The Harvard Crimson - Volume CLI, No. 3

THE HARVARD CRIMSON THE UNIVERSITY DAILY, EST. 1873

| VOLUME CLI, NO. 3

| CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS

FALSIFIED DATA

CAMPUS CLIMATE

TEST OPTIONAL

SPORTS

Harvard’s Test Optional Policies Face Criticism

Men’s Lacrosse Looks Ahead to 2024 Ivy Campaign

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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2024

Scientist Accused of Research Misconduct MEDICAL SCHOOL. Harvard Medical School neuroscientist Khalid Shah faced allegations of falsified data and plagarized images across 21 papers spanning more than 20 years.

SEE PAGE 5

OPINION

Admissions Should Be More Meritocratic MORE MERIT. Psychology professor Steven A. Pinker advocated for Harvard’s admissions system to rely more heavily on merit when selecting which students to admit to the ollege.

SEE PAGE 10

Uneasy Return to Campus CALM AFTER THE STORM. When College students left campus for winter break, they left behind fierce divisions. Amid strong disagreement over the Israel-Hamas war and former President Claudine Gay’s resignation, rifts continued to grow. But after months of turmoil, students said they returned to a surprising calm on a campus that remains in recovery. SEE PAGE 6

CATHERINE H. FENG AND HANNAH S. LEE— CRIMSON DESIGNERS

LABOR

Interim President Alan Garber’s Uneasy Relationship With Harvard Unions

BY ARAN SONNAD– JOSHI AND SHEEREA X. YU

ARTS

CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

­W Artist Profile: Brandon Sanderson FANTASY AUTHOR. Brandon Sanderson, hailed for his fantasy novels, discussed his original work, teaching creative writing, and how he builds fantasy world in an interview with The Crimson.

SEE PAGE 13

hen longtime Harvard Provost Alan M. Garber ’76 suddenly became interim president earlier this month, the powerful but largely invisible administrator was unfamiliar to most Harvard affiliates.

But not Harvard’s unions. They know Garber well — and they can’t stand him.

In his 12-year tenure as provost, Garber served not only as Harvard’s chief academic officer but also oversaw union issues on campus in collaboration with the Harvard Office of Labor Relations, led

by Paul R. Curran.

Though Garber’s extensive familiarity with Harvard made him a safe choice to

GARBER

AND CAM E. KETTLES CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

KEN GRIFFIN

‘WHINY SNOWFLAKES.’ The billionaire hedge fund manager and Harvard megadonor said he would stop donating to his alma mater and took aim at elite colleges and universities in America.

SEE PAGE 4

basically leading the most vicious anti-union campaign that we’ve seen in grad worker unionization,” Mancilla said.

The University’s efforts to prevent graduate student unionization succeeded, and HGSU-UAW lost its first union election in Nov. 2016.

But lawyers for the union challenged the outcome, sparking months of legal battles.

More than one year later, the National Labor Relations Board found that Harvard excluded eligible voters from the election and mandated they hold a second election.

This time, in April 2018, the union won — and HGSU-UAW was born.

Mancilla alleged that the NLRB reversal was the result of a “vicious anti-campaign” by Garber and Curran.

“A Trump labor board — that was how

bad it was, how egregious the violation was — ended up ruling in our favor, to order a second election,” Mancilla said.

But even as the union earned the right to exist at Harvard, it was still met with fierce resistance from Garber and an intentionally delayed negotiation process by the University, Mancilla said.

“They slow-walk the entire process and Garber is the chief reason why,” he said.

“The Office of Labor and Employment Relations can have whatever opinion it has, but in the end, they report to higher administration, and the position of the higher administration is the position that they will take.”

Garber was the top administrator overseeing negotiations between Harvard and HGSU-UAW during those 2018 negotiations.

SEE PAGE 8

PLAGIARISM

Garber Will Not Return Diversity Chief Faces to Role as Provost Plagiarism Allegations

BY EMMA H. HAIDAR

Griffin Suspends Donations

lead a University in crisis, his elevation to the presidency has many of Harvard’s workers wary.

In 2018, when Garber was rumored to be a presidential candidate, labor activists led a campaign against his possible selection, sending more than 100 emails to members of the presidential search committee to advocate against Garber.

Members of the Harvard Graduate Student Union-United Auto Workers remember the opposition they were faced with in 2018 when graduate students attempted to unionize and negotiate with Harvard for the first time.

Brandon J. Mancilla, who served as the first president of HGSU-UAW, said Garber staunchly opposed labor initiatives and led University efforts to prevent graduate student workers from unionizing.

“Garber’s role during that time was

Interim Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76 said he will not return to his role as provost after the University appoints Claudine Gay’s permanent successor but declined to say whether he would be a candidate in the search.

Garber’s answer indicates that he will either retire after his stint as Harvard’s interim president or take on the role full time.

“I am happy to be serving as interim president at a time when Harvard is facing a number of crises,” Garber said.

“I am happy in my current position,” he added. “I’ll just leave it at that.”

Before his appointment as interim president earlier this year, Garber, 68, served for 12 years as provost — arguably the second-highest position at the University — and was expected to retire in the

first years of Gay’s presidency.

Garber is among the most obvious candidates to become Harvard’s 31st president, particularly if the search committee decides the University quickly needs a permanent leader who can provide stability.

While the Harvard Corporation — the University’s highest governing body — might opt for a candidate who could serve for more than a decade as president, Garber’s comments indicate he has not ruled out a path to becoming Gay’s permanent successor.

Garber did not immediately drop his title as provost when Gay’s shock resignation elevated him to the University’s top post, but in the interview he said that he does not intend to remain provost for much longer.

Garber’s comments about his future plans at Harvard, made during his first interview as interim president, only offer a

SEE PAGE 5

BY NEIL H. SHAH AND TILLY R. ROBINSON CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

Harvard’s Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer Sherri A. Charleston faced 40 allegations of plagiarism in an anonymous complaint filed with the University on Monday.

The complaint, first reported by the Washington Free Beacon on Tuesday, alleged 28 instances of plagiarism in Charleston’s doctoral dissertation at the University of Michigan and 12 allegations against a 2014 article in the Journal of Negro Education, co-authored with her husband LaVar J. Charleston and Michigan State University College of Education Dean Jerlando F.L. Jackson.

Complaints were also filed to the University of Michigan and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where Charleston co-wrote the 2014 paper, according to the Free Beacon.

The complaint alleged that the “results” described in the 2014 article were “practically identical” to the “major findings” of a 2012 article paper by LaVar Charleston — the UW-Madison deputy vice chancellor for diversity and inclusion — in the Journal of Diversity of Higher Education.

The two articles contain nearly identical descriptions of interviewee demographics. While the 2014 article repeatedly cites LaVar Charleston’s 2012 article, it does not attribute the interviews to the 2012 article or cite it in the passages in question.

The 2014 article also includes an interview which appears nearly identically in the 2012 article, with no indication that the interviews are shared.

The complaint also accused the 2014 article of lifting other phrases from the 2012 article “without proper attribution.”

The complaint follows plagiarism

SEE PAGE 8

2

THE HARVARD CRIMSON

LAST WEEK

FEBRUARY 2, 2024

UNIVERSITY

LABOR

POLITICS

Black Harvard Affiliates Reflect on Gay

Securitas Settle with Guard in Case

Faust Supports Disqualifying Trump

REFLECTING ON GAY’S RESIGNATION. Nearly one month after the resignation of former President Claudine Gay, Black Harvard affiliates said they were disappointed but not surprised at her decision to step down on Jan. 2. Gay, who was the first person of color to lead Harvard, departed the University’s top post amid fierce criticism of her response to antisemitism on campus and allegations of plagiarism in her academic work.

RETALIATION CASE. Harvard and Securitas settled a National Labor Relations Board case with former security guard Walter J. Terzano, who alleged that the University and Securitas retaliated against him for organizing a protest. In a NLRB notice to employees, Securitas wrote that it offered to reinstate Terzano to his former position at the Agassiz House, will issue him a letter of apology, and will compensate him for any losses incurred due to the suspension, including legal fees.

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. Former Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust filed an amicus brief to the Supreme Court Monday in Trump v. Anderson, the forthcoming case on former U.S. President Donald J. Trump’s disqualification from the presidential primary ballot in Colorado. The brief — written by Faust and History professor Jill Lepore in support of the respondents, who argue that Trump is ineligible for the presidency — focuses on the history of the 14th Amendment during the Reconstruction era.

BY SUMMER Z. SUN AND SAMANTHA D. WU — CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

BY ARAN SONNAD-JOSHI AND SHEEREA X. YU — CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

BY S. MAC HEALEY AND SAKETH SUNDAR — CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

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The Week in Photos

AROUND THE IVIES PRINCETON UNIVERSITY CONFISCATED 80 SCOOTERS SINCE UNIVERSITY ISSUED BAN

SNOWFALL SCENES FROM THE ARBORETUM — Light snow falls on the Harvard Arboretum, located near Jamaica Plains, Boston. The beginning of the week was filled with heavy rainfall and a hint of snow.

The university spokesperson wrote that most of the scooters impounded showed signs of abandonment and were not registered with the Transportation and Parking Services. Princeton students were informed in early December of the new vehicle policy and were advised to remove their scooters and e-bikes from campus over the winter break. Administration cited safety concerns and a lack of compliance with former rules as the cause of the ban.

JADE LOZADA — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

THC Read more at THECRIMSON.COM

STUDENTS AT THE PENN REPORTED FINDING A COCKROACH, GLASS AND A MAGGOT IN THEIR FOOD The three separate incidents occurred just under a year after two Penn dining hall locations were found to have violated city health codes. According to Bill Hess, the residential district manager for Bon Appetit Management Company, the Penn Dining staff followed up immediately when they were informed of each incident. Hess also informed The Daily Pennsylvanian that Penn Dining will be reviewing procedures with produce suppliers.

THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN

COLUMBIA STUDENT NAMED ATHLETE OF THE YEAR BY WORLD ARCHERY AMERICAS Sophomore Sydney Sullenberger, a Florida-native, won several national and international competitions over the summer that lead up to the ultimate title, including winning first place at the World Archery Youth Championship in Women’s Under 21 and the USA Junior Olympic Archery Development Target Nationals. Alongside her commitment to the Columbia archery team, Sullenberger learned in December that she will be competing for the US Archery Team for the fourth year in a row.

THE COLUMBIA SPECTATOR

RED LINE IN THE HEADLINES — The MBTA Red Line will close for maintenance starting February 5 until February 14. The project hopes to reduce slowdowns and promote safety by updating infrastructure. Read more about the shutdown on page 12.

IN PROTEST OF GRIFFIN — Outside the Harvard Square T station Thursday afternoon, a protestor decries the perceived influence of Kenneth C. Griffin ‘89 over the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and the decline of the humanities in a demonstration.

BRIANA HOWARD-PAGÁN — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

JACK R. TRAPANICK — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

YALE PROFESSORS DONATED ALMOST EXCLUSIVELY TO DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES IN 2023 Yale professors donated roughly $127,000, of which 98.4 percent went to Democratic campaigns according to an analysis of Federal Elections Committee filings from 2023. The Biden Victory fund and the Democratic National Convention were the largest benefactors of Yale professors in 2023. Act Blue, a fundraising platform for Democratic non profits and politicians received over 700 individual contributions from members of the Yale faculty.

YALE DAILY NEWS

CHELSEA CLINTON — Former First Daughter Chelsea V. Clinton moderated a discussion on the effects of climate change on childhood development at a Harvard Graduate School of Education forum Wednesday. She was joined by Dean Bridget Long and panelists Leah Austin, president and CEO of the National Black Child Development Institute; Gaurab Basu, director of education and policy at the School of Public Health, Lindsey Burghardt, chief science officer of the Center for the Developing Child, and Junlei Li, a senior lecturer in early childhood education.

JOSEPH NYE — The Harvard Institute of Politics hosted Joseph Nye, a former Harvard Kennedy School dean a and former assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, in a forum discussing international events and the current political climate at Harvard. The discussion was moderated by Professor Hannah Riley Bowles, Roy E. Larsen Senior Lecturer in Public Policy and Management.

EMILY L. DING — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

JACK R. TRAPANICK — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

NEXT WEEK

THE HARVARD CRIMSON FEBRUARY 2, 2024

What’s Next

IN THE REAL WORLD U.S. HOUSE PASSES BIPARTISAN TAX BILL The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a $78 billion tax package with strong bipartisan support. According to the New York Times, the bill includes an expansion of the child tax credit and restores corporate tax breaks. Both Democrats and Republicans legislators supported the bill, which was passed by a 278-vote margin on Wednesday night.

The bill — which represents the House’s first piece of major bipartisan legislation of the year — still faces a difficult path to enactment as it makes its way through the Senate.

GOP SPLIT OVER BIPARTISAN BORDER BILL As legislators wrap up negotiations on a plan to reduce the surge of migrants at the Southern border, divisions in the GOP threaten its future on Capitol Hall. Former President Donald Trump came out against the plan, repeatedly criticizing the plan and urging lawmakers to oppose its passage as he campaigns for the presidency. Now, Senate Republicans are divided over their support for the plan. According to NPR, Republicans, Democrats, and Biden administration officials have been negotiating the details of the plan for months.

TECH CEOS GRILLED BY LAWMAKERS

3

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

Friday 2/2

Monday 2/5

Wednesday 2/7

MEN’S BASKETBALL: HARVARD V. COLUMBIA

JFK JR. FORUM: THEODORE H. WHITE LECTURE WITH JOHN DICKERSON

GALLERY TALK: THE MUSICAL MATERIALITY OF NAM JUNE PAIK’S ELECTRONIC OPERA #1

Lavietes Pavilion, 7:00 p.m.

Come cheer on the Harvard Crimson as the basketball team takes on the Columbia Lions on Friday night! After enjoying a strong start to the season, the Crimson are currently tied for 4th place in the Ivy League rankings.

JFK Jr. Forum, 6 - 7 p.m.

Join the Institute of Politics to welcome C.B.S news anchor John Dickerson as he delivers the Theodore H. White Lecture on Press & Politics. Dickerson will discuss the role and challenge for the media in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election.

Harvard Art Museums, 12:30 - 1 p.m.

Shirley Hunt will discuss the role of recorded music in Nam June Paik’s audiovisual work, Electronic Opera #1. Hunt will dive into its significance and creative processes in her gallery talk.

Saturday 2/3

Tuesday 2/6

Thursday 2/8

HARVARD COLLEGE OPERA PRESENTS FALSTAFF

HASTY PUDDING THEATRICALS’ 74TH WOMAN OF THE YEAR

POETRY CRAFT TALK AND READING WITH STEPHANIE BURT

Agassiz Theater, 7:30 p.m.

Join the Harvard College Opera for Falstaff, Guiseppi Verdi’s final opera — and their first production of the year! Based on Shakespeare’s play The Merry Wives of Windsor, this opera the romantic misadventures of the boastful knight, Falstaff.

Farkas Hall, 7 - 10 p.m.

Join the Hasty Pudding as they honor Annette Bening, their 74th Woman of the Year! Come enjoy a celebratory roast and watch as Bening accepts the Pudding Pot as recognition for her contributions to the world of entertainment, before watching The Hasty Pudding Theatricals 175th production, Heist Heist Baby.

Center for the Study of World Religions, 3:30 - 5 p.m.

Come enjoy a poetry reading from poet, literary critic, and professor Stephanie Burt on Thursday afternoon. The reading will be followed by a craft talk and Q&A with the poet.

Sunday 2/4

Friday 2/9

SCREENING: CLOSE YOUR EYES

LUNAR NEW YEAR: FOUNDATION FRIDAY

Harvard Film Archive, 3 – 5:30 p.m.

Spend your Sunday afternoon watching director Victor Erice’s Close Your Eyes, a film following the mysterious disappearance of Spanish actor Julio Arenas. Starring Manolo Solo and Jose Coronado, Close Your Eyes won best film at the 17th Leffest Lisboa Film Festival in 2023, and has been nominated for several Cinema Writer’s Circle awards.

Grays Lower Level, 1-3 p.m.

Celebrate Lunar New Year with the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations, the Asian American Association, and the Harvard Korean Association! Enjoy mooncakes, paper lantern crafts, and great company to ring in the new year.

Prominent tech CEOs came under fire from lawmakers in a Wednesday hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Executives — including Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, X’s Linda Yaccarino, Snapchat’s Evan Spiegel, Discord’s Jason Citron, and TikTok’s Shou Zi Chew — were accused of failing to protect children from sexual abuse and exploitation on their platforms, according to NPR.

US FEDERAL RESERVE NOT READY TO CUT INTEREST RATES Federal Reserve officials signal rate reductions are on the way — just not quite yet. At their first meeting of 2024, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell said the U.S. had “six good months” of decreasing inflation, but wants to see further progress before lowering rates, according to the New York Times.

A FROSTY FIRST WEEK

MIDDLE EAST CRISIS WIDENS As the U.S. responds to a lethal drone strike, Iranian leaders have signaled they do not want to escalate tensions.

U.S. officials have said that the weekend drone attack in Jordan — which killed three American soldiers and wounded 40 others — was coordinated by one or more Iranian-backed militias.

While President Biden has said he has decided on a response, he has said he wants to avoid a wider regional conflict in the Middle East. The New York Times reported that Iranian officials have echoed these sentiments, while warning that the country is prepared to respond in the case of an attack.

JULIAN J. GIORDANO — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

THE HARVARD CRIMSON J. Sellers Hill ’25 President

STAFF FOR THIS ISSUE Miles J. Herszenhorn ’25

Matthew M. Doctoroff ’25

Managing Editor

Business Manager

Magazine Chairs Hewson Duffy ’25 Kaitlyn Tsai ’25

Design Chairs Laurinne Jamie P. Eugenio ’26 Sami E. Turner ’25

Tommy Barone ’25 Jacob M. Miller ’25

Blog Chairs Eve S. Jones ’25 Hayeon Ok ’25

Multimedia Chairs Julian J. Giordano ’25 Addison Y. Liu ’25

Arts Chairs Anna Moiseieva ’25 Allison S. Park ’25

Sports Chairs Katharine A. Forst ’25 Jack K. Silvers ’25

Technology Chairs Dennis S. Eum ’26 Neil H. Shah ’26

Associate Managing Editors Elias J. Schisgall ’25 Claire Yuan ’25 Editorial Chairs

Associate Business Manager Mathias Melucci ’26 Meredith W.B. Zielonka ’25 Copyright 2024, The Harvard Crimson (USPS 236-560). No articles, editorials, cartoons or any part thereof appearing in The Crimson may be reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the President. The Associated Press holds the right to reprint any materials published in The Crimson. The Crimson is a non-profit, independent corporation, founded in 1873 and incorporated in 1967. Second-class postage paid in Boston, Massachusetts. Published Monday through Friday except holidays and during vacations, three times weekly during reading and exam periods by The Harvard Crimson Inc., 14 Plympton St., Cambridge, Mass. 02138

Night Editor John N. Peña ’25 Assistant Night Editors Sally E. Edwards ’26 Asher J. Montgomery ’26 Tyler J.H. Ory ’26 Sami E. Turner ’25 Story Editors Rahem D. Hamid ’25 Miles J. Herszenhorn ’25 Yusuf S. Mian ’25 Paton D. Roberts ’25 Elias J. Schisgall ’25 Sophia C. Scott ’25 Claire Yuan ’25

Design Editors Sami E. Turner ’25 Laurinne Jamie P. Eugenio ’26 Hannah S. Lee ’26 Tomisin M. Sobande ’26 Angel Zheng ’26 Catherine H. Feng ’27 Nicole M. Hernández ’27 Photo Editors Julian J. Giordano ’25 Addison Y. Liu ’25 Helen L. Piltner ’25 Marina Qu ’25 Jack R. Trapanick ’26 Lara R. Berliner ’27

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.

