The Harvard Crimson - Volume CXLIX, No. 20 by The Harvard Crimson

The Harvard Crimson THE UNIVERSITY DAILY, EST. 1873

VOLUME CXLIX, NO. 20 | CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2022

EDITORIAL PAGE 4

NEWS PAGE 5

SPORTS PAGE 6

Harvard faculty duke it out in a school newspaper

Experts discuss climate action in K-12 schools at HGSE forum

Women’s lacrosse set to return to the pitch after a 715 day absence

HAA Director To Step Down By CARA J. CHANG and ISABELLA B. CHO

By SARAH GIRMA and BRANDON L. KINGDOLLAR CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

Cambridge Police Department Commissioner Christine A. Elow vowed to prioritize transparency and accountability within the department in a Wednesday interview. Last month, Elow was sworn in as the first woman to lead the department, after nearly five months as acting commissioner. During the interview, Elow discussed plans to address key challenges facing CPD such as public distrust, excessive police militarization, and barriers to transparency. Elow said she would continue the efforts of former commissioner Branville G. Bard Jr. on police demilitarization. “We’re not at war with our community,” Elow said. “I am not about having our officers dressed in camouflage gear.” Loren Crowe, a Cambridge resident and police reform advocate, said he is heartened by Elow’s interest in continued demilitarization. “Time will tell what happens, but I’m encouraged by

CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

The executive director of the Harvard Alumni Association, Philip W. Lovejoy, will step down at the end of the calendar year, concluding a 20-year run at the University. Lovejoy, who announced his departure earlier this week, first came to Harvard in 1998 to work at the Museum of Natural History. He joined the HAA in 2005 before ascending to its top post in 2014. The HAA connects over 400,000 alumni to Harvard programming and networks. As executive director, Lovejoy oversees a staff of 40 employees managing alumni events, including reunions and Harvard Club events. Lovejoy wrote in an email to the HAA that he plans to commit more time to running the Blue Hills Foundation, a non-profit his parents founded in 1986 that is dedicated to pre-

New CPD Head Pledges Transparency

Philip W. Lovejoy is the executive director of the Harvard Alumni Association. PHOTO BY WILL HALSEY COURTSEY OF HARVARD ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

serving the Blue Hills region in central New Hampshire. Lovejoy became president of the foundation following his father’s death in March 2020. In the email, he described his decision to step down as

SEE HAA PAGE 3

statements she’s made about continuing the work that the previous commissioner had started,” Crowe said. “There’s always more to be done.” Elow cited the police presence at a July 2016 Black Lives Matter prayer march as a clear case of excessive militarization. Armed CPD officers dressed in military gear observed the rally and parked the department’s Lenco BearCat armored vehicle in view of the demonstrators. “That show of force really made people feel less safe,” Elow said. “I am totally on board with what Commissioner Bard began, and I’m gonna continue on that path.” According to CPD spokesperson Jeremy C. Warnick, the department reformed its policy on the BearCat following public backlash to its use at the rally. Warnick wrote in an email that the BearCat’s deployment had previously been at the discretion of CPD’s tactical operations officer, but that direct approval from the commissioner is now required. Crowe said he believes the department would be better off

Christine A. Elow was sworn in as commissioner of the Cambridge Police Department in January. PHOTO COURTSEY OF CAMBRIDGE POLICE DEPTARTMENT

removing the BearCat from service entirely. “If we need a bulletproof vehicle, there are other kinds of bulletproof vehicles that don’t look like military vehicles,” Crowe said. “It looks bad and it creates distrust with the community.”

Elow did not say whether she would consider retiring the BearCat specifically, explaining that she believes in “preparedness” and that some incidents call for an “alternative response vehicle” like the BearCat.

SEE ELOW PAGE 3

After Yearslong Hiatus, Study Abroad Programs Resume By OMAR ABDEL HAQ and ASHLEY R. MASCI CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

While planning her fall semester abroad, Donia A. Elmansy ’23 said she felt like she was “in limbo” as she struggled to navigate the uncertainty of the pandemic. “It was all very uncertain,” she said. “The Office of International Education wasn’t really sure if it would be able to go through with it.” Elmansy’s planning eventually paid off, and she was able to spend the fall in Denmark. After nearly two years defined by travel restrictions, case surges, and canceled plans, Harvard’s study abroad programs have returned. With a sense of normalcy underway, College students reflected on recent study abroad experiences and looked to the future with optimism. Eight students studied

The Harvard International Office is located in the University’s Smith Campus Center at 1350 Massachusetts Ave. JOEY HUANG—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

City Holds Meeting on Universal Pre-K By KATERINA V. CORR and ELIAS J. SCHISGALL CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

Members of the Cambridge City Council and the Cambridge School Committee discussed the long road to implementing universal pre-school during a joint roundtable discussion Monday afternoon. Lisa Grant, the director of The Birth to 3rd Grade Partnership — a coordinating body between the city’s Department of Human Services and Cambridge Public Schools that aims to expand early childhood education — and assistant city manager Ellen M. Semonoff outlined a plan to implement universal pre-school in Cambridge by 2026. “When we look at the entire early childhood landscape in Cambridge, theoretically there are enough seats for all the fouryear-olds that live in our community,” Grant said. “It’s truly more about how we align and support what currently exists to ensure that every parent with a pre-K aged child has access to a program of their choosing that’s

