The Harvard Crimson - Volume CLI, No. 14

THE HARVARD CRIMSON

response to an Emerson College encampment.

The Harvard Corporation Meets an Unhappy Faculty

FINALS. Final examinations scheduled for Harvard Hall were relocated to oustide Harvard Yard amid the ongoing pro-Palestine encampment in the Yard, which is entering its second week.

Pro-Palestine student protesters at the Harvard Yard encampment flew three Palestinian flags from University Hall on Saturday evening.

A group of three protesters hoisted the flags over the John Harvard statue in the Yard, where the University sometimes flies the American flag or flags of the countries of visiting foreign dignitaries.

As of 6:34 p.m., Harvard University Police officers were calling Harvard Yard Operations to remove the flag. As the staff removed the flags, protesters yelled “Shame!” and chanted “Free, free Palestine” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”

Encampment

As the campus services Harvard staff member walked away with the Palestinian flags and two HUPD police officers, a student protester on the steps of University Hall attempted to grab the flags from the facilities staffer. Surrounding protesters immediately urged him to stop.

The protester declined to comment. In a statement Saturday evening, Harvard spokesperson Jonathan L. Swain wrote that raising the flags was “a violation of University policy and the individuals involved will be subject to disciplinary action.”

After the facilities staffer removed the flags, protesters willing to have their Harvard University IDs photographed and numbers collected by administrators gathered inside the encampment. Other protesters also gathered outside of the encampment ropes in solidarity.

“Harvard, Harvard take my ID. You can’t really scare me,” the protesters chanted.

Following the flags being raised and then removed, protesters held a vigil for Palestinian killed in the war, during which dozens of protesters sat silently in a semicircle around the John Harvard statue.

At 9 p.m., immediately following the vigil, a group of seven administrators — including Dean of Students Thomas Dunne, Associate Dean of Students Lauren E. Brandt ’01, and Dean of Student Services Michael Burke — arrived from University Hall and entered the encampment zone to check IDs.

Several administrators carried ID scanners. Administrators wrote down the ID numbers of students within the encampment and handed each a slip of paper warning of disciplinary action, in-

cluding the possibility that graduating seniors could have their degrees withheld.

“Repeat violations of University and School policies will result in increasingly severe sanctions,” the slip stated, adding that “students with pending disciplinary matters may not be granted a degree.”

The warning of disciplinary action was the third issued by College administrators following emails from Dunne on Thursday and Saturday, suggesting that the College is moving closer to officially calling undergraduate protesters before the Harvard College Administrative Board.

The threat that degrees could be withheld comes just weeks before Harvard’s commencement ceremonies. Several of the protesters in the encampment are seniors expected to graduate in May.

SCIENCE DEAN. Biologist Jeff W. Lichtman was named the next dean of Science by Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean Hopi E. Hoekstra on Tuesday. He replaces outgoing dean Christopher W. Stubbs.

More than 30 undergraduates were asked Monday morning to appear before the Harvard College Administrative Board, which will decide whether students will face disciplinary action for their participation in the pro-Palestine Yard encampment.

“A serious matter has come to the attention of the Administrative Board of Harvard College, and we urgently want to meet with you to discuss this matter and to explain the confidentiality rules and procedures of the Administrative Board,” the letter, which arrived via email, states.

Violet T.M. Barron ’26, one of the students who received the Ad Board letter, said the Ad Board process has been “arbitrary” and “at worst, discriminatory.”

“International students who have not been camping received emails from the Ad Board. Students who have not been ID’d received emails from the Ad Board,” Barron, a Crimson Editorial editor, said.

“We encourage the Harvard community to pressure the admin to cease pursuing disciplinary processes. In turn, we call on the administration to listen to their community and engage with the demands listed in HOOP’s statement of values,” she added.

College spokesperson Alixandra A. Nozzolillo wrote in an emailed statement Monday afternoon that the encampment “has continued in direct violation of university

The letter, signed by Assistant Dean and Secretary of the College’s Administrative Board Titus Adeleke, requests students attend a Zoom meeting within the next day with the College’s Ad Board — an administrative body responsible for the application and enforcement of Harvard College policies — alongside their Resident Dean to review the procedures.

More than 1,600 people signed a petition objecting to the permanent closure of the Harvard-run Cambridge Queen’s Head Pub, as staff members said they were “heartbroken” by the sudden Tuesday announcement.

Staff members learned of the closing at a meeting Tuesday evening with two representatives of Harvard University Dining Services and Dean of Students Office administrator Andy Donahue.

Jack G. Towers ’25 said the staff’s reaction in the meeting was “disbelief and shock.”

“No one wants to walk into a room with this community of coworkers that they’ve grown close to and have all of you find out you just lost your jobs,” he said.

Tuesday’s meeting came after the pub had already closed its regular operations for the semester on April 19. According to student manager Tanner Humphrey ’23-’25, the pub’s budget for the fall had already been approved in March.

Alice R. Ferguson ’25, who has worked at the pub since it reopened in 2022, said hearing about the closing was a “complete surprise.”

“We closed our doors like last week, two weeks ago, and nothing was mentioned,” Ferguson said. “So we didn’t know that that was going to be our last shift ever. We didn’t know that we wouldn’t be coming back.” When Dylan T. Driscoll ’24 learned about the closure, he said “it felt like my parents lost their house or something.” Driscoll said he wanted more clarity

While most Harvard-run cafes on campus are operated only by HUDS, the Queen’s Head Pub, located in the basement of Annenberg Hall, is also overseen by the DSO.

billion requested. BY NICHOLAS J. FRUMKIN AND ELIZABETH PENG — CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS, PHOTO BY KATHRYN S. KUHAR — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

AROUND THE IVIES

BROWN ENCAMPMENT ENDS, ADMIN TO VOTE ON DIVESTMENT FROM ISRAEL

Pro-Palestinian organizers at Brown University have agreed with administrators to end their encampment in exchange for a fall vote on divesting from companies affiliated with Israel, per the Brown Daily Herald. Students will discuss divestment proposals with the governing body, but those involved in the encampment will face disciplinary actions, and charges against 41 students arrested in December will not be dropped.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

COLUMBIA ANNOUNCES REMOTE FINAL EXAMS AFTER NYPD SWEEPS ENCAMPMENT

After NYPD cleared the encampment and occupied Hamilton Hall at Columbia University, leading to dozens of arrests, Columbia moved all finals and academic activities at Morningside Heights to remote formats, according to the Columbia Spectator. Faculty were advised to make finals optional, reduce their weight, or cancel them. Students were also encouraged to leave campus early.

THE COLUMBIA SPECTATOR

FORMER DARTMOUTH STUDENT NEWSPAPER EMPLOYEE PLEADS GUILTY TO EMBEZZLEMENT

Nicole Chambers, former manager of The Dartmouth, pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $223,000 from the student newspaper on Tuesday, The Dartmouth reported. The theft occurred from April 2017 to September 2021 through unauthorized transfers and purchases using the newspaper’s accounts. The FBI found she used some of the stolen funds for personal trips and her husband’s legal fees. Chambers agreed to a plea deal for up to 15 months in prison to repaying the full amount stolen.

THE DARTMOUTH

YALE POLICE CLEAR ENCAMPMENT, NO ARRESTS MADE

Yale and New Haven police fully cleared a pro-Palestine protest encampment at Cross Campus of tents and other belongings without any arrests, the Yale Daily News reported early Tuesday. The police had blocked access and warned that anyone within the encampment area after 6:30 a.m. would be arrested and potentially face emergency suspension. Protesters relocated to College Street and continued chanting. This action follows a rejection by protesters of an administrative offer which included a meeting with Yale Corporation members.

THE YALE DAILY NEWS

OCCUPATION OF PRINCETON’S CLIO HALL LEADS TO THIRTEEN ARRESTS

Thirteen protesters were arrested at Princeton University’s Clio Hall on Monday afternoon, The Daily Princetonian reported, after a series of pro-Palestine demonstrations that began with a sit-in last Thursday. Protesters occupied the office of Graduate School Dean Rodney Priestley, demanding negotiations on divestment from Israel. Outside, around 200 supporters chanted and banged on buckets, monitored by campus security. This marked a shift in administrative response since the protest’s beginning, which had seen only two previous arrests.

THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

BY CRIMSON MULTIMEDIA STAFF

What’s Next

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

ARIZONA VOTES TO REPEAL ABORTION BAN FROM 1864

The Arizona Legislature voted to repeal a longtime ban on abortions from 1864 on Wednesday, the Associated Press reported. Two Republicans joined Democrats in the vote, and Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs is expected to sign the repeal into law. The decision overturns an abortion law that had no exceptions for rape or incest and only allows an abortion to save a patient’s life. In a statement, Hobbs wrote “Arizona women should not have to live in a state where politicians make decisions that should be between a woman and her doctor.”

U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE PRESSES HAMAS TO ACCEPT NEWEST CEASEFIRE PROPOSAL

After over seven months of war in Gaza, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is pushing Hamas to accept the most recent cease-fire proposal with Israel, the Associated Press reported. The newest proposal raises the possibility of a permanent halt to the war and withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza under the promise that all Israeli hostages will be released. According to Blinken, the “time is now” for a compromise to settle the months-long conflict which has led to thousands of casualties in Gaza.

U.S. INCREASES SANCTIONS ON CHINESE COMPANIES FOR AIDING RUSSIA

The Biden administration announced up to 300 new sanctions on international military equipment and technology companies on Wednesday. The sanctions are aimed at companies that have been helping Russia refill their military arsenals, after the Biden administration previously warned against China’s aid to Moscow in the Russo-Ukrainian War. Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen said the move would “further disrupt and degrade Russia’s war efforts.”

FEDERAL RESERVE HOLDS INTEREST RATES AT CURRENT LEVELS AMID INFLATION

The Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged on Wednesday, as it remains concerned about the difficulties in tackling inflation. Currently, interest rates remain at a rate of 5.3%, a 2 decade high. Borrowing costs are likely to remain high though a rate increase would be “unlikely,” according to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. Still, he said rates would be unlikely to lower.

U.S. AND MEXICO PLEDGE JOINT ACTION TO ADDRESS ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION

U.S. President Joe Biden and Mexican President Andres Obrador released a joint statement this past Monday pledging to institute measures to address illegal immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border. The statement comes as Biden faces significant political pressure to make a move on illegal immigration before the 2024 election, where the issue has taken center stage.

Friday 5/3

DATA + DONUTS

Wexner 434, 10:30-11:30 a.m.

Come to this week’s Data + Donuts event to hear

Harvard researcher Ceilyn Boyd discuss the University’s Slavery, Abolition, Emancipation, and Freedom Data Collection. The SAEF Collection is Harvard’s first major effort to turn a large print collection into a dataset.

Saturday 5/4

SCREENING: A BRIGHTER

SUMMER DAY

Harvard Film Archive, 6-10 p.m.

Join the Harvard Film Archive for a screening of A Brighter Summer Day, a 1991 Taiwanese epic crime drama film depicting the difficult trials awaiting the simple and harmonious life of the Zhang family in 1960s Taiwan.

Sunday 5/5

HARVARD FERRIS CHORAL FELLOWS CONCERT

Memorial Church, 4-6 p.m.

Experience the sounds of Robert Schumann’s “The Pilgrimage of the Rose” performed by the Harvard Ferris Choral Fellows in a concert on May 5. The concert is free and open to the public.

Monday 5/6

FARMING THE FUTURE: LIVESTOCK’S LEAP TO NET ZERO

Virtual, 4-6 p.m.

Attend this virtual seminar where Ermias Kebreab, the chair of the United Nations Technical Working Group on Feed Additives, will discuss the role of agricultural science in the global effort to combat climate change.

Tuesday 5/7

HISTORY OF THE US MILITARY IN AFGHANISTAN LECTURE

CGIS Knafel Center, 4-5 p.m.

Join journalist Matthieu Aikins for a discussion on the complex dynamics of warfare legality and morality. Drawing on extensive research and reporting experience, Aikins examines the nuanced issues surrounding the targeting of civilians in conflicts.

Wednesday 5/8

HARVARD STAFF ART SHOW Gutman Gallery, 3-7 p.m.

Join Harvard’s staff artists at the Gutman Library Gallery, with more than 90 artworks by more than 50 contributors on May 8th at 3 p.m. with an artist reception, where attendees can mingle and enjoy light refreshments. At 5 pm, there will be a screening of “TYPE CAST” by Rick Groleau, followed by a talk.

Thursday 5/9

‘WE CALL THIS HOME’ PERFORMANCE BY FABIAN ALMAZAN Paine Concert Hall, 7-10 p.m.

Come experience a multimedia music performance by Fabian Almazan based on his ethnographic

search into areas in South Florida experiencing environmental harm due to pollution. Almazan will play piano, joined by musicians and spoken word.

Friday 5/10

LUNCH & LEARN: STUDY BREAK

Schlesinger Library, 12-2 p.m. Join the Harvard College Women’s Center in Schlesinger Library for a study break. In honor of Jewish American Heritage Month, participants will explore collections in the library highlighting the legacy of Jewish women in America.

STAFF FOR THIS ISSUE

GOLDEN GLOW

SARAH G. ERICKSON — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

JULIAN J. GIORDANO — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

FAS To Consider Faculty Senate Planning

BY TILLY R. ROBINSON

Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences is expected to discuss a resolution on May 7 that — if passed — would mark their first concrete step toward forming a University-wide faculty senate.

The proposed resolution would commit the FAS to electing delegates for a “planning body” tasked with designing the senate, which an informal working group of faculty has been pushing for over the last few weeks.

Since the FAS Rules of Procedure prevent substantive measures from being introduced and voted on at the same meeting, the group of sponsors also plans to introduce a resolution calling for a May 14 special meeting, at which the FAS would vote on whether to elect delegates.

Though the FAS’ Office of the Secretary typically shares meeting agendas the Friday before the meeting, a document containing the two resolutions was obtained by The Crimson prior to the agen-

ENCAMPMENT FROM PAGE 1

da’s release.

The group pushing for the senate, which spans all nine faculties, began circulating their proposal and related documents on April 9.

The files, sent to hundreds of faculty members, asked the schools to select delegates for a faculty senate planning body — or pick a process for doing so — by May 15. The planning body would then be tasked with determining the potential faculty senate’s struc-

ture and bylaws, aiming to complete its work by the start of 2025

The group would include twelve representatives from the FAS: three from each division — Arts and Humanities, Sciences, and Social Sciences — and three from the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. In total, the body would comprise 37 members from across Harvard’s faculties.

The resolutions are expect-

ed to be jointly sponsored by University Professor Danielle S. Allen, Government professors Melani C. Cammett and Ryan D. Enos, Psychology professor Mina A. Cikara, Bioengineering and Applied Physics professor Kevin K. “Kit” Parker, Sociology professor Christopher Winship, and History professor Kirsten A. Weld.

The group plans to host two Zoom town halls on May 9 to discuss the proposal, per Allen.

COLLEGE FROM PAGE 1

Administrators have checked the IDs of protesters daily since Thursday.

Administrators checked, but did not note, the ID numbers of the students outside the encampment, including multiple Crimson reporters on the scene. Within 15 minutes, administrators exited as protesters — who were chanting “Admin, admin, you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide” and “Every dollar Harvard supplies, a neighborhood in Gaza dies” with megaphones and drums — encircled and followed them out of the Yard. After the departure of the administrations, protesters called a group meeting in the encampment.

The American flag was not flying at the time the Palestinian flags were raised because University procedures dictate that “the American flag is raised in front of University Hall each Monday through Friday at 7 a.m. and lowered at 4 p.m., for proper storage.”

The first flag was raised onto the center University Hall flag post at 6 p.m. Protesters initially attached the flag upside down, but it was quickly turned a few minutes later. At 6:18 p.m., protesters raised a second, smaller Palestinian flag on an adjacent flag post, and a third flag followed on the final post at 6:23 p.m. The group around the encampment cheered and chanted, “Free, free Palestine” as each of the flags were raised. Led by an organizer on a megaphone, the group also chanted “What do we want, justice! When do we want it, now!” and “If

we don’t get it, shut it down.” Several protesters also took photos.

No University administrators arrived on the scene during the half hour period when the flags were raised over Harvard Yard.

Around 6:40 p.m., organizers posted a photo of the first Palestinian flag flown from University Hall to the Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine Instagram with the caption, “WE FLY FOR PALESTINE.”

“For well over 200 days, Harvard has ignored the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Until they agree to meet our demands to disclose and divest from Israeli apartheid and occupation, we will make Palestine unavoidable,” organizers wrote. “We will continue this liberated zone and fly the spirit of Palestine!”

During the vigil, one protester noted that Saturday night was the White House Correspondents Dinner and urged attendees to remember the names of journalists killed in Palestine before and after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel. Harvard Medical School instructor Lara Jirmanus wrote in a statement that it was “deeply saddening that anti-Palestinian racism is so pervasive that instead of talking about how to end our complicity in Israel’s genocide, we are worried that the mostly silent encampments are too loud.”

