The Harvard Crimson - Volume CXLIX, No. 8

The Harvard Crimson THE UNIVERSITY DAILY, EST. 1873

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VOLUME CXLIX, NO. 8 | CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS

| WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2022

OP ED PAGE 8

SPORTS PAGE 10

NEWS PAGE 7

I take no issue with the Harvard legacy that will come from my womb

Women’s Ice Hockey advances to the Beanpot final

Students across campus celebrate Lunar New Year

Palestine Advocacy Group Protests Fellow Faculty Discuss Covid Policy

By MILES J. HERSZENHORN CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Members of the student group Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine held a protest Tuesday condemning Amos Yadlin, a retired Israeli Defense Forces general who is serving as a senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center this semester.

Six supporters of the student group rallied outside an HKS classroom where Yadlin led the first meeting of his semester-long study group about Israeli national security.

Christian B. Tabash ’22, a Palestinian student, called Yadlin a “war criminal” and denounced Harvard’s appointment of a top official in the Israeli military, which Tabash said is “responsible for decades of ethnic cleansing and dispossession of Palestinians.”

Shraddha Joshi ’24, a member of Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine, said Yadlin’s study group “speaks to the University’s lack of regard for Palestinian narratives.”

Protestors pressed signs criticizing Yaldin against the windows of the study group’s class­

room and handed out flyers to students leaving the event.

In an interview after the end of the study group, Yadlin said he stood by his career in the Israeli military.

“I’m very proud [of] my service to my country to defend Israel from those who want to destroy it,” he said. “All I have done in my service was according to the international law.”

Yadlin served in the IDF for 40 years, including 33 years as a fighter pilot, eventually rising to become deputy commander of the Israeli Air Force. He was promoted to major general in 2002 and later worked as defense attaché to the United States.

“I came to the Kennedy School to share my experience with the students,” Yadlin said.

“And I’m very happy to do it and willing to discuss every issue with everybody in my office.”

Joshi said she attended the rally to protest the students attending the study group, in addition to Yadlin himself.

“We want to give a message to the students that they should be really mindful of the kind of

SEE FELLOW PAGE 9

By ARIEL H. KIM and MEIMEI XU CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

services, Covid-19 policies, and shopping week.

As of Feb. 1, the app had amassed more than 400 users, according to Cheng — about 7 percent of the College’s population. De Kanter said he hoped to increase participation in the app’s polls.

Some members of the UC said they supported the platform, but criticized how Cheng rolled it out.

“I think it’s a fantastic idea,” Oak Yard Representative Laila A. Nasher ’25 said. “I don’t agree with a lot of what the administration is doing, but I think this is great.”

Crimson Yard representative Owen O. Ebose ’25 said he is “all for what the O penGov app does,” adding that the Council “desperately needs more student input.” Still, he said Cheng should have involved more members of the body in the

Harvard University Health Services Director Giang T. Nguyen praised the University’s spring semester Covid-19 policies — which now require students to isolate in their dorms and conduct their own contact tracing — at a faculty meeting Tuesday.

Before the change in protocol last month, the University conducted contact tracing and provided isolation housing for students who tested positive for Covid-19. In response, some students said they are apprehensive about the shift in policy amid a surge in cases driven by the Omicron variant.

The Harvard Graduate Students Union-United Automobile Workers also filed a grievance with the University last month over the updated Covid-19 guidelines, listing the need to restart isolation housing for undergraduates.

Nguyen said during Tuesday’s faculty meeting that despite initial “trepidation” about the new policies, the isolate-inplace policy seems to be “working very well,” adding that not “forcing students” into separate housing contributes to better mental health among students.

“When you have a highly vaccinated community as we do, the risk of severe illness is that much less,” Nguyen said.

“We can really start implementing these types of changes in a way that maintains safety because we know we have a vaccinated community.”

According to Nguyen, the majority of those on campus will be exposed to Omicron, but masking will prevent most from contracting the virus.

Nguyen noted that Harvard’s positivity rate has decreased since last month’s surge but has not returned to the previous semester’s lower rates. During the first week of January, Harvard reported a record-breaking 977 positive cases.

Last week, 267 Harvard

SEE OPENGOV PAGE 9

SEE FACULTY PAGE 7

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Students protest Amos Yadlin, a retired Israeli Defense Force general who is serving as a senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center this semester. MILES J. HERSZENHORN—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

UC Leaders Launch New Interactive App

By MERT GEYIKTEPE and J. SELLERS HILL CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

The controversial leaders of Harvard’s Undergraduate Council rolled out a new application last month, Crimson OpenGov, that crowdsources student opinion on school-related issues.

Undergraduate Council President Michael Y. Cheng ’22 and Vice President Emmett E. de Kanter ’24 rolled out the app, which is available on the web and from the Apple App Store, on Jan. 26.

The app lists pre-written questions about issues at Harvard, allowing students to write short responses. Users can then vote “agree,” “disagree,” or “neutral” on other students’ written responses.

The app aims to enhance conversation on a wide range of topics concerning student life — including Harvard’s dining ­

The Undergraduate Council launched a new online platform last week for students to express their opinions about on-campus issues. JULIAN J. GIORDANO—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

City Council Talks HGSE Prof., Sociologist Dies at 94 Golf Course Policy

By PATON D. ROBERTS CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

By ELIAS J. SCHISGALL CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

The Cambridge City Council unanimously passed an amended policy order Monday to study alternative uses for the Fresh Pond Golf Course, in response to concerns from Cambridge residents regarding the original proposed policy.

The vote followed a public comment period of nearly two hours, in which more than 30 Cambridge residents voiced their opinions on the proposed policy order. Most of those who spoke said they opposed any reduction of the size of the course — which is also known as the Thomas P. O’Neill Jr. Golf Course in honor of the former Speaker of the House of Representatives.

The original policy order — proposed by Councilors Patricia “Patty” M. Nolan ’80, Dennis J. Carlone, Quinton Y. Zondervan, and Burhan Azeem — calls for a study of the course to consider whether golf is the “best use” of the area and “if other uses are INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Harvard Today 2

possible and should be considered.”

Some public attendees said they were worried that the course would eventually be converted from a nine-hole to a sixhole course, which they claimed would hinder its use. They added that a six-hole course would not meet regulations for holding tournaments.

“A six-hole, par-three course isn’t a golf course,” Lyn Ketterer, who coordinates a ladies’ league at the golf course, said.

“It is a glorified, condensed chip-and-putt.”

Ann C. Roosevelt ’66, the president of the Cambridge Water Board, said that her board has authority over any changes to the course’s use and added that modifications to the course would threaten the Cambridge water supply.

“The golf course acts as a buffer to protect the Cambridge water supply,” she said. “Adding any structures or repurposing for intense uses would reduce

SEE COUNCIL PAGE 7

News 7

Editorial 8

Charles V. Willie, an American sociologist and Harvard Graduate School of Education professor famed for his work on school integration, race relations, and public health, died at the age of 94 on Jan. 11.

Known for his humility, passion for sociology, and mentorship, Willie was honored with numerous awards and honorary doctoral degrees throughout his life, including degrees from 15 colleges and universities and awards from Syracuse University, Morehouse College, the American Sociological Association, and the Eastern Sociological Society. He also served on President Carter’s Commision on Mental Health in 1977.

Willie attended Morehouse College, graduating as class president in 1948 alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. After receiving a master’s degree from Atlanta University in 1949, Willie began his work at Syracuse University, where he earned his doctoral degree.

He taught at Syracuse for ­

Sports 10

24 years and was named as the school’s first Black tenured faculty member, later rising to be the vice president for student affairs.

Willie came to teach at Harvard in 1974. Former HGSE Dean Jerome T. Murphy said Willie stood out as “kind of a role model for what a good professor at a professional school is.”

“He was a wonderful teacher, both substantively and in terms of helping students, and he was a mentor to a lot of people,” Murphy said. “They looked up to him because he combined scholarship with practice and a heart — a big heart.”

Soon after moving to Boston, Willie worked on landmark school integration cases, reviewing and advising the city on its school desegregation plan.

University of Texas at Austin professor Richard J. Reddick, a former student and colleague of Willie’s, described how Willie’s commitment to equity and justice extended to his role as vice president within the Episcopal Church. Willie publicly

TODAY’S FORECAST

SEE WILLIE PAGE 7

Charles V. Willie, a Harvard Graduate School of Education professor, died at the age of 94 on Jan. 11. COURTESY OF DEE FUNERAL HOME

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THE HARVARD CRIMSON |

FEBRUARY 2, 2022

PAGE 2

HARVARD TODAY

For Lunch BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwich Chicken Fingers Pasta with Beyond Sausage

For Dinner Bulgogi Chicken Just-Caught Atlantic Vegetable Lo Mein with Tofu

TODAY’S EVENTS Chinese Food History with Dr. Violetta Ravagnoli Virtual, 4:30-5:30 p.m.

IN THE REAL WORLD

Do you love food? What better way to kick off the Lunar New Year than a lesson on Chinese Food History with Dr. Violetta Ravagnoli, history professor at Emmanuel College!

U.S. National Debt Exceeds $30 Trillion for First Time in History

For the first time in history, America’s gross national debt has exceeded $30 trillion. This milestone, which was reached years ahead of initial projections, is in part due to a significant increase in federal spending during the pandemic.

Loretta Ross Schmertzler Leadership Seminar Virtual, 3:30-5 p.m.

Beijing 2022 Olympics Labeled a ‘Closed Loop’

The Harvard College Women’s Center is hosting an exciting virtual leadership seminar with Loretta Ross.

Ross is a renowned Black Feminist, activist, and reproductive justice scholar who is currently a professor at Smith College in the women and gender studies department.

How to: Studying for Math & Science Tests Virtual, 3-3:30 p.m.

The Academic Resource Center is hosting a virtual workshop on studying for math and science tests.

A pedestrian crosses Massachusetts Avenue Tuesday. PEI CHAO ZHUO—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

With the start of the Winter Olympics coming up in just a couple of days, it is clear they will look a little different compared to past years. The Beijing Olympic Village will operate as a “closed loop,” in which athletes and organizers adhere to strict Covid-19 protocols and no external spectators are allowed to enter.

