The Harvard Crimson - Volume CL, No. 4

THE HARVARD CRIMSON

OPINION

SPORTS

What’s in a Name?

Harvard Trademark and Student Groups

Northeastern Beats Harvard 3-2 to Win Beanpot

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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY, EST. 1873

| VOLUME CL, NO. 4 | CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS

|

EDUCATION

HARVARD UNIVERSITY HEALTH SERVICES

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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2023

Cambridge to Launch Universal Pre-K PRE-K FOR ALL. The Cambridge School Committee and City Council unveiled the Cambridge Preschool Program at a meeting Tuesday. The program is set to launch in the 2024-2025 school year.

HUHS Fires Doctor Facing Misconduct Allegations

SEE PAGE 10

LIVABILITY

How the Unhoused Endured Record Cold EXTREME COLD. Cambridge’s unhoused residents sought warmth in public transport and local shelters HSHS and Y2Y in record-breaking low temperatures earlier this month.

SEE PAGE 4

MISCONDUCT COMPLAINTS. A Harvard University Health Services physician was terminated last year after receiving several complaints from female patients aged 18 to 31 who alleged misconduct and inappropriate behavior during physical examinations.

SEE PAGE 5

JULIAN J. GIORDANO—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER, SAMI E. TURNER—CRIMSON DESIGNER

GLOBAL HARVARD

Latin American Scholars Program to Shut Down After Harvard Revokes Affiliation

BY MILES J. HERSZENHORN AND LEAH J. LOURENCO

ARTS

CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

L Jennifer Coolidge Parades in the Square WOMAN OF THE YEAR. Hasty Pudding Theatricals honored Jennifer Coolidge as their Woman of the Year. On Feb. 4., fans gathered in the cold to see her parade.

SEE PAGE 11

ALUMNI

Alumnus Accused of Sexual Assault SEXUAL ASSAULT. Forty women accused James Toback ’66 of sexual assault and the Harvard Club of NYC of negligence.

SEE PAGE 4

aspau, a Harvard-affiliated nonprofit that promotes higher education in Latin America and the Caribbean, will shut down after the University decided to revoke its affiliate status.

Harvard co-founded Laspau in 1966 as the Latin American Scholarship Program of American Universities to provide undergraduate students from Latin America with grants to study in the United States.

The nonprofit, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2016, now provides support to institutions of higher learning in Latin America and the Caribbean through educational programs for students and faculty.

In an email obtained by The Crimson, Angélica M. Natera, the executive director of Laspau, wrote in January to the Harvard Office of the Provost that the organization’s board of trustees “determined that without the Harvard affiliation, Laspau will be unable to fulfill its mission and serve its stakeholders.”

“On October 1, 2023, Laspau will be-

TURKEY AND SYRIA EARTHQUAKES

gin the process of winding down its operations and concluding its inspirational journey of serving the Americas and representing Harvard,” Natera wrote in the email.

Harvard University spokesperson Jason A. Newton confirmed in a statement to The Crimson that the University is revoking Laspau’s status as a Harvard affiliate.

“This is the result of a very long and thoughtful process that ultimately ended in the decision that Harvard and Laspau’s missions did not align,” Newton wrote. “However, Harvard continues to

have deep and wide engagement in Latin America.”

Natera underscored Laspau’s close collaboration with Harvard in the email to the Provost’s Office.

“The close connection with Harvard has been critical to Laspau’s work in Latin America and the Caribbean as well as with U.S. universities,” Natera wrote.

“Harvard has been the institutional home for Laspau staff, and the partnership has contributed to Laspau’s success in building institutions and in advancing teaching

SEE PAGE 7

LABOR

Letter Calls for Harvard HAW-UAW Holds First to Aid Turkey and Syria Rallies Since Launch

BY LEAH J. LOURENCO CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Hundreds of Harvard affiliates signed an open letter asking for the University to raise awareness to earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria last week, killing tens of thousands of people in the regions.

The letter, addressed to University President Lawrence S. Bacow, has received more than 650 signatures as of Monday night. Written by a group of Turkish Harvard students, alumni, and faculty, the letter calls on the University to raise awareness to the crisis through the Harvard Alumni Association and through social media and publications.

More than 36,000 people have died after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck Turkey and Syria on Feb. 6, and tens of thousands are injured. In the days following the earthquakes, undergraduates from the Harvard College Turkish Student Association and Harvard Society of Arab Students raised more than $30,000 in donations for earthquake relief efforts.

The letter called attention to freezing temperatures and damaged infrastructure, which have stalled aid efforts amid the crisis.

“Many are struggling to find safe shelter, water, food, and medication,” the letter reads. “Several rescue organizations and nonprofits have deployed volunteers to the area and are working tirelessly around the clock, but they need all the support they can get.”

The open letter asked the administration to highlight emergency relief nonprofits including the Turkish Philanthropy Funds, the Turkey Mozaik Foundation, the Ahbap Association, and Syria Relief.

Harvard professor of Turkish Studies Cemal Kafadar, who helped to edit the letter, said he hopes for a personal statement from Bacow as well as institutional support from Harvard.

“What they expect is that the University will help through alumni associations, through its media, positions, or connections — help us disseminate the message and somehow indicate that there is an institutional support behind it,” Kafadar said.

Kafadar also noted that Columbia University President Lee C. Bollinger offered condolences in a statement last week, while Bacow has remained silent following the earthquakes.

SEE PAGE 6

BY CAM E. KETTLES CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

After launching a public card campaign to unionize Harvard’s non-tenure-track faculty on Feb. 6, Harvard Academic Workers-United Automobile Workers held their first public rallies Tuesday.

More than 100 students, faculty, and public officials attended rallies in Harvard Yard and at the Longwood campus, where HAW-UAW organizers urged attendees to sign union authorization cards.

“Harvard has the capacity to treat us fairly and it chooses not to,” Harvard Extension School instructor Michaela J. Thompson said in a speech in Harvard Yard. “At every turn, we have been shown time and time again that they do not care if we are underpaid, undersupported, and overworked.”

HAW-UAW is demanding a contract with the University that ensures higher compensation, job security, and broader workplace protections.

Many non-tenure-track faculty — a group which includes lecturers, postdoctoral fellows, preceptors, and adjunct faculty — face “time caps” on their employment, limiting them to a certain number

of years at Harvard depending on their position.

Thompson, who timed out of her role as a preceptor in June 2022, said in a speech that time caps are arbitrary limits not based on job performance.

“Timing out means that I was fired,” she said.

Yiddish preceptor and rally organizer Sara M. Feldman said that organizers were told before and during the Covid-19 pandemic that the time cap system is a way to keep the curriculum and teaching fresh.

“We were told that it was necessary for nimbleness — that we are expected to burn out and need replacing because we will be so exhausted at our jobs,” she said.

Non-tenure-track faculty also spoke about being unable to afford adequate child care or rent without having roommates, adding that they are not provided with dental insurance. “$50 billion endowment and you can’t give us dental, Harvard?” Thompson said.

University spokesperson Jason A. Newton declined to comment.

In addition to members of Harvard’s unions, organizers from other

SEE PAGE 7

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THE HARVARD CRIMSON

LAST WEEK

FEBRUARY 17, 2023

UNIVERSITY FINANCES

COLLEGE

TITLE IX

Harvard Fossil Fuel Investments Rose

Thousands Seek Love on Datamatch

Protests Against Comaroff Continue

COMMODITY PRICES. The value of fossil fuel investments in Harvard’s endowment ticked up during fiscal year 2022 as energy prices soared, according to a Harvard Management Company report released Thursday. The school has pledged to discontinue such investments once its legal obligations are fulfilled. In the Thursday report, HMC — which manages Harvard’s endowment — attributed its investment gains in fossil fuel companies to global market conditions. BY KRISHI KISHORE AND

DIGITAL CUPIDS. Early on Valentine’s Day, more than 4,300 Harvard undergraduates eagerly awaited an email that could fundamentally alter the course of their lives: their Datamatch results. Datamatch, a free matchmaking platform managed

by Harvard undergraduates, pairs users by an algorithm based on their responses to a 16-question survey. The questionnaire asked students questions on topics ranging from charcuterie boards to the inevitable Datamatch ‘walk of shame,’ all in an attempt to match them with their soulmates, whether romantic or platonic. BY JOHN N. PEÑA AND HANA ROSTAMI—CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

SEXUAL HARASSMENT. More than 70 Harvard students protested Harvard’s continued employment of professor John L. Comaroff, who is under fire for allegations of sexual harassment, and called for reform of the University’s sexual misconduct policies at a Friday afternoon rally. Undergraduate and graduate students gathered in front of the Science Center before marching through Harvard Yard, chanting “Hey Hey, Ho Ho, Comaroff Has Got to Go” and “No More Comaroff, No More Complicity” as students and tourists looked on. BY DARLEY

ROHAN RAJEEV—CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

A. C. BOIT, CHARLOTTE P. RITZ-JACK, AND ELIAS J. SCHISGALL—CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

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The Week in Photos

AROUND THE IVIES COMMUNITY COALITION PRESENTS UNIVERSITY WITH AFFORDABLE HOUSING PROPOSAL

STUDENTS AND ACTIVISTS MARCH FOR FAISAL CITY HALL. Boston-area students and activists marched to Cambridge City Hall Monday in the tenth local protest since last month’s killing of Sayed Faisal. BY RYAN D. NGUYEN—CRIMSON

The Morningside Heights Community Coalition’s JUST Housing Committee presented a proposal to Columbia University administrators that would increase access to affordable housing in surrounding Morningside Hides. The coalition asked Columbia to maintain rent-controlled apartments and reserve 35 percent of units in new and renovated buildings for low- and moderate- income residents.

STAFF WRITER

THC

THE COLUMBIA SPECTATOR

Read more at THECRIMSON.COM

STUDENTS VOTE FOR PLAN B VENDING MACHINES The Cornell student government passed a resolution supporting the implementation of vending machines carrying emergency contraceptives last week. The resolution, which passed unanimously in the Student Assembly, follows a push by Planned Parenthood Generation Action at Cornell for greater access to the emergency contraceptive Plan B on campus. Currently, students must walk 30 minutes to drug stores that carry the contraceptive.

THE CORNELL SUN

WHARTON NOT RANKED ON FINANCIAL TIMES’S LIST FOR FIRST TIME SINCE RANKINGS’ INCEPTION The Wharton School of Business was replaced by Columbia Business School as number one on the Financial Times’ yearly ranking of the top business schools, the Daily Pennsylvanian reported Wednesday. After being ranked number one for 10 of the past 25 years, Wharton was not included in this year’s ranking because the school did not meet the Financial Times’s alumni survey respondent threshold.

TURKEY-SYRIA VIGIL. The Office of the Muslim Chaplain and Memorial Church hosted a vigil of prayer and mourning for lives lost in the earthquakes that struck Syria and Turkey on Feb. 6. BY SOPHIA C. SCOTT—CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

BLUNDERED BEANPOT. Harvard men’s ice hockey lost to Northeastern 3-2 in a dramatic final match of the annual Boston collegiate tournament. BY DYLAN J. GOODMAN—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

HAW-UAW FOR UNIONS. Harvard Academic Workers-United Automobile Workers rallied in front of the John Harvard Statue in Harvard Yard. BY JOEY HUANG—CRIMSON

PAINTINGS LAB. Artistic expression at the Paintings Lab at the Harvard Art Museums’ Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies BY JENNIFER Z. LIANG—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN

LARGEST NUMBER OF STUDENTS STUDYING ABROAD SINCE 2020 During the Spring 2023 semester, 266 students are studying abroad across 28 different countries — the largest number since the start of the pandemic — although the figure is still less than during the 2018 and 2019 academic years.

Around 35 percent of students abroad are participating in University sponsored programs, while the rest are doing so through approved external programs. The most popular destinations include the United Kingdom, Spain, and Denmark.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

PHOTOGRAPHER

NEXT WEEK

THE HARVARD CRIMSON FEBRUARY 17, 2023

What’s Next

IN THE REAL WORLD EU CIRCULATES CALL FOR UKRAINE CEASEFIRE The European Union circulated a draft resolution to be voted on by the U.N. that calls for an end to the Russia-Ukraine war and the protection of Ukraine’s “sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity.”

The vote will take place next week on the evening of the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The draft had been requested by Ukraine with the hope of garnering increased international support for the continuation of peace efforts.

U.S. SHOOTS DOWN THREE MORE FLYING OBJECTS After shooting down a Chinese spy balloon over Montana earlier this month, U.S. fighter jets have shot down three more objects flying over Alaska, Canada, and Michigan. The North American Aerospace Defense Command, NORAD, increased the sensitivity of their settings after tracking the Chinese spy balloon earlier this month, leading NORAD to discover three more objects this past weekend.

These new objects were flying at lower altitude, and were shot down due to their threat to low flying aircraft.

3

Start every week with a preview of what’s on the agenda around Harvard University

Friday 2/17

Monday 2/20

Wednesday 2/22

AFRICAN HERITAGE DIET COOKING CLASS

LOVE UNDER THE CRUCIFIX SCREENING

HARVARD PUBLIC ART TOURS: ALLSTON

Saturday 2/18

Tuesday 2/21

Thursday 2/23

HARVARD-RADCLIFFE ORCHESTRA: AUCOIN, STRAVINSKY, AND BEETHOVEN

PHILANTHROPY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

RECREATING THE THRONE OF QUEEN HETEPHERES EXHIBITION

Winthrop House, Junior Common Room, 12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m Led by a local nonprofit Oldways, attendees will learn and make traditional recipes such as Jollof Rice and Black-Eyed Pea Salad.

Sanders Theatre, 9 p.m. - 10 p.m.

Join Harvard’s premier student orchestra for a concert as they perform Matthew Aucoin’s Orchestral Suite from his opera “Eurydice,” Igor Stravinsky’s Pulcinella Suite, and Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5.

Harvard Film Archive, 7 p.m Watch Kinuyo Tanaka’s last film, about a 16th century Christian samurai and a tea master’s stepdaughter, as a part of the Carpenter Center’s program on the actress, director, and “pioneer.”

Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics, 6 p.m. - 7 p.m.

Join Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation, Kennedy School Dean Douglas Elmendorf, and Hutchins Center Director Henry Louis Gates Jr. for a conversation about philanthropy and social justice.

Allston, various times Venture out of Cambridge and explore the wide variety of art in Allston on a self-guided walking tour that explores public art including murals, sculptures, and prints.

Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East, 11 a.m - 4 p.m.

Take a break from problem sets and essays and come see an exhibition around the full scale reproduction of ancient Egyptian Queen Hetepheres’s throne, constructed using similar materials to the original.

Sunday 2/19

Friday 2/24

AFRICA HEALTH CONFERENCE: “BUILDING RESILIENCE AND THE FUTURE OF HEALTH IN AFRICA”

INTRODUCTION TO FLAMENCO WORKSHOP WITH MARÍA ALIAGA

Harvard Dance Center Studio 1, 4 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.

Dance with María Aliaga, a choreographer and Mather House resident scholar, learning the basics of the Spanish dance alongside its history.

Chan School of Public Health , 8 a.m. - 7 p.m.

Come for a chance to take photos of American painter Kehinde Wiley’s portraits in the Materials Lab.

MICHIGAN STATE SHOOTING LEAVES 3 DEAD, 5 INJURED The 43-year-old Michigan shooter initiated fire at 8:30 p.m. on Monday and eluded police capture for about four hours, before committing suicide when approached a few miles outside campus. The shooter, Anthony McRae, was found when an “alert citizen” reported spotting him in the Lansing area, recognizing him from an image captured on school security cameras that was released to news media. McRae had previously served 18 months of probation for the possession of a loaded gun in a vehicle.

STREETSCAPE NCAA URGES U.S. COURT TO REJECT PAY FOR ATHLETES The NCAA asked a federal appeals court to block a legal effort that would require colleges to treat Division I athletes as employees, according to the Associated Press. The NCAA argued such a move would financially burden schools who may be pressured to allocate unequal resources to more well-watched sports. Lawyers arguing on behalf of student-athletes argued that the students, who often spend more than 30 hours playing their sport and incur additional expenses, deserve their cut of the billions of dollars spent by network television on college sports.

The athletes are not looking to make a market value profit, but rather to earn a rate similar to students who work jobs in addition to their studies, according to their lawyers.

JULIAN J. GIORDANO AND JOEY HUANG—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHERS

THE HARVARD CRIMSON Cara J. Chang ’24 President

STAFF FOR THIS ISSUE Brandon L. Kingdollar ’24

Cynthia V. Lu ’24

Managing Editor

Business Manager

Magazine Chairs Io Y. Gilman ’25 Amber H. Levis ’25

Design Chairs Sophia Salamanca ’25 Sami E. Turner ’25

Eleanor V. Wikstrom ’24 Christina M. Xiao ’24

Blog Chairs Tina Chen ’24 Hana Rehman ’25

Multimedia Chairs Joey Huang ’24 Julian J. Giordano ’25

Arts Chairs Anya L. Henry ’24 Alisa S. Regassa ’24

Sports Chairs Mairead B. Baker ’24 Aaron B. Schuchman ’25

Technology Chairs Kevin Luo ’24 Justin Y. Ye ’24

Associate Managing Editors Leah J. Teichholtz ’24 Meimei Xu ’24 Editorial Chairs

Associate Business Manager Derek S. Chang ’24 Copyright 2023, The Harvard Crimson (USPS 236-560). No articles, editorials, cartoons or any part thereof appearing in The Crimson may be reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the President. The Associated Press holds the right to reprint any materials published in The Crimson. The Crimson is a non-profit, independent corporation, founded in 1873 and incorporated in 1967. Second-class postage paid in Boston, Massachusetts. Published Monday through Friday except holidays and during vacations, three times weekly during reading and exam periods by The Harvard Crimson Inc., 14 Plympton St., Cambridge, Mass. 02138

Night Editors James R. Jolin ’24 Eric Yan ’24 Assistant Night Editors Krishi Kishore ’25 Monique I. Vobecky ’25 Natalie K Bandura ’26 Madeleine A. Hung ’26 Azusa M. Lippit ’26 Asher J. Montgomery ’26 Tess C. Wayland ’26 Story Editors James R. Jolin ’24 Brandon L. Kingdollar ’24

Vivi E. Lu ’24 Leah J. Teichholtz ’24 Andy Z. Wang ’23-’24 Meimei Xu ’24 Eric Yan ’24 Design Editors Nayeli Cardozo ’25 Laurinne P. Eugenio ’26 Toby R. Ma ’24 Sami E. Turner ’25

Christopher L. Li ’25 Addison Y. Liu ’25 Claire Yuan ’25 Editorial Editor

Hea Pushpraj ’25 Sports Editors Aaron B. Shuchman ’25 Alexandra N. Wilson ’23-’24 Arts Editors

Photo Editors Julian J. Giordano ’25 Cory K. Gorczycki ’24 Joey Huang ’24

Zachary J. Lech ’24

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

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THE HARVARD CRIMSON

NEWS

FEBRUARY 17, 2023

How Unhoused People Endured Cold

HARVARD CLUB LAWSUIT

Forty Women Accuse Alum of Sexual Assault

BY ERIKA K. CHUNG AND EMILY L. DING CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

ALUM UNDER FIRE. James L. Toback ’66 is facing allegations of sexual assault from forty women who filed suit against him and the Harvard Club of New York City in December.

BY MILES J. HERSZENHORN CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

F

orty women made sweeping allegations of sexual assault in a lawsuit against James L. Toback ’66 and the Harvard Club of New York City late last year, alleging Toback repeatedly used his membership at the private alumni venue to abuse five of the plaintiffs.

The suit was filed in New York State Supreme Court on Dec. 5, just days after the Adult Survivors Act created a one-year window for survivors of sexual assault in the state to bring civil lawsuits against their abusers and other parties that enabled the abuse.

Toback, a 78-year-old filmmaker and Oscar-nominated screenwriter, faced accusations of sexual assault and abuse from 38 women in the initial lawsuit.

