive efforts for cultural centers or a multicultural space, though many have different views on what these spaces would look like.

Though Harvard has a prayer space and a center for race relations housed in the basements of freshman dorms, affinity group leaders said these areas fall short of a multicultural space.

Tung T. Nguyen ’86 — a professor at the University of California, San Francisco, who has worked in diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-racism — said he first witnessed the push for a multicultural center while he was a student on campus.

“For us, a lot of us, we feel that it’s not just about a multicultural center,” Nguyen said.

“It’s about a mindset at Harvard that says it values diversity and brings in diverse people. But when the diverse people get there, Harvard does not welcome them.”

College spokesperson Jonathan Palumbo declined to comment on criticisms of institutional support for diverse students.

‘STIFLED PROGRESS’ In early 2018, it seemed like the movement for a multicultural center was picking up steam. Student government representatives voiced their support for the space and created a Multicultural Center Coalition. A year later, Dean of the College Rakesh Khurana said Harvard would continue research on a potential multicultural center.

But some students said the movement came to a halt during the pandemic, as students were forced to go home and reimagine their relationship with a physical cam-

pus while taking classes on Zoom.

Former Harvard South Asian Association Co-President Shruthi S. Kumar ’24 said she noted a decrease in advocacy efforts for a multicultural center since the onset of the pandemic.

“I don’t think there has been any progressive movement since the pandemic, or any large action taken since then,” Kumar said.

Harvard Dharma Co-President Navin S. Durbhakula ’25 said even pre-pandemic, his group faced difficulties in taking advocacy efforts beyond intergroup conversations because “nobody really knew where to go from here.”

“I think that that had always sort of presented a difficulty, and then obviously during Covid when there was no chance of building anything on campus — I think that definitely probably stifled progress a bit coming back,” he said.

plementing Halal options in Harvard dining halls.

“Advocacy for a multicultural center is something that does need to be restarted because it’s something that’s very, very desperately needed by the various affinity groups here, who often feel like they have no space, they have no home,” Ali said.

Tarina K. Ahuja ’24 — who formerly served as director of inclusion and belonging of the Undergraduate Council, Harvard’s recently dissolved student government — said despite stumbles due to the pandemic, she believes “energy and momentum is building up again to try to continue advocacy efforts.”

Abigail Romero ’23, chair of the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations Student Advisory Committee, said she spoke with senior members of the Foundation about reviving the push for a multicultural center.

For us, a lot of us, we feel that it’s not just about a multicultural center. It’s about a mindset at Harvard that says it values diversity and brings in diverse people.

Tung T. Nguyen ’86 Professor at the University of California, San Francisco

Shraddha Joshi ’24, a member of Harvard Ghungroo and the Palestine Solidarity Committee, said she believes the pandemic may have severed advocates’ connections to physical spaces when they were sent home.

“Having such different relationships with physical spaces post-pandemic might have affected the way people sort of conceptualize the value of a dedicated center,” Joshi said.

Some student leaders cited changing priorities in recent years as a reason behind the shift away from advocacy for a multicultural center.

Chelsea Wang ’25, co-president of the Harvard-Radcliffe Asian American Association, said pushing for a multicultural center has “been on the back burner” because the organization has been focused on fighting for affirmative action as Harvard faces a ruling on a lawsuit threatening its race-conscious admissions practices.

Former Harvard Islamic Society Co-President Reem K. Ali ’23 said her group’s advocacy efforts “turned to more immediate asks” post-Covid-19, such as im-

“We talked about perhaps revitalizing this conversation, or what it would look like to advocate for a multicultural center, given that the Harvard Foundation kind of serves a purpose of bringing together different organizations on campus already,” said Romero, a Crimson News editor.

‘CELEBRATE OUR UNIQUE CULTURAL DIFFERENCES’ Over the years, the conversation about what cultural spaces on Harvard’s campus should look like has evolved.

Mataya R. Philbrick ’24 said she believes student demands have “really shifted” from one large multicultural center to many smaller cultural centers. Philbrick is working with the Harvard Black Alumni Society and Harvard Black Community Leaders to push for a Black cultural center on campus.

The idea started last summer when Philbrick spoke with a friend at Yale, who was “shocked” to learn that Harvard does not have a multicultural space or cultural houses for diverse groups.

The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023 “When you create a space that is multicultural, oftentimes it can exclude based on other societal factors like economic or colorism,” Philbrick said. “Thinking about the Black community, I felt that a space that would be safe for us would be a space where we’re able to come together as a community.”

“I think that solidarity amongst people of color is incredibly important and valuable,” she added. “But I think that solidarity can occur more across us all having our own spaces and own time to celebrate our unique cultural differences rather than one space that kind of flattens us.”

Kashish Bastola ’26, the Education and Political Chair of AAA, also said he was concerned about one large multicultural center, citing the potential for minority groups to be excluded or overlooked.

Bastola said AAA sees forming cultural spaces for students with marginalized backgrounds to “come together and feel that their identities are being affirmed” as “a huge priority.”

“We really hope that the College will listen to students and to student organizations as we organize around these cultural centers that we have seen be successful on other campuses,” Bastola said.

Brian M. Magdaleno ’23, president of Mariachi Veritas, said while performing with his group he noticed several Boston-area schools had both multicultural centers and specialized cultural spaces.

“I think it would be beneficial to also have small-

er centers,” Magdaleno said. “Maybe having smaller cultural centers will allow more personalized support or resources to that specific group.”

spaces.

As conversations surrounding multicultural center advocacy continue, some groups said specific needs to be addressed

space, underscoring the importance of pushing for a multicultural center as a physical space.

Physical space limitations have “hin-

‘THE SAME ISSUES FACING ALL OF US’ But other student leaders and affiliates are pushing for one large multicultural space over individual centers.

Wang said because students “don’t have anything to begin with, it’s much easier to start with one center” than to ask for many.

“We can have both — I think we can have a multicultural center and within it have different spaces dedicated to different groups,” Wang said. “But I think there is value in having a space where everyone can come together and collaborate on projects that affect all of us because at the end of the day, while we have many very different experiences, often there are the same issues facing all of us.”

Professor of Indo-Muslim and Islamic Religion and Cultures Ali S.A. Asani ’77 said the administration has cited the lack of space on campus in rejecting requests for a multicultural center, a factor that may impede the establishment of several cultural

I think it would be beneficial to also have smaller centers. Maybe having smaller cultural centers will allow more personalized support or resources to that specific group.

Brian M. Magdaleno ’23 President of Mariachi Veritas

in the potential space.

Prayer spaces for some campus religious groups — including the Harvard Islamic Society and Harvard Dharma — are currently housed in the basement of Canaday Hall.

Durbhakula, co-president of Harvard Dharma, said the organization has pushed for a larger, above-ground prayer space that can accommodate more students and provide greater flexibility in holding events.

“It was really difficult for us logistically to have our prayer space in the basement,” he said.

Ahuja said the Harvard Sikh Student Association does not currently have a prayer

dered the growth” of the South Asian Association, Kumar said, adding that a space would allow the group to host speakers, board meetings, fashion shows, and other events.

Bastola said he would like to see a multicultural center with features including a kitchen, lounge spaces, conference rooms, and artwork to showcase different cultures.

“A lot of it boils down to it being kind of like a home, honestly,” he said. “I think these cultural centers can be microcosms of that for our campus community, but also places where we can invite people who are nonAsian to come and see what our culture is.”

‘I AM HOPEFUL’ In 2019, the College convened a Working Group on Symbols and Spaces of Engagement to “examine and evaluate how the va-

TOBY R. MA—CRIMSON DESIGNER

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023 riety of spaces and symbols impact the experiences of different students on campus,” according to its mission.

The working group, chaired by Asani, recommended “rethinking the Harvard Foundation” to become a space of “engaging students of all ethnicities and backgrounds.”

The Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations, founded in 1981, hosts cultural events and has a space in the lower level of the freshman dormitory Grays Hall that includes a kitchen, conference room, and serenity room for prayer or meditation.

“It’s been in existence for 40 years. When it was created, Harvard was a very different place,” Asani said. “You rebrand its mission, and it will then address some of the needs that the students who are calling for a multicultural center — they have certain needs that they want — then this can address those needs.”

Kyla N. Golding ’24, an intern at the Harvard Foundation, said the Foundation tries to be “an open and inclusive space” for cultural groups to find support and resources.

“Although we are not in name a multi-

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cultural center, in the absence of one, we’ve kind of operated as one,” said Golding, a Crimson Editorial editor.

Sadé Abraham, senior director of the Harvard Foundation, wrote in a statement that the center is engaged in conversations “deeply rooted in our lived experiences, which are essential to driving progress.”

We intentionally establish safe spaces for historically marginalized individuals.

Sadé Abraham Senior Director of the Harvard Foundation

“We intentionally establish safe spaces for historically marginalized individuals,” Abraham wrote. “The Harvard Foundation is committed to continuing our legacy, history, and practice of actualizing inclusive excellence and embodying our highest hopes and aspirations through our efforts.”

A multicultural center would be able to pro-

vide more “individual and personalized” resources for students than the Harvard Foundation currently can, Golding said.

She added that she is uncertain about the future of the multicultural center, given Harvard’s upcoming presidential transition, which will see Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Claudine Gay assume Harvard’s top post.

“Because she’s Black and a woman, people are going to expect her to do more or care more. I definitely think that she still has a lot of pressure from above her and below her, and so I don’t know how much this is going to change in the next couple years,” Golding added. “But I am hopeful.”

AAA Co-President Kylan M. Tatum ’25 said he would like to see more collaboration across student organizations in pushing for a multicultural space.

He cited plans to leverage alumni networks and form a student-based coalition that can “move a little quicker than organizations that have to go through more for-

mal bureaucratic processes.”

Tatum said the push for a multicultural center is connected to advocacy around affirmative action. Legal scholars say the Supreme Court’s conservative majority is likely to strike down race-conscious admissions this summer in the lawsuit brought against Harvard by the anti-affirmative action group Students for Fair Admissions.

“Given a potential ruling in favor of SFFA and the possibility of a decreased number of minority students on campus, I think both having a multicultural center and pushing for an ethnic studies department, among other solutions, could help to attract and retain more students of color at Harvard,” Tatum said.

“Especially following this June when the decision drops, a lot of our efforts will be focused towards trying to advocate for a multicultural center,” he added. madeleine.hung@thecrimson.com joyce.kim@thecrimson.com

TOBY R. MA—CRIMSON DESIGNER

The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023

When Harvard Clubs Become Companies OPULENT ORGS. While most clubs advertise opportunities to find social connection or gain pre-professional experience, a smallbut-growing number of student organizations boast perks and resources more akin to those of small corporations — including themed apparel, glamorous formal events, all-expenses-paid travel, financial aid, and six-figure budgets.

SOPHIA SALAMANCA—CRIMSON DESIGNER

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023

By J. SELLERS HILL AND ELLA L. JONES CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

­D

ays after freshmen arrive on campus in the fall, they are greeted by a bustling club fair in Harvard Yard staffed by hundreds of student groups, wooing prospective members with free food, merchandise, and energetic pitches.

While most clubs advertise opportunities to find social connection or gain pre-professional experience, a small-butgrowing number of student organizations boast perks and resources more akin to those of small corporations — including themed apparel, glamorous formal events, all-expenses-paid travel, financial aid, and six-figure budgets.

For decades, Harvard has taken pride in its hands-off approach to monitoring the finances of student clubs, even while some groups have faced high-profile allegations of mismanaging thousands of dollars of club money.

In March, a monthslong Crimson investigation found that the former president of the Harvard Undergraduate Foreign Policy Initiative transferred roughly $30,000 from

the student organization’s bank account to her own. The dispute was later brought to the Harvard College Administrative Board.

Recent months have seen the Dean of Students Office — a College administrative body that oversees undergraduate life — move to learn more about the entities that govern so much of students’ time at Harvard.

In April, Associate Dean for Student Engagement Jason R. Meier said in an interview that the DSO would be conducting an audit of the College’s independent organizations with Harvard’s risk management office. The audit aims to gain a more “inward view” of the student organization ecosystem.

The Crimson reported later that month that the DSO was weighing a proposal to temporarily freeze the creation of new clubs, citing a shortage of resources to support existing ones.

Still, administrators have doubled down on their commitment to preserving the autonomy of clubs to spend their budgets and operate as they see fit.

“Student organizations are independent, and the Dean of Students Office does not provide oversight of the content of the

work of the organizations,” College spokesperson Jonathan Palumbo wrote in an emailed statement.

As these clubs grow, often by embracing the Harvard name, the line between student organization and corporation has blurred.

Interviews with more than a dozen club leaders and members painted a picture of the ways that some of Harvard’s most recognizable clubs have evolved to resemble something else: full-fledged companies.

THE MONEY Among campus organizations with large bottom lines, many generate income by hosting paid conferences, often for academically involved high school students.

The oldest of these organizations, the Harvard Debate Council, hosts a variety of programs including a signature debate tournament and other workshops. In the 2020 tax year, the Council brought in more than $1.8 million in revenue and declared more than $500,000 in net assets.

Officially incorporated in 1974, Harvard’s International Relations Council is another campus leviathan, featuring six constituent programs across a 700-strong

membership, according to its website.

Among the IRC’s endeavors are a series of international and domestic high school Model United Nations Conferences, which host more than 5,500 high school students annually, according to the IRC’s website.

In 2020, the IRC — a nonprofit — reported more than $700,000 in revenue and $1.2 million in net assets on their tax forms.

The Harvard Crimson also hosts an annual two-day program for high school students, the Harvard Crimson Journalism Summit, which can cost as much as $300 per student to attend.

Though many clubs, like the HDC, IRC, and The Crimson, rely on long-established reputations in order to maintain clientele and revenue streams, more recently formed student-run conferences have proven able to catapult themselves to financial success on surprising timelines.

One such organization is the Harvard Association for U.S.-China Relations, whose programming includes competitions and annual summits for Chinese students. Just seven years after it held its first conference in 2006, the club reported more than $400,000 in yearly revenue, though this number dipped to $140,000 in 2019,

Revenue and Net Assets of Harvard Organizations, FY 2020

RAHEM D. HAMID—CRIMSON DESIGNER

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023 their last reported year.

According to Athena P. Bowe ’15, a former seminar leader and director of internal development at HAUSCR, the Harvard name is an undeniable factor in the success of these conferences, especially when students are eager to improve their chances of admission.

“To ignore the legitimacy the Harvard name lends to any of the student organizations would be disingenuous,” she wrote in a statement. “Some students I’m sure hoped [the Harvard Summit for Young Leaders in China] would improve their chances.”

Most recently, HUFPI demonstrated that robust streams of cash could be established on the order of months, not years. In summer 2021, the young club held a lucrative conference for high schoolers interested in international relations — just over one year after the group had formed.

The conference brought in foreign policy titans including former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger ’50, Blackstone CEO Stephen A. Schwarzman, and former U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta — and more than $180,000 in revenue.

Alongside the wealthy organizations that generate income from hosting conferences and competitions, some of Harvard’s student groups grow their budgets by consulting for external organizations, benefiting from perennial interest among Harvard undergraduates in consulting careers.

Founded in 2000, the Harvard College Consulting Group is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that has worked with high-profile clients including Disney, Pepsi, and Microsoft, according to its website. In 2020, the group reported more than $440,000 in revenue — down from $880,000 the year before — as well as more than a million dollars in assets.

While another such club, Harvard Undergraduate Consulting on Business and the Environment, was founded in 2008, it only began explicitly charging clients case fees in 2018. Since then, HUCBE has worked with big-ticket clients including Google, Amazon, and Pfizer, according to its website.

Often bound by confidentiality agreements, students involved in these groups undergo a rigorous and selective recruitment process and can spend up to dozens of hours per week on leading the club or working on cases for prominent clients.

“It definitely borderlines on being a little bit absurd,” HUCBE President Alexander H. Dang ’24 said of the time board members are asked to commit to the organization.

Like Bowe, Dang also recognized the impact of the Harvard name, though he maintained that it was simply a way to “get your

foot in the door.”

“It still doesn’t change the fact that, even if we were not Harvard, we would have to do good work to get them to come back,” Dang said. “It definitely helps.”

Other student organizations, including The Harvard Crimson and the Harvard Lampoon — a semi-secret Sorrento Square social organization that used to occasional-

travel for its members, collegiate competitions require regular travel across the United States — all fully funded by the organization for participants.

Many clubs also subsidize branded merchandise and group bonding activities, including dinners out, retreats, and other socials.

HCCG has previously hosted opulent so-

CLUB FINANCIALS HARVARD COLLEGE CONSULTING GROUP Founded 2000 Revenue $437,142

To ignore the legitimacy the Harvard name lends to any of the student organizations would be disingenuous.

Athena P. Bowe ’15 Former Director of Internal Development at HAUSCR

ly publish a so-called humor magazine — generate revenue by producing a publication. Though they do generate income from their content, including the sale of ads, both The Crimson and the Lampoon appear to largely break even in their publishing endeavors.

According to public tax records, in 2019, the Lampoon’s publishing entity brought in approximately $224,000, with a net yearly loss of $174,000. In that same year, The Crimson generated approximately $500,000 of revenue for a net income of just over $75,000.

COSTS AND COMPENSATION With millions of dollars spread across clubs, Harvard’s wealthiest organizations are uniquely equipped to offer a variety of extravagant benefits to their members.

Members of HUFPI have traveled with the club to Dubai, France, and South Korea for a variety of foreign policy initiatives and engagements, but trips with these organizations are not always explicitly linked to club functions.

A member of HAUSCR said they were given the opportunity to attend trips unrelated to conferences, contingent on their grading of papers that students had submitted to the club’s various competitions.

According to the member, the group previously took a spring break trip to New Orleans and is planning a trip to Thailand this summer.

Harvard Model United Nations members also have the opportunity to travel for the group’s conferences in China and India.

While HDC can’t boast international

cials for its members at the Boston Institute of Contemporary Art, the Searles Castle, and an island in Boston Harbor. The club also subsidizes restaurant meals, outings, and concert tickets for their membership.

In HCCG’s 2020 public tax filings, the club disclosed almost $150,000 in spending on “student networking” alone.

Merchandise — for example, free North Face jackets offered to HUCBE members this year — is also a popular way to reward members for their time while cultivating a unified club image.

“I totally understand how the gift can be construed in a certain way,” Dang said of the decision to provide premium apparel.

“At the time, in my judgment, just giving members a lump sum of cash wasn’t really accomplishing anything.”

Some clubs with particularly robust cash flows have opted to provide financial assistance to certain students in the form of cash payments, programs that are designed to allow financially constrained club members to dedicate time that would otherwise have to be spent at a job.

The Crimson’s financial aid program provides as much as $1,500 per semester to qualifying students, sometimes through the Federal Work Study Program.

HCCG describes a similar “scholarship” program on their website to compensate qualifying students, as does HUCBE. In 2019, HCCG provided $31,500 to 33 individuals, according to public tax filings.

Though these programs enable certain students to access otherwise inaccessible opportunities, some students say they can create an incentive to choose and stick with certain clubs out of financial necessity rath-

Net Assets $1,009,445 Where the money comes from Consulting

HARVARD ASSOCIATION FOR U.S.-CHINA RELATIONS Founded 2006 Revenue $142,762 Net Assets $107,572 Where the money comes from Conferences

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS COUNCIL Founded 1974 Revenue $736,928 Net Assets $1,267,045 Where the money comes from Conferences Note: Data from fiscal year 2020 Form 990 filings.

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023 er than genuine passion.

“Low-income students, if their options are work or a student organization that pays, they probably are going to choose the student organization that pays. I don’t think there are a ton of choices,” said Joseph W. Hernandez ’25, a Crimson Editorial editor, on the club’s financial aid program.

“I do think that pushes more students towards those specific organizations, even if there are some issues within those organizations,” he added.

Some clubs also have employees, including HDC. The DSO appointed Arthur Joseph “Tripp” Rebrovick III ’09 as the club’s coach, yet his salary remains a product of Harvard Debate Incorporated’s revenue.

Rebrovick earned a salary of $50,000 in fiscal year 2020, per tax filings from the organization.

Harvard Student Agencies — a student-run nonprofit which operates 13 busi-

ness lines across campus, including tours, merchandise shops, laundry and dorm services, and tutoring — has nine permanent staff members who help operate the business.

HSA raked in roughly $3.3 million in tax year 2019, with cash and investment assets totaling more than $2 million in value.

CHARITABLE GIVING — AND RECEIVING Some of Harvard’s organizations also apply their excess funds to philanthropic ends.

In the past year, HUCBE launched a program to allocate $30,000 scholarships to 10 underprivileged students in the Boston area.

Recently, the organization also donated $17,000 to both the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and the Jimmy Fund at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in

honor of its late president, Arda Cataltepe ’23, who died in November.

In addition, the organization donated $40,000 across nonprofits in Turkey and Syria to assist in providing relief following devastating earthquakes that killed and displaced thousands earlier this year.

HCCG also declared more than $7,000 in charitable donations in 2019, its most recent public filing.

HDC’s “Diversity Project” recruits and trains Black students in Atlanta to participate in a Harvard summer debate program.

According to 2020 tax filings, HDC provided almost $130,000 in scholarships to 40 students for the program.

Beyond donating to other nonprofits or relief causes, some of Harvard’s clubs also receive donations and find financial support in robust alumni giving networks.

In 2020, public tax records show that both the Lampoon and The Crimson’s trusts

for donations each held approximately $7.5 million.

‘A FINE LINE’ Like companies, several of Harvard’s wealthy student organizations hire accountants and perform yearly independent audits — a requirement for nonprofits that generate more than $200,000 annually.

Still, off-mission spending — or even theft — of funds has affected Harvard student organizations throughout their existence.

In 1975, The Crimson reported that an external audit had identified “improper management” by Harvard Model United Nations, when members of the club spent thousands of dollars on extravagant meals, hotels, and liquor.

The Crimson reported in 1994 that two student executives had stolen thousands of

The Student Organization Center at Hilles is a Harvard College Dean of Students Office building located at 59 Shepard St. JULIAN J. GIORDANO—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

26 PAGE DESIGNED BY TOBY R. MA—CRIMSON DESIGNER

The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023 dollars from the yearbook, less than a year after a former business manager of the Harvard Krokodiloes improperly spent $3,000 of club money on personal items, such as clothing from The Gap. Eight years later, two Harvard undergraduates pleaded guilty to embezzling almost $100,000 from the Hasty Pudding Theatri-

materials, requiring that clubs formed after 1998 include the words “college” and “student” or “undergraduate” in their branding.