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Harvard Today 2

high-quality and is affordable.” According to Grant and Semonoff, Cambridge will begin a planning phase of the project, working with early education providers to increase open spots for preschool-aged children and conduct a “landscape audit” of the city’s existing infrastructure for childcare. City officials are hoping for a more formal implementation of the plan during the 2023-2024 school year. In the years afterward, the initiative would focus on scaling and assessing success. Grant and Semonoff also explained their vision for the governance structure that would support the proposed timeline. They called for the creation of a jointly-staffed steering committee to coordinate between three task forces, which will focus on different elements of increasing access to child care and pre-K schooling. Rachel B. Weinstein, vice chair of the School Committee, said the task forces were the “likely next step” for the city.

SEE PRE-K PAGE 5

News 3

Editorial 4

abroad during the fall 2021 term, according to Camila Nardozzi, director for the OIE. Study abroad opportunities had been suspended since fall 2020 due to travel restrictions. For the duration of the 20202021 academic year, the OIE’s Study Away program was the only study abroad opportunity and was limited to international students. The program allowed international students to enroll in local universities in lieu of attending Harvard’s online classes. “This opportunity allowed for students to take courses in their local time zones, rather than having to take courses at all hours of the day and night, based on their location and the course schedule here in Cambridge,” Nardozzi wrote in an emailed statement. Throughout Elmansy’s time in Denmark, Covid-19 restrictions were lax with free rapid testing available at test centers,

but the advent of the Omicron variant posed challenges. “When Omicron hit, things did get a little more chaotic because we, students, were interacting with each other,” Elmansy said. Vladyslav “Vlad” Ivanchuk ’23 is currently studying abroad in Denmark, though restrictions have loosened once again since the initial Omicron surge. “Denmark has zero Covid restrictions,” Ivanchuk said. “Masks are not a thing anymore.” Ivanchuk said travel is “deeply integrated” into his studies, providing him with both academic and practical knowledge. “This program is a nice break from [the] very stressful and high-pressure environment that Harvard sometimes is,” Ivanchuk said. “It has so far been much more relaxing and just less time-consuming to

SEE ABROAD PAGE 5

War Hero Talks Veterans’ Challenges at IOP By YUSUF S. MIAN CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Retired U.S. Army Specialist Shoshana N. Johnson, who was America’s first Black female prisoner of war, discussed veterans’ issues at a Harvard Institute of Politics forum Thursday night. The event, titled “Public Service and Sacrifice: A Conversation with Shoshana Johnson, America’s First Black Female Prisoner of War,” was a part of the Veterans Impact Initiative, a partnership that includes the IOP. The discussion was moderated by IOP Executive Director Setti D. Warren, who is also an Iraq War veteran. Warren said the initiative “seeks to bridge the military and civilian divide” by exposing Harvard students to veterans’ stories. Johnson discussed her experience as a prisoner of war, including the events leading up to her capture in 2003. After crossing the border into Iraq on an assigned mission, her unit was taken by surprise, she said. “We went into a city, the port was secure, because we had

SEE IOP PAGE 3

Sports 6

Army Specialist Shoshana Johnson speaks with IOP Executive Director Setti Warren at the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum Thursday. BEN CAMMARATA—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

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HARVARD TODAY

For Lunch Buffalo Chicken Pizza Tomato Caprese Panini Sauteed Swiss Chard

For Dinner Salmon with Ginger Sauce Tonkatsu Mediterranean Split Pea

TODAY’S EVENTS A Student’s Perspective on Running a Startup Virtual, 12 p.m.-1 p.m.

IN THE REAL WORLD

Do you want to be the next big name like Gates or Zuckerberg? Tune into this panel to learn how to get there! Panelists will include three Harvard College students that actually set their own business into motion.

Frank Pesce Passes Away at 75

Actor Frank Pesce got his break on “Police Story” then appeared in “Blue Thunder” and “Top Gun.” He also took part in the creation of “29th Street,” which was inspired by his own life experiences. Pesce was known as “a force larger than nature” by many. His cause of death is reported to be linked to dementia.

LinkedIn for Networking, Career Building & The Job Search Virtual, 1-2:15 p.m. Calling everyone that doesn’t know how to network! Have you been confused how everyone is getting those cool summer internships? Sign up for this event and learn how to secure yourself a job opportunity through building strategies such as communicating with alumni and emphasizing your skills to employers.

How Helping Others Can Give You Health Benefits

Students enjoy Thursday’s unusually warm weather in front of Widener Library. SANTIAGO SALDIVAR —CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

AROUND THE IVIES YALE: Yale extends test-optional policy for 2022-23 admissions —THE YALE DAILY NEWS PRINCETON: Princeton Astrophysics researchers find new way to detect coronal

Government, Education and Nonprofit Career Fair hosted by Georgetown University Virtual, 10a.m.-3p.m.

mass ejections—THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

Searching for connections in public service? Check out this event, which includes organizations focused on topics ranging from health to foreign relations. Sign up through Crimson Careers today!