Lawyers filed an amended complaint on Dec. 16, bringing the total number of plaintiffs accusing Toback to 40.

Toback, a former Crimson editor, is accused in the lawsuit of taking advantage of his membership in the Harvard Club of New York City to sexually abuse women by “luring his victims to the Harvard Club for meals and drinks and attacking them in the Harvard Club’s dining room, stairwells, bathrooms and hotel rooms.”

“Toback also frequently used hotel rooms, including his private room, at the Harvard Club to falsely imprison and sexually abuse his victims,” the lawsuit stated.

The lawsuit seeks to hold the Club accountable for negligence, claiming it allowed Toback’s “serial sexual abuse to occur unchecked at the Harvard Club for decades.”

The lawsuit comes five years after the Los Angeles Times published an investigation in which 38 women accused Toback of sexual harassment over several decades. Toback denied the allegations at the time, claiming that for 22 years he was “biologically incapable” of the behavior alleged by the women because he had diabetes and a heart condition.

Toback did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

A spokesperson for the Harvard Club of New York City provided a letter to The Crimson that the Club’s leadership sent to its

James L. Toback ‘66 faces allegations of sexually assaulting 40 women, according to an amended lawsuit filed in December 2022. ANNA LONYAI—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

members in December.

The letter stated that “as is the Club’s policy, we do not comment on pending litigation.”

Allegations of sexual harassment against Toback involving the Harvard Club of New York

premises,” the lawsuit stated.

When the Club learned about the allegations against Toback in fall 2017, it conducted an internal investigation and Toback’s membership was “promptly terminated by the Club’s Board,”

“

The Harvard Club valued Toback’s membership more than the lives of the young women Toback sexually assaulted on its premises.

Plaintiffs Plaintiffs vs. James Toback ’66 and NYC Harvard Club

said that women who decided to speak out against Toback in 2017 had no method of legal recourse until the passage of the Adult Survivors Act. “There’s typically a situation where plaintiffs delay reporting, or do not report being sexually assaulted at all, for a number of reasons: shame, embarrassment, but also fear of retaliation,” Leonoudakis said.

“With the Adult Survivors Act, for the first time, the plaintiffs in this case — and many survivors of sexual assault throughout the state of New York — have an opportunity to seek justice and to be heard,” Leonoudakis added.

miles.herszenhorn@thecrimson.com

City were first reported as early as 1989 in the now-defunct Spy Magazine, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleges that the Harvard Club of New York was previously informed about Toback’s misconduct and launched an investigation into his behavior, but did not complete the investigation because Toback threatened the Club with legal action.

“The Harvard Club valued Toback’s membership more than the lives of the young women Toback sexually assaulted on its

wrote Harvard Club of New York City President James D. Coady ’92, First Vice President Stephen P. Younger ’77, and Secretary Angela K. Dorn ’87 in the December letter.

“At that time, the incidents reportedly occurred in the 1980s and in 2012, and as was noted in a press article, the women did not inform Club management at the time,” the Club’s leadership wrote in the letter.

Ross E. Leonoudakis, a lawyer at Nix Patterson — the firm that is representing the plaintiffs —

THC Stay Up to Date with our Newsletter THECRIMSON.COM

Confronting record-breaking low temperatures earlier this month, some of Cambridge’s unhoused residents sought refuge in shelters offering extended hours last weekend, while others faced the cold.

Harvard’s two student-run homeless shelters, Y2Y Harvard Square and Harvard Square Homeless Shelter, opened during the day in addition to their regular overnight hours.

Y2Y Volunteer Director and Tufts junior Annie S. Li sent out an email calling for emergency volunteers during the cold snap, asking anyone interested to sign up for extra shifts during the day.

Y2Y operates on a peer-topeer model, where volunteers aged 18 to 24 — many of whom are Harvard students — serve guests of similar age.

“The extreme weather puts our guests in danger because Y2Y normally operates as an overnight shelter,” Li wrote. “As a result, in order to provide a safe and warm space for the guests, we will be opening the whole day Saturday, Feb. 3.”

“We actually did not know how many people we’re going to expect, which is really surprising that we were able to get more than enough volunteers who were willing to come in,” she said in an interview last week.

John U. Ficek ’25 — one of the emergency volunteers at Y2Y — said he was prompted to volunteer by the impending weather conditions.

“I was thinking about how it was quite literally going to be lethal temperatures that weekend.

And then it just so happened an hour later after I thought to myself that an email was sent down asking for help for that day, so I was happy to help,” said Ficek.

Despite the cold, Y2Y did not experience an influx of guests during last weekend, likely because the shelter stopped providing emergency beds, according to Li. She added that not many people have been entering the lottery to get a bed in the shelter this winter.

“We’re pretty surprised about it, because it’s pretty cold outside — it’s winter season,” Li said.

Mark D. Kingsbury, an unhoused person who frequents Harvard Square, said he was outside during last weekend’s record-breaking cold temperatures when a passerby called an ambulance for him.

“I was like, what? I didn’t call an ambulance, I’m okay. I mean, I was under a lot of layers,” Kingsbury said.

“It was like six [degrees] — it was in the range I can still do,” he added.

Jim Stewart, director of First Church Shelter in Cambridge,

said the facility extended its open hours in response to the weather but did not see an increase in guests last weekend, adding that a “significant number” of unhoused people “don’t like to be inside.”

“We stayed open all day — we’re usually closed until four o’clock on weekdays, but we remained open,” Stewart said.

“We actually didn’t get a lot of calls from people looking for shelter,” Stewart added.

Though First Church Shelter and Y2Y did not experience a rise in people seeking shelter over the weekend, Kingsbury says that some areas became packed due to the cold.

“Everybody went to South Station. I was told that it was pretty crazy there — it was a free-forall,” Kingsbury said.

“I was like ‘wow,’ that’s just a lot of homeless people that are just crowding into places to stay warm,” he added.

Kingsbury added he has stayed overnight in shelters ever since arriving in the Cambridge area approximately six years ago, including during last week’s cold snap.

When not in the shelter, he said he keeps warm by going to public spaces, such as the Smith Campus Center and the MBTA system.

“The transit system is definitely something to use. I remember sleeping outside, and it’d be too cold in the morning, and I would get up at five, just get on the train, and take a nap on it,” he said.

In addition to seeking shelter, many unhoused people require additional layers and winter jackets to endure prolonged periods of time outside, according to Susan Jones, an unhoused person who spends time in Harvard Square.

Jones, who stayed with a friend during the cold snap, said she acquired the majority of her winter clothing from donations to the Quaker Church on Brattle St. “You can go there every week and get what you want — get you a few pairs of pants, shirts, coats, whatever you need,” said Jones, “So they’re very helpful.”

In addition to the Quaker Church, Jones said she also took advantage of the outreach teams from churches and multi-service centers distributing hand warmers and gloves in the greater Boston area.

Jones added she empathized with the individuals who remained outside during the cold weather, recalling one instance when she was outside following a period of heavy snow.

“Trying to even get warm — I just felt terrible for the people who were stuck out here, you know? Because I know what it’s like,” Jones said.

erika.chung@thecrimson.com emily.ding@thecrimson.com

Salata Institute Offers Grants to Five Climate Research Clusters

BY SABRINA R. HU AND JEFFREY Q. YANG CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

The Harvard Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability announced grants to five research groups featuring 30 faculty members from across the University on Monday, marking the first projects funded by the Salata Institute since its establishment in fall 2022.

The research groups, part of the newly-established Climate Research Clusters program at the Salata Institute, include faculty members from eight of Harvard’s schools, including the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard Law School, Harvard Medical School, and Harvard Business School.

“All of these projects are focused on having real-world constructive impact in terms of moving forward — real world problems associated with climate change,” said Salata Institute Director James H. Stock, who also serves as Harvard’s vice provost for climate and sustainability.

Two projects focus on cutting greenhouse gas emissions: one by reducing global methane emissions and the other by examining corporate net-zero pledges.

Another two projects study the negative consequences of climate change in specific regions of the world, and the last studies the impact of a clean energy transition on areas of the United States dependent on the extraction of fossil fuels.

In selecting the research groups, the institute required all teams to work across different Harvard schools and considered the project’s potential for innovation and real-world impact, according to Stock.

Harvard Kennedy School professor Robert N. Stavins, the lead researcher of the project studying methane emissions, lauded the Salata Institute for fostering research collaborations at the University. Stavins said tackling climate change requires interdisciplinary research and collaboration with faculty from other disciplines.

“What the Salata Institute is doing, which is very significant in

the long history of Harvard University, is that they’re bringing together faculty, absolutely across the university, to work together on climate change and other problems of sustainability,” he said. “That’s a remarkable development.”

Carrie F. Jenks, executive director of the HLS Environmental and Energy Law Program and a member of the research cluster evaluating corporate net-zero projects, said her research relies heavily on perspectives from other disciplines.

“From a legal perspective, we work on regulations, for example, at EPA,” she said. “We’re always looking to other experts to build a regulatory record, whether that be energy market experts or public health experts or climate change experts or engineers thinking about what technologies can you use to control greenhouse gasses.”

The research that the clusters produce aims to produce practical solutions for climate problems and inform policy decisions. Stock emphasized the importance of engaging with all

The Harvard Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability announced funding for its first projects on Monday.

JULIAN J. GIORDANO—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

stakeholders affected by climate change in developing climate solutions.

Three projects will conduct research in local areas impacted by climate change, including two examining climate adaptation

in the Gulf of Guinea and South Asia, respectively.

“Working closely with local communities so that there’s an enduring and constructive engagement, and allowing Harvard to contribute in areas where it has

strengths — but making sure that it’s done in a way that really works for the local communities — is incredibly important,” Stock said. sabrina.hu@thecrimson.com jeffrey.yang@thecrimson.com

THE HARVARD CRIMSON

COVER STORY

FEBRUARY 17, 2023

5

HUHS Dismisses Physician After Misconduct Allegations

JULIAN J. GIORDANO—CRIMSON DESIGNER

HUHS DISMISSED an urgent care doctor following misconduct complaints.

BY NIA L. ORAKWUE AND CHARLOTTE P. RITZ-JACK CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

A

Harvard University Health Services physician was terminated last year after receiving several complaints from female patients aged 18 to 31 who alleged misconduct and inappropriate behavior during physical examinations.

Jeffery R. Schapiro worked as an urgent care physician at HUHS from July 2018 until his dismissal in March 2022, following at least eight formal complaints from patients to HUHS in the span of a year. Schapiro has disputed the complainants’ interpretation of his actions and their severity in written statements and an interview with The Crimson.

According to now-impounded court documents obtained

by The Crimson from a civil proceeding before the Massachusetts Superior Court in Middlesex County, the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine — which is responsible for licensing, regulating, and disciplining Massachusetts-based physicians — subpoenaed HUHS on May 4, 2022, for the unredacted and identifiable medical records of four of the complainants.

The records, which remain sealed, are required for the Board’s investigation of the practices and quality of care Schapiro provided, according to the court documents.

The subpoena drew resistance from HUHS, which objected to the release of the patients’ de-anonymized medical records on the basis of individual privacy concerns.

Despite opposition from HUHS, following a hearing, a Middlesex County Superior Court judge allowed the subpoena against HUHS to move forward in December, forcing the University’s health service to provide the Board with the students’ records and names under seal.

HUHS has raised privacy concerns with the release of the unredacted medical records, though the health service’s privacy policy as well as health and educational records privacy law allow for the release of records in response to lawful subpoenas.

Schapiro’s name is redacted in the court documents, which describe him as “John Doe.” Schapiro confirmed in an interview with The Crimson that he is the subject of the complaints and described many of them as “reasonably accurate accounts,” but he said his behavior was routine and misinterpreted.

“I do not believe I have ever examined anybody in a clinically irrelevant or not pertinent manner,” he said. “I think that is something that fully is not appreciated or not believed by some of the people who have made accusations towards me.”

Schapiro remains a fully licensed physician in Massachusetts, according to the Board’s website. As of Thursday, he has not been disciplined by the Board.

‘A Very Bad Experience’

One of the complainants, who visited HUHS on Feb. 13, 2022, described her appointment with Schapiro as “a very bad experience” in the obtained court document containing patient satisfaction comments.

“He touched my right inner thigh during my first visit (not during my ankle exam, but while he was explaining next steps and I was sitting in the patient chair next to the computer and desk),” the anonymous complainant wrote.

The patient added that he made “weird, presumptive mumbling comments” after asking her if she could be pregnant and continued inappropriate behavior during her visit the next day. ,“I had the sense during both visits that he was ‘hitting on me’ or something of the sort,” the patient wrote. “While he does not categorically assault women, I think that his conduct is highly unprofessional.”

In an emailed statement, Schapiro wrote that “any touching of the inner thigh was still part of the broader neurovascular evaluation” and that he asks “all women of childbearing age if pregnancy is a potential concern” before beginning an X-ray.

One woman wrote that the doctor was “weirdly touchy” and “would touch my back,” and another wrote she felt “unsafe and creeped out because he kept touching me.”

“I would not recommend this provider to any woman,” the complainant wrote. “The whole time I just had this gut feeling that I was in danger and I needed to get out of there.”

Schapiro wrote that he does “get close to all patients, regardless of gender” for examinations and to go over written instructions with them.

“I am very proud of my efforts to communicate fully and openly with patients and am quite distraught to be learning now for the very first time that this well intentioned practice was actually being perceived as being too intrusive by some patients,” he wrote.

Five of the eight complaints explicitly mentioned inappropriate touching, three expressed concerns over his medical practices, and two alleged inappropriate comments during exams.

In one of the complaints about Schapiro’s medical procedures, a patient wrote that she was concerned that he did not initially use lubricant gel during a pelvic exam when swabbing her for bacterial vaginosis.

“When I expressed that it hurt, [he] did not move hastily to take it out,” wrote the complainant.

Schapiro wrote that he does not typically use lubricant because it makes diagnosis via microscope slides more difficult, adding that he was “certainly not attempting to be cruel.”

“I did not like to use lubricant to obtain the sample for the microscope because the lubricant distorted the appearance of the slide and made the accurate diagnosis of bacterial vaginosis, in particular, quite challenging,” he wrote.

Schapiro said he does not believe he has been “treated fairly”

by HUHS officials.

“This was not a heinous crime that I committed. These were minor issues. I was not perfect in

my behavior. I did touch somebody. I acknowledge that,” Schapiro said.

Schapiro wrote in a follow-up comment that he had never seen any of the patient satisfaction complaints provided to the Board and that he continues to believe his behavior was appropriate and consistent with “medically indicated” examinations.

“I find this failure to make me aware of the accusations quite negligent and perhaps malicious on the part of the Harvard administration,” Schapiro wrote. “I had no opportunity to respond to the specific complaints, either to defend myself against false or exaggerated reports or to appreciate that some of my habitual practices, performed in an effort to provide good medical care, were being perceived as inappropriate.”

“I sincerely believe that none of these complaints provides evidence of malicious or inappropriate behavior,” he added.

HUHS spokesperson Cherrelle L. Norris declined to comment on Schapiro’s criticisms, citing policy against commenting on personnel matters.

‘People Might Talk About Us’ Following the complaints, HUHS put Schapiro on leave on Feb. 18, 2022, but according to an email from HUHS to Schapiro, he attended grand rounds — a remote medical seminar — and continued to contact colleagues.

“You utilized the electronic medical record and sent multiple messages to other HUHS providers and issued orders for patients,” HUHS wrote to Schapiro.

“In addition, you were insubordinate to Dr. [Redacted] during grand rounds by refusing to leave despite his instruction to do so.”

Schapiro said in an interview that he was not initially made aware of the terms of his administrative leave and complied with the leave after he was advised that he had violated its rules.

“It was not something that I had been advised that I shouldn’t do,” Schapiro said of attending grand rounds. “I had no idea of what administrative leave was, except the fact that I wasn’t going to come into work and see patients.”

In a Feb. 20, 2022 email, Schapiro wrote to HUHS saying that he was “clearly at fault in one of the complaints.”

“While I had no lascivious or solicitous intentions, I without question placed my unappreciated hand on one patient’s knee multiple times,” Schapiro wrote in the email. “The touching took place outside of my exam and was well-meaning but unprofessional. She made me aware at the time that my hand was unwelcome and I acknowledged her discomfort.”

Schapiro also wrote in the email that he was shocked by “the revelation that I was the provider who generated the most complaints in the health center.”

On March 4, 2022, Schapiro was terminated by HUHS in a letter which named a “violation of Harvard and HUHS policies” as the reason for his dismissal.

The letter also referenced two additional complaints, including an allegation that he told a patient, “If you keep coming back, people might talk about us.”

Schapiro said in an interview that he had seen the patient who leveled the complaint on three separate, unscheduled visits, which he said he thought was a “strange phenomenon.” He said his comment was “not a solicitation.”

Schapiro added that the letter misquoted him, and that he told the patient, “We have to stop meeting like this, people might start talking.”

“This is more a reflection on the perception of the outside world that you can’t have an innocuous encounter three times or so,” Schapiro said in the interview. “The tendency is for other people to jump to conclusions.”

Schapiro said he views HUHS’ decision to terminate him as “swift and drastic,” adding that he believes the University’s health service “overreacted” to his conduct due to controversy over other high-profile investigations of professional misconduct at Harvard.

In recent years, several Harvard academics — including African and African American Studies and Anthropology professor John L. Comaroff, Economics professor Roland G. Fryer Jr., and Government professor Jorge I. Domínguez — have faced sexual misconduct allegations and subsequent investigations.

University spokesperson Jason A. Newton and HUHS spokesperson Norris did not comment on Schapiro’s criticisms of Harvard’s misconduct procedures.

The Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine also declined to comment on their open investigation into Schapiro’s quality of care.

“This has been devastating to my career,” Schapiro said. “I don’t know what to expect. Potential employers don’t know what to expect, and it makes me an undesirable candidate.”

‘Illegal and Unwarranted Invasion’ HUHS’ March dismissal of Schapiro triggered a notification to the National Practitioner Data Bank, a database operated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that contains records of medical malpractice and other misconduct. The notice prompted the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine to begin an investigation into Schapiro’s medical care, according to court documents.

The Board first issued HUHS a subpoena on April 5, 2022, for Schapiro’s employment records.

HUHS complied with the initial order, but on May 4, the Board subpoenaed HUHS for medical records containing identifying information of four of the patients whose complaints appeared in the employment file.

HUHS resisted the subpoena of student medical records, citing education and health records privacy laws, and instead offered to provide copies of the records with all identifying information redacted.

“HUHS will not comply with the May 4, 2022 subpoena as it is an illegal and unwarranted invasion into the privacy of the students,” Ingrid S. Martin, an attorney for HUHS, wrote on June 24.

“We do not believe that HUHS can legally provide these materi-

als to you in an unredacted form, nor do we see any exigent need by the Board that would justify such an invasion of the four students’ personal and medical privacy,” Martin wrote.

But the Board rejected HUHS’ offer to provide redacted documents, arguing that they needed the patients records in order to adequately investigate Schapiro “for potential substandard or inappropriate care.” On Aug. 11, the Board filed a civil action against HUHS in the Middlesex Superior Court to compel them to provide unredacted documents in support of their investigation.

HUHS opposed the motion in an Aug. 26 filing, writing that the Board often evaluates a doctor’s quality of care based on redacted documents.

“It seems likely that the Board’s true intent is to try to contact the four female patients and to interview them,” HUHS’ filing read.

“As HUHS has made clear, such an outreach, which would ask these patients to relive the trauma of their experiences again, is unnecessary and unreasonable in this case because Dr. Doe has already admitted to the underlying misconduct.”

Months later, on Dec. 12, Middlesex Superior Court Judge Brent A. Tingle ruled in favor of the Board, compelling HUHS to release the sealed, but unredacted, medical records.

“After review and hearing this motion is allowed where the Board is a healthcare oversight organization as defined in HIPAA and where FERPA requires production of the requested patient records in response to a lawful subpoena and notice to the patients,” Tingle wrote.

HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, and FERPA, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, regulate privacy practices for medical records and educational records, respectively. Both FERPA and HIPAA allow for the disclosure of records without consent due to a subpoena or judicial order.

Lawyer Steven D. Zansberg, who has written about FERPA, said HIPAA is more relevant to the students’ medical records.

“The statute that applies here is not FERPA, but HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which is a federal statute that protects patient records from public inspection, and imposes penalties on the medical care providers for wrongfully disclosing such records,” he said.

According to a 2019 HUHS privacy practices document, HUHS can disclose medical information without written consent for reasons including health oversight activities, lawsuits and disputes, and law enforcement.

Norris, the HUHS spokesperson, wrote in an emailed statement that patient confidentiality is an essential part of providing health care.

“A judge has clarified what the Board of Registration in Medicine may legally obtain from HUHS, and we are fully cooperating with the process and have notified the patients prior to any disclosure,” Norris wrote. nia.orakwue@thecrimson.com charlotte.ritz-jack@thecrimson.com

Feb. 13, 2021 First complaint recorded

Sept. 28, 2021 Second complaint recorded

Oct. 15, 2021 Third complaint recorded

Oct. 18, 2021 Fourth and fifth complaint recorded

Oct. 20, 2021 Sixth complaint recorded

Nov. 6, 2021 Seventh complaint recorded

Feb. 13, 2022 Eighth complaint recorded

March 4, 2022 Schapiro terminated from HUHS

April 5, 2022 Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine issues initial subpoena to HUHS

May 4, 2022 Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine subpoenas HUHS for unredacted records

June 24, 2022 HUHS refuses to comply with the Board’s second subpoena and provide unredacted documents

Aug. 11, 2022 The Board files a civil action lawsuit against HUHS in the Middlesex Superior Court

Aug. 26, 2022 Harvard opposes the motion, citing privacy concerns.

Dec. 12, 2022 Middlesex Superior Court Judge Brent A. Tingle rules in favor of the Board, requiring HUHS to provide the subpoenaed records

6

THE HARVARD CRIMSON

NEWS

FEBRUARY 17, 2023

IN MEMORIAM. Longtime Harvard Corporation member James R. “Jamie” Houghton ’58 died Dec. 20, 2022 at the age of 86.

EARTHQUAKES FROM PAGE 1

Open Letter Calls for Harvard to Aid Turkey and Syria

BY MILES J. HERSZENHORN AND CLAIRE YUAN CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

­I

n early December 2007, then-University PresidenDrew G. Faust and Harvard Corporation Senior Fellow James R. “Jamie” Houghton ’58 unveiled an extensive overhaul of Harvard College’s financial aid policies to make undergraduate tuition more affordable for middle- and upper-class students. Then, the Great Recession started.

Despite the University’s expensive pledge days ahead of the financial crisis, Faust said Houghton remained by her side through all the challenges.

“We agreed that we needed to make a fundamental commitment to not reducing financial aid, even as we were reducing other things in the budget,” Faust said. “That was a sign of his support and enthusiasm and deep belief in accessibility and affordability of education.”

As a longtime member of the Harvard Corporation, the University’s highest governing body, Houghton navigated Harvard through the resignation of President Lawrence H. Summers and led the presidential search that selected Faust.

Houghton died on Dec. 20, 2022, at his home in Boston after a long battle with dementia. He was 86.

OBITUARY

James R. Houghton 1936–2022

Inheriting a Legacy Longtime Harvard Corporation member James R. Houghton ‘58 died on Dec. 20, 2022, at the age of 86. COURTESY OF JUSTIN IDE

Houghton was born in Corning, New York, on April 6, 1936. Hailing from a prestigious family, Houghton was the third generation to attend the same elite educational institutions: Houghton, his father, and his grandfather attended St. Paul’s School and Harvard College. Houghton later obtained a degree from Harvard Business School in 1962.

Both Houghton’s father and grandfather worked in politics.

His father, Amory Houghton, Class of 1921, served as U.S. Ambassador to France. His grandfather, Alanson B. Houghton, Class of 1886, served two terms as a U.S. Representative from New York and founded Corning Glass Works — a company that would remain in the family for over a century.

The Houghton Library, which houses Harvard’s collection of rare books and manuscripts, was named after James Houghton’s uncle, Arthur A. Houghton ’29.

During James Houghton’s second year at the Business School, he met Maisie Kinnicutt Houghton ’62, then a senior at Radcliffe College.

They married during their final year as Harvard students, in 1962, but Maisie Houghton said it took some persuasion on her end.

“He was quite keen to be married,” she said with a laugh. “I wanted to be a school teacher, and I had no intention of getting married right after graduation.”

Maisie Houghton said she nonetheless accomplished all of her life goals over the course of their marriage. They spent a few years living in Europe, splitting time between Zurich and Brussels.

When the family moved back to James Houghton’s hometown in Corning, Maisie Houghton said she became involved in several women’s rights organizations.

“I didn’t think of myself as the perfect corporate wife,” Maisie Houghton said. “I had my own interests and my own life, which Jamie totally encouraged.”

Houghton quickly rose through the ranks of Corning Glass Works, now known as Corning Incorporated.

In 1983, he succeeded his brother as chairman and CEO, a role he held until 1996 before he was asked to return for a second stint as CEO in 2002.

The first time Houghton attempted to become a member of Harvard’s governing boards, he failed. Houghton stood for election to the Board of Overseers, the University’s second-highest governing body, but did not garner enough votes to win a seat on the board.

But in 1995, he was selected to join the Harvard Corporation.

Houghton would serve on the board for 15 years, rising to the top post of senior fellow in 2002.

Weathering the Storm Four years into Houghton’s tenure as senior fellow, he faced his greatest challenge at Harvard.

The faculty had lost faith in Summers, and Houghton asked the president he once helped select to step down from the role.

A week after Houghton informed Summers that he no longer had confidence in his leadership, Summers announced on Feb. 21, 2006, that he would resign from the presidency.

Tasked with navigating the Corporation through this fraught moment, Houghton turned to Derek C. Bok — Harvard’s president from 1971 to 1991 — in hopes of recruiting him back to the University on an interim basis.

Fortunately for Houghton, the task wasn’t a difficult one, and a

short trip to Sarasota, Florida, saw Houghton return to Cambridge with a returning Harvard president in tow.

Though Bok spent only one year back in the presidential office, he said he found Houghton to be an “exemplary” help during the transitional year.

“It was, in many respects, the easiest and most peaceful year that I ever spent in office,” Bok said.

With Bok at the helm to “keep the ship steady,” as he described his mandate, Houghton turned his attention back to the presidential search at hand, guiding the University to recovery after the fallout of Summers’ resignation.

From 2006 to 2007, Houghton headed the presidential search committee that chose Faust, Harvard’s first female president.

Former Senior Fellow William F. “Bill” Lee ’72, who served on the Board of Overseers during Houghton’s tenure, said the appointment of Faust was Houghton’s greatest legacy at Harvard.

“He led the selection of Drew at a time of some dysfunction in the Harvard community,” Lee said. “He led a process that resulted in a president who then had a more than decade-long tenure, where she and Harvard accomplished many important things — that has to be his most important and most defining achievement.”

Still, the conclusion of the nearly ten-month presidential search did not immediately silence critics of the University’s direction under Houghton. Some questioned his decision to appoint Faust to the presidency.

“It was a brave thing of him to be the senior fellow who was willing to select a woman,” Faust said. “A lot of people were dubious, like, ‘What? Could she possi-

bly do the job?’”

Even before her selection as University President, Faust said Houghton had already proven himself an advocate for women in higher education.

When Harvard and Radcliffe merged in 1999, James Houghton and his wife, Maisie, were staunch supporters of the newly minted Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, establishing a fund to support female undergraduates during the transition period.

“He had been very supportive of women in a number of ways,” Faust said. “He was a person who really believed deeply in inclusion and moving Harvard more rapidly towards embracing those kinds of principles.”

Bridging the Gap The Corporation itself also saw lasting changes as a result of Houghton’s time at the helm of the board.

During his years as a member of the University’s highest governing body, Houghton sought to bridge the long-standing gap in communication and influence between the Corporation and the Board of Overseers.

Even as the mounting tensions between Summers and the Harvard faculty forced Houghton to take action, he took the time to consult both governing bodies before reaching the decision to encourage Summers to step down.

“At the time, the two governing bodies operated very much separately, independently,” Lee said.

“He brought the leadership of the Overseers — Patti Saris, the president, in particular — into the discussion,” Lee added.

Under Houghton’s leadership, the Harvard Corporation began

an internal review of its relationship with the Board of Overseers in 2010, resulting in reforms that Lee said strengthened the partnership.

Later that year, the Corporation rolled out a significant overhaul of the University’s governance structure, doubling the size of its membership and establishing term limits.

In addition to broad reforms, Houghton’s colleagues said he also worked to make sure that more voices were heard and represented in the two bodies.

Nannerl O. Keohane, who joined the Corporation in 2005, said Houghton helped ease the transition as she adjusted to her role.

“He supported me as a new member of the Corporation in ways that I shall always be grateful for,” she said.

Having joined the Corporation as the sole woman and with only an honorary degree from the University, Keohane said she worried that lacking a Harvard background would lead her to make mistakes.

“Jamie made it clear that that really didn’t matter,” she said.

“He wanted me to contribute everything that I could and to succeed and to relax, and he basically made me feel that in a very gracious way.”

Not only did Houghton facilitate smoother working relationships between his colleagues, Lee said, he also helped members of the University’s highest boards to become better friends.

“At the end of the day, he was a wonderful Corporation colleague, he was a wonderful senior fellow, but to me, he and Maisie were better friends,” Lee said. miles.herszenhorn@thecrimson.com claire.yuan@thecrimson.com

Harvard spokesperson Jason A. Newton confirmed that the University received the letter, but he declined to comment on the signatories’ requests.

Miray Topay ’06 wrote in an email that she helped to draft the open letter with the goal of garnering support for a crisis she described as “one of the worst disasters in the world in the last 100 years.”

“I can attest to the fact that the Harvard alumni group is an incredible one — caring, connected and has an ability to drive great, positive change in the world,” Topay wrote.

“We are simply hoping that an outreach to this amazing group is possible through HAA.” Ramin A. Isayev, a 2001 graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School and a member of the Harvard Club of Turkey, said he signed the letter with the hope of a favorable response from Bacow.

“This is quite a big human tragedy and we shouldn’t stay aside. President Bacow, he has repeatedly demonstrated that he’s a man of the best values, a compassionate person,” Isayev said.

Ilay R. Ors, who holds a Ph.D. from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, said she signed the letter after receiving it from Harvard’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies.

Ors specifically pointed to the cultural impact of the earthquakes, emphasizing that the affected region was home to “many different faiths” and “religious, ethnic, cultural groups in the area.”

“Definitely the worst earthquake in maybe 100 years that devastated an entire region, a region of immense historical significance and cultural heritage,” Ors said.

“So all these have been lost, in addition to something in the tens of thousands of lives, which is the most unfortunate immediate consequence of the earthquake.”

Ors added that the letter will bring awareness to fundraising organizations that are working to help those affected by the earthquakes.

“This letter is really representing a group that supports — that donations would find a healthy direction and a good outcome and an effective outcome so that they can really reach the people that need,” Ors said.

Topay said in addition to donating, Harvard students should reach out to peers from Turkey and Syria to offer support.

“Currently, I can assure you, your Turkish and Syrian friends are not OK. They have all been impacted negatively by this event — some may have lost people they know, or their family knows,” Topay wrote.

“If you see them in the dining hall or one of your classes – please check in with them, ask them how they are.”

“Show that you care – maybe make a donation or post a donation link on social media. It will go a long way to show them that you care,” she added. leah.lourenco@thecrimson.com

HKS Students Petition for Financial Support in Letter to Dean

BY ASHER J. MONTGOMERY CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Harvard Kennedy School students advocated for need-based application fee waivers and emergency funds for students with unexpected expenses in a letter to the school’s dean, Douglas W. Elmendorf, Wednesday.

The letter, authored by the First-Generation and Low-Income Caucus, was endorsed by the Kennedy School Student Government, as well as 14 student affinity groups.

HKS, which requires its applicants to pay a $100 application fee, is the only Harvard school aside from the Extension School that does not provide a fee waiver

for financial need.

“If HKS truly cares about diversifying its class, the very least it can do is implement a clear, streamlined process for getting fee waivers, if not waiving them for low-income and FLI students altogether as other universities have done,” the letter reads.

HKS spokesperson James F. Smith confirmed in an email that Elmendorf received the letter.

“He looks forward to meeting with the students who raised these issues,” Smith wrote.

FLI Caucus co-president Viet A. Nguyen said in an interview that the letter presents proposals that would be “really easy, quick wins” that the school can implement to improve the diversity of the student body and bolster the

support HKS students receive.

Nguyen added that when he applied to HKS, his request for an application fee waiver was denied — an experience he said is common among FGLI students at HKS. “There are so many other students who probably didn’t even apply because of the fee application,” he said.

The letter also outlines the FLI Caucus’ plan to reach out to program managers of emergency student funds at other Harvard schools — including Harvard College, Harvard Medical School, and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences — to understand the cost of the funds and how they disperse money.

The College offers a Beneficia-

ry Aid Program that provides additional assistance to financial aid recipients who face emergency medical or dental costs during the term that constitute “extreme financial hardship.”

The letter advocates for the creation of a “hardship fund” for HKS students.

“The expense of being at the Kennedy School [is] high and for many low-income students here, we are one emergency away from dropping out,” the letter reads.

Nguyen also criticized HKS’ merit-based aid system rather than awarding assistance solely based on financial need.

“Oftentimes, when we bring up this issue, we get stonewalled with ‘We can’t afford it,’ ‘There’s not enough money,’” he said.

“We just want to know: We don’t have enough money now,” he added.

“How much money do we need, so that we can begin fundraising and thinking about longterm goals,” Forgey said.

Quint Forgey, vice president of communications, technology, and operations for the Kennedy School Student Government, said the student government is “proud” to co-sponsor the letter to the Dean.

“We reviewed its priorities and they represent the type of practical, actionable change the KSSG always hopes for on campus,” he said.

“We are all confident that its proposals will affect the lives of HKS students in immediate and

actionable ways, and we’re going to stand by the FLI Caucus as a lobbyist on behalf of these comments as policy changes to the HKS administration.” asher.montgomery@thecrimson.com

THC Stay Up to Date with our Newsletter THECRIMSON.COM

NEWS

THE HARVARD CRIMSON FEBRUARY 17, 2023

7

HUA

LASPAU FROM PAGE 1

Students to Vote on HUA Amendment Proposals

LASPAU Shuts Down as Harvard Revokes Affiliation

HUA AMMENDMENTS. The HUA released eight ammendments to the consitution for students to vote on during elections.

BY JONAH C. KARAFIOL CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

­S

tudents will have the opportunity to vote on eight proposed amendments to the Harvard Undergraduate Association’s constitution during the body’s elections this weekend.

The eight amendments include proposals to push back the election timeline, rename the co-presidency, and restructure the body’s teams.

The spring election will mark the first time undergraduates have voted on amendments to the constitution of the newly-formed HUA. Because the Association is not a legislative body, amendments should be “initiated rarely,” according to the HUA’s constitution.

Amendment processes can start with a petition signed by at least 5 percent of College students or by a unanimous vote of the HUA executive team.

Over winter break, the HUA convened a working group that developed recommendations for the constitutional amendments, according to documents sent to undergraduates this month.

A proposed amendment can only be approved by a two-thirds majority of voters, according to the HUA’s constitution.

Voting on HUA officers, co-presidents, and constitutional amendments is set to commence on Feb. 17 and conclude at midnight on Feb. 19.

Here is The Crimson’s guide to the HUA’s proposed amendments to its constitution:

and research in the Region.”

Natera declined to comment on Harvard’s decision to strip Laspau of its affiliate status during an interview on Tuesday, but expressed concerns that the nonprofit’s demise will leave a large hole for the students and scholars it serves.

“There are many other organizations doing good work as well, but we are very focused in, precisely, in higher education in Latin America and the Caribbean, but also with a profound and extensive network with U.S. institutions of higher education,” Natera said.

“The organization is dedicated and very proud of the work,” Natera added. “I think we are leaving an important legacy.”

Q1: Constitutional Bylaw Recognition

The first change proposes adding a new clause that formally recognizes that the HUA is run in accordance with the bylaws, which support the constitution and operations of the body.

“The Bylaws may not contradict the Constitution, only supplement it,” a description of the first proposal reads. “The Bylaws may be updated with a vote of the Executive team, requiring all but one member voting in favor.”

miles.herszenhorn@thecrimson.com leah.lourenco@thecrimson.com

Q2: Reorganization of Well-Being Team The second proposal which students will vote on would divide the Well-Being Team into two separate teams, the Well-Being Team and the Inclusion Team.

The Well-Being Team would be responsible for “helping students navigate resources on Harvard’s campus regarding emotional, mental, and physical health,” including working with Counseling and Mental Health Services and Harvard University Health Services.

Several of this year’s HUA presidential candidates have supported improving mental health resources for students.

The Inclusion Team would focus on identity-related resources, working with the Office for Gender Equity; the Office for Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging; the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations; and the Accessible Education Office.

The HUA allowed candidates to run for the inclusion officer position this election, noting that if the proposal is not passed, the role will not ultimately be instated.

Q3: Creation of a First-Year Team

THC

HUA Co-Presidents LyLena D. Estabine ‘24 and Travis Allen Johnson ‘24 present at a Jan. 28 general meeting.

Stay Up to Date with our Newsletter THECRIMSON.COM

ADDISON Y. LIU—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

Next, students will have the chance to vote on the creation of a First-Year Team led by the next pair of co-presidents.

The team would be composed entirely of freshmen — except for the co-presidents — and gather information on topics including freshman seminars, pre-orientation programs, and comp processes for joining extracurricular clubs.

The group would also aim to educate freshmen about the HUA and its resources.

Q4: Addition of Another Treasurer to the Finance Team The fourth proposal would modify the HUA constitution to add a co-treasurer to the Finance Team, which administers funding for student organizations.

Co-treasurers would not be permitted to run on the same ticket, and the winners would be the two candi-

dates who receive the most votes.

Q5: HUA Spring Election Timeline Another proposal would push back the timing of the HUA’s spring elections for officer and co-presidency positions.

In the proposed timeline, voting will be held two weeks after the end of spring break.

Under the current constitution, elections are held in the third week of the spring semester.

In addition, officer terms would begin and end on April 20, with a shadowing period for incoming officers to learn from their predecessors.

Q6: Clarification of Referendum Process The sixth proposed amendment would specify that a referendum can only occur in the middle of the fall se-

mester.

The language would serve toclarify that a constitutional referendum process can only occur once per semester.

The HUA solicited votes in the fall for what would have been its first-ever referendum — which included three provisions to change the Association’s bylaws and constitution — but the results were voided after a misunderstanding with the Dean of Students Office.

Q7: Clarification of Finance Section Language The next amendment would remove language that provisions for special event grants and explains the timeline for grants.

For semesterly budget requests, the amendment would remove language around when requests are due and approved.

For monthly processes, it would

remove language indicating that applications are reviewed by the end of each month.

The amendment would also completely remove the section on post-grant evaluation for special event grants.

Q8: Renaming HUA Co-President The final amendment would rename the current title for the body’s leaders, replacing every occurrence of “co-president” with “co-coordinator” in the HUA’s constitution. jonah.karafiol@thecrimson.com

LABOR FROM PAGE 1

HAW-UAW Protest universities and workplaces joined Tuesday’s rallies, including members of Boston University Graduate Workers Union, MIT Graduate Student Union, Alphabet Workers Union, and the Boston School Bus Drivers’ Union.

“It’s important to have friends, especially given that the climate at Harvard hasn’t been very friendly to unions,” Feldman said.

“But the unions are each other’s friends, and we have each other’s backs.”