Still, some campus organizations continue to operate under their original names, sidestepping regulations. On Instagram, HCCG posts under the username “@harvardconsulting.”

Low-income students, if their options are work or a student organization that pays, they probably are going to choose the student organization that pays.

Joseph W. Hernandez ’25 Student on The Crimson’s Financial Aid Program

cals, a collegiate theater company.

And last year, a Harvard Risk Management and Audit Services audit of Harvard’s now-defunct student government structure, the Undergraduate Council, reported a “risk of errors, overspending, and misuse of funds” and a “risk that funds are awarded for inappropriate purposes.”

The audit, which was obtained by The Crimson, did not identify specific instances of mismanagement.

Time and time again, College administrators have reaffirmed their commitment to student organizations’ independence, even when its guidelines and best practices are disregarded.

Some DSO regulations have even been eased, such as a previous requirement that student organizations submit yearly financial reports.

Even as Harvard refrains from monitoring and influencing the finances of its student organizations, it seems administrators remain aware that clubs’ actions can reflect back on the University’s reputation.

A DSO resource guide for student organizations implies that debt can be taken on by clubs, but it may present a reputational risk to Harvard.

“Faculty, staff, graduate advisors, or trustees have no legal responsibility for undergraduate organization debts,” the resource guide reads. “However, debts incurred by undergraduates should always be a matter of concern to advisors or trustees, since debts reflect on the good name of the organization and ultimately of Harvard College.”

In February, the school renewed efforts to enforce restrictions on clubs’ use of Harvard trademarks in their names and promotional

HCCG did not respond to a request for comment.

While HUCBE Director of Finance Justin Xu ’25 said he feels the naming policy is “arbitrary,” he said it might be more productive to offer “more guidance” to students on legal structures and potential governance required for their organizations.

In an emailed statement, Palumbo — the College spokesperson — stressed that restrictions of club branding are imposed by the University’s Trademark Office.

“The DSO is a partner of the Harvard University Trademark Office, where the policy sits, and the DSO works with student organizations to come into compliance with University policy,” he wrote.

Outside of immediate oversight, Dang said access to further financial resources or advisers could benefit student organizations.

“I appreciate that they don’t directly oversee and police what you can and can’t do, but I think it’d be great if there was someone who had the skills of our personal auditor or accountant, but maybe he or she was just a general resource for Harvard orgs,” Dang said. “I think it would be great.”

But without this information being readily accessible, Dang said he fears students risk making consequential financial mistakes despite a lack of “malicious intent.”

“I appreciate the process that they’re doing — gathering more information while still trying to stick to the core belief of letting students in organizations run themselves,” Dang said of the DSO. “It could be a fine line,” he added.

CLUB FINANCIALS THE CRIMSON PUBLICATION

THE CRIMSON TRUST

Founded 1873

Founded 1873

Revenue $508,014

Revenue $316,389

Net Assets $1,448,076

Net Assets $7,198,272

Where the money comes from Publishing

Where the money comes from Donations

THE LAMPOON PUBLICATION

THE LAMPOON TRUST

Founded 1876

Founded 1876

Revenue $224,155

Revenue $742,991

Net Assets $7,018

Net Assets $6,424,049

Where the money comes from Publishing

Where the money comes from Donations

HARVARD STUDENT AGENCIES

HARVARD DEBATE COUNCIL

Founded 1957

Founded 1892

Revenue $2,769,786

Revenue $1,864,930

Net Assets $7,374,317

Net Assets $518,262

Where the money comes from Tours, tutoring, merch, laundry services, and more

Where the money comes from Competitions, workshops

Note: Data from fiscal year 2020 Form 990 filings. sellers.hill@thecrimson.com ella.jones@thecrimson.com PAGE DESIGNED BY TOBY R. MA—CRIMSON DESIGNER

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023

Why Harvard’s Tenured Professors Are Almost Never Fired THE NUCLEAR OPTION. In recent years, several tenured Harvard professors have been accused of misconduct. Every one of them either chose to retire or remained a member of the faculty. Here’s how the institution of tenure has protected their employment over the years and how it continues to do so.

SAMI E. TURNER—CRIMSON DESIGNER

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023

EMBATTLED BUT NEVER FIRED

MARTIN L. KILSON JR. Kilson, a Government professor, was reprimanded by then-FAS dean Henry A. Rosovsky in 1979 after he was accused of sexual harassment by an undergraduate.

He remained a member of the faculty until his retirement in 1999.

JORGE I. DOMÍNGUEZ Domínguez, a Government professor, was reprimanded by Rosovsky after being accused of sexual harassment by a graduate student and a faculty member in 1983. He was put on leave and then retired in 2018 after the Chronicle of Higher Education publicized years of reports of sexual misconduct complaints.

His emeritus status was stripped the following year.

DOUGLAS A. HIBBS JR. Hibbs, a Government professor, was forced to resign in 1985 after being accused by a female student of sexual harassment.

SHERVERT H. FRAZIER Frazier, who headed the Harvard Medical School’s Department of Psychiatry, resigned in 1988 after admitting to plagiarism. He was rehired by HMS the next year.

ANDREI SHLEIFER ’82 Shleifer, an Economics professor, was accused of defrauding the U.S. government. After an internal investigation in 2006, he was temporarily stripped of his endowed professorship title, but remained on the faculty.

MARC D. HAUSER Hauser, a professor of Psychology, was found responsible for academic misconduct in 2010. He resigned in 2011 after the Faculty of Arts and Sciences voted to prohibit him from teaching classes for a year.

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By ELIAS J. SCHISGALL AND NEIL H. SHAH CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

­I

n a video that racked up millions of views, a student rose from her seat in an overcrowded classroom to directly address John L. Comaroff, the Harvard professor accused of sexual misconduct.

“John Comaroff spent his career harassing, silencing, and retaliating against students,” the student said. “He does not belong at Harvard.”

On that January afternoon, she and more than 100 other students then stood up and walked out of the classroom and through Harvard Yard, chanting, “Hey, hey!

Ho, ho! Comaroff has got to go!”

At the end of the march, organizers encouraged attendees to complete a form to send a pre-written email to Harvard’s top administrators demanding that the University fire the African and African American Studies and Anthropology professor.

In the days following, more than 240 Harvard affiliates filled out the form.

Comaroff — who has repeatedly and consistently denied all allegations of harassment and retaliation made against him — is not the only tenured Harvard professor to face accusations of misconduct in recent years.

In nearly every case, Harvard has also weathered fierce public scrutiny for what many saw as its unwavering protection of its faculty despite misconduct findings.

Every tenured Harvard professor embroiled in a recent controversy either chose to retire or remained a member of the faculty.

The revocation of Comaroff’s tenure was never on the table, according to his attorney Ruth K. O’Meara-Costello ’02.

A 2020 investigation published by The Crimson uncovered allegations of sexual harassment by Comaroff and two other Anthropology professors: Theodore C. Bestor and Gary Urton.

Bestor stepped down from his position as director of the Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies following the investigation and continued teaching until he died in 2021.

Urton was placed on administrative leave in June 2020 and announced his retirement the next month.

Following his retirement, Claudine Gay — Faculty of Arts and Sciences dean and president-elect — stripped Urton of his emeritus status and barred him from campus.

In 2018, the Chronicle of Higher Education reported that 18 women accused Jorge

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I. Domínguez — then a Government professor — of incidents of sexual harassment and assault spanning nearly four decades.

That same year, The Crimson reported that Economics professor Roland G. Fryer Jr. was the subject of two Title IX complaints and under investigation by both Harvard and the state of Massachusetts.

Though his case was of a different tenor, then-professor Charles M. Lieber made national headlines when he was arrested

forcibly stripped a tenured faculty member’s position since the 1940s, when the American Association of University Professors formalized rules around tenure.

In 1979, then-freshman Helene S. York ’83 accused Government professor Martin L. Kilson Jr. of attempting to kiss her, in what The Crimson later wrote was the first reported case of sexual harassment by a student against a tenured professor.

In the aftermath, Henry A. Rosovsky,

Professors resigned their tenure and left so there really wasn’t much for the Corporation to talk about.

Derek C. Bok Former President of Harvard University

— and later convicted — of lying to federal authorities about his ties to China, a felony offense.

Domínguez retired shortly after the allegations against him were made public.

Lieber, who had been placed on administrative leave, quietly retired in February in advance of his sentencing. And both Fryer and Comaroff — who were placed on unpaid leave — have since returned to teaching.

Fryer and two of Lieber’s attorneys reached by phone all declined to comment on whether tenure revocation was ever considered in their cases.

Domínguez did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

If history is any indication, none of them were in any danger of being fired.

A TOOL NEVER USED Technically, it is possible for a tenured professor to be fired.

According to the website of the Office of the Provost, the Harvard Corporation — the University’s highest governing body — has the power to dismiss any officer in a teaching position, even a tenured professor, “only for grave misconduct or neglect of duty.”

Neither “grave misconduct” nor “neglect of duty” are defined in the publicly available policy, a 289-word excerpt from the University’s charter detailing the “appointment of officers and staff of the University.”

In practice, however, this power has rarely — if ever — been exercised.

The Crimson could not identify any instances where the Harvard Corporation

then the dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, reprimanded Kilson. Rosovsky told Kilson that a repeated offense could be grounds for placing the case in front of the Corporation, Kilson told The Crimson at the time.

But, there was no second public allegation against Kilson and no available record of Rosovsky ever recommending that the Corporation revoke Kilson’s tenure. Kilson remained a professor until his 1999 retirement and died in 2019. Rosovsky died late last year.

A few years after Kilson’s case, Harvard took disciplinary action against another tenured professor, Domínguez, prompted by harassment allegations first made by former assistant Government professor Terry L. Karl and then by a Government Ph.D. candidate. Domínguez was stripped of his post as chairman of a minor academic committee but remained on the faculty.

In Domínguez’s case, as in Kilson’s, Rosovsky again wrote a letter indicating his intent to recommend that the Corporation fire Domínguez if there was a repeated offense. But when an undergraduate filed a complaint against Domínguez for sexual harassment six years later, the new FAS dean — A. Michael Spence — did not ask the Corporation to strip Domínguez’s tenure.

The latter allegation — and over a dozen more — did not come to light until the Chronicle of Higher Education published an investigation into Domínguez in early 2018. During the intervening years, he had been promoted to head a major academic center and later to Vice Provost for Interna-

The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023 ration needed to get involved, even if they wanted to, because the facts were fairly clear,” he said.”Professors resigned their tenure and left so there really wasn’t much for the Corporation to talk about.”

‘INVINCIBLE’

A flyer outside of Comaroff’s classroom in Northwest Building B108 advertises a walkout from his class due to sexual harassment allegations. ADDISON Y. LU—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

tional Affairs.

He was placed on administrative leave and then announced his retirement in March 2018, shortly after the Chronicle published their investigation.

Following the conclusion of a Title IX investigation into Domínguez in May 2019, Gay stripped Domínguez of emeritus status.

Another instance of the administration disciplining a tenured faculty member came in 1985, when Government professor Douglas A. Hibbs Jr. was “forced” into resigning after being accused of sexual harassment by a student at MIT, according to The Crimson.

While the Corporation did not revoke his tenure, Hibbs may have been the first tenured faculty member to leave the school as a result of misconduct.

Hibbs declined to comment, citing an agreement with the University not to do so. Spence did not respond to a request for comment.

University spokesperson Jason A. Newton and FAS spokesperson Rachael Dane declined to comment.

BY DESIGN In a sense, tenure — an institution partially developed at Harvard — is working exactly as intended.

In his book “University Administration,” former Harvard President Charles W. Eliot, Class of 1853, described one way of recruiting quality faculty: the school can “invite to full professorships men of proved capacity,

industry, and intellectual productiveness.”

“To such men the university commits itself for life,” Eliot wrote.

According to Roger L. Geiger, a historian of higher education and professor emeritus at Pennsylvania State University, Harvard “led the way” in the establishment of tenure guidelines.

“There was kind of an unwritten rule that tenure was granted after a certain period of time and could not be revoked,” Geiger said.

Eliot’s book makes no mention of grounds to dismiss tenured professors.

When the American Association of University Professors codified the modern system of tenure in 1940, it called for faculty members to have “permanent or continuous tenure” and to be “terminated only for adequate cause” or extenuating circumstances.

According to Geiger, the “chief argument” for lifetime tenure was safeguarding academic freedom, an argument that proved particularly salient during the McCarthy era, where professors came under fire for suspected communist sympathies.

But in practice, the system has meant that a professor’s tenure is essentially impenetrable.

According to former Harvard President Derek C. Bok, “the only thing close to that” that he remembers is a “couple of cases involving misconduct of a fairly serious nature” in which the professor in question resigned before the Corporation could ever consider a vote to revoke tenure.

“Cases didn’t come up where the Corpo-

Student activists leading protests against Comaroff — the embattled anthropologist — understand that it is unlikely the University fires Comaroff, at least while there is an ongoing lawsuit against the school.

According to Rachael A. Dziaba ’26 — one of the organizers of the anti-rape culture student activist group Our Harvard Can Do Better — the group has switched from calling for the University to fire Comaroff to demanding that he resign.

“At the end of the day, as an organization, we just want Comaroff off campus and to stop teaching, and I think that at a certain point, we realized or at least felt that Comaroff taking the step to resign would be a more realistic scenario,” she said.

In response to a request for comment, Comaroff’s lawyers said in an email that activist efforts against Comaroff “ignore any semblance of fairness or due process.”

“The suggestion that Professor Comaroff resign or be terminated is preposterous and would be inconsistent with Harvard’s own very thorough investigation whose findings largely exonerated Professor Comaroff. It would be outrageous—and a violation of contract—for Harvard to terminate any tenured or tenure track faculty member in these circumstances,” they wrote.

Dziaba said that it was unrealistic the University would fire Comaroff, citing the history of tenure at Harvard.

“Unfortunately, in a lot of cases, I feel like with allegations like this or instances where professors have come under public scrutiny, often they only leave of their own volition and Harvard administration has been hesitant to take action against tenured faculty,” Dziaba said.

Austin Siebold ’23, another Our Harvard Can Do Better organizer, said terminating Comaroff is off the table due to potential legal ramifications for Harvard.

“We know that Harvard cannot fire Comaroff without signaling fault in the lawsuit against Harvard,” Siebold said. “Harvard’s hands are tied, and I think it really goes to show just how much control Comaroff and others like him have at this university because Harvard can’t fire Comaroff.”

“It seems like tenured faculty are invincible,” Siebold added.

ROLAND G. FRYER JR. Fryer, an Economics professor, was found to have violated Harvard’s sexual harassment policies in 2019 and placed on a two-year leave. He returned to teaching in 2021 and remains on the faculty.

THEODORE C. BESTOR The Crimson reported in 2020 that Bestor, an Anthropology professor, was found to have committed sexual misconduct in 2018, but was permitted to return to work after partially completing FAS sanctions. Bestor continued teaching until his death in 2021.

GARY URTON After The Crimson reported in 2020 that one student had accused Urton, an Anthropology professor of pressuring her into sex, two more students came forward with allegations of sexual misconduct. Urton retired that June after being placed on leave, and later had his emeritus status stripped.

JOHN L. COMAROFF In 2020, The Crimson reported that Comaroff, a professor of African and African American Studies and Anthropology, was the subject of complaints filed by at least three female graduate students alleging sexual harassment and professional retaliation. He was placed on one semester of unpaid leave in 2022, but returned to teaching that fall and remains on the faculty.

CHARLES M. LIEBER Lieber, a Harvard chemistry professor was arrested in 2020 and convicted in 2021 for lying to government authorities for lying about his ties to China. He was placed on leave following his arrest and quietly retired in February, shortly before his sentencing.

elias.schisgall@thecrimson.com neil.shah@thecrimson.com PAGE DESIGNED BY SAMI E. TURNER—CRIMSON DESIGNER

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023

By MILES J. HERSZENHORN AND NIA L. ORAKWUE CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

­F

Rejecting Rankings: Harvard, Yale Boycott U.S. News MEANING BEHIND THE METRICS. After Yale Law School and Harvard Law School and then Harvard Medical School announced they would stop participating in the magazine’s rankings, dozens of other schools followed suit.

SOPHIA SALAMANCA—CRIMSON DESIGNER

32 PAGE DESIGNED BY TOBY R. MA—CRIMSON DESIGNER

or more than 25 years, higher education officials criticized U.S. News and World Report privately and publicly for its annual rankings of universities and graduate schools but continued to cooperate with the highly popular scoresheet.

That all changed last fall.

Yale Law School, consistently ranked first in the country by U.S. News, announced last November it would stop cooperating with the rankings, claiming its methodology “not only fails to advance the legal profession, but stands squarely in the way of progress.”

Hours later, Harvard Law School also announced it would stop participating in the rankings. Dozens of other law schools quickly followed suit.

In January, Harvard Medical School led another exodus — this time of medical schools — from the rankings after announcing it would also boycott the U.S. News rankings.

While the boycott represents the most serious challenge to U.S. News since it began ranking colleges and universities 40 years ago, the magazine has pledged to continue its annual rankings practice by relying on publicly available data it can use with or without the participation of schools.

It released its 2024 list of top law schools and medical schools earlier this month, affirming its commitment to produce a set of rankings even without the cooperation of many top-ranked schools themselves.

Eric J. Gertler, chief executive officer of U.S. News, said in an interview that the magazine remains undeterred in its efforts to inform students through the application process, calling the movement against U.S. News rankings is ultimately a boycott “against accountability.”

“It was a decision against more data for students,” he said. “It was a decision against students.”

‘PROFOUNDLY FLAWED’ Grievances with the rankings date back to at least 1998, when a group of law school deans publicly took issue with the questionnaire circulated to schools that year and the formula used by U.S. News to compile its rankings.

Law school officials criticized the magazine’s rankings formula — which heavily weighted standardized test scores — as an obstacle to admitting a diverse student body and training graduates for public in-

The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023

Law School Withdrawals

November 16, 2022 Yale University Harvard University

November 17, 2022 University of California, Berkeley

November 18, 2022 Stanford University Columbia University Georgetown University

November 20, 2022 University of Michigan

November 21, 2022 Duke University Northwestern University

November 22, 2022 University of California, Los Angeles

November 23, 2022

terest law careers.

Despite the criticism persisting for decades, deans cooperated with U.S. News year after year, proving the rankings to be irresistible to even its most outspoken detractors — until Yale and Harvard suddenly decided late last year they had seen enough.

Yale Law School Dean Heather K. Gerken announced in a Nov. 16 press release that the school would stop submitting data to U.S. News because the rankings are “counterproductive to the mission of this profession.”

“The U.S. News rankings are profoundly flawed — they disincentivize programs that support public interest careers, champion need-based aid, and welcome working-class students into the profession,” Gerken wrote. “As a result, we will no longer participate.”

Harvard Law School Dean John F. Manning ’82 stated in a similarly worded statement hours later that the school moved to withdraw from the rankings because “it has become impossible to reconcile our principles and commitments with the methodology and incentives the U.S. News rankings reflect.”

“This decision was not made lightly and only after considerable deliberation over the past several months,” he wrote.

The deliberation, however, did not involve input from U.S. News. In an interview,

Gertler said U.S. News was “given no warning and there was no outreach” prior to Yale and Harvard Law Schools’ decision to withdraw from the rankings.

“We heard about the decision not to participate in our survey, like everybody else, from a press release,” Gertler said.

It has become impossible to reconcile our principles and commitments with the methodology and incentives the U.S. News rankings reflect.

CHANGING THE METRICS

John F. Manning ‘82 Dean of Harvard Law School

It was also a decision that came as a surprise to some law school deans.

Matthew R. Diller ’81, dean at the Fordham University School of Law, acknowledged that law schools had been in discussions regarding the shortcomings of the U.S. News rankings for many years but said the boycott that began last November was not a coordinated effort.

“As far as I know, there was no larger kind of agreement or discussion to pull out in any kind of mass way,” he said. “I think each school that I know of made its own decision based on its own vantage point.”

University of California, Irvine

November 28, 2022 University of California, Davis

December 1, 2022 University of Washington

December 2, 2022 University of Pennsylvania (Carey)

December 5, 2022 New York University

December 9, 2022 University of Virginia Harvard Law School withdrew from the U.S. News rankings on November 16, 2022. Yale Law School also withdrew from the rankings the same day. FRANK S. ZHOU—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

But it became easier for other law schools to join the boycott after two of the top law schools dropped out of the rankings first, according to Diller.

“Having the leaders in the fields — the Harvards and Yales — pull out, made it much easier for other schools to pull out,” he said.

William M. Treanor, dean of the Georgetown University Law School, said Gerken’s decision to leave the rankings was “very courageous.”

“She’s pulling out of a game that she wins every year,” Treanor said.

While law school officials say their decisions to withdraw from rankings were made on principle, some admissions experts maintain that the boycott is also an effort to influence the U.S. News formula.

Dan Lee, co-founder of Solomon Admissions Consulting said he believes law schools, in pulling out of the rankings, have been able to “collectively bargain” with the magazine to manipulate the way rankings are determined.

“Schools have a tremendous amount of leverage in terms of shaping what they want the ranking metrics to be and the weighting of each metric,” Lee said.

As an example, he cited a change in the weighting of law school metrics in U.S. News rankings. Following the boycott, the magazine decreased the weight it gave to LSAT scores from 11.25 percent to 5 percent, and the undergraduate GPA weighting decreased from 8.75 percent to 4 percent.

The rankings’ formula change following the boycott, Lee said, allows law schools to diversify the types of careers their students pursue post-grad. According to Harvard Law School’s recent employment data, more than 55 percent of its class of 2022 took jobs post graduation at law firms that employ more than 500 lawyers, while less than eight percent pursued public interest careers.

“Top law schools, in general, tend to want to send more of their students to public interest areas of law that don’t involve working in large corporate law firms, and that’s going to be easier for them to do given the current change in the metrics,” Lee said.

“It’s going to give schools leeway to admit very talented, underrepresented students who may not necessarily be the best test takers,” he added.

Incoming Harvard Law School student Joshua Y. Rotenberg said diversity of interests was a “big driver” for him when considering law schools and his future career.

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023 “If you’re changing your methods to try and increase diversity within your school — it’s definitely something that spoke to me, and I think it generally makes sense, just from an educational standpoint,” Rotenberg said.

But while the changes to the U.S. News rankings will give law schools more flexibility in their admissions practices, some say the boycott also reveals an unwillingness from top law schools to make policy changes that would result in a lower ranking.