Arts Editors Samantha H. Chung ’25 Editorial Editors J. Sellers Hill ’25 Ian D. Svetkey ’25 Sports Editors Emma S. de Jong ’26 Nghia L. Nguyen ’26

Live, Laugh, Love, DESIGN!

4

THE HARVARD CRIMSON

NEWS

FEBRUARY 2, 2024

UNIVERSITY FINANCES

Ken Griffin Pauses Donations to Harvard DONATIONS. Billionare megadonor Ken Griffin says he will pause donations to Harvard over the University’s handling of antisemitism on campus.

BY EMMA H. HAIDAR AND CAM E. KETTLES CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

B

illionaire hedge fund manager Kenneth C. Griffin ’89 said he is pausing donations to Harvard over its handling of antisemitism on campus, a move that comes less than one year after donating $300 million to the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

Griffin announced his decision to stop donating to Harvard during a keynote talk at a conference hosted by the Managed Funds Association in Miami. Griffin, however, left open the possibility that the University could win back his support.

“I’d like that to change and I have made that clear to members of the corporate board,” he said. “But until Harvard makes it very clear that they’re going to resume their role

as educating young American men and women to be leaders, to be problem solvers, to take on difficult issues, I’m not interested in supporting the institution.”

He added that Harvard students were “whiny snowflakes” caught in a misguided ideology of oppressor and oppressed during his remarks.

“Will America’s elite university get back to their roots of educating American children – young adults – to be the future leaders of our country or are they going to maintain being lost in the wilderness of microaggressions, a DEI agenda that seems to have no real endgame, and just being loss in the wilderness?” Griffin asked.

A Harvard spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

During his remarks, Griffin also said that his firms Citadel LLC and Citadel Securities, which recruit heavily from Harvard, would not hire any students who allegedly signed a controversial student group letter in response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel — mirroring a pledge by billionaire hedge fund CEO Bill A. Ackman ’88 and other business lead-

ers who have heavily criticized the University in recent months.

Griffin, whose donations to Harvard total more than $500 million, is the largest donor to date to publicly pledge not to give to Harvard over its handling of antisemitism and its historic leadership crisis last fall. His announcement is also a serious signal that donor backlash did not end with former Harvard President Claudine Gay’s resignation Jan. 2.

He becomes the second Harvard megadonor to pause donations as the University remains in crisis over its response to the Oct. 7 attacks Billionaire philanthropist Leonard V. Blavatnik, who made the largest single gift to Harvard Medical School in its history — a $200 million donation in 2018 — said late last year that he would also halt further donations to the University.

Griffin is arguably one of the most generous Harvard donors in the University’s modern history. The Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences is named after him as well as Harvard College’s financial aid office. His decision to stop donating could have major financial implications for

Billionaire Kenneth C. Griffin ’89 said he would pause donations to Harvard during a Tuesday keynote talk at a conference hosted by the Managed Funds Association in Miami. KATHERINE L. BORRAZZO — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

the University, which is already struggling to contain a wave of donor backlash.

Griffin’s public distancing from Harvard follows his private attempts to shape the University’s

response to Oct. 7. He personally called Harvard Corporation Senior Fellow Penny S. Pritzker ’81 on Oct. 9, urging Harvard to come out in strong support of Israel.

Griffin later called Gay’s contro-

versial congressional testimony in early December “heartbreaking.” emma.haidar@thecrimson.com cam.kettles@thecrimson.com

Students File Ed. Dept. Complaint on Anti-Palestinian Discrimination

BY ARAN SONNAD-JOSHI CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

­ ore than a dozen students filed M a complaint Monday with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of

Civil Rights alleging Harvard failed to protect students from anti-Palestinian, anti-Muslim, and anti-Arab

More than a dozen students filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights.

CAM E. KETTLES — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

harassment and intimidation, according to a press release.

The complaint, filed on behalf of the students by the Muslim Legal Fund of America, claimed Harvard violated the students’ rights under Title VI, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin.

The complaint comes just months after the Department of Education opened an investigation into Harvard over the University’s handling of allegations of antisemitism. In the months since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, students have been increasingly vocal with concerns of antisemitism, Islamophobia, and anti-Palestinian bias on campus.

Christina A. Jump, the head of the MLFA’s civil litigation department, said in a Monday interview that all the students in the complaint have “experienced harassment and discrimination and intimidation based on being either Palestinian, Muslim, Arab, being perceived to be that, or being allies of their Palestinian fellow students.”

The group of students — which includes affiliates from Harvard College, Harvard Divinity School, Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and Harvard Law School — allege “negative treatment by both the administration and Harvard offi-

cials as well as fellow students on campus,” Jump added.

Harvard spokesperson Jason A. Newton declined to comment on the complaint. An Education Department spokesperson said the department does not confirm civil rights complaints in a Tuesday email.

The majority of the incidents described in the complaint occurred after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack against Israel, according to Jump.

She said that the most common complaint among the students has been that they have experienced discrimination and verbal abuse on Harvard’s campus as a result of wearing a keffiyeh, a traditional Palestinian scarf.

“When they simply walk around campus wearing the keffiyeh, they have been verbally attacked, they have had things thrown at them,” Jump said.

“They have had students and others accuse them of being terrorists for what they’re wearing.”

Jump and the press release also criticized the University for not doing more to investigate allegations of anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian bias and to better protect students on campus.

In the days after Oct. 7, a doxxing truck appeared on campus displaying the names of students allegedly affiliated with student groups that signed onto a contro-

versial pro-Palestine letter.

The University formed a doxxing task force last year to support affected students. More recently, interim President Alan M. Garber ’76 announced two presidential task forces to combat both antisemitism and Islamophobia on campus.

Jump, however, criticized the doxxing task force and said students did not receive sufficient support from the administration.

She said that the doxxing task force “never took any concrete steps, never stopped the doxxing, never did anything to help the students with the doxxing.”

“They had to help themselves as best they could — just not a position that any student should need to be put in,” Jump added.

Jump said that Harvard needs to do a better job of creating an environment where students can focus on their classes.

“The first thing I would like to see for the students is that they get a safe place to learn and can return back to the classrooms without fear,” Jump said. “At the very least, what Harvard University owes all of its students is a safe place for them to do what they went there to do.”

“If they’re not getting that, then there’s really no point in them being at Harvard,” she added. aran.sonnad-joshi@thecrimson.com

Interim President Garber to Remain on Pharma Company Board

BY EMMA H. HAIDAR AND CAM E. KETTLES CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

Interim Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76 will remain on the board of one pharmaceutical company while leading the University, a decision that complicates his relationship with the Harvard Management Company and raises questions about potential conflicts of interests.

Garber will remain on the board of Vertex, but he will step down later this spring from his position with Exelixis, a biotech company whose board he first joined in 2005, while still a professor at Stanford.

Garber, who served as provost for 12 years before becoming interim president, joined Vertex in 2017. He made at least $6.6 million dollars from his tenure on both boards since starting at Harvard, according to the Boston Globe.

Senior Harvard administrators like Garber are required to routinely file their ties to outside organizations which might conflict with their responsibilities at Harvard. Although former Harvard President Claudine Gay remained on the board of Phillips Exeter Academy during her presidency, serving on corpo-

rate boards is much more unusual among top university administrators.

According to Exelixis’ public shareholder form, Garber informed the company that he would not seek re-election on Jan. 2, the same day he took office as interim Harvard president. Garber’s term on the board expires later this spring, when he will officially step down.

A Jan. 7 press release from Exelixis cited Garber’s “expanded responsibilities at Harvard University” as the reason for his decision to step down. He will not, however, leave his position at Vertex.

“Interim President Garber will remain on the Vertex board,” Harvard spokesperson Jonathan L. Swain wrote in a statement. “He annually files conflict of interest forms with the Office of the General Counsel that acknowledge his outside board service.”

Swain declined to comment on why Garber stepped down from Exelixis but not Vertex.

Harvard Management Company — which is in charge of Harvard’s endowment — does not have direct holdings in Vertex or Exelixis, HMC spokesperson Patrick McKiernan wrote in a Monday email.

Garber was added to the board

of directors on the HMC’s website following an inquiry by The Crimson on Monday.

After an upcoming vote by the Corporation, Garber will officially join the HMC board as an ex officio member, according to Swain.

Lisa Bero, chief scientist at University of Colorado Anschutz Center for Bioethics and Humanities, said that financial involvement isn’t the only consideration when defining conflicts of interest.

“A conflict of interest isn’t just about money. Money is a big part of it, but it’s also about power and decision-making capability,” Bero said.

“So even if someone’s on a board that they’re not paid for, sometimes people think that’s okay, but they’re still in a position of power,” Bero added.

“They can make decisions that would affect them or interests close to them just by serving on the board.”

Matthew McCoy, an expert on medical ethics and conflicts of interest in health policy, said hospital administrators in particular have come under fire for serving on the boards of pharmaceutical companies while having fiduciary obligations to their hospital.

“There’s concern about those two sets of duties coming into

Interim Harvard President Alan Garber will remain on the board of one pharmaceutical company but step down from the board of a different company. CATHERINE H. FENG — CRIMSON DESIGNER

conflict with each other,” McCoy said. Critics fear “the leader basically making decisions with respect to hospital administration or patient care or development of IP that are inflected by the interests of the pharmaceutical company rather than focused solely on what’s in the best interests of the hospital.”

While McCoy said university administrators are more removed than hospital administrators, he said Garber’s decision to step down from Exelixis was the right decision given both potential conflicts of interest and conflicts of commitment that arise with the time necessary to both serve on a corporate board and

also run a university.

“I think the fact that he’s stepping down from one of these board positions is the right approach,” McCoy said. “I think he should probably step down from both of them for those reasons.” emma.haidar@thecrimson.com cam.kettles@thecrimson.com

NEWS

THE HARVARD CRIMSON FEBRUARY 2, 2024

5

UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT

GARBER FROM PAGE 1

Interim President Garber Slams ‘Pernicious’ Campus Antisemitism

Garber Doesn’t Rule out Interest in Presidency

CONCERNED. Garber said students self-censoring in the face of anti-Israel attacks is the “most disturbing of all” in his first interview as president.

BY EMMA H. HAIDAR AND CAM E. KETTLES CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

­I

nterim University President Alan M. Garber ’76 pledged to tackle “pernicious” antisemitism on Harvard’s campus, saying he is most concerned about self-censorship in the face of anti-Israel attacks in an interview Wednesday — his first since assuming office on Jan. 2.

“What I have found the most disturbing of all are situations or experiences students describe where they have felt they could not speak in class because there are attacks on Israel or maybe Israelis,” Garber said. “They feel unsupported in contradicting them.”

Garber did not answer repeated questions about whether his administration would consider instituting a speech code for Harvard classrooms. But in a follow-up statement, Garber wrote that he did not support speech codes.

In the interview, Garber said he “strongly favors free speech,” but added that there “needs to be a discussion about what are the limits.”

“Can antisemitic attacks take the form of attacks against Israel?” Garber asked. “The answer is yes, that is possible.”

Controversy surrounding free speech and antisemitism featured prominently in the last

Interim University President Alan M. Garber ‘76 expressed concerns about students self-censoring their pro-Israel views during a Wednesday interview. MARINA QU — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

three months of former Harvard President Claudine Gay’s tenure. In her widely criticized Dec. 5 congressional testimony, when asked if calling for the genocide of Jewish people would violate Harvard’s code of conduct, Gay said it depended on the context.

Garber’s remarks stand in contrast to some of Gay’s answers last semester about antisemitism on campus and suggest the current administration could take a markedly different approach to addressing antisemitism.

The University recently clarified its policies on speech and dissent in a Jan. 19 email to Harvard affiliates. The email made clear that protests in libraries, dining halls, residences, and classrooms without prior reservation violated Harvard’s policies. Outdoor protests were per-

mitted provided that they don’t block pedestrian walkways or interfere with the University’s operations.

Garber said that a “prominent manifestation” of antisemitism on campus for the newly-formed task force to address is “social shunning.”

“You can’t necessarily just apply techniques of preventing violence or vandalism,” he said. “It’s a different set of issues.”

The University is currently under investigation for its response to antisemitism by the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. The investigation launched in the immediate aftermath of Gay’s congressional testimony, but House Republicans vowed to continue investigating Harvard even after Gay’s resignation.

The committee requested a

large list of formal documents and informal communication — including meeting notes from Harvard’s governing boards and communications from top University administrators. Chairwoman Virgina Foxx (R-N.C.) called Harvard’s submission — which only included publicly available documents — “woefully inadequate” and suggested the committee would subpoena the University.

Garber said the University would “comply fully with the process” of the investigation.

In the interview, Garber also addressed his newly appointed presidential task forces to address antisemitism and Islamophobia, which have both been celebrated as even-handed and critiqued for being an extension of Gay’s now-disbanded antisemitism advisory group.

against commenting on individual research integrity concerns due to federal and institutional regulations.

She wrote that a research integrity officer will typically respond to concerns of research misconduct to determine whether it “warrants a formal inquiry” led by HMS and the “respective affiliated institution” under federal research misconduct regulations.

“Please note that until proven otherwise, any and all concerns remain simply concerns, and it is critical for the review process to unfold as intended,” Pesheva wrote.

Of the 18 scientific journals which published the articles questioned by Bik, spokespeople for seven — Oncogene, Biophysical Journal, PLOS One, Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, Cancer Biology and Therapy, Nature Scientific Reports, and Clinical Cancer Research — said they were aware of and investigating the allegations.

The other eleven journals, including Nature Communications, did not respond to requests for comment.

bit more clarity about how the University will navigate its current leadership crisis.

One of the likeliest administrators to succeed Garber as provost, Deputy Provost Peggy Newell, has served in her current role since 2012.

The presidential search process, however, has not started yet. One month after Gay’s resignation, Senior Fellow Penny S. Pritzker ’81 has not named a presidential search committee or provided any timeline for when to expect one.

An email from the Corporation sent to affiliates minutes after Gay’s resignation which said a search would “begin in due course,” remains the University’s only communication about the process.

In their Jan. 2 email, the Corporation’s fellows, as the board’s members are formally known, said that the search will include “broad engagement and consultation with the Harvard community.”

Past presidential search committees have been composed of the Corporation’s 12 Fellows and three members of the Board of Overseers. Pritzker, as the senior fellow, will spearhead the process.

The Corporation has had a vacancy for more than six months, after billionaire philanthropist David M. Rubenstein stepped down from the board at the end of June. Pritzker will likely want to fill the vacancy before formally launching the presidential search process.

In the interview, Garber said he had no information about the search to fill the Corporation seat.

“The consideration about new Fellows for the Corporation is the province of the governance committee, with whom I have not met since my appointment,” Garber added.

The Corporation has come under intense scrutiny over the past few months for its handling of both plagiarism allegations against Gay and its silence following Gay’s damaging testimony before Congress. Given the Corporation’s decisive control over the presidential search, the process — and the eventual appointment — will likely face the most scrutiny and media attention in recent years.

Searches for Harvard presidents are usually lengthy processes that take close to a year. The Corporation’s five-month search before naming Gay as the University’s 30th president was the fastest search in almost 70 years.

Garber declined to comment if Gay’s selection was too rushed.

“I do think that for the search for a president — just as is true for the search for a dean or any other major leadership position — we should take as much time as we need to get the best possible person,” Garber said.

When asked how Gay’s brief tenure went wrong, Garber said that it would be “inappropriate” for him to comment but maintained that “she had a great deal of judgment and cared a lot about academic standards.”

“I expected her to have a much longer tenure,” he added.

veronica.paulus@thecrimson.com akshaya.ravi@thecrimson.com

emma.haidar@thecrimson.com cam.kettles@thecrimson.com

Garber said that Gay’s advisory group largely accomplished its mandate — setting the foundation for another task force.

“A big part of their responsibility was to help guide what a longer term task force would do,” he said.

Garber said Gay’s advisory group had provided recommendations for the new presidential task force and implored critics to withhold judgment until after the task force makes its recommendations, noting that the group has not even convened yet.

Beyond the co-chairs leading the task forces, its members have not been announced, and a deadline for recommendations has not been established.

“They should judge us based on what these task forces produce,” Garber said, adding that the twin task forces have ”an ambitious set of goals.”

History professor Derek J. Penslar, Garber’s pick to co-lead the presidential task force on antisemitism, faced intense criticism — including from former Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers — for past remarks that suggested reports of antisemitism at Harvard were exaggerated.

Garber, however, did not directly answer whether he agreed with Penslar’s past assessment of antisemitism on campus.

“I think Derek would agree with me that we have a very serious problem,” he said. “One of the most important goals for the task force is to come up with interventions that will effectively deal with the problem we’re facing today.” emma.haidar@thecrimson.com cam.kettles@thecrimson.com

Top HMS Neuroscientist Accused of Research Misconduct

BY VERONICA H. PAULUS AND AKSHAYA RAVI CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

Top Harvard Medical School neuroscientist Khalid Shah allegedly falsified data and plagiarized images across 21 papers, data manipulation expert Elisabeth M. Bik said.

In an analysis shared with The Crimson, Bik alleged that Shah, the vice chair of research in the department of neurosurgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, presented images from other scientists’ research as his own original experimental data.

Though Bik alleged 44 instances of data falsification in papers spanning 2001 to 2023, she said the “most damning” concerns appeared in a 2022 paper by Shah and 32 other authors in Nature Communications, for which Shah was the corresponding author.

Shah is the latest prominent scientist to have his research face scrutiny by Bik, who has emerged as a leading figure among scientists concerned with research integrity.

She contributed to data falsification allegations against four top scientists at the Dana-Farber

Cancer Institute — leading to the retraction of six and correction of 31 papers — and independently reviewed research misconduct allegations reported by the Stanford Daily against former Stanford president Marc T. Tessier-Lavigne, which played a part in his resignation last summer.

Bik said that after being notified of the allegations by one of Shah’s former colleagues, she used the AI software ImageTwin and reverse image searches to identify duplicates across papers.