Organizers from Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers paused their regular informational picketing campaign to join Tuesday’s rally in Harvard Yard.

“I just want to say that we have been standing beside you guys side-by-side doing this important work that we have here at Harvard University,” said HUCTW Vice President Natasha S. Williams.

Local politicians including Boston City Councilor Kenzie Bok

Organizers rallied in front of the statue in Harvard Yard on Tuesday.

ADDISON Y. LIU—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

’11, Somerville City Council President and Harvard postdoc Ben S. Ewen-Campen and Massachusetts state representatives Mike Connolly and Erika Uyterhoeven spoke at the rallies, calling on Harvard to voluntarily recognize HAW-UAW. “I call on them to work with the leaders of this union and to recognize you as you organize and to negotiate with you and not to intimidate or throw up roadblocks,” Connolly said.

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) publicly endorsed HAW-UAW’s unionization campaign on social media.

Thomas A. Dichter ’08, a lecturer in History and Literature, read a statement of support from Senator Ed Markey (D-Mass.) at the Longwood rally.

“I applaud the workers exercising their right to organize and stay engaged with their coworkers in this most fundamental exercise in democracy,” Markey’s statement read.

Harvard may choose to voluntarily recognize HAW-UAW should it gain majority approval from non-tenure-track employees. Otherwise, if 30 percent of non-tenure-track employees sign authorization cards, HAW-UAW may petition the National Labor Relations Board for a union election, which requires a majority vote to certify the union.

“When I look out into the crowd, I can see a future where there is a union in every workplace at Harvard, a future where there is a union in every workplace in Massachusetts, and a future where there is a union in every workplace everywhere,” said HGSU-UAW organizer Alexandra C. Stanton. cam.kettles@thecrimson.com

Ex-HBS Professor Sues Harvard for Allegedly Mishandling Tenure Review

BY ELIAS J. SCHISGALL AND SOPHIA C. SCOTT CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

I­n 2014, after former Harvard Business School associate professor Benjamin G. “Ben” Edelman ’02 ordered takeout food from the Sichuan Garden — a Chinese restaurant in Brookline — he discovered a $4 overcharge.

Edelman then emailed the restaurant demanding a refund and threatening legal action, sparking an ugly back-and-forth that made headlines nationwide.

In a civil lawsuit against Harvard filed Tuesday in the Suffolk County Superior Court, Edelman alleges that the 2014 email correspondence — for which he later apologized at the Business School’s request — resurfaced when he was being evaluated for tenure, among other concerns of misconduct.

The complaint also alleges that internal HBS inquiries into Edelman’s behavior “unlawfully and brazenly” flouted the school’s policies. The inquiries culminated in a report that Edelman claims led to his tenure denial.

In an interview, Edelman — now a chief economist at Microsoft — said the inquiries reached an “incorrect conclusion” about his character with “serious consequences” for his tenure consideration.

“The core of it is that the school raised these charges against me that were pretextual — they weren’t what anyone was really concerned about,” Edelman said.

“They managed to create this narrative that this guy is a bad guy. He’s someone we can’t have around. He’s always causing

problems for us.”

In the complaint, Edelman asked the court to award him damages and order the school to review his application for tenure once again. In the interview, he said he was qualified, a “good fit” for tenure, and would accept a tenured position if the school gave him an offer.

Harvard spokesperson Jason A. Newton declined to comment on Edelman’s complaint.

According to the lawsuit, HBS convened a Faculty Review Board in 2015 to investigate concerns about his personal conduct, including the Sichuan Garden incident, during his tenure evaluation.

The investigation — which concluded that Edelman had failed to uphold the Business School’s statement of “Community Values” — led the committee reviewing Edelman’s tenure

“

The core of it is that the school raised these charges against me that were pretextual — they weren’t what anyone was really concerned about.

Benjamin G. Edelman ‘02 Former HBS Associate Professor

to recommend his associate professorship be extended for two years, thereby delaying his tenure case.

During that time period, Edelman was asked to take several actions to demonstrate his growth from the 2014 incidents, includ-

ing teaching a business ethics course, per the complaint.

In 2017, the suit alleges, HBS reconvened the FRB to examine Edelman’s behavior further, despite Edelman addressing concerns raised in the 2015 investigation. According to the complaint, the 2017 FRB report violated HBS policies by presenting a list of 12 “conclusory derogatory comments” that served as “effectively a string of personal attacks” against Edelman without evidence or context.

A 2015 document outlining HBS policies for faculty misconduct investigations requires that FRB reports include the “evidence gathered” in its investigation, a conclusion on whether misconduct occurred, and an analysis of the severity of the offense, according to the complaint.

The filing alleges the FRB failed to meet these requirements.

“Neither Plaintiff nor the members of the Appointments Committee ever received the evidence that the FRB gathered. Indeed, the FRB provided no notes, recordings, or ‘interview transcripts,’” the lawsuit reads.

“Instead, the FRB relied on decontextualized anonymous criticisms to reach its conclusions.”

In the interview, Edelman said the comments in the FRB report were “devoid of context.”

“It doesn’t say who said it; you can’t tell if it’s one person or 12 different people or something in between; it doesn’t tell you what they were talking about,” Edelman said.

“They’re not direct verbatim quotes. They’re just some paraphrases of something that some-

one maybe said.”

The lawsuit also alleges that one member of the FRB investigating Edelman’s conduct and one staff member who did supportive work for the board had “incurable” conflicts of interests with Edelman.

One of Edelman’s attorneys, Ruth K. O’Meara-Costello ’02 — who also is representing embattled Harvard professor John L. Comaroff — said she believed those two individuals, referenced in the complaint as S1 and S2, are still employed at HBS and are “fairly high-level administrators.” She declined to comment on their identities.

Edelman’s legal team also includes David A. Russcol and Harvey A. Silverglate.

Silverglate is also running a write-in campaign for the Harvard Board of Overseers — Harvard’s second-highest governing body.

Harvard Law School professor Lawrence Lessig said there was “no ambiguity” that Edelman was deserving of tenure.

“I don’t think anybody who looked at his record thought that his record was anything other than at the very top of the tenure performance at the Business School,” Lessig said.

Edelman said he believes the negative publicity from the Sichuan Garden incident was a key reason for his tenure denial, adding there is “some fundamental truth to the centrality of that media disaster.”

“Had it not been for those stupid restaurant emails, I would have been just fine,” he said. elias.schisgall@thecrimson.com sophia.scott@thecrimson.com

THE HARVARD CRIMSON

EDITORIAL

8

FEBRUARY 17, 2023

OP-ED

STAFF-EDITORIAL

Celebrating Fredrick Douglass: What February 14 Means to Me BLACK HISTORY MONTH

Editorial Snippets: Valentine Vignettes

BY TENZIN R. GUND-MORROW

­I

’ve never celebrated Valentine’s Day with a valentine. For me, this holiday has never consisted of a date, or a box of chocolates, or a kiss, or someone to hold or be held by. It’s been a rather hollow holiday for my whole life, but I love it nonetheless because I love love. I think we all ought to celebrate love, even if we don’t currently have the type of love Valentine’s Day is typically understood to celebrate.

But there are other reasons to celebrate this day, too.

Valentine’s Day shares a date with another important holiday: the birthday of preeminent abolitionist and statesman Fredrick Douglass.

Born into enslavement, Douglass earned his spot as one of the most influential and celebrated Americans to ever live.

Douglass’s birthday represents far more than an ordinary birthday. He, like many enslaved people, had his birthday taken away from him. Douglass never knew the true date — only that it was likely sometime in February. Because his mother called him her “Little Valentine,” he chose February 14th to celebrate his birthday, reasserting his personhood and defying the dehumanization of his enslavement.

For centuries, Black holidays and celebrations have been forged and fought for — history has shown that they aren’t just a given. As we look beyond Valentine’s Day, we should view the entirety of Black History Month in this light. This month-long celebration is a way to honor the previously forgotten, unmarked, and unmemorialized love Black Americans have poured into this country and our own liberation in the face of a past and present of racist violence and dehumanization.

Black History Month provides us a framework for marking those unremembered contributions.

I’ve heard a few times that Black History Month relegates the history of Black Americans to a limited timeframe (the shortest month of the year, at that), but

“

Black holidays and celebrations have been forged and fought for — history has shown that they aren’t just a given. the dates bookending a celebration don’t have to limit its acknowledgement or belittle its importance.

Regardless, it remains incredibly important to have a regular, structured time to celebrate all of the contributions Black Americans have made to this country, particularly those we don’t have dates for. We should imagine this month not as an all-encompassing celebration of the history we do know, but rather as an opportunity to commemorate the stories that have gone unarchived and forgotten.

The lost archive of Black history doesn’t just include the names on slave ledgers, or the physical demarcations of sexual violence in my genome, or the hope in a simple hymn. Much about the lives of my ancestors will never be accessible to me; it has been taken from me.

So this month is about another project, too, that Douglass was instrumental in launching. He initiated a process of self-memorialization in a world that didn’t want him to be actualized in the first place. He was, for a long time, the most photographed American ever.

Douglass filled the photobooks, the calendar, and the archives of Blackness, all of which had been hollowed out and kept empty for generations — he advanced the self-memorialization of the whole race.

To thrive and survive as a Black person in a white space, we must research, acknowledge, celebrate, and share our accomplishments — the big, communal ones, but also the small, personal ones. This project necessitates the constant discovery and celebration of new holidays that catalog the work, fights, wins, and losses that don’t have dates on our calendar.

“

Much about the lives of my ancestors will never be accessible to me; it has been taken from me.

That the history behind the Black American experience cannot fit neatly in February doesn’t mean that Black History Month isn’t a worthy endeavor.

I do understand that holidays like these can also spur apprehension and sadness. It is painful for anyone to celebrate themselves, or their ancestors, or the love in their life, when so much history was purposefully erased. It’s like building without a foundation.

Indeed, Black History Month and all the holidays it contains are bittersweet for me. But they are better celebrated now than never. Hopefully, in celebrating these holidays, we hold ourselves to building a better future, treating the people around us with respect and dignity, and loving ourselves a little more every day.

For me, this means commemorating Fredrick Douglass’s Birthday, celebrating the interracial, queer love that created my family this Valentine’s Day, and always remembering how thankful I am for the Black leaders that fought for my ability to be where I am today.

As for the rest of the month, let the love flow freely.

– Tenzin R. Gund-Morrow ‘26, a Crimson Editorial editor, lives in Canaday Hall.

trator in Kirkland House IN HONOR OF VALENTINE’S DAY, we asked the Editorial Board to reflect At a random point between the hours of 11 on the loves in their lives this semester. a.m. ET and 11 p.m. ET every day, my phone beBY THE CRIMSON EDITORIAL BOARD

W

hether organically or through the multi-billion dollar commercial complex that feasts on a paper-heart production of love, Valentine’s Day is an opportunity to reflect on why we love, who we love, and what keeps us loving. In honor of the occasion, we asked the Editorial Board — hopeless romantics and cynical curmudgeons alike — to reflect on the loves in their lives this semester.

What has been an unexpected source of love for you so far this semester?

I didn’t expect to enjoy a three-hour laboratory section at 9 a.m. on Friday, but thanks to my rekindled love for pipetting and the silly crocs by the front door (reserved for those who have forgotten their closed-toe shoes), I’m actually finding myself looking forward to it. My sleep cycle, however, does not share this rapture.

—Ian D. Svetkey ’25, an Associate Editorial Editor, is an Integrative Biology concentrator in Eliot House Ode to Mary J. Blige:

gins hopping around on my desk to the tune of the “Illuminate” Apple ringtone as my parents call me. Somehow the spontaneity makes it even better to hear their voices (even if sometimes I have to throw myself at my phone because I’m in the middle of a meeting and my ringer is very loud).

—Cara J. Chang, ’24, the President of The Crimson’s 150th Guard, is a History concentrator in Leverett House Each year, the changing of The Crimson’s guard brings together a new constellation of executives to write, edit, and proof our content. Grizzled by my previous term on the Editorial Chair job, I thought I’d be earth-bound, already acclimatized to the more mundane logistics of nightly production. But while reviewing pieces in the evenings, I’ve found myself enchanted by the luminous fingerprints that each editor leaves behind — their idiosyncratic tendencies towards petite paragraphs or abundant em-dashes, avant-garde adjectives or witty conclusions. These bits of stardust brighten my midnights, reminding me again and again that the magic of 14p is something that never fades.

—Eleanor V. Wikstrom ’24, a Crimson Editorial Chair, is a Social Studies concentrator in Adams House

O Siren! Sonic healing! with songs Of troubling love and regretful longing, With lying, crying, sneaking; Thou, muse, dost help me through this heartache As a siren guides a sailor: be without you (kendu mix)!

—Brian Baltazar Pimentel ’23, a Crimson Editorial Editor, is an English concentrator in Eliot House

What short Valentine — to a person, a group, a place, a thing, a nebulous philosophical concept — do you want to offer?

For the first time in my math-concentrator life, I enrolled in a literature course; now, reading Anna Karenina every night has become an escape — if not an addiction. Lying in bed in my plain Lowell room I am transported across centuries and continents to the streets of St. Petersburg, the farms in Russia’s countryside, the balls of Moscow. For some the novel’s 800 pages is too long; I just wish it would read on for 800 more.

—Jacob M. Miller ’25, an Associate Editorial Editor, is a Mathematics concentrator in Lowell House

I have a complex, interdependent relationship with dark, expansive stores selling vintage copies of Vonnegut and lightly highlighted editions of Wittgenstein written in the original German. I can’t possibly pretend I have time to read anything outside of homework, nor that I have the space to accommodate more books.

Yet still, I keep coming back, forgetting the lesson every time. Used bookstores, my love, I don’t know how to quit you.

—Vander O. B. Ritchie ’26, a Crimson Editorial Editor, lives in Matthews Hall

Brief interludes of sunshine amidst the harsh winds of February have stolen my heart this year. The chance to be one with the Sun as I scurry across campus for classes, meals with friends, and a cozy library to curl up in has never been so enlivening. I hope Valentine’s Day brings with it more light, warmth, and sunshine for us to relish in during this season of love.

—Alvira Tyagi ’25, a Crimson Editorial Editor, is a Neuroscience and Government concen-

I’m flirting hard with the idea of sleeping for an entire day just to reset my circadian rhythm.

Diurnality, my long-distance love, I’m coming.

—Christina M. Xiao ’24, a Crimson Editorial Chair, is a Computer Science and Government concentrator in Eliot House

unlikely friendships, and a reliable late-night refuge from problem sets and Expos papers.

Albeit the occasional culinary mystery, you shine brilliantly in all your glory — off-brand cereals, soda-fountains-turned-roulette machines… Thank you for your service to the firstyears of Harvard.

—Rhys Moon ’26, a Crimson Editorial Editor, lives in Matthews Hall Classical renditions of pop music. By the year’s end, my Spotify Wrapped will surely be a mess for Hannah V and Joe Rodwell’s version of Diamonds by Rihanna is the anthem of my Lamont late nights.

—Joshua Ochieng ’24, an Associate Editorial Editor, is an Economics concentrator in Quincy House To an obscure Chanel Pendant I found one day while browsing through vintage jewelry. It represents more than just the fashion house to me — initials and a Magical Song. Two Cs interlinked to become one. Two separate entities with lives apart forming a character that stands the test of the time. I hope for everyone more love and memorable jewelry from whoever is special in their life on Valentine’s Day. —Christian A. Gines ’25, a Crimson Editorial Editor, is a History and Literature and African American Studies concentrator in Mather House The M2 shuttle has hard-won my affection.

Despite literal bumps in the road, I have come to appreciate the shuttle for allowing me to see more of Boston — from the views over the Harvard Bridge to the flutter of foot traffic by Fenway. It’s always a welcome sight to see the pop of blue pulling up to the curb.

—Shanivi Srikonda ’24, a Crimson Editorial Editor, is a Human Developmental and Regenerative Biology concentrator in Quincy House To all of the hidden grand pianos around campus, I love you. Thanks for always being there for me at unexpected moments (and for not judging my attempts to improvise terribly out of key versions of Harry Styles).

—Eleanor P. Wiesler ’25, a Crimson Editorial Editor, is an Applied Mathematics concentrator in Eliot House Nothing beats the rhythmic hum of the Currier dining hall fountain on a chilly Sunday morning as I complete my problem sets for the week. It’s the greatest sound in the world. That, coupled with generous helpings of off-brand fruit loops and milk in a plastic cup, creates a heavenly experience I have yet to match.

—Avery J. Fulmer ’25, a Crimson Editorial Editor, is an Economics and History concentrator in Currier House

I’m in a long distance situationship with my favorite hometown coffee shop, but a cappuccino from Blue Bottle has gone from a tempting fantasy to a standing date. Is this true love or caffeinated infatuation? Either way, they can expect me for my usual on Valentine’s day.

–This staff editorial solely represents the majori—McKenna E. McKrell ’26, a Crimson Edito- ty view of The Crimson Editorial Board. It is the rial Editor, lives in Pennypacker Hall product of discussions at regular Editorial Board

meetings. In order to ensure the impartiality of our journalism, Crimson editors who choose to opine and vote at these meetings are not involved Thank you for serendipitous conversations, in the reporting of articles on similar topics.

To Annenberg Dining Hall:

OP-ED

Harvard is Closing its Doors to Those That Built It BLACK HISTORY MONTH

BY MICHAELA K. GLAVIN

­T

o be a descendant of slavery is to be an “other” within the Black community at Harvard. The time is now to dig beyond the surface of a diverse community and interrogate all facets of Black representation: Who is being left behind and how can Harvard reimagine what diversity looks like as it remembers the mark that slavery has left on its descendants?

According to Harvard professor Henry Louis “Skip” Gates Jr., between one-half and two-thirds of Black students at Harvard in 2004 were either West Indian and African immigrants or their children, or children of biracial couples. This would mean that descendants of slavery in America — those known as Generational African Americans — are starkly underrepresented.

The term “Generational African American” was coined by Reverend Isaiah Webb, grandfather of Samantha C. W. O’Sullivan ’22.

O’Sullivan was the founder of the Generational African American Students Association at Harvard.

In 2015, U.S.-born Black households had a median income and educational attainment level that was about 30 percent and 7 percent lower, respectively, than that of Black immigrant households.

This likely causes more Generational African Americans to sit at the intersection of low socioeconomic status and being first-generation college students — a combination that has both proven to serve as a barrier to college ad-

mission and has strong ties to slavery.

The Generational African American identity is one that has endured more pain and perseverance than one can imagine — pain and perseverance that has not ceased to penetrate our lives today. The socioeconomic effects of slavery and oppression under Jim Crow are alive and well and continue to exist as a boundary to higher education for those who are descended from those who experienced its restrictions.

Harvard is an institution that, given its ties to slavery, has a reparative responsibility to Generational African Americans.

Previous instances of this conversation have incited conflict amongst Black groups across the diaspora. College admissions is not a zero-sum game and the purpose of this discussion is to point out a disparity, not to disunify the Black community.

Rather than this raising a question of whether Black immigrants are deserving of their hard-earned seats at these elite institutions (which is not even up for discussion), I wish to call on Harvard to recognize their failure at ensuring the representation of Generational African American descendants of slavery.

It is integral that college admissions committees stop treating Blackness as a monolith. Harvard is hiding behind the checkbox of “Black/African American.” Rather than taking time to truly appreciate the unique perspective that each and every Black person brings with them, and allowing space for more nuanced identification, this checkbox collapses the multifaceted Black experience into one category.

In the wake of the lawsuit between the Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard College, universities across the country are looking to Harvard to stand for diversity. Even if affirmative action is deemed unconstitutional, institutions like Harvard are responsible for ensuring that diversity is maintained. Harvard should set a precedent — one that takes accountability for its part in the legacy of slavery not solely through a public report, but through the recognition of the deficit of descendants on this campus.

So where do we go from here? As a Generational African American at Harvard myself, I wish I had the statistics to describe the feeling of otherness that stems from being a minority within a minority.

