The Harvard Crimson THE UNIVERSITY DAILY, EST. 1873
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VOLUME CXLIX, NO. 11
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CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS
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MONDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2022
EDITORIAL PAGE 4
SPORTS PAGE 7
IN PHOTOS PAGE 8
This is your cue to fill out the Q guide (in earnest)
Women’s basketball earns critical pair of conference victories
In Photos: Actress Jennifer Garner honored by the Hasty Pudding
Dining Returns to Full Capacity By LUCAS J. WALSH and VIVIAN ZHAO CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS
After making it through two weeks of the semester without a major spike in Covid-19 cases, Harvard loosened its public health restrictions last Friday. Dining halls are once again operating at full capacity, and undergraduate testing cadence was reduced to twice per week. The changes come as Covid-19 cases are declining rapidly in the greater Boston area. In Cambridge, just nine new cases were reported on Saturday, compared to 449 one month prior. Harvard’s Dean of Students Office announced the updates in an email to undergraduates on Friday. The changes bring the school’s dining and testing policies back in line with what they looked like last fall, prior to the arrival of the Omicron variant.
In addition to relaxed dining and testing policies, indoor events will again be allowed to have food and beverages if they follow other University health guidelines, such as providing space for social distancing and notifying attendees that food will be available. But several other precautions remain in place. Non-sponsored informal gatherings remained capped at 10 people, and students who test positive will continue to isolate in place and conduct their own contact tracing. Harvard changed its Covid-19 restrictions at the start of the spring term to adapt to the fast-spreading Omicron variant, which is highly transmissible but poses a reduced risk of severe illness to most young people. Many classes went remote for the first week of school, dining was
SEE DINING PAGE 3
Bacow Defends Collab. Policy By CARA J. CHANG and ISABELLA B. CHO CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS
said in a press release. “Submitting a score is optional for every type of college, and we want the SAT to be the best possible option for students.” Some admissions consultants said the decision is an effort by the College Board to maintain relevance as more colleges make standardized tests optional. “The million dollar question — or the $2.2 million question — is, can the SAT come back to relevancy?” said Daniel L. Valenti ’09, a managing director for admissions consulting firm InGenius Prep. “Their goal is to both have as many customers — as many students — take the test as possible, and also keep the test as accurate or as relevant or as predictive as possible,” Velanti added. Katie Burns, a counselor at admissions consulting firm IvyWise, said the move was made in an attempt to keep up with an “increasingly digital” world. Admissions consultant Steven R. Goodman said the Col-
University President Lawrence S. Bacow reiterated in a Thursday interview Harvard’s commitment to academic collaboration with foreign scholars following the federal conviction of Chemistry professor Charles M. Lieber. Lieber was found guilty in December on six federal charges, including two counts of making false statements to government agencies and four related tax fraud offenses. Bacow called the situation “unfortunate” but said he is “comfortable” with the University’s policies on disclosing research collaborations and obtaining permission to use the Harvard name. “We’ve always had policies requiring the use of the Harvard name,” he said. “These are policies which are well known to our faculty.” Bacow also said it is important for Harvard affiliates to continue collaborating with foreign talent. “It’s important that the United States continue to be open to scholars around the world,” he said. “I have tried to support the efforts of students and faculty to continue to gain entrance into this country from wherever they come from and will continue to do so.” Bacow added that Harvard benefits from collaboration with foreign scholars, noting that some of the University’s brightest minds hail from China. “As an institution, we have responsibilities to continue to protect our own intellectual property and we’ll do that, but I think it’s wrong to single out any particular group for scrutiny,” he said. “Some of the finest students and scholars we have in this University come from China and will continue to come from China.”
SEE SAT PAGE 5
SEE BACOW PAGE 3
Students in Quincy House eat side by side following the new changes in dining hall restrictions. AIYANA G. WHITE— CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER
Experts Commend College Board For Virtual SAT By RAHEM D. HAMID and NIA L. ORAKWUE CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS
Admissions experts welcomed the College Board’s move to shift the SAT to a virtual format, but described the change as an effort to stay relevant amid a rise in test-optional admissions policies. The College Board announced last month that it would administer the SAT exclusively in a virtual format starting in 2024, following a pilot program last year. The move comes after just 1.5 million members of the class of 2021 took the SAT — a drop from the 2.2 million who took the test the year prior. Harvard announced in December it would implement a test-optional policy through the Class of 2030 in light of Covid-19. “‘In a largely test-optional world, the SAT is a lower-stakes test in college admissions,” Priscilla C. Rodriguez, vice president of College Readiness Assessments at the College Board,
MARGARET A. YIN—CRIMSON DESIGNER
New Class at HGSE City Officials Advocate for MBTA Fare Changes on Legacy of Slavery By YUSUF S. MIAN and CHARLOTTE P. RITZ-JACK CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS
By PATON D. ROBERTS CRIMSON STAFF WRITER
A new Harvard Graduate School of Education class is developing a series of case studies as a part of the University’s Initiative on Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery, which began in 2019. Students enrolled in “Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery: A Normative Case-Study Writing Initiative” — taught by Harvard Graduate School of Education professor Meira Levinson — are creating case studies and teaching guides that will focus on the “complicated and ambiguous ethical choices” departments and institutions face, according to the course description. Levinson serves on the initiative’s curriculum subcommittee, which is examining how educators and students can best approach their study of Harvard’s historical relationship with slavery. “We all have learning to do, and we can’t expect students to learn things if, as faculty and staff and alumni, we remain ignorant,” Levinson said. INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Harvard Today 2
“The learning needs to be much more broad-based,” he added. Harvard Graduate School of Education student Catherine G. Huang was drawn to the topic of universities’ ties to slavery after her experience as an undergraduate at the University of Virginia during the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally, where white nationalist groups marched in Charlottesville. “I think what’s unique about this class is that it’s not necessarily solution-oriented,” Huang said. “It really leans into the uncertainty that generates new possibilities of action, because they don’t know what exactly is the right thing to do just now.” Huang also said she values the complexity of the ethical dilemmas students discuss in the course, such as what universities can do with endowments obtained through unethical labor practices. “What should we do with a university’s endowment if that endowment was historically a
MBTA officials and municipal policymakers are considering changing fare structures to increase access to public transportation services. The MBTA proposed changes in late January to expand reduced-fare options for riders. Some of these proposals expand no-cost transfers to all riders, while others include a five-day unlimited pass on commuter rail and lower costs of oneday unlimited transfer passes available to all riders. For reduced-fare riders, the MBTA proposed seven-day and monthly unlimited passes. Mayors across the state have introduced their own proposals, with some calling for the complete elimination of bus fares. On Jan. 27, Cambridge Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui sent a letter calling on the MBTA to implement a fare-free bus service pilot with the possibility of transitioning it to a permanent program. Nearly 30 elected officials representing 15 neighboring towns and cities joined Siddiqui in signing the letter.
SEE HGSE PAGE 3
SEE MBTA PAGE 3
News 3
Editorial 4
Sports 6
Municipal policymakers are considering new fare structures to increase equity within the MBTA. AIYANA G. WHITE— CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER
TODAY’S FORECAST
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