Bik said she plans on detailing the specifc allegations in a forthcoming blog post.

In interviews, Matthew S. Schrag, an assistant professor of neurology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and Mike Rossner, the president of Image Data Integrity — who reviewed the allegations at The Crimson’s request — said they had merit and raised serious concerns about the integrity of the papers in question.

Shah did not respond to a request for comment for this article.

In an emailed statement Wednesday, Paul J. Anderson, the chief academic officer of Mass General Brigham, which oversees Brigham and Women’s Hospital, did not comment on the spe-

cific allegations against Shah but said the hospital “is committed to preserving the highest standards of biomedical research and fostering scientific innovation.”

“We take very seriously any questions, concerns, or allegations regarding research conducted at our hospitals and undertake a robust and confidential process to assess and respond to any claims that are brought to our attention in accordance with hospital policy and federal regulations,” Anderson wrote.

Bik said the 2022 paper contained lifted images from seven papers authored by other scientists and the websites of two scientific vendors.

The 2022 paper contains an image which Bik said was taken from imaging by R&D Systems, a company which manufactures antibodies for scientific research.

An apparently identical image to the one contained in the 2022 paper appears in a 2018 R&D Systems catalog entry obtained by The Crimson.

R&D Systems is not credited for the image in the 2022 article.

Schrag said that not only were the images repeated, but that “the vendor is saying this is a different antibody than the one that the authors are saying it is.”

“This is a really unusual sort of thing that I cannot imagine how this happens by accident,” Schrag added.

Rossner added he had never seen an allegation of duplication of this sort in 22 years.

“If I were either a research integrity officer or a journal editor, I would want to see the source data,” Rossner said.

Nature Communications, which published the 2022 article, did not respond to a request for comment.

The allegation against the earliest paper — published in 2001, on which Shah is listed as first author — claims that two blots have been copied, magnified, and pasted into two other blots within the same figure.

According to Schrag, this manipulation would change the findings of the study, as it suggests production of a larger abundance of proteins.

The remaining 19 papers contain blot and image duplications within figures in the same paper or repeated from earlier papers authored by Shah, Bik alleged.

In an emailed statement Wednesday, HMS spokesperson Ekaterina D. Pesheva declined to comment on the allegations against Shah, citing a policy

Harvard University Dining Services to Increase Halal Chicken Options

BY ISABELLA G. SCHAUBLE CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Harvard University Dining Services is in the process of ensuring that the majority of the chicken served in their dining halls is halal, according to a statement from a HUDS spokesperson.

Halal is a certification under Islamic dietary law outlining the “ethical and legal parameters required for food consumption,” according to Khalil Abdur-Rashid, a Muslim Chaplain at Harvard. The chicken served must have been allowed to graze freely and killed humanely, among other guidelines.

Back in 2015, HUDS began to

serve halal chicken on the grills at all dining halls, following a student survey demonstrating Muslim students’ preference for healthier protein options.

“HUDS has long worked in partnership with our on-campus Muslim Chaplains and community to support halal dining in the undergraduate dining halls,” Crista Martin, director for strategic initiatives and communication at Harvard University Dining Services, wrote in an emailed statement.

“Our work to support diners who eat halal has included labeling menu options that contain alcohol and pork in our web-based menus; as well as the provision of

halal certified grilled chicken at all grills in the College dining locations,” she added.

The current shift is a result of HUDS’ identifying a “local collective of small family farms that provides antibiotic free chicken which is also processed in a matter that allows it to earn halal certification,” Martin wrote.

Abdur-Rashid wrote in an emailed statement that “halal certified proteins are a vital part of Muslim life on campus.”

“I’m deeply appreciative of all the efforts that Harvard University Dining has made to expand halal dining. HUDS has been and continues to be a strong partner with our office and they have

been diligent in making sure the diverse needs of our students are met in the most authentic and appropriate ways,” he wrote.

While a Jan. 22 email initially announced the change as planned for the 26th, a follow-up email on Jan. 28 informed students that it would take “another couple of weeks” for all chicken to be halal certified, according to an email to the University’s Office of the Muslim Chaplain mailing list.

But Martin indicated the change may exceed this timeline, writing “we are hopeful that in the next six to 12 months we will be able to make this transition.”

“This work is part of our larger strategic vision to provide a hos-

pitality experience that fosters community, prioritizes health, cultural connection and religious sensitivity, challenges food sys-

tems convention, and relentlessly innovates,” she added. isabella.schauble@thecrimson.com

HUDS will begin serving halal chicken. EMILY L. DING — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

6

THE HARVARD CRIMSON

COVER STORY

FEBRUARY 2, 2024

After Fall Turmoil, Students Return to Campus JOEY HUANG — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

BACK TO SCHOOL. Students left a bitterly divided campus last winter. Now, an uneasy calm has many wondering what will come next.

BY MICHELLE N. AMPONSAH AND JOYCE E. KIM CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

­W

hen Harvard College students left campus for winter break, the student body was divided.

With students in fierce disagreement over the Israel-Hamas war and former President Claudine Gay’s leadership of the University, the rifts only continued to grow under a bright national spotlight.

But even as undergraduates escaped campus over break, the University’s crisis only worsened.

Gay — already under fire for her disastrous congressional testimony — faced mounting pres-

sure to step down.

Just two days into the new year, she did.

As students return to classes for the spring semester, some noted the surprising calm on a campus that so recently saw its tensions plastered on the front pages of national newspapers and blasted by alumni, donors, and politicians.

But the lingering effects of intense, prolonged national interest have not gone unnoticed.

Several students who spoke with The Crimson said that they found themselves thrust into the national spotlight as the controversies surrounding Harvard mounted — their experiences and voices often amplified beyond what they expected.

Jacqueline A. Grayson ’24 said Harvard undergraduates are now “really cognizant of the fact that they’re a Harvard student.”

“We’re always aware of it, but now it just feels really pertinent,” they said.

‘What Harvard Students Think’ After Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel and the ensuing student group statement holding Israel “entirely responsible” for the ongoing violence, Harvard and its students faced months of nonstop controversy and persistent national headlines.

As students attempted to study for midterms, many faced doxxings attacks — including trucks in Harvard Square displaying students’ names and faces — and threats from CEOs on social media to blacklist students from jobs.

When the College entered its final examinations period and students again tried to focus on their studies, national media outlets swarmed campus for student reactions as conservative activists took to social media to blast Harvard and its embattled president.

Tommy Barone ’25, a Crimson

Protesters with the African and African American Resistance Organization march through the Science Center during a pro-Palestine week of action. FRANK S. ZHOU — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

Editorial chair, said that he was rushing out of Lamont Library at night during finals when he was approached by a stranger.

“I assumed it was some crazy person, and then they told me they were with the New York Times, and they wanted student opinions on events on campus,” he said.

Barone was not the only Harvard student to be sought out by

at some random undergraduate student as a spokesperson for the College or University,” Grayson said. “They’ll just pull anything and be like, ‘Oh, this represents the Harvard student body and this is what Harvard students think.’”

Owen O. Ebose ’25 said he thinks people with their own opinion about Harvard and what it is like on Harvard’s campus

“

Students are reading articles all day about how messed up our campus is, and about how much we hate each other.

Owen O. Ebose ’25 Undergraduate Student

national publications — many were quoted in news articles or appeared on national television to share their thoughts on topics ranging from antisemitism and Islamophobia on campus to allegations of plagiarism against Gay. Violet T.M. Barron ’26, a Crimson Editorial editor, pointed to the disproportionate focus on Harvard and its students amid an international war.

“It’s also been very frustrating to open to the New York Times homepage and see on the front page an article about Harvard or Claudine Gay when, in my opinion, the exponentially more pressing news is what’s happening in Gaza,” Barron said.

Several students have also expressed frustrations over the added pressure to speak publicly about their experiences as a Harvard student.

Grayson said the media scrutiny on Harvard felt “stressful,” especially as individual student perspectives are taken as monolithic representations of the environment on campus.

“I, for one, and some people I know, would like to not have so much attention, especially when you think about people looking

seek only to confirm their opinions.

“They want to look for students who will tell them what they already think,” Ebose said.

“Students are reading articles all day about how messed up our campus is, and about how much we hate each other,” Ebose said.

“Of course, we are being infected and we’re buying into the narrative,” he added. “Even myself, I’ve started to internalize it a little bit.”

‘Blanket Silencing’ Just three days before classes began again for the spring semester, Harvard’s leadership took to student inboxes with a reminder about University protest policies in what essentially amounted to a warning to campus activist groups.

In an email clarifying the University-wide Statement on Rights and Responsibilities, administrators reaffirmed their commitment to “freedom of speech—including the right to protest and dissent—as integral to the values of our University” but emphasized that affiliates may not exercise those rights in a way that ‘interfere[s] with members of

the University in performance of their normal duties and activities.’”

The email came after numerous student-led demonstrations last semester related to the war in Israel and Gaza, including a 24-hour occupation of University Hall by pro-Palestine students in November.

On the first day of classes, Dean of the College Rakesh Khurana again warned students against violating Harvard’s protest policies.

“At Harvard, we have not and will not tolerate actions that undermine our academic mission,” Khurana wrote. “Disruptions to classrooms, libraries, laboratories, and other learning spaces are unacceptable. Violations of policies will continue to be referred to the Administrative Board.”

Eight students faced disciplinary hearings with the Ad Board — chaired by Khurana — following the November University Hall occupation.

Barron — an organizer for Harvard Jews for Palestine and one of the students referred to the Ad Board following her participation in the occupation — said in an interview that disciplinary action was something she was “willing to risk.”

“I was contributing to something that felt much bigger than myself,” Barron said.

Still, Barron acknowledged that the threat of being referred to the Ad Board could disincentivize students from participating in demonstrations.

“I know no one wants to be Ad Boarded,” she said. “I think it’s, to an extent, a deterrent.”

Some student organizations involved in activism related to the Israel-Hamas war have also faced anger and pressure from voices inside and outside the University.

The Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee was one of the groups at the forefront of pro-Palestine activism this past semester, drawing continued public criticism largely for their controversial statement holding Israel responsible for the ongoing violence in Gaza.

A member of PSC, to whom

COVER STORY

THE HARVARD CRIMSON FEBRUARY 2, 2024

The Crimson granted anonymity due to safety concerns, wrote in a statement that the group is aware of “the immense external and internal pressure to ban our pro-Palestine organizing completely.”

“We will be carefully planning our events with student safety and security at the forefront of our organizing,” the member wrote. “This includes protecting students from outside actors and Harvard administration.”

“We haven’t gone away and have no plans to do so,” they added.

Sanaa M. Kahloon ’25, a PSC organizer, wrote in a statement Tuesday that the group “will continue to protest Israeli occupation and Harvard’s complicity.”

Some students expressed frustration over the University’s forceful and loaded warnings about demonstrations on campus.

Barron said that the University turns to “repression” and “suppression” when it feels threatened by student organizing efforts and chooses to “go with just a blanket silencing.”

In an emailed statement to The Crimson on Tuesday, Khurana wrote that “the College respects the students’ right to pro-

Center for Middle Eastern Studies with Rashid I. Khalidi, professor of Modern Arab Studies at Columbia University, which the PSC promoted on Instagram.

“It’s unclear to me as to exactly the definitions of many of these things — event, co-sponsorship, protests — what constitutes a protest?” Bernat said. “I think it’s generally just concerning that there are these vagaries in Harvard policy.”

Bernat said he filed a student organization misconduct report regarding events hosted by the PSC last week but received no updates due to a policy protecting student privacy.

According to a Harvard College spokesperson, the College responds to all misconduct reports but does not share the results of an investigation or any sanctions placed on students due to privacy.

‘Not the Whole Solution’ As student protest groups navigate the beginning of a new semester, Harvard leadership is attempting to supplant divisiveness with civil discourse.

On Jan. 18, the University

knowing how to disagree with each other,” Kohn said. “We do have a problem of knowing how to not just have diversity, but also use that to further our own knowledge.”

Several students, however, said the events were not well-publicized to College students.

“I think there could have been more awareness about it,” Harvard Chabad President Benjamin A. Landau ’24 said. “I think a lot of students did not know about it.”

Josh G. Caven ’24 similarly said that the series hasn’t been “very well-marketed.”

“Given it’s really been getting kicked-started at the start of the semester, it’s just naturally going to be difficult to get the word out about that,” he said.

Still, Caven noted that the Harvard Dialogues “has been made, perhaps, more outward-focused than inward-focused.”

College spokesperson Jonathan Palumbo wrote in an emailed statement Wednesday that the series was publicized in a newsletter sent to College students and posted on the College’s social media channels. Palumbo also wrote that the College provided materials for undergrad-

More than 1,000 people came together in Harvard Yard just over a week after Israel was invaded. JULIAN J. GIORDANO — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

fore everything sort of blew up,” she said.

Caven said the administration enacting these initiatives now means there “will always be an uncertainty about whether it’s earnest or whether it’s reparative — whether it’s about trying to fix their image.”

“I think for spaces where you’re trying to have vulnerable, personal, oftentimes painful conversations, it’s a very difficult problem to get around,” he said.

The dialogues series comes amid an ongoing congressional investigation into allegations of antisemitism at Harvard.

Last month, six Jewish students sued Harvard for failing to address “severe and pervasive” antisemitism on campus. More than a dozen students filed a complaint to the U.S. Department of Education Monday alleging that the University failed to protect students from anti-Palestinian discrimination.

In a Wednesday interview with The Crimson, Interim Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76 condemned antisemitism on Harvard’s campus and said student self-censorship in the face of antisemitic attacks “is the most

launched Harvard Dialogues, a campus-wide initiative with the goal of fostering “open, productive communication in the classroom, on campus, and within the wider community,” according to Harvard’s website.

The weeklong series featured a slate of panels, discussions, and speaker events across the College and Harvard’s graduate schools.

Of the 17 events, eight were open to undergraduates — including a summit on free expression; an ethics and AI talk with Harvard Government professor Michael J. Sandel; and an Institute of Politics forum titled “Dissent, Disagreement, and Democracy.”

Ari F. Kohn ’26 — one of two undergraduate students involved in an initiative examining intellectual vitality at the College — praised the Harvard Dialogues series as “one of the remedies” for Harvard’s “problem of ideological diversity.”

“We do have a problem of not

uate Houses to send out to their students.

University spokesperson Jason A. Newton declined to comment on student criticisms of the event publicization.

According to Kohn, Sanders Theater was “absolutely packed” for the panel discussion with Sandel. Tenzin R. Gund-Morrow ’26, co-chair of the IOP John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum Committee, said the number of registrants for the Dissent, Disagreement, and Democracy forum was well above average. Both events were open to all Harvard affiliates.

Other undergraduate students criticized the timing of the dialogue series, which comes on the heels of several months of tensions and turmoil on campus.

Julia García-Galindo ’25 said she believes the University “could have done more earlier.”

“I definitely would have appreciated more of an effort to start having these conversations be-

and Muslim students, the measures “are too little, too late, and come after months of harm.”

Still, some students have said the time away during winter break has helped settle some of the tensions on campus.

Barron said last semester was “incredibly chaotic” with “so much going on.”

“It felt like every second I had to be on my toes,” she said. “While that sense of urgency is still very much there, I think break was very necessary — much needed time to regroup.”

Galindo said she hasn’t felt tensions on campus in the first weeks back.

“I was expecting for more of the noise of everything that happened over break to be a recurring theme and to hear more people talking about it, but it really just has been a pretty normal back-to-school,” she said.

Charles M. Covit ’27, a member of Hillel, said the start of the semester has felt “calmer.”

“I feel like everything around campus leadership and the war has been much less of a topic of conversation than before the break, which I think is sort of a relief,” Covit, a Crimson Editorial

Six Jewish students sued Harvard last month alleging “severe and pervasive” antisemitism on Harvard’s campus. JULIAN J. GIORDANO — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

Demonstrators staged a die-in in front of Klarman Hall at Harvard Business School in October to demand an end to violence in Gaza. FRANK S. ZHOU — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

test.”

“These rights exist within the University and FAS guidelines,” he added.

Other students said Harvard’s guidelines around protesting on campus remain unclear and unenforced.

Alexander L.S. “Alex” Bernat ’25, the Israel chair of Harvard Chabad, said he was “concerned that it doesn’t seem as though restrictions on protest registration and the like are enforced yet.”

In particular, Bernat, a Crimson Editorial editor pointed to two PSC events last Thursday: a demonstration with signs in front of the Science Center Plaza and a group photo in front of Widener Library in which students donned keffiyehs, traditional Palestinian scarves. It was unclear what protest policies, if any, were violated by the two events.

Bernat also referenced a Tuesday conversation about the war in Israel and Gaza hosted by the

of optimism” for Garber’s leadership.

“His heart’s in the right place and he knows how antisemitism is manifesting, and he really does want to see it combatted,” Bernat said. “I’m hoping he takes the steps necessary to find and root it out.”

Ebose said he believed Garber was “the right person” to “restore a sense of stability” to the University but that the administration broadly remains opaque.

“There’s a lot of ambiguity around the administration,” he said. “I couldn’t really tell you exactly what a provost does — I don’t think a lot of people could.”

Caven said Garber is likely looking to bring a sense of stability back to campus.

“I think for the time being, he’s maintaining course, keeping the ship steady, which I don’t necessarily think is the wrong thing to do,” Caven said.

Some students pointed to Garber’s formation of two presidential task forces earlier last month to address antisemitism and Islamophobia on campus as a step in the right direction but noted that it was only the start.

Barron said the dual task forc-

7

A spokesperson for the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee said the group’s organizing will continue this semester. JOEY HUANG — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

disturbing of all.”

Still, Gund-Morrow acknowledged that while Harvard Dialogues “should have happened months ago,” he believes students are “a little bit more prepared for this conversation” now in the wake of Gay’s resignation.

“I think that the initiative is definitely part of the solution,” Gund-Morrow said. “It’s not the whole solution.”

‘Keeping the Ship Steady’ As the College dives back into classes and life on campus, students have voiced varying degrees of optimism for Garber’s leadership and the semester ahead.

As Garber steps into the vacancy left by Gay’s resignation, some students said that Garber is the right choice to address the University’s current challenge of bridging a polarized student body.

Bernat said that he has “a lot

es were a “pleasant surprise” but added that the formation of the task forces was “the bare minimum.”

Ebose wrote in an emailed statement Thursday that while the dual task forces were “a step forward,” Garber’s Wednesday interview with The Crimson — which highlighted Garber’s concerns about antisemitism on campus — was “a step back.”

“He talked about the intimidation that Jewish students are feeling without addressing the fact that Muslim and Arab students feel just as intimidated,” Ebose wrote. “The latter are the ones being slandered by national media outlets, politicians, and billionaires.”

“All students need to be protected by this administration at every step of the way,” he added.

Eva C. Frazier ’26 wrote in a Tuesday statement that while she was “grateful” to see the University investigate hate against Arab

editor, said.

