The Harvard Crimson THE UNIVERSITY DAILY, EST. 1873
|
VOLUME CXLIX NO. 17 |
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS
| TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2022
EDITORIAL PAGE 8
SPORTS PAGE 10
NEWS PAGE 9
By supporting Comaroff, 38 professors signed away their credibility
Men’s hockey played to a 3-3 draw in the Beanpot Consolation
Harvard Art Museums and Jefferson Park get architecture award
Hundreds Attend Rally in Support of Survivors By MAYESHA R. SOSHI and NIA L. ORAKWUE CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS
Hundreds of students rallied in support of sexual harassment survivors at Harvard on Monday in one of the biggest demonstrations on the school’s campus in years. At promptly 12:15 p.m., students and some faculty members walked out of classes to gather on Harvard’s Science Center Plaza in protest of the University’s handling of sexual harassment allegations against professor John L. Comaroff.
The rally came just shy of one week after a federal lawsuit against Harvard detailed a decade of sexual harassment and professional misconduct allegations against Comaroff. The walkout demonstrated support for the three graduate students who filed the suit — Margaret G. Czerwienski, Lilia M. Kilburn, and Amulya Mandava. The complaint charged that Harvard enabled Comaroff’s alleged misconduct by ignoring years of harassment claims. “This case is not about three of us. This case is about all of us,” Kilburn said at the ral-
ly Monday. “This case is about Harvard’s failure to provide the prompt and equitable process for dealing with claims of harassment and discrimination that’s required by law.” Harvard placed Comaroff on unpaid leave last month after University investigations found he violated sexual harassment and professional conduct policies. Harvard denies the claims in the suit. In a statement last week, Harvard spokesperson Rachael Dane wrote that the allegations “are in no way a fair or
SEE RALLY PAGE 7
The walkout lasted about an hour, as many gathered to show their support for the students who filed the lawsuit. PEI CHAO ZHUO—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER
The HGSU-UAW has been outspoken about the lawsuit filed against Harvard alleging the university ignored complaints about professor John L. Comaroff. PEI CHAO ZHUO—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER
The walkout featured demonstrators who created homemade signs to indicate their thoughts on the lawsuit. PEI CHAO ZHUO—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER
Ardern to Speak at Commencement Racist Message By CARA J. CHANG and ISABELLA B. CHO CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will speak at Harvard’s 369th Commencement ceremony this spring. Ardern is set to address Harvard’s Class of 2022 at the first of two Commencement ceremonies the school will hold in May. She will speak to graduates on May 26 — three days before the school will hold a second ceremony for the Classes of 2020 and 2021, which graduated online due to the pandemic. The University confirmed that Ardern will speak on Monday after Stuff, the largest news website in New Zealand, first reported the pick on Sunday. University President Lawrence S. Bacow lauded Ardern in a press release Monday.
“From climate change and gender equality to COVID-19, she has modeled compassionate leadership that has brought together empathy and science-based solutions to address the most challenging issues of our time,” he said. “I very much look forward to her address.” The speaker for the May 29 ceremony has not yet been announced. Ardern announced earlier this month she would travel to the United States to lead a trade delegation in the spring. Ardern became leader of the New Zealand Labour Party in August 2017. Two months later, at age 37, she became the country’s youngest prime minister in more than a century. Outside of New Zealand, Ardern has received numerous honors: She has been named
SEE ARDERN PAGE 9
Targets UC Pres. By MERT GEYIKTEPE and J. SELLERS HILL CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS
T wo paper signs bearing racist slurs were posted on the door of Undergraduate Council President Michael Y. Cheng ’22 on Monday morning, sparking condemnation from Quincy House faculty and students. Cheng said he first became aware of the flyers — which called him an anti-Asian slur and included the phrase “SAVE THE UC” — when he left his dorm in Quincy House on Monday morning. Another Quincy resident reported the flyers to House administrators shortly after, according to Cheng. Cheng called the act disheartening but “not that surprising” and linked the incident
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, pictured in 2020. PHOTO COURTESY THE OFFICE OF THE NEW ZEALAND GOVERNOR-GENERAL / WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
to previous criticism of his political platform. “It’s disappointing that I feel desensitized to all this noise, even though this is just objectively racist,” he said. “It’s right after the UC midterm elections.” “There are some people that are frustrated by decisions we’ve made,” Cheng added. Cheng was elected UC president in November after pledging during his campaign to “defund” the body and rewrite its constitution. His inauguration was marred by hostility between his administration and other general members of the UC. In an email to Quincy residents on Monday, Cheng requested an apology from the
SEE RACISM PAGE 9
Students Confront Datamatch 2022: The Cupids Strike Once More Accessibility Issues By DARLEY A. C. BOIT and EDONA COSOVIC CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS
By VIVI E. LU and LEAH J. TEICHHOLTZ CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS
When Nina M. S. Jensen ’25 arrived on campus last fall, she was most worried about keeping up with her classes after taking two gap years. But after returning home on a medical leave just days into the spring semester, she wrote in an email that navigating Harvard’s rigid rules around receiving medical accommodations — not her course load — has been the biggest challenge. “Their policies are completely arbitrary and baseless, and that is extremely frustrating,” Jensen wrote. Harvard’s Accessible Education Office provides accommodations to ensure equity in education for students with disabil
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Harvard Today 2
ities. But some students have voiced their exasperation over the College’s accessibility policies, lambasting them as inflexible and unreasonable. Jensen, who began a leave of absence this semester following medical complications, wrote that there was “no flexibility whatsoever” in the College’s approach to her accommodations. According to Jensen, she proposed possible alternatives to a leave of absence that would enable her to continue taking classes this semester — including having her mom stay with her on campus or taking a reduced course load virtually from her home in Denmark — but the Administrative Board denied these requests. “My suggestions were
SEE ACCESS PAGE 7
News 7
Editorial 8
Just under 4,500 Harvard undergraduates woke up on Valentine’s Day morning to a potentially fateful e-mail: their Datamatch results. Datamatch, founded in 1994 by the Harvard Computer Society, is a digital matchmaking algorithm. This year’s survey asked students questions on everything from their roommates’ romantic lives to their first Wordle guesses in an attempt to match them with their soulmates, platonic or otherwise. Katherine Y. Zhu ’22-23 and Melissa Kwan ’22 led the team of Datamatch’s administrators — known as Cupids — who have been working on the project since last spring. Zhu said that the algorithm used to match undergraduates who take the survey is a wellkept secret among Datamatch’s
Sports 10
team. “The one thing that I can tell you is it is not random,” she said. “Other than that, we will leave it a mystery and for the algo team to know.” She added that Datamatch is an opportunity for students to meet other people on campus and that she enjoyed hearing about successful matches from the survey. We really do bring people together and help people meet others that they never would have had an opportunity to otherwise,” Zhu said. “That reminds me every year that all the work that we do in the end is worth it, when we get to hear about all of the success stories that we get told.” Under Kwan and Zhu, Datamatch developers created new design improvements, added the ability to report inappropriate users, and created a feature allowing students to list their “red flags” in dating and rela-
TODAY’S FORECAST
This semester’s Datamatch, a quiz that provides you with matches based on the answers you provide to 15 multiple choice questions, has released all its results to its participants. TRUONG L. NGUYEN—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER
tionships. “We’ve seen how people really buy into the idea of having these red flags, and they are sharing with their friends about it. That part is really both fun
MOSTLY SUNNY High: 29 Low: 12
and rewarding for us to see,” Jared Hu ’25, a Datamatch team member who worked on the red flag feature said.
SEE DATAMATCH PAGE 7
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