“The students camping in the Yard are engaged in one of the most profoundly educational events in their generation,” Jirmanus added. “They teach us how to hold power to account when our institutions and our democracy has failed to enact the will of the US and the global pub-

lic: to ensure that Palestinians have the same access to life with dignity that all human beings deserve.”

Securitas officers walked by the John Harvard statue and noted the flag but did not stop nor address the protesters. Harvard University Police officers stationed in the Yard declined to comment on whether they would intervene.

HUPD Chief Victor A. Clay defended protesters’ rights in a Friday interview with The Crimson, saying “we are keeping our students safe and they are protesting peacefully and it’s their right and we are going to support that.”

It is not the first time an activist group has used the flagpole to promote their cause. In February 2023, protesters with Our Harvard Can Do Better — an anti-rape culture advocacy group — raised a “Shame on Harvard” banner on two University Hall flagpoles. It is unclear whether the protesters will face disciplinary action for raising the banners.

On Wednesday, when the encampment began, protesters at the encampment draped a keffiyeh and a Palestinian flag over the John Harvard statue.

Friday morning,Dunne used a pole to take down the keffiyeh after asking students to also remove the flag, and protesters asked Dunne to take the keffiyeh down himself. Shortly after Dunne’s departure, protesters replaced the keffiyeh on the statue, where it remains as of Saturday evening.

of a faculty senate has garnered some skepticism from top University officials. During a rare Tuesday FAS town hall, interim University Provost John F. Manning ’82 suggested that FAS faculty should consider

These meetings would come after initial discussion but prior to any final vote.

The FAS is not the only faculty considering the proposal.

According to Allen, resolutions to produce delegations have also been scheduled for discussion at faculty meetings at both the Graduate School of Design and the School of Public Health.

Though the exact format has yet to be determined, the concept

Than 30 Students To Appear Before College Ad Board

policies.”

“Harvard College has repeatedly communicated that participation in activities that do not comply with policies will result in disciplinary measures,” Nozzolillo wrote, adding that the College does not comment on individual student circumstances.

The letter attached to Monday’s email contains a confidentiality contract for students and a lengthy explanation of the process of appearing before the Ad Board. After an initial meeting, students submit a written statement to the Secretary and meet with a subcommittee, which produces a report. The student then writes a written response and may choose to appear before the Ad Board with a verbal statement before an outcome is decided.

The letter also quotes from the Undergraduate Student Handbook and threatens to withhold degrees from students who are “not in good standing or against whom a disciplinary charge is pending with the Administrative Board, the Honor Council, or the disciplinary board of another school.”

The emails come after two emails from Dean of Students Thomas Dunne to the entire undergraduate body warning of sanctions over continued participation in the demonstration.

Saturday evening, hours after protesters flew three Palestinian flags from University Hall — which were almost immediately taken down by Yard Operations — seven administrators arrived and entered the encampment to scan and note down the IDs of students within the fenceposted area. Administrators handed out slips of paper warning of disciplinary action to the students within the encampment.

“Repeat violations of University and School policies will result in increasingly severe sanctions,” the slip stated, adding that “students with pending disciplinary matters may not be granted a degree.”

Administrators — including Dunne, Associate Dean of Students Lauren E. Brandt ’01, and Dean of Student Services Michael Burke — have noted or photographed the IDs of protesters within the encampment daily since Thursday afternoon.

Minutes before the letters reached students, Dean of the College Rakesh Khurana — who has visited the encampment several times since it was mounted Wednesday — arrived at the protest and briefly spoke with two security marshals. Khurana declined to comment on his visit to the encampment. Shortly after students received

the Ad Board emails, Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine posted on Instagram.

“ALL OUT TO CAMP NOW,” the post stated. “We need as many people rallying at camp ASAP and staying throughout the day in anticipation of admin’s arrival. They can try to discipline us, but they can’t suspend the movement.” At 10 a.m., immediately following the emails, protesters participating in the encampment gathered for their daily morning meeting. As the meeting concluded, protesters chanted, “Harvard you can’t Ad Board me, Palestine will be free!” Despite the escalation in disciplinary measures against students, the encampment has thus far remained peaceful and there are no signs of police response. Interim Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76 told The Crimson last Monday that though he would not rule out a police response to the demonstration, it would require a “high bar.” In a Friday interview with The Crimson, Harvard University Police Department Chief Victor A. Clay defended the rights of protesters in the encampment and said HUPD is not preparing to make any arrests.

The FAS intends to discuss a resolution next week in an effort to establish a Univeristy-wide faculty senate. SANJANA S. RAMRAJVEL — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

Three Palestinian flags were raised above University Hall on the fourth day of the pro-Palestine Harvard Yard encampment before Harvard police officers removed them about one hour later. ELYSE C. GONCALVES — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

CENTRAL ADMINISTRATION

Some Want Garber’s Interim Tag Removed

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

As interim Harvard Presi-

dent Alan M. Garber ’76 enjoys early success at the helm of the University, there are growing calls from some faculty and alumni to appoint Garber to the position permanently and forgo a lengthy presidential search.

The Harvard Corporation — the University’s highest governing body — has not announced a formal search to select Harvard 31st president, but the board’s

limited public comments about the search have suggested strong support for Garber.

During the Corporation’s town hall on Tuesday with members of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Senior Fellow Penny S. Pritzker ’81 said Garber has the “complete confidence” of the University’s governing boards.

Shirley M. Tilghman, a Corporation member since 2016, also credited Garber with doing the most to manage Harvard’s ongoing donor revolt over the University’s initial response to the Oct. 7 attack on Israel. “He has been on the road and on the phone speaking to very angry donors and beginning to lower the temperature,” Tilghman said, according to a transcript of the town hall taken by an attendee.

“No one is doing more than Alan Garber to address this issue and he’s doing it very effectively,” Tilghman added.

The praise for Garber from several members of the Corporation, including Pritzker, raised the prospect that the governing boards might just install him in the role permanently.

When one faculty member at Tuesday’s town hall directly asked Pritzker whether the Corporation might just remove Garber’s interim tag, she noted that the board can’t unilaterally make that decision.

“One of the things the Corporation cannot do is appoint the president of Harvard on our own,” Pritzker said. “It’s a process.”

But the Corporation does have the authority to decide the pres-

Final Exams Face Last-Minute Relocation Amid Encampment

Final examinations originally scheduled to take place in Harvard Hall were relocated to buildings outside of Harvard Yard amid the ongoing pro-Palestine encampment, marking one of several location changes likely caused by the Yard encampment.

In a Tuesday email to Harvard affiliates, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Registrar’s Office announced updated locations for the final exams of 25 courses. Though the office did not explain why the exams had been relocated, the move comes as the pro-Palestine student encampment in the Yard — which has steadily expanded to take over the lawn between University Hall and Harvard Hall — entered its seventh day.

Harvard Hall has also become a location for protesters to study and gather outside of the encampment area as the demonstration coincides with finals period and students balance exam preparation with their activism.

Harvard spokespeople did not respond to a Tuesday request for comment on the changes.

The decision to move final exams out of an academic building in the Yard reflects administrators’ growing concern about the encampment and indicates that the demonstration has begun to interfere with the College’s regularly-scheduled programming.

As the encampment enters its second week — expanding from 23 to over 50 tents — its presence right underneath the John Harvard statue and immediately outside the offices of top University administrators has not gone unnoticed, and College administrators have initiated disciplinary action procedures against student protesters.

On Monday, more than 30 student protesters were called to appear before the Administrative Board, an administrative body responsible for the application and enforcement of Harvard College policies.

The changes in final exam locations are among a string of other last-minute moves by the College and University to relocate events originally scheduled to take place in the Yard — changes that have been announced just days, or sometimes mere hours, before the events began.

The location changes also affected a rare town hall between members of the Harvard Corporation — the University’s highest governing body — and voting members of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. The meeting was set to take place in the Faculty Room in University Hall, which protesters camp and chant directly in front of.

On Tuesday morning, just hours before the town hall, the meeting was relocated to the Harvard Graduate School of Education, well away from the Yard and the encampment.

Other events scheduled to be

held in University Hall were also moved to locations outside of the Yard.

The Detur Book Prize ceremony, which honors students receiving one of the oldest academic prizes at Harvard, announced two days before the ceremony that the event would move to Yenching Library from its annual location in University Hall. The updated event invitation did not explain why the ceremony was relocated.

The encampment — organized by Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine, a coalition of pro-Palestine groups demanding Harvard disclose and divest from investment and companies in Israel — began last Wednesday as an emergency rally that progressed into an occupation of the most visible part of the Yard.

In his second email to College undergraduates addressing the encampment, Dean of Students Thomas Dunne wrote on Saturday that the demonstration has disturbed students in freshman dorms trying to study for their final exams.

The University restricted access to the Yard to Harvard University ID holders last Sunday in apparent anticipation of demonstrations on Harvard’s campus. The closure was extended indefinitely last Friday, according to an email obtained by The Crimson. It remains unclear for how many more days the encampment will continue.

michelle.amponsah@thecrimson.com

joyce.kim@thecrimson.com

idential search process. In fact, Pritzker announced on Tuesday that the board had formed a subcommittee to review how Harvard conducts its presidential searches in light of demands for greater transparency.

And while presidential appointments require the rubber stamp approval of the Harvard Board of Overseers — the University’s second-highest governing body, it is unclear that anything other than the Overseers consent is required to install Garber permanently.

While Pritzker indicated that the Corporation will wait until the subcommittee concludes its review before announcing a formal presidential search, the lack of urgency is also an indication that the governing boards believe they already have the right people in

the University’s top leadership. Still, there are a number of likely internal and external candidates beyond Garber that the governing boards might consider if they conduct a proper search process, including interim Provost John F. Manning ’82 and Radcliffe Institute Dean Tomiko Brown Nagin.

It is also possible that Pritzker will decide that the University should conduct a full-fledged search even if the boards intend to appoint Garber.

One reason for doing so might be to silence critics who claimed the boards rushed the previous search. Another reason to conduct a lengthy search could be to give Garber the legitimacy of a president selected over a number of other qualified finalists. In an April interview with

committed to remaining interim president beyond June 2024. “Beyond that, I’m not ready to say,” he said.

College Announces Queen’s Head Pub to Permanently Close

BY MADELEINE A. HUNG AND AZUSA M. LIPPIT

The Cambridge Queen’s Head Pub, a Harvard-run undergraduate pub, will permanently close at the end of the 2023-24 academic year, the College announced Tuesday.

The closure was announced to student employees during a 6 p.m. full staff meeting on Tuesday.

Located in Loker Commons beneath Annenberg Hall, Harvard’s freshman dining hall, the Queen’s Head Pub opened in 2007 as a student-run social space that serves food, beer and wine, and hosts events.

The pub closed during the Covid-19 pandemic before reopening in the fall of 2022.

The decision to close the Queen’s Head Pub came after “careful consideration of the physical, personnel, and financial resources required to maintain operations,” according to an email from the Dean of Students Office and Harvard University Dining Halls.

“The College is closely considering how the space itself can continue to foster community, especially for those students living in the Yard,” the email stated.

“We are grateful to all who have made the pub a special place,” College spokesperson Alixandra A. Nozzolillo wrote in a statement.

“We have communicated with

affiliates who worked at the pub about continued employment opportunities while we explore options to utilize the space for Harvard College students,” she added. The announcement of closure comes “with gratitude for the years of community engagement, laughter, deep conversations, and shared beverages and meals,” Nozzolillo wrote.

In October, student employees at the pub voted alongside hundreds of other student workers to form the Harvard Undergraduate Workers Union-United Auto

Workers, which includes over 400 students working at campus libraries, cafes, and the equity, diversity, and inclusion offices. The pub’s staff members will have the first right of refusal for shifts at other Harvard-operated pubs and cafes such as the Harvard Law School Pub,

Freshmen Say Harvard Yard Encampment Has Not Been Disruptive

PERMANENT JOB? Some faculty and alumni are calling on the Corporation to make Alan Garber the next Harvard president. Harvard College Dean of Students Thomas Dunne warned in a Saturday email that noise from the pro-Palestine encampment has “disrupted” freshmen living spaces, but many students who live in adjacent dorm buildings said the weeklong protest in Harvard Yard has not been a disturbance. In more than 4o interviews and conversations with freshmen, nearly all said the encampment has not significantly changed their daily lives or prevented them from studying during reading period, a week when undergraduates submit final projects and prepare for exams. Before the College’s final exam period began Thursday, students living in eight freshman dorms bordering the Old Yard occupation — Grays, Hollis, Holworthy, Matthews, Massachusetts, Stoughton, Thayer, and Weld Halls — prepared for their end-of-year assessments with a view of the more than 50 tents occupying Harvard Yard. Guzalkhon Khaydarova ’27, a resident of Holworthy Hall, said she can see the encampment from her suite’s common room window.

“I don’t feel disrupted by what’s happening in the Yard, and people

I know also didn’t have complaints about it,” Khaydarova said. Many students said sound from the encampment — primarily music and chanting — has not thrown off their study plans during reading week, which falls just before final exams begin. “I haven’t noticed anything. It hasn’t bothered any part of my daily routine,” Thayer Hall resident Paul Jeon ’27 said, adding that he has a direct view of the encampment from his dorm. Helen Yan ’27 also has a view of the encampment from her dorm

in Matthews Hall, but said the volume levels are not much different from typical Yard noise such as when tourists mill about the Yard or when the Harvard University Band decides to spontaneously perform.

Yan said she “doesn’t notice much of a disturbance” from the encampment, adding that the Yard has always been “fairly loud” and “typically has a lot of things going on.”

“I feel like I’m more disrupted by the music festival that’s going on behind my dorm,” Khaydarova said, referring to last week’s Arts

First festival that took place in the Science Center Plaza. The Office for the Arts at Harvard did not respond to a request for comment.

Students also noted that the encampment is quiet during the Yard’s quiet hours, which vary by dorm but span at least from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. on weeknights.

“It’s quiet during the night,” Khaydarova said, adding that when there is music or chanting during the day it typically lasts “only for 30 minutes or an hour.”

The students’ comments stand

in stark contrast to the statements released by Dunne and the leaders of Harvard Hillel and Harvard Chabad, the two largest Jewish organizations on campus.

Harvard Hillel President Nathan B. Gershengorn ’26 wrote in an email Sunday that freshmen have been disrupted by the encampment.

“Today, there are Jewish students who have shared that they are renting hotels off-campus or feel unable to study in their rooms,” Gershengorn wrote. Some Jewish freshmen said the encampment has prevented them from going about their daily routines and served as a distraction during the most important studying period of the semester.

Amelia M. Heller ’27, who serves as Hillel’s communications chair, said she can hear music, drumming, and chanting at “random” intervals during the day from her room in Wigglesworth Hall.

The noise has led her to study at the Widener and Lamont Libraries instead of her room.

“You make little changes and it’s like, ‘Okay, I’ll just walk a different way to class or I’ll study somewhere else,’ but the little changes add up,” Heller added. “In a time where routine is especially helpful, it’s hard when that routine is constantly changing because of something out of your control.”

But most freshmen did not express any major concerns with the ongoing encampment, which stretched into the start of the College’s final examination period on Thursday.

Yan said she has heard people talking and some noise, it has not “been something that would impede on my ability to do my work or that kind of thing.” Adaolisa A. Mba ’27, who lives in a freshmen dorm outside the Yard, said that when she walked past the encampment, it was “so chill, like nothing.”

“Barely noises being made,” she added.

College administrators, however, are still intent on disciplining students for their involvement in the encampment.

More than 30 students participating in the encampment were called on Monday to appear before the Harvard College Administrative Board. The College has not announced a timeline for concluding its disciplinary process. The protesters in the encampment have also not signaled how long they intend to remain in the Yard, but some members chanted “no divestment, no Commencement” during a rally on Wednesday.

The Crimson, Garber only said that he has

Patrons gather at Cambridge Queen’s Head Pub 2022.

Matthews Hall is a first-year dorm located in the heart of Harvard Yard. Freshmen living in the Yard largely said the pro-Palestine encampment has not disrupted their ability to study for finals. RYAN N. GAJARAWALA — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

COVER STORY

Corporation Answers for a Semester of Turmoil

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

Members of the Harvard Corporation, the University’s highest governing board, offered their most candid reflections yet on the school’s fall semester of controversy during a Tuesday town hall with the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

In addition to their most extensive commentary to date on last semester’s missteps, Harvard’s top decision-makers also issued their first responses to growing calls for change. They appeared resistant to proposals for endowment disclosure and skeptical about a faculty senate.

In a striking admission of responsibility, former Princeton University President Shirley M. Tilghman — who joined the Corporation in 2016 — acknowledged that the board should have done more to support former Harvard President Claudine Gay ahead of her December congressional testimony.

During the hearing, Rep. Elise M. Stefanik ’06 (R-N.Y.) slammed Gay over her administration’s handling of antisemitism on campus and asked whether calls for the genocide of Jews violated Harvard’s policies. Gay’s legalistic answers went viral and faced widespread condemnation.

“We prepared her for a deposition; we did not prepare her for a political event,” Tilghman said, per a transcript taken by an attendee. “We understand that we did not serve her well in her preparation for the testimony.”

The Corporation had previously criticized Gay’s testimony in a December statement, but did not take any responsibility for Gay’s performance.