Looking forward, Caven said he “can’t help but feel optimistic” that “after a period of difficulty, something better can emerge.”

“I hope last semester will become something that we look back on and say, ‘That was the moment something changed for the better,’” he said. michelle.amponsah@thecrimson.com joyce.kim@thecrimson.com

THC Read more at THECRIMSON.COM

8

THE HARVARD CRIMSON

NEWS

FEBRUARY 2, 2024

ADMISSIONS

Test Optional Policies Face Expert Criticism ‘THROWING AWAY INFORMATION’ — Questions and criticism about Harvard’s test-optional admissions policies.

BY ELYSE C. GONCALVES AND MATAN H. JOSEPHY CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

A

s Harvard College prepares to admit its fourth straight class without requiring applicants to submit test scores, questions — and criticisms — surrounding test-optional admissions policies continue to mount.

Harvard first announced a shift to test-optional admissions in June 2020, removing the requirement for applicants to the Class of 2025 to submit standardized test scores amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, before it extended the policy to the Class of 2026.

In December 2021, the College announced that all applicants through the Class of 2030 may submit applications to Harvard without standardized test scores should they choose to do so. The move was a victory for critics of standardized tests, who have long argued that requiring scores disadvantages historically marginalized racial and socioeconomic groups in the admissions process.

But a Crimson analysis shows that despite falling submission rates of test scores, admitted student demographics have remained unchanged. According to information from the Harvard Gazette, a University-run publication, the demographic data of Harvard’s accepted classes has remained consistent over the past six years, both before and after test-optional policies were put in place.

For the accepted classes of

JADE XIAO — CRIMSON DESIGNER

2022 through 2027, Asian American and White students have made up approximately 70 percent of the class, while Black, Hispanic, Native American, and Native Hawaiian applicants have made up the other approximately 30 percent, with minimal fluctuations.

The Harvard College Admissions Office declined to comment for this story.

According to David Leonhardt, a senior writer at the New York Times who has written extensively about higher education, whether colleges require the SAT is not

integral to the diversity of their class.

“You can admit diverse classes if you don’t require the SAT, and you can admit diverse classes if you do require the SAT,” Leonhardt said, pointing to test-required schools like MIT and Georgetown as a counterexample to the argument that schools that require the SAT do not have diversity in their student body.

After going test-optional in June 2020 for admissions to the class of 2025, MIT reinstated its testing requirement starting with the class of 2027. The school saw

an increase in the percentage of Black and Latinx students in its admitted class after it reinstated the requirement.

While all Ivy League universities currently remain test-optional, only Harvard and Columbia — which has gone test-optional indefinitely — have committed to the policy so far in advance.

David Card, an economist at the University of California, Berkeley, and Harvard’s expert witness in its trial against anti-affirmative action group Students for Fair Admissions, said that test scores also help predict the per-

formance of students in college.

“If I use everything I’ve got about a student at admission and the test score, what predicts their performance in the first couple of years of classes or their probability of graduating on time, or the kind of jobs they get when they graduate?” Card said. “When that’s been done in the past, it’s typically shown that the SATs do help predict kids’ performance, especially in more technical subjects.”

In July 2023, a prominent paper by Harvard Kennedy School professor David J. Deming, Harvard economics professor Raj Chetty ’00 and Brown University professor John N. Friedman ’02 found that while high school GPA poorly demonstrates a student’s college performance, SAT reflects this metric independent of the individual’s socioeconomic class.

“Our research suggests that test-optional policies lead to less fair admissions processes with less information about students, especially at Ivy-plus schools,” Friedman wrote in an email.

In an interview, Deming said that removing standardized tests from consideration in the college application process is ineffective.

“The question is, why are you throwing away information? If you’re throwing away information because you think it’s helping you accomplish certain social goals, better to just try to accomplish those goals directly, but also use the information you have about academic preparedness,” said Deming.

Peter S. Arcidiacono, a Duke economics professor and SFFA’s expert witness in its case against Harvard, agreed with Deming.

“Why would a university of all places not want to use all the information available to them? To the extent that you feel like the tests are unfair, then you should adjust

for that, and have a reason for testing for that,” Arcidiacono said.

Proponents of such test-optional policies point to concerns that testing requirements hinder applicants from low-income or socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds. In announcing the College’s test-optional extension, the admissions office cited pandemic-related concerns about testing accessibility.

Chris Bennett, a research education analyst at the Research Triangle Institute, said that test optional policies add workload for universities, but are associated “with moderate increases in student diversity.”

“I think that from my research, I have seen a lot of evidence that test optional policies can give greater flexibility to applicants and admissions committees in decision making,” he said. “It seems like a worthwhile step, but not a perfect solution.”

But some experts said that while the SAT may favor wealthier applicants, other factors in the admissions process are even more subjective — and often even more associated with privilege and resources.

“Even though it is true that somebody’s score on the SAT or the ACT is highly related to their family income, so is almost everything else in the admissions process,” Deming said. “If you get rid of the SAT, you have to replace it with something else, and the things you replace it with are often even more related to privilege than the SAT.” “I think it’s fair that students should have a chance to prove their worth, on some common metric,” he added. “And I think that’s what a test like that does.” elyse.goncalves@thecrimson.com matan.josephy@thecrimson.com

LABOR FROM PAGE 1

As Garber Assumes Presidency, Union Leaders Remain Wary Now, Garber has ascended further through Harvard’s administrative ranks, serving as interim president while still holding onto his role as provost.

Koby Ljunggren, a former president of the Harvard Graduate Student Union-United Auto Workers and a current staff organizer for the Harvard Undergraduate Workers Union, highlighted Garber’s expanded power over students and staff at the University in his dual roles as interim president and provost.

“He’s not just involved in the student labor end of things,” Ljunggren said. “Now, Garber has his hand in — or will have his hand in — all sorts of other employee issues that come up with the other campus unions, such as the clerical and technical workers, staff, custodians, dining service workers, the trade council.”

“All of these groups now fall under — or could fall under — the umbrella of his office,” they said.

Sydney D. Sanders ’25 — a student organizer for HUWU and a member of its bargaining committee — also expressed concern about Garber’s new role at Harvard.

“His position in his email communications and the entire scenario of him stepping up to replace Claudine Gay makes me worried,” Sanders said. “It’s not going to stop any of us, but it is going to make it harder.”

Sanders pointed to specific language from Garber’s communications to Harvard affiliates as evidence of his anti-union attitude.

In an April 2018 email to Harvard affiliates, Garber wrote that students, faculty, and administrators have “long worked together” to “improve student services” on campus.

“Their collaborative efforts began well before paid organizers from the United Auto Workers came to our campuses,” he wrote.

One year later, in another email to Harvard affiliates about HGSU-UAW, Garber wrote that the administration was “concerned that some of the union’s proposals would not be effective and might even have unintended consequences.”

Sanders said Garber’s emails used “every union-busting talking point in the book.”

“It’s ‘the union is not the students.’ It’s ‘people from outside coming to make you give up your paycheck and make a decision for you,’ which is obviously not what a union is,” Sanders said.

“It’s ridiculous,” he added.

Some Harvard workers also criticized Garber and the University administration for failing to protect and support workers on campus during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Doris R. Landaverde, a custodian at the University, said she was “disappointed” by Garber and the administrations’ lack of protection for workers.

In particular, Landaverde said the University did a “poor” job providing essential campus workers with the proper personal protective equipment, including masks.

“We leave last,” Landaverde said. “We clean, we keep everything organized, but I feel like they [don’t] give the respect for custodians for all the work we do.”

Garon C. “Gary” Davis, a chef in the Adams dining hall, also highlighted the lack of respect afforded to workers by administra-

tors.

“I think it’s a great job, but sometimes they think that these guys consider you a number and you’re not treated as the person that you should be,” Davis said.

Despite Garber’s historical friction with labor initiatives on campus, some union representatives expressed acceptance or indifference to his new post at the helm of the University, committing to continue their union activities as usual.

Mancilla said that he thought there shouldn’t be “any difference in him serving as provost versus him serving as president or interim president.”

HGSU-UAW President Bailey A. Plaman said Garber’s appointment as interim president will not change the union’s approach to bargaining.

“Whoever the University leadership is, we’re going to have the same approach to bargaining as we would with President Gay,” Plaman said. “We’re trying to figure out what issues matter to our members and organizing so that we’re as prepared as we can be.”

“Negotiations is negotiations,” Davis said. “No matter who you

Unions and Garber have clashed during his tenure as Harvard’s provost.

HANNAH S. LEE — CRIMSON DESIGNER & FRANK S. ZHOU — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

negotiate with, whether you’re looking for a job or this whole union going against the university, it’s the same thing.”

Davis said that while workers are “fighting to get something better” for their families and themselves, the other side wants

to “give up less.”

“They can keep more money in their bank, whereas we’re trying to put money in our bank,” he said. aran.sonnad-joshi@thecrimson.com sheerea.yu@thecrimson.com

PLAGIARISM FROM PAGE 1

Top Diversity Officer Sherri Charleston Faces Plagiarism Allegations allegations against former Harvard President Claudine Gay — also publicized by the Free Beacon — that factored into her resignation earlier this month.

Unlike Gay, Charleston does not hold a faculty appointment at Harvard.

The allegations suggest a now-familiar tactic in the debates over higher education — unearthing misconduct or improprieties in the scholarly records of academics and administrators — is being deployed in a campaign to discredit diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

“Havard’s president was a plagiarist. Harvard’s chief diversity officer is a plagiarist,” con-

servative activist and prominent Harvard critic Christopher F. Rufo wrote in a post on X on Tuesday. “We will keep exposing them, one by one, until the university restores truth, rather than racialist ideology, as its mission.”

University spokesperson Jason A. Newton wrote in an emailed statement that while Harvard has processes for handling research misconduct allegations, they “do not comment on individual cases or on the existence of investigations related to research misconduct allegations.”

In his statement, Newton praised Charleston as furthering the University’s “belief that

everyone who comes to Harvard belongs at Harvard and, whether a student, faculty, staff member, or researcher, should have the opportunity to succeed.”

Sherri Charleston and LaVar Charleston did not respond to requests for comment for this article. Jackson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

UW-Madison spokesperson Kelly Tyrrell wrote in an emailed statement that the school “takes all allegations of research misconduct seriously” and that their Office of Research Integrity “has initiated an assessment in response to the allegations.”

The Journal of Negro Edu-

cation did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The complaint also alleged that extensive passages in Sherri Charleston’s 2009 Ph.D. dissertation lifted language from a 2005 book written by Rebecca J. Scott, a professor of history and law at the University of Michigan. Scott co-chaired Charleston’s doctoral committee and advised Charleston on her dissertation.

Many passages describe or analyze historical events using phrases — and sometimes whole sentences — identical to those in Scott’s book. In each case, Charleston cites Scott but does not quote the shared language.

The complaint also alleges that Charleston plagiarized from University of North Carolina history professor Louis A. Pérez Jr.’s 1983 book, “Cuba Between Empires, 1878-1902.”

Charleston cites Pérez in all but one instance but does not quote his book, even when borrowing distinctive details and phrases from Pérez’s historical account.

The complaint also alleged that there were passages in Charleston’s dissertation which were plagiarized without containing any citation, including a section that appeared to borrow language from Pérez’s book and another that reflected ideas from a 2005 article by Michele Mitchell, a history professor at

New York University who was the other co-chair on Charleston’s doctoral committee.

University of Michigan spokesperson Colleen Mastony declined to comment on the allegations of plagiarism involving Charleston’s dissertation, citing school policy “to neither confirm nor deny the existence of an investigation into misconduct” and added that “the university is committed to fostering and upholding the highest ethical standards in research and scholarship.”

Scott, Pérez, and Mitchell did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday. tilly.robinson@thecrimson.com neil.shah@thecrimson.com

EDITORIAL

THE HARVARD CRIMSON

FEBURARY 2, 2024

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STAFF EDITORIAL

Harvard May Finally Have Found Its Spine TASK FORCES. Garber’s two new task forces are a major step forward; we are hopeful that they will have meaningful impact. Also, Derek Penslar is the correct choice to chair the antisemitism group.

BY THE CRIMSON EDITORIAL BOARD

­A

fter months of inadequacy, the University has finally signaled that it might fix its approach to the hate that continues to plague both Jewish and Arab students.

Interim University President Alan M. Garber ’76 recently announced the creation of two task forces, one dedicated to combating antisemitism and the other to combating Islamophobia and anti-Arab racism.

These changes appear a step in the right direction. We hope they indicate that the University finally means to seriously challenge all of the forms of hate that threaten our community.

From the beginning of the leadership crisis through University President Claudine Gay’s resignation, Harvard’s top brass clung to an approach to opposing vitriol that failed time and time again.

Terrified of controversy, University leadership twisted itself into knots to avoid confronting hate head-on. It tossed word salad statement after word salad statement instead of saying what it meant. It treated anti-Arab and antisemitic hate as unrelated and, by ignoring the former as doxxing ran rampant, deepened campus divides.

Indeed, our top leaders could not even muster the moral courage to acknowledge anti-Palestinian hate in a University-wide email.

While it remains to be seen whether these task forces will make a meaningful difference, their creation may at least mark the University beginning to find the spine required to call hate what it is and defend its students.

On announcement of the task forces, however, the University faced reprobation from many familiar critics for naming professor Derek J. Penslar one of the antisemitism task force’s two co-chairs.

Somehow, Penslar — an eminent professor of Jewish history and the director of Harvard’s Center for Jewish Studies — stands accused of being unfit to lead a group intended to study and respond to antisemitism.

Patently, he is not. Penslar is eminently qualified for the role, and we support Garber’s choice to tap Harvard’s top scholars to respond to this complex issue — a welcome departure from an administration known for ham-handed public statements. Garber does this new task force a service by giving it a cochair in Penslar with the expertise to guide it with care and nuance.

Still, the risk of replacing one toothless task force with two is not lost on us. The University must ensure that both groups actually impact the lives of students.

That begins with transparency. Harvard affiliates know all too well how important initiatives can find themselves shunted to committees whose only real contribution is to then create another committee.

To avert that fate, these new task forces should hold themselves to communicating their goals, the actions they take, and the progress they achieve. They

should also take care to solicit a diversity of student opinions — these committees exist to serve students, after all — and extend tangible support to students still facing hatred on campus.

Finally, to put to bed once and for all the divisive notion that the fights against antisemitism and anti-Arab racism are mutually exclusive, these task forces should strive to work in close collaboration, seeking opportunities to work together on these complexly related issues.

After months of vacillation, Garber’s new task forces are a first step toward bridging the divides in our community. But they are just that: a first step.

Until we see real change, Garber has his work cut out for him.

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

DISSENT

Penslar Minimizes Antisemitism. He Can’t Lead the Fight Against It. cluded, point to his academic record as proof that he is fit for this appointment. But academic achievement is not necessary to recognize hatred when it is revealed plainly and obviously.

We have all grown up hearing about the antisemitism our families faced for generations.

It does not require a PhD to recognize the history echoing on campus today. If anything, administrative savvy, as opposed to academic ability, might be more relevant when addressing this crisis.

Because we value debate and disagreement, we believe Penslar may add a valuable perspective to the committee as one member among many. But to elevate him to the status of co-chair is a slap in the face to the students who bear the brunt of antisemitism every day.

We hope and pray that Penslar will approach this position with the exigency it requires. After all, it’s now his job to tackle claims of antisemitism — not minimize them in interviews with the national press.

BY LEAH R. BARON, ALEXANDER L.S. BERNAT, CHARLES M. COVIT, JOSHUA A. KAPLAN, JACOB M. MILLER, AND YONA T. SPERLIN-MILNER

­I

rony is one word to describe professor Derek J. Penslar — Harvard’s pick to lead its new presidential task force on antisemitism — telling the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that claims of antisemitism on Harvard’s campus have been exaggerated.

“It’s not a myth, but it’s been exaggerated,” Penslar said in another interview, this time with the Boston Globe.

These comments and others from Penslar have fueled the backlash against the task force’s co-chair, which comes from critics including Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt and Holocaust studies expert Deborah E. Lipstadt, who now serves as U.S. President Joe Biden’s Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism.

The new antisemitism task force, which will be co-led by Harvard Business School professor Rafaella Sadun, was created in tandem with a task force to combat Islamophobia and anti-Arab bias. While these task forces are commendable efforts to combat hatred on campus, the selection of Penslar may undermine the credibility of the University’s commitment to protecting Jewish students.

For the Editorial Board, Penslar’s academic credentials qualify him to lead this important task force. As Jewish students who have grown oddly accustomed to witnessing antisemitism at Harvard, we feel bound to dissent.

This decision is not taken lightly. We respect Penslar as a scholar who has done important work at Harvard’s Center for Jewish Studies. Yet when campus life has become rife with antisemitism — from posters of Israeli hostages vandalized with antisemitic tropes to chants for a globalized

RISHI GOEL — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

intifada — the moment calls for a leader who will treat the issue with the urgency it deserves.

We find Penslar’s belief that claims of antisemitism on campus have been exaggerated — an argument he has repeated on multiple occasions — disqualifying for a number of reasons.

For one, it reveals the sense of priorities he will bring to the job.

It would be one thing if these were decontextualized remarks from a professor who had publicly, routinely, and enthusiastically advocated for Jewish students, as some of Penslar’s colleagues on the faculty have done. It is another for these comments to remain one of Penslar’s few public

remarks on antisemitism since Oct. 7 — an indication that Penslar is more focused on downplaying the issue of antisemitism than confronting it.

Beyond the misplaced priorities these remarks reflect, they also actively hurt the fight against antisemitism on campus.

Jewish students have reported incident after incident and sent screenshot after screenshot to office after office. When professors then wade into the discourse to downplay the extent of hatred on campus, they only embolden those who deny the problem of antisemitism here and provide the University cover to do nothing about it.

Penslar’s defenders, the Editorial Board in-

– Leah R. Baron ’25, a Crimson Editorial Editor, is a Statistics concentrator in Lowell House. Alexander L.S. Bernat ’25, a Crimson Editorial Editor, is a joint concentrator in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering in Lowell House. Zachary G. Buller ’25, a Crimson Editorial Editor, is a joint Chemistry and Mathematics concentrator in Lowell House. Charles M. Covit ’27, a Crimson Editorial Editor, lives in Holworthy Hall. Joshua A. Kaplan ’26, a Crimson Editorial Editor, is a Computer Science concentrator in Currier House. Jacob M. Miller ’25, a Crimson Editorial Chair, is a Mathematics concentrator in Lowell House. Yona T. Sperling-Milner ’27, a Crimson Editorial Editor, lives in Hurlbut Hall.

Dissenting Opinions: Occasionally, The Crimson Editorial Board is divided about the opinion we express in a staff editorial. In these cases, dissenting board members have the opportunity to express their opposition to staff opinion.