World Record Lightning Bolt Strikes Three States

DAILY BRIEFING Members of the student group Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine held a protest Tuesday condemning Amos Yadlin, a retired Israeli Defense Forces general who is serving as a senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center this semester. Six supporters of the group rallied outside an HKS classroom where Yadlin led the first meeting of his semester-long study group about Israeli national security. In other news, Harvard University Health Services Director Giang T. Nguyen praised the University’s spring semester Covid-19 policies — which now require students to isolate in their dorms and conduct their own contact tracing — at a faculty meeting Tuesday.

The World Meteorological Organization confirmed on Tuesday that a 477-mile-long lightning bolt was recorded spanning over the three states of Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi back in April 2020. The flash set the new world record, surpassing the previous 440-mile flash over Brazil in 2018.

COVID UPDATES

LAST 7 DAYS CURRENTLY

CAMPUS

155

In Isolation

267 0.74% Total New Cases

Positivity Rate

LAST 7 DAYS

CAMBRIDGE

521 6.02% 75%

Total New Cases

Positivity Rate

Fully Vaccinated

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY Harvard Students Rescued

Two members of the Harvard Outing Club were air-lifted from Pinkum Notch, N.H., after their hiking trip was derailed by snow and a severe windstorm. Before being rescued by a 60-person search team, students Steven Brown ’90 and Kristen Fowler ’93 dug a shallow cave to avoid the weather.

February 2, 1991

H-Bomb Seen Still Far Away By Professors

The construction of a hydrogen bomb may be impossible, according to two University scientists. Physics professor Otto Oldenberg and Geology professor Kirtley F. Mather expressed doubts that American scientists would ever be able to build the H-bomb.

February 2, 1950

THE UNIVERSITY DAILY, EST. 1873

The Harvard Crimson Raquel Coronell Uribe ’22-’23 Associate Managing Editors President Kelsey J. Griffin ’23 Taylor C. Peterman ’23-’24 Jasper G. Goodman ’23 Managing Editor Associate Business Managers Amy X. Zhou ’23 Taia M.Y. Cheng ’23-’24 Business Manager Isabelle L. Guillaume ’24

STAFF FOR THIS ISSUE Arts Chairs Sofia Andrade ’23-’24 Jaden S. Thompson ’23

Design Chairs Yuen Ting Chow ’23 Madison A. Shirazi ’23-’24

Magazine Chairs Maliya V. Ellis ’23-’24 Sophia S. Liang ’23

Multimedia Chairs Aiyana G. White ’23 Pei Chao Zhuo ’23

Blog Chairs Ellen S. Deng ’23-’24 Janani Sekar ’23-’24

Technology Chairs Ziyong Cui ’24 Justin Y. Ye ’24

Editorial Chairs Guillermo S. Hava ’23-24 Orlee G.S. Marini-Rapoport ’23-24 Sports Chairs Alexandra N. Wilson ’23-’24 Griffin H. Wong ’24

Copyright 2022, 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 Weather icons made by Freepik, Yannick, Situ Herrera, OCHA, SimpleIcon, Catalin Fertu from flaticon.com is licensed by CC BY 3.0.

Night Editor Noah J. Caza ’22-23 Assistant Night Editors Justin Lee ’24 Katerina V. Corr ’25 Story Editors Jasper G. Goodman ’23 Kelsey J. Griffin ’23 Natalie L. Kahn ’23 Hannah J. Martinez ’23 Andy Z. Wang ’23-’24

Design Editors Toby R. Ma ’24 Madison A. Shirazi ’23 Photo Editor Addison Y. Liu ’25 Editorial Editor Libby E. Tseng ’24 Sports Editor Nicholas Daley ’23

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.

THE HARVARD CRIMSON |

FEBRUARY 2, 2022

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ARTS FILM

ELIZABETH BANKS SHINES IN THE LIVELY YET FLAWED ‘CALL JANE’

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FILM

A fictionalized account of the real Chicago-area underground abortion network called the Jane Collective, the film makes for an entertaining, impassioned piece of filmmaking.

Elizabeth Banks Shines In the Lively Yet Flawed ‘Call Jane’ Dir. Phyllis Nagy

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‘MASTER’ IS A MOVING, IF FRAGMENTED, CRITIQUE OF INSTITUTIONALIZED RACISM

FILM

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Mariama Diallo’s premiere takes place at the fictional Ancaster University, a college so elite that FDR was rejected and had to attend his safety school — Harvard.

‘NANNY’ EXPOSES THE DARK SIDE OF THE AMERICAN DREAM

FILM

5

With powerful performances at the forefront of this colorful, dreamlike psychological thriller, Jusu offers a stirring elucidation of the dark realities of the American dream.

‘WHEN YOU FINISH SAVING THE WORLD’ IS A TENDER, POWERFUL EXPLORATION OF FAMILY DYNAMICS

FILM

Jesse Eisenberg’s directorial debut maintains a striking sense of intimacy as we follow its protagonists through suburban Indiana.

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“892” IS BRILLIANT AND UNFLINCHING

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‘ALICE’ LACKS DEPTH BUT SHOWCASES KEKE PALMER’S RANGE

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‘EVERY DAY IN KAIMUKĪ’: A MEDITATIVE LOVE LETTER TO A NEIGHBORHOOD AND ITS COMMUNITY

FILM

FILM

FILM

Director Abi Damaris Corbin brings the true story of an almost Shakesperean tragedy to life onscreen with quietly effective acting and tremendous camera work.

“Alice” poses the question: What if a woman is not stripped of her freedom but gains it instead?

AMELIA ROTH-DISHY STAFF WRITER

An abortion drama with a sense of humor: This is the elevator pitch for “Call Jane.” Set in the tremulous historical moment of 1968, the film is a talky, fictionalized account of the real Chicago-area underground abortion network called the Jane Collective.

The tonal balancing act is tricky — but despite major shortcomings, it mostly makes for an entertaining, impassioned piece of filmmaking.

“Call Jane” enters its thematic milieu by way of Joy (Elizabeth Banks), a pregnant, cheerful, albeit listless suburban housewife. Her well-appointed life is rounded out by a doting but oblivious husband (Chris Messina), a criminal litigator whose briefs she helps write, and an (implausibly) affectionate teenage daughter (Grace Edwards).

When Joy develops life-threatening cardiomyopathy in her first trimester, the all-male hospital board votes unanimously not to approve her petition for a “therapeutic termination.” The weighty subject matter hits heaviest during this first act of the film, as the white, wealthy Joy struggles to obtain an abortion and considers every dangerous option.

Ultimately, she finds a simple flyer reading “Call Jane,” and makes the titular call to the women that will save her life.

Director Phyllis Nagy — best known as a playwright for her work on the Oscar-nominated screenplay of the iconic 2015 lesbian drama “Carol” — deftly conveys the anxiety and disorientation of Joy’s journey with her sharp sense for pacing. After moving briskly through the setup, Nagy renders Joy’s abortion, somewhat radically, in painstaking, uncomfortable detail, as the doctor explains each step to his patient with a series of glinting surgical tools in his hands. Throughout the film, Banks plays Joy with just enough gravity to cut through the lighthearted tone of the film and convey the life-or-death stakes on her face. With its outstanding delivery, this scene alone catapults Banks into the 2022 awards conversation.

After the procedure, Joy becomes embedded, reluctantly at first, in the group of women operating the service, led by lifelong activist Virginia (a chain-smoking, chair-straddling Sigourney Weaver). Banks gets steelier over the course of the movie, tracking a convincing transformation from the shaking patient on the doctor’s table to the whiskey-drinking hardballer demanding that the doctor teach her the very same procedure he had performed on her in the earlier scene.

The performances, buoyant script, and upbeat catharsis make “Call Jane” worth a watch. But its political reflection is distinctly that of the white feminism associated with the second-wave women’s liberation movement. A hard-hitting critique of racial reproductive justice it is not.

The character of Joy is based loosely on real-life figures who were involved with the Jane Collective.

The unassuming film pulses with a quiet, ruminative love for “Honolulu, to Kaimukī, and to the AAPI community” and the stories they carry.

Though a case can be made for pointing out that even privileged women like Joy — who observed the political uprisings of 1968 from behind picket fences — suffered from restricted access to abortion and rallied to the cause, the choice of focal point raises the question of its own necessity, and results in an obviously simplified representation of underground abortion access in a pre- (and increasingly likely post-) Roe v. Wade world.

The movie never overcomes this structural myopia. In one scene, Gwen (Wunmi Mosaku, pitch-perfect throughout despite not having much to do), the sole Black woman in the network leadership, calls the group to task for class-based racial disparities in the women they serve and critiques Virginia for screwing up partnerships with the Black Panthers and the Black Feminists alliance. Despite Mosaku’s strong delivery, it is impossible not to feel like the movie is checking a box. Gwen’s concerns unfold as a B-plot relative to Joy’s, and they are not directly addressed again.

Instead, the film treats its inherent intersectional complexities in passing and hews closely to Joy as she finds new purpose in her days, setting off on a somewhat predictable upper-class women’s-lib arc of self-discovery. Many of the humorous setpieces come from this plot, as Joy gets high for the first time and devours an enormous sandwich or tries to explore her own vagina and gets interrupted in the bathroom by her daughter.

The production itself is impeccably well-executed in both its period and character-based specificity, channeling a late ‘60s moment when the housewives wore sneakers and talked about the Yippies while sipping their afternoon cocktails. The costuming, helmed by Julie Weiss and rich with period detail, shines. Banks’ creamy turtlenecks, tailored pants, and coiffed blonde hair gradually loosen over the course of the movie as she takes on more responsibility with the collective. The music, both diegetic and scored, is also pure time-capsule fun, if not a bit overly reliant on cheeky needle drops. To wit: “What’s Goin’ on Down There” by activist folk singer Malvina Reynolds plays just as Joy peeks down at her strategically placed hand mirror.

Beyond its unconvincing politics, “Call Jane” also vexes the viewer on some less consequential points.

Joy’s teenage daughter, who has ostensibly just gotten her first period, looks at least 25 to an extent that proves distracting. The usually flinty Kate Mara is misused in the film as a recently widowed fellow housewife whose motives and purpose in the plot are unclear. At moments, the film feints to portray her as an antagonist, but then shies away: The tone emerges as simply too rosy to account for legible malice.