During the meeting, held at the Graduate School of Education’s Longfellow Hall, Senior Fellow Penny S. Pritzker ’81 also appeared to acknowledge a recent series of anonymous plagiarism complaints filed against Black women at the University.

“We are also well aware of the pattern of attacks that have been leveled against women of color, leaders of colors, different individuals in leadership positions,” Pritzker said, according to the attendee’s notes. “That is not lost on us.”

Details of the meeting’s contents were relayed to The Crimson by four faculty members who attended. They spoke on the condition of anonymity as attendees were asked to keep the discussion confidential. Direct quotations come from a meeting transcript taken by an attendee and shared with The Crimson.

A Rare Face-to-Face

The town hall — a rare chance for faculty to meet with the University’s top brass — comes amid a crisis of legitimacy for Harvard’s governing boards. For years, many faculty — including former deans and big-name professors — have criticized the boards’ actions and lack of transparency.

After Oct. 7, those criticisms only grew louder. Over the last few months, faculty members have largely watched from the sidelines as the University endured controversy after controversy.

Tuesday’s meeting evoked a range of reactions among faculty members. Many were pleased that after years of governing from afar, the Corporation had heard their concerns and finally decided to meet with them.

“I thanked them for engaging with us,” Astronomy professor Abraham “Avi” Loeb said, calling it nice — after 30 years at the institution — to finally meet with “the people in charge.” He said the meeting felt “collegial” and like a step in the right direction.

Others felt their low expecta-

One question framed the disclosure debate as a matter of open inquiry: If the University believes in transparency and debate, then why should its investment approach rely on secrecy?

In response, Garber said many of the University’s investments are made through outside managers whose contracts do not allow the Harvard Management Company, which oversees Harvard’s endowment, to reveal what exactly they are invested in.

Another attendee pressed further, asking why Harvard cannot sign contracts whose terms allow greater transparency. In response, Garber said the University’s current fund managers expect the highest returns.

Some attendees felt the panelists’ response did not engage with the underlying question: where to draw the line between fiduciary responsibilities and the University’s principles.

A third question asked whether panelists saw downsides to divesting from weapons manufacturers. Garber answered by saying there

We prepared her for a deposition; we did not prepare her for a political event. We understand that we did not serve her well in her preparation for the testimony.

tions for the meeting — that they would receive mostly non-answers — were met. And a few voiced strong displeasure, saying they felt patronized by the panelists’ replies. Professor Alison Frank Johnson, who chairs the department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, said “the meeting was an insult to [the faculty’s] collective and individual intelligence.”

A University spokesperson declined to comment on criticisms of the town hall.

At least five Corporation members — of the 12-member body — attended the meeting. Tilghman, Senior Fellow Penny S. Pritzker ’81, and Kenneth C. Frazier sat on a panel with interim President Alan M. Garber ’76, while Carolyn A. “Biddy” Martin and Paul J. Finnegan ’75 discreetly sat in the audience. FAS Dean Hopi E. Hoekstra moderated. “We appreciated the opportunity to engage with faculty and have a thoughtful and substantive discussion on a wide range of topics,” Pritzker wrote in a statement after the event.

Disclosure and Divestment, Dismissed

The panel fielded a series of three faculty questions about disclosing Harvard’s investments.

was not widespread agreement on campus about whether Harvard ought to divest from the defense industry.

Garber contrasted the current debate with Harvard’s decision to allow its fossil fuel investments to expire, a decision that he said was made as a consensus emerged on campus that the time was right to divest from fossil fuels.

And the panel’s responses to the most urgent confrontation facing the University right now — the pro-Palestine student protesters lodging demands from their encampment in Harvard Yard — did not spark controversy at the town hall.

Asked how Harvard planned to handle the encampment, Garber reiterated his prior statements to The Crimson, affirming students’ right to protest but stating that right must be balanced against the need to prevent disruptions and enforce University policy.

That reply, several faculty said, was largely accepted.

‘Complete Confidence’ in Garber

After Gay’s resignation, Harvard faces a search for her permanent successor — although the Corporation, whose members oversee the

presidential search process, have indicated they are in no rush.

In her opening remarks, Pritzker praised Garber in glowing terms, saying his interim leadership helped bring stability to a campus rocked by the events of this winter.

“He has our complete confidence and he has the mandate from the Corporation to lead the University in all respects,” she said, according to the obtained notes.

But the panelists did not say whether they intended to make his presidency permanent.

Pritzker told attendees that the Corporation established a subcommittee to review and issue recommendations on the presidential search process before the new search is launched.

The search process itself has drawn criticism. After Gay — who was selected after a relatively swift presidential search — stepped down following the briefest presidential tenure in Harvard’s history, affiliates and observers questioned whether the search committee should have reviewed her scholarship more closely.

Meanwhile, faculty have complained that the search process is shrouded in secrecy, leaving most faculty without candidate names or a timeline as searches proceed.

With the search process review, the Corporation appears poised to address these criticisms.

Dealing with Donor Pressure

After several major donors publicly severed ties with the University over campus antisemitism, faculty questioned the level of influence Harvard’s benefactors hold over the institution.

And, over the winter, billionaire hedge fund managers William A. Ackman ’88 and Kenneth C. Griffin ’89 separately held calls with Pritzker — which, some faculty said, raised concerns about how much access top donors had to Harvard leadership.

In response, Garber discussed Harvard’s gift policy, which prohibits the University from taking gifts with certain conditions. The Corporation, he pointed out, has a gift policy subcommittee that reviews the terms of donations.

Garber noted that Harvard has previously turned down large gifts because prospective donors imposed unacceptable conditions, though they did not offer further details about these rejected gifts.

Pritzker also said she does not serve on the Corporation’s facilities committee because she has made major donations to support facilities construction, including renovations of the Science Center and the upcoming construction of a new Economics department building.

But, several attendees said they felt the panelists did not address the perception that major donors have used their wealth to exert influence over University policy — or explain how Harvard might push back.

Garber told attendees he

thought it would be “counterproductive” to cave to the desires of unhappy donors.

“Let me just say that the approach I am taking is not to accede to demands or wishes in order to placate donors,” he said, according to the set of notes. He also said he thought an endowment tax would represent a greater threat than donor pressure to Harvard’s finances.

Nonetheless, while praising Garber’s fundraising efforts, Tilghman acknowledged the backlash Harvard has faced from parts of its donor base.

“He has been on the road and on the phone speaking to very angry donors and beginning to lower the temperature,” she said, per the meeting notes.

Pritzker described the situation in urgent terms.

“We are acutely aware of the fundraising challenges we are facing at this time,” she said per the notes, adding that Harvard’s fundraising experts are engaged in scenario planning. “We are not sitting around just hoping things are going to be OK.”

A More Transparent Corporation?

Attendees also pressed the Corporation on its own secrecy.

Corporation members on the panel acknowledged the widespread perception that the board lacks transparency and said they were making an effort to improve communication with faculty.

“We have heard loud and clear your desire to have more interaction with us,” Tilghman told the audience, according to the set of notes. She added that she speaks weekly with Hoekstra but that those conversations alone are not enough.

That admission comes after years of complaints. On The Crimson’s annual survey of FAS faculty, nearly 80 percent of respondents said they wanted more transparency from the Corporation.

Tilghman said the Corporation hopes to continue speaking with faculty through both formal and informal meetings and dinners. In a Monday statement, University spokesperson Jason A. Newton said the Corporation’s “engagement efforts will continue and increase in the time ahead.”

Several attendees said Tilghman’s remark called to mind a private December dinner between two Corporation members — Finnegan and Tracy P. Palandjian ’93 — and four Harvard faculty members at Bar Enza, a swanky Cambridge restaurant. The widely-reported dinner came as the Corporation navigated the last stormy weeks of Gay’s presidency, although The Crimson reported they did not discuss her removal. Some faculty said they were concerned that informal meetings did not reflect a structured approach to communication with faculty. Instead, they said, they reflected an environment where the Corporation consults with an inner circle of

friends — while the vast majority of faculty lack that kind of access.

Faculty Senate

The sense that Harvard’s central administration was making pivotal decisions, with faculty left in the dark, spurred some professors to action this spring.

In April, an informal working group began circulating a proposal to create a faculty senate, emailing a memorandum to top administrators and hundreds of faculty. As Harvard currently has no effective mechanism for University-wide faculty governance, the proposal’s advocates say a faculty senate could open clearer lines of communication between the central administration and the full faculty. A senate could introduce new checks on the power of Massachusetts Hall and the governing boards. Near the end of the town hall, the panel of Corporation members took a question on the potential creation of a faculty senate.

Garber invited interim Provost John F. Manning ’82 to the front of the room, where Manning detailed several possible objections to the enactment of a University-wide faculty governing body. Manning, who served as Harvard Law School dean until he was appointed provost in March, suggested that FAS faculty should consider whether they want non-FAS faculty to have a voice in decisions that affect the FAS.

He also questioned whether the University Statutes, a set of governing documents, grant Harvard’s faculty the authority to delegate the power allotted to them under the Fourth Statute to a representative body, instead of exercising it directly.

Manning’s answers signaled that the effort to establish a faculty senate will likely face skepticism from the Corporation and Massachusetts Hall.

Manning noted that the faculty senate proposal does not currently detail the composition or procedures of the proposed senate, instead delegating the responsibility of constitutional design to a still-unappointed planning body to be elected by faculty from across Harvard’s schools.

Attendees were also reminded that, at present, no formal proposal for a faculty senate has been submitted — only one to form a planning body. As faculty streamed out the front doors, the Corporation’s representatives departed through the back. They offered a positive assessment of the town hall.

“It was excellent, thank you,” Pritzker said as she descended the building’s granite steps. Martin said the conversation was productive, Garber described it as “good,” and the three other Corporation fellows — Finnegan, Tilghman, and Frazier — all declined to comment.

FRANK S. ZHOU — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

Shirley M. Tilghman Corporation Member, former Princeton President

TOWN HALL. In a rare session with faculty, the Corporation reflected on a tumultuous semester.

FAS Lacks Confidence in Governing Boards

SURVEY RESULTS. Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences has largely lost confidence in the University’s top governing boards.

BY TILLY R. ROBINSON

NEIL H. SHAH CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences has largely lost confidence in the University’s governing boards ahead of a crucial presidential search, according to The Crimson’s annual FAS survey.

A majority of respondents said they were dissatisfied with the actions and structure of the two governing bodies — the Harvard Corporation and the Board of Overseers — and called for increased transparency.

scenes, avoiding attention — even from most faculty — except to select top leadership, supervise, and fundraise. But this winter, they were front and center.

The opaque Corporation was thrust into the spotlight last semester, facing backlash over how it handled the end of Claudine Gay’s presidency — including her now-infamous congressional testimony and allegations of plagiarism in her academic work.

The boards’ leaders have been accused of being soft on campus antisemitism by Congress, with House Republicans subpoenaing Corporation Senior Fellow Penny S. Pritzker ’81 as part of an investigation into antisemitism at Harvard. Board members have also seen high-dollar donors pull their support from the University over antisemitism on campus. Now, the survey suggests the

Faculty Approval

A 63.3 percent majority of respondents expressed some level of dissatisfaction in “the actions” of Harvard’s governing bodies: 33.6 percent said they were “somewhat dissatisfied,” while 29.7 percent answered that they were “very dissatisfied.”

In comparison, only 8.8 percent of respondents said they were “somewhat satisfied” with the boards, while 27.3 percent expressed no opinion.

Only two respondents out of 330 who answered the question — a mere 0.6 percent — said they were “very satisfied” by the governing boards’ actions.

“Faculty (within FAS, at least) have no confidence that the members of the Corporation have any understanding of the issues that we deem most urgent, let alone

poration could settle on a pick who can effectively restore stability to the University.

A 49.1 percent plurality of respondents say they lack confidence in the Corporation’s ability “to select a president that can steer Harvard out of its current period of turmoil.”

On the other hand, only 22.4 percent of respondents say they are confident in the Corporation’s ability to do so, while 28.5 percent of respondents said they neither had or lacked confidence.

Respondents also said faculty should be more involved in the presidential search — unusually an opaque process that consults with only a small committee of faculty advisers.

About 76.5 percent of respondents said they believed faculty are insufficiently involved in the presidential search process,

colleagues.

There is currently no formal mechanism for faculty members at large to participate in University governance. However, Harvard periodically convenes task forces or working groups of faculty members to address specific issues.

The faculty were also critical of the current governance structure: 54.6 percent of respondents say they are dissatisfied with the structure of Harvard’s governance, while only 11 percent expressed approval. The remaining 34.4 percent reported no opinion. China Studies professor William C. Kirby, a former FAS dean, argued in a Monday op-ed in The Crimson that the University’s governing boards need a deeper structural rethinking.

“As someone who has written on the governance of modern re -

ic data with publicly available data on FAS faculty demographics for the 2023-24 academic year. (Unlike The Crimson’s survey, this data only includes faculty with FAS appointments.) The breakdown of survey responses was roughly in line with the demographic profile of the FAS. More than 56 percent of respondents said they hold a tenure or tenure-track position, according to the survey. According to the FAS Dean’s 2023 Annual Report, 57.12 percent of FAS faculty are tenured or on the tenure track. Among respondents who said they were tenured or tenure-track, 30.92 percent belong to the Arts and Humanities division, 27.10 percent to the Sciences division, 36.64 percent to the Social Sciences division, and 5.34 to the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

A plurality also said they lacked confidence that the Corporation, the University’s top governing board, could select a president capable of righting the ship after a period of turmoil.

These results come as Corporation members prepare to host an unprecedented town hall with FAS faculty on Tuesday. Meanwhile, a group of prominent professors across Harvard is pushing to create a faculty senate, motivated by what they call an “absence” of faculty involvement in making University-wide decisions.

Harvard spokesperson Jason A. Newton wrote in an email that Corporation members have conducted outreach to Harvard affiliates in recent months, “including a meeting with the FAS Faculty Council and the upcoming FAS faculty town hall, in addition to various informal conversations.”

“Those engagement efforts will continue and increase in the time ahead,” Newton added. In most cases, Harvard’s governing boards operate behind the

Corporation and the Overseers have failed to win the trust of another critical constituency: faculty members looking to become increasingly assertive in University governance.

The Crimson’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences survey was distributed to more than 1,400 members of the FAS, including tenure-track and non-tenure-track faculty — with members’ names collected from its publicly accessible masthead. Members of the FAS were polled on demographic information, politics, and campus issues.

The email survey received 508 responses, of which 310 were fully completed and 198 were partially completed. It was open for two weeks, from April 3 to April 17. This is the second installment in a series of pieces on the survey results. The first installment focused on faculty views on the conflict in Gaza and systemic bias at Harvard. This installment explores faculty perspectives on the highest levels of University governance.

why we deem them urgent,” Philosophy professor Edward J. “Ned” Hall wrote in a March 6 statement about the Corporation town hall with the FAS.

“There are no clear channels of communication, and, from what I can see, there is a fair amount of frustration at this lack,” he added in a texted statement.

An overwhelming majority of respondents shared Hall’s desire for increased communication: 50 percent of respondents said they “strongly agree” that the Harvard Corporation should be more transparent and another 29.8 percent said they “somewhat agree.”

Only 7.4 percent strongly or somewhat disagreed, while the remaining 12.9 percent abstained.

Though the Corporation selected Alan M. Garber ’76 to serve as interim president in January when Gay resigned, they have yet to launch a presidential search to select somebody to permanently fill the position and right the ship.

But even though the search is not yet underway, faculty respondents were skeptical that the Cor-

compared to 23.2 percent who felt faculty were sufficiently involved and only 0.3 percent who felt faculty were too involved.

Respondents felt similarly about decision-making power even beyond the presidential search, largely saying they believed faculty should have a greater role in University-wide governance.

Nearly 80 percent of respondents said they believed faculty members should have “somewhat more” or “much more” decision-making power in the University’s governance, as opposed to 18 percent who felt current levels were acceptable and 2.5 percent who felt they should have less.

These critiques aligned with those made by the group of professors calling for a faculty senate at Harvard.

Harvard is “under-leveraging the commitment of the faculty to the mission of the organization, and potential for partnership with University leadership, including the Corporation, on behalf of the whole,” the professors wrote in a document circulated to

search universities from Germany to America to China, I know there is no perfect model,” Kirby wrote. “Yet we must strive for more open and accountable governance at Harvard.”

Methodology

The 2024 edition of The Crimson’s annual faculty survey was conducted via Qualtrics, an online survey platform. The survey was open from April 3 to April 17.

A link to the anonymous survey was sent via email to 1,414 faculty in the FAS and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. The list comprised all faculty named on the FAS masthead for the current academic year, which includes FAS department and standing committee affiliates whose appointments are in other Harvard schools.

In total, 508 faculty responded to the survey, with 310 submitting fully completed responses and 198 submitting partial responses.