OP-ED

The HAA Keeps Harvard Governance Homogenous

BY HARRIS L HARTZ

­H

arvard has lost its way.

The Harvard community is blessed with many brilliant, articulate, and well-meaning folks. But it has become intolerant — too lazy to seriously consider contrary views. There is a dominant groupthink that stifles debate, intimidating students and faculty from challenging the common wisdom.

This may be the view of only a minority of those on the Harvard campus, but it is widely shared by outsiders who have observed recent events. I would like to try to explain how this could happen.

One would hope that the governing bodies of Harvard would have energetically fought against this development. After all, it has a long, cherished tradition to invoke in favor of vigorous, informed, and thoughtful debate.

When I studied at Harvard more than 50 years ago, that tradition was in full flower. What could be a better dinner conversation in Dunster House than to hear the political discussions of then-graduate students Barney Frank ’61, Lee W. Huebner, and Sanford V. Levinson — one a future Democratic congressman, another the founder of a Republican think tank, and the third a constitutional law professor.

One would think that it would be essential that the members of the Harvard Board of Overseers — the second most powerful body of university governance on campus, besides the Harvard Corporation — hold diverse views about, and attitudes towards the University.

One would think, too, that the election process would favor people who view the position as a call

to duty, not a badge of honor — people willing to sacrifice personal advantage to serve one of the greatest institutions of higher learning in the world.

A strong selection process is essential for effective oversight. On nearly any committee or board, there is a strong centripetal force that acts against members raising challenges to the status quo. The more prestigious the board, the greater this force.

When surrounded by some of the most important and influential people in the world, why raise a stink and risk alienating potentially valuable connections? Why make critiques or propose new ideas that no one else has seen fit to advance?

Harvard’s current selection process for the Board of Overseers, which is dominated by the Harvard Alumni Association, is not fit to address these issues.

“

When surrounded by some of the most important and influential people in the world, why raise a stink and risk alienating potentially valuable connections?

Alumni associations are valuable. They help classmates keep in touch with one another and recruit members to interview applicants and raise money. Before becoming a federal judge, I was active in my local Harvard alumni organization.

But why is this an appropriate body to exert such control over university governance? Alumni associations are rah-rah — they promote a positive im-

age of the university. This purpose hardly seems conducive to introspection and a willingness to critique the university.

Further, in my impression, the HAA mirrors the University’s strong ideological tilt.

At the college and law school reunions I attended in 2022, there were some wonderful conversa-

“

What Harvard needs, now more than ever, is members of the Board of Overseers who will civilly question the powers that be and the status quo.

tions among classmates, but the speakers and some classmate discussion leaders were one-sided.

The law-school reunion could have been aptly described as a “Jamie Raskin for President” rally, with the Democratic congressman serving as an invited speaker twice in three days. Professor Laurence H. Tribe ’62, a brilliant scholar and one of my best professors, devoted a considerable part of his 90 minutes before the 50th reunion class — billed as “A Conversation with Professor Laurence H. Tribe” with “special guest” congressman Jamie B. Raskin ’83 (D-Md.) — to passionately express his view that Raskin should be the next president of the United States. Is this what we are now to expect at reunions?

This was not a one-off. A few months ago, Harvard Law School alumni were invited to watch several eminent professors discuss the Supreme Court

decision that found against Harvard’s affirmative action policies. All four professors were insightful. All abhorred the decision. The diversity of their views concerned only how best to minimize the impact on Harvard.

Despite its ideological tilt, the HAA has outsized influence on university governance, mostly controlling the committee that nominates candidates for election by alumni to the Board of Overseers. This committee selects a slate of candidates — slightly larger than the number of openings — to be placed on the ballot.

Outsiders who wish to challenge the HAA slate can be nominated by a petition process, but acquiring these signatures can be a challenging task, with the number of signatures required to get on the ballot increasing from 201 in 2016 to over 3,000 today.

After several insurgent challengers found success, the University further limited the number of petition candidates who may serve on the board at one time to just six. Clear signs of open-mindedness.

What Harvard needs, now more than ever, is members of the Board of Overseers who will civilly — and without ad hominem attacks — question the powers that be and the status quo, insisting that Harvard be the premier institution in this country for informed, thoughtful, civil debate.

For now, all that concerned alumni can do is sign petitions in support of dissident candidates for the Board of Overseers by Jan. 31. Regardless of the outcome, there needs to be some hard thinking about how to improve the selection process.

–Harris L Hartz ’67 is a judge on the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. He is currently petitioning to be a candidate in this spring’s Board of Overseers election.

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THE HARVARD CRIMSON

EDITORIAL

FEBURARY 2, 2024

COLUMN

COLUMN

COUNCIL ON ACADEMIC FREEDOM AT HARVARD

A SCHOOL OUTSIDE BOSTON

Social Studies

Do You Want Your Children To Go to Harvard?

A GUIDE TO CONVERSATION. Every social interaction is fraught at Harvard — why not plan ahead and reduce on-the-spot miscues?

LEGACY ADMISSIONS. Preferential treatment for children of alumni helps Harvard’s global community as well as the current and future student populace.

BY YONA T. SPERLING–MILNER

­F

reshmen, a new semester is upon us, and the housing process is just around the corner.

Which is to say: If you don’t have friends yet, get scared. Also, you’re 3.5 short years from graduation, and there’s a zero percent chance you’ll make friends post-college, if my parents are any indication. Personally, I’m good at making friends (just ask the turkeys outside Barker Center and my Securitas guard), and we have a lot of fun hanging out together (eating dried grains and letting people into the dorms), but maybe you are not as lucky. That’s okay. Here is some advice to help you out.

Suppose it’s breakfast time. When you enter Annenberg, select foods that convey your friendliness and approachable personality. If you are a girl, select three cucumber slices, so that people will see how skinny you are. If you are a boy, take four glasses of chocolate milk so people know you are confident in your masculinity. Watermelon is political; avoid.

Next, maneuver to a table while texting on your phone, reminding onlookers you’re in high demand and they’d be lucky to get a word in edgewise.

Wave across the dining hall; no one can tell there’s no one there. Sit down. Do not grip the armrests of the chair; this shows weakness. Look around your table. These 18-year-old dweebs are not just tomorrow’s LinkedIn connections — they are also this morning’s targets.

Now it’s time for small talk. Perhaps you can inquire into the medications they take with breakfast, or ask about their mother’s dating life post-divorce.

Maybe point out that their rosacea is slightly asymmetrical, the sign of a more extensive facial rash?

People often ask you stuff too, so prepare your responses (practice in front of a mirror if you have to). At first, it might seem intimidating, but with my help responding to these common questions, you’ll quickly emerge victorious from 92 percent of firstyear conversations.

BY JAMES HANKINS

­I

f you are a Harvard undergraduate, the question in my title might not be top of mind. In the early anthropocene, when I was in college, many people went to university with the idea that they might find somebody to marry. Back then, where your future children might go to college was something engaged college couples would discuss.

If by some remote chance this thought has crossed your mind too, congratulations! Your children will be legacies. It may come as a surprise that the issue of legacy admissions could eventually impinge on you. Despite an overwhelming tendency for undergraduates to oppose preferential admissions for legacies, it seems that few have given the issue much consideration.

I find the case against legacies is far from clear. In fact — let me just say it — there’s a good argument for favoring legacy admissions if the question we’re asking is who we want to be supporting Harvard financially in the future. My answer is: you! You and your children, and maybe even your grandchildren.

Many people understand legacies to be only the children of wealthy and powerful alumni. They think legacy admissions policies privilege this demographic and negatively affect minorities and the needy. But it’s not so clear who legacies are. Is a legacy the child of any Harvard graduate, or only a wealthy one? Or does legacy status only matter if you’re the scion of several generations of Harvard graduates — Harvard blueblood, in other words? Does it include the daughters and granddaughters of our Black and Hispanic graduates, who are rather numerous and often quite wealthy?

Even if you define legacy as “wealthy graduate,” the question arises: just how wealthy?

Contrary to popular belief, it’s not the case that all Harvard graduates become rich and famous. Some become schoolteachers or cellists or aid workers in foreign countries, surviving on a pittance. Sometimes the children of the rich and famous aren’t as rich and famous as their parents. I’ve known a few cases of that happening in my 38 years at Harvard.

Should their children then be branded with the infamous label of “legacy?” If the children of all Harvard graduates are legacies, surely it’s absurd to disadvantage them in the admissions process.

And does the university really want to abandon families that have served it for generations and maintain its traditions? Won’t that weaken the institution, as I’ve argued elsewhere? Isn’t it the case that one reason less advantaged people aspire to get into Harvard is to meet fellow students from influential families who might be able to help them get on in life? If the goal of our admissions policies should be to help disadvantaged students enter the ruling class, won’t it help such students if they can network with classmates who are already members of that class?

A few years back, the Harvard administration, filled with a sense of its own righteousness, decided to impose sanctions on members of single-sex final clubs. It knew perfectly well that members of such clubs had been a major source of endowment. With huge sums of funding now coming in from foreign nations like China, it is quite conceivable the University reckoned that they could get along fine with less generosity from Wall Street firms, which have historically recruited many private Ivy League club members.

Now that strategy is not looking so smart. So let’s raise the question again: Who should private universities turn to for support? Foreign donors, some of them silent partners of foreign governments, who are trying to buy access to research and exercise political influence? Large corporations that want Harvard to train their future employees? Or wealthy alumni — legacies themselves and the hopeful parents of legacies — who know and love the institution and want to show their loyalty?

If it is best for Harvard to be supported by its loyal alumni, shouldn’t that loyalty be reciprocal? As long as the children of alumni meet admission standards, why shouldn’t they be admitted preferentially? Why shouldn’t the loyalty and generosity of alumni and alumnae be rewarded?

–James Hankins is a professor of History.

His piece is part of the Council on Academic Freedom at Harvard’s column, which runs bi-weekly on Mondays and pairs faculty members to write contrasting perspectives on a single theme.

Cough, but a small cough, the kind of cough that says, “I have so many friends and have been to so many parties that of course I have Covid-19 but also don’t worry it’s been five days so I am past maximal viral load.”

Where are you from?

Acceptable answers: Cambridge (either), the moon, the Upper East Side.

Unacceptable answers: a public high school, anywhere in France, the Upper West Side.

How’s your second semester going?

The key to acing this question is to realize that not liking things makes you a failure, while being overly enthusiastic looks desperate and nerdy. Try to establish connections; this is most likely not the time to bring up your recent diagnosis with congenital salmonella. You will want to detail things that have happened to you, establishing a foundation of trust based on unique and highly-interesting experiences. Example: “I had a good break, it’s really cold here. Haha.”

What are you studying?

You are studying their facial rash.

What classes are you taking?

What’s your name?

This question is particularly insidious. Dodge, dodge, dodge. A winning strategy is to list off the classes your conversation partner is taking, instead.

(Have this information memorized — the Canvas “People” tab exists for a reason.)

This response is particularly savvy because it’ll throw your new friend entirely off guard. They will look around nervously, wondering how you collected that information. Perhaps your trick will even prompt a nervous laugh, which is so close to an amused laugh. Game over; you win. Blockmates??

This is a softball, so don’t blow it. Remember, a strong Harvard name will project confidence, career readiness, and that “my-affirmative-action-was-Daddy-donating-a-building” flair. Try “Olivia Pennypacker,” or “John Fitzgerald Kennedy, and I row crew.” Don’t forget nonverbal cues:

–Yona T. Sperling-Milner is a first-year in Hurlbut Hall. Since returning from break she has not spoken to any fellow students, but she knows what friendship is like from books and movies.

Her column “A School Outside Boston” runs bi-weekly on Tuesdays.

COLUMN

COUNCIL ON ACADEMIC FREEDOM AT HARVARD

Harvard Admissions Should Be More Meritocratic ADMISSIONS CRITERIA. Harvard should select purely for students who are academically talented and prepared for college, because those factors are the strongest indicators of future achievement.

BY STEVEN A. PINKER

­H

arvard admissions should be more meritocratic.

By “merit” I don’t mean cosmic merit — moral deservingness, a judgment by the almighty at the gates of heaven. I mean the traits that enable a student to profit from an elite university education, including cognitive aptitude, conscientiousness, and a thirst for knowledge.

What’s the opposite of meritocracy? Historically, positions were distributed by hereditary privilege, family ties, patronage to cronies, or sale to the highest bidder.

These are not far from the system we have here.

It’s conventional wisdom that Harvard accepts just a fraction of its students by academic merit alone. The rest are chosen by “holistic admissions,” the mystery-shrouded process that considers athletics, the arts, charity, activism, and travel — together with donations, legacy status, and until this year, race.

The Harvard fundraising office once fixed me up for a dinner with a wealthy alumnus, who was perhaps more candid than they might have liked. He said, “I want to donate just enough to Harvard so they’ll admit my son.” His son was admitted.

Why should Harvard select students on the basis of merit instead? Because it serves the interests of Harvard and the country.

People vary in their intelligence, their taste for abstraction, their familiarity with literate culture, their priorities, and their personality traits relevant to learning. I could not offer a course in neuroscience or linguistics to a random sample of the college-age population without boring many students at one end and baffling many at the other.

“

What’s the opposite of meritocracy?

Historically, positions were distributed by hereditary privilege, family ties, patronage to cronies, or sale to the highest bidder.

Also, students learn not just from their profes-

sors but from peers. And universities themselves depend on curious students to challenge received wisdom and inject new ideas.

Developing the brainpower of younger generations is a public good with massive benefits. The problems facing humanity are hard, and there are obvious benefits to training the most brilliant and dedicated young people to work at solving them.

Harvard devotes exorbitant resources to this goal. It has an astonishing library system, laboratories at thrilling frontiers of knowledge, and a professoriate with erudition in a vast range of topics. The benefits of matching this intellectual wonderland with the students most suited to learn from it are obvious.

So why should an ability to slap a puck or play the oboe be given any weight in the selection process?

To say nothing of having a grandmother who went to Radcliffe or a father who manages a hedge fund?

One could argue that, as a private institution, Harvard has the right to cultivate loyalty and warmth toward a fictive multi-generational family. But we’re

“

The problems facing humanity are hard, and there are obvious benefits to training the most brilliant and dedicated young people to work at solving them.

well past this point. Thanks to its tax-exempt status, federal funding, and outsize role as a feeder school to the American elite, Harvard is something of a national institution, and its admissions policies have become everyone’s business.

Others argue that holistic admissions are necessary to avoid a class of grinds and drudges. But elite universities should be the last to perpetuate this destructive stereotype. It would be ludicrous if anyone suggested that Harvard pick its graduate students or faculty for their prowess in athletics or music or improv comedy, yet these people are certainly no shallower than our undergraduates.

In any case, the stereotype is false. The psychologists Camilla P. Benbow and David Lubinski have found that precocious adolescents with sky-high SAT scores grew up to excel not only in academia, medicine, business, and technology, but also in literature, drama, art, and music.

Instead of “holistic admissions,” I suggest using a transparent formula that is weighted toward test scores and high school grades, adjusting it by whichever other factors can be publicly justified, such as geographic and socioeconomic diversity, and allowing for human judgment in exceptional cases. (I recognize the arguments for including race, but that has

“

It would be ludicrous if anyone suggested that Harvard pick its graduate students or faculty for their prowess in athletics or music or improv comedy.

been judged unconstitutional, so the issue is moot.)

Why should test scores be given the greatest weight? Because they are the fairest and most accurate predictor of success in university, as measured by grades and graduation rates.

Many studies have shown that the tests, contrary to myth, are not racially biased; they are not just an indicator of socioeconomic status; they are predictive all the way up the scale; they predict not just school performance but also life success; and they are not significantly goosed upward by test prep courses.

Moreover, the alternatives are worse. High school grades measure motivation as well as aptitude, but their value has been sinking as grades have been inflating. Personal statements and teacher recommendations are burnished by admissions-savvy experts at expensive private and suburban schools. Extracurriculars like fencing, rowing, traveling to Italy, or having your mom drive you to a church to sort clothes for the homeless, are luxuries of the rich.

Worst of all, “holistic admissions” can be a fig

“

Why should test scores be given the greatest weight? Because they are the fairest and most accurate predictor of success in university. leaf that conceals racial discrimination: In the past against Jewish and Black applicants, and more recently against Asian applicants, who just happened to get lower ratings in squishy judgments of personality.

All these are reasons why standardized testing was historically a favorite cause of egalitarians: It promised to scramble a hereditary caste system by favoring poor smart kids over rich mediocre ones.

In the end, our admissions policies reflect what we think Harvard should be.

Is it a finishing school for the plutocracy? A thirdof-a-million dollar IQ and marshmallow test? The ultimate final club? A luxury resort that includes some classes among its recreational activities? A career expo for McKinsey and Goldman Sachs?

If so, Harvard should continue to admit legacies, preppies, elite athletes, culture vultures, conspicuous altruists, and the children of donors.

If instead Harvard is an institution dedicated to the discovery and perpetuation of knowledge, it should favor admissions that are more meritocratic: that bring in the students who are best equipped to parlay the stupendous resources of this institution into the skills that will preserve democracy, enrich our culture, and solve pressing problems.

–Steven A. Pinker is the Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology and a co-president of the Council on Academic Freedom at Harvard.

His piece is part of the Council on Academic Freedom at Harvard’s column, which runs bi-weekly on Mondays and pairs faculty members to write contrasting perspectives on a single theme.

METRO

THE HARVARD CRIMSON FEBRUARY 2, 2024

11

CITY POLITICS

Council Unanimously Calls for Ceasefire UNANIMOUS RESOLUTION. The Cambridge City Council passed a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

BY AYUMI NAGATOMI AND AVANI B. RAI CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

­T

he Cambridge City Council unanimously passed an amended resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza during a marathon Monday meeting following weeks of criticism from activists over its failure to do so last November.

The resolution, released Thursday, calls for an “immediate, negotiated ceasefire by both Hamas and Netanyahu Administration” and the “release of all hostages.” The Council considered a similar resolution in November but ducked a vote, drawing the ire of protesters from Harvard, MIT, and the Party for Socialism and Liberation.

Before the Council called for a final vote, Mayor E. Denise Simmons said that she disagreed with speeches from Cambridge residents claiming that the “Council has done nothing up until this point.”

“We have spent a good deal of time on and going through this particular policy or version of it,” Simmons said.

The Council approved six amendments to the resolution, including amendments by Councilor Patricia M. “Patty” Nolan ’80 calling Hamas a terrorist organization and recognizing the City Council’s limited influence on American foreign policy.

“While city councils have no direct influence on American foreign policy nor any authority to direct the federal government’s actions,” the amended resolution read, “there has nonetheless been a steady call for municipal bodies, nationwide, to symbolically join the call for the freeing of the October 7 hostages and a ceasefire.”

Councilor Paul F. Toner, who supported Nolan’s amendment, said while he was empathetic to condemning acts of violence, there were too many “international issues” that the Council could be asked to act on.