“The interesting thing is that they could take students with lower scores,” said Bari Norman, president of professional college advising service Expert Admissions. “They could take students from more diverse backgrounds and not pull out of the rankings.”

“It sort of acknowledges, obviously, the power of the rankings in saying, ‘We’re going to pull out so that we don’t obviously suffer,’” Norman added. “So if they suffer in the rankings, it’s because they pulled out, not because they did what they thought was the right thing.”

Despite the methodology changes to the rankings, top law schools have doubled down on their criticisms of U.S. News. In a January statement, Gerken, the dean of Yale Law School, said that “having a window into the operations and decision-making process at U.S. News in recent weeks has only cemented our decision to stop participating in the rankings.”

Yale Law School retained its number one status, tied with Stanford, in the 2024 U.S. News ranking of law schools released earlier this month.

Abigail Joseph ’21, an incoming Harvard/MIT MD-Ph.D. program student, said she believes it is possible that schools considered both their individual rankings and student outcomes when deciding to drop out of the rankings.

“You could have a pure motive along with a more self-prioritizing motive, and I don’t think they’re necessarily mutually exclusive of each other,” Joseph said.

Top administrators at HLS, HMS, and Yale Law School declined interview requests to discuss the U.S. News boycott.

more respect,” Norman said. “As opposed to damaging places that have brands that are literally hundreds of years old.”

“U.S. News is powerful, but not that powerful,” she added.

Diller, the dean of Fordham Law, said his school’s participation in the boycott of U.S. News was a “symbolic protest” because it occurred after U.S. News already announced it would only rely on publicly available data for this year’s rankings.

Still, Diller said he joined the movement in order to encourage law school applicants “to view U.S. News with a certain skepticism.”

We’ve got to continue to make sure that we’re doing our best for our core constituency, which in this case, is our students.

Eric J. Gertler CEO of U.S. News

“The more U.S. News has been discussed, the more educated prospective students are about the limitations of U.S. News,” he said.

Norman said rankings are mentioned much less frequently in her own admissions consulting practice but added she be-

lieves the influence of rankings on college and graduate admissions will not “go away overnight.”

Asked if there is concern that the rankings boycott could spread to colleges or other graduate schools, Gertler said U.S. News needs to focus on fulfilling its mission.

“What we need to do is to strive to provide the highest journalistic quality service that we can,” Gertler said. “The traffic numbers certainly reflect that there’s high interest, but we can never take that for granted.”

“We’ve got to continue to make sure that we’re doing our best for our core constituency, which in this case, is our students,” he added.

When considering the possibility of undergraduate colleges dropping out of rankings in the future, Norman said it is “clearly not an institutional priority” as none of the graduate programs that pulled out of rankings saw their undergraduate programs follow suit.

Norman, however, said she would like to also see top undergraduate schools boycott the rankings.

“I would love to see them truly pull out, not try to manipulate it from the back,” Norman said. “I hope I’m wrong, but I don’t think they have the courage to do so.”

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January 17, 2023 Harvard University

January 20, 2023 Columbia University

January 23, 2023 Stanford University

January 24, 2023 University of Pennsylvania Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

miles.herszenhorn@thecrimson.com nia.orakwue@thecrimson.com

January 26, 2023 University of Washington Washington University in St. Louis Cornell University (Weill)

January 27, 2023 Duke University University of Chicago

January 28, 2023

‘POWERFUL, BUT NOT THAT POWERFUL’ Even as top schools remain steadfast in their criticism of U.S. News, experts say any future fluctuations in the rankings will not likely have long-term repercussions on their reputations.

“When a school rises in it that isn’t historically toward the top, it will get some

Medical School Withdrawals

Johns Hopkins

Harvard Medical School withdrew from the U.S. News rankings on Jan. 17. At least 11 other schools withdrew from the rankings that same month. JOEY HUANG—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

PAGE DESIGNED BY TOBY R. MA—CRIMSON DESIGNER

January 30, 2023 University of Michigan

The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023

Dean Today, President Tomorrow: Gay Reflects on 5 Years Leading FAS A DEAN’S REFLECTIONS. On Friday, Claudine Gay sat down for her final interview with The Crimson as the dean of Harvard’s largest academic school. As she readies to assume the University presidency on July 1, Gay reflected on her eventful five-year tenure as Faculty of Arts and Sciences dean and shared her hopes for the future of the institution.

JULIAN J. GIORDANO—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

By RAHEM D. HAMID AND ELIAS J. SCHISGALL CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

­A

t the tail end of finals week in December 2022, as Harvard students packed up to scatter across the globe for winter vacation, the University dropped a surprise announcement: Claudine Gay, dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, had been chosen to become Harvard’s next president.

Her selection prompted jubilant celebration from administrators, who gathered in the Smith Campus Center for the announcement. Observers noted the historic nature of her appointment as Harvard’s first Black president. Colleagues regaled her with praise of her leadership and scholarship.

After the celebrations, however, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences — Harvard’s largest academic school — geared up to face its next big challenge: replacing its leader.

As dean, Gay has overseen several monumental developments within the FAS. The school reevaluated its own structure, hired new ethnic studies faculty in response to years of advocacy, and opened a new billion-dollar instruction center in Allston. It was rocked by a pandemic, faced a serious challenge to its race-conscious admissions policies, and roiled by allegations of sexual harassment against several FAS professors.

And now, the captain of the ship would be leaving.

Typically, The Crimson interviews top Harvard administrators once a month during the academic year on a range of topics. But Gay, occupied by her duties as dean and preparations for her new role, did not agree to regular sit-down interviews with The Crimson for the spring 2023 semester. Nor did she give interviews to any other independent media outlet, save for an end-of-semester interview with the Harvard Magazine, an alumni publication.

That changed on Friday, when Gay sat PAGE DESIGNED BY TOBY R. MA—CRIMSON DESIGNER

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023

KEY ISSUES THE PUSH FOR ETHNIC STUDIES. For decades, activists have pushed for an ethnic studies department in the FAS. Under Gay, three faculty were hired as part of an ethnic studies cluster, and Gay has previously said she hoped to see an ethnic studies concentration.

FACULTY MISCONDUCT. In 2020, a report by The Crimson uncovered a pattern of sexual harassment by three top Anthropology professors.

Three years later, another report by The Crimson detailed decades of allegations of bullying and workplace toxicity against a top climate professor in Earth and Planetary Sciences.

HARVARD’S LEGACY OF SLAVERY. In April 2022, Harvard released its landmark report on the Legacy of Slavery. Since then, the FAS under Gay has been working to implement some recommendations, including increased partnership with HBCUs. THE STRATEGIC PLANNING INITIATIVE. Gay launched a strategic planning initiative for the FAS in the fall of 2021. The final year of the initiative will begin under new leadership as Gay transitions to her new job of University president.

FAS’ ACADEMIC PRIORITIES. Many STEM faculty have said that they wished for greater investment in the sciences at Harvard.

Simultaneously, many faculty in the humanities hope to see a renewed focus on their disciplines.

36 PAGE DESIGNED BY TOBY R. MA—CRIMSON DESIGNER

down for her final interview with The Crimson as FAS dean. As she readies to assume her new post in Massachusetts Hall on July 1, she reflected on her eventful five-year tenure as FAS dean and shared her hopes for the future of the institution.

FAS ACADEMIC PRIORITIES In interviews this semester about the search for a new FAS dean, faculty were divided over whether the attention and financial support of FAS leadership should be directed toward STEM or to the arts and humanities.

Gay said these discussions among the faculty “​​really speak to the enormous ambition” of her FAS colleagues.

She felt that the school’s increased focus in quantum engineering, climate research, and ethnicity, indigeneity, and migration were major accomplishments of her tenure.

The past few years have seen an increased investment in University science, notably reflected in multimillion-dollar gifts for the Kempner Institute for the Study of Natural and Artificial Intelligence and the Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability.

Within the FAS, Gay oversaw the launch of the Science and Engineering Complex, a landmark development on the Allston campus for STEM research and education with a $1 billion price tag. The institution also recently scaled up its investment in quantum science, including the launch of one of the world’s first Ph.D. programs in the subject.

Gay stressed the “value of practical benefits of a liberal arts and sciences education” to Harvard’s academic mission in the interview.

She also argued for the importance of embracing approaches that crossed disciplinary boundaries.

“There are very few, if any — certainly can’t name one — societal challenges, where one discipline has a monopoly on insight. Virtually everything that our society confronts requires multidisciplinary perspectives and expertise,” Gay said.

Gay also mentioned the FAS strategic planning process, a three-year internal evaluation of the FAS’ academics, budget, and technology launched nearly two years ago.

She said faculty would hear initial recommendations from the strategic planning process and have an opportunity to “make some choices about how we want to move forward as a school community” at an all-faculty retreat in August.

‘GRATITUDE’ FOR GRIFFIN One of the defining events of Gay’s last semester as dean was the announcement of a $300 million unrestricted gift from hedge fund CEO and Republican megadonor Kenneth C. Griffin ’89 to the FAS. The donation was accompanied by the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences being renamed in Griffin’s honor.

A LOOMING DECISION: SFFA V. HARVARD This summer, the Supreme Court is widely expected to rule against Harvard in the lawsuit against the school brought by anti-affirmative action organization Students for Fair Admissions. Such a ruling could overturn years of precedent and make race-based admissions policies unconsti-

Virtually everything that our society confronts requires multidisciplinary perspectives and expertise.

Claudine Gay President-Elect of Harvard University

Gay thanked Griffin for his generosity.

“I have nothing but gratitude for this gift,” Gay said. “Really, my mind is focused on how do we realize the full promise of this gift which, because it’s an unrestricted gift to the FAS, enables us to really advance and support our academic core.”

In an interview with The Crimson last week, Penny S. Pritzker ’81, the senior fellow of Harvard’s highest governing body, the Harvard Corporation, said the negotiations for Griffin’s donation took place before she joined the Corporation. Gay was tapped as FAS dean two months after Pritzker joined the Corporation.

Gay declined to provide details about the negotiation process for the gift or her involvement in it.

The donation garnered criticism from GSAS students and former GSAS Dean Theda R. Skocpol, who slammed Griffin’s public support for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

In an interview with The Crimson last month, University President Lawrence S. Bacow defended the donation, arguing that Harvard should not have political litmus tests for its donors.

Though Griffin’s funds are unrestricted and Harvard has yet to announce how they will be allocated, many GSAS affiliates have called for a portion of the donation to be spent directly on graduate education and pay.

Gay declined to comment on any specific use of the funds, saying she was “really not in a position to provide you a line item accounting of this.” She added that graduate education is one priority for the FAS.

tutional. The decision is expected to come around when Gay would start her term as president.

In her interview, Gay reiterated her hope that the Court would rule in Harvard’s favor, stressing the importance of diversity among the student body.

“We will comply with the Court’s decision,” Gay said. “But we’ll also remain committed, as we have been for generations now, in the educational value of bringing diverse learners together in one community.”

“That’s something that we believe to our core, it’s part of our DNA,” she added.

She declined to answer whether there were plans in place in case the Court ruled against Harvard or say whether she has spoken with other University leaders about contingency plans.

“It would be premature, and cavalier, and an utter act of hubris to try to predict what the Court will do,” she said.

The SFFA case has also prompted scrutiny of Harvard’s practice of giving preference to legacy applicants, with many calling for the University to abolish legacy admission altogether.

Gay declined to answer how she would consider calls to abolish legacy admission as president.

ETHNIC STUDIES AND THE LEGACY OF SLAVERY REPORT After five decades of advocacy from students and alumni demanding a concentration in ethnic studies, Gay took the step in 2019 of announcing a cluster hire of three to four ethnic studies faculty. Last year, the

The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023

Students protesting on the steps of Widener Library demand that Harvard creates an ethnic studies department in 2020. ALLISON G. LEE—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

FAS finalized the cluster hire, announcing that Taeku Lee, Erika Lee, and Jesse E. Hoffnung-Garskof ’93 would join Harvard’s faculty as full professors.

But advocates for ethnic studies are still demanding more from the FAS. During the inaugural Ethnic Studies Week in April, many advocates reiterated demands for a dedicated ethnic studies department, which Harvard lacks.

Gay said that despite the hiring of the three faculty, there was progress to be made in the field. She said she hoped to “build out the cohort” of ethnic studies faculty and foster “intellectual synergies” among existing faculty across the departments whose work concerns ethnicity and race.

“There’s already an emerging critical mass,” she said.

Gay has previously endorsed a concentration for ethnic studies but deferred to the

faculty themselves to decide what form ethnic studies at Harvard should take.

During Gay’s tenure as dean, another landmark step the University took to further study and understand race was releasing the landmark Legacy of Slavery report, which documented the integral role that slavery played in Harvard’s growth.

Gay said that along with some symposiums organized in the FAS, she is focused on expanding Harvard’s collaboration with historically Black colleges and universities, another recommendation of the report.

Pointing to former College Dean Evelynn M. Hammonds, a professor in the History of Science Department who spent the past year working at Spelman College, Gay said that other faculty are “arranging to also have that kind of exchange,” and that she will be looking at similar initiatives for students.

“But those conversations are really still quite early,” Gay said. “But the ambition — and it’s one that I feel particularly passionate about — is just finding more ways for us to just be in conversation with our HBCU peers, sharing knowledge and educational opportunities and research opportunities in ways that really enhance all of our institutions.”

RECKONING WITH FACULTY MISCONDUCT Two years into Gay’s tenure, The Crimson published an investigation uncovering numerous allegations of sexual harassment by three top professors in Harvard’s Anthropology Department: Theodore C. Bestor, Gary Urton, and John L. Comaroff.

In June 2021, Gay stripped Urton of his emeritus status and banned him from Har-

vard’s campus. Bestor — who stepped down as the director of Harvard’s Reischauer Institute following an FAS investigation — died in July 2021. Gay put Comaroff on unpaid leave following an FAS investigation, but he returned to teaching in the fall 2022 semester, sparking protests.

In the spring 2023 semester, students staged a walkout, a march, an email campaign, and a sit-in of University Hall protesting Comaroff’s presence on campus.

Gay said institutions of higher education are all working to amend their policies to better cultivate “a community where all members can thrive and do their best work.”

“This is an area that I would agree represents unfinished business. But it’s one where I actually feel really hopeful, because I’ve been part of Harvard for a while, and I feel like I actually have seen a culture change around just the elevation and imPAGE DESIGNED BY TOBY R. MA—CRIMSON DESIGNER

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023 portance of building a culture of mutual respect,” Gay said.

Gay also pointed to a new University-wide bullying policy unveiled in March as a sign of progress made under her deanship.

“That’s going to require work in every school to adjust our processes and our various offices to support effective implementation” of the University’s new anti-bullying policies Gay said, adding that she worked with deans of other Harvard schools to create the policies.

Affiliates of Harvard’s Earth and Planetary Sciences Department have called for bullying and harassment policies to be strengthened after an investigation by The Crimson detailed decades of bullying and workplace toxicity allegations against

Earth and Planetary Sciences Professor Daniel P. Schrag.

According to University spokesperson Jason A. Newton, affiliates had opportunities to provide feedback on the draft anti-bullying policies during a comment period from April 2022 to the end of September 2022. He has declined to comment on other aspects of the EPS affiliates’ demands.

LOOKING FORWARD Gay will be vacating her current position and ascending to the presidency on July 1, but declined to promise a successor would be in place by that date, saying that she is “not setting any kind of artificial timetable” for the process.

The search launched in February with the creation of a 14-person search advisory committee.

“While I recognize that the sooner the better for me personally, my focus really is on identifying the right person, so I don’t have a calendar in mind,” she added.

Gay would not say if there would be an interim dean. The last time the FAS had an interim leader was in 2006.

University Provost Alan M. Garber ’76, who is co-leading the search for the next dean with Gay, previously said in an interview with The Crimson that an announcement for Gay’s successor is not “imminent.”

Along with finding her own successor, Gay will also have to appoint deans for the School of Public Health, the School of Engi-

neering and Applied Sciences, and the Divinity School. Gay appointed an interim for the HSPH dean, and Divinity School Dean David N. Hempton announced he will be extending his time in the position by a few months, but neither position has been permanently filled.

When asked what advice she would have for her successor, Gay gave three pieces of advice: to listen to students, faculty, and staff, to “pace yourself,” and to engage with other parts of the University.

“This is a big place. It’s an ambitious place. There’s so much that you can do,” Gay said. “But it is a marathon.” rahem.hamid@thecrimson.com elias.schisgall@thecrimson.com

ASHLEY R. FERREIRA—CRIMSON DESIGNER

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023

Year in Photos 2022-23. The Crimson looks back at the academic year in photos, from the announcement of Claudine Gay as Harvard’s 30th president to rallies in D.C. for the affirmative action case before the Supreme Court.

JULIAN J. GIORDANO—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

ADMIN CHANGES CLAUDINE GAY’S appointment to the University’s top post came as president Lawrence S. Bacow rounded out his fifth year in the role. She will be the first person of color to lead the institution in its nearly 400-year history.

CLAUDINE GAY NAMED HARVARD’S NEXT PRESIDENT December 2022 J. SELLERS HILL—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

PRESIDENT BACOW FLEES RALLY AT MASS. HALL April 2023 CLAIRE YUAN—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER PAGE DESIGNED BY JULIAN J. GIORDANO— CRIMSON DESIGNER

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023

PROTESTS

STUDENTS PROTEST BEFORE THE SUPREME COURT October 2022

THE SUPREME COURT heard oral arguments for the SFFA v. Harvard case in late October. Harvard affiliates traveled to D.C. to voice their support for affirmative action.

JULIAN J. GIORDANO—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

ACTIVISTS IN D.C. RALLY FOR RACE NEUTRAL ADMISSIONS October 2022 JULIAN J. GIORDANO—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

STUDENTS OCCUPY UNIVERSITY HALL March 2023

HARVARD ADMINISTRATORS ATTEND ORAL ARGUMENTS October 2022

JULIAN J. GIORDANO—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

JULIAN J. GIORDANO—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

AROUND CAMPUS WALKOUTS AND PICKETS. Campus saw action from old and new unions as well as walkouts and an occupation of University Hall from students criticizing the school’s policies and professor John L. Comaroff’s continued employment.

CLERICAL, TECHNICAL WORKERS PICKET February 2023

STUDENTS WALK OUT OF PROFESSOR COMAROFF’S CLASS January 2023

JULIAN J. GIORDANO—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

PROTESTERS DECRY POLICE KILLING OF SAYED FAISAL February 2023 RYAN H. DOAN-NGUYEN—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

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ADDISON Y. LIU—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

STUDENTS STAGE ‘DIE-IN’ TO DENAME SACKLER BUILDINGS April 2023 J. SELLERS HILL—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT ZELENSKY ADDRESSES IOP September 2022 CORY K. GORCZYCKI—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023

YARDFEST April 2023

ELEGANZA April 2023 JOEY HUANG—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

JOEY HUANG—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

STUDENT LIFE

THE GAME AT HARVARD STADIUM November 2022 JULIAN J. GIORDANO—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

JENNIFER COOLIDGE, HASTY PUDDING’S WOMAN OF THE YEAR February 2023 ADDISON Y. LIU—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

TOP MOMENTS

FROM HARVARD-YALE TO HOUSING DAY, from Yardfest to Eleganza, Crimson photographers captured students celebrating Harvard traditions.

HOUSING DAY CELEBRATIONS March 2023 ANGELA DELA CRUZ—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT YOON AT IOP April 2023

EX-HARVARD FENCING COACH & HARVARD PARENT ACQUITTED OF BRIBERY CHARGES December 2022

YAHIR SANTILLAN-GUZMAN—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

ELIAS J. SCHISGALL—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

THC

HEAD OF THE CHARLES REGATTA October 2022

CELEBRITY VISITS, presidential addresses, high-profile trials, and the world’s largest three day regatta are just a few of the big events that defined the 2022-23 year for Harvard students.

CHRISTOPHER L. LI—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER PAGE DESIGNED BY JULIAN J. GIORDANO— CRIMSON DESIGNER

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023

By PATON D. ROBERTS AND SOPHIA C. SCOTT CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

­F

Hanging Up the Harvard Jersey VARSITY RETENTION. Approximately one in four students who played on a varsity sports team in the 2019-20 season left their team by the 2022-23 season. Many departed due to burnout or injuries.

SOPHIA SALAMANCA—CRIMSON DESIGNER

or student-athletes who are graduating from Harvard College in 2023, the past four years have been marked with ups and downs — difficulties compounded by the loss of full sports seasons due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The chance to play on an NCAA Division I team offers students the highest possible college-level competition, representing the culmination of years of hard work and commitment.

But, whether walking on or committing early, student-athletes at Harvard sign themselves up for a college experience markedly different from many of their peers.

Harvard prides itself on its rich athletic tradition, boasting 42 Division I teams and with more than 10 percent of incoming students recruited to play a varsity sport.

According to an analysis of year-by-year rosters by The Crimson, approximately one in four students who played on a varsity sports team in the 2019-20 season left their team before the 2022-23 season. This statistic includes both recruited athletes and “walk-ons,” students who join teams after arriving at the College.

Interviews with nearly a dozen former Harvard athletes suggested that time commitments, battles with injuries, and balancing a beloved sport and the desire for a more well-rounded Harvard experience contributed to decisions to step away.

Athletes also said Covid-19 added hurdles to the athletic experience and contributed to burnout, as many members of the Class of 2023 lost one to two full seasons as Harvard athletes during the pandemic.

ONE IN FOUR Of the 295 freshman student-athletes from 2019-20 rosters, 220 remained on their teams in the 2022-23 academic year, putting the overall retention rate at roughly 75 percent. Still, there was significant variation by team.

The Crimson’s survey of the graduating Class of 2023 found that roughly 31 percent of the class did not remain on their team all four years, an increase from 20 percent in 2022.

Harvard lists rosters for 40 sports teams on its official athletics website. Of these teams, 13 experienced perfect retention of the 2019-20 freshmen class, while six had retention percentages at or below 50 percent.

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Percent of Original Class Remaining on Team by 2022-23 Season

The Bright-Landry Hockey Center is Harvard’s ice rink, home to Harvard’s men’s and women’s ice hockey teams. JOEY HUANG—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

PATON D. ROBERTS—CONTRIBUTING DESIGNER

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These six included women’s ice hockey, men’s golf, women’s heavyweight rowing, women’s rugby, men’s lightweight rowing, and women’s lacrosse.

Women’s teams experienced lower retention rates — at 71 percent — than men’s teams, which saw 78 percent retention for the senior class.