Therefore, the first step to improving representation among Generational African American students is to offer a more specific breakdown of Black identities. Then, the schools can quantify the disparity and potentially understand the drivers and its connection to the legacy of slavery. Whether Harvard is aware of the issue and simply chooses to ignore it, or if they do not notice it at all, it is their responsibility to fix it.

Either way, to be a school so publicly claiming responsibility for its part in perpetuating the egregious legacy of slavery, Harvard must grapple with the fact that it so often closes its doors to those same students whose ancestors built it.

–Michaela K. Glavin ’25, a Crimson Editorial editor, is a Neuroscience concentrator in Adams House.

EDITORIAL

THE HARVARD CRIMSON

FEBRUARY 17, 2023

STAFF EDITORIAL

COLUMN

Harvard Must Fight the Suffocation of AP African American Studies

HOPES AND HYPOCRISIES

DESANTIS’S CAMPAIGN against AP African American Studies is nothing less than a blatant attack on Black studies and academic freedom.

school.

Less than ten percent of class time in K-12 US history classes is spent studying Black history, leaving limited reliable alternatives for most students interested in perspectives beyond those that tend to dominate most historical narratives.

By the same token, it’s no coincidence that some of the authors purged from the curriculum, such as Angela Davis, spent their careers calling out white supremacist, capitalist, and patriarchal systems of oppression in the United States.

BY THE CRIMSON EDITORIAL BOARD

­F

ollowing heavy criticism from Florida Governor Ron DeSantis — a polarizing figure who once declared that his state was where “woke goes to die” — the College Board released an updated official curriculum for its new Advanced Placement course in African American Studies.

Governor DeSantis, who graduated from Harvard Law School in 2005, announced that he would ban the original curriculum after Florida state education officials described it as historically inaccurate and in violation of Florida’s “Stop WOKE Act.” In the updated version, the works of seminal Black writers such as Kimberlé Crenshaw, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and bell hooks have been expunged from reading lists; contemporary movements like Black Lives Matter have been erased from official discussions; and topics such as intersectionality have been downgraded to the point of being nearly unrecognizable.

Unfortunately, this embattled AP course is just the tip of the iceberg. Governor DeSantis’s decision is one in a series of his ongoing efforts in Florida to eliminate so-called “ideological conformity” by culling diversity and equity programs from public colleges, appointing six new trustees (who, shockingly, conform to the same political ideology) in an attempt to restructure the New College of Florida, and restricting access to books on race in favor of a core curriculum celebrating “Western civilization.”

Given this context, DeSantis’s campaign against AP African American Studies is nothing less than a blatant attack on Black studies and academic freedom writ large, setting a dangerous precedent for curriculums around the nation.

Crucially, believing that students should learn about a certain perspective does not entail agreeing with that perspective. In our view, if you disagree with a perspective, it is certainly better to present and critique it rather than attempt to silence it altogether — a fundamental premise of free discourse and intellectual discovery that DeSantis fails to grasp.

Indeed, such not-so-subtle attempts at restricting discourse on race may pressure non-partisan institutions like the College Board to censor important legitimate intellectual perspectives out of fear of controversy. Given that many may view these institutions as neutral arbiters and hold their academic judgment in high regard, any appearance of capitulation to political pressure at the expense of intellectual discovery creates a chilling effect for Black studies nationwide.

Contrary to the explicit devaluation of African American studies by the Florida Department of Education (and its further suffocation by the College Board’s acquiescence), we want to affirm in the strongest terms: Black history is American history, and Black studies span a broad range of experiences, perspectives, and theories that each hold untold value — and are crucial to enrich and challenge our understanding of the world.

Black studies should not be restricted to the realm of higher education. Students should be exposed to this theory, especially during high

“

Black studies should not be restricted to the realm of higher education.

Even if the curricular changes were made for the pedagogical reason of prioritizing primary sources over secondhand analysis, as the College Board claims, this approach is fallacious.

If AP classes are intended to mirror the rigor of a college level course, then an African American Studies course that lacks theoretical sources falls short of its Advanced Placement status.

Black scholars, including Harvard professors Eveyln Brooks Higginbotham and Henry Louis “Skip” Gates Jr., spent years advocating for and crafting the original curriculum; as such, the College Board should not have shied away from the original depth of AP African American Studies.

We might be more inclined to believe the College Board’s lofty pedagogical rhetoric if this weren’t its first time shifting an AP curriculum away from a focus on multi-ethnic studies. In 2018, the College Board changed its AP World History curriculum to begin in the year 1200 CE, slimming what was once a comprehensive study of the globe into a version with a Eurocentric perspective. Such moves further disincentivize students of color from taking AP courses, which act as critical stepping stones to higher education for marginalized groups.

We commend the Harvard faculty members who have spoken out against these changes and urge Harvard to do its part in the fight to protect academic freedom from attacks of the DeSantis variety by finally establishing an Ethnic Studies department — a response that is made only more necessary by the looming potential loss of affirmative action.

Renewed institutional support for Ethnic and Black studies will not only offer students an opportunity to engage in discourse that may be suppressed in high schools but also encourage support for these embattled fields in American education at large.

As legal restrictions on what constitutes ‘valid’ historical knowledge multiply, and books continue to disappear from Florida educators’ shelves, the stakes are abundantly clear: Harvard has no time to lose.

–This staff editorial solely represents the majority view of The Crimson Editorial Board. It is the product of discussions at regular Editorial Board meetings. In order to ensure the impartiality of our journalism, Crimson editors who choose to opine and vote at these meetings are not involved in the reporting of articles on similar topics.

9

We’re (Not) Body-Inclusive OUR SHIFTS toward so-called body empowerment may simply veil the notion of a “default” body.

BY VANESSA B. HU

­A

fter spending — *checks watch* — a third of my life with body dysmorphia and disordered eating, which led to mental and physical health repercussions, I decided that I’d nip the issue in the bud, hunkered at home during my gap year. But even though terms like diet culture and fatphobia have finally entered more mainstream vernacular, our increasing awareness of these issues feels like paltry gratification.

Don’t get me wrong: I fist-pumped at the trend of people imitating “almond moms,” satirizing comments from parents contributing to unhealthy body image. I cheered when Taylor Swift removed a music video scene perpetuating the stigma of being fat (an adjective that some are reclaiming as a neutral or empowering descriptor).

And I did the splits when magazines like Ellie announced that fitness trends were shifting away from the “be as thin as possible!” paradigm, instead emphasizing non-weight-loss goals.

Still, our shifts toward so-called body empowerment may simply veil the notion of a “default” body.

Take weightlifting. The look and messaging of many mainstream female fitness influencers promotes a toned aesthetic with minimal body fat; any excess must be in the ostensibly right places (e.g. the buttocks).

So isn’t that just another physical ideal in disguise, like the displacement of ultra-thinness with “slim thick”? (Although recent fashion trends, and the weight loss of previously-curvy cultural influencers like Kim and Khloe Kardashian, may signal a resurgence of the super-thin and notably controversial “heroin chic” look of the 1990s).

Moreover, gyms and workout classes like SoulCycle often pride themselves on their inclusive, passionate cult (ahem, sorry, community) vibe. Yet, they may perpetuate microaggressions against larger-bodied people in fitness spaces, and often feature little diversity in terms of their instructors’ body sizes or racial backgrounds beyond the stereotypical thin, white instructor (or receive backlash when they do).

Even bouldering, one of the latest exercise trends, isn’t immune: While it’s oriented towards strength-building rather than achieving body goals, one climbing community survey indicated that over 50 percent of respondents feel like they’re pressured to have a certain body type because of their hobby.

So, while perhaps a step in the right direction, the undertone of these subcultures promote templatized ideals, inevitably excluding those not within their purview. *** “Vanessa, what’s wrong with climbing,” you might huff, “or wanting to lose weight or fat for ‘health’ benefits? Don’t you care about health?”

I’m not saying you can’t climb, and I’m not here to argue about health (though, you can read about the racist roots of the BMI, how lower weight doesn’t necessarily equate to greater health, or on how weight stigma itself leads to poorer physical and mental health outcomes, regardless of BMI).

To put it simply, I support body autonomy. I try to eat intuitively, engage in gentle nutrition, and move my body in ways that I enjoy. But each of us should have the prerogative to lead life how we want to — whether you want to pursue fat loss or never hit 3,000 steps on your Apple Watch.

I just want us to probe how much we actually

support overall well-being, and not just certain body ideals. Like when we praise Mindy Kaling and Rebel Wilson for their noticeable weight loss and their reported consequent happiness about it — but body-shame singer Sam Smith for gaining weight, even when they finally feel “comfortable in their skin” after doing so. *** Now, you might add: “But Vanessa, haven’t I seen you post barbell squats on your BeReal?”

My answer? I enjoy how badass it makes me feel, especially as part of a community of young women online that focuses on becoming stronger and shares their realistic, beautiful, day-today bodies. I’ve come to appreciate the nuances of tending to both my physical and mental health, giving myself grace when I prefer rest over movement.

And indeed, studies have shown that strength training correlates with positive body image and a sense of empowerment. But that only seems true if we exercise without focusing on some appearance to achieve — a conditional I still struggle with sometimes.

I have written about body image, time and again: a high-school classmate cried after reading one such essay in 2017, and a hundred-plus people liked a post about my resolution to recover in 2020 — on Facebook, of all places. But even though I received private messages of empathy, it didn’t feel like anyone I knew was actively rejecting diet culture.

I felt, and still feel, lonely.

To be fair, our generation rallies around public figures defying beauty standards: from iconic singer-songwriter Lizzo to Yumi Nu, the first Asian plus-size cover model for Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit Issue.

We increasingly voice the dangers of body trends, from buccal fat removal to the shortage of diabetes medication in the U.S. after influencers (and Elon Musk) promoted it as a quick weightloss solution.

But still, we aren’t immune to the online barrage of body standards (Google any sort of stat on social media and correlations with poor body image).

TLDR: Mental health in the face of mainstream trends is Hard™. Here are three confessions, as an example.

1. I sometimes wish I looked like the other east Asian girls strolling around campus.

2. I tried to become an ECHO counselor during the pandemic but emotionally couldn’t handle the interview.

3. It was very mentally taxing to write this piece.

It’s hard to feel like I don’t always embody the values I claim to hold. But I find solace in the courage of others: like the inclusive BodCon community, or those like Stephanie Buttermore (who has one million-plus YouTube subscribers) that are candid about diet culture and fitness.

Research has shown that we are less hypocritical when amongst those of an in-group that we belong to.

So come join this in-group, if you so choose!

It’s quite liberating here.

–Vanessa B. Hu ‘23-24 is a junior in Currier House studying Computer Science. Her column, “Hopes and Hypocrisies,” runs on alternate Mondays.

STAFF EDITORIAL

What’s in a Name? Harvard, Undergraduate, and Student

BY THE CRIMSON EDITORIAL BOARD

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hile common students spent the first Sunday of the semester reuniting and catching up with friends, student organization officers, stashed away at a meeting in the distant and dreary Student Organization Center at Hilles, were presented with a high-stakes and urgent update pertinent to the improvement of student life on campus.

What could possibly be so important? The Harvard College Dean of Students Office announced that it would begin enforcing a rule restricting Harvard branding in student organization names. According to the policy, club names must contain either “Harvard Undergraduate” or “Harvard College” and “Student(s)” if they were founded after 1998, the year in which the previously-unenforced rule came into effect.

We commend Associate Dean for Student Engagement Jason R. Meier for this worthy crusade, an indisputable institutional priority. In an era of political polarization, state interference in University syllabi, and catastrophic climate change, we are comforted by the administration’s close focus on branding accuracy. With Meier’s help, Harvard’s campus can usher in a new age of revived and inclusive student programming, lofty goals that cur-

rent naming guidelines had (somehow) clearly hindered. In the spirit of the changing times, we humbly offer the following 14 new naming policy ideas: 1. The DSO must lead by example in this crucial, valiant endeavor to make names more accurate. The office ought to rename itself, lest any students or bureaucratic processes be harmed in the most terrifyingly intangible ways. The “Dean of Harvard College and Undergraduate Students Office for Harvard College Undergraduates” is a feasible replacement.

2. Similarly, Meier’s position should henceforth be known as “Chief Undergraduate Engagement and Student Life Improvement Czar at Harvard College.” Associate Dean for Student Engagement is obviously far too vague for our new philosophy.

3. Harvard should require all professors to introduce themselves, in every setting, as “Harvard College Professor of Students,” promptly adding their area of study and main doctoral thesis advisor, if applicable. After all, if student organizations can (and, for some reason yet to be clearly explained by the DSO, must) go to absurd extremes to clarify their membership, our campus deserves a more easily identifiable faculty body.

4. In order to be clear “in all instances and contexts,” House name abbreviations such as “Eliot” ought to be prohibited under punishment of “Being Forced to Appear Before the Harvard College Ad-

ministrative Board”-ing. “Charles W. Eliot House for Undergraduate Students of Harvard College” is best.

5. The Harvard Corporation should only be referred to by its legal name, “the President and Fellows of Harvard College,” and, as usual, should be brought into conversation only if strictly necessary.

6. No more acronyms. They’re clearly too confusing and misleading, far too complex for the average Harvard affiliate. All student organizations must always be referred to by their full legal name.

7. In this spirit of tautology and specificity, the Quad should now be known as the “Radcliffe Quadrangle,” and the “Radcliffe Quadrangle” only. Any colloquialisms only cause confusion.

8. Similarly, to eliminate confusion, Annenberg Hall should officially be renamed “Berg.” Everybody already calls it that anyways. Do better.

9. On the subject of Berg, it’s imperative that we change the lettuce options in the salad bar to iceberg lettuce only. Other offerings are inconsistent with its naming and visual culture.

10. Meanwhile, our beloved Harvard-Yale must be renamed the “Harvard Undergraduate-Yale Undergraduate Sporting Event Featuring the Sport of Football,” for clarity. A name like “Harvard-Yale” implies some sort of moral equivalence. Surely, that can’t be the case.

11. When Housing Day arrives, Quadlings — or

undergraduates living in the Radcliffe Quadrangle — ought not to pose as Riverlings. Many of the freshmen are confused by it. This is why they cry.

12. Also on that note, the Dean of Harvard College and Undergraduate Students Office for Harvard College Undergraduates should implement a new policy prohibiting ’Throp, Eli-lit, Kirk or any of the other House sign names on Housing Day — doing so runs counter to our new mantra of name accuracy.

13. The freshman union dormitories shall never again be called the union dormitories, but rather the “Harvard Freshman Undergraduate Not-in-Harvard-Yard” dormitories. They are not in Harvard Yard and therefore not in the union.

14. As for Harvard College — well, it should model maximal adherence to its rules in its own name. Perhaps “Harvard Undergraduate College”? Or “Harvard Place for College Students”? No — “Harvard Undergraduate College and Students Learning Institute for the Acronymically Inept” is most apt.

–This staff editorial solely represents the majority view of The Crimson Editorial Board. It is the product of discussions at regular Editorial Board meetings. In order to ensure the impartiality of our journalism, Crimson editors who choose to opine and vote at these meetings are not involved in the reporting of articles on similar topics.

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THE HARVARD CRIMSON FEBRUARY 17, 2023

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CAMBRIDGE EDUCATION

Cambridge Mayor Plans for Free College A MAYOR DETERMINED to make college affordable and close opportunity gaps shares her plans for the near future.

BY SALLY E. EDWARDS AND AYUMI NAGATOMI CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

­C

ambridge Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui is developing the “Cambridge Promise” program, which would fund free community college for all Cambridge residents, she said in an interview Thursday.

While the proposal remains under development, Siddiqui said she hopes the city can launch a pilot program in the near future, adding that college access is a “priority.”

“A lot of our students are unable to afford college, right, and so that’s been an issue that’s come up,” Siddiqui said. “What do we do in that respect?”

Siddiqui said she hopes the program will address the “key issue” of college affordability and will “make a difference for students.”

She added that she hopes Harvard will invest in the Cambridge Promise program to continue the University’s involvement in local public education.

“I think they are such a big player in our city, and they shape the city in so, so many ways,” Siddiqui said.

“So inherently, I think it’s important that they get involved.”

Siddiqui — a graduate of Cambridge Public Schools and current chair of the district’s School Committee — said that while Cambridge is a well-resourced public school district that spends “a lot of money per pupil,” she is determined to reduce the “persistent” opportunity gaps.

“We’re a diverse community with a strong commitment to investing in our public school system,” she said.

“We have a lot of opportunity for growth and how we improve outcomes, especially for students of color — and that’s something that is important to me.”

To close these gaps, Siddiqui said she has prioritized the development and implementation of universal pre-K programs within CPS. Earlier this week, the city shared plans to fund preschool access for all four-year-olds in the district beginning in the 20242025 school year.

“Access to early childhood education really can set up a framework for future success,” Siddiqui said.

“We’re seeing right now, in our data, really the disparities in education when it comes to race and your background, whether you’re low-income or not.”

Beyond early childhood education, Siddiqui said she also aims to provide equitable paths

to higher education.

Siddiqui has worked with the district on the Early College Program — a pilot program in partnership with Lesley University — to allow Cambridge Rindge and Latin School students to receive up to two years of college credits for free.

“We’ve heard feedback from our students that ‘Wow, I’m going to a college classroom and getting that experience,’” Siddiqui said.

“I’m just glad we’re able to help our students with some of that.”

Siddiqui said her time as a student at Cambridge Rindge and Latin “shaped” who she is today.

During her time in high school, Siddiqui co-founded The Cambridge Youth Council — a group committed to improving the lives of youth through “social justice, education, and community building” that remains active 20 years later.

“From the Cambridge school system, I really gained that skill set in the beginning of advocacy and wanting to help people,” she said.

Siddiqui said her early advocacy experiences prompted her to work with CPS students.

“I love working with the students, and I think they really help draft great policy,” she said.

“My role is to hear your voices,” Siddiqui added. sally.edwards@thecrimson.com ayumi.nagatomi@thecrimson.com

Cambridge Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui talks about her education goals in her office in Cambridge City Hall.

CLAIRE YUAN—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

Cambridge to Launch Universal Pre-K for Four-Year-Olds in Fall 2024

BY SALLY E. EDWARDS AND AYUMI NAGATOMI CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

Cambridge Public Schools will offer universal pre-K to all Cambridge four-year-olds beginning in the 2024-2025 school year.

After years of preparation and research, the Cambridge City Council and CPS School Committee introduced the Cambridge Preschool Program in a roundtable meeting Tuesday night. The preschool program is set to guarantee access for all four-year-old children in Cambridge to the district’s six-hour-per-day programming.

The district organized an advisory committee, three task force groups, and an ad hoc committee of city and school officials and constituents to draft the program.

Lisa Grant, executive director of the Cambridge Office of Early Childhood, said the advisory groups focused on studying local demographics, parental priorities, and “what universal pre-K looks like around the country.”

“Throughout this process, we’ve been hyper-concerned and focused on making sure that we’re reaching our most under-resourced families — our families who need access to preschool the most,” Grant said.

The initial planning phase consisted of “a lot of data gathering,” according to Grant.

Through the district’s research of programs around the country, CPS found that its pre-K system has an advantage due to the relatively small population of Cambridge.

“The unique advantage for us is that we’re small enough to really have a handle on our entire

early childhood community and have a dedicated team of staff and resources to be able to implement this work,” Grant said.

Through social services, we have an enormous ability to make a real difference for kids who have one parent who has to work or are low-income.

Dennis J. Carlone City Councilor

The district worked with various organizations to develop the framework for the preschool program, including Harvard.

Last year, CPS partnered with the University to conduct a citywide childcare workforce study, ex-

Spoiler Alert: Harvard Square’s Milk Bar to Expire this Sunday

BY CAROLINE K. HSU CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Just over three years after setting up shop at one of the most prominent storefronts in Harvard Square, Milk Bar is officially shuttering its doors this Sunday.