CORNELL: Students transition to in-person instruction after a two-week virtual period —THE CORNELL DAILY SUN

COLUMBIA: Columbia to end voluntary and supplemental COVID-19 testing program —COLUMBIA DAILY SPECTATOR

In honor of Random Acts of Kindness Day, it has been discovered that altruistic tendencies — helping others with no expectation of personal gain — can better cognitive function, manage stress, and increase your own and others’ happiness. Even seemingly minimal acts such as giving compliments or overtipping can improve both the giver and the receiver’s day.

New Bill Aims to Minimize Social Media’s Negative Effects

Recent hearings in Congress have discussed the negative outcomes of social media use on teenagers, culminating in the introduction of a bipartisan bill to curb harmful effects of social media platforms. It would include more stringent privacy settings and increased measures to safeguard minors, among other requirements.

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ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY Harvard Admissions to Start Early Acceptance Next Year

Harvard tentatively made plans to adopt the early action program that would allow applicants to the Class of 1981 to be informed of their admission in November of their senior year in high school. February 18, 1976

Singer Ella Fitzgerald Honored As Pudding Woman of Year

The Hasty Pudding Club honored jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald at its annual Women of the Year parade with a crowd of 200 spectators. February 18 1982

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PAGE 3

THE HARVARD CRIMSON |

HAA FROM PAGE 1

HAA Director to Step Down “bittersweet.” “I have taken on a family responsibility that will require far more of me than I can give to both organizations I love,” Lovejoy wrote. “The opportunity to further land conservation, advance climate and environmental research, and protect critical habitat is a mission I am devoting my life to.” Vice President for Alumni Affairs and Development Brian K. Lee praised Lovejoy’s leadership in an email to HAA affiliates. “Philip has been a dedicated, thoughtful, and effective leader for the HAA over the last 18 years, undertaking critical work to reimagine the HAA Board, to bring important content to the Harvard community despite pandemic challenges, to direct the HAA to engage a changing alumni body, and so much more,” Lee wrote. Katherine A. Kennedy ’88, vice president of universi-

ty-wide alumni affairs for HAA, praised Lovejoy’s leadership in an emailed statement. HAA President Vanessa W. Liu ’96 wrote in an email she has been “honored” to work with Lovejoy for the eight years he has been executive director. “I’m honored to have served under his leadership for all 8 years he’s been Executive Director,” Liu wrote. “Future generations of Harvard alumni will benefit from his work and we are grateful for his impact. He will be very missed,” she added. Lee wrote that the HAA will hire an outside firm to search for a replacement. The organization will also consult with an advisory committee composed of alumni volunteers and leaders, he wrote. Lovejoy will remain in his role until December 2022. cara.chang@thecrimson.com isabella.cho@thecrimson.com

FEBRUARY 18, 2022

City Councilors Discuss Budget Plan By ELIAS J. SCHISGALL CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Members of the Cambridge City Council discussed their plans for the city’s budget for the 2023 fiscal year Wednesday afternoon in a virtual meeting. In the nearly two-hourlong meeting, councilors questioned city manager Louis A. DePasquale and his staff on the budget’s alignment with their priorities, with multiple council members complaining about the lack of transparency in budget allocation. As city manager, DePasquale is responsible for preparing the city budget according to goals laid out by the council. The council then votes on whether to authorize the final budget. During the meeting, councilors told DePasquale and his staff about areas they felt deserved more attention and funding in the budget.Councilor Dennis J. Carlone, a finance committee co-chair, read a list of priorities he said have been underfunded in previous years — including affordable housing, open space, and expanded pre-school access. He called for the council

ELOW FROM PAGE 1

and the city manager to have a more productive dialogue than in past years about how the budget could be improved. “If we don’t talk about where we’re lacking, we’re always going to lack there,” Carlone said. Councilor Marc C. McGovern called for more transparency in the creation of the budget and said there should be more avenues for the Council and city staff to coordinate earlier in the process.

We never know what’s being considered or what’s not. Marc C. McGovern Cambridge City Councilor

“We file lots of policy orders, and some may come to the point of getting into the budget, and some are still waiting on an ‘awaiting reports’ list,” McGovern said. “We never know what’s being considered or what’s not.” “We have to figure out some-

thing where we’re just not getting the budget in May, and we’re as surprised as anybody else as to what’s in it and what’s not in it,” he added. “It sets up this conflict every year.” In the meeting, DePasquale defended the budget staff and department heads, saying they worked to create a budget broadly aligned with council goals. “They have gone out of their way to develop budgets to show how important we think it is to listen to the Council,” DePasquale said. He argued that it was “unfair” to ask budget staff to implement changes so late in the budgeting process. “The departments have been working on their budget for six months, and now they’re about ready to present it to the city manager,” DePasquale said. “So to think now, just because it hasn’t been presented, they can go about it and make all these changes, is unfair to them, and it’s unfair to the city.” Vice Mayor Allana M. Mallon said in the meeting that she was “surprised” by the “defensive stance” of the city manag-

er and his team when it came to working with the council on the budget. “It makes it really hard to have a conversation about priorities when we’re just telling you what our priorities are, and we’re not necessarily feeling that reflected back by the team,” Mallon said.