To check for response bias, The Crimson compared respondents’ self-reported demograph-

According to publicly available data for the 2023-24 academic year from Harvard’s

are

are in

Sciences, and

percent are in SEAS. The Crimson could not find public FAS data on the distribution of non-ladder faculty across the divisions. Of respondents who identified their gender on the survey, 45.59 percent of respondents said they are

among those who re

ported their

29.44 percent of respondents did not identify themselves as white (6.59 percent of respondents declined to identify their gender, and 14.3 percent declined to identify their race). That compares to 39 percent of FAS faculty who are women and 27.6 percent who are not white, per the FAS Dean’s Report.

tilly.robinson@thecrimson.com

neil.shah@thecrimson.com

Corporation Convenes Subcommittee to Review Presidential Search

The Harvard Corporation, the University’s highest governing board, will review its presidential search process and consider recommendations on how it can be improved ahead of the formal search for Harvard’s 31st president.

Senior Fellow Penny S. Pritzker ’81 told faculty members at a Tuesday town hall that the body had convened a subcommittee tasked with evaluating the presidential search process, according to three attendees. These people spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were asked to keep the town hall’s proceed-

ings strictly confidential. University spokesperson Jonathan L. Swain confirmed the subgroup’s formation but declined to comment on its composition or intended timeline. The review follows widespread criticisms of the Corporation’s handling of the 30th presidential search, after former Harvard President Claudine Gay resigned under pressure from the Corporation after just one semester in office.

Faculty members have also criticized the presidential search process as overly exclusive and secretive, calling for increased transparency and consultation in the selection.

The review of how Harvard selects its presidents comes as re -

spondents to The Crimson’s annual Faculty of Arts and Sciences survey said they had lost confidence in the University’s governing boards.

More than 49 percent of respondents said they were not confident that the Corporation could pick a president who would steady the school after a rocky winter.

In addition, 79.8 percent of respondents desired increased transparency from the Corporation and 76.5 percent of respondents believed faculty are not consulted enough during presidential searches.

The search process also faced harsh criticism after Gay was accused of plagiarism in December — and subsequently submitted

seven corrections across her dissertation and scholarly works to add citations.

Both affiliates and external observers raised concerns at the time, saying the University should have reviewed candidates’ scholarship more thoroughly. The Crimson reported in February that the Corporation had not conducted a scholarly review of Gay’s work during the search.

The four months since Gay stepped down mark the lengthiest delay in starting a presidential search in decades, but the ongoing subcommittee review indicates that the Corporation is content to leave interim Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76 in his post for a lengthy period of time.

Pritzker all but confirmed as much during the Tuesday town hall. People in attendance said she effusively praised Garber and said the governing boards have full confidence in the University’s interim leader.

Pritzker’s strong support for Garber raised the possibility that the governing boards might forgo a presidential search altogether and install him as the University’s permanent 31st president.

Harvard’s presidential searches are typically carried out by search committees composed of all 12 fellows of the Corporation and three members of the Harvard Board of Overseers, the University’s second-highest governing body. Past search committees con-

sulted with small advisory groups of students, faculty, and staff. In previous searches, affiliates have been asked to nominate potential candidates via a form. Though the advisory committee consults with the faculty at large and shares their input, faculty members generally do not receive candidate names or a timeline of the process while the search is ongoing — a longstanding point of frustration. Apart from advisory meetings, the search committee’s work is generally conducted in secret — from the time that the committee is announced to the appointment of a new president.

HARVARD KENNEDY SCHOOL

Weinstein to Serve as HKS Dean

COAST TO COAST.

BY WILLIAM C.

eremy M. Weinstein, a po -

Jlitical scientist at Stanford University who previously served as chief of staff to the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, will serve as the next dean of the Harvard Kennedy School.

Interim Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76 announced the appointment in an email to HKS affiliates Monday afternoon. The announcement comes more than two weeks after The Crimson first reported that Garber had offered Weinstein the position. Weinstein’s selection concludes a seven-month search process for the school’s next dean, after Douglas W. Elmendorf announced in September that he intended to step down from the post at the end of the academic year. Weinstein will begin his tenure on July 1. Garber praised Weinstein’s “energetic and empowering leadership style” in his email to HKS affiliates.

“Jeremy is an exceptional scholar and leader with significant high-level policy experience who will bring to the deanship a rare combination of talents at a pivotal moment for HKS,” Garber wrote. Weinstein applauded the Kennedy School and “its combination of cutting-edge social science, breadth in public policy, and abiding commitment to public engagement” in a statement to the Harvard Gazette, a University-run publication. The appointment is a homecoming of sorts for Weinstein, who earned his Ph.D. at Harvard’s Graduate School of Arts and Science in 2003. Weinstein’s wife, Rachel L. Gibson, is an alumna

of the Kennedy School herself, receiving a master’s in public policy degree in 2000. “I am thrilled to return to Harvard to become Dean and simply can’t imagine a better platform for working with extraordinary scholars, students, and practitioners,” he said.

Though some HKS affiliates called for the Kennedy School to appoint its first woman or person of color dean, Weinstein’s selection continues the Kennedy School’s streak of men leading

the school.

But as a political scientist, Weinstein breaks the Kennedy School’s two-decade stretch of having economists in its top post — a change that some students and faculty called for in the months leading up to his selection. He inherits Harvard’s most political school during the University’s most politically fraught moment in recent memory. The Kennedy School, in particular, lost several major donors in the aftermath of the University’s ini-

tial response to the Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel. Weinstein will be charged with mending ties with donors and uniting a faculty divided over the school’s handling of discussions related to the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Elmendorf, the outgoing dean, faced intense backlash from students and faculty over his decision to deny former Human Rights Watch Director Kenneth C. Roth a fellowship at the school over Roth’s criticism of Israeli hu-

man rights abuses.

Weinstein — who joined Stanford in 2004 and received tenure in 2009 — studies ethnic politics, democracy, and governance, with a particular focus on political development in Africa. In addition to his teaching at Stanford, Weinstein has spent considerable time in Washington, most recently serving as a senior adviser to the U.S. Secretary of State from 2021 to 2022.

At Stanford, Weinstein is known for working on the cutting-edge of social science research. In 2018, he co-founded the Stanford Impact Labs, a $315 million dollar initiative to support scholars creating innovative solutions for pressing social issues.

In 2022, he launched a new undergraduate major in data science and social systems at Stanford, and in 2019, he co-founded and began teaching the popular Stanford undergraduate course Computer Science 182, which explores the intersection of philosophy, political science, and computer science.

Weinstein’s appointment indicates that the University wants the Kennedy School to become the premier academic center for research at the intersection of public policy and technology.

In interviews with The Crimson, students and colleagues praised Weinstein for his mentorship of students and ability to bridge the divide between different disciplines and between public policy and academic research.

Interim Provost John F. Manning ’82 called Weinstein “a superb and collegial leader for the HKS community in the years ahead.”

“He is a proven institution builder who has helped bring about innovation across disciplines and impactfully connected his teaching and research to real-world questions that shape the global landscape,” he said.

william.mao@thecrimson.com dhruv.patel@thecrimson.com

Harvard Students Mourn Closure of Queen’s Head Pub

about why Queen’s Head was closing.

“They didn’t really inform us of anything, except that we no longer had jobs at the pub next semester,” he said. College spokesperson Jonathan Palumbo declined to comment, pointing to a Tuesday statement.

“We are grateful to all who have made the pub a special place. We have communicated with affiliates who worked at the pub about continued employment opportunities while we explore options to utilize

the space for Harvard College students,” the DSO wrote in a statement.

Graduate student manager Delilah Brown, a student at the Harvard Extension School, said the timing of the meeting was “terrible” amid final exams, worsening frustrations among staff about a lack of student input in the decision to close.

“I think all of us are a little bit confused, frustrated, annoyed, and kind of disappointed that this decision to shape College students’ ex-

perience did not include the voices and the ideas and the consideration of College students,” Brown said.

Immediately after the meeting, Humphrey started the petition on Change.org to urge against the pub’s closure immediately following the meeting’s conclusion.

“We need to remind Harvard that you cannot make decisions about the future of student life with no student input!” the petition’s description reads.

Humphrey compared the number of signatories — more than 1,600 as of Wednesday evening — to student voter turnout in this spring’s elections for the Harvard Undergraduate Association, in which 1,445 students voted.

When announcing the decision, the Dean of Students Office informed staff members that they would be granted “first right of refusal” for shifts at other campus pubs and cafes.

However, some students expressed concerns about whether other locations could accommodate all the Queen’s Head staff members.

“First and foremost, this represents the eradication of jobs that students like myself use to make sure that they can afford to live here,” Humphrey said. “It’s really

that simple.”

Students also expressed concerns that the daytime hours at other on-campus cafes might not work with their class schedules. Queen’s Head provided shifts at night where students could work after classes ended.

Sophia K. Magaro ’26 said the pub was one of the only spaces on campus where undergraduate students, graduate students, and other Harvard faculty and staff could gather together.

“It was just a really lovely space to be able to meet all these people and learn more about what there is at Harvard outside of my own circles,” Magaro said.

“Losing the pub means that we’re losing one of the few spaces that we have of this level of connection, because I personally do not know another space where I can go and talk to grad students,” she added.

Ferguson said working at the pub is “the best job ever.”

“Having this pub open to all members of the Harvard community is really emblematic of how integrated the Harvard system is, and how it’s open and inclusive to everyone,” she said.

Kyra S. Siegel ’25, who began working at the pub this semes-

ter, said she grew to love the student-run aspect of the pub.

“You enter, you clock in — if you’re working the kitchen you cook the food, and then you bus the tables, and you’re running around and it’s so high energy,” Siegel said.

“It’s such a magical place,” she added.

Zachary Tripsas, the pub’s manager who was employed full-time in the role by the DSO, said he was “heartbroken” by the decision, adding that the student staff members are the aspect of the pub he will miss most.

“Working with the students is my favorite part of the day,” Tripsas said. “Working in a restaurant space like that — it’s not glamorous, it can be hard and it has its challenges, but if you have good people around you it makes all the difference.”

Humphrey said the petition is only a “starting point,” adding that the staff plans to meet with a representative from the Harvard Undergraduate Workers Union-United Auto Workers, as well as alumni and donors.

“We’re not going down without a fight,” Humphrey said.

madeline.hung@thecrimson.com azusa.lippit@thecrimson.com

Jeff Lichtman to Be Next Harvard FAS Dean of Sciences

BY

Biology professor Jeff W. Lichtman will serve as the Faculty of Arts and Sciences’ next dean of Science, FAS Dean Hopi E. Hoekstra announced Tuesday afternoon. Lichtman, a neuroscientist who is most well-known for teaching the introductory course Neuroscience 80, will assume the role on July 1, according to an email Hoekstra sent to FAS affiliates. Lichtman also holds the FAS’ highest faculty appointment as an Arts and Sciences professor. He will succeed current Sciences Dean Christopher W. Stubbs, who is set to step down at the end of the academic year. Stubbs, who also serves as Hoekstra’s special adviser on artificial intelligence, will remain heavily involved in the FAS administration.

Lichtman’s selection ends a

busy few weeks for Hoekstra, who also announced the next Arts and Humanities dean less than two weeks ago. The pick to lead the Sciences division was especially meaningful for Hoekstra, who herself is a biologist.

In addition to teaching, Lichtman leads the Molecular and Cell Biology department’s curriculum committee and sits on the Mind, Brain, and Behavior program committee — which coordinates neuroscience pedagogy across various departments.

As a key facilitator of Harvard’s MBB program, Lichtman fits the profile that Hoekstra told The Crimson she was looking for: a promoter of interdisciplinary work.

Lichtman’s research has focused on charting a “connectome” — a map of the brain’s pathways. His lab has invented several methods for visualizing these neural connections.

“Jeff thinks big, as evidenced by his own research program and his vision for pedagogy,” Hoekstra wrote in her announcement.

Jewish Leaders Diverge in Responses to Encampment

BY WILLIAM C. MAO CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

As the pro-Palestine encampment enters its sixth day, the leadership of the University’s two Jewish centers varied widely in their responses to the ongoing occupation.

Harvard Chabad Rabbi Hirschy Zarchi slammed the protesters in a statement he released on the first day of the encampment, calling on the University to “remove these Jew haters and Hamas lovers.”

Meanwhile, Harvard Hillel President Nathan B. Gershengorn ’26 promoted unity in an email on Sunday, affirming that the Jewish students participating in the encampment must be welcomed at Hillel.

“We also commit to being a truly and unashamedly pluralistic space for Jewish students on campus,” Gershengorn wrote. “There is no single way to be Jewish, and it is a distinct and unique institutional failure on our part every time any Jewish student feels that Hillel is not a place where they and their views are welcome.”

“This includes the Jewish students participating in the encampment,” Gershengorn added. “You are also welcome.” On Friday, members of the encampment held a Shabbat service on the grass of Harvard Yard.

Organizers drank grape juice and matzo, an unleavened bread traditionally eaten for Passover, and sang Shabbat blessings.

But at the same time, Gershengorn — like Zarchi — acknowledged that the protest in Harvard Yard has disturbed some freshmen students and prevented them from preparing for final exams from their dorms.

“Today, there are Jewish students who have shared that they are renting hotels off-campus or feel unable to study in their rooms,” he wrote. He added that Hillel is committed to supplying resources to these students and called on the University “to wholeheartedly join us in supporting these students.”

Dean of Students Thomas Dunne wrote in a College-wide email on Saturday that students participating in the ongoing encampment “will face disciplinary consequences as outlined in existing policies.”

“Repeated or sustained violations will be subject to increased sanctions,” Dunne added.

Zarchi wrote on Wednesday that freshmen studying in their rooms “are being confronted with terrifying chants of globalize the Intifada — a call for the murder of Jews.”

“That those who seek the destruction of the Jewish people are receiving support from Harvard students and other university students around the country — as we heard today from Hamas, should shake every moral person to their core,” Zarchi added.

But Gershengorn’s message diverged in his insistence that Jewish students with a range of religious affiliations and political views feel accepted at Hillel.

“We are navigating a very difficult time on campus and in the history of the Jewish people,” he wrote. “I have heard students on all sides of these questions admit their wish to give up on the pluralist project. But this is the one thing we cannot afford to do.”

Gershengorn ended his email on a hopeful note.

“As a scientist, an educator, and a leader, Jeff brings people together in genuine collaboration to advance the frontiers of knowledge,” she added. Lichtman will no longer teach Neuro 80 in the fall given his new administrative appointment. FAS spokesperson Holly J. Jensen said the current plan is to have a different instructor teach the course.

tilly.robinson@thecrimson.com neil.shah@thecrimson.com

The Jewish community is not perfect,” he wrote. “It is messy, it is weird, and it makes no sense to anyone who isn’t part of it.”

“It is my sincerest dream that all Jews — regardless of religious affiliation, political beliefs, and cultural background — can experience the beauty of this community that we all know is there,” Gershengorn added.

Stanford political scientist Jeremy M. Weinstein will serve as the next Harvard Kennedy School dean. COURTESY OF CHRISTINE BAKER

Stanford political scientist Jeremy Weinstein will serve as the next Harvard Kennedy School dean.

STAFF EDITORIAL SNIPPETS

Editors React to the Encampement

STUDENT REFLECTIONS. To give our readers a sense of what Harvard is really like right now, we’ve asked our editors to contribute reflections on the encampment as it approaches its second week.

BY THE CRIMSON EDITORAL BOARD

From private, Ivy League universities to flagship public schools, pro-Palestine protests have again taken America’s colleges by storm and returned the spotlight to higher education.

As the distant punditry returns, too, we have a reminder: When everyone’s talking about universities, the best people to listen to are the students that attend them. To give our readers a sense of what Harvard is really like right now, we’ve asked our editors to contribute reflections on the encampment as it approaches its second week.

Some write from the encampment, others from outside, but — to a person — our editors have experienced firsthand what Harvard has been like since it formed.

I write from the encampment, where students and faculty gather in hopeful clusters and echoes of laughter cut through the night. Above it all, a keffiyeh-clad John Harvard gazes out from his post, and above him still, a supersized projection on the front of University Hall: “Free Gaza.”

We have been here for six days now, and it is here we will remain — until the University divests from the ongoing genocide and a decades-long occupation. Our ever-expanding physical presence is a testament to an ever-apparent collective understanding: We cannot, in good conscience, remain silent as Palestinian life is extinguished en masse, on Harvard’s dime.

Believe me when I say that our encampment is the best thing to happen to the Yard in a long time. Believe me when I say that our encampment is necessary.

–Violet T.M. Barron ’26, Associate Editorial editor

As a freshman in the Yard, the buzz of tourists, grass-mowing, and church bells all do much more to disrupt my sleep and study than this encampment. Beyond that, it’s clear that the encampment has done more to bridge communities across lines of faith, race, and identity than Harvard ever has. Students have flipped maqluba, hosted prayers, danced Dabke, and eaten Shabbat dinner. This encampment is the opposite of a bastion of hate — it is a hub of companionship and learning across difference, things Harvard typically invokes vainly before disregarding entirely. I encourage those assessing the encampment to shy away from myopically focusing on questions of free speech. Protestors have made it clear that they’re willing to face consequences in pursuit of divestment. They have faced administrators with IDs raised high.

The central effort here is civil disobedience — opting to break the rules in light of a moral urgency.