Serving cakes, shakes, cookies, and ice cream, Milk Bar — the brainchild of award-winning pastry chef Christina Tosi — debuted its desserts in 2008 at its first shop in New York’s East Village. Since then, it has expanded to major cities across the United States and Canada.

Joe’s Pizza is expected to open in the vacated space in about half a year, according to a statement from the New York-based pizza chain.

Following years of delays, Milk Bar’s Harvard Square location at 1-3 Brattle Street opened shop in February 2019, with swarms of eager customers gathered outside to snag a $1 soft serve opening special. Milk Bar opened as a combination store, sharing a dining space with &pizza — a Washington-based customizable pizza chain. &pizza closed its Cambridge location last spring, leaving its half of the space empty save for some black and white wallpaper.

Earlier this month, a poster was plastered on Milk Bar’s door, stating that Feb. 19 would be the shop’s last day of operation. The Harvard Square outpost is Milk Bar’s sole shop in the Boston area.

A spokesperson for Milk Bar wrote in an email that the departure of &pizza from the space contributed to the shop’s closing.

I made my dad, brother, and I trek. It was far from us.

Reza M. Shamji ’25 College Student

“Once the primary tenant (our sublandlord) left the space, we were able to continue to operate our small portion of the space under a direct agreement with the landlord for a period of time, but ultimately it is our understanding that the landlord found a new tenant to take over the full space,” the statement reads.

Milk Bar’s Cambridge location is the second in the chain to close in the last few months, with the Toronto location ceasing operations last December.

Some Harvard students say they will fondly remember the dessert destination.

Reza M. Shamji ’25 said he first heard of the chain when he was nine years old and was able to visit it for the first time in New York at age 11.

“I always wanted to try Milk Bar because I saw pictures of the cereal milk ice cream and birthday cake bowls from my friends in LA when they went to New York,” he said.

“I made my dad, brother, and I trek. It was far from us,” Shamji added.

Katharine A. Forst ’25, a Crimson Sports editor, said she will miss the Milk Bar Pie, which is described on Milk Bar’s website as a “sticky, buttery, salty-sweet filling in a hearty oat cookie crust.”

“It’s just out of this world,” Shamji said when describing the pie.

Meanwhile, Shamji said that his go-to at Milk Bar is the “cereal-milk ice cream with cereal topping” but orders the cereal milkshake when he prefers to sip on something.

With Milk Bar set to close, Forst said Tatte would be a “good alternative.”

In the past few months, multiple new establishments have opened in Harvard Square, including WakuWaku Ramen, Taiyaki NYC, and Faro Café. caroline.hsu@thecrimson.com

amining wage gaps among childhood educators.

The impact of the study goes beyond the district by “informing the work in communities across the country,” Grant said.

The program has so far “every key benchmark,” according to Grant, and is on track for a fall 2024 launch.

Currently, the district is developing a single enrollment application system for families, which is set to be released toward the end of the year.

“I can really see also that 2023 is going to be a really special year,” City Manager Yi-An Huang ’05 said. “I can see how much this is when we’re moving from the planning phase into really making a lot of the changes in investments that are going to get us to a launch in fall of 2024,” While attendees of the roundtable discussion broadly sup-

ported the plan, many presented lingering concerns about the preschool program’s accessibility across age groups.

In its current form, the preschool program will offer its services to all children who are four years old prior to Sept. 1 each school year.

While three-year-olds are still able to apply, they are not guaranteed a place in the program.

To extend the program to all four-year-olds, the city plans to allocate an additional $20 million in funding.

“If the child is eligible to receive special education services or lives in a household below a certain income threshold or as other defined risk factors, then placement in Cambridge preschool program site would be prioritized,” Grant said.

“Cambridge Preschool Program does not have the capacity

to serve all three-year-olds at this time,” Grant added.

City Councilor Dennis J. Carlone said in an interview that he feels a “little frustrated” by the lack of a long-term plan to incorporate two and three-year-olds into the universal preschool program.

“I’m optimistic – but what I said last night is what are the future plans? How do we expand?” he said.

“Through social services, we have an enormous ability to make a real difference for kids who have one parent who has to work or are low-income,” said Carlone, who wrote a thesis on early childhood education.

“I want that for more kids,” Carlone said. That’s really what it comes down to.” sally.edwards@thecrimson.com ayumi.nagatomi@thecrimson.com

Officials Pledge Policing Reforms After Sayed Faisal Police Killing

BY YUSUF S. MIAN CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Cambridge city officials pledged reforms to the city’s policing practices in a set of statements released Tuesday in response to the killing of Sayed Faisal in January.

The killing of Faisal by a Cambridge Police Department officer sparked ten Boston-area protests and a city-wide reckoning on policing. Faisal, who was a 20-yearold Bangladeshi American at the University of Massachusetts Boston, was shot and killed by a CPD officer after he allegedly approached officers wielding a knife.

Tuesday’s release included specific promises from City Manager Yi-An Huang ’05 to equip CPD officers with body cameras, create an alternative emergency response program independent of the police, and “evaluate additional less lethal options.”

The City Council voted earlier this month on a policy order to initiate the process of obtaining body cameras.

CPD Spokesperson Jeremy C. Warnick wrote in an email that CPD is looking to “fast-track” the “implementation as quickly as possible.”

All present councilors voted in support of the order with the

exception of Quinton Y. Zondervan, who has previously spoken out against the implementation of body cameras, citing privacy concerns.

“The problem is the guns, not the body cameras,” Zondervan said in a Feb. 6 City Council meeting that was conducted virtually after a protest broke out in City Hall.

The funding of an alternative emergency response program is an ongoing demand from protesters. Last year, City Council put forward $3 million in funding for a Community Safety Department, which would respond to some 911 calls, such as emergencies involving mental health crises, substance use disorder, and unhoused residents.

Some advocates have also called on Cambridge to fund Holistic Emergency Alternative Response Team, a police alternative independent of the city’s emergency services.

Though protesters have repeatedly called for the release of the unredacted police report and for the officers involved in Faisal’s killing to be named, fired, and prosecuted, Huang reiterated that the names of the officers would not be released until the investigation by the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office concludes.

“I hope that we can recognize

that our police officers sometimes face complex, difficult, and dangerous situations — and that there are cases where we can’t make an immediate judgment,” Huang wrote in the Tuesday release.

In a statement, CPD Commissioner Christine A. Elow wrote that CPD “has not identified any egregious misconduct or significant policy, training, equipment, or disciplinary violations.”

The officer who shot Faisal is currently on paid administrative leave.

Suhail P. Purkar, an organizer with the Party for Socialism and Liberation who has been involved in several recent protests, wrote in an email that Huang’s latest commitments do not go far enough.

“It is disappointing and shameful that he didn’t agree to a single demand from the community,” Purkar wrote.

Purkar wrote he will continue to advocate for the demands demonstrators have continually voiced at protests.

“This movement is only growing and more people are joining in the hundreds,” Purkar added.

“We will win justice for Faisal and ensure this never happens again in Cambridge.” yusuf.mian@thecrimson.com

THE HARVARD CRIMSON

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FEBRUARY 17, 2023

CAMPUS

Jennifer Coolidge: 73rd Hasty Pudding

Woman of the Year

ADDISON Y. LIU—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

BY JADEN S. THOMPSON CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

I

t was only 12 degrees outside in Harvard Square on Feb. 4, but dangerously freezing temperatures didn’t stop die-hard Jennifer Cooldige fans from gathering on Mass Ave. to get a glimpse of the actress as she was honored with a parade as Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year. Fans glanced up and down the street, clutching themselves to stay warm, anxious to see her familiar blond waves and hear that unmistakable voice. Suddenly, the distinctly eerie harp melody and operatic yodeling of “The White Lotus” theme song could be heard in the distance, underpinned by an energetic EDM beat: Jennifer Coolidge was near.

Coolidge, who just won her first Golden Globe for her role as Tanya McQuoid in the hit HBO series “The White Lotus,” is the 73rd person to be named Woman of the Year by Harvard’s Hasty Pudding Theatricals.

Coolidge was honored alongside actor Bob Odenkirk as Man of the Year.

The Woman of the Year festivities included a parade through Harvard Square, a roast, a press conference, and her attendance at the Pudding’s staging of their show “Cosmic Relief.”

Jennifer Coolidge established herself as a Hollywood icon with her scene-stealing comedic roles in popular 2000s movies like “Legally Blonde, “American Pie,” and “A Cinderella Story.” But it

was her role as Tanya McQuoid — the only recurring main character in Seasons 1 and 2 of Mike White’s “The White Lotus” — that recently skyrocketed her career to new heights and garnered her attention during awards season.

Coolidge’s hilarious portrayal of the well-meaning but vacuous and bumbling millionaire Tanya has endeared her to a new legion of fans.

Some spectators braved serious wind chills to see Coolidge in the flesh, waiting expectantly on the street before the parade began; others emerged from J.P. Licks shocked to hear she in in the neighborhood — cries of ”No way!” and “Shut up!” were yelled in disbelief as they realized the actress was in their midst.

Several Harvard students were in attendance in addition to other residents from the Boston/ Cambridge area.

“I think it’s exciting, I actually just watched ‘White Lotus’ over break, and she’s in both seasons and she’s kind of the common element across the show.

So I think because I just watched it, it’s super relevant in my mind right now,” said Anika S. Bagaria ’24, who waited on the sidewalk with friends for the parade to start.

Coolidge coasted down the street in a convertible Bentley, surrounded by Hasty Pudding members wearing a variety of whimsical and colorful outfits.

Dressed in a leopard fur coat and pink fuzzy hat, she waved graciously to the crowds surrounding her parade car. Pa-

trons of Clover and students in the Smith Campus Center alike stopped what they were doing to gaze out the windows as the parade turned the corner onto Holyoke St., where it would end in front of Farkas Hall. Some fans held signs with adoring messages like “J. Cool U Rule.”

Later in the day, Coolidge was welcomed on stage at Farkas Hall for her honorary roast, in which she had to endure some pointed wisecracks and complete a few challenges in order to earn her Pudding Pot. For example, roasters Aidan Golub ’24 and Sarah Mann ’23 listed her characters from “American Pie,” “A Cinderella Story,” and “The Emoji Movie” as “iconic MILFS” — Miscast in Lackluster Films.

Her first task was to be the judge of a Jennifer Coolidge pageant, rating four different impersonators of herself on a scale from one to ten.

“Can they both be ones?” she asked after the first two impersonators came on stage, doing impressions of Coolidge in “Legally Blonde 2” and “A Cinderella Story.”

The fourth impressionist, Matthew Cole ’25, delivered the iconic line “I’m takin’ the dog, dumbass,” from “Legally Blonde.” The crowd screamed in approval, and even Coolidge herself couldn’t disapprove. “That’s a ten,” she said.

Coolidge didn’t even have to say much to amuse the crowd — her mannerisms seemed to reflect some of her famous comedic

characters, and even a simple “alright” or “wow” delivered in her signature airy voice was enough to elicit laughter from the audience.

Coolidge continued to participate gamely in each subsequent task. After giving an impromptu makeover to Golub, she was prompted to lead a master class in the bend-and-snap maneuver, another beloved moment from “Legally Blonde.” “But put your boobs up,” she said as a token of advice.

Later in the roast, Coolidge was asked to dress as a dolphin named Tuna McQuoid — she once said she wanted to play a dolphin — and read queue cards for a skit.

“Oh my God, please please, these rays, they’re trying to murder me!

These rays, these rays!” she cried out as Pudding actors dressed as sting rays flocked on stage.

To the audience’s delight, this was an homage to her line “These gays, these gays, they’re trying to murder me!” from “The White Lotus” — a quote that took over the Internet and became an instant classic once heard in the Season 2 finale this past December.

Once she was finally deemed deserving of her Pudding Pot, Coolidge was welcomed to say a few words to the audience.

“Am I allowed to put it down?” she asked, à la her Golden Globes speech delivered in January. “I’ve been so blown away that this experience is happening. I never saw it coming and it blows away any sort of movie or television show I’ve ever done,” she said.

Coolidged began to choke up as she talked about her late father, Paul Constant Coolidge, who graduated from Harvard in 1942.

“Seriously, you know, my dad went here. I wish he was here,” she said. “And his brothers went here, so it’s a big deal. And like I said, this is amazing.”

Coolidge and a few Hasty Pudding members joined journalists in the press conference room of Farkas Hall immediately following the roast, where she was able elaborate on her father’s influence on her life and career.

She revealed that it was her father who first told her to pursue acting.

“That’s why this night is such a big deal, because my father was such a practical person, but I love that he had impractical ideas for me. It was so out of my father’s character, you know he said to me, ‘I think you should be an actress’... This would have just been his dream come true…. Truly, one of the greatest nights of my life, because it just came full circle. It just has so much meaning,” she said.

Coolidge also spoke of the overall arc of her career, and how it felt to be celebrated as Woman of the Year at this point in her journey.

“My feelings as a young person would be extremely hopeful, and having giant dreams, and you know, having very, very low moments too. And to be here, tonight, I don’t know. It was all worth it. It was all worth it.” jaden.thompson@thecrimson.com

‘How to Be a (Young) Antiracist’ Book Tour

BY LOLA J. DEASCENTIIS CONTRIBUTING WRITER

From school board meetings to the halls of Congress, debates over what children should be allowed to read has become rampant. Buzz phrases such as “critical race theory” circulate on Twitter daily, and book bans are increasingly common.

Nonetheless, on Jan. 31, acclaimed authors Ibram X. Kendi and Nic Stone published “How to Be a (Young) Antiracist.” This young-adult spinoff of Kendi’s 2019 bestseller “How to Be an Antiracist” hit shelves just days after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced a statewide ban on the newly developed AP African American History Course, and shortly before teachers in Manatee County Florida received a directive to shroud their bookshelves of material that could violate the parameters of Florida’s “Stop WOKE Act” and thus incriminate teachers.

The same week that these headlines made their way across the country, so did Kendi and Stone, who traveled to red and blue states for their “How to Be A (Young) Antiracist” book tour.

From Texas to California, the authors and their publisher, Penguin Teen, collaborated with independent bookstores to host moderated panel discussions for fans of all ages.

The tour’s final stop was right here in Cambridge, in partnership with Porter Square Books and Cambridge Public Schools.

As the Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities and the Founding Director of the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research, Kendi remarked over the applause of local fans that he was “excited to be able to end this tour here at home.” Held at Temple Beth Shalom in Central Square, pews were packed for the entirely sold-out event, which was moderated by a Cambridge Rindge and Latin School senior.

Narrated by Nic Stone, “How to Be a (Young) Antiracist” offers a fictional retelling of Kendi’s life and experiences with racism. It creatively starts and ends with the story of Kendi’s speech for an MLK Oratorical contest in the year 2000. Written as a prophecy to an older Kendi, the book begins by criticizing his very own speech. As stated by Nic Stone during the event, young Kendi “spout[ed] a series of racist

ideas… with bounding applause in the audience.” Stone then proceeds to use an array of stories from Kendi’s youth to introduce anti-racist concepts and definitions to young readers. Ultimately, the book ends with a letter to Stone from a 17-year-old Kendi, who finds “How to Be a (Young) Antiracist” on his bookshelf on the eve of his speech. He then rewrites his speech with the help of her insight, exemplifying the influence of this book.

This unique second-person, non-sequential narration was of great interest to the audience, who learned that Stone chose to start the book with the story of 17-year-old Kendi’s failure because she “wants young people to see that even a McArthur Genius… came through a period of time where even he had some racist ideas” which is meant “to set a young reader up to see that…

[Kendi] is just like [you].”

Though the book was written with young readers in mind, it goes without saying that many young people choose to spend their free time scrolling rather than reading. This was not lost on the authors, who spoke at length about their vision for the project.

“When I write books,” Stone

explained, “the goal for me is to break focus because it is a way to keep young eyes… engaged on what [their] looking at.”

Breaking the fourth wall, Stone sprinkles post-it note style “Nic’s Notes” throughout the book, which provide narrative-breaking commentary on aspects of the story.

When asked about their use, Stone remarked that “they are designed to drag readers’ eyes away from the text… because the audience has grown up with Instagram.”

Beyond the process of writing, audience members were interested to hear about the significance of a book that details controversial material. Spurred by the high school student moderator’s question about the importance of this work, Stone shared that anti-racism rejects all ideas that place one group over another: “Seeing everything as equally valuable has opened me up to so many other people that I may or may not have started a conversation with” Stone reflected.

Yet both authors still recognized the challenge of writing about anti-racism. When asked what drives his writing, Ken-

COURTESY OF BBGB BOOKS

di shared that he stays motivated “knowing that there are many people in this country who can’t tap out of being harmed by racism.”

As stated by Stone, “we all have the space to do hard things

and live softly.” It’s this philosophy that is at the very core of “How to Be a (Young) Antiracist” — a piece of literature and movement that successfully and gently introduces topics of anti-racism to the next generation.

ARTS

THE HARVARD CRIMSON FEBRUARY 17, 2023

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EDITOR’S PICK:

MUSIC

LUISELLI’S WRITING IS AN INTERDISCIPLINARY ART

COURTESY OF ÁNGEL SOTO SALDIVAR VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS ADDISON Y. LIU—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

Vance Joy Concert Review: Some ‘Saturday Sun’

BY SARAH M. ROJAS CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

F

eb 8. was a regular Wednesday night in Boston — predictably windy, reliably cold, eerily quiet in Fenway.

Though for the select few who were lucky enough to fill the audience at MGM Music Hall, the night was full of an unpredictable radiance and warmth as Vance Joy stopped by on his “In Our Own Sweet Time” tour.

As one of the first stops on the international tour, the Australian singer-songwriter graced the stage to promote his 2022 album, “In Our Own Sweet Time.”Despite the setlist highlighting his new music, Joy made sure to sprinkle in classic fan favorites — “Saturday Sun,” “Missing Piece,” “Fire and the Flood,” and of course “Riptide” — throughout the setlist.

It’s quite common nowadays for concerts to overstimulate on the audiovisuals — to swell with complicated light displays, costume changes, and background dancers. But not in a Vance Joy concert. Vance Joy stands out in his ability to turn simple melodies into songs that change people, and his concert exemplified his appreciation for simplicity.

Between fan favorites, Joy gave fans a glimpse into his musical process, offering an inside look

into his life as a songwriter.

During the show, Joy admitted how hard it can be to begin the writing process for a song. Joy specifically commented on the creation of “Every Side Of You” and how it broke him out of a period of writer’s block.

“I was watching Sopranos, and not really doing too much.

Eventually, I was like, ‘Come on man, you gotta write a song’ and this was the first song that came along” said Joy. “ It gave me a bit of encouragement, got me started writing songs, and finally mak-

“I always get obsessed with chord progressions. This song is four chords and for about three years I kept playing this same series of chords. I tried to write heaps of songs with these chords and none of them worked. Eventually, the right song came along.”

Much like writers find inspiration from their everyday encounters, Joy preserves the seemingly insignificant, finite moments of life with song. Joy specifically commented on the origin of the lyrics for his song, “I’m With You.” “I was hanging with my friend

“

There’s a reason why his last name is Joy. The concert was not only a celebration of the songs we know and love, but a celebration of the process of creating music itself.

ing this album.”

The rest of the concert highlighted Joy’s musical prowess, as he expertly played his acoustic guitar and ukulele throughout the entire concert. When speaking about his song “Way That I’m Going,” Joy explained that he uses these instruments and surprisingly minimalistic chords to create simple but effective music.

and in her house, she had this painting — it’s like this abstract art painting that one of her brothers did,” said Joy. “On the painting, there’s this line written into it that says ‘this rain changes everything.’ And I guess when I walk around daily, if someone says something cool or if I see something or read something, I just write it into my phone, and then

hopefully later it finds its way into a song” Joy used this short phrase to create an entire story in his song, “I’m With You,” singing, “We fell asleep to escape from the sun / And we woke up to the sound of a storm outside / You looked at me and said “baby, this rain changes everything” / And my heart ran away from me.”