Indeed, the main villain in “Call Jane” is the patriarchy, and white women the heroes. It’s an important story, told entertainingly. Still, in our foreboding current moment with state crackdowns on legal abortion and Roe v. Wade in jeopardy, it seems dubious whether the film merits a laudatory citation as part of Sundance’s politically relevant slate.

Amelia Roth-Dishy can be reached at amelia.rothdishy@thecrimson.com and on Twitter at @scallionshmear.

Courtesy of Sundance Institute

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02 February 2022 | Vol CXLIX, ISSUE I Arts Chairs Sofia Andrade ’23-’24 Jaden S. Thompson ’23

Editors-at-Large Clara V. Nguyen ’23-’24 Sara Komatsu ’23 Chibuike K. Uwakwe ’23

Editor Associates Hannah T. Chew ’23 Isabella B. Cho ’24 Daniel S. de Castro ’24 Nina M. Foster ’23 Anya L. Henry ’24 Ryan S. Kim ’23

Zachary J. Lech ’24 Charles W. McCormick ’24 Jamila R. O’Hara ’23 Harper R. Oreck ’23 Alisa S. Regassa ’24

Executive Designer Nayeli Cardozo ’25

Design Associates Ashley E. Bryant ’23

THE HARVARD CRIMSON |

FEBRUARY 2, 2022

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FILM From Sundance: ‘Master’ is a Moving, if Fragmented, Critique of Institutionalized Racism Dir. Mariama Diallo JADEN S. THOMPSON CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

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ariama Diallo’s directorial debut “Master” takes place at the fictional Ancaster University, a New England college so elite that FDR was rejected and had to attend his safety school — Harvard.

Ancaster’s campus also just so happens to be haunted by Salem-era witches, the inspiration for eerie legends passed down from class to class. Diallo’s psychological horror combines the sensibilities of “Dear White People” and “Get Out,” following three Black women in their journeys at the exclusive university: Gail (Regina Hall), a newly promoted “house master” of a dorm; Jasmine (Zoe Renee), a wide-eyed freshman; and Liv (Amber Gray), a professor. In presenting their stories, the film provides a haunting critique of historically racist institutions like Ancaster and their resistance to change. While the script of “Master” leaves one too many threads untied to match the cultural resonance of thematically similar films like “Get Out,” it is nevertheless an eerily moving story that reveals the psychological toll of racism, and meditates on what it means to be Black and truly belong in America.

While Jasmine navigates her freshman year, Gail begins her new position as the first Black house master at Ancaster (a real honorific that has only recently been retired from Harvard), and Liv undergoes consideration for tenure. At a school with very few people of color, the myriad microaggressions they face are portrayed with poignant authenticity. Subtly racist interactions are woven into the characters’ everyday experiences so that they become normal, expected, but nevertheless painful. Jasmine’s bag is searched at the library, and on another occasion, a note is left for her in the bathroom calling her hair “disgusting.” Gail is jokingly called “Barack” by her white colleagues as they congratulate her on her new job. As demonstrated through these day-today interactions, the film is consistently attuned to the lived realities of Black women in predominantly white spaces. In telling the story through the eyes of both students and faculty members, Diallo truthfully conveys how Black women face discrimination no matter their age or status.

From the very beginning of the film, Jasmine and Gail begin to experience unnerving phenomena on campus.

Jasmine has been assigned to a dorm room that’s said to be haunted by a witch, and Gail notices strange occurrences and historic relics in the attic of the home she lives in as house master. Especially in the beginning of the film, Diallo does an excellent job setting a sinister tone, contrasting the hope of new beginnings with the threat of the school’s frightening past and present horrors. She makes careful use of shadows, casting the mundane in the macabre; soft red lighting is used to create an eerie, off-putting aesthetic in the dorm. Normal college experiences become uncomfortable for Jasmine as she repeatedly finds herself to be one of the only Black girls in the room. A party scene at a frat exemplifies how Diallo effectively communicates this discomfort; as the white students surrounding Jasmine begin to rap along to crowd-pleaser “Mo Bamba,” dropping the n-word without a second thought, she begins to feel claustrophobic and anxious.

The stakes increase for the protagonists as it is slowly revealed how Black women have historically been targeted at this university. Hall, Gray, and Renee are all convincing as they embody the fear and anger that goes along with trying to survive at an institution that devalues and threatens their existence. Jasmine has a particularly emotional arc as she faces increasingly horrific instances of racial terror, which Renee brings to life with a touching vulnerability.

In spite of its powerful messaging about the insidious nature of institutional racism, “Master” doesn’t quite tie all of its storylines together in a satisfying way. Though it’s indeed compelling to use the supernatural to exacerbate the real life horrors of racism, Diallo never quite makes clear how the presence of witches on campus relates to the protagonists’ actual experiences with racism. Such ambiguities make for stirring conversation, but there are ultimately too many questions left unanswered to deliver a cohesive view of how the supernatural represents white supremacy. Moreover, while it’s heartening to see the stories of three Black women

centered in “Master,” it would have been all the more empowering to see them maintain a sense of agency as the story unfolds. All three protagonists would have benefitted from greater character development, more detailed backstories, and some sort of hope they (and their audience) could cling to. Though their experiences are certainly realistic in many ways, it is also disenchanting to see the characters rendered powerless against a visibly broken system.

“Master” is not without its flaws, but it is nonetheless an intelligently examined portrayal of the racial dynamics at historically exclusive, predominantly white institutions — ones that too often try to present themselves as champions of diversity in the present day. The film has all the components of a powerful social thriller; it just needed those pieces to fit together more cohesively.

Arts Chair Jaden S. Thompson can be reached at jaden.thompson@thecrimson.com.

Courtesy of Sundance Institute

FILM From Sundance: ‘Nanny’ Exposes the Dark Side of the American Dream Dir. Nikyatu Jusu JADEN S. THOMPSON CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Courtesy of Sundance Institute

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oward the beginning of Nikyatu Jusu’s debut feature “Nanny,” protagonist Aisha catches up with her friend who works at a New York City hair salon. Her fingers moving adeptly as she tirelessly braids hair, she says drily to Aisha, “Work until you die — the American dream, right?” In Jusu’s debut, Aisha (Anna Diop) is a Senegalese immigrant hired as a nanny for an affluent Manhattan couple; she sends money home to Senegal in the hopes that her six-year-old son Lamine will soon join her in America. Not long after accepting this new job, however, Aisha is plagued by increasingly chilling supernatural experiences. With Diop’s sensitive and brooding performance at the forefront of this colorful, dreamlike psychological thriller, Jusu offers a stirring elucidation of the dark realities of the American dream.

Aisha is hired by Amy (Michelle Monaghan) and Adam (Morgan Spector), a privileged yet dysfunctional couple living in a tastefully decorated apartment with their adorable daughter Rose. At the start of the film, a friend of Aisha warns her not to take this job for granted; positions like this can be hard to come by, especially since she’s undocumented. But Aisha quickly finds herself mistreated by her employers. While she forms a bond with Rose, Amy often neglects to pay her for her overtime hours, and Adam is passive and flirtatious. Jusu thoughtfully presents a frustrating truth: Women like Aisha work harder and longer than others, often just to be disparaged and exploited. Rather than be reduced to her hardships, however, Aisha is a refreshingly layered character. Diop imbues Aisha with a sense of warmth, evoking a discernible tenderness. Gentle but unafraid to stand up for herself, witty in her subtle humor, and caring in her relationships, she is ultimately complex and deeply sympathetic.

Unfortunately, Aisha’s problems don’t end with the exploitation she faces at work. Though she aches to reunite with her son and works to pool funds for his flight to America, she must settle for video calls that break up from poor connection and old videos of him on her phone. These simple yet heartbreaking moments underscore a glaring reality for Aisha and others like her: While she is taking care of someone else’s child in hopes of creating a better life for her family, someone else is taking care of her child, and she is missing out on the everyday moments of his life.

While working endless hours and yearning for her son,

Aisha begins to experience the supernatural, which Jusu interweaves with compelling elements of West African magical realism. Her reflections in mirrors don’t align with her actions; she is haunted by water — rivers, pools, baths, showers, as if a single drop has the power to hurt her. Imaginative dream sequences capture a frightened Aisha submerged in water, her braids flowing angelically above her in a sea of deep blue. While scenes like these are both haunting and beautiful, they become slightly repetitive and slow down the pace of the story. “Nanny” may not be the most exciting psychological thriller ever made, but Diop still commands the screen even in its slower moments.

Though a more intense and varied buildup to the emotional climax of the film would have strengthened the narrative, Jusu’s feature debut is nevertheless engrossing in its combination of elements across a myriad of genres: psychological thriller, drama, and romance. Aisha’s budding relationship with the charismatic Malik (Sinqua Walls), the doorman at the apartment where she works, slowly unfolds into an endearing and sincere portrait of love. It is Malik’s grandmother, Kathleen (the venerable Leslie Uggams), who introduces Aisha to the West African folklore that seems to be connected to her supernatural experiences. When Aisha says she doesn’t believe in such things, Kathleen dismisses her: “You are magic,” she says, simply and with conviction.

“Nanny” is aesthetically beautiful, with a lush color palette and soft mood lighting grounding the film in a rich sensory world that serves to deepen the audience’s connection to Aisha’s story. There are also several moments of joy that provide respite from Aisha’s distress: a birthday party with other West African immigrants that brims with the sounds and colors of her home country, a nighttime car ride with Malik after their first date that evokes warmth and possibility. In presenting these ordinary joys alongside sinister phenomena, “Nanny” impressively portrays the many layers of Aisha’s world. By its unexpected ending, Jusu’s debut ultimately does a wonderful job of tying together its storylines to communicate an emotionally resonant message on privilege and the painful truths underpinning the ever-elusive American dream.

Arts Chair Jaden S. Thompson can be reached at jaden.thompson@thecrimson.com.

THE HARVARD CRIMSON |

FEBRUARY 2, 2022

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FILM

A

dapted from his audio drama of the same name, “When You Finish Saving the World” marks actor Jesse Eisenberg’s directorial debut. The film, which premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 20, features Julianne Moore and Finn Wolfhard as Evelyn and Ziggy, a mother and son duo who struggle to relate to each other. The screen adaptation is an arresting examination of the nuances of family dynamics — the intertwining feelings of frustration, affection, and isolation that can complicate our closest relationships. Eisenberg crafts a deftly written narrative that carefully weaves together the lighthearted and the profound, which Moore and Wolfhard vitalize with their palpable chemistry.