Women’s ice hockey had the lowest retention rate of all 40 teams, with just 20 percent of the original freshman class remaining for the 2022-23 season.

Earlier this year, dozens of current and former players leveled allegations of emotional abuse spanning years by longtime head coach Katey Stone in investigations published by the Boston Globe and the Athletic.

In March, Harvard Athletics announced an external review of the team by a New York-based law firm. The review was expected to conclude by the end of this academic year.

While Harvard did not comment directly on the full data or team retention rates, Harvard spokesperson Rachael Dane wrote in an emailed statement that the University encourages student-athletes to take advantage of the “myriad academic, social, and athletic experiences” available to undergraduates.

“We are thrilled when a student-athlete, whether recruited or not, chooses to participate in competition during the full course of their time at Harvard, but we also support student-athletes choosing to pursue different paths once they arrive on campus.”

Analysis by The Crimson for the graduating Class of 2020 similarly found that roughly a quarter of athletes in the class quit their sport by the time they graduated.

‘A TON OF RESTRICTIONS’ The student-athlete experience was dramatically shaped by Covid-19 restrictions in 2020 and 2021: as case counts rose and fell, the Ivy League canceled four consecutive seasons.

Lindsey S. Lawson ’24, who played on the women’s basketball team for three seasons, said her athletic experience suffered from “a ton of restrictions” that were in place her freshman year. She noted difficulties caused by practicing with just one or two teammates in a limited training group throughout the fall 2020 semester.

Even after the return to campus, Lawson said, the consequences of these changes lingered.

“I was kind of burnt out at that point from the previous year of training alone and not having a season and not playing in games, really,” she said. “That was something that was weighing on me.”

Nina A. McCormack ’24, who quit the women’s lacrosse team in her sophomore spring, said she longed for the camaraderie that comes with being part of a team while experiencing difficulties in building connections remotely during her freshman season.

“All around, everyone was pretty heartbroken and people are dealing with that in their own ways,” she said. “So building community remotely with the sophomores, juniors, seniors that you’ve never met in person, as incoming freshmen, is pretty difficult.”

Arsh Dhillon ’23, who quit the women’s lightweight crew team, said coming back from Covid-19 offered an opportunity to reimagine her Harvard experience outside of

The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023

The Harvard Weld Boathouse is located by the Charles River. The boathouse completed its renovations earlier this month. MARINA QU—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

athletics.

“It’s so crazy how the Covid year and then coming back not as a rower — it felt like an entirely new fresh start on who I am,” Dhillon said.

‘MENTALLY, PHYSICALLY AND EMOTIONALLY TAXING’ For some students, other opportunities at Harvard — and beyond — made playing a varsity sport too large of a tradeoff.

Per Harvard’s Student-Athlete Handbook, varsity athletes can expect to spend four hours a day and 20 hours a week on their sport while in season, and up to six hours per week in the offseason.

But travel to competitions, as well as social pressures to spend additional time with the team, can lead to athletics being a larger-than-expected commitment, many athletes said. Respondents to The Crimson’s senior survey reported devoting an average of 29 hours to athletics each week.

Cayla A. McFarlane ’24, who left the women’s soccer team before junior year, cited the wealth of other opportunities at Harvard as a key reason for her departure.

“We’re gone all the time on the weekends and we practice every day, and that was very — both mentally, physically, and emotionally — taxing, but I don’t necessarily think that was specific to Harvard,” she said.

“I did feel like I was missing out on other things happening on campus,” she added.

Justin G. Han ’24, who quit the men’s lightweight crew team, said the time the sport required was “the most important factor” in his decision to quit.

“Eventually I decided that I myself wasn’t getting a lot out of remaining on crew, and

that my time could be spent on more important things, like for my career, or classes, things like that,” he said.

Carolyn A. Wang ’23, who walked on to the women’s sailing team freshman year, said sailing did not feel like a sport she could do “half-heartedly.”

“There’s a bit of a stigma to not participating to the fullest extent, especially at the higher levels of the sailing team,” she said.

After quitting, Wang said she was able to take a painting class that met when she previously had sailing practice.

“It’s not something that I would have been able to do if I was still on the team,” she said.

Lawson said the diverse array of opportunities at Harvard — both in and out of the classroom — “empowered” her decision.

“I think if I were at any other school, I would have felt obligated to continue on even if it was very, very detrimental to my health,” she said.

McCormack said her departure from the women’s lacrosse team was influenced by a feeling that she “wasn’t being invested in” and had limited time on campus.

“I wanted to be putting my time and energy into something that was giving back to me and really something I was excited about,” she added.

The Albert H. Gordon Track is Harvard’s indoor track located at 65 N. Harvard St. in Allston. TIMOTHY R. O’MEARA—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

Team Retention by Gender

‘I WASN’T REALLY GETTING BETTER’ Several students cited persistent or severe injuries as a key reason for departing from their teams.

Max Keck ’24, who has played water polo since he was 10, left Harvard’s team due to concerns around sustaining further serious

PATON D. ROBERTS—CONTRIBUTING DESIGNER

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The Malkin Athletic Center is home to a gymnasium and pool, where several sports teams practice. TIMOTHY R. O’MEARA—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

The Robert M. Beren Tennis Center, located at 65 N Harvard St in Allston, hosts Harvard’s Tennis teams. TIMOTHY R. O’MEARA—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

injuries.

“I felt that if I was going to be running a risk anyway, I’d rather just have a more holistic student experience as someone that wasn’t on the water polo team, or as an athlete, since I hadn’t experienced that yet,” he said. “I really hadn’t experienced that ever in my life.”

Lawson said struggles with concussions, beginning in her sophomore year and continuing through January, gave her time to reflect on college athletics.

“I had kind of exhausted all my options with concussions specialists from MGH, all the support resources at Harvard — like mental health support, just like self-help, that type of thing,” Lawson said. “Still work-

McFarlane played soccer at the international level for Trinidad and Tobago, but she said limitations in infrastructure and compensation made playing professionally feel “less viable.” She struggled to find other career paths at Harvard while balancing the time required to play a varsity sport.

“My biggest fear was just leaving Harvard not knowing what I wanted to do and ending up in a job that pays well, because, you’re likely to get a good job coming out of Harvard, but wasn’t my passion,” McFarlane said.

Dhillon said the lack of women’s crew opportunities was a motivating factor for leaving the team.

“You’re thinking about the rest of your life, versus two years of your life and no one rows outside of college on the women’s side of things,” she said.

of these other interests and given all the injuries and everything, I found that it might have been a better use of my time to go into these other passions that I had,” Meng said.

‘YOU’RE THINKING ABOUT THE REST OF YOUR LIFE’ A handful of Harvard students leave their teams each year to play professional sports.

NCAA regulations dictate that once a student chooses to compete at the professional level, they are no longer eligible to participate in college athletics.

A defenseman for the men’s ice hockey team for two seasons, Jack C. Rathbone ’22’23 was drafted to the Vancouver Canucks,

‘NEVER LOOKED BACK’ I think I miss sometimes playing a sport, but I don’t miss rowing. And I know that it’s probably the one decision during my college life that I’ve never looked back on.

Arsh Dhillon ’23 Former Women’s Lightweight Crew Athlete

ing out and still attending all the games and practices and not really taking the time that I needed to probably recover initially.”

“I wasn’t really getting better,” she said.

Melissa Meng ’24 left the women’s golf team halfway through her sophomore year in part due to chronic injuries.

“I realized that while I love the team, and I love golf, I also want to explore some

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an NHL team, in July 2020.

“You know, you dream of playing college hockey and the next dream is to try and play professional hockey. That was kind of an opportunity I couldn’t pass up,” he said.

But for most other Harvard student-athletes, college athletics represents the end of their playing career, leading them to weigh their options differently.

Still, many former student-athletes said they missed competing in their sports and being on a team after departing their athletic programs.

“Being able to compete and getting ready and getting up for games is something that I definitely miss. It was a huge part of my life,” Keck said. “It was a huge part of the reason I wanted to go to Harvard.”

Han, who joined crew through the novice program, said he misses the group environment.

“There’s just a group of people that you see every day who you spend a lot of time with, you all work together towards a common goal, that sense of camaraderie,” he said. “I definitely miss that a lot.”

Despite no longer being a member of the

golf team, Meng said her relationship with sports has changed only marginally.

“My love for athletics will never go away.

I think it’s just — I have a slightly different approach to it now,” she said.

McCormack said she struggled with the idea that her departure would reduce diversity within Harvard Athletics.

“Representation matters, and I’m a person of color, and I’m also part of the LGBT community, and those types of people are very underrepresented in lacrosse, and in a lot of other sports too,” she said. “So that is one thing I’m pretty sad about is that Harvard Athletics loses that type of diversity and that experience in their community.”

Despite the myriad of factors involved in the decision, Dhillon said she has no regrets.

“I think I miss sometimes playing a sport, but I don’t miss rowing. And I know that it’s probably the one decision during my college life that I’ve never looked back on,” she said.

METHODOLOGY The data includes the 295 current and former student-athletes who entered Harvard as part of the Class of 2020 whose names appeared on an Athletics Department roster published in the 2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-22, or 2022-23 academic years. The data included all athletes, both recruits and walk-ons.

To gather data for this article, The Crimson cross-referenced the four years of rosters, which are available on the Athletics Department website. paton.roberts@thecrimson.com sophia.scott@thecrimson.com

The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023

Does Harvard Have an Academic Freedom Problem?

ACADEMIC FREEDOM. In the face of what some describe as an academic freedom issue at Harvard, professors, administrators, and students have carved out their own spaces for exchanging potentially controversial ideas and discussing what they view as limitations on free speech on campus. Nonetheless, they disagree on the stakes.

SOPHIA SALAMANCA—CRIMSON DESIGNER

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023

­Academic freedom is a hotly debated topic at Harvard and many other institutions across the country. JULIAN J. GIORDANO—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

By RAHEM D. HAMID AND J. SELLERS HILL CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

­A

cross the country, the issue of academic freedom is dominating discourse in higher education.

The conversation is especially prominent at Harvard: In recent years on campus, affiliates have launched numerous groups and initiatives to identify and address issues around free idea exchange. Most recently, 70 faculty from across the University founded the Council on Academic Freedom at Harvard — at the time of writing, membership is more than 120.

The overwhelming faculty response mirrors that of Harvard Alumni for Free Speech, a group that formed last year, complete with a website, advisory board, and 501(c)(3) nonprofit status.

The issue has attracted the attention of top administrators, too.

Over the past two years, Dean of the College Rakesh Khurana has periodically met with an “Intellectual Vitality Committee” — a small group of Harvard undergraduates, faculty, and alumni — to examine what they see as a lack of free idea exchange at the College.

Earlier this year, the Committee even presented to the Board of Overseers — the

University’s second-highest governing body.

Peer schools are grappling with the same issues. Earlier this year, Stanford University’s president and law school dean apologized to a conservative federal judge after he was shouted down by protesters.

At Cornell University, the president and provost rejected a proposal from the student government asking professors to put “trigger warnings” for certain course content, citing Cornell’s free speech policy and the “faculty’s fundamental right to determine what and how to teach.”

“The issue of academic freedom is a broad issue of education, especially higher

education. It has been written about and understood for a long time,” said Jeffrey S. Flier, a former dean of Harvard Medical School and a co-president of CAFH. According to a recent faculty survey conducted by The Crimson, approximately 75 percent of surveyed members of Harvard’s faculty believe academic freedom in America is under threat, compared to approximately 11 percent who believe it is not.

In the face of what many characterize as an academic freedom issue at Harvard, professors and students have created their own spaces for exchanging potentially controversial ideas. Nonetheless, they disagree on the stakes.

ACADEMIC FREEDOM OVER THE YEARS

April 2017

September 2017

August 2021

Harvard Open Campus Initiative Forms. The Harvard Open Campus Initiative — a group that vowed “support for freedom of thought, speech and association” — forms. It would become inactive two years later.

Charles Murray Visits Gov 50. Charles Murray — whose work the Southern Poverty Law Center termed “racist pseudoscience” — speaks virtually to students in the course Government 50: “Data,” sparking outcry.

Carole Hooven Draws Backlash. Human Evolutionary Biology lecturer Carole K. Hooven’s recieved backlash following comments she made on Fox News, arguing that there are only two sexes and decrying the pressure on medical professors to use gender-neutral vocabulary.

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023

‘AFRAID TO SPEAK THEIR MIND’ In an April 12 op-ed in the Boston Globe, Harvard professors Steven A. Pinker and Bertha K. Madras announced the formation of the Council on Academic Freedom at Harvard.

“When an individual is threatened or slandered for a scholarly opinion, which can be emotionally devastating, we will lend our personal and professional support,” they wrote.

A major threat facing academic freedom, according to some professors, is a rise of self-censorship on campus.

“There’s been an abridgement of freedom of speech, not because of consciously censorious rulemaking or anything like that, but the climate around use of language is, in practice, socially, quite judgmental,” said Harry R. Lewis ’68, another CAFH co-president and former Harvard College dean. “​​I think a lot of Harvard faculty and especially the Harvard students are afraid to speak their mind,” said Flynn J. Cratty, a History lecturer and CAFH’s executive director. “I think that that is actually corrosive to the academic endeavor. I think it makes it very difficult for us to take academic risks, to learn from others.”

Harvey C. Mansfield Jr. ’53, a recently-retired professor in the Government Department, said certain topics, like those on race and gender, have become too controversial “for even academic investigation.”

“It’s a limitation on frankness of conversation and argument that I think we see quite a bit out here,” Mansfield said.

Many faculty members said they believe academic freedom is not threatened by one political group over the other — the issue is beyond partisan politics.

“It’s not purely a left-right thing,” Cratty said. “It’s more like granular disciplinary debates that don’t obviously map on to national political questions, but are more about how ideas, what ideas went out in specific academic subfields.”

Still, not all faculty agree that the Uni-

versity has restricted their ability to express ideas.

Isaac F. Silvera, a Physics professor, said he has “not seen any problems at Harvard that have interfered with” his academic freedom.

“Academic freedom is the freedom to pursue your research interests, the interests in the sciences, and to be able to get results, publish them openly, and discuss your ideas openly, without interference from the administration of the university,” Silvera said, adding that he has not experienced restrictions to academic freedom.

Sean R. Eddy, chair of the Molecular and

versial ideas, as long as you’re doing it in good faith,” Eddy said. “And then people should engage you — in good faith — in intellectual discussion on whether those are good ideas or bad ideas.”

“The context of a university should be one in which there is robust, respectful disagreement over ideas, and that the first reaction — or early reaction — to hearing ideas that you might disagree with on first hearing them is not to demand that they be shut down or punished or called to task in some way,” said Flier, the former HMS dean.

“That is the opposite of what a university should be.”

It’s a limitation on frankness of conversation and argument that I think we see quite a bit out here.

Harvey C. Mansfield Jr. ’53 Recently retired Harvard Government professor

Cellular Biology Department, said that he disagrees with drawing distinct “sides” in issues at the intersection of science and social affairs.

“I’ve never had any trouble having a scientific conversation with anybody I actually know personally, including some of the people on the two sides of this. But when it gets into public, somehow it polarizes.

And both sides will say things that neither of which I’ll agree with as a scientist, or as a human being,” Eddy said.

Nonetheless, Eddy said social and political issues — that often dominate conversations about academic freedom — are not his area of expertise, and many are not “directly relevant” to his work in science.

Faculty members also argued that discomfort with certain ideas is central to academic freedom.

“You have to be able to express contro-

FAS spokesperson Anna G. Cowenhoven declined to comment for this article.

‘HEALTHIER FORMS OF DISAGREEMENT’ While professors have created the Council on Academic Freedom at Harvard, some students at the College have carved out spaces specifically dedicated to promoting free idea exchange. The 1980s saw the creation of the Harvard Salient, a campus publication aimed at elevating contrarian viewpoints, often through anonymously published editorials.

“Pseudonyms are used in order to encourage freedom of expression and attract contributors who would otherwise be too shy of public exposure,” wrote then-Salient spokesperson Jacob A. Cremers ’23-’24 upon the paper’s revival in late 2021.

This public scrutiny often comes from peers, according to students.

“I think, depending on your political leanings, there can be a strong social pressure to not speak or not say your true beliefs,” Michael A.C. Hla ’23-24 said. “But in practice it’s depending on the people you surround yourself with.”

Tamar Sarig ’23 agreed that social circles played a significant role in policing opinions, but she said she personally had not witnessed censorship.

“I have friends with a wide range of viewpoints. Some are questionable, and they feel fine voicing those questionable opinions, and none of them have been canceled yet,” said Sarig, a Crimson Magazine editor.

“I’ve heard a wide range of ideological diversity at the school that I don’t think reflects the fearmongering that you hear about censorship,” she added.

According to a 2022 survey conducted

by College Pulse and the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, 70 percent of surveyed Harvard students reported feeling either “comfortable” or “extremely comfortable” expressing their views on a controversial topic in a classroom setting, 9 percent higher than the national average.

When asked about sharing such views in campus social spaces, that number fell to 45 percent.

In the digital age, these social spaces can take the form of social media and online campus forums.

Last year, over an unmoderated house email list, students criticized then-Harvard Undergraduate Association Co-President LyLena D. Estabine ’24 for defending Harvard College Faith and Action — a Christian campus group that was previously sanctioned for pushing out a leader who was in a same-sex relationship. One student publicly called for Estabine to be recalled from the co-presidency.

Jaya J. Nayar ’24, also a member of the Intellectual Vitality Committee, pointed to incidents like this as examples of unproductive student disagreement.

“We are really trying to reencourage disagreement and look for healthier forms of

November 2021

November 2022

Harvard Affiliates Help Found New Free Speech-Forward University. Several current and former Harvard professors — including former Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers — help establish the University of Austin, a private liberal arts school in Texas launched in response to what some of its founders see as a culture of censorship within higher education.

Nearly 250 Harvard Affiliates Sign ‘Free Speech’ Petition.

Hundreds of Harvard affiliates signed onto a petition calling for the University’s Presidential Search Committee to nominate a candidate who “actively affirms the importance of free speech” on campus.

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023 disagreement, rather than having things that are spats on the email chains or in GroupMes that really devolve into nothing but hurt feelings and bitter sentiments,” she said last month.

DRAWING THE LINE During a classroom discussion, Shira Z. Hoffer ’25 said her professor dismissed her honest question. The conversation centered on ways to dismantle the university system, which the professor said was discriminatory. Hoffer, a member of the Intellectual Vitality Committee, asked why the system was discriminatory and needed dismantling in the first place.

“I was told, ‘We don’t ask that question because this classroom is a safe space,’” she said. “I think when questions are shut down in class, that’s a big red flag to me, because the whole purpose of class is to ask questions and learn things.”

Still, Hoffer didn’t think her professor was acting out of malice and said encouraging tolerance of viewpoints on campus can be difficult when ideas are seen as “fundamentally morally reprehensible.”

“I think that’s when things become extremely challenging, and the problem is that people draw those lines in different places,” Hoffer said.

Often, these lines are debated when discussing race, ethnicity, religion, gender, and sexuality.

In 2020, then-Government preceptor David D. Kane sparked extensive campus backlash when he invited to his class Charles A. Murray ’65, who has hypothesized a relationship between race and intelligence, and whose work the Southern Poverty Law Center has termed “racist pseudoscience.”

Harvard did not renew Kane’s contract after racist posts he made on a Williams College alumni blog came to light.

In 2021, Human Evolutionary Biology lecturer Carole K. Hooven received student and faculty pushback following comments she made on Fox News arguing that there are only two sexes and decrying the pressure on medical professors to use gender-neutral vocabulary. Cratty said faculty were thinking about the situation as the

CAFH was being founded.

For Hoffer and other proponents of expanding free dialogue on campus, few topics should be off limits.

“As a Jew, I would happily sit down with a neo-Nazi for dinner,” Hoffer said. “If I knew what they had to say, one, I would just have a more robust understanding of humanity, which I think is fundamentally a beautiful thing. And two, if I were being crafty about it, I would now understand their arguments

a guest speaker at Harvard means something,” Slayton said. “If someone gets that seal of approval and gets to boast about it and use it to broaden their audience and increase their voice, whose voices are we increasing?”

“I think where I personally draw the line is where someone’s rhetoric or ideas directly conflict with someone’s right to exist, right to express themselves in safe ways,” they added.

JEFFREY S. FLIER CO-PRESIDENT Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Harvard University

JEANNIE SUK GERSEN CO-PRESIDENT Professor of Law, Harvard Law School

As a Jew, I would happily sit down with a neo-Nazi for dinner. If I knew what they had to say, one, I would just have a more robust understanding of humanity, which I think is fundamentally a beautiful thing.

EDWARD J. “NED” HALL CO-PRESIDENT Professor of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts and Sciences

Shira Z. Hoffer ’25 Harvard College student

and be able to argue against them better.”

But for other students, platforming such views feels unnecessary, or even dangerous.

“I feel like all students at Harvard understand that white supremacy exists in America,” Rosie P. Couture ’26 said. “I do not think that we need to be welcoming people to our campus to voice those perspectives.”

Shraddha Joshi ’24, an organizer with the Palestine Solidarity Committee, said she found that platforming certain opposing viewpoints could produce a “false symmetry between oppressors and oppressed.”

Approximately 57 percent of surveyed faculty said that Harvard should give platforms to controversial speakers, even when a significant number of students or faculty object to their views. Roughly 20 percent disagreed.

Though they think voices from opposing viewpoints can be valuable, Oliver J. Slayton ’26 said Harvard should be cautious in providing a platform to speakers who challenge the rights of certain students.

“The weight and the merit that the name of Harvard carries and saying that you were

COUNCIL ON ACADEMIC FREEDOM AT HARVARD

Alex Morey, FIRE’s director of campus rights advocacy, cautioned against conflating issues of academic freedom with those of discrimination and harassment, which she said Harvard already has robust policies against.

“We are big proponents that two things can be equally true,” Morey said. “Existing Harvard policies already do a good job of saying, ‘We don’t tolerate discriminatory harassment on campus,’ ‘We don’t tolerate threats or violence,’ and ‘We also allow students and faculty to talk about, teach about, research about a wide variety of topics, even ones that are offensive.’”

Lewis said the University must protect its affiliates’ physical safety, but should not protect them from unpleasant speech.

“People should feel safe. But again, no one should feel safe from troubling words and troubling thoughts, troubling ideas,” Lewis said. “Higher education sometimes involves troubling feelings.”