We’re getting ready for our new manager. Dennis J. Carlone Cambridge City Councilor

As the city searches for a replacement for DePasquale, who plans to retire this summer, Carlone said that he hopes for an expanded council role in budget proceedings with the new manager. “We’re getting ready for our new manager,” Carlone said in an interview, “and we’re going to be more proactive in establishing the budget.” elias.schisgall@thecrimson.com

IOP FROM PAGE 1

Elow Pledges to Increase Shoshana Johnson Discusses Transparency, Accountability Veterans’ Issues at IOP Forum Elow said she viewed the 2018 arrest of a Black Harvard student during Yardfest – in which a CPD officer tackled the student and punched him five times in the stomach – as a learning experience. “One of the things that I always think about is, ‘How do we do things better?’ and I think every incident that we have is an opportunity to learn,” Elow said. “We are a culture where we’re always learning and always growing.” Elow added that she wants to employ greater discretion when handling crises involving Cambridge’s student population. “I like the idea of amnesty, right? Let’s call the University,

let’s see if they have somebody who’s available to come and get this young person,” Elow said. Elow offered the use of body cameras by CPD officers as a possible reform to boost transparency within the department, emphasizing the potential benefits of assessing officer conduct objectively. The department does not currently use body cameras and would require approval from the Cambridge City Council to acquire them due to the city’s Surveillance Technology Ordinance, per Warnick. Overall, Elow said she hopes to mend CPD’s relationship with historically marginalized groups within Cambridge, adding that she understands their distrust of the police.

“I recognize the role that the police have played in historical injustice,” she said. Elow said she is optimistic about Council proposals for non-police emergency response alternatives, adding that she hopes CPD can collaborate with such groups in the future. “I understand, as an African American woman, that there are people in the community that do not have a trusting relationship with the police,” Elow said. “If we can bring other groups in that can respond to people in a way that they trust and feel comfortable, I think that’s great.” sarah.girma@thecrimson.com brandon.kingdollar@thecrimson.com

fallen so far behind the main convoy, and we were ambushed,” she said. Nine members of Johnson’s unit were killed in combat, and she was taken captive, along with others. Johnson was shot in both legs, suffering a torn Achilles tendon and a fractured bone during the ambush. She was then held in captivity for 22 days before being freed by a Marine Corps rescue mission. “I did a lot of praying,” she said of her experience in captivity. “I had six guys that were there to support me,” she added. “When we could, we gave words of support to each other.” Johnson said many veterans face difficulties upon returning

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home from combat, especially prisoners of war. “The struggle is real,” she said. “Even with a wonderful family, even getting all the mental health care that I get being a former prisoner of war and a purple heart recipient … I still have been hospitalized three times since being home.” Johnson said health care services provided to veterans are inadequate. Attendee John S. Cooke ’25 asked Johnson about the rise in mental health crises among veterans, posing a question about what policymakers should do. “I think they have a problem with opening their minds to that and opening their wallets to that,” Johnson said. After the event, Cooke said

the issue was of personal importance to him given his family members’ experiences. “As someone from a military family and someone whose mom served 20 years in the Air Force as a Black woman, I really wanted to come out to get that experience and get her experience, especially as a prisoner of war,” he said. Johnson also discussed the importance of legislators making sure active and former service members’ needs are met. “These people that sit in the legislature work for us,” she added. “I think that needs to be told to them time and time again and it needs to be told to the American people.” yusuf.mian@thecrimson.com

THE HARVARD CRIMSON |

FEBRUARY 18, 2022

PAGE 4

EDITORIAL THE CRIMSON EDITORIAL BOARD

COLUMN

Harvard Faculty Duke It Out in a School Newspaper

Good Luck Noses

Title IX policies cannot only be brought up when someone on this campus is exposed for their crimes against members of our community.

t’s not every day that you get to see so many world-class academics go back and forth in a student newspaper. Unless you mean the past couple of weeks. Given the long institutional memory of The Crimson, we were fairly confident that we had seen it all, or at least most of it. But to see so many Harvard professors, who built long and illustrious careers with dedicated research, not be able to utilize those research skills to refrain from inserting themselves into a chaotic and developing situation they knew very little about, is, well, incredulous and concerning. In watching the entire event unfold, many of us have lost role models whom we looked up to and whose achievements motivated us to become better thinkers and citizens of the world. If it weren’t for seeing everything happen in real time, we might have taken this as an extremely well-written piece of satire. But alas, we wouldn’t be so lucky. We are extremely concerned by the implications of their behavior as educators and mentors. It is safe to say that many of us decided to come to Harvard in the first place for an opportunity to be guided by the pantheon of world-class scholars here. What came with this initial decision was our assumption that these professors would care about the educational mission and care for us as students under their guidance. Perhaps we were too entitled in thinking so. We assumed that we would be safe and protected. We’re not so sure of this anymore. The initial letter supporting John

L. Comaroff read, “We are dismayed by Harvard’s sanctions against him and concerned about its effects on our ability to advise our own students.” To publicly defend a colleague who has been accused before is seemingly for our sake. The retraction letter reads, “We failed to appreciate the impact that this would have on our students, and we were lacking full information about the case.” To take back that support is also seemingly for our sake. Between these two statements, we’re not quite sure which one to trust. Actually, we don’t have much trust left at all.