Shot on 16 mm film, “When You Finish Saving the World” maintains a striking sense of intimacy through its graininess as we follow its protagonists through suburban Indiana. Evelyn works at a shelter for survivors of domestic abuse, and teenage Ziggy has found moderate success performing folkrock songs he writes on an online platform where he’s accumulated no less than 20,000 followers across the globe — a statistic he brings up often. Neither mother nor son is particularly interested in what the other is passionate about, and they both maintain a disinterested, cold exterior around each other. Both Moore and Wolfhard master the subtleties of this dynamic, Evelyn with her dry, reserved quips and Ziggy with his obnoxious, arrogant adolescent behavior. They embody two indubitably selfish characters, and yet Eisenberg allows us to care for them more and more as the story progresses and he gradually exposes their interiority — their insecurities, their yearnings, and, ultimately, their glaring similarities.

While Evelyn becomes fixated on helping Kyle (Billy Bryk), a 17-year-old boy living at her shelter who she sees as everything her son isn’t, Ziggy is intent on impressing a classmate named Lila (Alisha Boe) who’s passionate about social justice issues. In bringing to life the clueless yet somehow charmingly earnest Ziggy, Wolfhard sensitively and humorously portrays the awkwardness and emotional volatility of adolescence. His facial expressions alone are effective in conveying his contempt or cluelessness. In one scene, Ziggy yells at his mother through the bathroom door as she showers, demanding, “Mom, did you try to open the door while I was live streaming?” Contrasting these belligerent moments are interactions steeped in sincerity, like when Ziggy composes music to accompany a poem Lila wrote and nervously performs the song for her. He’s almost innocent in his naïveté, and his admiration for her is endearing: “The way people talk about Credits

her in awe. Lila, who Alisha Boe portrays as self-possessed yet grounded, can easily see through his feigned interest in what he vaguely refers to as “political” topics.

Moore, on the other hand, is all careful restraint, with her measured tone and neutral facial expressions. Her relationship with Kyle, who she desperately wants to help get into college despite his apathy toward it, is one of the most compelling yet ambiguous parts of the film. Why she becomes almost obsessed with helping him is never entirely explained, but their relationship offers thought-provoking commentary on familial ties. What if your son — or your mother — isn’t who you’d like them to be, and you’d prefer to replace them with someone else? Evelyn’s determination to mold Kyle’s future into what she believes is best for him is indicative of both her fraught relationship with her own son and the privilege that fosters her self-absorption.

In a sparse 84 minute runtime, Eisenberg isn’t afraid to confront a wide range of pertinent issues — from the complexities of escaping domestic abuse to the commodification of art to the condescension of white liberals. He maintains both breadth and depth throughout and handles these topics with the nuance they deserve; the screenplay blends together just enough thoughtful dialogue and just enough satire to provide effective social commentary. In his debut, Eisenberg demonstrates a clear directorial vision with careful shot framings providing us with a sense of closeness to this dysfunctional yet relatable family.

Ultimately, “When You Finish Saving the World” is a biting criticism of hypocrisy and narcissism; both Evelyn and Ziggy have noble visions of helping others through their respective pursuits, yet at home they treat each other with cruelty and disdain. Still, Eisenberg doesn’t let us believe they are incapable of changing, and this is what makes the film so rewarding.

When Evelyn and Ziggy “finish saving the world,” perhaps they’ll realize they never lived on the same planet in the first place — but their orbits might grow a little closer nonetheless.

‘When You Finish Saving the World’ is a Tender, Powerful Exploration of Family Dynamics Dir. Jesse Eisenberg JADEN S. THOMPSON CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Arts Chair Jaden S. Thompson can be reached at jaden.thompson@thecrimson.com.

shit they just want to buy, you talk about the world,” he tells Courtesy of Sundance Institute

FILM ‘892’ Is Brilliant and Unflinching Dir. Abi Damaris AMELIA ROTH-DISHY CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

M

uch of the plot of “892” unfolds in a series of phone calls. Honorably discharged former U.S. Marine Brian Brown-Easley (John Boyega, in a tour de force performance) has walked into an Atlanta-area Wells Fargo, claiming he has a bomb in his backpack. In one of the film’s most taut phone exchanges, Brian is demanding that he speak to a hostage negotiator. On the other end of the line, they tell him to hold on. “I’ve been holding on,” he says, frustration bubbling out of his polite demeanor. “I’ve held on.”

“892” portrays Brian Brown-Easley as a man who held on until he felt he had no other option. The film is a tense, devastating retelling of the real-life Brown-Easley’s fatal final day in 2017, when he barricaded himself and two hostages in the bank — not to rob it, but to draw attention to the $892.34 disability check that the Department of Veterans Affairs had unjustly withheld from him. In the steady hands of first-time feature director Abi Damaris Corbin and writers Corbin and Kwame Kwei-Armah, “892” shines a compassionate light on Brown-Easley, bringing the almost Shakespearean tragedy to life onscreen with quietly effective acting and tremendous camera work.

The movie begins with Brian the night before he has resolved to hold up the bank. His anguish is already apparent as he runs out of phone credit to keep talking to his young daughter Kiah (an adorable London Covington) and makes preparations in the run-down Travel Inn where he is living. Once in the bank, the mild-mannered Brian continually apologizes to his hostages, his escalating panic beating through his grey sweatshirt. Boyega keeps Brian’s pain at the forefront, even as law enforcement, the press, and the public slowly gather outside the bank and his anxiety hardens at points into quiet resolve.

While Boyega carries much of the film’s immense emotional weight in his clenched shoulders and close-up, expressive face alone, he is buoyed at every turn by outstanding supporting performances. Connie Britton makes a somewhat surprising cameo as an empathetic local news producer whom Brian calls and speaks with at length about his story. And as the two bank employees who remain trapped with Brian until the end, Selenis Leyva and Nicole Beharie hit pitch-perfect notes of fear tinged with compassion for Brian as they watch him unravel and begin to understand his demands.

The scenes inside the bank have a theatrical quality — a rested, not killed, must have been white; Estel and Rosa say three-person play comes to mind as the camera tracks Brian, nothing in tacit agreement. Outside the bank, Williams conRosa Diaz (Leyva), and Estel Valerie (Beharie)’s movements veys Sargeant Bernard’s indignance at the moments of disrearound the bank and each other, often capturing the women’s spect toward him by white fellow officers despite his position watchful gaze in the background while Brian is on the phone of authority. And flashbacks show a VA employee (Miriam with his family or the hostage negotiator. From the moment Silverman) tentatively offering Brian a callous pamphlet on bank manager Estel realizes what Brian is about to do and be- “Homelessness and You” when he expresses that he will lose gins ushering the rest of the bank’s customers out the door, his housing without his disability check, and then Brian’s violent arrest in the waiting room when he refuses to leave.

Beharie in particular is hard to look away from.

“892” also holds the poignant honor of featuring the late, great Film adaptations of tragic true stories can run the risk of Michael K. Williams’ final screen performance as chief hos- heavy-handedness, or oversentimentality. But ultimately, tage negotiator Sargeant Eli Bernard, who bonds with Brown “892” is unsparing and sincere — and, like Brian’s story itself, over their shared Marine background and connects with Bri- worthy of a wide audience. an’s ex-wife Cassandra (Olivia Washington) over FaceTime to update her on the situation. Williams brings gravitas and Staff writer Amelia Roth-Dishy can be reached at amelia. urgency to the scenes outside the bank and his subtly devas- roth-dishy@thecrimson.com and on Twitter at @scallionshtating performance prevents the film’s third act from losing mear. steam.

“892” could be marketed as a thriller. But despite the film’s taut editing and unrelentingly intense tone, there is very little suspense. Brian makes it clear from the outset that he does not expect to live through the day, and he seems to have no intention of actually harming his hostages. As such, the genre beats of the heist/hostage negotiation play out with more emotional tension than anything else, unfolding like a prolonged, telegraphed denouement of Brown-Easley’s life and the unjust hand he was dealt.

While the filmmakers take care to mention that Brown-Easley did indeed struggle with mental illness — on the phone, Cassandra asks if he has taken his meds — it staunchly refuses to suggest that his actions were the result of his neurodivergence rather than a justified response to unjust circumstances.

Indeed, the film takes direct aim at the bureaucratic wrongdoings of the Veteran Affairs Department, which withheld the real Brown-Easley’s disability check for $892.34 on erroneous grounds. But the simmering indictment of “892” goes beyond one federal agency, painting a portrait of a society whose failure to do right by those who fought for it is a symptom of its structurally racist, unfeeling systems rather than an isolated problem.

At one point in the film, Brian remarks that a man who previously tried to rob the same Wells Fargo branch and was ar- Courtesy of Sundance Institute

THE HARVARD CRIMSON |

FEBRUARY 2, 2022

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FILM From Sundance: ‘Alice’ Lacks Depth But Showcases Keke Palmer’s Range Dir. Krystin ver Linden JADEN S. THOMPSON CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

W

ritten and directed by Krystin ver Linden, the wwslave drama “Alice” plays out like a narrative reversal of Octavia Butler’s classic 1979 novel “Kindred.” While Butler’s book tells the story of a 20th century woman who time travels to a plantation in the Antebellum south, “Alice” poses the question: What if the opposite were to occur, and a woman is not stripped of her freedom but gains it instead? In ver Linden’s directorial debut, Keke Palmer stars as the titular Alice, who is bewildered to find herself in 1970s Georgia after escaping from slavery.

Though the film fumbles in its attempt to deliver an impactful message on the ongoing fight for liberation, its compelling premise makes for an engrossing story only strengthened by Palmer’s commanding performance.

A significant portion of “Alice” takes place on what viewers believe to be a nineteenth century plantation. Along with her husband Joseph (Gaius Charles) and other enslaved people, Alice lives in a threadbare cabin, works tirelessly in the fields, and suffers abuse from her captor, the violent and cruel Paul (Jonny Lee Miller). Given these circumstances, it comes as a shock when, after an altercation with Paul, Alice runs through the woods and suddenly finds herself stumbling upon a highway. Stunned by the unfamiliarity of the landscape, she is nearly hit by several cars and faints in the middle of the road.