–Zakiriya H. Gladney ’27, Crimson Editorial editor

Encamped protesters are attempting to crown themselves heirs to a noble lineage of commendable social movements — from civil rights in America to the campaign against apartheid in South Africa. Yet extrapolating from the similarities between today’s protest movements and those past to conclude that divestment from Israel is historically analogous is not only lazy and fallacious — it is flat-out wrong.

Israel’s war against Hamas remains justified. The current laws governing the West Bank, however unfortunate, do not amount to apartheid. A third intifada would result in the deaths of countless Israeli civilians. And Israel’s existence as a secure and free Jewish state is not up for debate. Protesters can replicate the tactics of past activists all they want, but that does not change the fact that their demands are fundamentally wrong.

–Jacob M. Miller ’25, Crimson Editorial Chair

The very existence of the encampment, now in its sixth day, should dispel any notions of a so-called “Palestinian exception” to free speech on this campus. Frankly, I am puzzled about the origins of this idea, since I have been unwillingly subjected to an incessant barrage of calls to action for Palestine for months now. I imagine that the organizers of the encampment will cry suppression when the consequences of their actions finally catch up to them — i.e., when the encampment is dispersed and they face disciplinary action — but hopefully we will have enough sense then to see through their gross mischaracterizations. Ironically, the only Palestinian exception that I have seen at Harvard is an exception from the rules that apply to everyone else. One can only hope that this exception ends soon.

–Henry P. Moss IV ’26, Crimson Editorial editor

I have never felt more pride in our student body or belief in the power of collective action to make change. Watching how everyone has stood up for what they believe in — risking police and administrative retaliation in the process — I have hope that Palestine may one day be free.

Harvard joins an international community of students and allies who are not comfortable living in a society that turns a blind eye to the inexcusable violence inflicted on Palestinians. The encampment calls attention to the ongoing violence against the Palestinian people and demands that Harvard take immediate action to stop being complicit in this

genocide.

Harvard claims that it exists to educate the future citizen-leaders of the world. To that I say: Harvard, here are your citizen-leaders, taking charge to build the world they want to live in. How will Harvard react to the demands of the present? The students have made their choice.

–Hea Pushpraj ’25, Editorial Comp Director

Regardless of your position on the justice of the pro-Palestine cause, facts matter. As such, I feel compelled to say: Harvard simply isn’t invested in what Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine has termed “the ongoing genocide in Gaza, and the occupation of Palestine.”

The two figures that protesters cite to argue it is are telling.

The first is a 2020 Crimson analysis that revealed Harvard had nearly $200 million in investments tied to “Israeli settlements in Palestine.” What protesters conveniently leave out when they allude to it? That all but $300,000 of this sum is invested in Booking Holdings, Booking.com’s parent company, whose few dozen listings in the West Bank and Gaza are totally immaterial to Israel’s conduct there.

The second (and seemingly more direct) figure is from a 2019 Harvard Prison Divestment Campaign report, which alleged that Harvard had $86,625 invested in four companies with links to the Israeli military — hardly enough to build half a fighter plane.

Some protesters, when I’ve made this point, argue that it’s the symbolism that matters. That it will inspire others. That it worked with South Africa.

If only history were that simple. Nothing about divestment is an inevitability. Ours is a different cultural and political moment than the 1980s, and Palestine is different from South Africa.

Hearing the righteous cries for an institution to divest from financial interests it doesn’t really have, I can’t help but wonder: Why not protest institutions that can actually do something about it?

–Tommy Barone ’25, Crimson Editorial Chair

Thus, encampment came to Harvard — and it lingered. The University is pushing through its sixth day of revived pro-Palestine demonstrations, still with no end in sight. But in Harvard Yard, the sun is shining, students are closing out the semester, and tensions look… surprisingly low?

For the time being, these protests are peaceful. Student demonstrators are engaging respectfully. They’ve abided by quiet hours, kept off sidewalks, worked diligently to keep on the right side of the law.

My life certainly hasn’t been upended. Administrators don’t seem to be feeling the heat either. Despite emphasizing University time, place, and manner policy, College Dean of Students Thomas Dunne’s emails betray a clear lack of urgency in addressing the encampment.

But is this kind of protest — safe and restrained — disruptive enough to achieve its ends? We’ll have to wait and see.

–Lorenzo Z. Ruiz ’27, Crimson Editorial editor

I am writing this snippet from the “Liberated Zone,” as a Palestinian who feels immense pride that my family in Palestine — who have been assaulted each day by Israeli attacks funded in part by Harvard — now feel heard. Seeing pictures of children after being raided by bombs, thanking us only motivates HOOP’s efforts to go further in their calls — making the encampment’s message grow stronger.

With its presence, the encampment has proven how pro-Palestinian protestors have learned the steadfastness from their siblings in Gaza to rebel against the school’s complicity in the repression of Palestinian heritage and joy. From maqluba-filled stomachs in the Yard to movie nights and teachins, the encampment has grown into something unworldly. The action has only brought divestment from Israeli apartheid, occupation, and genocide to the forefront and Harvard must deal with it immediately. Disclosure and divestment are now the campus’ responsibility.

–Mahmoud Al-Thabata ’27, Crimson Editorial editor

There are so many college-activist dopamine hits in this situation that it’s hard to know where to start. Youth rising up across the country to fight for what

they perceive to be just? Ding! Rage against the stodgy machine? Ding! Striking visuals, communal activities, and a higher purpose? Ding, ding, ding!

Like it or not, this is the narrative that is defining these protests. Ideological opponents of the encampment need to realize that “time, place, and manner” objections fall flat when defiance of the rules is already part of the protesters’ argument. To them, the extremity of the crisis in Gaza dictates that “business as usual” can no longer continue.

On the other hand, protesters need to hear that criticisms of their demonstration are not only about dissatisfaction with the eyesores in the Yard, but also objections to, say, the idea that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza or that its actions undermine its right to exist — in other words, objections to the content of the speech rather than its legitimacy.

–Yona T. Sperling Milner ’27, Crimson Editorial editor

The national solidarity encampments for Gaza are a great display of power and moral clarity of the student movement.

I promise you, history will remember those of us who stood up against genocide and occupation just as fondly as those students who took on the U.S. war machine during Vietnam, engaged in direct actions against America’s Jim Crow laws, and fought bravely for an end to apartheid in South Africa. It’s not too late to be on the right side of history. The people of Palestine will be free. The only question is when.

–Prince A. Williams ’25, Crimson Editorial editor

I find it interesting that the administration keeps sending out emails emphasizing that the encampment is a violation of University policies and that participants will face disciplinary action and yet it’s done little concrete about it. I’m not calling for drastic action from the administration — I only note that there is an interesting disconnect between their words and their actions. They shouldn’t repeatedly emphasize the rules if they aren’t going to enforce them.

Also, on a lighter note, if I’m being honest, the Yard being closed is kind of nice. Poor tourists… but from my perspective, I wouldn’t entirely mind if they keep it this way.

–Rohan Nambiar ’27, Crimson Editorial editor

For the past week, I have routinely walked outside my dorm to see Harvard’s “Liberated Zone” bathed in both physical and metaphorical sunlight.

There, I have witnessed my friends and peers peacefully gathering to stand in solidarity with Palestine — they help each other clean, bring supplies, and provide educational resources. It is a center of campus unity, especially after many of the volunteers were the target of virulent doxxing over the last seven months.

Last Wed., one of the first things I did after witnessing the encampment’s erection was to deeply embrace one of my friends at the site. That embrace signifies the similarity between Harvard’s encampment and those around the country — it is a space to advocate, learn across differences, and open a dialogue.

–Jasmine N. Wynn ’27, Crimson Editorial editor

Several Harvard presidents have argued for the necessity of “wise restraints that make men free.” Content-neutral time, place, and manner restrictions enable civil discourse to flourish. The disruptive and rule-violating encampment flouts not only these restraints, but also seemingly disregards policies intended to keep our campus safe. Protesters engaged with a non-affiliate congressperson and a filmmaker on unauthorized visits into Harvard Yard while protester-appointed marshals restrict Harvard affiliates’ free access to the bounds of the encampment.

To some, their protests have disrupted Harvard Yard and their slogans could be construed as in favor of the destruction of Israel and the Jewish people, including chants for a global “Intifada revolution” and a sign in Arabic that read “From water to water, Palestine is Arab.” These statements can in no way be interpreted as advocating for peace. We need to renew our commitment to enforcing Harvard’s wise restraints, disbanding the encampment, disciplining those involved, and returning the Yard to a place of civil discourse and order.

–Alexander L.S. Bernat ’25, Crimson Editorial editor

The encampment situation is a real catch-22 for administrators. There’s no better way to guarantee Israel-Palestine becoming the defining issue of this generation than daring the administration to use excessive force against students. Admin may be hoping to wait it out, but pressure from donors and affiliates to act is clearly mounting. Raising the Palestinian flag above Harvard Yard made the University look especially weak. Endgame will seemingly be Commencement. There’s been complete failure to establish deterrence thus far — it’s useless to keep sending warnings without follow-through. However, the heavy-handed reaction to the Vietnam War protesters’ 1969 occupation of University Hall by former President Nathaniel M. Pusey ’28 likely culminated in his resignation, so even from a self-interested perspective, admin is right to be wary.

Assuming the protesters are true to their word and will remain until Harvard divests, everything admin does plays directly into their hands. According to their demands, achieving peaceful dispersal sans divestment is impossible.

Finally, although it’s clearly the smart thing to do from the position of the protesters, the irony of deliberately breaking the rules while accusing the University of suppression isn’t lost on me.

–Isaac Mansell ’26, Crimson Editorial editor Harvard Yard has taken on a new look, and I think it’s beautiful. Like many other campuses nationwide and internationally, our “Liberated Zone” was born out of a broader movement for disclosure, divestment, and solidarity at large. I am proud that so many students have peacefully defended their convictions and am touched to see the community of support that has bloomed among friends, fellow students, and faculty in response to this prolonged protest.

–Julia S. Dan ’26, Associate Editorial editor

Before the encampment, there was quiet.

After the administration closed the gates, the customary bustle of bright-eyed tourists vanished. In its place, an eerie stillness descended upon the yard, thick with anticipation. We all knew what was coming — it was simply a question of when.

It arrived in a flash, students streaking towards the lawn and tents popping up with unimaginable speed. (I’ve been camping all my life, and I’ve never seen anything like it.) The Yard has been occupied, filled with the sounds of impassioned chanting, vibrant dancing, and murmured prayer. Up they drift, away from the encampment and through the open window of my nearby dorm. And still, when the sun sets and the demonstrators settle down for another long night, there is quiet once more.

Harvard can hear its students speaking. But to really listen, we must engage meaningfully and critically with what they have to say.

–E. Matteo Diaz ’27, Crimson Editorial editor

Over the last few days, I’ve understood what power and resistance truly mean. The resilience of the encampment’s peaceful protesting has soothed my fears of escalating violence and showed the world that change comes in many forms. In all honesty, I’m grateful that the Yard has been closed off, as there is now a clear barrier between those peacefully protesting and those who might wish to incite violence on our campus. My fears built in the days leading up to the protest, when a hushed silence had befallen the campus after the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee’s suspension. If there was a mass protest, would Harvard University Police Department respond as violently as the New York Police Department did at Columbia University? Would I know some among the arrested?

Although some of these questions remain unanswered, one thing has been made strikingly clear: We are witnessing history, and the actions you take today will be the stories you tell your children tomorrow.

–Kelisha M. Williams ’25, Crimson Editorial editor

JULIAN J. GIORDANO— CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

Have Harvard Students Actually Become More Progressive?

BY JULIAN BERMAN

From congressional subpoenas to doxxing trucks to plagiarism scandals, Harvard has spent the year on trial in the courts of public opinion. Its crime? Becoming more progressive. Of course, it’s not the first time that Harvard has seen such turmoil, and liberal student activism is nothing new either. Students have often been on the leading edge of progressivism, protesting everything from the Vietnam War to South African apartheid to Operation Desert Storm to the death of George Floyd. But are college students today actually more progressive than they were in the past?

Just looking at election outcomes, it appears so. College students have become more reliable Democratic voters. In 2008, former U.S. President Barack Obama won approximately twothirds of the youth vote. Similarly, the youth vote helped U.S. President Joe Biden defeat former President Donald J. Trump in 2020.

Vote choice, though, doesn’t tell us what young people believe. In order to test how much the substance of college students’ views have changed, I collected opinion pieces from 322 student newspapers across the country published from 2000 to today.

Then, I ran these articles through a sentiment analysis algorithm, which uses ChatGPT prompts to evaluate the political lean of each article.

Guess what? Students — at least, those who write opinion articles for college papers — have, in fact, become more progressive along almost every possible axis.

Students Are Getting More Progressive Here’s the gist of my methodology for this analysis: I pulled more than 60,000 opinion articles from both The Crimson’s online archives and University Wire, a library of student opinion pieces. Then, I used the Generalized Attribute Based Ratings Information Extraction Library (developed by my friends Elliott P. Mokski ’24 and Hemanth O. Asirvatham ’24) to make ChatGPT rate text on several attributes — support for social justice, activism, racial diversity, and so on — that each represent an aspect of progressiveness.

Finally, I used an algorithm to aggregate these attributes into an overall progressiveness score ranging from negative one (most conservative) to one (most progressive).

For context, my approach deemed these articles progressive and deemed these articles conservative.

In 2000 — when my analysis begins — the average college newspaper article leaned somewhat progressive (0.22), and the opinions of student writers at elite universities (0.26) weren’t all that more progressive than those at non-elite ones (0.23).

Two decades later, the average student opinion piece has only become a touch more progressive (0.26), but there’s been a divergence: Opinion sections at elite universities have gotten significantly more progressive, and they’ve outrun their their non-elite counterparts (0.35 for elite universities versus 0.28 for non-elite ones).

What explains the shift? The greatest in -

creases occurred between 2010 and 2015, during which time two national trends could have driven college students to become more progressive.

First, Obama’s election may have made all Americans more progressive, including college students.

The opinions of young people today define the trajectory of America tomorrow. It’s essential we understand how the universities they attend shape — and are shaped by — students’ beliefs.

During Obama’s tenure, the percentage of Americans identifying as “liberal” on social issues increased significantly, growing from a quarter in 2009 to nearly a third by the end of 2016. For example, the nation went from opposing to supporting both a right to same-sex marriage and the legalization of marijuana — in each case, a change of more than 15 points.

Second, the Occupy movement on the left and the rise of the Tea Party on the right accelerated an ongoing trend of political polarization. As the

left and the right moved farther apart, the space for moderate and centrist voices shrank, and these developments intensified as each side reacted to the other’s advances.

For instance, the Tea Party’s success in the 2010 midterm elections, which brought a flood of conservative politicians into Congress, likely spurred further leftward shifts among progressives, as seen in the enthusiastic support for Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) during the 2016 Democratic primary.

The divergence between elite and non-elite universities, however, didn’t begin during the Obama years. It started at the height of Trump’s campaign for office.

To build some intuition for what’s driven this split, I took a look within The Crimson’s own pages. Unlike student newspapers more generally, the publication’s opinion section has moved substantially leftward over time. It was over three times more progressive in 2023 than it was in 2001 (0.36 versus 0.10).

(Importantly, the progressiveness scores for The Crimson are derived from comparing articles within its own archive rather than against articles from all universities, so the scores in the first graph shouldn’t be compared one-to-one with those in the second.

It’s Time To Rethink Harvard’s Governance

BY WILLIAM C. KIRBY

“The Corporation Must Go.” So wrote The Crimson on April 11, 1969, in the aftermath of the occupation of University Hall and the subsequent police raid that cleared the building. “The Corporation,” the editorial continued, “as it is now constituted cannot legitimately act as the principal governing body of the University […] A restructured University would require the participation of Faculty, both in the new governing bodies and in the efforts to secure them.” Harvard was then in a crisis more dramatic and violent than that of today. But in both 1969 and 2023, issues of governance were at the heart of the crisis. Harvard is unusual among universities in its governing structures. It has two governing boards, not one board of trustees. Its boards, unlike those of public universities, are not accountable to government bodies. Nor are the boards accountable to faculty or students — or, in the case of the Corporation, even alumni. The Board of Overseers, the larger body, is at least elected by alumni. The Corporation, by contrast, remains among the smallest and most secretive governing bodies of any major university and with a governing culture far removed from the norms of modern university or corporate governance.

In the aftermath of the 1969 crisis, the Overseers asked Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean John T. Dunlop to review the University’s governance. Dunlop convened the University Committee on Governance, which met from 1969 to 1971 and issued a series of reports and recommendations.

The question, then as now, was whether 17th century forms of governance were adequate for contemporary times. The committee’s 1971 report on “The Organization and Functions of the Governing Boards and the President’s Office” concluded: “The commonest reaction to inquiry into Harvard’s ancient forms is a somewhat defensive: ‘They have worked, haven’t they?’ To this question the answer

may be, ‘Yes, until lately.’”

Well, lately, again, they have not worked well. In less than two decades, the Corporation has overseen two presidencies cut short and, in 2009, monumental financial mismanagement that left the world’s richest university bereft of cash and shorn of reserves. Few corporate boards would survive such performance.