JANE KAMENSKY CO-PRESIDENT Professor of History, Faculty of Arts and Sciences

HARRY R. LEWIS ’68 CO-PRESIDENT Professor of Computer Science, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

STEVEN A. PINKER CO-PRESIDENT Professor of Psychology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences

FLYNN J. CRATTY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Associate Director for the Human Flourishing Program at HIQSS.

rahem.hamid@thecrimson.com sellers.hill@thecrimson.com

January 2023

April 2023

April 2023

HKS Dean Blocks Fellowship. Kenneth Roth, the former executive director of Human Rights Watch, accuses Harvard Kennedy School Dean Douglas W. Elmendorf of blocking him from a fellowship at the school over Roth’s criticism of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.

Council on Academic Freedom at Harvard Launches.

A group of more than 70 Harvard professors officially unveils the Council on Academic Freedom at Harvard — an initiative to promote ideals of free speech and inquiry.

Intellectual Vitality Committee Comes to Light. The Crimson reports that, for almost two years, a group of undergraduates, faculty, and alumni have met with Dean of the College Rakesh Khurana to discuss free idea exchange at the College.

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023

With Winthrop and Sackler, Harvard Faces Denaming Dilemma DENAMING DEMANDS. Over the past few years, the Arthur M. Sackler Museum and Building, Winthrop House, and Mather House have all been subject to calls for denaming due to the legacies of their namesakes. Now, for the first time, the University is officially considering requests for renaming proposals, but students and alumni remain split on what should be done.

By NATALIE K BANDURA AND NIA L. ORAKWUE CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

­H

arvard sophomore Ricky R. Razon IV ’25 recalls his grandmother living off a highway named after Jefferson Davis, the first and only president of

the Confederacy.

“I’m all too familiar with buildings, landmarks being named after slaveowners and people that have played a role in upholding the legacy of slavery,” Razon said. “Coming up north, I thought this was something I did not have to deal with — buildings being named after enslavers and people in po-

sitions of power that upheld the legacy of slavery.”

Razon, who is the president of the Generational African American Students Association, wondered if it was “naive” of him to be surprised when he learned that the “sought after” Winthrop House was named after slaveowners.

Razon is not the only student who has taken issue with the names adorning some Harvard buildings. Over the past few years, the Arthur M. Sackler Museum and Building, Winthrop, and Mather House have all been subject to calls for denaming due to the legacies of their namesakes.

For nearly all of Harvard’s history, the PAGE DESIGNED BY TOBY R. MA—CRIMSON DESIGNER

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023

THE DENAMING PROCESS SUBMIT PROPOSAL Name must not have had a proposal submitted for its removal within the past 5 years

INITIAL REVIEW Proposal is examined for basic validity criteria unrelated to the denaming argument

University provided no official procedures through which students could request building name changes.

But in 2020, President Lawrence S. Bacow created a committee charged with the creation of procedures under which the University and FAS would consider requests for renaming. In December 2021, the committee released its final report before its dissolution.

Since the guidelines were published, written requests for denaming both Winthrop and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum and Building have been submitted and are currently being reviewed by administrators.

But student activists — who have spent months putting together denaming campaigns — said the new guidelines have come with a veil of uncertainty over Harvard’s timelines and criteria for review. Other undergraduates and alumni expressed concerns that denaming would shift their relationships with the buildings they called home.

For Razon, denaming represents a way to reckon with “a very dark and ugly history.”

“We’re able to bring that to light and hold the institution to the fire in acknowledging its dark past and dark history and uplifting those who Harvard has profited off of,” he said.

request — said he believes building names honor “certain figures and values.”

“What we said with this denaming project is that John Winthrop is not a figure that we should commemorate,” said Lawrence, a Crimson Editorial editor.

‘RECKONING WITH THE LEGACY OF SLAVERY’ In February, GAASA and Natives at Harvard College launched a petition calling for the denaming of Winthrop, citing the history of its namesakes, both of whom were named John Winthrop. The petition has acquired more than 600 signatures, including those from 45 descendants of the Winthrops.

The following month, GAASA and NaHC submitted an official denaming request to the FAS, which they also published publicly as a historical and archival report on the Winthrops.

Clyve Lawrence ’25 — who spearheaded the research and drafting of the denaming

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It’s just a reminder that the University historically thinks of you as not even a human being worthy of respect, worthy of being alive, and worthy of being treated as an equal.

Madison R. Webb ’25 Member of the Winthrop report outreach committee

The Winthrop request comes almost a year after Harvard released its landmark Legacy of Slavery report in April 2022 that detailed how the school participated in, perpetuated, and profited from slavery. Included in the report are details of the Winthrops’ enslavement of Indigenous and African peoples.

The elder John Winthrop served as governor of Massachusetts for 16 years and as a Harvard overseer. But the Winthrop report said he was also “an instrumental leader in The Pequot War,” described as “a brutal, genocidal war of extermination against the Pequots, driving them to near-extinction.”

Winthrop personally enslaved at least seven people and contributed to the creation of the legal code which legalized slavery in Massachusetts, according to the Winthrop report.

The younger John Winthrop, his greatgreat grandson, served as both a Harvard professor and president. He enslaved two individuals of African descent.

Lawrence said the proposal is based on the idea that “the University should be compelled to change the symbolic and physical remnants of this legacy.”

“It’s a first step that we can say is really reckoning with the legacy of slavery at Harvard,” he said.

Morgan H. Curtis, a descendant of John

SUBSTANTIVE REVIEW Conducted by a review committee of faculty, administrators, and students unaffiliated with the request

Winthrop and student at Harvard Divinity School, signed onto the petition to dename Winthrop after studying and researching the Winthrops.

“It feels personal to understand the privileges I was born into are connected to the taking of land and labor from Black and native people,” Curtis said.

Madison R. Webb ’25, a member of the Winthrop report outreach committee, said she believes that for Indigenous and Black students, walking through Winthrop House can be an “emotional experience.”

“It’s just a reminder that the University historically thinks of you as not even a human being worthy of respect, worthy of being alive, and worthy of being treated as an equal,” Webb said.

Harvard spokesperson Jason A. Newton declined to comment on calls to dename Winthrop or student criticisms.

‘INTERTWINED WITH THE OPIOID EPIDEMIC’ Activists rekindled calls to dename the Arthur M. Sackler Museum and Building this fall, almost five years after an initial protest that demanded the University take down the Sackler name. Students staged a subsequent protest at the Arthur M. Sackler Museum last month.

Members of the Harvard College Overdose Prevention and Education Students oppose the presence of the Sackler name due to the Sackler family’s ties to Purdue Pharma, the pharmaceutical company that created and marketed the highly-addictive opioid OxyContin.

In fall 2022, members of HCOPES disseminated a petition to remove the name from both buildings, which included a poll administered to undergraduate students at the University. Out of 316 respondents, 310 supported the denaming of the Sackler Museum and Building. That October, HCOPES submitted their official denaming request to Harvard administrators.

“For decades, the Sackler family has profited off the sale and deceptive marketing of addictive drugs, most notably Oxy-

DECISION MADE Decision on what a building might be renamed would be a separate process

Contin,” the 23-page report reads.

Arthur M. Sackler died before the release of OxyContin in 1996. Still, HCOPES wrote in the report that they believe he is “far from blameless” in the popularization of opioids due to his work developing “deeply unethical and detrimental” medical marketing strategies.

Regardless of Arthur Sackler’s personal involvement, HCOPES argued that his name should be removed due to its association with his family.

“I think that the Sackler name in this country, and Arthur Sackler’s name as well, is deeply intertwined with the opioid epidemic that has killed hundreds of thousands of Americans,” HCOPES Policy Chair Jay P. Garg ’24 said.

Signatories of the HCOPES petition had the option to provide personal comments about their relationship to the Sackler name. According to a copy of the petition obtained by The Crimson, a number of affiliates described deep discomfort with spending time in or walking by buildings with the Sackler name.

Spokespeople for Purdue Pharma and Jillian Sackler, Arthur Sackler’s widow, did not respond to requests for comment. Newton declined to comment on the Sackler denaming request.

‘A HIGHLY CONSULTATIVE PROCESS’ Denaming requests for FAS buildings are evaluated either through the FAS or the University, or both. The components of requests are outlined by the “Committee to Articulate Principles on Renaming,” the group which Bacow convened in 2020.

President Emerita Drew G. Faust chaired the group, which consisted of 15 other members.

This group aimed to determine circumstances in which names might be removed from Havard buildings due to “past advocacy or support of activities” that affiliates “would today find abhorrent,” according to its final report.

Harvard Economics professor and Low-

The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023 ell House Faculty Dean David I. Laibson ’88, a member of the committee, said the group solicited opinions from stakeholders including students, staff, faculty, alumni, Cambridge residents, and historians throughout the process.

“It was a highly consultative process, and I thought it was a very fruitful set of conversations because people really were listening to one another,” Laibson said.

According to the committee’s final report, denaming requests must determine to what extent the name “creates a harmful environment,” consider the historical evidence and why the name was originally selected, and discern how central the name is to the experience of Harvard affiliates.

Requests must also consider if the namesake’s criticized behavior is “a significant

component of that individual’s legacy when viewed in the full context of the namesake’s life” and whether their actions would have been “objectionable in the namesake’s own time.”

Finally, petitioners must discuss whether retaining and contextualizing the name is a better alternative to denaming.

Denaming proposals originally submitted to the FAS will also be reviewed at the University level if they involve a gift agreement or other legal contract.

According to Harvard’s guidelines, if a denaming proposal is not accepted by the review committee, another request for that name cannot be submitted for five years, except if “significant and consequential new information comes to light.”

After submission, the request is first ex-

amined for basic validity criteria unrelated to the denaming argument. If the request passes this initial review, it advances to a substantive review, conducted by a committee of faculty, administrators, and students unaffiliated with the request.

The Winthrop petition is currently in the substantive review stage, Lawrence said.

Advocates for the Sackler petition have received no updates on the process beyond the fact that the request is under review, according to Garg.

The denaming processes do not set any time frame for how long the review should take.

Some students involved in the creation of denaming proposals criticized the length, uncertainty, and complexity involved with the petition process.

Webb said she respects the “tedious” nature of the process, though she said it shouldn’t take “three years to acknowledge wrongdoing.”

“They’re thinking about stakeholders, and they’re thinking about their endowment and they’re thinking about future students, and how this may impact admissions and how it may impact future students who want to live at this university,” Webb said.

Kiersten B. Hash ’25, an organizer of the Winthrop denaming petition, said she feels the administration’s lengthy timeline for reviewing proposals is a “very intentional” method to subdue student activism.

“A lot of the ways that the school quells student organizing is by making things slow moving,” Hash said. “It’s guaranteeing the same students won’t be here.”

Students staged a “die-in” at the Harvard Art Museums in April to protest the University’s ties to the Sackler family. J. SELLERS HILL—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER PAGE DESIGNED BY TOBY R. MA—CRIMSON DESIGNER

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023

Clyve Lawrence ‘25, Kiersten B. Hash ‘25, and Jordan Young ‘25 speak during a February demonstration to dename Winthrop House. JULIAN J. GIORDANO—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

Newton, the Harvard spokesperson, declined to comment on criticisms of the denaming process.

Lawrence cited Stanford’s public list of names under review for denaming as an example of greater clarity in denaming processes.

“There’s a precedent for other colleges for making these types of things public,” Lawrence said.

‘THE LENS OF THEIR TIME’ Not all Harvard students and alumni are unified in the belief that the Winthrop or Sackler names should be removed from campus buildings.

Alma H. Conway ’23 said she supports denaming the Sackler buildings more than Winthrop House, describing allegations

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against the Sackler family as “a much more current and pressing issue.”

“They still are well off and don’t have to face the consequences of people who are addicted to opioids nowadays,” Conway said.

“The slavery issue is awful and I think it will be a scar on America’s record forever, but I’m glad we overcame it and we should look at them with the lens of their time.”

Cindy H. Phan ’24 said she has no qualms with denaming, but she prefers that it is viewed as “a catalyst to a broader conversation that needs to happen.”

But for some Harvard alumni and former Winthrop House residents, like Gerasimos N. “Jerry” Tsandoulas ’61, “Winthrop” carries an intimate meaning associated with his time living in the house that transcends its namesakes’ legacies.

“This initiative will provoke a visceral,

not intellectual, negative reaction in most of us whether such reaction is explicitly stated or not, for the name is inextricably tied to our overall experience at Winthrop House and we do not want that experience to be in any way degraded,” Tsandoulas wrote in an emailed statement.

Tijesunimi E. Borode ’24, who did research for the Winthrop petition, said houses can be a “safe haven,” providing allthe-more reason to pay attention to their namesakes’ historical roots.

“What [it] symbolizes for some is the remembrance that will provoke recollection of atrocities that were done in the past,” Borode said.

Albert Z. “Chig” Lewis Jr. ’70, a former Winthrop resident, wrote that affiliates “must understand the past to improve upon it.”

“I find it exceedingly more interesting to examine the history of a flawed person and try to understand the forces and cultural impacts of their situation than to try to glorify someone in an edifice that bears little connection with the history of the building,” Lewis wrote in an email.

Lawrence said he believes denaming is not “erasing history or rewriting history” but instead “a symbolic step” towards dismantling oppressive systems.

“It is a specific process of contextualization and acknowledgement,” Lawrence said. “It’s a way for us to reckon with a complete picture of somebody’s life, rather than just brushing off, or cherry picking certain parts of the legacy.” natalie.bandura@thecrimson.com nia.orakwue@thecrimson.com

The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023

Bloated or Beneficial?

Harvard’s Growing Admin ADMIN BLOAT. Over the past two decades, Harvard’s number of full-time administrative positions has increased by more than 40 percent. Though the increase has seen mixed reviews from faculty — some of whom note a shift in power at the University — Harvard claims the added positions provide crucial support across campus.

TOBY R. MA—CRIMSON DESIGNER

By CAM E. KETTLES AND CLAIRE YUAN CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

­I

n 2004, Harvard employed just under 5,300 full-time administrators. Nearly two decades later, this figure has seen a whopping 43 percent increase.

In contrast, the University’s faculty, start-

ing at 2,000 members, has only increased by 11 percent in that same time period.

But the explosive growth of administrative ranks has affected more than just raw numbers.

Former Harvard College Dean and Computer Science professor Harry R. Lewis ’68 said the expansion of University administration has also resulted in “drawing au-

thority upward” and away from faculty.

The result, according to Lewis, is a system that hurts both faculty and students.

“I don’t think it’s great for the students. I also don’t think it’s good for the faculty, either,” he said. “The whole spirit of the place is changed because of it.”

Harvey A. Silverglate, who has staged multiple outsider campaigns in an attempt

to win a seat on the Board of Overseers, the University’s second-highest governing body, also called into question the necessity of adding more administrators to Harvard’s ranks.

“If you examine the daily life of these administrators, I bet they don’t spend more than a half hour a day doing something useful,” Silverglate said.

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023 According to Harvard spokesperson Jason A. Newton, administrative positions added over the past decade support new degree programs and academic centers, as well as provide a wide range of job functions, such as human resources, finances, research, health and mental health care, and information technology.

In addition to diminishing faculty authority, the increase in administration decentralizes the University, drives a wedge between students and instructors, and provides surface-level solutions to difficult issues, some former and current Harvard faculty and administrators said. Others, however, believe the growth is justified for the increasingly complex challenges faced

by Harvard.

provost.

“I had told the Corporation and deans that I wanted a provost because I thought we needed at least two people in Mass. Hall who could think about academic collabora-

‘SIZE IS A PROBLEM’

tion and integration,” Rudenstine said.

Since its creation under Rudenstine, the provost’s office has enjoyed a massive expansion. Established in 1992, the office began with three members. Now, in 2023, it boasts 21 provost positions — a seven-fold increase.

“We had three people during my 10 years

When Neil L. Rudenstine assumed the Harvard presidency in 1991, he was the only academic officer in Massachusetts Hall.

Feeling the need for more academic support within the administration, Rudenstine proposed the idea of creating an office of the

— the provost, myself, and an associate provost,” Rudenstine said. “That was it.”

Now, Harvard Provost Alan M. Garber ’76 has under his purview nearly two dozen associate and vice provosts responsible for

We had three people during my 10 years — the provost, myself, and an associate provost. That was it.

Neil L. Rudenstine Former Harvard University President

managing students, research, and projects across the University.

Though he felt the imperative to create an office dedicated to academic administration at the University, Rudenstine acknowledged the issues with expanding administrative ranks within Harvard, which is “probably the most decentralized admin-

istration I know.”

“It’s a problem,” he said. “Scale is a problem. Size is a problem.”

“The more individual programs or institutes or schools that you create, the more there’s a tendency for the institution to go in different directions and speak at the same time, and the harder it is to bring the parts together,” he added.

Compared to its peer institutions, Harvard employs a comparatively higher number of provosts. Though Yale lists 19 administrators who hold a “provost” title and Columbia 24 — figures similar to Harvard’s 21 — Dartmouth and Princeton have only nine and 11, respectively.

Still, all institutions feature a host of other administrators within the offices who, though lacking the provost title, assist with academic administrative duties.

Lewis also criticized the expansion of the provost’s office. In particular, he honed in on positions related to coordinating student affairs across the University.

“Look up what the provost’s office looked like 20 years ago and compare it to what the provost’s office looks like today,” Lewis said.

CLAIRE YUAN—CRIMSON DESIGNER

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023 “I mean, there’s even an assistant provost for students now.”

The Associate Provost for Student Affairs, Robin Glover, is responsible for “promoting and facilitating coordination and information sharing among our Schools that will lead to better support for our diverse student body,” according to the office’s website.

However, Lewis said that “the provost has no students” and “only the faculties, only the schools have students.” Instead of focusing on any particular school, the associate provost for student affairs is tasked with managing student affairs broadly across the University.

“In what world does it make sense to compare the experience of medical students and Harvard College freshmen?”

Lewis added.

Lewis said he believes the provost’s office reflects the “vertical fragmentation” within the University’s administration.

“They end up stepping on each other’s feet,” he said. “This is part of an attempt to decentralize and coordinate in ways where it doesn’t actually make sense.”

OUTPACING THE FACULTY Administrators currently outnumber faculty more than three to one.

Richard F. Thomas, a Harvard Classics professor, said the “bloated administration has little effect on the effective teaching and research of the institution.”

“The job that matters to faculty — that is, their research and their teaching — seems to me not to require the sort of administrative expansion — colossal administrative expansion — that we’ve seen in higher edu-

BY THE NUMBERS

43 In 2004, Harvard had 5,300 (5,296.8) full-time administrator positions and 2,000 (2037.6) faculty member positions. In 2023, there were 7,600 (7593.2) full-time administrator positions and 2,300 (2269.2) faculty member positions.

Administrators saw a 43 percent increase, and faculty saw 11 percent increase.

The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation. MARINA QU—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

has become an administrative allocation,” Thomas said.

According to Lewis, administrative growth means “power has become centralized” away from the faculty and deans who work more closely with students — and toward the president and provost.

While professors used to play a more active role in supporting students outside their classes, Lewis said the rise in administrative departments responsible for helping students find their interests, resolve conflicts, and address social issues “puts a

I think what Harvard is doing when they add administrative positions is helping faculty and students to do what they want to do.

Leslie P. Tolbert ’73 Outgoing Vice Chair of Harvard’s Board of Overseers

cation,” he said.

This growth, Thomas said, necessitates a tradeoff in resources between administrators and faculty.

“If the administration is growing at a greater pace than the faculty, then de facto what could have been a faculty allocation

wall up between faculty and students.”

“It’s sad when they then become somewhat preachy about how things should be done, and the faculty kind of withdraw,” he said.

Lewis added that the addition of new administrators serves more as a way for Har-

vard to signal its priorities to the world.

“When you identify a particular individual, as the kind of ‘owner’ of this issue, you get the feeling that it’s sometimes done as, ‘This is the way to prove that Harvard takes this issue seriously — to have a dean on it,’” he said.

But Leslie P. Tolbert ’73, outgoing vice chair of Harvard’s Board of Overseers and former senior vice president for research at the University of Arizona, said administrators aid faculty in their research and instructional work.

In a May 2 update, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Office for Faculty Affairs announced it would audit “administration requests of faculty” to “determine where work can be eliminated, done more efficiently, or performed by administrative staff.”

Tolbert, a neuroscience professor emerita at Arizona, said as a faculty member, “you often wish there were some more people” in administration “who could just help you to get the grant or to find out where the research opportunities are.”

“It’s not a ‘Oh no, here we go, there are going to be more administrators telling me what to do,’” Tolbert said. “I think what Harvard is doing when they add administrative positions is helping faculty and students to do what they want to do.”

RESEARCH AND OTHER ACADEMIC POSITIONS In 2004: (1309.3) In 2023: (2578.4) 97 percent increase SUPPORT In 2004: (4538.6) In 2023: (5071.8) 12 percent increase SERVICE AND TRADE In 2004: (1042.7) In 2023: (1283.6) 23 percent increase

21 The Provost’s Office started in 1992 with three members.

Now in 2023 it has 21, a seven-time increase.

NUMBER OF ADMINISTRATIVE POSITIONS TITLED “PROVOST” IN 2023 Harvard: 21 Yale: 19 Columbia: 24 Dartmouth: 9 Princeton: 11

‘WISE USE OF RESOURCES’ Despite widespread complaints of adminisPAGE DESIGNED BY TOBY R. MA—CRIMSON DESIGNER

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023

Harvard’s Smith Campus Center is home to many administrative offices, including the Office of Institutional Research and Harvard Human Resources. MARINA QU—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

trative bloat, Penny S. Pritzker ’81 — senior fellow of the Harvard Corporation, the University’s highest governing body — insisted that Harvard doesn’t “have a huge central administration.”

“The University has benefited from the areas where the schools are working together,” Pritzker said.

“I think we have the best of all worlds, which is we have a strong center, but we also have these very independent schools,” she added. “Getting that balance right is art, not science.”

University President Lawrence S. Bacow pointed to the expansion of research initiatives as a driving force behind administrative growth.

“When we stand up new academic initiatives, they need support,” he said.

Research and other academic positions at Harvard — including research scientists, visiting scholars, postdoctoral students, and coaches — did see a spike in count from 2010 to 2012, increasing nearly 200 percent.

Bacow added that there are more undergraduates on campus now than before the pandemic, so the College needs more advisers and residential administrative staff.

58

He also credited the expansion of administrative ranks to be a result of the University’s attempts to provide other services for students, including mental health resources and career services.

“We’ve tried to be responsive,” he said.

“That’s adding administrators — all those people count as administrators.”

For example, in 2013, Harvard established its Title IX offices to address sexual harassment and misconduct complaints.