We are extremely unsettled by the gut feeling that this will likely not be the last time all of this happens. As students, we have been brought into a situation we have no control over. As a student newspaper, we have been deemed a resource for survivors seeking justice, because bad press seems to be a stronger reason to act than the accumulated knowledge of sexual violence on this campus. Between feeling powerless in having our collective name tossed around as justification for the questionable actions of some professors, and beyond angry for the way the three grad students were abused, we are extremely unsettled by the gut feeling that this will likely not be the last time all of this

happens. Title IX policies cannot only be brought up when someone on this campus is exposed for their crimes against members of our community. As long as discussions only happen when real people must come forth and divulge the pain they have suffered — and be injured again by gaslighting attempts to discredit them — we will never be able to develop and maintain robust policies that can protect our community. Relying on victims to come forward and repeatedly prove the importance of Title IX protections is not only unsustainable but heinous in the way we hold victims accountable when they are not the ones committing harmful actions. The takeaway, however, is that we must continuously discuss and improve Title IX policies so that they can be useful if they are needed. We cannot give up on looking for better ways to protect our community. Members of our community deserve to thrive and lead fulfilling lives — the guarantee of safety is a bare minimum that should never be threatened. Do not give up on this pursuit, this time actually for our sake. 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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OP-ED

White Supremacy and My Broken Bones By GORDON J. EBANKS

arlier this month, what the National Weather Service deemed a bomb cyclone downed about two and half feet of snow in Massachusetts and other parts of the Northeast. At Harvard, people made snowmen, stood on a frozen Charles river, and basked in what The Crimson called a “foot of icy fun.” I broke one of the bones in my feet jumping over a particularly large puddle. Not yet realizing that one of my bones was broken, I limped along Cambridge’s streets and carried on with my night, thinking my foot had been merely sprained. I had never broken a bone before and convinced myself that the pain was just another example of teenage melodrama. When the doctor relayed the results of my x-ray the next morning, I was dumbfounded. Given my botched landing, my inability to walk on my left foot, and the considerable pain I was feeling, it shouldn’t have been all that surprising that I had, in fact, broken a bone. And yet, it was. I was blind to the fact that my body couldn’t handle everything, and that, in some tangible ways, I was delicate. I had somehow adopted the belief that my pain didn’t matter, and that however bad an injury felt in the moment, I could always “walk it off.” For the first time in my life, I had proof, in black and white film, that I had been critically misled. I know I am not alone. Black people in America learn from a young age that our pain isn’t real — that however badly we are treated, our bodies can weather it. In the media’s seemingly never-ending loop of footage featuring Black people being beaten by police officers and dramatizations of enslavers whipping the enslaved, the main takeaway is always our resiliency as a people, the teflon twin of the American Dream. The evidence of this wide-reaching lie is heartbreaking. Multiple studies have shown that American doctors believe Black patients feel less pain and under-prescribe pain medication rela-

tive to what they would recommend for a white patient suffering from the same injuries. One 2016 study revealed that 40 percent of first and second-year medical students thought that the skin of Black people was quite literally thicker than that of white people. Implicit biases like this have made it so that Black people receive systematically worse care on average compared to white Americans. These biases, which have been immortalized by the barbarism of the Tuskegee Experiment and medical abuse of Henrietta Lacks, have no doubt led to thousands of preventable deaths and are felt today in the cruel disproportionality of maternal mortality among Black women.

Black people’s health and wellbeing is not only ignored but attacked in this country because our institutions don’t feel the need to protect Black lives the same way they do white ones. The organ that’s meant to protect our bodies from exposure to the outside world and all its dangers has become a literal target on our backs. Something for us to hate and for everyone else to fear. The tragic irony of these racist lies is that Black people actually die sooner than white people, and that from heart disease to asthma, African Americans also get sick at higher rates. I truly believe that if Black people weren’t three times more likely to get Covid-19 than white people, the first year of America’s Covid-19 response would have been taken far more seriously and been on par with that of other industrialized countries. The millions of years cumulatively lost by Black Americans is time which the families of those that are dead can never get back. When this moral catastrophe is un-

Abby T. Forbes THE TRADES

ere’s what they don’t tell you about Texas: the sunlight has a smell. Something like the texture of honey, slow and impossible to get off you once you make contact. You feel it on you all day whether you mean to or not, a persistent badge of earthy indulgence. But let’s face it: you don’t exactly mind. But in that moment, from an icy ditch in an Iowa blizzard, sunshine felt a million miles away. Tram couldn’t stop shivering, but not from the sub-zero chill. It was the kind of shivering that comes from almost losing your life in the middle of nowhere from the passenger seat of a 2006 Toyota Camry. Being from Minnesota, Tram is familiar with the middle of nowhere. But pitched forward in that ditch, she realized that near-death experiences severely amplified the feeling. One moment she’d been snoozing peacefully against her Squishmallow, a fuzzy blue fellow named Dean. The next, she felt the car’s wheels spinning out on a patch of black ice, and then off it into an even blacker ditch. With the visceral crunch of metal on ice, the spinning stopped. She and her roommate, Vivien, turned to each other, shock slashed across their faces. After making sure they (and Dean) still had all their limbs, they dared to ask: Should we turn back? They had been driving for 19 hours. Shaken as they were, Tram was not the giving up type. She certainly wasn’t the type of person to pick up and move across the country in a borrowed car with nothing to show for it. Since being evicted from campus, she’d done nothing but try, try, try, build, build, build — to varying outcomes, sure, but with universal resilience. As they waited for the tow truck, she looked back across the horizon toward Minnesota, where she’d come from. And then, inhaling Iowa’s stench of manure sharpened with snow, she steeled herself like the toes of boots in Texas, their destination. As they say in Texas, it wasn’t her first rodeo. Tram had been building a life in Austin since last semester after googling “Best cities to live in when you’re young and broke.” The city did not disappoint. Guitars strumming amidst construction’s cacophony, a fresh adventurousness that drifted through the window along with the smell of food trucks. Tram perfected her chicken stir fry (the secret ingredient, she reports, is hella honey), in addition to the art of “heading out to study” with an overnight bag slung over her arm. But this semester, returning to Austin at 40 miles an hour after a tow truck had pulled them out of a ditch, she was searching for a more connected sense of adventure.