This is when she meets Frank (Common), a Black activist and passerby who takes it upon himself to help her.

What makes “Alice” intriguing is that it is not actually a story of time travel, contrary to what audiences might initially assume. Alice soon learns that she and other Black people were kept as slaves deep in the woods while all along it was the year 1973, and unbeknownst to them slavery had been abolished for over a century. It’s a premise with exciting potential, and at first the transition from the nineteenth century-style plantation to the modernity of 1970s urban Georgia evokes a thrilling dissonance. The film almost doubles as a nostalgia piece as Alice learns about the culture and technology of the ‘70s: Frank plays Stevie Wonder’s “Higher Ground” for her on his record player, and they go to see Pam Grier’s Blaxploitation film “Coffy” in theaters. The subgenre was popular in the ‘70s for its empowered Black leads that were simultaneously reli-

ant on damaging stereotypes of Blackness, with their protagonists often engaging in crime and violence. Like many Black moviegoers in that decade, Alice is inspired by Coffy’s confidence and autonomy.

While these scenes showcasing the pop culture of the era provide some surface-level excitement, the script loses its ingenuity soon after Alice joins urban society. While Frank is at work one day, Alice spends hours poring over books — Paul had taught her to read so she could entertain him — learning about the decades of history that were hidden from her.

A montage sequence featuring radicals like Malcolm X and Fred Hampton is shown, but not much more is done to draw parallels between nineteenth century oppression and the racism that persisted into the 1970s. Alice keeps marveling that she and other Black people are free, but her revelation ultimately feels like an oversimplification of race relations in the ‘70s, which remained a far cry from egalitarianism. The civil rights movement is certainly alluded to, but instances of modern-day inequalities aren’t shown or discussed with the depth they deserve. Although the premise of “Alice” offers a welcome opportunity to make incisive commentary on the centuries-long fight for Black liberation, the film ultimately falls short of this potential.

Furthermore, Alice’s character development isn’t very steady or realistic upon her realization that she should have been free her entire life. In the span of just a couple of days, she transitions from a perpetually disoriented state, in which she depended on Frank to explain modern technology to her, to the unflinching confidence and determination of the lead in a Blaxploitation movie. Moreover, once Alice decides she wants to free her fellow slaves who are still sequestered in the woods, the film hits predictable and relatively cheap story beats: She has a makeover where she comes out resembling Pam Grier, and she and Frank hit the library to plan out their mission. It’s satisfying to see Alice grow more empowered as the story progresses, but the story feels tonally incoherent as it attempts to pay homage to Blaxploitation films while still trying to ground itself in a sense of seriousness.

These flaws in character and story development, however, are no fault of Palmer’s. In a significant departure from her

usually more comedic roles, she captivates as Alice. While her character arc feels rushed, Palmer still moves seamlessly through the multiplicity of emotions Alice feels in her journey from bondange to freedom. When living on the plantation under the constant threat of Paul’s cruelty, she trembles with a tangible fear; when watching TV for the first time, asking “Are those small people?”, she emotes an endearing sense of wonder. When she decides to save her loved ones from bondage, Palmer’s face sets with an immovable resolve. While the script falls short in many ways — believability, character development, and pacing, to name a notable few — Palmer grounds the story with her impressive emotional range. Ultimately, “Alice” is not a particularly groundbreaking or insightful film. However, it does offer an empowering, if surface-level, story that leaves audiences wondering what else Palmer is capable of.

When director Alika Tengan’s first longform feature “Every Day in Kaimukī” premiered at Sundance on Sunday, he told the audience that the project was “a love letter to Honolulu, to Kaimukī, and to the AAPI community here.” Indeed, this unassuming film pulses with a quiet, ruminative love for those communities and the stories they carry. The result is a tender, atmospheric indie that draws on the real lives of its mostly non-professional actors to immerse viewers in the fine-grained world of the titular Hawaiian neighborhood.

The film opens at night, and much of its action continues to take place after the sun sets on O’ahu. Naz (Naz Kawakami, playing an exaggerated version of himself) is a night DJ at a community radio station and spends his daylight hours skating at Kaimukī Park. Though his ties to the neighborhood, and to Hawai’i at large, run deep, he plans to move to New York with his girlfriend Sloane (Rina White), who has been accepted into the ceramics program at the Pratt Institute.

When we meet Naz in the booth, he’s on the air musing on Richard Hell and artistic communities in New York, calling Kaimukī his equivalent of the famed New York bar CBGB. A new DJ-in-training shows up and Naz gives him a hard time for his underbaked musical canon. It’s a modest scene that sets up the thrum of competing forces in Naz’s head — he’s excited by the prospect of proving himself in New York, but wary of relinquishing his comfortable place in the neighborhood that’s formed the contours of his adult life thus far. The film is loosely tentpoled around the arrival of this new DJ and the approaching date of the move, as Naz grapples with his strained relationship with Sloane, his own elusive sense of being “from” a place, and what it might mean to feel at home.

If the plot is light, it’s somewhat besides the point. Naz’s radio show is called “Night Drive,” which would double as an apt title for the movie based solely on vibe. Tengan and cinematographer Chapin Hall wash their mise-en-scène in moody purples and blues, fading sunlight to a warm sepia beige and casting the landscape in a roaming haze. This visual scheme evokes both an affective dreamlike nostalgia and a sense of listless complacency, mirroring Naz’s attachment to what he’s

leaving behind as well as the roots of his desire to do so. The camerawork is intimate and lyrical as the film follows Naz’s days around Kaimukī: Like Naz himself, the lens is languid in its movement but meticulous in its attention. An evocative tone poem emerges — of place, of community, of millennial antsiness anchored in a granular tableau.

The score, too, could come straight from the effortlessly cool record shelves of the radio station. Holden Mandrial-Santos — a close collaborator of Tengan’s who also stars in the film as the interloping new DJ Kayden — nails the onscreen melancholia, or rather co-creates it, with a curated playlist of lo-fi tunes that puts indie darlings like Nilüfer Yanya and Tei Shi alongside music from the artistic projects of the actual actors in the film, including Hapa Hunting and Goon Lei Goon.

Dashed with Madrial-Santos’ own whimsical compositions, it’s a score fit for a night drive to anywhere.

But this is not a film about anywhere, or anyone. Tengan, the first Native Hawaiian filmmaker to premiere a full-length feature at Sundance, is committed to amplifying the lived experiences of his milieu, and the film’s hyperlocality is both an uncomplicated reflection of a real place — the film was able to shoot in the neighborhood’s actual record stores and parks — and a radical rebuttal of reductive storytelling about the Hawaiian islands that sees only beaches and tourists. (Indeed, neither appears once in the film.)

The cast is also composed largely of neighborhood locals from Naz’s own friend group. Kawakami and Tengan are friends who have long wanted to make a movie together and co-wrote the script, much of which was ultimately improvised on set. The impetus for this version of a shared project was, in fact, the real Naz’s impending move to New York, where he now resides and Zoomed in from for Sundance. The result is an effectively lived-in cinéma vérité, particularly in the improvised scenes of casual conversation. Kawakami has a natural, mellow charisma and commands the screen with ease.

The dearth of professional actors may be a factor for why scripted dialogue is not the film’s strong suit. The atmosphere is harshed, and credibility strained, when the movie demands the most of its stars to advance the plot, notably in tensions between Naz and Sloane. While White does her best to bring multidimensionality to her character — the only female lead — she’s written as somewhat shrill, unreasonable, and even uncompassionate toward her partner, ultimately flattening into a plot device for Naz. Nonetheless, “Every Day in Kaimukī” is stunning and melodic in its most naturalistic moments, and hopefully marks a breakout for Tengan. When asked if he planned to move to L.A. anytime soon, the director said that there were endlessly more stories he wanted to tell in his hometown first. Lucky for us.

Arts Chair Jaden S. Thompson can be reached at jaden.thompson@thecrimson.com.

Courtesy of Sundance Institute

FILM ‘Every Day in Kaimukī’: A Meditative Love Letter to a Neighborhood and its Community Dir. Alika Tengan AMELIA ROTH-DISHY CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Courtesy of Sundance Institute

Staff writer Amelia Roth-Dishy can be reached at amelia.rothdishy@thecrimson.com and on Twitter at @scallionshmear.

PAGE 7

THE HARVARD CRIMSON |

Students Ring In Lunar New Year

By ELLA L. JONES and MONIQUE I. VOBECKY CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

Observers of the Lunar New Year across Harvard’s campus ushered in the Year of the Tiger yesterday by going on excursions to Chinatown, making traditional desserts, and planning celebration dinners.

Linda K. Lin ’24, social chair for the Harvard-Radcliffe Asian American Association, said for East Asian students, this holiday is an exciting time to celebrate their heritage.

“I think it’s a great opportunity for many cultures — probably more East Asian cultures — to get together and celebrate and have activities,” Lin said.

“It is a really fun, festive time for community.”

Kirkland House resident Joanna Boyland ’23 said that growing up, celebrations of the holiday often involved gatherings of hundreds of people. ­

“We’d have a potluck, and then people would demonstrate dancing or various other things,” Boyland said. “Little kids would sing, and they would do performing arts and eat food.”

The College’s social distanc-

I definitely look towards a future where that’s a little bit more equitable and where people of color can find rest throughout the year, beyond just white holidays.

Angie D. Shin ’23 Co-President of AAWA

ing protocols prevented student groups from hosting events

with large gatherings this year, but the celebrations continued on campus in various forms. In Kirkland House, Boyland made a traditional Lunar New Year dish for 100 of her housemates.

“This year I was recruited last minute by HoCo to make some nian gao, which is Chinese sticky rice pudding,” Boyland said.

Angie D. Shin ’23, co-president of the Asian American Womxn’s Association, said that despite not being raised in a “super heritage-rich” household, she would celebrate this Lunar New Year in Boston.

“I’m definitely getting some takeout from Chinatown with my block and linkmates,” she said.

But she acknowledged Covid-19 has restricted AAWA’s festivities.

“If Covid wasn’t happening, we’d probably be in the middle of planning some kind of huge part-Asians Lunar New Year

FACULTY FROM PAGE 1

event right now,” Shin said.