“If we’re going to tie up the City Council every week on these kinds of topics, this is what we’ll be doing every week,” Toner said.

But Councilor Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler said he felt it was important for the Council to deliberate on the Israel-Hamas war.

“This issue has also already divided our community, regardless of whether the Council does anything and sometimes airing those divisions and dialogue is necessary for reconciliation,” Sobrinho-Wheel-

The Cambridge City Council unanimously passed an amended resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. JULIAN J. GIORDANO — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

er said.

The vote came four days after the Somerville City Council passed a similar resolution, making Somerville and Cambridge the first two Massachusetts cities to publicly endorse a ceasefire in Gaza.

In a statement Monday night, Rep. Ayanna S. Pressley (D-Mass.) praised both resolutions.

“I’m grateful to our colleagues in Somerville and Cambridge for their courage and solidarity, and to the activists on the global and grassroots levels who made this important progress possible,” Pressley

wrote. “From Massachusetts to the Middle East, our destinies are tied and our pro-peace, pro-humanity movement is strong.”

More than 80 protesters — including Harvard and MIT students — flooded into City Hall at the beginning of the virtual meeting, which was projected in the lobby. As some Cambridge residents spoke in opposition to the resolution during more than three hours of public comment, protesters drowned out their speeches with chants of “Shame” and “Free, free Palestine.”

Kojo Acheampong ’26, an organizer with the unofficial Harvard group African and African American Resistance Organization, criticized what he called the “both sidesism” of the proposed amendments to the resolution.

“There’s no both sides to this.

This is genocide,” Acheampong said. “We unequivocally want a ceasefire.”

The co-sponsors of the resolution — Vice Mayor Marc C. McGovern and Councilors Sobrinho-Wheeler, Sumbul Siddiqui, and Ayesha M. Wilson — did not im-

mediately respond to a request for comment Monday evening.

Prince A. Williams ’25, another AFRO organizer and a Crimson Editorial editor, called the resolution’s passage a “win for the movement, especially in Cambridge.”

Still, he said that pro-Palestine protests will continue until the conflict in Gaza ends.

“We don’t win until Palestine is free,” Willams said. ayumi.nagatomi@thecrimson.com avani.rai@thecrimson.com

Boston Begins Planning New Neighborhood in Allston

Families Have Stayed for Weeks at Shelter Meant To Be Temporary

BY JINA H. CHOE

BY LAUREL M. SHUGART

AND JACK R. TRAPANICK

AND OLIVIA W. ZHENG

CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

The city of Boston is undergoing a planning process for Beacon Park Yard – a large tract of Harvard-owned land in Allston — which is set to be the site of a large highway and transit project.

As local officials seek to secure federal funding for the Allston Multimodal Project — an effort to realign a portion of the Massachusetts Turnpike that runs through Allston — they, alongside residents, are beginning to envision what will come after.

The realignment will open up a 91-acre lot of vacant land and highway for development, ultimately creating a new neighborhood in Beacon Park Yard on Harvard’s land.

The process is meant to create a basic picture for what that new neighborhood will look like at least a decade before its construction begins and bring together the interests of local players including Boston University, Harvard, the city and state governments, and Allston residents.

“The BPY Plan will establish a regional, community vision for dense urban development that provides the City capacity, landowner value, and community benefits to realize a transformational infrastructure and development project,” a Boston Planning and Development Agency spokesperson wrote in an emailed statement.

“Our vision is inclusive and equitable infrastructure and development projects at Beacon Park Yard,” the spokesperson wrote.

Both the BPDA and other parties involved in the plan said that it would serve as a guide and a measure of accountability for the city, Harvard, and developers, ensuring that future development in the area will serve the interest of residents.

In an interview, Boston City Councilor Elizabeth A. “Liz” Breadon said Boston officials will play a key role in achieving that.

“The thing is up to the city,” Breadon said. “The city of Boston has to leverage whatever power they have to guide this process and hold Harvard accountable.”

Breadon said she would advocate for “mixed income housing, investments in green space, and climate resilience” during the planning process.

­ temporary homeless shelter at A the Cambridge Registry of Deeds building was only meant to house families for five to ten days. But a shortage of permanent shelter options means that most families have remained there since December.

The Massachusetts state government opened the site on Dec. 22 to accommodate unhoused families on the waitlist for the Emergency Assistance program, which organizes shelter for unhoused and migrant families eligible for housing under the state’s 1983 “right to shelter” law.

Families were originally intended to transition to more permanent EA shelter units within days, but an influx of applicants and a lack of units has meant the state is unable to transition families into more permanent housing, City Housing Liaison Maura Pensak told the Cambridge City Council during a Monday meeting.

Pensak said the site currently holds 56 families totaling 190 individuals, just shy of its total capacity of 200 people. The majority of the families currently

The Allston Multimodal Propsect will involve redirecting a portion of the Massachusetts Turnpike. COURTESY OF BOSTON PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT AGENCY.

Harvard is also seeking air rights over the turnpike, which Breadon said would significantly increase the value of their land.

The process also serves as a mitigation benefit, negotiated by the University and the Harvard Allston Task Force, in order to receive approval for its Enterprise Research Campus.

The city requires developers to offset the consequences of projects with benefits to the surrounding area.

The BPDA has held two events so far to solicit residents’ thoughts on the BPY project, including one last Wednesday.

The turnpike realignment, in the works for almost a decade, has been celebrated by residents and local leaders as a reunification of the neighborhood, which is currently divided by the highway. The project will also bring increased transit through a new commuter rail station and more bicycle infrastructure.

“The Allston Multimodal Project is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to knit together the Allston-Brighton neighborhood and, with the creation of West Station, to bring transformational connections across the region and beyond,” Harvard spokesperson Amy

Kamosa wrote in a statement.

Boston University, a direct neighbor to the project area, also stands to benefit by becoming better connected to the Allston neighborhood.

“Someday in the future it could be an easy walk from Barry’s Corner to Commonwealth Avenue,” a spokesperson for BU wrote in an email. Commonwealth Avenue is where BU’s main campus is located and Barry’s Corner houses Harvard’s Science and Engineering Complex.

The turnpike realignment is years away from beginning construction and is still awaiting federal funding. The state has applied for a federal grant available under the Inflation Reduction Act, although their previous application was rejected last year.

Last week, members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation wrote a letter to Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg ’04 in support of the state’s second application for funding. The Biden administration’s decision on the grant is expected in the coming weeks and months, according to city officials. jina.choe@thecrimson.com jack.trapanick@thecrimson.com

staying in the shelter have been there since the shelter opened, she said.

Over 450 families are currently on the program’s statewide waitlist, and new families are applying for the program far faster than state officials’ capacity to provide EA units for them.

The temporary shelter is open 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. on weekdays, when the courthouse is in operation, and all day on weekends and holidays.

However, Pensak said the city is working with state officials to keep the shelter open 24/7.

“The fact is, there is space at the registry,” Pensak said. “The whole wing of the courthouse has been created as a separate space for these families. So it’s very removed from the operations of the Registry of Deeds.”

Cambridge Public Schools have also started enrolling school-age children staying in the shelter — a marked shift from the city’s plans when the shelter originally opened. The school district is required to guarantee school enrollment for unhoused children regardless of circumstance under federal law.

In an email, Sujata Wycoff, a CPS spokesperson, declined to say how many students from the

shelter were being enrolled citing privacy concerns, but wrote that registering unhoused children is “a routine matter for Cambridge Public Schools.”

“We have not experienced a significant disruption to our operations,” Wycoff added. “Our Student Registration Center, district and building leaders, educators, and support staff have created a seamless process to ensure we are enrolling students quickly and meeting their needs while creating a welcoming environment.”

Though the site offers meals, laundry, and legal assistance, it does not include showers.

Originally, the site provided showers through a partnership with MIT. However, as MIT students returned from winter break, residents have been able to shower at Bunker Hill Community College, according to Pensak.

“I think the city has really deployed significant support and resources and the community has also been really supportive and welcoming,” Pensak said. “I think our Cambridge community, our village, has stepped up to respond to the crisis.” laurel.shugart@thecrimson.com olivia.zheng@thecrimson.com

12

THE HARVARD CRIMSON

METRO

FEBRUARY 2, 2024

The Red Line will see closures from Feb.5 to Feb. 14 as the MBTA’s most widely used T line undergoes maintenance. BRIANA HOWARD PAGÁN — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

MBTA

Red Line Closures to Begin Next Week TEMPORARY SHUT DOWN. From Feb. 5 to Feb. 14, sections of the MBTA Red Line will be closed for maintenance.

BY AISLING A. MCLAUGHLIN AND MADELINE E. PROCTOR CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

­T

he MBTA Red Line will be closed for maintenance from Feb. 5 to Feb. 14, as part of a project to reduce slowdowns and increase safety by upgrading track infrastructure.

During the closure, the Red Line will be shut down between Alewife and Harvard before

8:45 p.m. and between Alewife and Park Street after 8:45 p.m.

Another Red Line shutdown between Harvard and Broadway will occur the weekend of the 24th and 25th.

The Red Line closure is the latest in a series of MBTA closures to impact Boston-area commuters, as the beleaguered agency attempts to battle through financial woes and depressed ridership to improve its aging infrastructure.

The work scheduled for the following month will primarily be to eliminate slow zones along the Red Line, involving track repairs and fixing old signaling systems, according to the MBTA.

Like previous closures, the agency will provide free shuttle buses and accessible vans as an alternative for riders.

In an interview, Seth M. Kaplan, a member of advocacy organization TransitMatters, said that the closures are “going to be disruptive, for sure,” adding that the Red Line is the most commonly utilized line of the T, and the closures will include the most densely populated stops.

“The MBTA has had decades of disinvestment, underinvestment, that has led it to the state that it’s in today,” Kaplan said.

MBTA CEO and general manager Phillip Eng wrote in a statement that “by restoring our

tracks, we are addressing the root causes of the speed restrictions that have accumulated over decades.”

Boston University student Hayden Dickerson said Monday that he was worried about his transportation options once the Red Line is closed.

“I don’t want to Uber for the next week and a half, or week, because it’s too expensive,” Dickerson said. “I’m just going to leave early, which is frustrating because I like my rest and I need it.”

He raised concerns about the shuttle bus alternative, saying that during a previous shutdown, he was on a shuttle bus

when the driver became lost and relied on passengers for directions. In an email Tuesday, the MBTA offered to look into the incident and ensure it does not happen again.

But Maria Wikins, a commuter who has been riding the T for 20 years, was more understanding toward the MBTA. “I don’t think you can blame them,” Wikins said. “I can see the improvement in the T.” Herbert Yu, who takes the Red Line one stop each morning, accepted the shutdown with an air of quiet resignation, adding that he would simply walk the 25 minute commute instead.

“I’m more in the acceptance

phase,” Yu said. “There’s probably nothing that I can really do.” aisling.mclaughlin@thecrimson.com madeline.proctor@thecrimson.com

THC Read more at THECRIMSON.COM

Nonprofit Presents Plans for 110Unit Affordable Development

BY LAUREL M. SHUGART AND OLIVIA W. ZHENG CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

Nonprofit housing developer B’nai B’rith Housing presented plans to build 110 affordable one-bedroom units for senior Cambridge residents at an existing property on Blanchard Road during a Tuesday Planning Board meeting.

The proposed development, currently in the community review phase of the development process, seeks to redesign the existing Cambridge Highlands property under the Affordable Housing Overlay, a citywide policy loosening zoning restrctions for fully affordable housing developments.

“It is very clear that the need is significant and growing,” said BBH’s Executive Director Susan Gittelman in the Tuesday meeting.

“Low income seniors are under enormous pressure, many leaving Cambridge because of the high cost of housing and the lack of appropriate housing options,” Gittelman added.

Because the development ex-

clusively offers one-bedroom units, there was initial concern from the Planning Board over the lack of mixed-size units. But BBH Senior Project Manager David Webster said that one-bedroom units best meet the needs of low-income seniors.

“One-beds are what we find, by and large, the most demand for,” Webster said. “If you look at the Cambridge Housing Authority’s inventory of age-restricted, affordable housing, 99 percent of those units are one-beds or studios.”

“From our perspective, it’s how we can meet the most need by providing that type of unit,” Webster added.

The development would also add roughly 30 vehicle spaces and 99 bicycle spaces. However, some Planning Board members expressed concern over the parking expansion, questioning the need for parking for senior units.

Webster said that parking spaces for senior units is not unusual.

“It is consistent with the parking ratios that we have at other urban senior housing projects,” Webster said. “From our perspective, it’s about the ratio that we’ve

used at other properties and found is appropriate.”

During the meeting, the development received praised residents who said the need for senior affordable housing is growing.

Cambridge resident James Zoll voiced support for the development and stressed its importance for seniors at the Planning Board meeting.

“It’s a great opportunity to use the Affordable Housing Overlay to create some long overdue lower-cost housing, this time in an underutilized area of Cambridge,” Zoll said.

While the Cambridge Housing Authority manages ten senior housing sites, the waitlist for seniors has grown to over 1,000 names, according to Zoll.

“Along with housing for other categories of people, we certainly need a project like this,” Zoll said. “I would like to see it advance as quickly as possible and go into construction, and provide the benefits for the people of Cambridge and surrounding areas that are badly needed.” laurel.shugart@thecrimson.com olivia.zheng@thecrimson.com

A nonprofit housing developer discussed plans for a 110-unit senior affordable housing development in the Cambridge Highlands neighborhood during a Tuesday meeting. JULIAN J. GIORDANO — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

ARTS 13

THE HARVARD CRIMSON FEBRUARY 2, 2024

BRANDON SANDERSON ARTIST PROFILE

ON FAN THEORIES, ‘WIND AND TRUTH,’ AND BUILDING HIS FANTASY EMPIRE

BY HANNAH E. GADWAY CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

B

randon Sanderson is more than just an author: He’s an institution. The writer became one of the biggest names in fantasy after finishing the late Robert Jordan’s iconic Wheel of Time novels. Sanderson’s original books, including his “Mistborn” and the Stormlight Archive series, are now splashed across nearly every BookTok and Bookstagram account in the nation, and many have called him one of the best fantasy authors of all time. Beyond the page, Sanderson also heads his company, Dragonsteel Entertainment, and teaches creative writing at Brigham Young University.

In an interview with The Harvard Crimson, Sanderson expand-

ed on the difficulties that come with juggling so many endeavors.

“I have 50 to 70 employees, depending on how much we need in the warehouse at the moment,” Sanderson said. “Fortunately, I haven’t had to pick up most of that load.

My wife, Emily, has.”

“I kind of say, ‘The writing is mine, but the company is ours,’” Sanderson said.

The writing that Sanderson takes ownership of has made his career. The author is known for his grand and meticulous style, and he produces his work at a stunning speed. In 2023 alone, Sanderson released six individual projects, including “Tress of the Emerald Sea,” which The Crimson deemed one of the best books of the year.

On his website, Sanderson tracks the progress of his upcoming pieces; at the moment, three books have been satisfyingly updated to

be “100%” finished. While Sanderson seems to have the writing game down to a science, he maintains that it remains, at its core, an art that can still lead him in new directions.

“An outline, for me, is more about this idea that using some of these constraints helps my creativity. I think that limitations breed creativity,” Sanderson said.

The creativity of Sanderson’s novels is apparent in all parts of their production, and the author’s storytelling is often supplemented by a myriad of illustrations designed by artists at Dragonsteel.

Sanderson explained that he finds these visuals integral to his worldbuilding.

“I just love having a lot of art in my books. You can see this from ‘Elantris,’ where I drew the symbols myself — which is why they’re a little rougher than some of the things later on,” Sanderson said. “I just feel like this is a part of making a story feel real, all of the things that sur-

COURTESY OF OCTAVIA ESCAMILLA

round it. I like the blending of art and text.”

Sanderson’s fans like this blend, too. The author’s novels, and especially his “Secret Project” works, are often praised for their beauty as well as their engaging storylines online. Beyond celebrating his works, fans also use social media to publish their reviews, show off their #sanderlanche reactions — a term fans use to describe Sanderson’s thrilling final acts — and keep up to date with their beloved “Brando Sando.” While the demands of social media may daunt some authors, Sanderson embraces his fans and their energy online as contributors to his career success.

“I love social media because it’s worked really well for me,” Sanderson said. “I found that interacting with fans, generally, is a very positive experience.”

To stay close to fans, Sanderson runs a YouTube channel, where he livestreams and produces book-related content.

Alongside these interactions inevitably comes a deluge of fan theories. Some authors get a little apprehensive about the pre-

dictions made by audiences, but Sanderson embraces them as a fantasy fan himself.

“I grew up in the Wheel of Time fandom and watched the theory crafting that happened around those. I was not surprised when it started happening to my books,” Sanderson said. “I know a lot of my author friends change things if people guess what’s going to happen. I have found that is not a method I like to use.”

Instead, he described his preferred approach, which focuses on foreshadowing and storytelling.

“I like to layer in really powerful foreshadowing for events, and I will change those events if the narrative demands it,” Sanderson said.

As he acknowledges with his references to the Wheel of Time series, Sanderson is a reader as much as he is an author. Amidst all of his endeavors, Sanderson still finds time to read. He “just finished” and wrote a cover blurb for a novel by one of his former students, “The Doll Makers” by Lynn Buchanan. Now, he’s rereading Isaac Asimov’s “Foundation” in preparation to write a foreword to the new edition.

Working with students such as Buchanan has taught Sanderson how to mentor young authors. When asked for advice,

Sanderson advised new writers to focus on the art itself as much as the end result.

“Treat yourself as the product of your writing time, not the actual story,” Sanderson said. “If you focus on what your writing is doing to you, how it’s making you a better writer, how forcing yourself to stretch and do more difficult things with your narrative is going to change you — that, particularly as a new writer, is really helpful.”

Sanderson’s love for the craft, along with his dedicated work ethic, have made fans excited to follow his next move. His audience is currently waiting for the fifth installment of the Stormlight Archive series, “Wind and Truth,” which will complete the first arc of the ten-book series.

The contents of this novel are currently under strict wraps, but Sanderson hinted at a few things for fans to expect.

“It’s going to answer a lot of questions,” Sanderson said. “It’s going to delve into the lore of Roshar more than any book has so far.”

Sanderson is a CEO, professor, reader, and author. He is an institution in the fantasy world that seems to grow more beloved with each passing day. But ultimately, he is most interested in honing his craft to share his epic and thrilling fantasy stories with the world — and that is why his fans keep reading. hannah.gadway@thecrimson.com

Harvard Theater: Previewing the Spring 2024 Season

BY ISABELLE A. LU CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Looking to attend musicals, plays, or operas at Harvard this spring? Check out this roundup of the campus theater productions that will be running in Spring 2024!

“Falstaff” Harvard College Opera’s mainstage comedy follows the fat, old knight Falstaff as he attempts to seduce and swindle two married women; the women falsely accept Falstaff’s advances in a plot of their own. When one of the women’s husbands misunderstands their plans, the couples and Falstaff find themselves in a hilarious, chaotic entanglement of miscommunications.