The University has also been forced to respond to a number of new technological demands and government mandates on reporting, Bacow said, which contribute toward administrative growth.

“As we become a more computationally intensive institution, we need more people there,” Bacow said. “Just responding to government mandates, to report on all sorts of things which we did not have to report on previously, that requires people.”

“We don’t keep people around if there’s no work for them,” he added.

Tolbert said her job as a member of the Board of Overseers is to look across departments and programs within the University to determine the areas where the school

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needs further development or expansion.

“I don’t see it as a problem,” she said. “I see it as a wise use of resources.”

Philip W. Lovejoy, former executive director of the Harvard Alumni Association and director of University-wide alumni affairs, said during his time at Harvard, “central administration got more and more efficient.”

“It’s a huge enterprise and it needs a lot of people to make it run,” he said. “I actually think that Harvard does not have a bloated administration.”

‘AN INEXORABLE PROCESS’ Broadly, Thomas said the expansion of Harvard’s administration reflects a “natural impulse in American higher education.”

“I think it’s been an inexorable process which has taken on its own momentum,” he said.

Thomas D. Parker ’64, an higher education expert, said administrative growth is “not a new issue” and that it can be difficult for university leadership to successfully remove administrative positions without inadvertently cutting important roles.

As Gay, the outgoing dean of the FAS, prepares to ascend to her presidential position in Mass. Hall, she faces a litany of demands that will require her to reassess the administration of the University.

“I think that every incoming president ought to take a little inventory and see what can be done. Problem is, everybody’s got an ax,” Parker said. “Everybody thinks they know which administrator should be eliminated.”

“The trouble is, usually the people who try to do something dramatic about it just screw up,” he added. “They go too far.”

Parker also pointed to the broader changes across higher education, in which universities have become more than “a purely instructional place.”

“The modern university is a city, and it’s got all the needs and problems of cities,” he said. “It’s a huge group of people who have very specialized and expensive needs.”

“It’s not just a Harvard issue — this is true in every major university,” he said. “It’s part of the landscape.” cam.kettles@thecrimson.com claire.yuan@thecrimson.com

The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023

What Critical Race Theory Was — and is — at Harvard Law School SCHOOL OF THOUGHT. Over the last few years, critical race theory has faced conservative backlash, with several state legislatures banning it from public education. But to its originators — many of whom were Harvard Law School affiliates — the term means something entirely different. Here’s how it was developed at the Law School and taught today.

SOPHIA C. SCOTT—CRIMSON DESIGNER PAGE DESIGNED BY TOBY R. MA—CRIMSON DESIGNER

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023

By NEIL H. SHAH CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

­F

ormer Harvard University President Derek C. Bok vividly recalls the day that he, then dean of Harvard Law School, flew to California to recruit Derrick A. Bell Jr. to the Law School’s faculty in 1969 — more than five decades ago.

“We had gradually developed a fairly substantial number of Black students in the Law School, and we had nothing in the curriculum about the role of race in the law as it affected a number of fields of law,” Bok said.

“There was nobody really in a position on the faculty that could relate in ways that only a Black professor at that time could really understand and help with,” he added.

Bell became the Law School’s first tenured Black professor in 1971 and called for the school to diversify its faculty. In 1990, Bell took what he called a “leave of conscience” — a voluntary unpaid leave of absence — and said he would not return until the Law School hired its first Black female tenured professor.

There was nobody really in a position on the faculty that could relate in ways that only a Black professor at that time could really understand and help with.

Derek C. Bok Former Harvard University President

Derek C. Bok, while dean of Harvard Law School, hired the school’s first tenured Black professor in 1971. GRACE Z. LI—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

The school, however, did not do so until 1998, leading Bell to ultimately forfeit his tenure in 1992, spending the rest of his career at New York University.

While at Harvard, Bell published the casebook “Race, Racism, and American Law,” which — as he wrote — was motivated by the question, “What does it mean to say that racism is a permanent feature of American society?” Much of his work aimed to address this issue, studying how racism had been incorporated into America’s legal framework.

Bell’s scholarly work and writings are widely credited as being foundational works of critical race theory, a field of legal scholarship that has become a lightning rod for conservative backlash in recent years.

Multiple state legislatures have limited the teaching of critical race theory in public schools, and several more are considering laws that would do the same.

A number of Republican politicians — including Florida Governor and Law School alum Ron DeSantis and former Vice

President Mike Pence — have publicly condemned critical race theory, with DeSantis tweeting that it is “state-sanctioned racism.”

Legal scholars, however, say that the political attacks and laws against critical race theory are baseless and misrepresent what the term actually references.

“These statutes are — in some fundamental sense — ridiculous, that they’re aimed at a nonexistent target. A second version of that point is the people who are supporting these statutes have literally no

ORIGINS OF CRITICAL RACE THEORY

1969

1970

1971

Derrick A. Bell Jr. is recruited by former Harvard President Derek C. Bok, then the dean of Harvard Law School, to join the Law School’s faculty.

Bell publishes the casebook “Race, Racism, and American Law,” which is considered one of the foundational works for critical race theory.

Bell becomes Harvard Law School’s first tenured Black professor.

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idea what critical race theory is,” said Mark V. Tushnet ’67, professor emeritus at Harvard Law School. “It’s just a label they’ve attached to ideas that they don’t like, ideas about the importance of race in U.S. history for example. The word I use is fundamentally silly.”

Rather, to legal academics, critical race theory is a school of legal thought that seeks to examine how the concept of race is codified by the law and the consequences of these codifications, such as systemic racial

The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023

The “Alternative Course” organized by Harvard Law School students in 1983, was based on Derrick A. Bell Jr.’s “Race, Racism, and American Law.” FRANK S. ZHOU—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

inequality.

Bell and a number of Harvard Law School alumni — including University of California, Los Angeles and Columbia University law professor Kimberlé W. Crenshaw, who is credited with coining the term, and University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa Law School professor Mari J. Matsuda — are considered to have been instrumental figures in critical race theory’s development.

How has this legal field been shaped by Harvard Law School and how do its stu-

dents and scholars view conservative attacks on the field?

‘A SPLINTER CONFERENCE’ Many of critical race theory’s pioneers passed through the Law School on their scholarly journeys.

While at the Law School, Crenshaw and Matsuda were engaged in organized discussions on critical race theory, which called on the school to increase diversity among

its faculty and to better incorporate race into the school’s curriculum.

In 1983, Crenshaw and Matsuda led a group of Law School students in organizing an “Alternative Course” called “Racism and the American Law.” The 14-week project — based on Bell’s “Race, Racism, and American Law” — was supported by proponents of critical legal studies on the Law School’s faculty and invited visiting professors from other law schools to teach at the school. More than 100

students attended the “Alternative Course,” one of the goals of which was to call on the Law School’s administration to offer an official course that studied race in the law.

Critical legal studies — a prominent legal movement of the 1970s and 1980s that was especially influential at Harvard Law School — sought to study the relationship that the law had with social and political issues.

Critical race theory emerged as an offshoot of the critical legal studies movement

1983

1989

Harvard Law School students organize an “Alternative Course” called “Racism and the American Law” based on Bell’s “Race, Racism, and American Law” as part of efforts to urge the school to diversify its faculty and offer courses studying the intersection of race and the law.

24 legal scholars attend a workshop at the University of Wisconsin called “New Developments in CRT,” which — according to an article by Kimberlé W. Crenshaw, one of the workshop’s organizers — was the first use of the term.

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023 after the originators of critical race theory contended that critical legal studies and other legal approaches of the time failed to properly examine the relationship between race and the law.

“Critical race theory originates in kind of a splinter conference that breaks off from the general CLS conference,” said Robert W. Gordon ’63, professor emeritus at Yale and Stanford law schools and a former Crimson Editorial chair. Gordon was one of the original scholars of critical legal studies.

As Crenshaw wrote in her 2011 Connecticut Law Review article “Twenty Years of Critical Race Theory: Looking Back to Move Forward,” 24 scholars attended a 1989 conference at the University of Wisconsin called “New Developments in CRT” — which Crenshaw added represents the first use of the term.

Among the event’s participants were Bell and several Harvard Law School graduates — including Crenshaw, Matsuda, Western State College of Law professor emeritus Neil T. Gotanda, University of Buffalo Law School professor emeritus Stephanie L. Phillips, and others — a number of whom first interacted with critical legal studies at Harvard and met during their time there.

These academics, characterized by Crenshaw as “a motley crew of minority scholars” who attended the “backdoor speakeasies” of American Association of Law Schools and critical legal studies annual meetings, hoped to “move beyond the non-critical liberalism that often cabined civil rights discourses and a non-racial radicalism that was a line of debate within CLS.” In the years since critical race theory’s inception, Harvard Law School has incorporated critical race theory and other approaches to the law related to identity — such as feminist legal theory — into courses in its curriculum, though many argue the school has not gone far enough in these efforts.

INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT Today, Harvard Law School offers two courses focused on critical race theory. This past fall, Law School professor Kenneth W. Mack taught a course titled “Critical Race Theory” and this past spring, Law School professor Guy-Uriel E. Charles taught a seminar called “Critical Race Theorists and their Critics.”

For Charles, teaching the seminar was appealing because he wanted “to try to understand why critical race theory was viewed as so controversial.”

“When I first started, it was focusing as much on ‘What is critical race theory?’ as

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‘What [do] the critics of critical race theory think that it is?’” he said. “This semester, when I’ve taught it, I’ve focused much, much less on the critics.”

Charles added that conservative criticisms of critical race theory have factored into how he teaches the class, saying that “part of the focus of my class is to make sure that my students have a pretty good understanding about what critical race theory is.”

“Just to give a basic example, critical race theory is not diversity, equity, and inclusion — DEI — those are just two different things,” he said. “It doesn’t mean that they’re necessarily incompatible — doesn’t mean that they are or they are not incompatible — it just means that they’re different things.”

When asked if the conservative attacks on critical race theory had impacted its teaching and study at Harvard, Law School professor Jon D. Hanson answered, “Mostly no, but a little bit yes.”

“The ‘mostly no’ has to do with the fact

interested in “how science gets mobilized in the context of law to essentially make racial claims,” which motivated her selection of cases to study in the class.

Sean R. Wynn, a rising second-year student at the Law School who took Charles’ class, said he enrolled because he had just one slot for an elective and “wanted to take something that was as far away from a doctrinal class as possible.”

“It was really good over the past five months to just be challenged on the way that I see the world,” Wynn said.

‘DISAPPOINTED IN THE CURRICULUM’ But some affiliates say the Law School’s most fundamental courses — its required first-year curriculum — fail to challenge students along these lines.

Student efforts to incorporate critical race theory into the curriculum and dis-

Just to give a basic example, critical race theory is not diversity, equity, and inclusion — DEI — those are just two different things.

Guy-Uriel E. Charles Professor at Harvard Law School

that there isn’t any direct prohibition or attempt to prohibit what is taught in schools here in Massachusetts, much less law schools,” Hanson said of teaching critical race theory. “I can’t imagine a school like Harvard capitulating to pressure not to do that.”

“On the other hand, I would say, it is striking to me that, as an institution from which we could say critical race theory emerged and an institution that purports at this point to value the insights of critical race theory, I think it is striking how quiet we have been about what could be described as fascist trends in this country,” he added.

Boston University School of Law professor Aziza Ahmed said when she taught a seminar on critical race theory at Harvard Law School in spring 2021, she wanted her students to “understand what the background rules — legal rules — and structural conditions were that essentially contribute to the ordering of society along racial lines.”

Ahmed — a graduate of Harvard’s School of Public Health — said she was also

course at the Law School have continued since the “Alternative Course,” including student-run conferences, teach-ins, and protests in recent years.

One example of this is the Bell Collective, a student organization at the Law School — named after Bell, the former Law School professor — that organizes an annual critical race theory conference.

Edward S. Chung, the Bell Collective’s incoming president and a rising third-year student at Harvard Law School, joined the group after feeling disheartened by the school’s first-year curriculum.

“I was kind of disappointed in the curriculum that they had in terms of how they approached race and other topics,” Chung said.

“So, a few of my mentors reached out and said you should join the Bell Collective, we had the same issue you had our first year, and this is how we decided to deal with it and make our own conference to address these issues that weren’t being covered in the curriculum, Chung added.”

Law School spokesperson Jeff Neal de-

clined to comment on criticisms that the school’s first-year curriculum focuses too heavily on doctrine and fails to properly address race and identity.

In recent years, as political attacks on critical race theory have increased, Chung said he feels the nine-member Bell Collective has received increased attention at the school.

“The support the conference is getting has changed a little bit, from more left-leaning or smaller communities within the Harvard Law community,” Chung said.

“Now, it’s like the institution is trying to take a heavier hand or like a bigger role in the conference because of the attacks and because of the buzzword that’s been going around in a sense,” Chung added.

According to Noah Q. Spicer, a rising second-year student at the Law School who took Charles’ class, not talking enough “about how doctrinal issues or black letter law intersects with our various identities” is a missed opportunity for the Law School’s first-year curriculum.

“Harvard Law School produces some of the most notable figures in not only American history, but world history, and so, I think not talking about how our identities play a role in how decisions are made within the courtroom and how it impacts people’s lives doesn’t allow us to interrogate those views and to really refine how we feel,” Spicer said.

“Some people might deny or not feel like race plays a meaningful role in how the law is adjudicated, that judges and lawyers are facially neutral and look at the law from a sanitized perspective, but I just don’t think that that’s reality,” he added Ahmed, the BU law professor who was a Harvard visiting professor, said that she feels there is a need to incorporate discussions of race and identity into the first-year law curriculum.

“I think it’s not just critical race theory,” Ahmed said, referencing other approaches to the law examining identity.

“The concern is becoming more immediate because the Supreme Court — especially if you’re teaching a class like Constitutional [Law] — is so out of sync with what most Americans want and certainly what most law students want,” Ahmed said.

“You have to be able to bring in a broader conversation about power and politics and interest groups,” Ahmed added. “That necessarily requires an acknowledgment of the types of inequalities we see in society.” neil.shah@thecrimson.com

The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023

Harvard Square Adapts to Post-Pandemic Challenges BACK TO BUSTLING? In the last year, Madras Dosa Co., Roust Deli, Möge Tee, Faro Café, Taiyaki NYC, Tiger Sugar, and CAVA were just some of the businesses that opened their doors to Harvard Square. But as the Square welcomes a bevy of new storefronts, a number of longstanding businesses continue to feel the lingering pains of the pandemic.

SOPHIA SALAMANCA—CRIMSON DESIGNER

By CAROLINE K. HSU, SIDNEY K. LEE, AND MARINA QU CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

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or Koushik “Babu” Koganti, whose South Indian restaurant Madras Dosa Co. opened just a few weeks ago in Harvard Square, the response from customers has been “tremendous.”

“People started coming out a lot for the last one year,” Koganti said, adding he has observed a change in the “mindset” and spending habits of local consumers.

“They don’t know what’s going to happen. So people want to do everything, whatever they want to do now,” Koganti said.

Denise A. Jillson, executive director of the Harvard Square Business Association, said she has seen many “exciting” new restaurants and businesses open in recent months, including many owned by “young entrepreneurs.”

“There’s a new vibe emerging,” Jillson added.

In the last year, Madras Dosa Co., Roust Deli, Möge Tee, Faro Café, Taiyaki NYC, Ti-

ger Sugar, and CAVA were just some of the businesses that opened their doors to Harvard Square. In the coming months, Blank Street Coffee and Joe’s Pizza are also expected to open.

Yet while Harvard Square has welcomed a bevy of new businesses in the last year — ranging from vintage clothing stores to boba tea shops to athletic facilities — a number of longstanding businesses continue to feel the lingering pains of the pandemic.

PANDEMIC PAINS REMAIN

While some new business owners in the Square said they escaped the economic downturn caused by Covid-19, other longstanding businesses continue to feel the burden of pandemic-driven uncertainty and labor shortages.

Some well-known Harvard Square businesses have not survived these pressures.

In the last year, the Square has seen the closures of Bonchon, Darwin’s Ltd., and Milk Bar, among others.

During the pandemic, the Charles Hotel reduced its workforce by around 80 of its nearly 300 total employees, according to

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023

CAMBRIDGE BUSINESSES AND COVID-19

March 11, 2020

March 26, 2020

June 8, 2020

July 14, 2020

Covid-19 is declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization, and non-essential businesses in Cambridge are forced to close soon after by government order.

Cambridge Small Business Covid-19 Relief Grant application opens. The program offers up to $6,000 per brick-and-mortar business selected for the grant.

Phase II of Massachusetts’ reopening plan begins, allowing restaurants, hotels, and many other facilities to open under major restrictions and contingencies.

The City of Cambridge and Cambridge Redevelopment Authority award $3.6 million in zero-interest loans to local small businesses.

More loans continue to be offered.

Alex Attia, the hotel’s general manager.

While there has been a “nice rebound” from the peak of the pandemic, the hotel is still in its “recovery period,” Attia said, which he expects to be over by 2025 at the earliest.

The hotel’s guest bookings are “Harvard-driven,” Attia added, and as students depart campus for the summer, he is “very concerned” about the impact on business.

Labor shortages also continue to impact the hotel, he said.

“We need to continue to rethink, also, how can we do better on attracting employees, and can we make sure that we’re getting the right employees for the right job so they can stay longer?” Attia said.

According to Theodora M. Skeadas ’12, executive director of Cambridge Local First — a nonprofit network of locally owned, independent businesses in Cambridge — the labor market is “stabilizing in the new normal,” in particular because of the persistence of remote work.

“People want work that’s closer to home — they don’t want to commute as much,” Skeadas said.

“The reality is, Cambridge is really expensive. And a lot of people who work at our small businesses can’t afford to live in Cambridge, and they found jobs closer to home and in cities outside of Boston,” she added.

At Irving House at Harvard — a hotel that has served Harvard Square visitors for nearly eight decades — hiring has similarly been a “challenge,” according to Rachael Solem, the establishment’s owner and president.

As a result, the hotel has given raises to current staff as well as increased the starting wage.

“While I am happy to be able to do this, it is scary to commit to a much bigger payroll when we have experienced the kind of loss we did in 2020,” Solem wrote in an emailed statement.

The restaurant and drinks scene in the Square is no different. According to Alvin Lu, the owner of Tiger Sugar in Harvard Square, good employees can be difficult to find.

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“Because they’re in such demand, usually the good ones are taken, or they require a much higher pay,” Lu said.

“Being that the cost of goods has gone up and margins are being squeezed, we just need to find ways to be more efficient, operationally,” Lu added.

‘A VERY WEALTHY CITY’ Since the start of the pandemic, Cambridge’s government has furnished at least $6.6 million in direct relief to more than 400 small businesses through federally funded grants, the Mayor’s Disaster Relief Fund, and other programs, according to city data collected through August 2022.

Of the relief funds, almost $1.5 million in federal funding was distributed to local businesses through the American Rescue Plan Act. For Irving House, which sold one of its three buildings in summer 2020 to stay afloat, city government assistance has proven crucial.

“We applied for and received all the government assistance possible, and have survived due to that assistance,” Solem wrote in an email.

Of the Cambridge small businesses that applied, more than 80 percent — including Irving House — received city government assistance.

The figure is markedly higher than the 26 percent of applying businesses in Boston that received relief, according to a February 2022 WGBH News interview with Natalia Urtubey, Boston’s director of small business at the time.

“We have a very wealthy city, and the city government was able to offer a lot of resources, including grants — money to businesses to help them stay afloat during this time,” Skeadas said of Cambridge.

The resources Cambridge offered, according to Jillson, allowed businesses to overcome pandemic-driven economic difficulties.

“Fewer than originally anticipated” businesses permanently closed, she said, “because the community did pull together and because there were so many resources

Irving House at Harvard is a hotel that has served Harvard Square visitors for nearly eight decades. MARINA QU—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

Harvard Square has four boba tea shops. Tiger Sugar pounced on the Square in November. MARINA QU—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

Vico Style, a new vintage clothing store in the Square, opened its doors in March. MARINA QU—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023

December 23, 2020

May 29, 2021

Mass. Gov. Charlie D. Baker ’79 announces a $668 million relief plan to help small businesses statewide.

Covid-19 vaccines are readily available, and pandemic restrictions and capacity limits for businesses are lifted.

The Charles Hotel stands at One Bennett St. next to the John F. Kennedy Memorial Park. MARINA QU—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

available to our business community here in Cambridge.”

“The community rallied,” Jillson said.

On top of government aid, groups like the Harvard Square Business Association and Cambridge Local First have promoted locally owned businesses and encouraged consumers to shop local.

HSBA is active on social media and features many of the new businesses that have arrived in the Square recently.

Cambridge Local First hosts “shop local” campaigns during the holiday season and runs educational programming on the benefits of a strong local economy, according to Skeadas.

In addition, Cambridge Local First advocates for policies that will “create a level playing field for small businesses” at all levels of government, per Skeadas.

NEW BUSINESSES, NEW CHALLENGES

The Attic is a newly opened Massachusetts Ave. clothing store. MARINA QU—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

South Indian restaurant Madras Dosa Co. opened just a few weeks ago in Harvard Square. MARINA QU—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

Even as small business pandemic relief subsides, new businesses are flocking to Harvard Square.

Recently, there has been a wave of store openings, including boba tea shops and clothing stores. In just the past year, three boba tea shops — Gong Cha, Tiger Sugar, and Möge Tee — joined Harvard Square, which previously only hosted boba shop Kung Fu Tea. Targeting both tourists and students, So Lim Ting, co-owner of Möge Tee, said the Square affords businesses like his an ideal location.

“Everybody [who] comes to Boston, they go to Harvard, definitely,” he said.

Pardis Saffari, director of Cambridge’s Economic Opportunity and Development Division, described the Square as a “regional hub, providing easy access for residents from surrounding towns to come to the city.”

“These advantages provide great opportunities for our businesses to have a consistent customer base on the weekdays and weekends, which many other commercial districts (like downtowns) lack,” Saffari wrote in an email.

Dixon Leung, operating partner of Square newcomer WakuWaku Ramen and Sake, also cited the vast potential clientele of college students and tourists as a major factor for expanding into Harvard Square.

Amid the recent additions to the Square, business owners have had to adapt creatively to new challenges that have emerged.

In addition to rising labor costs, the wave of new business openings has increased competition for shops such as Tiger Sugar, according to Lu. “It’s overly saturated,” Lu said. “There’s just so many restaurants and food-beverage places.”