“Hopefully we can do that in years to come.”

AAWA plans on hosting a Lunar New Year celebration and dinner on Feb. 6, featuring foods from several cultures that celebrate the holiday.

“It’s just going to be some fun music, getting to know one another, and trying to replicate a little bit of that community energy,” Lin said.

Shin said she hopes for the holiday to become more wellknown in future years.

“I definitely look towards a future where that’s a little bit more equitable and where people of color can find rest throughout the year, beyond just white holidays,” Shin said.

“Take today to rest and pat yourself on the back for a good former lunar year and appreciate yourself,” she added. ella.jones@thecrimson.com monique.vobecky@thecrimson.com

FEBRUARY 02, 2022

WILLIE FROM PAGE 1

HGSE Sociologist Willie Dies at 94 resigned from his post after the national church refused to recognize the ordinations of women in several dioceses.

“He just said, ‘I can’t be part of something that is discriminatory or unethical,’” Reddick said. “So, you know, somebody who both talked the talk and walked the walk in his personal life and his academic life.”

Swarthmore College Provost Sarah S. Willie-LeBreton, the oldest of Willie’s three children, said that rather than strive for work-life balance, he would question how “the vocation of one’s work life” could be applied to their everyday activities.

“He found his work and all aspects of it so applicable to everything around us — not just

to the classroom, not just to the scholarship,” Willie-LeBreton said.

Willie authored 30 books and more than 100 articles throughout his life, including several editions of “A New Look at Black Families,” which he cowrote with Reddick.

Murphy praised Willie’s dedication to education and compassion for the students he mentored throughout his career.

“It was this kind of combination of this, really, fierceness towards making schools better — particularly around issues of justice — with this kind of softness and genuineness and caring for the students that made him special.” said Murphy. paton.roberts@thecrimson.com

COUNCIL FROM PAGE 1

HUHS Director Praises Cambridge City Council Passes Spring Covid Isolation Policy Amended Golf Course Policy a ffiliates tested positive for Covid-19, marking a positivity rate of 0.74 percent, per Har­

When you have a highly vaccinated community as we do, the risk of severe illness is that much less.

Giang T. Nguyen HUHS Director

vard’s Covid-19 dashboard.

In a November interview before the Omicron surge, University Provost Alan M. Garber ’76 said Harvard would work

to unmask in indoor spaces in the spring. However, Nguyen reiterated Tuesday that while Harvard will eventually make masking and testing optional, “we’re not there right now.”

Following Nguyen’s presentation, faculty voted 98 percent in favor of making the College’s temporary privacy policy permanent in the 2022-2023 student handbook. The policy prohibits students from publishing or distributing course material without written permission from the instructor.

The remainder of the meeting was dedicated to discussing whether college degree credit should be conferred for remote summer school courses.

Prior to Covid-19, students could only take summer cours-

es for credit if they were taught in person. Last summer, the Standing Committee on Educational Policy passed a temporary authorization for remote course credit.

Dean of Undergraduate Education Amanda J. Claybaugh said during the meeting that this temporary policy, in addition to other factors such as providing summer courses to some students for free, had a “striking” effect on summer school enrollment — nearly twice as many students took summer school courses last year.

The faculty will vote on the permanent policy at next month’s faculty meeting. ariel.kim@thecrimson.com meimei.xu@thecrimson.com

or eliminate that buffer.”

Andrew B. Schlesinger ’70, one of the residents who spoke in favor of the policy order, argued that the course was underutilized by Cambridge residents and that the land could be better used to address Cambridge’s affordable housing supply problems.

“The golf course occupies too much municipal space and benefits too few people,” Schlesinger said. “Exploring alternative uses for the 50-plus acres of the golf course seems to be a no-brainer in this fast-changing environment.”

Following the public comment period, Councilor Paul F. Toner proposed a substitute to the order specifying that normal golf operations continue ­

uninterrupted throughout the

Exploring alternative uses for the 50-plus acres of the golf course seems to be a no-brainer in this fast-changing environment.

Andrew B. Schlesinger ’70 Cambridge Resident

study alternative uses for the land.

“I wanted to make it clear that we were not seeking to interfere with golf at the Fresh Pond Golf Course, but didn’t

want to stifle conversations about additional uses it might be put towards,” Toner said in an interview with The Crimson.

Nolan said in an interview with The Crimson that she found the opposition to the initial order “disappointing.”

“I’m disappointed that the community of golfers didn’t see that we have to think about the entire city,” Nolan said.

Nonetheless, she said that the modified order was still “very close to what we were asking for.” “[The order] really was saying, ‘Hey, there’s lots of possible uses for land,’” Nolan said.

“Let’s understand what we can do with it.” elias.schisgall@thecrimson.com

THE HARVARD CRIMSON |

FEBRUARY 2, 2022

PAGE 8

EDITORIAL OP-ED

BLACK HISTORY MONTH

COLUMN

To My Black Legacy Child

By JASMINE M. GREEN

T

o my Black legacy child not yet in this world, I write this letter to you in my sophomore year of college, at a time when — perhaps — the seemingly inflexible status of elite institutions is beginning to change.

Within the last decade, major developments have occurred in the movement for colleges and universities to abandon legacy admissions. While some notable universities — such as MIT and Caltech — have never considered one’s legacy status, most colleges do, although they are now starting to reconsider. Schools such as Johns Hopkins University and Amherst College — institutions well-known for producing long lineages of legacy alumni — have decided to remove legacy preference from the admissions process.

And recently, the entire state of Colorado did away with the practice altogether. As a consequence, there has been a great push for Ivy League schools, such as Harvard, to follow suit.

More than anything, I want to give you what my ancestors were denied. I want you to have security and prosperity, success, and unimaginable joy.

And, my child, my feelings about this are complicated. On one hand, I feel strongly that legacy preference in college admissions should end, especially within the Ivy League.

When Harvard applicants of legacy status have a nearly one in three chance of being admitted — compared to the general one in twenty statistic for non-legacy applicants — it clearly preserves a culture of elitism that cannot be extricated from Harvard’s deep history of racial discrimination. Since 1636 — even be-

fore the United States secured its nationhood by way of bloodied chains and fearsome weapons — white male students at Harvard could not only forge a path to greatness for themselves, but accelerate this road for their children. They could sharpen their minds while investing in their bloodlines, ensuring that each iteration of their descendants could attain this educational pedigree with more and more ease.

But for others — for people like you and me — this path was forbidden for a terribly long time. It took more than 250 years for the first Black person to graduate from Harvard College, and the Black undergraduates who followed were far from greeted warmly. Richard T. Greener ’1870 and other Black students who dared to infiltrate the Ivy League had to fight fearlessly for their education and for their lives — sleeping in dormitories named after slaveholders, guarding against white students in pointed white hoods, and enduring forced segregation and egregious harassment for nothing more illicit than their Black presence at a white institution.

However, even in our new millennium — which those before us had hoped would bring newfound security and peace — Black Harvard students are still battling for the respect of our university. We are disproportionately targeted by campus police, routinely denied the creation of a safe space where we may love and protect each other, and told we are undeserving of our places at elite institutions by our own instructors. And, on top of all this, less than five percent of Black students at Harvard — compared to one out of five white students — have legacy status.

So it is under these circumstances, my child, that I owe it to us both to be honest.

More than anything, I want to give you what my ancestors were denied. I want you to have security and prosperity, success, and unimaginable joy. I want to provide for you what many of my white classmates have had for generations — a future paid for in advance.

I want this for you because you deserve it — no, because you are owed it, by this school and by this country. You are my legacy child, and a likelier chance of a Harvard admission is a tainted, yet immortal gift. How come it has to expire as soon as it’s your turn to have it?

I know I sound like a petulant child: “It’s not fair.” Am I not longing for a power that has suppressed our people for ages? I feel like I am being enticed by some sinister force. The goal of white supremacy is to be self-replicating — it is to secure wealth and power for one’s children no matter the cost, no matter who is trampled along the way. I want you to have it all — but never at another’s expense.

And, as my legacy child, I am certain that you will be born into a privilege that I was not.

You are much more likely to come from a higher tax bracket, and contribute to the long-standing problem of disportionate wealth among Harvard students — a problem that often deters low-income high schoolers from even applying. You will have insider knowledge of the college application process, access to tutoring and advisors, and an impressive resume that will reflect the abundance of resources you had at your disposal.

You will be far ahead of the curve, and make other kids of less-privileged backgrounds feel like they could never catch up. You would become the very applicant who once disadvantaged students like me.

I cannot let this happen. I can’t advocate for a system that was designed to keep us out. Therefore, I must let go of this infinite and poisoned gift. I’m sorry, my child. I promise, I am always thinking of you.

—Jasmine M. Green ’24, a Crimson Associate Editorial editor, is a Social Studies concentrator in Lowell House.

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

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BLACK HISTORY MONTH

A Litany for Black Legacy

By KYLA N. GOLDING

B

ringing another soul into what often feels like a cruel world is one of the most dangerous events for women — especially the Black ones.

What emerges from the birth canal of the Black woman is not only the miracle of life, but also an extension of the psychic, emotional, and physical reflections of what it means to be breathing while Black.

Alongside her suckling infant she gives birth to new-born fears for what will follow her innocent child everywhere — from the streets to the hospitals, to the classroom, to the jail cell, and beyond. And through mother’s milk passes not only stem cells and antibodies, but also an acute awareness of an actively anti-Black world.

Sometimes I lay awake at night and think of the things I will pass to my future Black child, and it is then that I am reminded that in conjunction with triumph, tragedy, and all things in between, one in three children that I might give life to from my Black uterus will likely get the opportunity to walk the paths of Harvard Yard as a college student someday. And while there are many a tragic legacy the world may attempt to impose onto my child’s life, it’s ironically safe to say that this is not one.

I guess what I’m saying is: I take no issue with the Harvard legacy that will come from my womb.

I guess what I’m saying is: I take no issue with the Harvard legacy that will come from my womb.

Legacy admissions at Harvard is in many respects an unjust practice that primarily serves the privileged. Plainly put, it is a symptom of the white supremacist undergirds of higher education — because in the practice of uplifting the privileged, those left at a disadvantage are often the ones who identify as part of

minority, low-income, and first-generation populations.