“Falstaff” runs from Feb. 2 to Feb. 10 at the Agassiz Theatre.

“HPT 175: Heist Heist Baby!”

For the 175th anniversary of the Hasty Pudding Institute of 1770, Hasty Pudding Theatricals will bring satire, puns, and tradition together in its annual musical spectacular. Written by Sophie

M. Garrigus ’25 and Maddie Dowd ’25, “Heist Heist Baby” follows aspiring journalist Rita L’Boutette as she sneaks into the elite gallery opening of celebrity artist, Spanksy. Rita gets more drama than she bargained for when Spanksy’s masterpiece goes missing. Surrounded by a host of punny and colorful suspects, Rita must solve the case to keep her hands on the exclusive story.

“HPT 175: Heist Heist Baby” runs from Feb. 2 to Mar. 3 at Farkas Hall.

“The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” How do we handle the growing pains of life? Quirky and earnest, “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” follows six middle schoolers as they compete in the titular spelling bee while ruminating on their hopes and fears. Prepare to spell words like C-O-W and C-H-I-ME-R-I-C-A-L along with Chip, Logainne, Leaf, Barfée, Marcy, and Olive in this musical comedy.

“The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” runs from Feb. 29 to Mar. 8 at the Loeb Experimental Theater.

“Medea: The Musical” Seneca’s tragedy about the vengeful princess Medea is transformed into an original musical, presented by the Harvard Classical Club. Preserving Seneca’s verse amidst translation, choreography, music, and direction by Harvard students, “Medea: The Musical” centers on a princess who murders the family of her ex-lover, Jason. The musical promises to refresh the age-old myth by examining feminine rage and agency in an age of male-dominated expression.

“Medea: The Musical” runs from Mar. 21 to Mar. 24 at the Agassiz Theatre.

“Constellations” Beekeeper Roland and physicist Marianne fall in love in this contemporary play, featuring an exploration of their future through the lens of quantum mechanics, string theory, and the theory of multiple universes. The high-concept structure uses scene repetitions to explore the infinite outcomes of their relationship, anchored by the warmth of intimate connection. “Constellations” explores

the what-ifs of life and the roads not taken.

“Constellations” runs from Mar. 28 to Mar. 31 at the Loeb Experimental Theater.

“Spring Awakening” The Tony Award-winning musical “Spring Awakening” boldly depicts the universal struggle of puberty. In conservative 19th-century Germany, teenagers grow into their sexual desire through an electrifying alternative rock score.

The worldly Melchior questions the confines of his education, Wendla struggles to understand reproduction, Moritz flounders in school, and all of their schoolmates find themselves burdened with new taboo thoughts. Fusing poetic lyricism and modern sound, the show is groundbreaking in its honesty about repressing sexuality and its consequences.

“Spring Awakening” runs from Apr. 3 to Apr. 6 at the Loeb Proscenium.

Jamie’s experience in chronological order and Cathy’s in reverse chronological order. As Jamie falls in love with Cathy in their first encounter, Cathy reckons with their divorce papers. Their scenes alternate as the characters come together, fall in love, and grow disastrously apart.

“The Last Five Years” runs Apr. 4 to Apr. 6.

“The Tragedy of Julius Caesar” Conspiracy, war, and classic speeches: The Hyperion Shakespeare Company delivers “The Tragedy of Julius Caesar” this semester, a historical tragedy about several mutinous members of the trusted ranks of Caesar’s government. When Caesar grows more and more tyrannical, politicians Cassius and Brutus initiate an assassination plot resulting in a Roman civil war and universal questions about leadership, ambition, violence, and politics.

“The Tragedy of Julius Caesar” runs from Apr. 11 to Apr. 14 at the Loeb Experimental Theater.

“The Last Five Years”

“First-Year Musical”

“The Last Five Years” is an intimate musical that depicts two timelines of a single relationship:

This year’s First-Year Musical is a groovy comedy about two best friends, Sam and Jamie, who are

event planners at the River Rock Hotel & Cabins. In a desperate bid to save their workplace from closure, they host a music retreat that attracts a diverse variety of musicians. Created, directed, and staffed entirely by members of Harvard’s Class of ’27, this production takes its place as the 29th First-Year Musical in an annual tradition that introduces first-years to Harvard’s student theater scene.

The First Year Musical runs Apr. 12 and 13 at the Agassiz Theatre.

“Little Shop of Horrors” After finding a strange plant that he dubs “Audrey II” after his crush, floral assistant Seymour commits to taking care of his new possession — soon finding out that Audrey II hungers for the taste of human blood. Promised fame and riches by the nefarious plant, Seymour supplies it with live bodies, but discovers Audrey II’s true plans too late. This rock musical, set in the 1960s, is gruesomely entertaining and hilarious.

“Little Shop of Horrors” runs from Apr. 25 to Apr. 28 at the Agassiz Theatre. isabelle.lu@thecrimson.com

ARTS

14

THE HARVARD CRIMSON FEBRUARY 2, 2024

COURTESY OF MATTHEW MURPHY

THEATER

‘Moulin Rouge: The Musical’ Is for the Dreamers and the Lovers

BY ALISA S. REGASSA CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

D

irected by Alex Timbers and adapted from the film

by Baz Luhrmann, Broadway in Boston’s “Moulin Rouge: The Musical” is a celebration of truth, beauty, freedom, and love. The pre-Broadway production of “Moulin Rouge” originally premiered in 2018, right here in Boston at the Emerson Colonial Theatre. Since then, the Broadway show has gone on to win much critical acclaim, including 10 Tony Awards. Seven years later, the musical brought the spirit of the Parisian Moulin Rouge back to life at Boston’s Citizens Bank Opera House.

The set of “Moulin Rouge” is titillating from the very onset of the show. From the raunchy opening rendition of the Grammy-nominated number “Welcome to the Moulin Rouge!,” the constant set changes keep the show tangible, maintaining the balance between debauchery and narrative. From the grimy streets of Montmartre to the splendor of the Champs-Élysées, Derek McLane’s scenic design faithfully portrays the dichotomy of the Bohemian and aristocratic Parisian

experiences. Even during the preshow, as members of the ensemble come onstage to set the tone, their costumes, designed by Catherine Zuber, help to authentically transport the audience into the setting.

Perhaps the jukebox musical’s most notable achievement is the swath of musical genres captured within its two-and-a-halfhour runtime. From the comedic relief of Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” to the “Bridgerton”-esque waltz routine set to Lorde’s “Royals,” the song choice keeps the show modern. Due to the sheer number of songs in the repertoire, however, some numbers are cut regrettably short. The infamous “cancan” dance barely starts before it ends, leaving the audience wishing for more. Nevertheless, the impressive range of musical styles represented ranges from to a-ha’s ’80s staple “Take On Me” to The Beatles’ ’90s hit “All You Need Is Love” and Outkast’s 21st century hip-hop bop “So Fresh, So Clean,” coming to a boil with Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep.” Clearly, there’s something for each of the many generations of music lovers in the crowd!

The lively ensemble cast puts on a delightfully authentic portrayal of Bohemian ideals. Christian Douglas plays the part of naive lover boy Christian to a T,

dominating the scene with his quirky charm in the “Shut Up and Raise Your Glass” medley. Andrew Brewer is almost too charismatic for the role as the Duke of Monroth. His performance

perfectly captures the part of the beautiful and ambitious burlesque coquette. Her timbre stays in character with the raspy belt of a diva during her solo to Katy Perry’s “Firework.” Even her shadow

“

‘Moulin Rouge: The Musical’ is a spectacle of grandeur, artistry, and the lively spirit of burlesque.

From the flowing set design and variety of music hits to the lavish costumes and enthusiastic cast, the show has something for every musical lover.

troducing the warning story behind “El Tango de Roxanne” that allows him to sound fatherly and not patronizing.

“Moulin Rouge: The Musical” is a spectacle of grandeur, artistry, and the lively spirit of burlesque.

From the flowing set design and variety of music hits to the lavish costumes and enthusiastic cast, the show has something for every musical lover. Like the “Spectacular Spectacular” show within the show declares, Broadway in Boston’s “Moulin Rouge: The Musical” is “so delighting it will run for fifty years.”

“Moulin Rouge: The Musical” is at Citizens Bank Opera House until Feb. 4. alisa.regassa@thecrimson.com

THC during “Only Girl in the World” comes off as too loveable for his malicious role. Nick Rashad Burroughs also excels as Toulouse-Lautrec, earning a standing ovation for his tear-jerking “Nature Boy” aria. Aside from being vocally impressive, his emotional delivery also crafts a touching ode to freedom.

But it is Gabrielle McClinton who steals the show as the glamorous starlet Satine. McClinton

is exquisite during her sweeping entrance to “The Sparkling Diamond.” McClinton also offers a raw acting performance, particularly in portraying Satine’s relationship with Robert Petkoff’s Harold Zidler. Their relationship is touchingly familial as Zidler becomes somewhat of a father figure to Satine, despite his complicated hierarchical power as the owner of the Moulin Rouge. It is Petkoff’s intense delivery in in-

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Artist Profile: Olivie Blake on Rewriting the Fantasy Canon

BY MILLIE MAE HEALY CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

“The Atlas Complex,” the final book in Olivie Blake’s bestselling Atlas series, was released on Jan. 9. Set in the future where magic runs the world as much as money, the survivors of a murderous initiation ritual to an organization with untold knowledge and resources must figure out how to survive and whether to risk the world, now that they have access to immense power and possibilities.

Reflecting on “The Atlas Six,” the first book in the series — from self-publication in 2020, to blowing up on TikTok and being traditionally published by Tor in 2021, to the trilogy finally reaching its end — Blake discussed how the series was an ambitious project.

“When I started writing this, I thought there was no way that it was marketable. I still feel a little bit like I was right about that,” Blake said in an interview with The Harvard Crimson.

Blake described how the series began with a series of character studies against a dark academia backdrop, a genre that has exploded in popularity in recent years. However, Blake has always intended to tell stories that her readers might not expect from the original premise.

“Libby Rhodes, for example, is a character that I really wanted to feel very familiar. I wanted you to start reading and be like, oh, this is Hermione Granger, this is Alina Starkov, this is, you know, every single female character that we have seen in the fantasy canon. And then take her journey in a very different

direction,” Blake said.

She hopes that the right readers, who bought into her virally successful first novel, will find themselves satisfied with how the books treat no subplot as impossible.

“I knew readers would go into the book thinking it was one thing, then hopefully follow me realizing that these are six totally unreliable narrators,” Blake said. “The kinds of romantic things that you would expect to happen don’t happen, things that are normally queerbait-y type things do happen, like, ‘Oh, it’s not a trick!’”

Though the Atlas books are dramatic, funny, and thoughtprovoking — featuring improbable magic, sexcapades, and deeply unserious interactions — they also deal with big questions.

“It’s a projection of classic ethical problems,” Blake said.

For Blake, the series meditates on the question of life’s meaning. Beginning with the perspectives of six struggling, privileged, powerful characters, “The Atlast Complex” zooms out in scale to ask what is wrong with the futuristic, magical society they live in, and whether it’s egotistical for a character to believe they can change the world.

“It’s very Western and very late capitalist to think that you have to have a purpose, there has to be a meaning, or that some people are worth more because they have a purpose,” Blake said.

Appropriately titled, “The Atlas Six” explored nothing but the six central characters’ own whims. But “The Atlas Complex” breaks this mold, expanding beyond the original six characters to explore how “ordinary” people experience the world and to show the lessons Blake wanted

her characters to learn.

“It’s not about the answers. It’s about doing the most good you can with the resources you are given,” Blake said. “Which was why it was so interesting to start with a group of people who have every resource in the world and never asked themselves once, ‘What good should we do with this?’ until they lose something personal.”

Blake described how “The Atlas Complex” dealt with alternate possibilities and the multiverse, because it was important for her to imagine that every possible scenario might exist for her characters.

“I come from fanfiction, I come from a world of understanding that there are going to be people who imagine different endings,” Blake said. “I wanted to write this book from a world where that is true. And all these

things exist.”

While it has become less taboo for published authors to admit to being former fanfiction writers, Blake has been outspoken in showing respect for the form.

“It’s almost going back to the oral storytelling tradition — there is no origin story, this is the story the way your grandmother told it to you — except it was someone on AO3. And there’ll be people all the time saying, I don’t know where this ship name came from, or I don’t know where this quality came from, I don’t know why they’re written like this. But because we all read the same things, now we’re all working in the same imaginary playground.”

Blake’s upcoming fairy tale retelling anthology, featuring reprinted and new short stories, will be released in October of this year. milliemae.healy@thecrimson.com

FIFTEEN QUESTIONS

THE HARVARD CRIMSON FEBRUARY 2, 2024

J

eannie Suk Gersen is the John H. Watson, Jr. Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and a Contributing Writer for The New Yorker. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

FM: When did you know you wanted to go into law?

JSG: I didn’t know any lawyers growing up. My parents didn’t have any friends who were lawyers, and I hadn’t really met lawyers throughout my childhood.

I only knew about them from TV. And so courtroom dramas and shows like “Law & Order,” or movies where there’d be dramatic scenes of lawyers doing justice in court made me think that that’s something that I might want to do.

Q&A:

JEANNIE SUK GERSEN ON LAW, FREE SPEECH AT UNIVERSITIES THE LAW PROFESSOR sat down with Fifteen Minutes to discuss why she pursued the law and what it takes to be a good lawyer. “You can’t make good arguments if you haven’t listened,” she says.

BY JEM K. WILLIAMS CRIMSON MAGAZINE ASSOCIATE EDITOR

FM: You mentioned “Law and Order” specifically. Were there any other courtroom dramas that really intrigued you?

JSG: Shows and movies like “Perry Mason.” There were very few female lawyer figures on TV. But later on in life, there was “L.A. Law.” And then even later than that, Ally McBeal.

FM: What qualities do you believe it takes to be a good lawyer?

JSG: I think the main quality that it takes to be a good lawyer is listening really hard to people, and being truly open to what they’re saying. So that goes from having a client and truly understanding what the client’s concerns are to the ability to make good arguments. You can’t make good arguments if you haven’t listened to arguments on the other side and truly understood what the strengths of those arguments are as well as the weaknesses.

FM: Besides constitutional law and family law, I’ve also read that you have a background in the law of art, fashion, and the performing arts. How did you first get involved in this area of the law?

JSG: I think that it comes from the background that I had as a child and a teenager. I was a pianist and a dancer, having attended Juilliard and the School of American Ballet, so I had that very strong background in the arts. And then, during my legal career, when I was at the District Attorney’s Office in Manhattan, as a prosecutor, I actually prosecuted some cases about trademark counterfeiting in luxury goods like, for example, handbags by Gucci or Prada. And so I got really interested in the intersection of legal regulation and the production of art and fashion, as well as the regulation of things like choreography.

If you make a work of choreography, what does that mean, in terms of its legal status? Can people copy it? And is that a legal violation? All of those questions, I was fortunate in my position here at Harvard to be able to explore through research and teaching, in addition to the work that I’ve done in criminal law and family law and constitutional law.

JSG: It’s really a toss up between family law and constitutional law, which I’m teaching this spring — both of them.

FM: How would you describe your teaching style?

JSG: Well, how would I describe it versus how would my students describe it is interesting to think about, because maybe there’s a gap. I would describe my teaching style as rigorous and open-minded, wide ranging in the topics that I invite into the classroom, and intensely focused on training students to be good listeners as well as to understand and make arguments that they may disagree with.

It’s really all about not only honing your own views and arguments, but just as importantly or even more importantly, truly understanding perspectives that you do not agree with and grappling with them.

I think some of my students would say I am strict, that I go, sometimes, beyond where they expect, and that sometimes I’m willing to be uncomfortable and make the class go beyond people’s comfort zone.

JSG: I can’t imagine not doing something that is so important societally, and also intimately. That combination of the systemic effect of discrimination and oppression, along with the intimate difference that it makes in people’s lives, is really what draws me to some of the subjects that I study. So it is, overall, an issue of great public importance, and it’s an issue of intense private importance for many people. And that is kind of what makes law itself so compelling.

Because laws are actually about people’s lives.

JSG: Well, I think that the expansion of the terminology overall has been quite negative for many areas of life. One of them is free speech, because what do you say when somebody is saying they’re experiencing trauma? It makes it seem like whatever caused the trauma shouldn’t have happened, and should have been shut down. And if that thing is speech, that caused someone to experience trauma, then some people might conclude that that speech was the culprit and should have been prevented or banned.

I think that the more common it has become for people to believe that their discomfort or objection, or taking offense, or feeling uncomfortable amounts to a trauma, the more it becomes quite difficult to maintain an at-

to free speech and our commitment to anti-discrimination principles, and that tension just can’t be denied. It has to be confronted head on. We have to understand that this is about a balance of values.

FM: You’ve taught a wide array of subjects. Do you have a favorite subject to teach?

FM: You’ve worked as a rape counselor and handled cases involving sexual and domestic violence as a lawyer. How do you find the strength to make a career involving such intense and sensitive subjects?

FM: You’ve talked before in an interview about trauma and how this concept was previously applied to rare cases has now expanded to include experiences that are relatively common. Do you believe this expansion is a good and useful thing? Or do you have any reservations about the expansion of the terminology?

15

FM: What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?

LUCY H. VUONG — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

mosphere in which people can feel free to engage in open discourse.

So I really do hope that we can rein in the use of the concept of trauma in that expansive way. Overall, I do think that the notion of trauma — which is experiences that have a certain effect on how people process memories — that has definitely been watered down.

President Claudine Gay being called to testify before Congress.

And especially in light of her recent resignation, do you have any predictions for the future of speech regulation by universities?

FM: I read your piece in the New Yorker concerning the decision by the Colorado Supreme Court to remove Trump from the ballot based on Section Three of the 14th Amendment. Do you have any predictions for how this case might go before the U.S. Supreme Court?

Hands down, the best piece of advice is get over yourself. And I’m lucky to have been given that advice a long time ago.

JSG: I think my main prediction is that the Supreme Court will decide in favor of Trump or in favor of not disqualifying him. And it’s really a matter of is it going to be 5-4, 6-3 or 9-0?

JSG: I think we’re at a pivotal moment where we could use this opportunity to strengthen protections for speech. Or we could go completely the other way and believe that what we need to do is to crack down on offensive speech. And I sincerely hope that we will take the first path, not the second one.

FM: You’ve also written about, recently, the future of free speech at universities, in light of Harvard

FM: What other types of free speech could inadvertently be restricted if rules were to tighten up?

JSG: Well, for example, the University has rules against discrimination, harassment, and bullying. But if we were to think that every instance of speech that would be considered by someone to be discriminatory were disallowed on campus, that would be a very severe restriction on academic freedom and free speech. That’s why the Harvard policy on discrimination, for example, is drawn very narrowly, so that even if someone complains about someone’s speech that they believe was discriminatory, that’s not the end of the matter. The discrimination policy has many hoops that one would have to jump through in order to lead to a decision that someone’s going to actually be disciplined.