Lu said to account for labor shortages, Tiger Sugar has been experimenting with touchscreen point-of-sale systems, self-ordering kiosks, and other technologies to substitute for staff.

“On the product side of things, it’s just trying to be innovative,” Lu said. “Keep up with the trends. Also run promotions and collaborations with possibly bigger brands.”

A lot of people who work at our small businesses can’t afford to live in Cambridge, and they found jobs closer to home and in cities outside of Boston.

Theodora M. Skeadas ’12 Executive Director of Cambridge Local First

Cecilia Hermawan, the owner of the new vintage clothing store Vico Style, said it is important to run creative marketing campaigns to attract customers.

“Post-pandemic, I feel like people are more interested to interact with one another and going into brick and mortar,” Hermawan said. “But also at the same time as an entrepreneur, I have to think creatively on how to win people’s share of wallet.”

Though many of the new entrants to the Square are chain and franchise establishments — including Tiger Sugar, PAGE DESIGNED BY TOBY R. MA—CRIMSON DESIGNER

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023

May 9, 2022

August 31, 2022

May 2023

The City of Cambridge announces the new Small Business Relief program — funded through the American Rescue Plan Act — that will allow local, non-franchise/chain businesses with 50 or fewer full-time employees to apply for grant awards of $10,000.

Harvard classes begin with virtually no pandemic restrictions, except for Covid-19 vaccination requirements. New businesses quickly spring up in Harvard Square — including Starbucks, Tiger Sugar, and Taiyaki NYC.

The City of Cambridge celebrates National Small Business Month. Events celebrating local businesses in Harvard Square like the MayFair Festival draw huge crowds.

Jenna Cea-Curry, the owner of The Attic, said she thinks the economic state of the Square is “pretty back to normal.” MARINA QU—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

“I feel like people are more interested to interact with one another and going into brick and mortar,” Cecilia Hermawan, owner of Vico Style, said. MARINA QU—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

Le Macaron, and CAVA — the majority of businesses in the neighborhood remain locally owned, according to both Saffari and Jillson.

“We’ve been watching the number of locally owned independents in the Square for almost two decades, and the number has hovered between 70 and 75 percent for two decades,” Jillson said. “I don’t anticipate any changes in that number.”

tive work being done to create sustainable, thriving locally owned economies.” As a result, she said, Cambridge Local First has been focused on antitrust advocacy in the recent year.

‘A NEW LANDSCAPE’ Even as longstanding businesses like Irving House anticipate “better and better” circumstances, uncertainty remains.

“Having experienced 2020 with all of its losses (employees, money, one of our guesthouses) I will probably never feel quite confident again about how solid our place in the market is,” wrote Solem, the owner of Irving House.

“It still hurts to think about; it feels like

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a failure, as I tried to keep the place open somehow but could not,” Solem added. “It’s a new landscape in so many ways.”

For Attia, a large part of his business outlook relies on having students on campus, which he said “generates energy in this Square that affects the business, but affects our psyche as well.”

“When we see people around us, we feel good about it,” Attia said.

He added, however, that the ongoing economic recovery continues to present challenges for his business.

“And when our office space is empty, and our restaurants are half full, and our rooms are not sold, then you start rethinking the whole process of how long is this going to last, and can I plan for 90 days from now, or is it the year from now?” Attia said.

Skeadas said as large corporations like Amazon continue to gain ground among consumers, “there just isn’t enough legisla-

You start rethinking the whole process of how long is this going to last, and can I plan for 90 days from now, or is it the year from now?

Alex Attia Charles Hotel General Manager

“We’re doing the best we can, but it’s certainly very challenging,” Skeadas said.

Many new business owners expressed optimism about the economic state of the Square.

“I think it’s pretty back to normal. I talk-

ed with my landlord about it before opening and she said the businesses in Harvard Square have been better than ever,” said Jenna E. Cea-Curry, owner of the Attic, a newly opened Massachusetts Ave. clothing store.

Similarly, Koganti, who manages another Madras Dosa restaurant in Seaport, said he is optimistic about his Harvard Square endeavor.

“I see most of restaurants are doing great after the pandemic now,” Koganti said.

Attia said despite ongoing labor and economic challenges, Harvard Square entrepreneurs should work toward a positive future.

“If we’re not optimistic now, after this horrible pandemic, then we’ll never be optimistic,” Attia said. caroline.hsu@thecrimson.com sidney.lee@thecrimson.com marina.qu@thecrimson.com

The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023

A Crimson Commonwealth: The Harvard Alumni Who Run Massachusetts GOVERNMENT RELATIONS. The prestige of the Harvard name often connects the University’s brand to the highest echelons of American society — a plethora of presidents, top scholars, and leading executives found their start at Harvard. According to elected officials, Harvard operates as both a partner and as an influential stakeholder in policy issues full of competing interests.

TOBY R. MA—CRIMSON DESIGNER

By SALLY E. EDWARDS AND JACK R. TRAPANICK CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

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assachusetts governors Mitt Romney, Deval L. Patrick ’78, Charlie D. Baker ’79, and Maura T. Healey ’92 don’t share a party, vision, or even home state. But the four most recent governors of Massachusetts do have one thing in common: a Harvard diploma.

The prestige of the Harvard name often connects the University’s brand to the highest echelons of American society — a plethora of presidents, top scholars, and leading executives found their start at Harvard.

Yet the space Harvard occupies in the public imagination often overlooks its commanding presence at the Massachusetts state level — even though the University is mentioned in three articles of the Massachusetts Constitution, a testament to its

deep historical ties to the Commonwealth.

Of the 72 governors of Massachusetts since the state’s founding, 29 have been Harvard graduates, or about 40 percent.

Previously, the Harvard Board of Overseers — the University’s second-highest governing body — included, by state law, the Massachusetts governor, lieutenant governor, State Senate president, and House speaker. Only in 1865 did the Board of Overseers split from the Massachusetts govern-

ment and become an elected body.

As the historically close relationship between the University and the Commonwealth has survived the centuries, however, it has become less cozy and more fraught.

According to elected officials, Harvard operates as both a partner and as an influential stakeholder in policy issues full of competing interests.

As Harvard affiliates continue to interact with and fill Massachusetts governPAGE DESIGNED BY TOBY R. MA—CRIMSON DESIGNER

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023

Harvard’s Ties to Cambridge and Boston

1865 The Harvard Board of Overseers split from the Massachusetts government and became an elected body.

1925 Malcolm E. Nichols, Class of 1899, elected to serve as Mayor of Boston.

1989 Harvard begins eightyear anonymous property buy-up in Allston.

2014–2022 Brian P. Golden ’87 led the Boston Planning and Development Agency — named the Boston Redevelopment Authority when he began his tenure — coinciding with a crucial period in the University’s push to develop its Enterprise Research Campus in Allston.

2016 The then-Boston Redevelopment Authority approved plans for the SEC in Allston, also under Golden.

2018 The BPDA approved a framework for the Allston expansion while Golden was director.

2021 Michelle Wu ‘07 elected to serve as mayor of Boston.

2022 Yi An-Huang ‘05 sworn in as Cambridge city manager.

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Boston Mayor Michelle Wu ’07, Massachusetts Governor Maura T. Healey ’92, and Cambridge City Manager Yi-An Huang ’05 all passed through the doors of the College before entering government. DYLAN J. GOODMAN AND JULIAN J. GIORDANO—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHERS

ment, it often falls to the University’s own to create policy and settle disagreements that directly affect Harvard.

How does their time at the University influence the way they approach these disputes, and what is the effect of Harvard’s impact on Massachusetts leaders?

‘TO SERVE BETTER THY COUNTRY’ Harvard’s Dexter Gate, at the precipice of Harvard Yard, was christened in 1890 with an inscription championing public service from then-University President Charles W. Eliot, Class of 1852.

“Enter to grow in wisdom,” the gate proclaims. “Depart to serve better thy country and thy kind.”

Eliot did not have to look far for such a link between Harvard and government.

His father, Samuel A. Eliot, Class of 1817, ran the gamut of Massachusetts elected offices, serving as a state representative, mayor of Boston, and state senator before representing Massachusetts in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Samuel Eliot did not have to choose between public service and service to his alma mater — from 1842 to 1853, he was treasurer of Harvard University, amid his terms as a state senator and later a member of Congress.

The University’s pipeline to local, state, and federal government is not a relic of the past — Harvard alumni continue to fill all levels of elected office today.

When President Joe Biden took office in 2021, a third of his cabinet boasted time at Harvard, including four alumni of Harvard College — most prominently, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken ’84, a former Crimson editor, and Attorney General Merrick B. Garland ’74.

This trend is also reflected at the state level. For the last 20 years, four Harvard alumni in a row — Romney, Patrick, Baker,

and Healey — have held the governor’s office.

The current city executives of Boston and Cambridge — Boston Mayor Michelle Wu ’07 and Cambridge City Manager Yi-An Huang ’05 — both hail from Harvard, too.

Elected in 2021, Wu has called her education at Harvard “foundational” to her work in city politics.

Though Wu is the first Harvard College alum in nearly 100 years to lead Boston, the city has run deep with Crimson ties for centuries.

Before 1900, 14 of 31 total mayors of Boston were Harvard graduates. Malcolm E. Nichols, Class of 1899, the last Harvard College graduate to take Boston’s top office before Wu, was elected to lead the city in 1925.

“Once again a Harvard graduate has reached the top of Boston’s political ladder,” The Crimson declared in a November 1925 article announcing Nichols’ election.

Healey, one of the most recent Harvard alumni to take Massachusetts office, wrote in an emailed statement that she is “grateful for her experience at Harvard,” and that her administration continues to enjoy a collaborative relationship with Harvard University.

Healey – who is the first elected female governor of the state – wrote that she has developed a “strong partnership” with University leadership “to strengthen our education system and make Massachusetts a more affordable, competitive and equitable place for all.”

“We all share the same goals of attracting students, researchers, academics and business to Massachusetts and making sure our state is a place where they choose to stay and build their futures,” she added.

SEEKING ACCOUNTABILITY Harvard’s extensive influence across Massachusetts makes it a priority for state legislators — but also a target for accountability.

Despite Massachusetts’ close connections to the University, Juliette N. Kayyem ’91 – lecturer at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and former Massachusetts homeland security adviser – said that “the institutions are different.”

“Harvard does not reflect the state.

No matter how hard it tries, it does not,” Kayyem added.

In an emailed statement, Harvard spokesperson Amy Kamosa wrote that the University works closely with officials on statewide issues.

“Harvard works with our higher education partners to monitor state-level issues and to support government partners across the Commonwealth in their work to address critical policy areas for the state,” Kamosa wrote.

Massachusetts State Rep. David H.A. LeBoeuf ’13, a Harvard College alum, said the school enjoys greater access to state government than other institutions might.

“There are many private institutions that will be lobbying the Commonwealth very significantly,” LeBoeuf said. “Harvard — for the most part, because its storied history — doesn’t have to approach the Commonwealth in that way.”

LeBoeuf, a former Crimson editor, is currently co-sponsoring a bill that takes aim at donor and legacy preferences at colleges like Harvard.

The bill would disincentivize these considerations in higher education admissions processes, levying a fee against institutions prioritizing legacy applicants and those with connections to donors.

LeBoeuf said his time at Harvard did not contribute to his commitment to co-sponsor the bill. Instead, he cited loyalty to his constituents and his district as more important to his ultimate decision.

“I represent a very high-needs, lower income district,” he said. “When I’m looking at bills, I’m not necessarily thinking about how it’s going to affect one institution — I’m

The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023 looking at how it’s going to affect this system, the whole state.”

“It wasn’t necessarily about Harvard and my Harvard experience,” LeBoeuf added.

While this legislation provides a challenge to the University’s practices, LeBoeuf said that Harvard generally enjoys an advantaged position in government.

“I think where Harvard has an advantage or has more autonomy is because of the size of its endowment and its global connections,” he said.

OVERSEEING ‘GRAND AMBITIONS’ Harvard’s unique influence on the Boston area has most recently come to the fore in the University’s contentious expansion into Allston.

In an eight-year anonymous property buy-up starting in 1989, the University purchased 52.6 acres of land in the area for $88 million. Subsequent purchases made in the University’s name brought Harvard’s land holdings in the area to more than 200 acres.

The purchased property has since been a major focus of development by Harvard, becoming home to its Science and Engineering Complex and soon, its Enterprise Research Campus.

All the while, the expansion has taken place under Harvard alumni in Boston city government.

Brian P. Golden ’87 led the Boston Planning and Development Agency — named the Boston Redevelopment Authority when he began his tenure — from 2014 to 2022, coinciding with a crucial period in the University’s push to develop its Enterprise Research Campus in Allston.

Golden, who previously served as a State Representative for the Allston area from 2005 to 2006, said that Harvard is “an important economic and institutional actor” in the area.

“Did Harvard lobby me as a state rep and as BPDA director? Oh, absolutely,” he said.

“It had legitimate positions — and they advocated those positions and their prerogatives.”

While Golden said that he “didn’t discern” that Harvard lobbied him specifically because of his alumni status, he said that Harvard “absolutely” engaged with him more in his role as BPDA director.

“The day to day planning and development issues that dictates Harvard’s future are often being primarily addressed — not exclusively, but primarily — addressed at the Boston Planning and Development Agency,” he said. “And so they got constant communication going into there.”

Golden did not cite an individual plan or project which the University sought to advance – instead ,“it was everything”.

“They have grand ambitions, grand planning needs — and ultimately, millions of square feet of development will probably occur in Harvard-owned land,” he said.

“They’re always working plans. They’re always working development issues.”

“The University is very sophisticated — surprising — they understand how to communicate with City Hall,” Golden added.

“They’re at city hall, and in the neighbor-

the then-BRA approved plans for the SEC in Allston, also under Golden.

Golden said that while the relationship between the University and the Allston community can “be very contentious,” he believes that “with enough time, with enough respect, you can go where there is agreement on important things that will benefit the neighborhood.”

Since its founding in 1957, five of the agency’s permanent directors have been Harvard alumni, including its inaugural director, Kane Simonian ’33.

Ultimately, millions of square feet of development will probably occur in Harvard-owned land.

Brian P. Golden ‘87 Former head of Boston Planning and Development Agency

hood frequently, working dozens of acres of planning issues and development issues.”

Harvard spokesperson Amy Kamosa did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The BPDA approved a framework for the expansion — detailing a 36-acre entrepreneurship center including offices, lab space, and a hotel and conference center — in 2018, while Golden was director. In 2016,

Just last summer, Wu negotiated a deal between Harvard and neighborhood representatives to allow Harvard’s construction of the first phase of its Enterprise Research Campus to move forward.

Following her election in November 2021, Wu met with representatives from her alma mater and elected officials from Allston for months to work out a compromise that would satisfy both Harvard’s in-

One side of Dexter’s Gate reads “Enter to grow in wisdom,” while the other reads “Depart to serve better thy country and thy kind.” FRANK S. ZHOU—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

tentions to develop the land and the specific requests of neighborhood residents associated with any such development, like affordable housing requirements.

“I’m grateful to the many community leaders and activists who have shaped this agreement and who will continue to steer our focus for sustainable, equitable development,” Wu said in a July 2022 press release.

Kamosa, the Harvard spokesperson, wrote in an emailed statement that the University “routinely engages with elected officials, government agencies, members of the community, and other partners in Boston, Cambridge, and across the Commonwealth.”

“We appreciate these longstanding relationships and opportunities for our continued work together,” she added.

Close coordination between city leaders and private universities is not unique to Harvard’s Allston expansion, however.

Thomas P. Glynn, a former head of the Harvard-Allston Land Company with previous roles in state and national government, described in an interview how common this relationship has become particularly with urban universities, in a comment on Harvard’s position as a landlord in Allston.

“I think most universities in this era — if you’re located in cities — are in the housing business in the same way that Harvard is.

People at a point in time wanted the University to invest in the neighborhoods to strengthen them,” he said. “That was certainly true in Penn, that was true in Columbia, was true in NYU.” Glynn noted that in conflicts involving Harvard, those who have active ties to the University can recuse themselves — an option he took himself after being named board chair of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority last month.

“I sent a letter to the general counsel of the T saying I’m recusing myself from any matters having to do with West Station,” he said, referencing a planned T station in Allston that will be built as part of the Allston Multimodal Project — an initiative Harvard is helping to plan and fund.

“You know, I’m on the Kennedy School payroll,” he noted.

Glynn said that despite an array of competing influences, he believes the government follows the will of the people.

“We have a lot of big institutions, which is great, but we have a lot of neighborhoods,” Glynn said of Boston. “Usually the neighborhoods win, in the end.” sally.edwards@thecrimson.com jack.trapanick@thecrimson.com PAGE DESIGNED BY TOBY R. MA—CRIMSON DESIGNER

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023

How Cambridge Residents Are Reconsidering the City’s 80-Year-Old Government CHARTER REVIEW. For 80 years, Cambridge has operated under the same form of government: a democratically-elected City Council, and a city manager — appointed by the Council — who acts as the city’s chief executive and implements Council legislation.

But for the past year, a committee of 15 residents has been reviewing the city’s form of government and may change it entirely.

MARINA QU—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023

By RYAN H. DOAN- NGUYEN AND CAM E. KETTLES CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

­F

or the last 80 years, the City of Cambridge has been run by an appointed city manager. But soon, the city may change its form of government entirely.

The current city charter — essentially the “constitution” of Cambridge — includes both a city manager and a council-elected mayor under the “Plan E” system. The Cambridge City Council currently appoints the city manager, currently Yi-An Huang ’05, to act as the chief executive of the city, responsible for implementing Council legislation and running all government departments except the school department, which is run by a separately elected School Committee.

The Council itself comprises nine atlarge members, one of whom is elected mayor by the Council. Having been first elected in 2020, Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui is currently serving her second term in the role and third on the Council.

The Plan E charter itself was established by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in June 1938 and adopted by Cambridge two years later, after its then-mayor was caught accepting bribes. Now, Cambridge’s mayor chairs the City Council and the School Committee, but otherwise has very little power in the council-manager system.

But in most other cities in Massachusetts — save a few, such as Worcester and Lowell — local government is set up very differently.

Instead of an appointed city manager, an elected mayor acts as the city executive, with full control over city function, including finances and the police department. In most cities with strong mayors, like New York City, the mayor is directly elected by citizens.

The review committee has not yet decided which version of a “strong mayor” system they will vote on, but discussion has centered around a directly elected mayor, according to Charter Review Committee member Jim G. Stockard Jr. “But there has been some discussion of a directly elected mayor, but with only the same powers as the current mayor — chair of the council and the school committee and ceremonial chief of the city,” he wrote in an email.

Last August, the Council appointed 15 residents to the Cambridge Charter Review Committee, which was tasked with establishing a set of recommended changes to the charter over a 12-month period. That

timeline has since been extended, and a final committee recommendation is expected at the end of 2023.

The structure question is being evaluated before other proposed charter revisions, including the potential adoption of city councilors elected by district and mayoral term limits.

“The city manager-mayor [decision] is really a starting point, and lots of other decisions flow from that,” Stockard said in an interview.

Once a recommendation is made, it will then be reviewed by the Council, which will vote on the changes before a potential city-

Huang, however, had never served in Cambridge’s city government. He instead came from a nonprofit background, having previously served as executive director of Boston Medical Center hospital clinical operations.

“I know that Cambridge has essentially promoted from within, but most city managers get hired from other cities — they move up the chain in terms of size. It’s a profession,” said Stephen Goldsmith, a Harvard Kennedy School professor of the practice of urban policy.

With Huang largely viewed as an outsider, his term is seen by many as a test of the

PROCESS TO APPROVE CHARTER CHANGES STEP 1 Ballot initiatives to evaluate the charter co-sponsored by Councilor Patricia Nolan, Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui, Councilor Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler, Councilor Dennis J. Carlone. Approved by the Council, June 28, 2021

STEP 2 The city manager-mayor [decision] is really a starting point, and lots of other decisions flow from that.

Referendum held November 2, 2021: three ballot initiatives aimed to evaluate the Plan E charter, all passed

STEP 3

Jim G. Stockard Jr. Charter Review Committee member and Harvard lecturer

wide referendum.

“We are mostly an advisory group,” committee member Kevin Y. Chen said. “But the idea is that we are supposed to be representative of the city population at large, and hopefully our recommendations carry some weight given that we are engaging in such a long and hopefully thorough process to figure these things out.”

RECONSIDERING THE CITY MANAGER Before Huang became city manager in September 2022, there had been a series of city managers who were almost all “cut from the same cloth,” according to Cambridge City Councilor Paul F. Toner.

Robert W. Healy served as city manager from 1981 to 2013, followed by his deputy Richard C. Rossi. After Rossi came Louis A. DePasquale, who was the assistant city manager for fiscal affairs under both Rossi and Healy.

“They were different personality-wise, but they had the same general philosophy of municipal government, which was being fiscally responsible, providing solid public services to the residents, and being good to the employees essentially,” Toner said.

“That was a 50-year tradition.”

Charter Review began in August 2022

council-manager system.

“His selection and his seemingly good work as he begins is a kind of endorsement of the system,” Stockard said. “In other words, it’s not just one more guy from the family.”

In November 2021, during DePasquale’s term, citizens voted on and approved a set of ballot initiatives that would institute annual reviews of city managers’ performance and require the Council to launch a charter review every 10 years.

Cambridge City Councilor Patricia M. Nolan ’80 said she led the ballot initiatives effort because she had “heard many many people express concerns and complaints about the structure of the government.”

“It’s way past time to do something like this,” she said.

Toner, who voted against the ballot initiatives, said he believes those who view the city manager as unaccountable to Cambridge residents are mistaken.

“The narrative out there among people who are watching the city is, well, it’s all because of the city manager,” Toner said. “We got to get rid of the city manager because he’s not elected, or he’s not an elected person. But the reality is, the City Council hires them.”

“In my opinion, we have all the authority in the world,” he said.

STEP 4 WHERE WE ARE NOW—Charter Review Committee is in the process of deliberating on their recommendations (process which includes multiple public meetings)

STEP 5 Charter review committee will submit its recommendations to the City Council by the end of December 2023

STEP 6 Their recommendations go to the City Council, which decides through a vote what will be included in a referendum

STEP 7 Citizens will vote on the referendum

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023

Cambridge City Councilor Patricia M. Nolan ’80 led the push for regular city charter reviews and performance reviews of the city manager. JULIAN J. GIORDANO—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

A CONFLICTED COMMITTEE At the Charter Review Committee’s May 9 public meeting, committee members were split 9-5 in favor of the council-manager form of government.