If one were to reconstruct the events of the past year simply from the pages of the New York Times, we see the continuing limits of Harvard’s governance.

President Gay’s deliberative approach to responding to the Hamas attack on Israel was openly criticized by a former University president. Outrage from groups of alumni followed. Congressional inquiries followed, with the president being advised on her testimony by the Corporation. Then came accusations of academic malpractice, to adjudicate which the Corporation apparently followed none of Harvard’s internal procedures.

All that done, the Corporation met in person to voice unanimous support for the president on Dec. 12. Two weeks later, phoning each other from ski resorts and vacation homes, its members changed their minds.

Any external observer would be forced to conclude that big donors and congressional critics now had the power to force out Harvard’s president. I personally doubt that was the case, but how do we know? At present, the only way Harvard’s faculty, students, and alumni will learn what really happened in the Corporation’s deliberations is by congressional subpoena. That’s not good enough.

The Dunlop Committee found the Corporation “the principal enigma of the University’s governance.” The committee established that the Corporation had published neither minutes of its meetings nor accounts of its deliberations in 30 years. Perhaps it never had.

When, as Dean of FAS, I gave Robert N. Bellah ’48, the eminent Berkeley sociologist, permission to review archives relating to the McCarthyist harass-

ment of him by FAS Dean McGeorge Bundy and the Corporation, he was told that minutes of Corporation meetings were not even taken.

The Dunlop Committee issued a series of reports on the role and structure of the governing boards; the election of the president and need for term limits; the possibility of a University Senate, with both faculty and student representation; the role of money in University governance; and other matters. All were forgotten in time.

When the Corporation planned its enlargement in 2010 — the first major reform to the body since 1650 — I asked a member if they had reviewed the Dunlop reports and the voluminous correspondence about them. He had never heard of either.

As Dean of FAS, I met with the Corporation more than most deans: to review FAS academic plans, to approve building projects and architecture, and to set tuition. (By comparison, the late John H. McArthur told me he met with the Corporation precisely twice during his 15 years as dean of Harvard Business School.)

The Corporation members I worked with certainly sought to be good stewards of Harvard. Yet only one member at any given time had leadership experience in higher education. Some were not quite clear of their role. One asked, “When does the Corporation vote on the undergraduate curriculum?” I had to tell him: “You don’t. That’s the faculty’s job.”

I found the Corporation to be less like a board of directors and more like (as described by the Dunlop Committee) the “president’s cabinet.” Perhaps that is why, in the crisis over Lawrence H. Summers’ presidency, it was the Board of Overseers, under President Patti B. Saris ’73, that took rare initiative in pressing for change.

John Dunlop provided Harvard with strong and skillful stewardship in the immediate aftermath of 1969. Today, we are fortunate that the experienced leadership of interim President Alan M. Garber ’76 has given the University time to pause and to reflect. We must make use of that time — as the Dunlop Committee did more than 50 years ago — to take a hard look at Harvard’s governance.

Nevertheless, the point stands: The Crimson, compared to itself, has become much more progressive.)

Almost all attributes contributed to the increase, including support for social justice, racial diversity, and activism — a change consistent with the oft-discussed rise of social progressivism on college campuses.

However, the anticapitalism attribute has remained relatively flat, indicating that progressivism in our pages has concerned social, rather than economic, issues.

Interestingly, though, the trend for elite college papers as a whole differs from that of The Crimson. Whereas our opinion section became gradually more progressive over time, elite college paper opinion sections as a whole did not diverge from non-elite ones until 2015, which was the height of the Trump campaign and the year that the culture wars came to define American politics.

The overall leftward turn seems to operate on two separate axes. Not only are there more opinion articles that discuss progressive social justice issues, but the opinions themselves have also become more progressive on average.

I believe two mechanisms likely produce the Trump effect.

First, Trump spearheaded an anti-elite movement that marshaled populist sentiment against so-called “coastal elites.” As a result, students attending elite universities may now feel less welcome in the Republican party.

Second, political elites may have become more progressive than the average likely voter. These elites, who constitute a significant portion of the students who attend elite institutions, might then push the student body of elite universities even further left.

Finally, the progressive shift appears to have peaked in 2020 and 2021, coinciding with the height of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Where This Leaves Us

College students embracing more progressive views could have far-reaching impacts, both on universities and in American society as a whole. For universities, a self-perpetuating cycle could form. If more liberal students attend a given university, those students may demand more courses and professors that approach the world from an increasingly progressive perspective, which might put pressure on the university to offer more courses or hire more faculty members to meet student demand.

Meanwhile, American culture and politics will feel the effects, too. As with gay marriage, abortion, or marijuana use, ideas that were once considered radical will become increasingly mainstream as today’s young people become a significant portion of the electorate.

But as campuses grow more progressive, conservatives may intensify their recent attacks on higher education. And as we’ve seen, external pressure — from donors especially — can have real effects on university policy. The opinions of young people today define the trajectory of America tomorrow. It’s essential we understand how the universities they attend shape — and are shaped by — students’ beliefs.

This time, however, we really must act, if we are not to repeat this drama a decade or two hence. Taking the Dunlop Committee’s findings as guidance, here is how we might proceed today:

First, create a new University-wide Committee on Governance chaired by the provost. Review best practices at other U.S. and international universities.

Second, be prepared to restructure our bicameral governing boards into one, with a higher percentage of individuals who know from experience the industry they’re overseeing. Explore the role of faculty and students on the board.

Third, establish a University Senate, perhaps on the model set forth by the Dunlop Committee, as a powerful advisory body to the president and board, composed of faculty and (in lesser numbers) students from each school of the University. How can there be “one Harvard” without a University-wide voice for faculty in governance?

Fourth and finally, explore means to establish a more transparent governance. The Office of the Governing Boards is the administrative arm of the Overseers and the Corporation. Its mission has been to maintain stability and secrecy. It is not a crime, however, to publish agendas and edited minutes, or to meet with the press. Other boards of leading universities do this.

As someone who has written on the governance of modern research universities from Germany to America to China, I know there is no perfect model. But many work better than ours. I agree with Henry Rosovsky’s first principle of governance: “Not everything is improved by making it more democratic.” Yet we must strive for more open and accountable governance at Harvard.

SAMI E. TURNER — CRIMSON DESIGNER

Harvard, Engage With the Encampment

DISCLOSURE . With a plurality of Harvard faculty, and many students, endorsing divestment from companies that operate in the West Bank, Garber should know and we should too. In the past week, the University has made it plenty clear that disciplinary consequences await the protesters. Here’s hoping that punishment isn’t the only outcome.

BY THE CRIMSON EDITORAL BOARD

In the five days since pro-Palestine protesters set up their encampment, Harvard Yard has seen one unauthorized congressional visit, multiple keffiyehs draped over John Harvard’s shoulders, and three Palestinian flags hoisted over University Hall.

If this is the extent of it, Harvard is in great shape.

Even Harvard’s police chief has admitted that the protesters continue to demonstrate peacefully. They’ve observed quiet hours at night. During the day, the Yard occasionally rings out with chants before falling back to pleasant, tourist-free silence.

We said it on day one of the protests and we’ll say it again: While the encampment remains an exemplar of peaceful protest, there’s no place for the police here.

Now, for the same reasons, as the University increasingly signals that stern disciplinary action is to come, we feel compelled to say that there’s no place for draconian disciplinary action either.

Of course, participants entered into the encampment expecting to be punished. Civil disobedience is, after all, still disobedience. But anything as severe as mass expulsion or suspension would be an egregious overreaction to what have been obviously mild-mannered protests.

Disciplinary action can’t be administrators’ only reply to the protesters’ demands. As the impasse between University leaders and student activists con-

tinues, silence will only ratchet up tensions — and ensure more disciplinary cases come before the College’s Administrative Board.

Administrators must negotiate openly with protesters. Disclosing the extent of Harvard’s investments in companies doing business in Israel would be a basic first step, allowing for a more well-informed campus conversation about the investments that fund our community. Transparency is a good thing.

In 2014, Harvard signed on to the United Nations’ Principles for Responsible Investment, which commit companies to abide by industry standards for ethical investment, including avoiding investment in human rights abuses.

If Harvard’s leadership is holding true to that commitment — with respect to Israel’s war against Hamas and otherwise — financial transparency would be welcome proof. If not, sunlight is the best disinfectant.

The troubling truth is that our leaders might not know either way. University President Alan M. Garber ’76 recently admitted to The Crimson that he’s unsure whether the endowment remains invested in Israel at all.

With a plurality of Harvard faculty endorsing divestment from companies that operate in the West Bank and many students calling for the same, Garber should know and we should too.

In the past week, the University has made it plenty clear that disciplinary consequences await the protesters. Here’s hoping that punishment isn’t the only outcome of their activism.

–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.

Not All Permissible Speech is Good

BY DANIELLE ALLEN

Just because you can say it doesn’t mean you should. Whether our campus relationships are healthy depends on choices we make about how we advocate our views.

Last week, I explained the crucial distinction between academic freedom and free speech. Academic freedom is specifically tailored to the context of higher education and safeguards the intellectual independence of faculty and students. Free speech is a broader right protected by the First Amendment that applies within the public sphere. Neither is an unlimited right to say whatever you please. Academic freedom and freedom of speech both make much speech permissible; they do not, however, make all speech permissible. Legal limitations restrict both categories of speech, prohibiting incitement, intimidation, harassment, extortion, libel, defamation, and dangerously misleading acts like falsely shouting fire in a crowded theater. Academic freedom faces additional constraints from professional protocols and institutional rules, including prohibitions on plagiarism, evidence fabrication, and research that fails to meet ethical standards.

Free speech on campus is further limited by organizational protocols — the time, manner, and place requirements for demonstrations. We are watching these evolve in real time. Academic freedom and free speech both draw lines between impermissible and permissible speech. They do not, however, help us distinguish between good permissible speech and bad permissible speech. That distinction must come from standards of scholarship and the art of rhetoric.

Importantly, permissible speech is not coextensive with good speech. More generally, many bad actions are legally permissible: smoking, gambling excessively, gluttony, being rude or insulting people, breaking informal promises, lying (legally permissible in at least some contexts), and peeing in the swimming pool.

These actions, though legally permissible, are typically also cases of poor judgment or morally unacceptable or unethical behavior.

Similarly, the fact that a speech act is permissible — under either academic freedom or free speech principles — and that someone therefore has a “right” to its utterance does not make it a good contribution or exempt a speaker from judgment or moral evaluation.

Speech acts can be factually or morally erroneous, offensive, ad hominem, and otherwise fallacious or poorly argued — all scholarly failures. Or they might not only suffer from fallacious arguments but also display failures of judgment, emotional calibration, or expression, all types of rhetorical failure.

Harvard’s values statement contains two guidelines that help distinguish between good and bad speech. Our behavior on campus should embody “respect for the rights, differences, and dignity of others” as well as “honesty and integrity in all dealings.” Scholarly standards and longstanding norms from the art of rhetoric make concrete how to live by these values.

One logical cut distinguishes between the impermissible and permissible. Then a second, within the category of the permissible, distinguishes the good and the bad. Once we understand this, it becomes easier to figure out how to respond to problematic speech acts. Are they actually impermissible? Or

are they permissible but bad?

For now, I’ll focus on the impermissible category. I’ll discuss permissible but bad speech acts in my next column.

Expressive acts alleged to be impermissible require adjudication and, if found to violate certain rules, require sanction. Our system of sanctions helps realize the expectation in the University values statement that we take accountability for our actions and our conduct within the community.

To determine whether a speech act is impermissible, we ask a series of questions. Has the accused party violated the law, including workplace laws that prohibit the creation of a hostile environment? Have they violated campus policies, such as non-discrimination, anti-bullying, and time, manner, and place requirements for demonstrations?

Our processes for adjudicating these questions are not yet stable. The same was true of early campus efforts to implement Title IX policies in response to sexual harassment allegations. It has taken years, and many proceedings before Harvard administrative boards, to refine adjudication procedures and establish usable precedents — regarding evidence procurement and due process, for example — to meet appropriate standards.

Yet, answers to questions about how to adjudicate whether speech acts are impermissible are urgently needed. In 1990, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences established a committee of three highly-distinguished faculty members — Joseph S. Nye Jr., Henry Ehrenreich, and Michael J. Sandel — to develop the FAS policy on speech. That policy stands to this day and is the basis for the time, manner, and place norms we use now, as well as

for key elements of the sanctioning structure for code of conduct violations.

At the end of their report, they recommended a permanent student-faculty advisory committee on free speech, involving both graduate and undergraduate students. The committee could continually discuss ambiguities in the guidelines and occasionally meet with the administration and others to discuss how to strike appropriate balances of rights in hard cases. Unfortunately, this standing committee was never established. As a result, we currently face significant challenges. We lack a clear mechanism for clarifying the line between creating a hostile environment and exercising free speech. No existing governance body can help the University’s administrative boards develop a robust, precedent-based understanding of speech-related issues.

Though the ad boards will eventually gain this insight over time, a standing committee could expedite and enhance our campus’s learning process. Such a committee, ideally integrated into a University-wide faculty Senate, could methodically work through cases to delineate clear principles about what constitutes impermissible speech, thereby guiding the whole campus with a consistent set of standards.

Far better to learn and teach proactively than to rely on sanctions to do our intellectual work.

–Danielle Allen is the James Bryant Conant University Professor at Harvard University and director of the Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation. This piece is the third installment in a series that will identify and assess the difficult ethical questions surfaced by Harvard’s recent leadership crisis.

I Grew up Near Columbia. Harvard Cannot Repeat Its Mistake.

BY JASMINE N WYNN

This past week, I have watched unnerving scenes from my neighborhood plastered across the national news.

Even more jarring was texts from friends of mine back in New York City about the police-laden scene unfolding along Columbia’s college walk. Growing up, there was a persistent tension between Columbia and Harlem — the neighborhood I was raised in, that lies at the base of the hill Columbia sits on.

Fear of police brutality was common in my neighborhood. Incidents such as the wrongful conviction of the Central Park Five and disproportionate surveillance under New York City’s “stop and frisk” policy have persistently frayed trust between Harlem residents and the New York Police Department. Throughout the 1960s, Harlem residents mobilized in the streets in support of the civil rights movement, including during the Harlem Uprising

of 1964, in which hundreds of Harlem residents protested the killing of an unarmed Black teenager.

These incidents were often quelled by harsh response from the NYPD, resulting in the injuries of thousands of Harlemites.

Activist demonstration and the disproportionate police brutality it engenders are ingrained in Harlem’s history. This is why I am vehemently opposed to Columbia University President Minouche Shafik’s decision to call in the NYPD to clear protesters on Columbia’s campus.

It is also why I hope Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76 does not repeat Shafik’s callous decision at our own school.

Garber has refused to rule out the possibility of calling in the police to forcibly disperse Harvard protesters. But we must avoid this step not only for the safety of students in the encampment — including many of my friends that I love deeply — but also for the safety of Black and brown Cambridge and Allston residents. Given the larger history of American police disproportionately targeting Black and brown peo -

ple, calling a significant police presence to any location endangers the neighboring broader Black and Brown communities of a given area.

When police are called to a central location, officers do not just remain in that one place. They linger, instilling fear, in the surrounding areas.

Shafik’s decision to rely on the NYPD to disperse a peaceful protest was reactionary and foolish at best.

Combined with the notable militarization of the NYPD under New York City Mayor Eric L. Adams’ administration, Shafik has gone against the wishes of Columbia affiliates and drawn national derision for her decision making.

While concerns over agitators abusing the pro-Palestinian movement to perpetuate antisemitism are undoubtedly justified, they cannot be used as a carte blanche excuse to unnecessarily use police force on dozens of peaceful protestors.

Encampments are a strong, effective, and non-violent form of protest. From the last six days of Harvard’s encampment, many passersby have described a peaceful scene — something that the Harvard University Police Department’s

current captain also noted on Friday. So far, encampments for Gaza have successfully drawn public attention to Israel’s ongoing bombing of Palestinians. Garber has asserted that he remains staunchly opposed to divestment from Israel. Yet, his reluctance will not change the fact that students remain outside on Harvard Yard, from morning through night, steadfastly advocating for Palestinian liberation. Perhaps their resilience is an indication that Harvard administrators should at least grant protestors serious conversations regarding their demands, instead of perpetually shying away from discussion. Harvard not only has a responsibility to protect its affiliates, but also to remember its surrounding community in its decision making process. To President Garber, my message is simple: Remember Black and brown Cambridge and Allston in your decision making.

–Jasmine N Wynn ’27, a Crimson Editorial editor, lives in Thayer Hall.

FRANK S. ZHOU — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

Victory, Heartbreak for Lax

vard.” - Fred Asare-Konadu

BY KATHARINE A. FORST CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

With Princeton clinching victory over the Yale Bulldogs just before the first whistle, the Harvard men’s lacrosse team’s (8-5, 2-4 Ivy) final win of the season, 11-10, against the Brown Bears proved inconsequential for both programs, with the Ivy League Tournament lineup having already been decided. The four teams that will continue into the postseason are No. 8 Cornell, No. 12 Princeton, No. 13 Yale, and No. 16 UPenn.