I think a lot of the question here, right now, because people are so concerned about harassing people, or threatening them, or intimidating them — that implicates this tension between our commitment

JSG: Hands down, the best piece of advice is get over yourself. And I’m lucky to have been given that advice a long time ago. And it’s never too early to hear it. Because I think for a lot of students who are very high achieving, and who really have a great vision of their future and sometimes a sense of grandiosity about what they can do, the challenge is to be ambitious — without becoming a megalomaniac. And I think that it’s always important to remember: Just get over yourself. jem.williams@thecrimson.com

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

16

SPORTS

THE HARVARD CRIMSON

FEBRUARY 2, 2024

MEN’S LACROSSE

Men’s Lax Returns for 2024 MEN’S LACROSSE returns to the field for the spring season, strategizing for success with a promising freshman class and renewed determination.

BY KATHARINE A. FORST CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

R

­turning from a dise appointing end to the 2023 season, which had been highly-touted by lacrosse insiders as a potential breakthrough for Frisbie Family Head Coach Gerry Byrne and his men’s lacrosse team, the squad can rely on the return of key players on both ends of the field as well as a stacked freshman class for its 2024 battle in the competitive Ivy League.In his one-sentence summary for every D-1 men’s lacrosse program, Matt Kinnear, a reporter for Inside Lacrosse, predicted that with Sam King’s leadership atop the offense and the Crimson’s strong shortstick unit, the “lineup makes you have to believe the positive momentum continues under Gerry Byrne.”

King, a redshirt junior who was recently named one of three captains for the Harvard squad, was also named one of Inside Lacrosse’s 10 most underrated players heading into the 2024 competition season. King was placed fifth in this group, as Kevin Brown highlighted that “King’s speed kills and he’s keeping the jumpsuit alive and well at 5-and-5 for the attack position.” Brown was confident that King would be able to handle the pressure of maintaining his prominent role on the attacking unit.

While the return of King and Campisi instills confidence in the battle-testedness of the Crimson, the team will also have to focus on filling the gaps created by the loss of captain and middie Nick Loring, attackman Hayden Cheek, and SSDM Chase Yager. Loring posted

fourteen points (10 goals, 4 assists) on his senior campaign, and was a regular contributor to the program’s offense – which struggled at times during the season. Cheek, the team’s second-highest point scorer, tallied 18 goals and six assists. His missing presence will be felt on the offensive end, as he was praised by his peers for his ability to create offensive motion and exploit gaps in the opposing defense.

On the other end of the field, Yager – who will compete against the Crimson in his fifth year at the University of Virginia — proved to be a steady and reliable force on the defense, notching 14 caused turnovers, 27 ground balls, and five points (3g, 2a).

While Byrne will draw on the athletic prowess of his returning players to fill the shoes of his grad-

four-star recruits and six threestar recruits. Three of the incoming freshmen also earned spots on Inside Lacrosse’s Power-100 Rankings list. St. Anthony’s product Jackson Greene, the highest-ranking Crimson freshman, sits at the 28th spot, with teammates Jack Speidell and Jack Petersen trailing close behind at No. 38 and No. 51, respectively.

“Another influx of young highly-rated recruits has us poised to play between six-to-eight first years this spring. In particular three Top 100 Ranked Recruits by Inside Lacrosse f r o m Long Island

the offensive end and winning faceoffs at the X. Key returning attackmen – led by King – include sophomore Teddy Malone, senior Graham Blake, and junior Joe Dowling. Malone, who earned The Crimson’s Male Rookie of the Year award for his standout campaign, notched 24 points (18g, 6a), Blake – who was notably missing for the first portion of the season due to injury – tallied six points (5g, 1a), and Dowling added an additional 14 (9g, 5a) to the team’s total.

“In terms of players primed to step up, Logan Ip, Teddy Malone, and Johnny Aurandt have been playing really well and competing,” junior middie Owen Gaffney said. “Their maturity has permeated throughout the offense. Also, our

totaled 23 points (14g, 9a), as well as 19 ground balls and five CTOs, while Botkiss added 19 points (13g, 6a), along with 12 ground balls and three CTOs. Sophomore Logan Ip will look to improve on his freshman campaign which saw him notch 11 points (5g, 6a), as well as nine ground balls and three CTOs. Missing from the lineup is junior Andrew Perry, who will sit out of action for the entire season due to injury. Perry was an instrumental member of the program’s midfield unit, and his role will be one the Crimson looks to fill.

Harvard struggled with its shooting last season, and so filling these spots will be crucial to the team’s success this semester.

Possession time, or improving on its lack thereof, will also be a big area of focus for the team. Secur-

Junior Owen Gaffney is set to lead the squad in the midfield for the 2024 season. DYLAN J. GOODMAN — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

uating seniors, he will also look to incorporate the dynamic new recruiting class into the lineup. The stacked freshman class – comprising six middies, two LSMs, two attackers, one FOGO, and one goalie – boasts six Inside Lacrosse

(Greene, Petersen, Speidell) each had a great fall, survived some injuries and seem ready to contribute on offense this fall.”

The Harvard squad will look to build on key areas of its game this spring, mainly converting on

freshman class as a whole is very strong.”

Also looking to make an impact on the attacking end are junior middies Gaffney – an All-Ivy Second Team selection last season – and Miles Botkiss. Gaffney

The squad will rely on both returning players and new recruits this season. DYLAN J. GOODMAN — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

ing the ball at the faceoff X is also a place where the Crimson will look to improve. Byrne’s squad will rely on returning FOGOs – sophomore Matt Barraco, who secured 57 wins and 17 ground balls on the season, and junior Andrew DeGennaro, who led the team with 57 ground balls – as well as the addition of freshman Owen Umansky, to generate momentum. Winning at the faceoff will be paramount to ensuring the team’s success throughout the season.

“Our Face Off unit is a great mix of skill, athleticism and IQ. Seniors Andrew DeGennaro and Mike Binkowski have been together for several years and have done a great job mentoring Sophomore Matt Barraco and heralded frosh Owen Umansky,” Byrne said.

“Each brings a unique skill set to the position and we feel that this ‘committee’ of athletes can help us win possession at a higher rate than last season.”

As a result of the lackluster performance at the faceoff, Harvard’s defense was forced to endure longer sets and more pressure from the opposing attacking units. Junior defenseman and captain Collin Bergstrom, sophomore defenseman Charlie Muller, and junior defenseman Martin Nelson will be instrumental in building on the team’s stellar defensive performance during the 2023 campaign.

Bergstrom will be a key player to watch this season, as he looks to lead a majority underclassmen-led unit. The captain led the Crimson with 15 CTOs last season, and was a vocal and reliable presence with his lockdown crease defense. Muller will hope to improve upon his superb freshman season, in which he cracked the lineup, starting 10 games and notching 11 CTOs. Muller was also tied for first amongst freshmen in the league with .92 caused turnovers per game. Nelson, who floated between LSM and straight defense for his first two years – proving to

GAMES TO WATCH THIS WEEK

be an essential wing player on the face off – made his mark at low defense last season. He, alongside Bergstrom, will be key in plugging gaps left by the team’s large graduating class.

The defensive-middies, which were led by senior LSM Greg Campisi – who dominated on the face off wing and in the middle of the field with 33 ground balls and

“

We learned a lot from last season, and we’re ready to show our improvement and maturity.

Owen Gaffney Junior midfielder

14 CTOs – were some of the squad’s most lethal weapons. Campisi, along with junior LSMs Vince Cresci and Tommy Martinson, contributed to the team’s effective lockdown ride which was ranked third in the nation, holding opponents to a .789 clearing percentage. Bergstrom and Campisi worked together to create an effective defensive unit, which was ultimately ranked fourth in the nation in CTOs at 10.5 per game. The LSMs worked alongside SSDMs Ray Dearth – who contributed with 10 CTOs and 15 ground balls – junior captain Andrew O’Berry – who posted one goal, three assists, 15 ground balls and two CTOs last season – and sophomore Owen Guest, who tallied seven caused turnovers and five ground balls.

Guest will be an up-and-coming player to notice this season, and Dearth will have to step up to fill Yager’s role as leader of the shortstick unit.

Bouncing back from the loss of goalie Kyle Mullin, senior goalie Christian Barnard stepped up and led his defense last season.

The Darien, Conn. native,who had not started a game until Mullin’s graduation,posted a much needed .465 percent save rate, coming in clutch during key games against Cornell – which was The Crimson’s Game of the Year – and Brown. Also looking to crack the lineup are freshman Teddy Kim and junior George Alvarez. Barnard – unless challenged by Kim or Alvarez for the starting spot – will be a vocal leader on the defensive end.

“Our main focus as a team this year is to compete as hard as we can every second, drill, practice, lift, or game,” Gaffney said. “We learned a lot from last season, and we’re ready to show our improvement and maturity. We want to focus on all of the effort and focus-based controllables.”

The Harvard squad faces a challenging set of opponents, with 13 games scheduled for the season. The team will kick off competition next Saturday with a scrimmage against UMass, a historically scrappy matchup that has swung between favoring the Minutemen and the Crimson in recent years. The next six games are all out-of-conference, which will allow the squad to work out any kinks before starting league play. In a marked shift from past seasons, the team’s first in-league contest will be played against rival – and stellar program – Yale. The team’s loss to the Bulldogs at the end of the 2023 season was the final blow that kept Harvard out of the postseason Ivy Tournament, and killed any opportunity for a back-to-back NCAA Tournament run.

The Crimson will welcome the Minutemen to Jordan Field on Saturday at 1pm EST. katharine.forst@thecrimson.com

THC

FRIDAY 2/2

SAT 2/3

SUN 2/4

Men’s Basketball VS Columbia 7:00 pm, Lavietes Pavilion Men’s Tennis VS No. 14 Michigan 5:00 pm

Women’s Water Polo VS Indiana 10:30 am, Blodgett Pool

Men’s Squash VS Cornell 12:00 pm

Women’s Water Polo VS Wagner College 3:00 pm, Blodgett Pool

Women’s Squash VS Columbia 12:00 pm

Wrestling VS Princeton 12:00 pm

Women’s Ice Hockey VS Dartmouth 3:00 pm

Men’s Basketball VS Cornell 7:00 pm, Lavietes Pavilion

Wrestling VS UPenn 12:00 pm

Read more at THECRIMSON.COM

Harvard: Flash Forward to Better Science Infant monkeys in Harvard experimenter Margaret Livingstone’s laboratory are trapped inside a terrifying “disco.”

For the first year and a half of their lives, they’re forced to wear goggles with shutters that open and close rapidly, again and again— simulating flashing strobe lights.

Demand that Harvard end this warped excuse for science today.

PETA.org/Strobe

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SPORTS

THE HARVARD CRIMSON

FEBRUARY 2, 2024

WOMEN’S HOCKEY

WEEKLY RECAP SCORES WOMEN’S ICE HOCKEY VS. UNION

W, 3-1

TENNIS VS. NEBRASKA

W, 4-2

BASKETBALL VS. YALE

W,61-52

MEN’S

BASKETBALL VS. YALE

L, 65-78

ICE HOCKEY VS. COLGATE

W,6-3

TENNIS VS. UCLA

W, 4-2

FENCING VS. DUKE

W, 16-11

WRESTLING VS. CORNELL

W, 6-37

READ IT IN FIVE MINUTES FENCING WINS AGAINST DUKE

A Crimson women’s ice hockey player on the ice against Dartmouth during a game in October 2022. JOSIE W. CHEN — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

Challenges on the road

NEW YORK TOUGH.­ The Crimson faced topranked teams in New York.

Though not victorious, they look forward to new opponents.

BY JACK K. SILVERS AND KATHARINE A. FORST CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

T

­ e Harvard women’s h ice hockey team (417-2, 2-13-1 ECAC), who dropped games to No. 6 Cornell (175-1, 12-4-0) and No. 4 Colgate (23-3-1, 14-1-0) earlier in the season, was once again bested by its ranked N.Y. rivals this past weekend. The Crimson hoped to avoid repeating history, but struggles on offense saw the team once again fall to the two upstate programs, with Harvard losing to Colgate 10-1 and Cornell 7-2.

The first game of the weekend saw the Crimson take on the Raiders in Hamilton, N.Y. Both teams entered the game coming off victories over ranked opponents, with the Crimson looking to build on its thrilling shootout victory over Boston College in the Beanpot consolation game and Colgate riding a five-game win streak stretching back to early January. The game also marked Colgate’s annual Autism and Neurodiversity Awareness game, which Crimson players showed their support for by wearing stickers and helmet decals with the autism awareness symbol, a blue puzzle piece.

The Crimson got off to a quick start, with first-year forward Brooke Manning netting

“

We had a lot of success with our in-zone structure and competed for all 60 minutes of both games Alex Pellici Goaltender

the first goal of her career just under two minutes into the contest. Manning was assisted by Kayley Crawford and Eva Dorr, who flicked a pass to the left circle that was promptly deposited

by Manning into the goal, representing the fastest goal the team has scored on the season.

The rest of the period was a tight defensive battle, with

starting goaltender Emily Davidson saving 40 of 41 shots from the Raiders. The one shot that trickled through for Colgate, made by by senior forward Kas Betinol at 15:43 in the first period, leveled the score at 1-1.

Unfortunately for the Crimson, the offense was unable to keep pace with the Raiders after this point.

The second period was dominated by Colgate. At the start of the period, forward Tessa Folk kicked off a Raiders onslaught by scoring the first of four Colgate goals to come in a 90-second span, staking the Crimson to a 5-1 disadvantage. The first two of these goals resulted from Colgate winning possession on the face-off and then quickly taking a shot on goal, which sophomore goalie Emily Davidson saved on both occasions, but then succumbed to Colgate’s ensuing rebound attempt.

In the third period, Colgate tacked on four more goals, three during power plays. Harvard had a chance to catch the Raiders short-handed when Avery Pickering was called for a roughing penalty just under 15 minutes into the third period, but neither of its two shots found the back of the net. Ultimately, the Raiders’ physicality and offensive prowess led to the Crimson struggling to maintain possession of the puck, winning only 23 of 67 faceoffs and getting outshot 48-12.

Following the one-sided game Friday night, the Crimson unsuccessfully looked to break its losing streak in its 7-2 loss against No. 6 Cornell. The Big Red proved to be tough opponents for both the men’s and women’s Harvard hockey programs this past weekend, as the No. 13 Cornell men’s team bested the Crimson 2-0 on Friday night at home.

Cornell entered the game on a hot streak, having toppled six ranked opponents, and having beaten Harvard earlier in the season at Bright-Landry. The Big Red continued its momentum, starting off strong and battering Harvard’s defense with a cohesive offensive onslaught.

By the end of the first period, starting goaltender Alex Pellicci faced 21 shots, a marked decrease from the night before, but a handful nonetheless.

Three of those shots eluded Pellicci’s grasp, putting the Crimson down 3-0 heading into the second period.

Fortunately first-year defender Kaley MacDonald, who

also gave the Crimson a lifeline in its November bout against the Big Red by scoring in the third period and preventing a shutout, was able to revitalize the squad. This time, MacDonald took a pass from junior forward Ellie Bayard at the point and zipped a shot at goal, sneaking it past the reach of Cornell goalie Annelies Bergmann. MacDonald was a bright spot amid an otherwise challenging weekend for the Crimson, contributing two blocked shots against Colgate to add to her point against the Big Red. Sophomore forward Sophie Ensley quickly kept the Crimson rolling with a goal of her own.

Barely two minutes after MacDonald’s shot, and after three saves from Pellicci in the interim, Ensley grabbed the puck on a breakaway and earned a o n e on-one opportun i ty with Bergmann. The Cornell goalie blocked E n s l e y ’s first attempt, but the sophomore scored on the rebound to narrow the deficit to 4-2.

Harvard’s resurgence ended there, though. Cornell tacked on an additional goal at the end of the second period and

the team was shut out in the third period, coming up empty on all nine shots. Big Red sophomores Avi Adams and Grace Dwyer each added on their second goals of the night, leaving the final score at 7-2.

Once again, Harvard struggled to gain consistent traction on offense beyond momentary breakthroughs like Ensley’s breakaway. The Crimson notched just nine shots to Cornell’s 50 and was once again dominated in the battle for possession, winning just 19 of 52 faceoffs. This past weekend’s offensive struggles meant that Pellicci and her fellow goaltenders were constantly under siege, but the junior and Prior Lake, Minn. native still found positives to take away from the weekend.

“We had a lot of success with our inzone structure and competed for all 60 minutes of both games,” Pellicci said.

Luckily, the Crimson will get

a reprieve from playing against the best of the conference; it isn’t scheduled to play any team that currently has a winning record until Feb. 16, when it will return to the Empire State to battle against St. Lawrence. Before then, it will try to right the ship with an away game at Union and

During a double header at home last Saturday, both the men and women’s fencing teams defeated their Blue Devils counterparts with the same score of 1611. Defending NCAA Men’s Epee National Champion Jonas Hansen was at his best, scoring a perfect 3-0 against his opponent and become the only undefeated player on the Crimson team. On the same weekend, the women’s team won against New York University .

“

We are looking to generate more offensive opportunities and continue to improve with every game.

Alex Pellici Goaltender

home games against Ivy rivals Dartmouth, Brown, and Yale.

“Union and Dartmouth are both important games for us going into the playoffs,” Pellicci said, looking ahead at the schedule. “We’re looking to generate more offensive opportunities and continue to improve with each game.”

The Crimson’s trip to play Union will take it to Schenectady, N.Y. this Wednesday, Jan. 31, where the puck will drop at 6:00 p.m. The game will be streamed on ESPN+. jack.silvers@thecrimson.com katharine.forst@thecrimson.com

MIXED RESULTS FOR BASKETBALL ­ ast weekend, Harvard’s L men and women basketball teams faced off against Yale. In front of the home crowd at Laviettes Pavillion, the men’s team fell 65-78 against the Bulldogs. While getting the game off to the good start, the Crimson lost the edge just before half-time and never gained it back. On the contrary, the women’s team won 61-52 against Yale at New Haven. Junior Harmony Turner was the top scorer of the game, leading the team to a fourth victory this season.

TENNIS VICTORIES ­ oth the Harvard men B and women’s tennis teams won against their opponents last weekend.

On the road in Nebraska, the women’s team defeated DePaul and Nebraska, with the scores of 4-3 and 4-2 respectively. In their ITA debut in front of the home crowd, the men’s team also displayed a convincing performance, defeating UCLA 4-2 and local rivals Northeastern 4-0.

A Harvard player celebrates during a game at Frozen Fenway on Jan. 6, 2023 vs. Quinnipiac. ANNABEL BANKS — FOR HARVARD ATHLETICS