Tram’s sister in law had once told her that she possessed mui may man— a good luck nose. I realized she was right — anyone could see that Tram’s nose was good luck, even from just a passing glance, but luck had hardly anything to do with it.

derstood in the context of American history, the lines between the dots quickly connect. It’s no accident that the response to the crack epidemic in Black communities was an increase in policing and harsher sentences, while the response to the opioid epidemic is not only more medical aid to affected communities but also a righteous effort to punish those who were responsible for manufacturing the crisis, as opposed to blaming the victims. The evidence is clear and overwhelming: Black people’s health and wellbeing is not only ignored but attacked in this country because our institutions don’t feel the need to protect Black lives the same way they do white ones. Yet, in spite of all this, there are signs of progress. I was heartened by the courage of Naomi Osaka and Simone Biles last year when they put their wellbeing before competition, even despite the immense backlash they faced from people who seemingly wouldn’t care if either one were to injure themselves or face mental health consequences for going beyond their limits. My hope for the future is that the arts and academia accurately capture the pain and tenderness that Black people are capable of feeling as human beings. That American institutions move urgently to close these disparities in healthcare and quality of treatment for Black people. That non-Black people never confuse their pity and patronization for love and care. And my wish for Black people is that we take our health and wellbeing more seriously than we have been taught to, and that we understand the beauty and strength that lies in our inevitable fragility.

And Tram is the sort of person who finds what she’s looking for. Not content to smell sunlight through the window, she talked to strangers in Butler Metro Park. She wandered along new streets each day, Austin’s many streams glittering like the change she tossed into almost every open guitar case. Back at home, she’d put her aching feet up and get down to business on dating apps. That is, until she came across a handsome profile populated almost entirely by pictures taken by water. Yet to Tram, the real beauty in those scenic photos was their subject, a fellow Harvard student with defined features and the kindest smile. He glowed in the sun. On their first date in Zilker Park, they bought a Shamrock Shake to celebrate St. Patrick’s day — and learned of their shared lactose allergy in a Texas-style standoff of who would sample the first sip. Together they took their glow on the road in long drives to San Antonio and other destinations in the Southwest, Carlos the Camry their steadfast steed. Sun-faded paper maps and skydiving, aged ruins and fresh flowers, laughter over Home Culture dinners across the table from newfound University of Texas friends: This was the life that Tram had built. Tram’s sister in law had once told her that she possessed mui may man— a good luck nose. I realized she was right — anyone could see that Tram’s nose was good luck, even from just a passing glance. But I also knew that luck had hardly anything to do with it. Tram’s opportunities to smell sunlight — she built those herself. Tram knows how to make your life your own by always being down for adventure. Sure, sometimes you end up in an icy ditch, or sneaking out of your own apartment like you’re grounded in high school. But if you keep on going, you’ll end up gliding across the desert in the red glow of a Texas sunset, fresh blooms keeping your Squishmallow company in the backseat. Because the smell of sunlight doesn’t come to you, no matter how lucky your nose is. If there’s anything Tram has learned, the true good luck nose is the one that sniffs out adventure amidst adversity.

—Gordon J. Ebanks ’24, a Crimson Editorial Comp Director, is a Social Studies concentrator in Kirkland House.

The author extends her deepest gratitude to Ngoc Trâm Nguyen ’22 of Leverett House. Thank you for contributing your story.

This piece is a part of a focus on Black authors and experiences for Black History Month.

— Abby T. Forbes ’22 is a Philosophy concentrator in Adams House. Her column “The Trades” appears on alternate Fridays.

PAGE 5

THE HARVARD CRIMSON |

FEBRUARY 18, 2022

HGSE Panel Talks Study Abroad Programs Resume Climate Change ABROAD FROM PAGE 1

complete coursework.” “That gave me a lot of opportunities to explore the city, meet people from all over the country — both Americans and local students in Denmark — and just expand my horizons,” he added. B. Ashton Alexander ’23 said the pandemic “opened the door” for the opportunity to study abroad in Florence, Italy. “When the pandemic hit, and when I ultimately decided to take a gap year, [studying abroad] was part of the motivation,” Alexander said. “Now I [had] a whole ’nother year — two more semesters where that can again become a possibility,” he added. “I’d be lying if I said that I wish I was on campus right

now,” Alexander added. “Being able to study abroad, and just sort of the opportunities that I’m being exposed to here — wouldn’t trade it for anything.” Elmansy, who is back on campus for the spring semester, said her experience studying abroad was “overwhelmingly positive.” “I learned so much and was able to see so much in the world in such a short amount of time,” she said. “[At] no other point in your life will you be able to be given four months to go and see people from all around the world and live in a new environment.” This semester, roughly half the normal number of students are studying abroad, according

to Nardozzi. The OIE expects study abroad opportunities to return to pre-pandemic levels this summer and fall.