But many members have switched their votes throughout the process, and some remain undecided on the structure question.

“I came in pretty open,” said Chen, an environmental attorney. “I think I didn’t have a really in-depth understanding of how the city government works. I got the sense that, in general, the city operates pretty well.”

“I’m not saying there’s not room for improvement — there always is — but we’ve been able to really implement effective programs,” committee member Lisa Peterson said.

“I don’t think you have to change the form of government to have more accountability,” she added.

Toner, likewise, said he believes the Council is “supposed to stay out of the way.”

“We could certainly come to meetings and criticize a city manager and raise our concerns and let him or her know what we’re upset about,” Toner said. “But we’re not supposed to be interfering in the daily operation of the city government.”

Others, however, believe switching to an strong mayor system allows the govern-

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ment to be more accountable to citizens and centralizes decision making.

“The last time our committee took a vote, I voted for mayor structure,” Charter Review Committee member Jessica De Jesus Acevedo said. “I do think Cambridge is at some point leading into that direction,

City Councilor Quinton Y. Zondervan has raised concerns about the power of the city manager position. JULIAN J. GIORDANO—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

the city manager is to fire them,” Zondervan said, which he added is politically difficult when citizens are less informed about what’s happening.

On the other hand, Goldsmith, who previously served as mayor of Indianapolis, said he thinks the threat of firing is insuf-

The skills required to be a successfully elected official have very little overlap with the ability to be a successful manager, in my opinion.

Susan Fleischmann ’94 Cambridge Resident

whether it’s this charter review or the next.”

“I just think centralizing a center of power makes the most sense, but I haven’t made a final decision,” she added.

Cambridge City Councilor Quinton Y. Zondervan said one of his primary concerns with the current form of government is that once the city manager is directed to enact a Council policy order, “at that point, the manager can ignore the request.”

“Our only real power when it comes to

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ficient to keep city managers generally accountable.

“I don’t think termination as the way you enforce accountability is particularly helpful,” Goldsmith said.

In comments to the committee and at meetings, members of the public unaffiliated with the committee also showed a sharp divide in opinion.

Some, including Susan Fleischmann ’94, have written to the committee to express

support for different systems.

“The skills required to be a successfully elected official have very little overlap with the ability to be a successful manager, in my opinion,” Fleischmann wrote in a March 24 public comment.

“A strong mayor might be challenged when weighing the needs of the City atlarge with the particular interests of their most vocal constituents. Attention to those who reliably vote may take precedence over those who may not. Whether consciously or not, actions will be taken with the next election in mind,” she added.

Ilan Levy, a Cambridge resident who has unsuccessfully run for a seat on the Council four times, said at a community engagement event May 16 that he also hopes for a change to the existing structure.

“I don’t want to be reckless and destroy what we have. I want to make sure that we do it right,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean that we don’t have to be imaginative and that we don’t have to do something different.”

ASSESSING ACCOUNTABILITY Accountability has emerged as a central point of contention in the ongoing debate over whether Cambridge should adopt a manager-council or council-mayor form of government.

The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023

City Councilor Paul F. Toner said he felt the Cambridge City Council has ample authority over the city manager. COURTESY OF PAUL TONER

The term of Cambridge’s new city manager, Yi-An Huang ’05, is seen by many as a test of the council-manager form of government. JULIAN J. GIORDANO—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

Currently, the city’s operation under a council-manager model grants significant control over daily operations and a nearly-billion-dollar budget preparation to Huang, the city manager.

Recent events have created a greater impetus for greater transparency and accountability in Cambridge. Most prominently, the killing of 20-year-old Sayed Faisal — a Cambridge resident and Bangladeshi-American student at UMass Boston — by Cambridge Police on Jan 4. sparked months of protest and intensified calls for widespread reform.

Though protesters have largely directed their ire at the Cambridge Police Department, the city government has also also faced scrutiny, with some demanding that the city name, fire, and prosecute the officers involved in Faisal’s killing, as well as release the full unredacted police report of the encounter.

In the wake of Faisal’s death, Huang and other Cambridge officials have made commitments to implement reforms ranging from increasing funding for non-police public safety alternatives to outfitting CPD officers with body cameras.

CPD has also engaged the services of the Police Executive Research Forum, an independent think tank specializing in law enforcement matters, to conduct an external review of the department.

the accountability they deserve in their local government.

Another PSL organizer, Rafeya V. Raquib, told protesters that the city has “been ignoring the community’s calls for transparency and justice.”

“We’ve seen that the city manager has

“I hope that we’re doing a good job of putting together a real agenda for police reform that will continue on a lot of what the police have already done within the city of Cambridge, but there is more work that needs to happen,” Huang said in an interview.

“I think it really did shine a light on areas

If you talk to me or if you talk to city leaders, we really do feel accountable and like we are in close relationship with the councilors.

Yi-An Huang ‘05 Cambridge City Manager

where we need to make continued changes,” Huang added, pointing to the more than a dozen protests that followed the fatal shooting.

During a Feb. 27 rally and teach-in at Cambridge City Hall, Party for Socialism and Liberation organizer Suhail P. Purkar referred to Cambridge’s government as “an undemocratic mess.”

Purkar alleged that the city’s current charter deprives Cambridge residents of

the freedom to pick and choose what policies get enforced with no accountability,” Raquib said.

Huang said he maintains a steadfast belief in his own accountability despite his position as an unelected city manager, a feature of the Plan E charter that some have called undemocratic.

“I am more accountable in these kinds of circumstances. If you look at my contract, ultimately, a majority of city councilors

could terminate my contract at any time,” he told The Crimson in an interview after a March 21 meeting between activists and city officials.

Huang said he feels a sense of accountability from both residents and the Council in an interview earlier this month.

“If you talk to me or if you talk to city leaders, we really do feel accountable and like we are in close relationship with the councilors,” Huang said.

“We are constantly trying to both help them understand the implications of what they’re asking us to do and help them prioritize,” he added.

Huang said he’s proud of what he’s accomplished in his first eight months in office and believes he has responded to the city council’s requests appropriately.

“If the Council is not willing to hold the city manager accountable, there is a lack of accountability,” Huang said. “That’s sort of true of every boss or manager relationship.”

COMPARING CITIES Despite the council-manager form of government’s relative rarity in Massachusetts, where only 15 out of the state’s 351 municipalities employ it, the model is widespread on a national scale.

Approximately 40 percent of municipalities across the country have embraced

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023

CITY CHARTER AT A GLANCE

CURRENT STRUCTURE COUNCIL-MANAGER PRIMARY EXECUTIVE City Manager The city manger is appointed by the City Council and can also be removed by the City Council.

Appoints all other city administrators and department heads, some of which are confirmed by the City Council ROLE OF MAYOR Chair of the City Council Under the current form of government, the mayor fulfills ceremonial roles and serves on the City Council as its chair.

POTENTIAL STRUCTURE MAYOR-COUNCIL PRIMARY EXECUTIVE Mayor Under the proposed structure of government, the Mayor would either be a member of the City Council elected by the City Council or elected directly by the public. The Mayor would appoint all other city administrators and department heads, some of which would be confirmed by the City Council and draft the city budgets, as the city manager does now.

the council-manager model, some of the largest including Dallas, Texas, San José, California, and Charlotte, North Carolina.

Cambridge’s neighboring cities of Somerville and Boston, however, have opted for a mayor-council form of government.

Joseph A. Curtatone, Somerville’s longest-serving mayor from 2004 until 2012, said he believes that when choosing a form of government, Cambridge should carefully consider the system that strikes the right balance between transparency, accountability, effectiveness, and efficiency.

The goal, according to Curtatone, should be to deliver results that align with the community’s values and aspirations, though he declined to weigh in on the best structure for Cambridge’s government.

When it comes to his own city of Somerville, however, Curtatone is a “strong advocate” for the mayor-council form of government.

“There is no way — and I’m confident — Somerville would have ever accomplished what it has accomplished during our time there in a city manager form of government,” Curtatone said.

“We built what was — I submit — the best public administration in the country,” Curtatone added, pointing to Somerville’s implementation of data-driven decision-making, real-time budgeting, and customer service through programs like 311.

Goldsmith, who also supports a strong mayor system, said this model of government was “essential” to his accomplishments during his nearly decade-long tenure as mayor of Indianapolis.

According to Goldsmith, the system aided him in “repairing the neighborhoods that had been too long neglected” by helping him “operating more efficiently.”

“The efficiency of operation for me was directly connected to implementing my vision. It was invaluable for me,” he added.

Regardless of what the charter review recommends, however, Goldsmith emphasized the importance of having frequent charter revisions.

“There are cities like New York City that more regularly have charter revisions, and doing it on a more regular basis was helpful as well. Then you can make some small modifications as you go instead of trying to do everything at once, which allows you to focus the community on certain things,” Goldsmith said.

ENGAGING THE PUBLIC

ROLE OF CITY MANAGER There will be no city manager

Some advocates for a strong mayor system argue that Cambridge would be more

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Cambridge City Hall, which houses the Cambridge City Council and City Manager’s office, is located in Central Square. MARINA QU—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

democratic and conducive to higher voter participation compared to the current city manager system.

Proponents of an empowered elected mayor say the role establishes a direct link between residents and the government, enhancing accountability and responsiveness and encouraging civic engagement. This, they contend, would make it easier for residents to participate in local politics.

“If there is a simple question on the ballot for the charter change and its strong-mayor city manager, 60 percent of those people are going to scratch their heads and say, ‘What in the world is a city manager?’” said former Cambridge Mayor Henrietta Davis at a May 16 Charter Review Committee meeting.

Cambridge City Councilor Burhan A. Azeem disagrees, however, calling the difference “negligible” — though he acknowledged “people would be drawn to the simplicity” of having fewer city officials.

“It’s not like Somerville, which has a strong-mayor system, has a really high turnout, and we don’t,” Azeem said.

Both cities saw roughly a third of regis-

tered voters turn out for their 2021 municipal elections.

The charter review process itself has also led some to question civic engagement in Cambridge — fewer than ten people attended the May 16 community meeting with committee members to discuss their thoughts on the process.

Goldsmith said resident participation is vital for a successful government in Cambridge.

“Democracy and effectiveness depend on trust. Trust depends on people believing their voice matters. And the narrower the participation, the less likely that trust is to resonate, and therefore, the more difficult it is to govern,” Goldsmith said.

“To some extent, though, these are pretty arcane questions for the average person, and they need to be made as visible and understandable as possible,” Goldsmith added. “Enlarging the number of people who care and participate will be important.” ryan.doannguyen@thecrimson.com cam.kettles@thecrimson.com

The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023

Leaving Legacy Behind ADMISSIONS BOOSTS. After hearing oral arguments from Harvard and anti-affirmative action group Students for Fair Admissions in October, the Supreme Court appears prepared to overturn race-conscious admissions in higher education. In the process, SFFA and other legal experts have criticized Harvard’s long-held leg-up for legacies and children of donors.

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023

By MICHELLE N. AMPONSAH AND EMMA H. HAIDAR CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

­W

ith the Supreme Court widely expected to strike down race-conscious admissions this summer, another Harvard College admissions practice — legacy and donor preferences — could become collateral damage.

After hearing oral arguments from Harvard and anti-affirmative action group Students for Fair Admissions in October, the Supreme Court appears prepared to overturn race-conscious admissions in higher education. In the process, SFFA and other legal experts have criticized Harvard’s long-held leg-up for legacies and children of donors.

Overall, applicants to the College’s classes of 2014 through 2019 faced an acceptance rate of about 6 percent. But this figure was

not uniform for all groups: the College admitted 86 percent of athletes, 33 percent of legacy students, 42 percent of students on the dean’s list, and nearly 47 percent of applicants who were children of faculty or staff.

These students are collectively called ALDCs, shorthand for athletes, legacies, dean’s interest list, and children of faculty and staff.

Critics of legacy and donor preferences say that these preferences reinforce inequality in the admissions process.

In a March interview, Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid William R. Fitzsimmons ’67 defended these practices, saying that legacy status gives a “slight tip” in the admissions process.

“It’s been a policy in place at Harvard for a very, very long time, and that’s what our office does,” Fitzsimmons said.

THE NUMBERS Much of the data concerning the College’s use of legacy preference in the admissions process surfaced during SFFA’s lawsuit against Harvard.

“We wouldn’t really know anything about this process but for discovery during SFFA’s lawsuit,” John Jay College of Criminal Justice professor Evan J. Mandery ’89 said. “So that’s kind of one virtuous thing that came out of it — it opens a window into this otherwise opaque admissions process.”

According to the incoming class survey for the Class of 2025, roughly 31 percent of students who had one or more parents attend Harvard reported a family income of $500,000 or more.

Almost 19 percent of respondents who identified as white reported legacy status, while for Asian American, Latinx, and Black respondents, the numbers were 15.1

percent, 9.1 percent, and 6.1 percent, respectively.

Members of the dean’s interest list — a confidential list of applicants compiled by the College every admissions cycle — are often related to top donors, and based on 2018 court filings by SFFA, these applicants benefit from an increased acceptance rate.

According to court documents, 192 students in the Class of 2019 — representing more than 10 percent of the class — were members of the dean’s list or the “Director’s List.”

A 2019 study led by Duke economist Peter S. Arcidiacono, an expert witness for SFFA, found that 43 percent of white admits in the Classes of 2014 through 2019 were ALDCs. The study also determined that roughly 75 percent of these admitted students would have been rejected if their legacy status, athletic ability, or presence on the

Harvard College’s Office of Admissions and Financial Aid is housed at 84-86 Brattle St. MARINA QU—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER PAGE DESIGNED BY TOBY R. MA AND SAMI E. TURNER—CRIMSON DESIGNERS

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The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023

Harvard administrators exit the Supreme Court following oral arguments on October 31. JULIAN J. GIORDANO—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

dean’s list were not considered in the admissions process.

Arcidiacono’s analysis claimed removing legacy and athlete preferences “results in shifts in admissions away from white applicants with each of the other groups either increasing or staying the same” while reducing the number of high-income applicants admitted to the College.

‘CONTRADICTORY TOWARD EQUALITY’ In response to a free-response question on The Crimson’s 2023 Faculty of Arts and Sciences survey asking for thoughts on Harvard’s admissions policies, 15 of 31 respondents who wrote an answer specifically mentioned legacy admissions in criticisms of the College’s admissions process.

“When Affirmative Action is overruled, we should use this opportunity to end legacy, donor, and athlete preferences as well,” one faculty member wrote.

Mandery criticized Harvard as “resistant to change” and “reinforcing of the existing status quo of the social hierarchy.”

“Harvard does promote opportunity

for a handful of poor students of color. But mostly what it does is it takes the accidents of birth, white, rich students who are winners of the natural lottery, and launders their advantage of birth into a degree of sort of objective value,” Mandery said.

Harvard spokesperson Rachael Dane declined to comment on criticisms of admissions preferences for legacies and children of donors.

Julie J. Park — an associate professor of education at University of Maryland, College Park, who previously served as a consulting expert for Harvard during SFFA’s lawsuit — said she thinks legacy and donor preferences are “deeply problematic” and “contradictory towards equity.”

An applicant’s legacy status, Ena Basic ’24 said, “just tells a person that you had a little bit better luck in life.”

Jordan H. Barton ’23 said he believes students are “ambivalent” about legacy and donor preferences because it is the “prevailing ethos” at the College.

“It’s like going to Dartmouth and being like, ‘Do you think day-drinking is a problem?’” Barton said. “It’s just so embedded and part of the school — I don’t know if you

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can really bring systemic changes to it that don’t go way deeper.”

Emily Handsman, a Harvard College postdoctoral fellow in Sociology, said if you go up to “random Harvard undergrads,” there is a meaningful chance that either they or someone they know benefited from legacy or donor preferences in admissions.

“Even if you’re talking to someone who didn’t have any of those legs up, they made it here,” Handsman added. “I think that at that point you’re focused on ‘Okay, I’m here at Harvard. I might have some impostor syndrome but I made it here. So clearly things are fair enough if I got here.’”

‘THE PRICE TO BE PAID’ Some critics of legacy admissions and affirmative action link Harvard’s longstanding practices to the College’s past efforts to bar Jewish applicants during the 1920s and 1930s.

“Harvard started using legacy preference as a way to address the rising number of Jewish admitted students,” Massachusetts State Representative Simon Cataldo said.

“It’s really hard, I think, to justify from a moral or historical perspective the continued use of legacy admissions. Donor preference admissions is discriminatory on its face to students who lack generational wealth,” he said.

The College has previously convened several groups to examine its admissions policies. In 2014, the College formed a committee to analyze the role of race in the admissions process and its importance to diversity of the student body.

The group’s work was paused when SFFA filed its initial lawsuit against Harvard, alleging that the College’s use of race in the admission process discriminates against Asian American applicants.

Two years later, Dean of the College Rakesh Khurana chaired the Committee to Study the Importance of Student Body Diversity.

In June 2017, Khurana co-chaired the Committee to Study Race-Neutral Alternatives with Fitzsimmons and Engineering and Applied Sciences professor Michael D. Smith.

In a report released in 2018, the committee considered eliminating preference for ALDCs as race-neutral alternatives but concluded that none of these alternatives

The Harvard Crimson COMMENCEMENT 2023 would achieve diversity without “significant and unacceptable” sacrifice to “other institutional imperatives.”

The report also stated that legacy preference “helps to cement strong bonds between the university and its alumni.”

“Harvard alumni also offer generous financial support to their alma mater. That financial support is essential to Harvard’s position as a leading institution of higher learning; indeed, it helps make the financial aid policies possible that help the diversity and excellence of the College’s student body,” the report states.

Some supporters of legacy preferences argue there is a link between legacy preference and increased alumni donations.

“I think economically, it just makes sense for the University to do. So, I don’t have a huge problem with it,” Cormac J. McIntosh ’24 said. “I think that you’re more likely to give money if your children will go on to have the same experiences.”

Texaco U.M. Texeira-Ramos ’26 said being a first-generation, low-income student influenced their perspective on donor admissions.

“I’m FGLI so I am dependent on donors’ donations to be able to afford to attend this

university. And so to some extent, if that’s the price to be paid, then so be it,” Texeira-Ramos said.

In response to the report’s endorsement of legacy preferences, Mandery said there is no proof supporting the proposition that ending legacy admissions would “jeopardize important institutional interests.” Instead, there is “significant evidence to the contrary,” he claimed.

Mandery pointed to MIT, which does not prefer children of alumni in its admissions process but maintains an endowment of almost $25 billion.

“I understand the institutional need from the Harvard administration perspective to keep these policies in place but I think they’re quite damaging, perhaps beyond what the administration is aware of,” said Kylan M. Tatum ’25, co-founder of the Affirmative Action Coalition.

Several of the College’s peer institutions have done away with legacy preferences, including Johns Hopkins University and Amherst College.

The admissions office of the University of Pennsylvania this year quietly reworded its admissions website to deemphasize legacy benefits, the Daily Pennsylvanian

ASHLEY R. FERREIRA—CRIMSON DESIGNER

reported in March.

“As more campuses have moved away from legacy preferences, as far as I know, you haven’t seen a hit to donations in any meaningful way,” Park said.

‘ONE FIGHT BEGETS ANOTHER’ During oral arguments in October, attorneys for SFFA scrutinized the College’s use of legacy preferences, arguing for the use of race-neutral methods to increase diversity, such as eliminating the consideration of legacy status.

Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil M. Gorsuch pushed back against Harvard’s use of legacy preferences, asking Harvard lawyers if eliminating these preferences would increase socioeconomic diversity at the College.

According to Peter F. Lake ’81, an expert in higher education law, the Supreme Court’s impending decision will be a “game-changer” for issues related to the admissions process.

“I don’t think that this litigation will actually end litigation over admissions. I think this is just another step in the process of the courts micromanaging admissions processes,” Lake said. “And so it just seems that one fight begets another.”

Legislation at the state level could also pose problems for the future of the College’s legacy and donor preferences.

The Massachusetts State Legislature is currently considering a bill which would levy fees against universities that continue to apply legacy and donor preferences in their admissions processes, proportional to the size of their endowment.

If the bill were to go into effect, Harvard would be have to pay approximately $100 million each year they consider legacy and donor status.

Dane, the Harvard spokesperson, declined to comment on the bill.

Cataldo said he believes state legislation to curtail legacy practices is urgently needed as the Supreme Court is expected to rule on race-conscious admissions this summer.

“Massachusetts needs to be a leader in that regard. If the Supreme Court is going to take away affirmative action for historically disadvantaged students, then we can limit affirmative action for the rich,” Cataldo said.

Mandery said if Harvard attempts to eliminate legacy and donor preference in the wake of a potential overturning of race-conscious admissions, the College could be liable to more litigation.

“The race-neutral principle carried to its

logical conclusion would preclude Harvard from ending legacy preference for the purpose of promoting race diversity,” Mandery said.

Mandery said the College’s “explicit preference for white alumni” while arguing for racial diversity before the Court is “ethically hypocritical” and a “legally untenable position.”

“Legacy preference fundamentally compromised their case,” Mandery said. “They can’t use a race-conscious method until they’ve exhausted race-neutral means. And so they have a simple race-neutral mechanism, which is they could end or sharply curtail all of these preferences, which work to the benefit of rich white people.”

Experts say that if race-conscious admissions are overturned, Harvard might seek to also get rid of legacy admissions, but the Court’s ruling is not expected to restrict legacy and donor preferences.

Natasha Warikoo, a Sociology professor at Tufts University, wrote in an emailed statement that she believes the Court is “unlikely to say anything” about legacy admissions policies.

“There is no law against favoring legacies or well-off people — colleges are free to make admissions decisions using almost any criteria,” Warikoo wrote.

“Race is a ‘suspect class’ in the eyes of the law, and must only be used in narrow circumstances, for reasons that a judge approves. This is why affirmative action can be attacked — by using laws designed to protect African Americans — but not legacy or donor-list admissions,” she added.

But Arcidiacono said he does not believe legacy preferences will persist if the Supreme Court rules against race-conscious admissions practices.

“I think it would just not be politically palatable,” he said.

While athletes, legacies, and children of donors or faculty are often lumped together into one category, Park said the College might still give preferential treatment to applicants in certain categories.

“I don’t think the whole ‘ALDC’ is necessarily going to go away in one chopping block,” she said.

Lake said he believes the Supreme Court has “made itself co-chair of the academic admissions process at private schools.”

“Something similar is happening at the state level,” Lake added. “But this is a particularly unusual and historical movement from the point of view of the federal government.” michelle.amponsah@thecrimson.com emma.haidar@thecrimson.com

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