This critical perspective on legacy admissions fundamentally — and rightfully — denounces the winners and weaves a narrative from the threads of seemingly clear-cut, progressive, equitable ideas.

Nevertheless, it is a presentist, reductionist narrative with built-in erasure of some of the very same demographics we argue deserve more visibility. Because the reality is, histories and legacies are complex — and they warrant a nuanced perspective on the fact that although we must be aware of where tools of oppression are at work, for many, idealizing a disdain for legacy admissions is not quite so simple.

My future Black child will bring with them more than my (by then, decades-old) Harvard degree to a college application. That one in three chance at a “second-look” from a Harvard admissions counselor is accompanied by my daughter’s four in 10 chance of experiencing intimate partner violence, my son’s one in 1,000 chance at being killed at the hands of police, and my queer child’s at least four in five chance at facing negative physical, spiritual, and psychological effects on their wellbeing — odds not easily able to be written off as some unfair advantage at walking through the world. From conception, I’ll fear that my Black son cannot go for a run, my Black daughter cannot rest peacefully in her bed at home, and my Black, queer child may fall victim to a heinous hate crime.

It is excruciatingly clear that some of the legacies that will follow my children are not the same as those of their white peers.

The truth is that the world at once robbed me of a safe and easy ignorance, thrusting me into a mode of consciousness that permeates everything in life, from walking down the street to choosing classes, friends, and future careers.

And the unfortunate reality of the ongoing social dynamic in which we live is that by measures beyond my control, the world will likely rob the freeing simplicity of some things in life from my child too. To breathe while Black — to be while Black — is not simple.

The politics of inheritance are not

without complexity, and are certainly not lost on us. It is something Black people know all too well, and often not from the winning side.

So while Beyoncé gave her daughter a Grammy, I’ll settle for giving mine a one in three chance to study at one of the world’s premier institutions — because most stats already aren’t in her favor.

It is excruciatingly clear that some of the legacies that will follow my children are not the same as those of their white peers.

I will fight like hell to leave my children legacies of love and resistance to balance out all of what I unfortunately know will follow them throughout the course of their lives. I will dedicate my life to creating the most equitable and safe world to bring them into. At the very least, if I can’t flip this anti-Black world on its head in my lifetime, I know I can give them a 33 percent chance to not just get in the door at a place like Harvard, but to make sure they stay in the building with the lights on and bills paid after they’ve crossed the threshold — especially considering that we were barred from entering the College gates for longer than we’ve been allowed inside them. I’m giving them an added possibility — if they want it — to raise questions about society and why it can’t be what we dream it to be, to participate in the continued shaping of the community, to fight for a conscious pedagogical ambition, and to open more doors behind them after they go.

And hopefully some of the dreams occupying their nights need not reflect entirely the nightmares of my own.

—Kyla N. Golding ’24, a Crimson Editorial editor, is a History of Science and Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality concentrator in Adams House.

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

Breaking Free of the Box

Anuksha S. Wickramasinghe ADHDVENTURES

I

n high school I was dazzling. Perfect, accomplished, put together. Because I had to be. I was able to fool everyone, at the cost of devoting every drop of energy to ensuring the performance would go on.

Cut to my personal writings — the backstage tell-all, in which my self-resentment, frustration, and disappointment are captured brutally, honestly, and angrily. “I’m not good enough,” and “feel nothing but bad at everything.” They read messily, and I was convinced I deserved to feel that way.

I was formally diagnosed with ADHD and anxiety years later, at 19. Though I’d known about my anxiety for years, it was actually during my first year at Harvard that I started to put the pieces of the ADHD puzzle together. It clicked when reading the diagnostic criteria for ADHD felt like the results of a personality quiz of traits I once desperately tried to unlearn or hide.

Still, the ADHD diagnosis was hard to accept at first, both for me and for Jailene Ramos ’24, who was diagnosed with ADHD and clinical depression during the summer of 2021. As Ramos describes, “I was a straight-A student, graduated valedictorian.” She tells me, “I’ve always had to be on top of it,” a sentiment that we bond over. “So how is it possible that I have ADHD?” Ramos recalls thinking to herself.

Steph Brecq ‘24, a fellow neurodivergent student with ADHD, depression, anxiety, and PTSD, captures this duality best: “You may function really well in some places, but you’re really struggling in others and that gets unnoticed.”

Therein lies the power of knowing or recognizing that you’re neurodivergent — the privilege to actually try thriving on your own terms, or at the least, validate your experiences by unlearning internalized ableism. This privilege of diagnosis, of discovery, or simply of openly being neurodivergent is denied to so many for so long due to countless interacting forces, be it social, financial, or cultural. So, in turn, we learn to internalize our needs and rule out the very possibility of being neurodivergent.

Without the neurodiversity explanation, you and the people closest to you constantly push the questions of, “But if you can do all this, why can’t you manage something as simple as that?” And yet, when you find the courage to bring up your struggles, you’re too smart to be struggling. The only seemingly logical answer is that you’re the problem. “I’m just not trying hard enough, I’m making it up, It’s all in my head,” I’d think to myself, though it quite literally was.

At its core, working against internalized ableism is being yourself and asserting your needs.

Though you may not recognize the label of internalized ableism, it’s everywhere. It’s the thoughts I just described. It’s the deep-rooted belief that “not doing things means you’re lazy,” or, “if you can’t pay attention in class, you don’t care” Alyx Britton ‘21, a recent Harvard graduate with ADHD, relays. Thus, “It was really powerful to be able to to put a finger on what was going on as neurodivergence,” they continue, because “I can at least be like, ‘Alyx, you’re not objectively bad.’ I will still feel bad about myself. But I know it is not because of a worldly judgment on me. It was because of things I’ve learned,” and in knowing that, they can “work against that.”

At its core, working against internalized ableism is being yourself and asserting your needs. It’s sending the email that you need an extension, it’s letting go of the shame of talking too quickly and too loudly, my personal power combo. It’s stimming; it’s empathy for yourself. So, to “allow myself to be okay with struggling whenever I’m experiencing an episode” as Ramos relates, is radical.

This isn’t to say that earlier diagnosis or discovery of our neurodivergence may have definitively changed things for the better, considering how rampant stigma remains. As Brecq explains, “whether it be just having a lot of energy and talking or doing random things or stimming, there’s certain things that just have this connotation of ‘Oh, that is somebody who is neurodivergent, and as such, that is somebody who is in some ways almost inhuman or less than or just not intelligent.’”

We are definitely not Harvard’s first or only neurodivergent students. Because experiences like ours aren’t discussed enough, most of the time, it’s lonely. “On the outside, they look put together. They have that same mask on that I had on my entire life. They’re still stuck inside the box,” Ramos says. “Luckily, I’ve been able to sort of break free of the box,” she expresses.

But, “Because we see everybody also trapped inside the box putting up this wall of, everything is fine. Everything’s perfect,” we still ask ourselves, as Ramos emphasizes, “Oh my god, what is wrong with me?”

I write this from outside the box, having left behind the performance of perfection. After 19 years, I finally know that there was never anything wrong with me.

Unknowingly neurodivergent? Yes. Wrong?

Never, though it takes a lot of courage to remember. From a former boxmate, I urge you to consider breaking the box of put-togetherness. Punch out of perfection. Here outside the walls, we’ll fight for the freedom to be everything we are, neurodivergent and more.

—Anuksha S. Wickramasinghe ’24 is a Neuroscience concentrator and Crimson Editorial editor in Mather House. Her column “Adhdventures” appears on alternate Wednesdays.

PAGE 9

THE HARVARD CRIMSON |

FEBRUARY 2, 2022

Group to Talk Student Group Protests HKS Fellow Legacy of Slavery FELLOW FROM PAGE 1

people that they’re platforming,” Joshi said. “It’s also a larger message to the University, to sort of think about how Harvard has been — and is complicit in — issues of colonialism and apartheid.”

Joseph G. Leone, an HKS student who attended the protests, called Yadlin’s appointment as a senior fellow “shocking and disgusting” and criticized HKS for giving a platform to someone “whose career is entirely premised on the violence and dispossession against Palestinians.”

The study group’s first meet­

By SARA DAHIYA CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

The Presidential Initiative on Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery, launched by University President Lawrence S. Bacow in November 2019, plans to organize a series of events in the coming months before presenting its findings in April.

Started at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, the initiative explores Harvard’s historic ties with slavery. The committee’s slate of events will include panels and virtual tours, leading up to a conference presenting the group’s work.

The committee’s final report and recommendations will focus on the lasting impact of slavery on the school’s curriculum, campus life, medical education, and museum collections. Committee members have also examined Harvard’s links to sugar plantations in Antigua and other Caribbean nations.

“All of the public programming this spring is designed to engage with findings in the historical report, which will be published in late spring,” an email from the committee read.

In March, guest speaker Michael W. Twitty will chronicle his work as a culinary historian, presenting his scholarship of African American foodways and legacies.

A panel in April, hosted in collaboration with the Eileen Southern Initiative, will focus ­

on the ties between American choral music and race. A performance by the Aeolians — a choir from Oakwood University founded by Eva B. Dykes, the first Black female Ph.D. graduate from Radcliffe College — in Sanders Theater will follow.

Former Dean of Harvard Law School Martha L. Minow and HGSE professor Meira Levinson led the initiative’s subcommittee on curriculum, which created a film on the views of students and scholars on the University’s history and ties to slavery. Radcliffe Institute will air the film this spring.

Other scheduled offerings include a virtual walking tour showcasing Harvard’s history, a student art exhibition, and a ceremony of “remembrance and healing.” The committee wrote in an email that it hopes public health considerations allow for the gatherings to occur in-person, but it plans to make remote options for the events available.

“The April 29 conference and indeed all of our events this semester will engage in one way or another with the broad question: What must we now do, and how can we ensure that the revelation of this history can inspire renewed commitment to institutional reform, to community engagement, and to our highest aspirations as a community of learning?” the team wrote in an email. sara.dahiya@thecrimson.com

ing came on the same day Amnesty International released a “damning” report concluding Israel is committing apartheid against Palestinians.

Leone said the Yeldin invitation is “part of a pattern that the Kennedy School is engaged in.”