Despite clawing its way into the top-20 rankings at the start of the season, a slew of late losses to Princeton, UPenn and Cornell would send the Cambridge program just outside of the top-tier. For the second season in a row, the team’s hopes at replicating its 2022 NCAA Tournament wildcard bid were quashed. Although the season was shorter than the team had hoped, the program saw a marked improvement in its competitiveness in both the Ivy League and in out of conference play. The 2024 roster brought a maturity to Jordan Field that manifested in grittiness and a fierce desire for victory. Frisbie Family Head Coach Gerry Byrne’s team looked like it wanted, and deserved, to win against the top programs in the nation.

“It’s tough to go into a week where, other than regular competition, there’s nothing really kind of on the line. The way that I approached it was that there’s always something on the line,” Byrne said. “We want to get better, we want to win our last game. It doesn’t have to mean anything beyond this weekend, but I think that this is the test of our character and our culture, and as a result, we had a great week of practice.”

The team’s success on Saturday marked the final contest in a Crimson jersey for twelve seniors on the Harvard team, and their departure from Cambridge will leave key vacancies that Byrne will need to fill heading into next season. Goaltending from senior Christian Barnard, who was named All-Ivy League Honorable Mention, was pivotal to the team’s defensive lockdowns this season. Barnard posted 11 saves in the game against Brown, excelling in his second season as

sophomore Teddy Malone, and freshman Jack Speidell will all be returning in the fall, the departure of senior attackman Graham Blake will be felt on the scoreboard. Blake, who will be continuing his lacrosse career at Duke next season as a grad transfer, rotated in as the third attackman with Speidell, finding his stride after being sidelined for the majority of his Harvard career due to injury and the Covid-19 pandemic. The first half of the game leaned entirely in the Crimson’s favor, with the squad racing out to an early 5-2 lead at the end of the first quarter. The team didn’t let off the gas pedal through the next fifteen minutes of play, heading into the locker room with what a solid three fer and a 7-4 The squad tinued that intensi ty through the third, out-scor

ity at UNC next year – sophomores Guest and Finn Jensen, and junior Ray Dearth. LSMs Greg Campisi – a senior who will be moving to South Bend to play for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish next season –and sophomore Sean Jordan were also crucial in stymying the Brown attack.

“As far as what happened in the fourth quarter, I think that we got complacent,” Byrne said. “We felt like the game was in hand already, and you know, it’s easier to be the hunter. So, when you’re behind, their character clicked in and they

pact, and the big wins we had and the trips we went on.”

While the majority of Byrne’s starting roster will have the chance to battle for a National Championship and Ivy League glory next season, his senior class will leave a mark that will shape the future of his program. Despite having to overcome careers plagued by the Covid-19 pandemic, two canceled seasons, a coaching change, and other adversities, the Crimson’s season set the tone for its underclassmen, bringing a tangible intensity to Jordan Field and setting a prece-

“Having the opportunity to play for Harvard Lacrosse has been a dream come true for me. I wanted to play here since I was a little kid so seeing that come to fruition is a bit surreal. Although the season did not go as planned, I loved every single second of it. My teammates are my best friends, and we have made bonds that will last an eternity. I cannot thank everyone enough who helps our program. I am forever in debt to Harvard lacrosse. I know this program is special, and I can’t wait to see what they can do

ably rewarding experience, getting to compete day in and day out with the best group of guys and my closest friends. While this season ended earlier than we wanted it to, I have the utmost confidence that the program has the recipes for success, and I can’t wait to see what the future has in store.” – Greg Campisi

“Being a member of the Harvard Lacrosse team has been such an incredible experience. Over these past four years, the program

the starting goalie following the departure of Kyle Mullin in 2022. With only two other goalies on the roster and one of them being a senior (George Alvarez), freshman Teddy Kim — who saw no field time this season — will need to step in and fill Barnard’s shoes. At the faceoff X, the advantage leaned slightly in Brown’s favor, with senior FOGO Andrew Degennaro and sophomore FOGO Matt Barraco clinching about 43 percent of their takes at the whistle. Barraco — who played second fiddle to DeGennaro this season — came in clutch in key moments, and, alongside freshman Owen Umansky, will be a player to watch next spring. Offensively, the team found its stride quite nicely, ramping up its performance with each game. The squad went even on shots with Brown at 40 a piece. Early in the season, the team struggled to generate takes offensively in the first and second quarter, which put it at a deficit as the lines figured out how to pinpoint its opposing defense’s weaknesses. As it started getting off shots quicker the attack was able to find better opportunities. While the starting line of junior Sam King,

ing Brown 4-3. Harvard notched three goals in the span of one minute and three seconds at the conclusion of the third, but after that spurt of greatness, was unable to convert for the remainder of play. Speidell sent the ball past goalie Connor Theriault with 3:52 left on the clock on a lefty wraparound take around the left side of the crease before notching another point just 52 seconds later on a feed from King in front of the crease. Just 11 seconds after Speidell sent Theriault to his knees, sophomore SSDM Owen Guest found the back of the cage after securing the ball on the face off scrum and racing downfield, where he split the sea of Brown defenders who hesitated in sending the slide.

Despite an attainable victory in sight, with an 11-6 lead and a quick succession of goals, the squad lost its momentum and was held scoreless by the Bears for the final 18 minutes of competition. Despite Brown scoring the last four goals, the Crimson defense was able to stop its opponent from staging a late comeback. Imperative in warding off the loss were SSDMs in senior Andrew O’Berry – who will be utilizing his fifth year of eligibil-

the Bears to a meager 73 percent clear rate, enabled the defense to drop back into its zone quickly and slow the fastbreak, something the team had been working on throughout the season. At low defense, juniors Martin Nelson and Logan Darrin were led by captain Collin Bergstrom. The line, which has proven lethal all season, showed maturity throughout the game in locking down its opponents, talking through picks, and forcing Brown to use the entirety of its shot clock. The man down unit was particularly dominant, holding the Bears to just one goal on its four power play opportunities.

“It was a mix of players that we had recruited and that we had inherited from the previous staff, and they were able to blend and be a foundation for us having two winning seasons in the last three years, which is new,” said Byrne about the impact his graduating seniors had on the program.

“Making the NCAA tournament, having six or seven top-20 wins during their time and sell outs and service, I think their impact was in the classroom leading the country in GPA for two-straight years and the money we raised for TeamIm-

dence in the team’s ability to grow in future seasons:

“Being a part of the Harvard Lacrosse program has meant the absolute world to me. It gave me the chance to learn life lessons and values that I will carry with me forever. It was really an experience I would not trade for anything in the world.” - George Alvarez

“Having the privilege to call myself a Harvard Lacrosse player for the last 5 years is something I will forever be grateful for. In my time I have formed bonds with guys who will be my best friends for the rest of my life. Through the ups and downs of each game, season, and year we continued to grow closer with one another and make each other better. Now that my time as a player has come to an end, I will continuously strive to recreate the culture of love, hard work and unrelenting compete level everywhere I go. I will always miss being surrounded by 50+ guys who are all doing everything they can to find success. I will forever consider myself lucky to have been a part of this team and thank Coach Byrne for giving me the opportunity to be a part of something that was so instrumental to my time at Har-

“Playing Harvard Lacrosse has been the most amazing experience of my life. Having the opportunity to play the sport that I love with my best friends in the world every single day has truly been a blessing and I could not be more grateful. Through wins and losses, celebration and disappointment, I have loved every second of it and will cherish the memories of my time here forever. I would not be where I am today without the continued support of my family, coaches, training staff, friends, and countless others who have made it all possible and I cannot thank them enough. I am so excited to see the success that the team achieves in the future and can’t wait to be in the stands of Jordan Field cheering them on!” - Graham Blake

“Harvard lacrosse has changed my life forever. I have made lifelong memories with friends I will have forever. It has truly been the honor of my life to experience every high, every low, and every single moment with all my teammates.” – Mike Binkowski

“I’m immensely grateful for the opportunity to be a part of Harvard Lacrosse. Being a member of this team has been an unbeliev-

has exposed me to some of the most incredible people. I will be forever grateful for being given the opportunity to wear the Harvard jersey. I am so excited to see what the future of this program holds. Thank you, Harvard Lacrosse.” –Andrew DeGennaro

“Having the opportunity to be part of the Harvard lacrosse community had nothing but a positive impact on my development as a person. My experience was unique, going from an active player role to a managerial role, yet every moment was worth it. I learned countless lessons and made amazing friends along the way. Thinking about my time here fills me with joy, and I will miss the team dearly. I’m extremely grateful for everything that Harvard lacrosse has given me, and I’m beyond excited to see what the program achieves in the future.” – Justin Glod “Being a member of Harvard Lacrosse has not only provided me with lifelong friendships with an amazing group of young men but also proven to me that my limits far exceed what I once believed. A coaching staff that truly cares for the development of its players and an unbreakable bond between teammates have made this ending so bittersweet, but I plan to remain an active member of the community as an Alumnus. All of the early mornings and hard work put in over the years feels like a tiny task when doing it while surrounded by such amazing people. I am extremely grateful for the opportunities this team has shown me and this experience has truly been second to none.” – Jaden Jernigan

“Playing Harvard Lacrosse has been the greatest honor of my life. The memories that I’ve been able to make over the last four years have been incredible. I want to thank each and every one of my teammates. Without them my time here wouldn’t have been as special. I know the season didn’t go the way we wanted it to, but the improvement we made as a team since the fall has been great to be a part of. I’m really sad to be leaving the team now because I know how good they are going to be next year and years to come. I also want to thank Coach Byrne and all the other coaches for not only teaching us on the field, but off the field as well. The lessons I’ve learned during my time as a Harvard Lacrosse player will help guide me through my next journey in life and that’s why I’ll be forever indebted to this program and the people who helped get me here.” – Brennan McBride

“Harvard men’s lacrosse has been family for me. I have loved my time here and cannot begin to thank coach Byrne and the

Head Coach Gerry Byrne on his senior class

Jacob Collier Concert Review: Collier Creates a Home at MGM

BY HANNAH M. WILKOFF CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

On April 24, Jacob Collier and his band wowed the audience with their intricate vocals, multiinstrumental talent, and contagious energy at MGM Music Hall at Fenway. During the show, which marked the fifth stop on his world tour for “Djesse Vol. 4,” the London-born singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer created an immersive musical experience, showing the crowd everything that music has the potential to be.

Kimbra, the New Zealand singer-songwriter and Grammy Award winner best known for her feature on Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know,” opened for Collier as a solo R&B and pop act. Collier came out to the stage alone to massive cheers from the audience, opening up with “100,000 Voices,” which features audience members from his past tours. Throughout the first part of his set, he continually built

momentum. Whether running across the stage, jumping with his electric guitar, or playing piano with the “J” LED light in the background creating a silhouette of his characteristic spiky hair, his body language conveyed his enthusiasm.

In “Little Blue,” the unexpected jazz notes in Collier’s solo acoustic guitar and his close vocal harmonies with Erin Bentlage helped to convey the tender emotion of the song. After the pair sang a final chorus, Collier got the crowd to sing the final word “home,” making the concert venue everyone’s home for the night.

In Collier’s popular song “Time Alone With You,” his three backup vocalists Erin Bentlage, Lindsey Lomis, and Alita Moses performed intricate vocal runs in harmony as they moved through the rapid chord progressions. Collier made his voice a staccato bass line as he ran across the stage in excitement and sang about “the most beautiful girl in the whole wide world.”

The opening section of the night’s set showed the range of

emotions and musical styles of Collier’s music and the power of his band, particularly the backup vocalists. With over 100 instruments on stage and a threetiered set draped in leaves, Collier’s set allowed him to create a range of music.

Under a single spotlight, Collier did a solo acoustic rendition of “The Sun Is In Your Eyes.” After a long and calming classical guitar intro, he played around with silence in between his lines and the riffs he sang at the end of them. With just his voice and his guitar, the musical prodigy showed off his genius, which he continued in his cover of Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” where he used his vocal harmonizer to make his keyboard sound as if the chords were a choir. Collier didn’t take himself too seriously, emitting quiet “yeah”s at the end of some lines and playing around with the volume.

Moses, who was a star throughout the night, came in to support on vocals as the band returned for “In Too Deep” and the disco ball was illuminated for

the first time in the show, sending light out across the venue. In “Mi Corazon,” Collier showed off his multi-instrumental talent as he played on a second drum set in a duet with his drummer, then switched back to the Steinway for an extended piano solo. Taking a break to talk to the audience, Collier shared how much collaboration means to him in his writing. Most of the songs from the night’s set feature other artists in their studio recordings, such as Brandi Carlile, Lizzy McAlpine, and Shawn Mendes. Collier shared how his journey with collaboration taught him to embrace uncertainty and realize how much he does not know, a powerful reminder from a man who knows so much about everything musicrelated.

After “Witness Me,” Collier guided different sections of the audience to sing different notes to create their own audience choir. Ending with a standing ovation, Collier created the magical atmosphere that makes his shows so famous. His mother, Suzie Collier, came out on vi-

olin to accompany a cover of The Beatles’ “Till There Was You,” and the emotional string melody and overlapping piano arpeggios ended with another standing ovation.

“All I Need” and “Over You” were a great upbeat end to the first part of the set. Kimbra came back out in the first encore to do a combo of “Box of Stars Pt. 1/In My Bones/Sleeping on My Dreams” with the band, where the disco ball illuminated the stage, making the concert feel like a party — there were even inflatable tube men on the sides of the stage. Coming back out alone for a second encore, Collier’s strong vocals in his cover of Queen’s “Somebody to Love” and his solo rendition of “Moon River” on piano finished off the concert in an intimate way. Collier ended the night by making a heart with his hands to the crowd, leaving the stage having stunned with his musical talent but also with his ability to make a concert hall feel like a close community.

hannah.wilkoff@thecrimson.com

BY ERLISA DEMNERI CRIMSON

“What are days for? Days are where we live. They come, they wake us, time and time over. They are to be happy in. Where can we live but days?” A limited series adaptation of a 2009 novel, which was previously adapted into an averagely successful 2011 film, wouldn’t sound like the most exciting story on paper. However, the Netflix show “One Day” proves expectations wrong. Based on the novel of the same name by David Nicholls, the streaming adaptation of “One Day” follows the friendship and love story of Emma (Ambika Mod) and Dexter (Leo Woodall) over the course of almost two decades. Led by two charming performances, “One Day” breathes new life into the romantic comedy genre, providing a touching watching experience.

“One Day” consists of fourteen episodes, spanning from 1988, the date Emma and Dexter meet for the first time, to 2007. Besides the two last episodes, which make multiple-year jumps, the other twelve only focus on one year at a time, following from the beginning of Emma and Dexter’s love and their intertwined storylines. The episode format is engaging, as the audience can grow alongside the characters and feel the importance of Emma and Dexter’s relationship. At just under seven hours, “One Day” is the perfect bingeable show. While common narrative techniques advise that showing is better than telling, “One Day”

flips this advice on its head, sacrificing action for detailed character study. The series doesn’t show many big plot points or characters’ immediate reactions to them, but rather focuses on their lingering emotional effects. As such, the audience feels everything the same way as the protagonists do, becoming further attached to the duo. The show’s success can be attributed to its two leading performances. Mod and Woodall’s acting is fresh and electric, and the two come across as veterans of the rom-com genre. The chemistry between them is full of longing and tenderness, which makes watching their journey all the more enthralling. Compared to the movie, the series format allows “One Day” to spend more time develop -

ing its characters. Another welcome change from the book is the casting of Ambika Mod, a British actress of Indian ancestry, whose self-deprecating humor and underlying vulnerability make her an important core of the series. Because of the lack of representation of women of color in the genre, Mod herself has talked in an interview about the doubt she experienced about her lead role before the show began filming. While the show doesn’t heap extra focus on Emma’s background and family, the casting still remains an integral aspect of the series.

The script balances passion with witty humor and banter in a fresh and exciting manner. “One Day” is perfect for fans of other British rom-coms such as “Notting Hill” and “About Time.”

One cast member of “Notting

Hill,” Tim McInnerny, even stars in “One Day” as Dexter’s father.

The series also has a nostalgic quality, enhanced by its focus on the ’90s, that may automatically increase its appeal for many.

Another highlight of “One Day” is the soundtrack. The songs in each episode are carefully placed, corresponding harmoniously to the storyline and characters’ emotions. The lyrics tend to voice what the characters cannot, such as when “Iceblink Luck” by the Cocteau Twins plays at the end of the third episode. The line “I think you’re in her heart” plays as the camera lingers on Dexter after he and Emma painfully part once more without expressing their true feelings.

The series’s filming and cinematography also highlights Emma and Dexter’s connec -

tion. One standout is the prominent eye contact between the two love interests, which makes the impossibility yet inevitability of their romantic relationship even more palpable.

“One Day” is refreshing because it takes itself seriously. While many consider the rom-com genre dead, the show proves to be an exciting addition. By mixing in heavier topics such as personal growth, public pressure, and the death of a parent with the ongoing thread of loving and longing, “One Day” presents a new example of what a romantic comedy can be. By the end of the series, the viewer will be wishing to start it over again, to spend a bit more time with the charming Emma and Dexter.