On stage, Joy’s appreciation for music extended far beyond himself — Joy spent time thanking each band member, carefully timing the announcing of each member’s name during the quietest lulls in the crowd to ensure that every audience member could clap for each individual artist. Trumpet player, Kelly O’Donohue, was one of the most memorable band members, complimenting Joy’s songs effortlessly with floating high notes.

There’s a reason why his last name is Joy. The concert was not only a celebration of the songs that we know and love, but a celebration of the process of creating music itself — tediously testing different chords, listening for the perfect lyric, and collaborating with local artists to create a night radiating with inspiration.

Fans left reminded to appreciate life a little more and with a sense of gratitude to Vance Joy for making Boston just a bit brighter on that cold winter night.

In a recent interview with the Harvard Crimson’s Ella A. Anthony and Olivia J. Marinaccio, Luiselli described the crucial overlap of her work with both in-person and literary activism. Writing in both English and Spanish, Luiselli offers a completely novel use of language. One way Luiselli toys with language is by translating her own writing back and forth, letting the words decide for her what language (or languages) to use for each text.

CAMERON SNOWDEN ’25 IS BRINGING KENTUCKY TO LIFE

COURTESY OF HOUSING DEVELOPMENT ALLIANCE. HAZARD, KY

With a foundation rooted in his Kentucky and Appalachian heritage, Cameron J. Snowden ’25 , creates music that brings stories to life through rich bluegrass sounds, wrote Rachel A. Beard. Snowden released his debut single, “The Daylight,” on Feb. 3; The country song spells out a story from an experience Snowden had this past summer. Though his official music debut might have been recent, his history with music is anything but.

Snowden first became interested in music when he was in elementary school; he credits his father with having the most influence over his taste.

“When I was really young, my dad would play all the music that he liked for me, which was a big assortment of different things. It was Nirvana, some Gorillaz, all kinds of things,” Snowden said in an interview with The Harvard Crimson.

“Growing up around a bunch of country and bluegrass has definitely influenced how my music sounds now,” Snowden said.

sarah.rojas@thecrimson.com

Your Next Valentine’s Day Read: Our Favorite Love Stories VALENTINE’S DAY is over, but it’s not too late to get started with Crimson Arts writers’ favorite love stories.

BY SAMANTHA H. CHUNG, MARIA CIFUENTES, LOLA J. DEASCENTIIS, ARIELLE C. FROMMER, AND NAJYA S. GAUSE CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

“This Is How You Lose the Time War” by Amal ElMohtar & Max Gladstone The epic love story in Amal ElMohtar and Max Gladstone’s scifi novella “This is How You Lose the Time War” truly transcends time. Time travelers Red and Blue are soldiers on opposite sides of a war for control of the world’s timeline.

They begin the story as bitter enemies, leaving letters scattered throughout history — written in a poisoned flower, or in the rings of an ancient tree — to taunt the other about their failures. But over the course of the novella’s 200 pages, Red and Blue’s letters slowly turn from rivalry to love.

Entirely written through these letters, El-Mohtar and Gladstone have crafted a heartbreaking, sapphic, enemies-to-lovers romance that traverses space and

time.

—Samantha H. Chung

“Six of Crows” by Leigh Bardugo Leigh Bardugo is a master of crafting fantasy, and while all aspects of “Six of Crows” shine, the romance is truly exceptional. The six characters are all embroiled in relationships with each other, and while these pairings run the risk of being cliché, each pairing is so well-developed, nuanced, and satisfying that they are all deliciously romantic — and Kaz and Inej reign supreme. Kaz Brekker is a hardened genius criminal, his cane and black gloves that he wears at all times remain his armor against the world; Inej Ghafa is an acrobat who was freed by Kaz after being trafficked and sold to a brothel and has since become his silent spy and most loyal assassin. In their city full of con artists and crime rings, Kaz and Inej not only understand each other like no one else does but are utterly dependent on each other for advice and support. And yet, their relationship is uniquely beautiful due to the incredible restraint Bardugo exercises in bringing them together. Both have intense trauma related to physical touch, so even as both characters feel insatiable desire and affection for each other, their dark pasts pre-

vent them from ever truly being physically intimate even as their emotional bond grows until they cannot bear to see the other in danger. Their love for each other endows both characters with more humanity, which both characters (but especially Kaz) initially reject because in a world where greed and deceit are what rule, compassion is a weakness — and yet a “weakness” that they both inevitably succumb to.

—Arielle C. Frommer

“A Little Life” by Hanya Yanagihara This is not a romance novel.

This is a hymn to friendship, to brotherhood, to grief. It’s a story of horrible trauma and horrible love — of agony and of pleasure.

In 720 pages, we follow Malcolm, JB, Willem, and Jude — my poor Jude — as they learn to cope with the tragedies of life. They learn that to be human is to be broken. That sometimes, love is not enough. That not all damage can be healed. But most importantly, they learn that a little life — a little love — is better than none at all.

—Najya S. Gause

“The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” by Taylor Jenkins Reid As someone who doesn’t typ-

ically read YA fiction, it can be hard to find queer love stories that I enjoy. “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” by Taylor Jenkins Reid, however, had me enthralled. Set in 1950s Hollywood, this fast-paced novel is told through an interview with former actress Evelyn Hugo, who tells the story of — you guessed it — her seven husbands. But beneath the comings and goings of men exists Hugo’s heart-wrenching, passionate relationship with fellow star Celia St. James. If you enjoy the rich language of classic fiction yet seek stories of love between women, this one’s for you!

—Lola J. DeAscentiis

passed, Sam never took it off as he hoped he would see her again.

This story is about second chances and the journey it takes you on may lead you to discover that perhaps what you needed most was always right in front of you. This is my favorite romance novel. It breaks your heart and puts it back

together again. Filled with warm memories on the lake and flashbacks of the main characters’ childhoods, you will not be able to put this book down.

—Maria Cifuentes samantha.chung@thecrimson.com arielle.frommer@thecrimson.com najya.gause@thecrimson.com

“Every Summer After” by Carley Fortune Carley Fortune depicts a love story — one so endearing but also heartbreaking — that captivates readers from the very first chapter. From childhood friends to lovers and then strangers, Sam and Percy struggle to realize that they complete one another. From the moment Sam met Percy, an undeniable connection tied them together both literally and figuratively through their shared woven bracelets. Their friendship began when she made Sam a matching bracelet, which was a mutual reminder to keep their promises. Although the years

NAYELI CARDOZO—CRIMSON DESIGNER

FIFTEEN QUESTIONS

THE HARVARD CRIMSON FEBRUARY 17, 2023

M

elanie Matchett Wood is a professor of mathematics at Harvard University and a Radcliffe Alumnae Professor at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. In October, she was awarded the MacArthur Fellowship “Genius Grant” for her creative work in number theory.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

FM: In online articles profiling you and your research, one of the first questions they always ask is: “What is number theory and arithmetic and algebraic geometry?” It’s an important one for me and for our readers, so could you pare it down from the high level at which you’re working to middle school or high school math?

MMW: Number theory is the study of the whole numbers, and in those, especially the prime numbers, how other whole numbers can be constructed by multiplying together primes and the patterns in which that happens. And it turns out almost all of math is very richly interconnected, and certainly number theory is.

Part of my research and how I try to answer questions about numbers is by using other tools.

Algebraic geometry refers to understanding the geometry of shapes that are cut out by polynomial equations, so a very familiar one of these might be a parabola — it’s cut out by this polynomial equation y equals x squared, y and x polynomials.

You could graph some shape that equation described, and algebraic geometry is the study of the geometry of the shapes that can be cut out by polynomials.

It turns out that these things are very related even though at first it doesn’t sound that way.

Q&A:

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like Shakespeare.

MELANIE MATCHETT WOOD ON NUMBER THEORY, FAILING, AND HER LIFETIME SUPPLY OF HAGOROMO CHALK THE MATHEMATICIAN sat down with Fifteen Minutes to talk about breaking barriers for women in pure math. “If you’re not ever getting rejections or failing, you’re not trying hard or interesting enough things,” she says.

BY DINA R. ZELDIN

FM: What’s your favorite Shakespeare play? And what roles did you remember loving?

MMW: Perhaps the thing that really stands out to me most: I assistant-directed a production of “Macbeth” that I was very proud to be part of. Now, I only enjoy theater as an audience member.

FM: Dean Khurana of the College recently shared a resume of his rejections — projects that never came to fruition, grants, fellowships, and academic appointments that he was turned down for — as an exercise, and others have posted resumes of rejections or failures online as well. What’s one item on your resume of failures, and what advice do you have for students or researchers who are dealing with their own share?

CRIMSON MAGAZINE ASSOCIATE EDITOR

MMW: I first think of many examples in my current life when I submit papers for publication. A lot of the process of submitting papers for publication is you get them rejected, and you try again.

But to something closer to the student experience, when I was applying to grad school and applying for fellowships, I applied for a Defense Department graduate fellowship, and I didn’t get in.

But I applied again the next year, and I applied for other things.

I think this is a nice idea to share since people share their successes but not their rejections and you don’t realize that everyone has lots of rejections.

That’s part of the process of life.

If you’re not ever getting rejections or failing, you’re not trying hard or interesting enough things. You have to keep trying and interpret that as a sign that you’re on a good path of challenging yourself and striving when you run into failures and rejection.

You have to keep trying and interpret that as a sign that you’re on a good path of challenging yourself and striving when you run into failures and rejection.

FM: What are the real-world implications of your work?

Like, if we discover answers to these unanswered or open problems, how would that translate into you know, like, real-world applications?

MMW: My work is in what some people call “pure math,” but the basic science of mathematics.

I’m trying to understand the foundational things that seem most important to know about numbers, not with some particular application in mind. There’s lots of wonderful applied mathematics, but that’s not what I’m doing. However, throughout history, we see that much of science has been built on mathematics that was developed before that science or those applications were even imagined.

For example, today’s entire digital economy and world relies on the fact that we can encrypt information, that we have some way to reasonably easily encode things so that only people with a certain key can decode them.

All of today’s encryption systems are built on number theory, on properties of prime numbers in particular, and on mathematics that was developed before there were computers. That’s the picture of how things are. I think we develop basic mathematics, we try to understand the most foundational things behind numbers, shapes, patterns, and it has paid off over time that the mathematics that we’ve developed has been used for things that we might not have imagined when we developed it.

FM: You’ve earned the title “first woman” to do something in your field quite a few times in your career, starting with being the first female competitor on the U.S. Math Olympiad Team. What was it like to come of age in the math competition

MARINA QU—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

circuit as one of the only women performing at that level?

MMW: It was difficult in a lot of ways, in different ways. Ways in which I felt like I didn’t belong. It was hard to be the only girl at a month-long summer training camp of 30-something students. It was also hard in ways in which I felt that there was a tremendous amount of attention and focus and pressure, because I was the only girl — as if, how I performed, I was representing girls as a whole. That was hard.

FM: How has women’s role in mathematics changed over the last two decades or so that you’ve been involved?

MMW: Frustratingly slowly. There has been some progress but the percentage, say, of math Ph.D.s that are women has been frustratingly stubborn. There are still many times when I’m the only woman in the room. I don’t want to forget that there has been some progress made. I think in general, there’s a lot more attention now to how we can make the field welcoming to everyone, to men and women and people from all sorts of backgrounds, and I think that’s an improvement. But still, the progress is slow.

FM: What initially drew you to

MARINA QU—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

math?

MMW: It was actually math competitions. In seventh grade, I got involved in this Mathcounts competition. And that was the first time I had seen problems where I hadn’t been taught how to do that problem. For me, math in school previously had been: they teach you how to do a problem, and you do the problems in the way that they taught you. What I really loved about the Mathcounts problems for me at that stage was that I hadn’t been taught how to do that particular problem. It was like a puzzle.

You had to think and try different things, and then something would work. That was the hook for me into math, the opportunity to figure something out on my own.

FM: Tackling problems in number theory that have stood unanswered for decades, if not centuries, seems like a daunting task. What’s the day-to-day like of your job?

MMW: The day-to-day involves a lot of things that of course aren’t just tackling those problems. Working with students and mentoring and teaching and going to seminars and working on things with my colleagues and the department.

When I do sit down and re-

search, for me, it’s a lot of filling sheafs and sheafs of paper. I write a lot and I try a lot of things. And if you saw me, I would just be filling pages and pages of different things and trying things, so perhaps not very exciting to watch. It’s slow, many of the things take many years.

But the day-to-day is trying different ideas and looking for examples and following different leads and seeing where they go and all of that that physically comprises filling sheafs and sheafs of paper.

FM: Are there any big open questions that you predict might be answered in the next 10 years? Or is that too short of a time span?

MMW: In terms of famous open questions, I don’t know of any that seem likely to be solved in the next 10 years. But one of the things about math is that sometimes it is hard to predict. You don’t know where the ideas might come from. It’s hard to say. Often, many big developments come as a surprise.

FM: Do you have any hidden talents or interests besides math that people might be surprised to learn?

MMW: The thing that I studied most in college after math was theater, particularly classical theater

FM: There’s a lot on the internet about how mathematicians love their chalk. Do you have a favorite chalk?

MMW: Absolutely. When the news broke that Hagoromo was going out of business, I calculated what I thought would be my lifetime supply and purchased a personal lifetime supply of Hagoromo chalk. It turned out that they sold the formula to another company and so it was perhaps unnecessary, but just in case, I am prepared.

FM Fifteen Minutes is the magazine of The Harvard Crimson. To read the full interview and other longform pieces, visit THECRIMSON.COM/ MAGAZINE

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THE HARVARD CRIMSON

SPORTS

FEBRUARY 17, 2023

MEN’S ICE HOCKEY

Beanpot Shootout Loss, 3-2 TRADITION ­The Crimson returned to the Beanpot championship and lost 3-2 to the Northeastern Huskies in a shootout.

BY BRIDGET T. SANDS AND AARON B. SHUCHMAN CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

B

OSTON –– “I wanted revenge.”

After giving up eight goals to the No. 9 Harvard men’s ice hockey team on New Year’s Day, Northeastern Huskies goaltender Devon Levi wanted another chance to beat the Crimson, only this time, on Boston’s biggest stage.

“I wanted Harvard to beat [Boston College]. I wanted to see them in the finals again. They put on a clinic against me and I wanted revenge,” Levi said.

After Monday night’s dramatic Beanpot championship victory for his No. 16 Northeastern University Huskies, revenge is exactly what he got.

In a tense, raucous, and evenly-played Beanpot title game at T.D. Garden, the Huskies emerged victorious over the Crimson with a 3-2 shootout victory, the first time in the tournament’s 70-year history that a Beanpot game had been decided in a shootout following a recent NCAA rule change.

Both teams overcame deficits on the way to overtime, backed by outstanding performances from their goaltenders. Levi, the tournament MVP, made 32 saves in regulation and overtime, narrowly outdueling senior goaltender Mitchell Gibson, who stopped 27 of 29 shots before allowing the shootout’s lone goal.

Levi shut down some of the Crimson’s best players in the

“

[I] want to congratulate Northeastern. I thought it was a heck of a college hockey game.

Ted Donato ’91 Head Coach

shootout, stopping junior forward Sean Farrell, sophomore forward Matthew Coronato, and junior forward Alex Laferriere in the three rounds. Northeastern’s sole shootout tally was provided by Milton, Mass. native Aidan McDonough, the Huskies’ captain, and Levi’s stop of Laferriere’s shot on the next attempt won the tournament for the Huskies, sending the Northeastern banner into the T.D. Garden rafters. “[I] want to congratulate Northeastern. I thought it was a heck of a college hockey game,” head coach Ted Donato’91 said.

“Both sides probably would have agreed that it’s a tough way to lose the Beanpot Championship but I think they deserve a lot of credit. I’m very proud of our guys as

Sophomore defenseman Kyle Aucoin dashes down the ice late in the game during a 2-2 stalemate. DYLAN J. GOODMAN—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

well.”

Harvard jumped out to a strong start after the opening puck drop. First-year forward Joe Miller fired a hard one-timer on Levi early on after a lowto-high play, but Levi gloved the puck to stop play. First-year forward Marek Hejduk, the hero of last Monday’s semifinals against Boston College, had an opportunity to knock in a rebound when he was left alone in front of the net, but he was unable to corral the loose puck. Soon after, the Huskies recorded their first dangerous chance of the game, as Gibson denied an attempted wrap-around before the Crimson defense cleared the rebound out of the crease. Harvard continued to fire pucks on Levi from all angles, but senior forward and captain John Farinacci and sophomore forward Alex Gaffney were unable to jam the puck past Levi after a particularly lively rebound. Neither team generated many high-danger chances in the second half of the first period, with both defenses and goalies tightly defending the dangerous areas of the ice, and the first frame ended in a scoreless tie.

Despite the slow start, both teams came out hot at the start of the second period. On the Huskies’ first offensive possession, forward Gunnarwolfe Fontaine received a great cross ice pass off the rush, but his shot missed wide of the net. However, Northeastern immediately regained control of the puck and after a shot

from the point by forward Sam Colangelo was knocked down in front, Fontaine cleaned up the rebound in the crease to give the Huskies a 1-0 lead.

It didn’t take long for Harvard to respond in kind. Less than a minute later, senior forward Austin Wong was cross-checked into the boards in the offensive zone, earning a two-minute power play.

Harvard’s lethal power play unit, which ranked 12th in the nation with a 23.9% conversion rate entering the game, only needed 38 seconds to knot the game at 1-1. Sophomore defenseman Ian Moore, quarterbacking the top power play unit, found Farrell at the right faceoff circle, and the Hopkinton, Mass. native fired a perfect cross-ice pass to Coronato at the left circle, where the sophomore hammered a one-timer past Levi to tie the game.

“We knew Harvard’s got a really good power play,” Northeastern head coach Jerry Keefe said.

“You saw how dangerous they were because they got one on the power play…[We wanted] to make sure we weren’t taking careless penalties but still playing with the motion and doing it the right way.”

The Crimson kept its offensive attack moving at even strength, and Coronato tallied his second goal of the game only six minutes after his opening strike. After senior defenseman Ryan Siedem launched a hard shot from the point, Levi made the save but failed to locate the rebound as the

First-year Joe Miller takes the puck down the ice. DYLAN J. GOODMAN—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

puck floated in the air. When it landed, Coronato, waiting on the doorstep, pounced on the loose change and lifted the puck past an out-of-position Levi and into the open net, giving Harvard a 2-1 lead roughly halfway through the game.

Shortly after Coronato’s goahead marker, the Huskies began to push back, and in the remainder of the period, Gibson shined. The Huskies maintained the majority of possession for the rest of the second period, keeping the puck in the offensive zone for a number of extended shifts.

Fontaine had a great chance on a one-timer at point blank range, but his rocket whistled wide with five minutes to play. Northeastern also had a chance to tie the score on a chaotic scramble in the crease following a wrap-around, but senior forward and captain Baker Shore got in the way and helped save a sure goal, maintaining the 2-1 Crimson advantage heading to the final 20 minutes.

Unlike Harvard’s Beanpot semifinal contest, when Boston College tied the score with less than two minutes left in the third period, the Huskies wasted no time finding their equalizer with their tournament hopes on the line. Less than five minutes into the period, Fontaine slipped behind Shore and sophomore defenseman Kyle Aucoin in front of the net, and Northeastern defenseman Jayden Struble fed him a perfect pass that he simply tapped into the yawning net, eve-

ning the score at 2-2.

“They were just two great plays by two teammates of mine, Jayden Struble and Sam Colangelo,” said Fontaine regarding his two goals. “They set me up in front and I was lucky to get some empty netters there.”

For the final 15 minutes of action, both goaltenders put on a clinic, making numerous highlight-reel saves to keep their squads in the game. With only 10 minutes to play in regulation, senior defenseman and captain Henry Thrun, returning from a one-game injury absence, made a great move to create space at the blue line, but Levi denied both his long-range shot and a rebound attempt by Drkulec at close range.