“They brought so many figures that have had a direct role in apartheid and settler colonialism and Palestine,” he said.

“I don’t like to see my institution and my school and this place of learning to celebrate those atrocities through fellowships like this.”

Leone also called on partici-

pants in the study group to stop attending its meetings.

We want to give a message to the students that they should be really mindful of the kind of people that they’re platforming.

Shraddha Joshi ’24 Member of Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine

“I think they should withdraw from the class and should not be complicit in the celebration of this war criminal,” he said.

Joshi also said that Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine intends to continue protesting at the HKS study group’s weekly meetings.

“We intend to maintain a sustained effort to spread awareness about HOOP and push back against Harvard’s choice to platform the fellow,” she wrote in a statement. miles.herszenhorn@thecrimson.com

OPENGOV FROM PAGE 1

UC Launches Crimson OpenGov App initiative.

“There’s been a bit of a disconnect between Michael’s team and the rest of the council,” he said.

There’s been a bit of a disconnect between Michael’s team and the rest of the council.

Owen O. Ebose ’25 UC Representative

Cheng was elected UC pres-

ident in November after pledging during the campaign to “defund” the body. In an email to College students last week, he and de Kanter wrote that they are moving ahead with plans to rewrite the UC’s constitution and dissolve the body in favor of a “new, 21st-century student government designed by Harvard students.”

Cheng previously represented Quincy House as a UC general member.

Cheng defended the app’s rollout, saying the UC had previously declined to take on the project. He also took aim at a

Harvard, 24/7.

The Crimson thecrimson.com

constitutional amendment the body passed in December that changed voting thresholds for campus-wide referenda, saying it amounted to an attempt to overthrow his election victory.

“They made the choice to try to undermine the election results and play games, and so, if they’re willing to make up, I’m happy to work with them — but they’ve got to do that,” Cheng said. “I would also be complaining if I felt a little left out, but they made the choice to be left out.”

Some students reported problems with the app, which

was developed by Cheng and some of his friends.

“I went online to look through it and it was very much confusing,” said Ricardo R. Razon IV ’25. “I did not know how to use it.”

Cheng says he plans to use polling data sourced from the app as leverage in negotiations with campus administrators.

“It’s a way for us to get the student voice back in the University, and a lot of administrators respond to data,” he said. sellers.hill@thecrimson.com mert.geyiktepe@thecrimson.com

SPORTS

WEEKLY RECAP

SCORES

MEN’S HOCKEY VS. BOSTON COLLEGE W, 6-3 ___________________________________________________________

MEN’S SWIMMING AT YALE W, 248.5-104.5 ___________________________________________________________

MEN’S SQUASH VS. NO. 4 YALE W, 8-1 ___________________________________________________________

MEN’S TENNIS AT USC L, 4-0 ___________________________________________________________

WOMEN’S SQUASH VS. NO. 4 YALE W, 7-2 ___________________________________________________________

MEN’S HOCKEY AT NO. 8/9 CORNELL T, 2-2 ___________________________________________________________

WOMEN’S ICE HOCKEY

No. 6/8 Harvard Tops BU, Advances to Beanpot Final

STIRRING THE POT Junior forward Anne Bloomer goes on the attack in a December 4 win over RPI. Bloomer netted two goals in Harvard’s win over Boston University in the first round of the Beanpot. OWEN A. BERGER—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

By CHRISTOPHER D. WRIGHT CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

BOSTON — The 43rd installment of the Beanpot Tournament, Boston’s annual clash featuring Boston University and Northeastern alongside Harvard and Boston College, began at Matthews Arena Tuesday night after a nearly two-year hiatus. The Harvard women’s ice hockey team used a strong third period to pull away from Boston University in the opening game of the tournament.

The No. 6/8 Crimson (16-50, ECAC 12-3-0) extended its

win streak to seven with the win over the Terriers (10-10-4, 9-6-3 Hockey East).

The victory, the first in the Beanpot for Harvard since 2019, propelled the Crimson to its 30th appearance in the Beanpot final.

“You can float around the ice or you can play with purpose,” said Harvard head coach Katey Stone. “I think the biggest thing is that our kids believe in themselves and their teammates.”

The first period proved to be one for the defenses, as neither team could score. Early in the period, both teams possessed

the puck and fired shots on goal. Harvard’s best opportunity came when BU’s Kylie Roberts was assessed a two-minute penalty for roughing. However, the chance came and went as the Terriers were able to successfully kill off the power play.

At the 13-minute mark, Crimson junior forward Kristin Della Rovere almost struck first blood.

Her shot narrowly missed, careening off the left pipe. BU also had a chance to play the advantage in the first after Harvard junior defender Maryna Macdonald was called for trip-

ping. The Terriers also failed to convert their power play, with Harvard returning to even strength with three minutes remaining in the first.

The Crimson struck first in the second period, when firstyear forward Taze Thompson took the pass from senior forward Brooke Jovanovich and sent it between BU goaltender Kate Stuart’s legs.

The momentum continued to swing Harvard’s way as it went on the power play at the seven-minute and ten-minute marks.

However, the Terriers were

able to weather the storm and kill off both of the power plays.

A few minutes later, BU scored the equalizer when Lacey Martin slid one past Harvard senior goalie Becky Dutton.

To begin the third, both goalies were locked in, stopping shot after shot. This was the first time in the 2021-22 season that the Crimson had entered the third period tied.

The Terriers had an opportunity to take the lead at the three minute mark when Harvard senior defender Emma Buckles was penalized for slashing.

The Crimson were able to

fight off the power play once again, this time holding BU without a shot on goal. Three minutes later, it was the Terriers’ turn to play one woman down, as Emma Wuthrich received a two-minute minor for tripping.

However, the Crimson again had no luck on the power play.

Harvard’s best chance on the power play went awry when Della Rovere fired a slap shot that caused her stick to split in half and her shot to once again hit the pipe.

With eight minutes already gone in the third, it appeared as though the game was destined for overtime. However, the Crimson played by the words its coach told them during the intermission before the third period. “Don’t stop until you win,” Stone said.

Harvard found its lead thanks to its talented first line.

With 11 minutes to go, junior forward Anne Bloomer delivered a pass from senior forward Becca Gilmore into the back of the cage.

“It’s super easy to play with Kristin [Della Rovere] and Becca [Gilmore],” said Bloomer. “I think we all have a good sense of when to pass and when to shoot.”

Bloomer, the team leader in goals, added another one six minutes later to extend the Crimson’s lead to two and bring her season total to 17.

Della Rovere sealed the win when she scored off an assist from Gilmore with four minutes remaining.

Dutton, the reigning ECAC goalie of the month, made 21 saves to secure the victory. In the process, she also picked up her seventh straight win in goal.

The 4-1 victory sends Harvard to the Beanpot Championship and gives its the opportunity to win its 12th title, which would be its first since 2015.

Next up, the Crimson return to ECAC play with a pair of matchups versus Colgate (20-61, ECAC 10-4-1) and Cornell (99-2, ECAC 7-6-2) in New York. christopher.wright@thecrimson.com

SKIING

Harvard Captures 7th Place at Saint Michael’s Carnival

By MIMI S. KOENIG and MADDIE B. BARKATE CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

The Harvard ski team built on a strong start to the season with a seventh-place finish at the Saint Michael’s Carnival on January 21st and 22nd. Career-best performances were a dime a dozen for the Crimson, with junior Annabel Hagen, junior Emma Ryan, sophomore Liam McNamara, sophomore Elsie Halvorsen, and first-year Mads Groeholdt all having record days.

We have a very small team. But everyone’s been doing really well, performing really well... we’re small, but we’re mighty Liam McNamara Harvard Skier

Despite delays due to negative temperatures, Harvard’s nordic squad made their mark.

Groeholdt, who has placed top25 in all three events of his career, led the Crimson in the 10k with a 14th-place finish. Senior James Kitch and senior Everett Sapp finished 27th and 28th respectively, pushing until the end to reach the finish line seconds apart. In the 5k, Sapp nabbed 19th place, followed by Kitch in 20th and Groeholdt in 25th.

Not to be outdone, the women

made their mark on the course as well. First-year Quincy Donley came in 36th in the 25k on Friday. This was followed by a successful 5k Saturday for Harvard, with Hagen leading the charge in 23rd and senior Ursula Volz following closely behind in 24th. Coupled with a 41stplace finish for Donley and 43rd place for sophomore Laura Appleby, they were able to cement a solid seventh.

“It was definitely fun to see your hard work actually pan out and get a good result,” Hagen said. However, she is looking to make progress. “It was nice to be top 25, but definitely have some higher goals.”

Harvard’s alpine group posted record times as well, with Friday’s giant slalom seeing senior Nellie Ide achieve a season-best 18th place. Halvorsen came in right after at 19th, with Ryan finishing in 30th. Saturday’s slalom events meant record days for Halvorsen and Ryan, with Halvorsen cracking the top-10 for the first time in her career at 10th, and Ryan coming in at a career-best 15th.

Although Ide’s slalom resulted in a did not finish (DNF), Halvorsen and Ryan’s numbers still managed to place the women’s squad in seventh.

The men’s showing was also filled with standout performances. On Friday’s giant slalom, McNamara posted a career-best 12th, with junior Jack Despres representing the Crimson well in 19th. Although firstyear Matt Ryan had his race result in a DNF, he was clocked in third halfway down the course on the split timer. Saturday’s

slalom resulted in a 15th place finish for Ryan and a 21st place finish for McNamara, who has not missed the top 25 so far this season.

“We have a very small team,”

said McNamara, “But everyone’s been doing really well, performing really well. In past years we’d be lucky to get one or two people in the top 30 of these races..but we’ve gotten like four

or five athletes in the top 30 in most races we’ve been to…we’re small, but we’re mighty.”

Next, the Crimson will head back to Vermont on February 4 to take part in the UVM Car-

nival, where Alpine and Nordic will compete in Stowe and Craftsbury, respectively. miriam.koenig@thecrimson.com madison.barkate@thecrimson.com

CLASSIC PERFORMANCE At the St. Michael’s Carnival, Harvard saw a number of stellar individual performances. The squad hopes to send representatives back to the NCAA races, which were some of Harvard’s last pre-pandemic athletic competitions. COURTESY OF LILY KOFFMAN