[The pandemic] made me certain that I wanted to try to take advantage of every opportunity to travel safely. Selam Ambaw ’25 College Student

Selam Ambaw ’25, who

plans to either study abroad in Spain or Argentina this summer, said the pandemic helped her realize her priorities. Ambaw hopes to immerse herself in the Spanish language while abroad. “[The pandemic] made me certain that I wanted to try to take advantage of every opportunity to travel safely,” Ambaw said. “Learning about culture and language, being able to experience and more organically learn different things than you’d be able to on Harvard’s campus is something that’s really cool,” she added. omar.abdelhaq@thecrimson.com ashley.masci@thecrimson.com

STUDY FROM PAGE 1

City Holds Meeting on Universal Pre-K “We would meet more routinely to make sure that progress is happening as quickly as possible,” Weinstein said, “so that we’re not just going annually, or even biannually, to roundtables, but really more deeply involved.” Following the presentation, Councilors raised concerns about the plan’s timeline and the accessibility of the future pre-K program. “People need childcare from, you know, eight o’clock to six o’clock, and if they can’t afford it, we should be subsidizing it,” said Councilor Quinton Y. Zondervan. Councilor Patricia M. “Patty” Nolan ’80 added that evaluating universal pre-K requires consideration of its affordability.

“If it’s not affordable, if you’re stretching, if you feel like you have to move out of Cambridge in order to afford childcare because you’re a middle-class family, that’s not the same,” said Nolan.

School Committee member Ayesha M. Wilson — whose campaign platform called for the implementation of universal pre-K for the 2023-24 school year — said universal pre-K may

help close the achievement gap between students of diverse backgrounds. “To delay this any further is basically denying all families that ability to have that equity and access,” Wilson said in an interview. Councilor Marc C. McGovern said that the lack of urgency in implementing universal pre-school in Cambridge “infuriates” him. He noted that the issue had been up for discussion since before he was elected to the School Committee in 2004. “This is not a conversation that is new,” he said in an interview. “And yet, at the meeting, we see a proposal that has a timeline pushing universal pre-K out until 2026. Unacceptable, and not okay with me.”

McGovern said that the existing pre-school programs run by Cambridge’s Department of Human Services provide a proven model for a quality universal program and argued that further task forces and committee hearings on universal pre-K would only delay its actual implementation. “What we got presented with is, ‘we’re going to talk about a governance structure, and then we’re going to have this task force, and we’re going to have this task force, and this other task force,’” McGovern said. “How many kids are we going to lose in that time?” he added.

This is not a conversation that is new. Marc C. McGovern Cambridge City Councilor

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By PAYTON D. ROBERTS CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

More than 200 people attended a forum hosted by the Harvard Graduate School of Education addressing how K-12 schools can fight climate change Thursday. Introduced by HGSE Dean Bridget T. Long, the panel featured former U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King Jr., CEO of Chicago Public Schools Pedro Martinez, and National Education Association President Rebecca S. “Becky” Pringle. Jennifer P. Cheatham, an HGSE lecturer, moderated the discussion. Long kicked off the forum by explaining the environmental impact of the K-12 public education system in the United States. “The American education system serves over seven billion meals annually with related food waste. Schools operate one of the largest mass transportation fleets in the country, with over 480,000 diesel school buses, and schools are one of the largest public energy consumers,” she said. In 2021, King co-chaired a commission within the Aspen Institute evaluating climate action initiatives within the education sector. The commission released its K12 Climate Action Plan in September, which provides local, state, and federal policymakers with a set of recommendations for bringing sustainability and environmental justice into classrooms. Cheatham noted schools face a slate of environmental issues driven by “air quality, safe drinking water, diesel fuel buses, underinvestment in our school buildings, food waste” and other factors.

“Yet, the opportunities are tremendous,” she said. “The vision that the report lays out, where nearly 100,000 public schools could be leaders in this area, is so compelling.” According to King, schools can mobilize by improving their facilities and addressing climate change across academic subjects. Schools can also provide essential resources, such as power, food, or shelter, following natural disasters, King noted. “Sadly, we’re going to have more of those climate change crises, and schools are going to have a critical role to play in terms of community resilience,” he said. Martinez pointed to the renovation of school facilities as a chance for a shift to sustainable architecture. “I see an opportunity for us as we renovate our buildings, as we modernize our buildings, to also address climate change,” he said. Acknowledging the difficulty of solving environmental crises, Pringle said that sustainable practices can be integrated into schools almost immediately. “We don’t have to wait,” she said. “We have a lot to do, and like I said, it’s complex, comprehensive problems and will take comprehensive long-term solutions, but there are things we can do right now.” She called for urgent climate action to guarantee all people an adequate standard of living, free from the threat of environmental crises. “Rolling in my head is the poetry of the Constitution. We the people, we the people, we the people,” she said. paton.roberts@thecrimson.com

From Boston to Boylston.