Only two minutes later, a careless play by the Huskies’ defense left Miller alone with the puck rolling towards Levi, but the Quebec native made a brilliant poke check to disrupt Miller’s chance.

Gibson made two brilliant saves on the next shift, denying both forward Justin Hryckowian’s one-timer and forward Matt Choupani’s stuff-in attempt on the rebound. The Crimson hit two posts in the waning minutes of regulation, with both Coronato and sophomore forward Alex Gaffney coming inches away from giving Harvard a late lead, and after Northeastern couldn’t capitalize on an offensive zone faceoff with 15 seconds to play, the Beanpot championship game headed to a five minute 3-on-3 overtime period for the first time in its illustrious history.

While Levi stole the show in the third period with 14 saves, Gibson put on a show of his own in sudden-death overtime, keeping Harvard’s title hopes alive. After Farrell turned the puck over in the offensive zone, Huskies defenseman Vinny Borgesi skated in all alone with a chance to win the Beanpot title, but the Pennsylvanian flashed the leather to shut down the breakaway with a glove save. After making back-to-back saves on Fontaine and Colangelo, Gibson stopped another breakaway, squeezing his legs together to stop Hryckowian after he split the defense at the Crimson’s defensive blueline. In the final seconds of the extra session, Coronato had a golden chance from the slot to win the championship, but Levi’s big left pad denied his wrister as time expired, sending the Beanpot title showdown to its first-ever decisive shootout.

“I think both [Gibson and Levi] made it look fairly easy at times.

There’s a lot of stress, [with] one goal [scored] for the last 15 minutes and in the five minute overtime,” Donato said. “I thought [Gibson] played great and obviously Levi’s a tremendous goalie and he made some big saves as

well.”

With the tension at T.D. Garden running high and the boisterous crowd on its feet, Farrell and Northeastern forward Jack Hughes each failed to score in the opening round of the shootout.

However, after Levi denied Coronato’s attempt to open the second round, McDonough skated in on Gibson with speed and roofed a wrist shot to put the Huskies one save away from Beanpot glory.

Junior forward Alex Laferriere shot third for Harvard, but Levi was equal to the task again, turning aside Laferriere’s attempt to secure the Beanpot title. As the Huskies and their fans celebrated the program’s fourth Beanpot win in the past five tournaments, a crestfallen Harvard team waited on the ice for the customary postgame handshakes and trophy presentation before returning to the locker room.

“For the last four years, to go to battle every day with my best friends and to have the best coaching staff and the best support staff in the country in my opinion, it means everything,” said McDonough, the Milton, Mass. local. “I told the guys before the game: in the Beanpot it doesn’t matter who’s on whose team, it comes down to whoever wants it more.”

Despite the heartbreaking defeat, Donato believes that the loss

“

I think we’ll look back at this as a real growing opportunity.

Ted Donato ’91 Head Coach.

can be a stepping stone for the Crimson as it gears up for the final regular season push, the ECAC tournament, and potentially the NCAA tourney.

“I think it’s an incredible opportunity to play in that environment,” Donato said. “I think your whole team grows up to a certain point and I think, once the hurt wears down a little bit, I think it’s pretty obvious that we as a group elevated our game…if we want to have success at the end of the year, we’re going to have to play in tough environments and play in high stress situations, and I think we’ll look back at this as a real growing opportunity.”

The Crimson return to home ice at Bright-Landry Hockey Center this weekend for a doubleheader against ECAC opponents Union College, 7 p.m. on Friday, and then Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at 7 p.m. on Saturday. bridget.sands@thecrimson.com aaron.shuchman@thecrimson.com

SPORTS

THE HARVARD CRIMSON FEBRUARY 17, 2023

15

MEN’S FENCING

Harvard Men’s Fencing Takes Home the Gold IVY CHAMPS H ­ arvard men’s fencing claimed its first Ivy League title since 2020 with a dominant performance in Ithaca, N.Y.

WEEKLY SCORES RECAP WOMEN’S TENNIS AT COLUMBIA

W, 4-1

SQUASH VS. NO. 4 DREXEL

W, 6-3

ICE HOCKEY VS. BOSTON UNIVERSITY L, 7-4 FENCING IVY LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP 4TH PLACE

BY CAROLINE E. BEHRENS CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

BASKETBALL AT PENN

T

he Harvard women’s and men’s fencing teams traveled to Ithaca, New York this past weekend to compete in the Ivy League Championships. The men’s team was triumphant, leaving the weekend as Ivy League Champions, while the women’s team finished fourth in the contest.

On the first day of competition, the men’s fencing team defeated both Penn and Yale to kick off the stakes-worthy tournament 2-0.

An impressive 9-0 showing from the sabre team boosted the Crimson, with Filip Dolegiewicz, Mitchell Saron, and Matthew Linksy winning all three of their bouts.

Harvard garnered a 20-7 win over Penn in the first match of the day and a 21-6 win over Yale in their second match. In their win against Yale, the sabre, epee, and foil teams all contributed 7-2 victories to give them the edge.

At the end of the first day, senior Filip Dolegiewicz (sabre), senior Mitchell Saron (sabre), firstyear Matthew Linsky (sabre), sophomore James Chen (foil), senior Kenji Bravo (foil), and junior Jonas Hansen (epee), each had five wins to lead the team.

A previous team record for most wins on the season was also broken on the first day. With 21 wins on the year already, the previous 20-win record set in the 2019-2020 season was surpassed.

Heading into the second day of the weekend, the Crimson placed second with a 2-0 record. Columbia was just ahead with a record

TRACK AND FIELD TIGER PAW INVITATIONAL TRACK AND FIELD VALENTINE INVITATIONAL

MEN’S ICE HOCKEY BEANPOT FINALS

Harvard faces off with NYU at the Harvard-NYU dual meet on Jan. 28. JENNIFER Z. LIANG—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

of 3-0.

“Going into day two of the competition, Columbia and Harvard were the only two remaining undefeated teams, so we knew that we were on track for a final showdown against Columbia for the Ivy League Championship,” Dolegiewicz explained.

The Crimson were on fire on the second day of the Championships, as all three squads earned victories in their matchup against Princeton.

Once again, the sabre squad stood strong with a 7-2 win. Dolegiewicz and Saron won all three of their bouts. Along with the sabre squad, sophomore James Chen (foil) and first-year Ark Ma (epee) won all three of their bouts.

The next and final match of the day was against Columbia for the Ivy League title.

“The mindset going into that

final match was to trust in all of the work we put in throughout the season, take things one bout at a time, and fight with 100 percent intensity,” Dolegiewicz said.

Daniel Solomon and Hansen each won three bouts to help the Crimson overcome Columbia with a final score of 16-11 and win the team Ivy League Championship.

This marked a large win for the Crimson, as Harvard has not won the Ivy League title since 2020, and placed second in 2022.

Not only did the overall team win the Ancient Eight Championship, but Dolegiewicz, the reigning men’s NCAA sabre champion, alongisde Chen, were crowned individual champions for sabre and foil, respectively.

“Winning the individual Ivy League Title and the Ivy team championships in my senior year

was definitely a major highlight in my career here at Harvard,” Dolegiewicz commented. “It felt like a massive accomplishment and the perfect way to cap off my senior year.”

“Being a senior on the team, it was an incredible feeling to have led the team to an Ivy League title just like the upperclassmen did when we won the title my freshman year.”

First Team All-Ivy honors were awarded to Dolegiewicz (sabre), Saron (sabre), Chen (foil), Bravo (foil), and Hansen (epee).

With a dominant showing at the Championships, Dolegiewicz is optimistic about the NCAA regional and NCAA championship matches in March, which Harvard will host.

“Looking forward to regionals and the NCAA championships in March, our mindset will stay the

same. Our goal for every competition is to dominate the other teams. We know we have the capability to win the NCAA championships, and we will give everything we have.”

As for the women’s team, it found itself tied for second heading into day two of the championships after going a perfect 3-0 on day one.

However, on the second day of the championships, Harvard fell short to Princeton 11-16 in the first match of the day.The Crimson also came up short against Columbia (7-20) and Penn (8-19) to finish off the tournament.

Junior Annora Lee (foil), firstyear Zoe Kim (sabre), and Sophomore Emily Vermeule (epee) all earned Second Team All-Ivy honors. caroline.behrens@thecrimson.com

Wrestling Pins Down Two More Wins CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Harvard wrestling made another statement in the Ivy League this past weekend at home, defeating the Columbia Tigers (5-7 overall, 5-3 Ivy League) 19-18 in a gritty match on Friday night. The Crimson followed up with a hefty 21-11 win over visiting Hofstra Pride on Saturday afternoon.

The wins moved the Crimson to a 3-4 record on the season and produced a lot of great energy as well. The victory over Columbia came just one year after a decisive 27-3 loss to the Lions, certainly creating a buzz, a testament to both the coaches and wrestlers alike. The victory also comes mere weeks after Harvard

L, 3-2 (SO)

FENCING IVY LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIPS 1ST PLACE

WRESTLING

BY SYDNEY E. FARNHAM

L, 70-64

defeated Princeton for the first time in 10 years, building palpable momentum for the program.

Harvard secured victories in five weight classes against Columbia, each proving to be important deciders in the narrow win. Junior Phillip Conigliaro defeated Lennox Wolak at 174 lbs to kick off the match, but things were just heating up.

Following Conigliaro, junior Leo Tarantino prevailed in a close win at 184-lbs, a match that proved to be vital in the Crimson’s ultimate victory. The Tampa, Fla. native had a huge take down in the 3rd period to take the match to overtime. In the “4th period,” Tarantino closed out his win with another two point takedown with just 16 seconds remaining on the clock, scoring three mas-

sive points critical to Harvard’s eventual narrow victory.

“It’s a game of inches and an overtime win like that ended up being a pretty contributing factor to the score in the end,” said Tarantino about going to overtime “We’ve started to do things as a program that we haven’t done in years.”

His win brought the Malkin Athletic Center to its feet, a trend that continued throughout the evening.

“I haven’t heard the MAC that loud in a long time. It was very cool,” commented head coach Jay Weiss following the exciting dual.

Following a loss at 197-lbs, senior captain Yaraslau Slavikouski and sophomore Diego Sotelo each won their matches at 285-

Junior Philip Conigliaro in action against Columbia’s Lennox Wolak on Feb. 10. Conigliaro secured a victory in the 174-pound weight class. JENNIFER Z. LIANG—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

lbs and 125-lbs, respectively. Both wrestlers have had solid seasons thus far, leaving them ranked among the top wrestlers nationally, and they both look poised to have an excellent opportunity to make noise and do damage at the EIWA and NCAA tournaments in the coming weeks.

Following up on strong performances from the team’s leaders, the statement of the evening came from first-year Dante Frinzi. The Pennsylvania native, whose mother and grandmother had surprised him just before the match, certainly made their travels worth it.

Just one minute and forty-five seconds into the first period, the 133-pounder pinned Columbia’s Angelo Rini to secure a huge six points.

Frinzi’s first win in the MAC also happened to be his first pin in a Harvard singlet. While he admits the transition to collegiate wrestling has not always been easy, Frinzi is excited for what lies ahead and the experience he has gained so far.

“I think just competing and adding a bunch of experience throughout this year helped transition into the rest of the season and now especially at the end of the season,” he reflected. “I think that all of us, we’re really just putting our foot on the pedal and really aiming towards the end of the year.”

On its way to victory, Harvard dropped its final four matches to the Lions, but the early winning momentum carried into Saturday against the Pride. First-years Joseph Cangro and Jack Crook, junior Josh Kim, and senior Trevor Tarsi, along with Sotelo and Slavikouski, all took home victories in the Crimson’s impressive

victory over Hofstra.

With EIWA Championships quickly approaching, Weiss’ long tenure and extensive experience in collegiate wrestling has certainly contributed to the program peaking at just the right time. Although somewhat new to the team, Frinzi can attest to Weiss’ enormous impact.

“He’s a great coach – one of the best I’ve ever had. He really shaped every individual to just really come together as a team and focuses on everyone coming together and just lifting each other up. He just really keeps us dialed in,” the first-year said.

Tarantino has similar respect and admiration for his coach.

“He has always been character first in recruiting, and you can see how explosive that is when you get a group of people who have faith in each other and have faith in the mission of the program,” the junior said.

Tarantino continued to express his admiration for Coach Weiss and the culture that he has built within the program, reflecting that “I think that’s something that’s really rare – every single one of them I would invite to my house, introduce them to my family and friends, because those are the people that our coaches surround everyone with – not just talent, but people first. That call comes from Coach Weiss.”

Harvard will return to the MAC on Friday night to take on Brown in a 7 p.m. match against the Bears.

This match will be the last before the Crimson take to the mat in Philadelphia for the EIWA tournament, set to take place in the first weekend in March.

SQUASH VS. NO. 7 DREXEL

W, 9-0

BASKETBALL VS. PENN

L, 80-72

WRESTLING VS. COLUMBIA

W, 19-18

ICE HOCKEY AT DARTMOUTH

W, 6-3

READ IT IN FIVE MINUTES HARVARD FALLS IN BEANPOT FINALS In a tense, raucous, and evenly-played Beanpot title game at T.D. Garden, the Huskies emerged victorious over the Crimson with a 3-2 shootout victory, the first time in the tournament’s 70-year history that a Beanpot game had been decided in a shootout following a recent NCAA rule change. Both teams overcame deficits on the way to overtime, backed by outstanding performances from their goaltenders.

DYLAN J. GOODMAN—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

MEN’S LACROSSE SET TO GO IN 2023 Coming off a historic season, the Harvard men’s lacrosse team will turn towards a new class of senior leaders to continue its legacy of improvement and ferocious competition. With the loss of key players Charlie Olmert, Kyle Massimilian, Steven Cuccurullo, Kyle Mullin, Austin Madronic, and Jake Hartje, the team will look towards a new set of seniors to lead the squad both on and off the field.

DYLAN J. GOODMAN—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

sydney.farnham@thecrimson.com

16

THE HARVARD CRIMSON

SPORTS

FEBRUARY 17, 2023

MEN’S LACROSSE

Harvard Readies for 2023 LOADING ­After a historic 2022 campaign, Harvard men’s lacrosse is set to kick off its 2023 campaign with a new class of senior leadership

BY KATHARINE FORST CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

C

oming off a historic season, the Harvard men’s lacrosse team will turn towards a new class of senior leaders to continue its legacy of improvement and ferocious competition.

With the loss of key players Charlie Olmert, Kyle Massimilian, Steven Cuccurullo, Kyle Mullin, Austin Madronic, and Jake Hartje, the team will look towards a new set of seniors to lead the squad both on and off the field.

At the heart of this new group is senior captain and midfielder Nick Loring, who has been a crucial part of the squad since his first year. He is the sole captain of the team this year, a job he does not take lightly.

“Last year we had an amazing group of seniors and I think that we are filling it back with another amazing group,” Loring commented. “I’ve got a bunch of great guys by my side that has been incredibly supportive. Our locker room is chock full of great players and even better people – I’m just happy to be a part of it.”

The team has been playing together for three weeks after the almost two-month-long hiatus for winter break, and the work at practice culminated in an intrasquad scrimmage on Friday.

The scrimmage was private, limited to only a select group of spectators. Having witnessed the action, as well as how the ten new first-year players slotted into the squad, there were areas in which the team has improved since last year and areas where it needs to tighten its play after such a short session together this year.

One area in which the Crimson are looking for new leadership is on the faceoff. After graduating its two senior starters Massimilian and Cuccurullo, Head Coach Gerry Byrne will look to sophomore Andrew DeGenaro, first-year Matt Barraco, and junior walk-on Mike Binkowski to win possessions at the X. Barraco is optimistic about the team’s performance at the face-off-x this season despite recently returning from an injury that sidelined him for much of the fall.

“Our faceoff group has been really welcoming to me, and it’s made it easy for me to come in and feel like I belong, which has helped me get up to game speed and the Division-I level, whether that be game speed or lacrosse IQ,” Barraco commented.

A common thread between players Loring, Barraco, and sophomore attacker Joey Graham after the scrimmage is that the season is still early and that there are still kinks to be worked out. Graham specifically noted the squad’s need to focus on “the simple things” to eliminate turnovers and mistakes. One way to attempt to not only eliminate mistakes but to capitalize on them is with the ten-man-ride which the squad has been using both in practice and in the scrimmage.

“We have plenty to work on between now and then, we’ve only been playing for about three weeks since break so there are lots of little things like situational riding and clearing, and

Sophomore attack Sam King charges the net in Harvard’s first private scrimmage to kick off the season. COURTESY OF DYLAN GOODMAN/HARVARD ATHLETICS

Junior midfield Mark Stephens moves up the field with the ball in the team’s first internal scrimmage of the season. COURTESY OF DYLAN GOODMAN/HARVARD ATHLETICS

late game situations, which the coaches have really drilled into us,” Loring said. “We’ve got the time to drill it out before UVA and I know we’re going to get there.”

While the spring season has only been underway for about three weeks, the team has been playing together since the fall, working with a limited schedule to maximize growth during fall ball.

First-year midfielder Francisco Cortes, when interviewed in the fall, spoke about the team’s intense off-season in which the players worked to remain in peak physical condition, especially citing the squad’s small-group workouts over the summer as key to making sure the guys arrived

on campus in shape.

Coach Byrne places an emphasis on coupling academics and athletics by providing opportunities for his team to not only compete on the highest level but to grow off the field as well. This was evident on the team’s trip to Washington, D.C. last fall which saw the lacrosse team compete against Johns Hopkins, while also prioritizing the various cultural experiences D.C. has to offer.

“The trip to D.C. was awesome. I think we did a great job of performing on the lacrosse field while also realizing there was more to the trip than just lacrosse. I was impressed by our team’s, and specifically, the

Sophomore attack and New England native Liam Griffiths runs towards the goal in Harvard’s first scrimmage last weekend. COURTESY OF DYLAN GOODMAN/HARVARD ATHLETICS

younger guys’, engagement with our alumni during the Alumni Networking Event,” senior attackman Hayden Cheek said.

Cheek is one of several returning players who will look to once again make his mark on the dynamic roster. On the defensive end of the field, the team will look to replace Mullin, who started every game in goal last year. Junior Christian Barnard is hoping to compete to fill this spot alongside his fellow goaltenders sophomore George Alvarez, senior Jack Schlendorf, and first-year Adam Blind.

“With Mullin leaving there is going to be a really intense goalie competition throughout this fall and this is my first chance to real-

ly make my mark on this program and to step up and become the starter. The competition is going to be tough but I want to step up … and be a leader on this team,” Barnard remarked.

Junior attacker Graham Blake, Cheek, and sophomore attacker Sam King are just three returning players who will look to compete for a starting role in the offensive trio.

In the midfield, junior LSM Greg Campisi, senior SSDM Chase Yager, and sophomore LSM Vince Cresci will look to make an impact on the wings, and down low on the defense sophomore defender Collin Bergstrom, senior defender Chase Strupp, and sophomore defender Tom-

SATURDAY

Men’s Tennis at Brown University 9:00 am

Men’s Basketball at Columbia 7:00 pm

Women’s Basketball vs. Columbia 6:00 pm, Lavieties

Men’s Volleyball at Charleston 7:00 pm

Women’s Squash Team Nationals

katharine.forst@thecrimson.com

THC

GAMES TO WATCH THIS WEEK FRIDAY

my Martinson are all set to return and will be vying for starting positions.

The first-year recruiting class that Byrne assembled brings some powerhouse talent from across the country. Players like midfielders Finn Pokorny and Logan Ip, and defenders Sean Jordan and Charlie Muller all bring fresh skill to the roster.

“The season looks bright as we welcome a Top 5 recruiting class with big-time players at every position who should compete for playing time this spring as we aim to return to the NCAA Tournament and battle for an Ivy League Title,” Byrne stated.

Men’s Lacrosse at No. 1 UVA 4:00 pm Women’s Ice Hockey at Yale 3:00 pm

Men’s Ice Hockey vs. RPI 7:00 pm, Bright-Landry

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