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SPORTS

WEEKEND EVENT

SCHEDULE

FRIDAY ______________________________________

SATURDAY ______________________________________

SUNDAY ______________________________________

Men’s Hockey vs. Princeton 7pm, at Bright Landry Hockey Center

Women’s Hockey at Union 3pm, Frank L. Messa Rink

Women’s Tennis at Northwestern 12pm

Women’s Hockey at RPI 6pm, at Houston Field House

Men’s Basketball vs. Cornell 7pm, Lavietes Pavilion

Women’s Lacrosse vs Univ. of Colo. 12:30pm, Jordan Field

WOMEN’S LACROSSE

Harvard to Return to the Pitch After 715 Day Absence By BENJAMIN MORRIS CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

As the cold weather slowly ( but surely) starts to subside, the melting snow and ice not only mark the early signs of spring, but also the long-awaited return of the women’s lacrosse team to Jordan Field. The Crimson, currently unranked, will take the field against the University of Colorado Buffaloes this Sunday, Feb. 20, and when it does, it will compete in its first official match in 715 days. Before the onset of Covid-19, Harvard began the 2020 season with a 3-3 record and was on a winning streak just before Ivy League play was set to kick off. In the nearly two years that have passed since the early shutdown of the 2020 season and subsequent cancellation of the 2021 season, the Crimson has undergone some significant changes, especially in personnel. Most notably, of the 33 active players on the team, only 14 were members the last time Harvard played an official game in spring 2020. The 14 players are composed of five seniors and nine juniors, only three of whom– junior midfielder Shea Jenkins, junior midfielder Grace Hulslander, and senior defender Olivia Gill – started in all six of the games in 2020. In addition to the returning trio, senior attacker Charlotte Clark, who was tied for most points on the team through six games in 2020, with 16 (eight goals and eight assists), also looks to lead the way on offense for Harvard this year. Hulslander and Gill will serve as the team captains for the 2022 season. While those returning will certainly have to lean on their previous experience, there are plenty of new faces who also look to make their mark and help contribute to the team’s success. Although Feb. 20 marks a return for the Crimson, the Buffaloes will have played more recently. Colorado was ranked No. 18 in the country the last time it hosted Harvard, two years ago, when the Crimson suffered a close

LAX TO THE MAX The Crimson celebrate a goal during a match versus the Columbia Lions on April 6, 2019. QUINN G. PERINI—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

9-7 defeat. However, unlike Harvard, the Buffaloes came back for a season in the spring of 2021 and finished the year 8-7, including a memorable win over local foe, No. 14 Denver. Even this season, the Pac12 opponent has more experience than the Crimson. In its season opener, the Buffaloes came away from their match-

up against Louisville with a thrilling 14-13 overtime win. Yet, with fresh legs and an itch to get back on the field after a long time away, Harvard will be playing with plenty of motivation on Sunday. Following its game against Colorado, the Crimson will continue a threegame homestand, its longest until the final three games of

the regular season, with contests against the Holy Cross Crusaders (Feb. 22) and the Georgetown Hoyas (Feb. 26). While this stretch of three games in seven days will be a tough test of conditioning and tactics to start the year for Harvard, and a good measuring stick of where the squad stands after two years away, the team will be re-

FACEOFF Harvard and Columbia fight for possession during a match on April 6, 2019 at Jordan Field. QUINN G. PERINI —CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

warded with a full week of rest right after. On March 5, the Crimson will hit the road for the first time and travel to Philadelphia to take on the Penn Quakers, its first Ivy League opponent of the year. Harvard has not taken on the Quakers–currently ranked No. 30 in the country–since 2019, but a win in the City of

Brotherly Love could set the tone for the season and send a message to the rest of the Ivy League that the Crimson are ready to make noise. The season only heats up from there, as on March 11, Harvard returns home to take on the MAAC’s No. 20 Siena Saints. Three days later, the Crimson travels to Jacksonville, Fl., to take on another MAAC opponent, the Monmouth. Finally, in its last game before Ivy League play picks up, Harvard will cap off its trip to Florida when the team takes on its (currently) highest-ranked non-Ivy opponent, the No. 16 Jacksonville Dolphins. The squad will make its return to Jordan Field on March 26 to face the Cornell Big Red, its first home Ivy opponent. Coincidentally, Cornell is also the last Ivy League foe that the Crimson took on in 2020 before the season shut down. Given that intense 9-8 loss to the Big Red, Harvard is likely to come out seeking revenge after such a long layoff from the fierce rivalry. Following games at home against the Dartmouth Big Green and at the Yale Bulldogs, Harvard faces a local opponent and powerhouse in the ACC’s No. 2 Boston College, which has historically been a lacrosse juggernaut. Finally, to wrap up the regular season, Harvard will host Princeton, the threetime defending Ivy League Tournament champions, Boston University (April 26), and, finally, Brown on April 30. This year, although a location has not yet been selected, the Ivy League Tournament will take place on May 6 and 8, and, should the Crimson perform well enough, it will have the opportunity to travel to Baltimore, MD., to compete in the NCAA Division I Women’s Lacrosse Tournament on May 27 and 29. benjamin.morris@thecrimson.com