Jacob Collier played the MGM Music Hall at Fenway on April 29. COURTESY OF HANNAH M. WILKOFF

Japan Festival Boston: ‘Stunning’

In historic Boston Common on a beautiful spring weekend, the decadent smell of Japanese street food, lively music, and exuberant chatter permeate through the air. Flags and banners flutter in the warm breeze, sending cherry blossom petals afloat. Rows of bustling vendors and workshops line the greenery, while a sea of spirited visitors partakes in the cultural activities, delicacies, and conversations at the 11th Japan Festival Boston 2024 on April 27 and 28. For the first time in five years, the Japan Festival Boston returned to Boston with larger crowds and more energy than ever, filling the Common with 23 food stalls, 18 cultural sites, 18

arts and crafts booths, and various other educational groups and businesses.

Upon stepping into the Common, lines of eager visitors wait patiently at the food vendors, selling a wide array of classic cuisine such as takoyaki, gyoza, okonomiyaki, ramen, and matcha, to name a few. Despite the long waits, people engage in lively interactions with one another and try out, many for the first time, authentic dishes from Japan. Filled with the smell of mouth-watering dishes, the Common transforms into a Japanese market, transporting visitors to the center of Japanese culinary culture.

Many participate in the collaborative art activities as they gather around and leave their own marks on wooden sculptures. Engaging live performances on the central stage

showcase Japanese imperial music, bon odori traditional dance, Eisa folk dances, and kimono fashion, amongst others, imbuing the space with lively traditional music and energetic voices. In the workshops, visitors experience a mix of traditional and contemporary activities, ranging from tea ceremonies to flower arranging to cosplay. Visitors, volunteers, and performers alike strolled around the festival in Japanese traditional dress and subculture fashion, relishing in the vibrant celebration of Japanese culture.

The festival unites the Japanese community in Boston with traditional Japanese culture, featuring local and international groups. According to public relations and social media manager Ara L. Mahar, food vendors and performers come to Boston

from Japan for the festival, including Hiroko Watanabe and Dagashiya Rock, and from local communities, such as Jeiko & Odaiko New England. Creating a melange of local Japanese groups and unique experiences that visitors typically cannot find outside of Japan, the festival connects the “communities that already exist” and “brings everyone together,” according to Mahar.

The festival originated in 2012 in honor of the 100-year anniversary of the arrival of Japanese sakura cherry blossom trees to Washington, D.C. From anticipating only 3,500 visitors in the first year, the festival has grown tremendously to host over 70,000 people in the past few years, rapidly outgrowing from its initial Copley Square and Government Center locations. Now located in

Boston Common, the festival accommodates a much larger range of vendors and visitors, while attracting the attention of passersby and inviting them in. This year, for the first time in five years, the festival returns to Boston with even greater turnout.

The founders’ mission is to celebrate the culture for the Japanese community and beyond.

“We want to continue 100 years,” former president Etsuko Yashiro said, “because our grandsons, granddaughters, should have a chance to see our culture.”

The festival also seeks to introduce Japanese culture to the greater Boston community, creating a welcoming, open atmosphere for all to see the rich history and traditions. To Yashiro, the festival has the power to create community and give back

Nymphia Wind Breathes New Life into Asian Drag

BY ISABELLE A. LU CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

This article contains spoilers for Season 16 of “RuPaul’s Drag Race.”

At long last, the reality TV competition “RuPaul’s Drag Race” has crowned its first East Asian winner: Nymphia Wind, the Taiwanese drag queen, otherwise known as fashion designer Leo Tsao. Nicknamed “Banana Buddha” for her love of the color yellow and known for both designing and sewing her stunning drag looks, Wind’s victory sparked celebrations in her native country and earned the congratulations of Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen herself. But Wind’s win carries more meaning than simply putting East Asians on the American screen or providing visibility for the LGBTQ+ Taiwanese community. The victory also validates the drag queen’s use of drag to reinvent and amplify Asian history, especially that of Chinese opera: an art of cross-gender performance, intricate visual symbolism, and distinctive song

and dance, with depths that are rarely explored — if at all represented — in Western media. Wind is not the first to use fashion to reconnect with history. Take the Hanfu Movement, in which Chinese people stroll about the streets clad in the styles of centuries-old dynasties originated by the Han ethnic group. (The majority of both China and Taiwan’s populations are Han, their unique cultures having developed out of a shared history.) While a call to beautiful ancient aesthetics, most hanfu pale in creativity and nuance compared to Nymphia Wind’s original designs, which take advantage of drag to subvert and adapt history instead. Unlike other fashion spaces, the drag runway makes everything bigger and bolder, as a fundamental premise is that things are not as they seem. Wind’s looks are riotous, elegant confections — her bubble tea cape offers playful homage to the beloved Taiwanese drink while her lucky knot dominatrix bodysuit deconstructs staples of Chinese decor. In doing so, Wind takes a hammer to how well-

intentioned Americans often expect to treat unfamiliar cultures: with passive respect and a touch of fear regarding cultural appropriation.

Wind doesn’t treat culture like a monument — she highlights popular aspects of Taiwanese life, presenting it as evolving, accessible, and fun. Wind’s more traditional looks, however, are both respectful and revolutionary. This includes outfits modeled after the costumes of Peking opera (also known as “guoju” or “national opera” in Taiwan), which were developed in Beijing in the 18th century. Unlike bubble tea or lucky knots, Americans will not encounter Peking opera during a simple trip to Chinatown. Drag offers an ingenious setting to introduce Americans to the form, with its stylized aesthetics, elaborate face paint, high-pitched singing, and symbolic acrobatic movements — characteristics that it shares with drag.

The resemblance doesn’t stop there: Wind’s drag opera costumes closely resemble the real thing. This aesthetic duplication is deceptively innovative, high-

lighting the inherent visual exaggeration of Peking opera. Fans of drag don’t need to understand Asian symbolism to enjoy the dramatic beauty of the designs. By remaining faithful to her inspiration, Wind seems to claim that Peking opera is just another form of drag.

This claim is all the more meaningful when taking into account the opera’s history. One could say that Nymphia Wind is actually the newest addition to a long line of proto-drag queens; in the infancy of Peking opera, Dan (female) roles were played by men because female performers were decreed immoral and banned from taking the stage. Today, Wind transforms a patriarchal tradition into queer ownership of cross-gender performance. In her water sleeve dance to traditional opera music, an ornamental phoenix perches on Wind’s head, crowning her with the symbol of femininity dominant in East Asian mythology. Wind’s finale performance also infuses Peking opera with androgyny, as she plays a tigermasked general who transforms into the “Queen of Wind.”

The “Five Tiger Generals” is a Chinese phrase used to refer to a given lord’s five top military commanders, while another Tiger General is the main male role in the opera “Slaying the Tiger General,” featuring unwilling fiancée Fei Zhen’e’s stabbing of him and then herself. Another inspiration might be Feng Po Po, an elderly wind goddess whose steed of choice is actually a tiger. These characters are hardly cultural icons, even for the Han diaspora. Wind resurrects niche parts of Han culture, transforming male warriors into resilient women and old madames into glamorous queens in the process. As she pulls off an imperial robe to reveal a modern sparkly bodysuit — still with the operatic touch of water sleeves — she uses historically masculine power to empower femininity. But this transformation would not be possible without the expectation-defying women of the source tradition. Through drag, Wind invites examination of the unorthodox presentations of gender in the deep archives and hidden crannies of Asian story -

to the world.

“If we connect with each other, we can make peace easier,” Yashiro said. The festival also connects to the vibrant youth and student communities of Boston. The festival established a student team this year to foster more student involvement, as volunteers or visitors. From publicizing the event in their respective universities to working on site at the booths, the energy for the students truly shines at the festival, according to student leader Miyuka Mamizu.

Connecting people from all across the city and beyond, Japan Festival Boston is a stunning annual celebration of Japanese culture. Through food, workshops, and performances, it truly highlights the robust Japanese community and the diversity of Boston.

telling. Some may view Wind’s looks as a bastardization of cultural art usually taken seriously. But in a society where traditional garb and spiritual charms are mass-produced and nobody bats an eye, this is in fact an exemplar of the revitalizing ways in which Asians incorporate ancient culture into their

BY LESHUI (JADE) XIAO CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Filled with the smell of mouth-watering dishes, the Common transforms into a Japanese market.

COURTESY OF LESHUI (JADE) XIAO

CULTURE

Mayor Wu Cancels Harvard Event

BY MADELEINE A. HUNG

oston Mayor Michelle Wu

B’07 canceled an April 30 event at Harvard after at least 11 student organizations withdrew from co-sponsoring an event over her decision to send police to break up a pro-Palestine student encampment at Emerson College, according to a text message sent in an internal group chat.

“We wanted to formally relay that Mayor Wu has officially decided not to come to campus after discussing with the relevant parties,” one event organizer wrote in a text message. “As an organization we do not support any threats or violations to freedom of expression and peaceful protests and wanted to thank you guys for bringing this issue to light.”

The event was initially organized by the Asian American Foundation, but Asian American affinity groups at Harvard withdrew their affiliation en masse on Saturday as criticism mounts over Wu’s involvement in the decision to send a police response to Emerson.

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

The Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations wrote in a statement posted to Instagram that the group canceled the event due to “escalating tensions on campus and after careful consideration and consultation with the Boston Mayor’s Office.”

The statement made no mention of the mass withdrawl of student groups co-sponsoring the event.

A member of the South Asian

Association wrote in a group chat that their members are “not comfortable” affiliating with Wu following the “violent police presence” at Emerson.

More than 100 Emerson College students were arrested by Boston Police early Thursday for participating in a pro-Palestine encampment protest. In a statement to the Boston Globe, Wu said she and Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox mutually agreed that the encamp -

Cambridge Residents Alliance

ment should be removed.

The withdrawing groups requested that their logos be removed from the poster advertising the event, and a TAAF organizer wrote in the group chat that the promotional poster had been taken down.

Several groups also mentioned that TAAF did not obtain “direct permission” from the organizations to co-sponsor the event.

TAAF did not immediately re -

Rallies

in

spond to a request for comment.

The withdrawing groups include the Harvard-Radcliffe Asian American Association, Harvard Asian American Women’s Association, Harvard-Radcliffe Chinese Students Association, Harvard Korean Association, Harvard Undergraduate Philippine Forum, Harvard South Asian Association, Harvard Undergraduate Hawai’i Club, Harvard Undergraduate Nepali Student Association, Harvard Undergradaute Tibetan Cultural Association, Harvard Taiwanese Cultural Society, and the Task Force for Asian American Progressive Advocacy and Studies.

In a Saturday statement posted to Instagram, AAA wrote Wu’s statements in support of the Boston Police after the removal of Emerson students from a pro-Palestine encampment has “come to our attention and concern.”

“AAA stands against police brutality on all college campuses,” the group wrote. “We hope everyone stays safe in this critical time and that student voices are uplifted and amplified.”

The April 30th event was scheduled to feature an interview with Wu discussing “her life, her political career, and her experience as an AAPI in politics” followed by a Q&A, according to the press release for the event. The event would have been the first of TAAF’s Campus Speaker Series.

madeleine.hung@thecrimson.com azusa.lippit@thecrimson.com

Solidarity

with Harvard Yard Encampment Protesters

BY AZUSA M. LIPPIT AND LAUREL M. SHUGRAT CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

More than 50 non-Harvard affiliates and Cambridge residents rallied outside of Johnston Gate on Sunday afternoon in a rally organized by the Cambridge Residents Alliance in solidarity with students participating in a pro-Palestine Harvard Yard encampment.

Sunday’s rally was one of multiple non-affiliate solidarity protests and gatherings held outside Harvard Yard gates since the University indefinitely restricted Yard access to affiliates Friday.

One CRA protester passed a bag of food donations through Johnston Gate to a student participating in the encampment. A group of campers briefly came to the gate to speak with and chant alongside CRA protesters, who held signs reading “Cambridge Supports the Student Encampment!,” “Harvard Divest from genocide!,” and “Hands Off The Encampment! No Police.”

Two journalists from Al Jazeera filmed the rally from outside the gate.

Marty Blatt, a CRA protester and Cambridge resident, encouraged attendees to call Cambridge City Councilors and urge them not to send the Cambridge Police Department to clear the encampment. Blatt pointed to police response to a 1969 anti-war University Hall occupation, during which the administration called state police.

“The day this went up, the encampment — I called the mayor, Denise Simmons, and a city councilor, Sumbul Siddiqui,” Blatt said at the rally, telling attendees to call “anyone you know in city government.”

“Harvard’s going to clear this, right? We know that,” Blatt said, gesturing to the encampment.

“It’s a question of when, I think, not if. And when they do, we do not want to see Cambridge Police going in there and breaking up a peaceful protest.”

Though administrators have issued several written and emailed disciplinary warnings to encampment protesters, it is unclear whether the University will take action to remove the tents, which are now more than 50 in number.

CRA President Lee Farris

said the CRA has been lobbying the City Council against CPD involvement.

“Our organization has sent a letter to the City Council saying, ‘Don’t let the Cambridge Police arrest the students.’ And we’ve also sent letters to the City Council calling for a ceasefire resolution, which they did pass,” Farris said in an interview with The Crimson.

“These guys are peaceful, and there’s no reason for our police to get involved whatsoever,” Farris added.

The CPD has not been involved in the response to the encampment. CPD spokesperson Robert Goulston wrote in a statement on Wednesday, the first day of the encampment, that Har-

vard notifies CPD in the event of a protest but that the department has “not dedicated resources” to handling the demonstration.

In a Friday interview with The Crimson, Harvard University Police Department Chief Victor A. Clay said HUPD would only arrest encampment protesters in the event of “significant property damage or physical violence at any level” rather than in order to enforce administrative policies.

Interim Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76 said in a Monday interview with The Crimson that the University has a “very, very high bar” to calling law enforcement, but did not rule out the possibility.

Phyllis Bretholtz, a Cambridge resident who attended the protest, said she is “enormously proud” of the encampment protesters.

“As a longtime resident, I want to be proud of what Cambridge stands for, and I am not proud of what Harvard stands for,” Bretholtz said in an interview with The Crimson. “Students are showing enormous courage, and I say ‘Bravo.’”

Both non-affiliates and Har-

vard alumni at the rally criticized the response from Harvard’s administration, stressing their support for the students in the encampment.

“It is really disgusting to me how the administrations of some of these schools are using very nebulous language to weaponize accusations of antisemitism and directing them at those students — many of whom are Jewish — fighting for human rights of all, fighting for an end to the genocide,” said Lauren R. Shear, a Harvard Extension School alumna.

“They don’t care about Jewish safety, because a lot of these students are Jewish, and they should be caring about all their students’ safety, full stop,” she added.

University spokesperson Jason A. Newton declined to comment for this article.

Farris echoed Shear’s sentiment with a message for the campers.

“We love you. We support you. Keep doing it, and you’re making a big difference,” Farris said.

laurel.shugart@thecrimson.com

Cambridge City Council Calls to Keep Democracy Center Open Amid Backlash

“Community members and organizations were worried about the short notice of the closure — just a couple months — scrambling to find other space,” he said.

The Cambridge City Council passed a policy order calling on the Foundation for Civic Leadership to reconsider their decision to indefinitely close the Democracy Center — a meeting house for activists and organizers in Harvard Square – at a meeting Tuesday morning.

The policy order, which passed unanimously, was proposed by Councilors Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler, Sumbul Siddiqui, Burham Azeem and Ayesha M. Wilson. Sobrinho-Wheeler said he introduced the order to “raise up those concerns” from local activists and current tenants of the Center.

The policy order emphasizes the important role the Center plays in providing activists and community organizations — including the police alternative Holistic Emergency Alternative Response Team — with a “space for their core operations.”

“Because of the dearth of affordable options for community meeting spaces in Cambridge and greater Boston, the closure of the Democracy Center meetinghouse would be especially challenging,” the order read.

Sue Heilman, a representative from the FCL, wrote in a statement to The Crimson that

the organization “appreciates the Cambridge City Council’s interest in the Democracy Center.”

“As we explained to them and the current users of the building, we need to renovate it so it is available as a civic incubator space and meeting house in the future,” she wrote.

Siddiqui said that the policy order emphasizes how “tough it is to find space” in Cambridge’s housing market, while also recognizing the Center’s need for renovations.

“We all know that the Democracy Center is in need of renovations — so what can we do to assist some of these organizations working with the foundation?” Siddiqui said.

Councilor Joan F. Pickett echoed Siddiqui’s state -

ment, and said that Cambridge should work to develop alternative housing options for community organizations.

“We need to consider how we can offer space, or develop space, that would be available for not-for-profits to use — because it is so difficult to get space,” she said.

The FCL — the fiscal sponsors of the Democracy Center — announced their decision for a July closure earlier this month. Despite demands from activists and organizers who use the space, FCL president Ian Simmons doubled down on the plans to close the center in a meeting with resident organizations last week. He added, however, that the space will reopen to community organizations once the renovations are

completed.

As of Tuesday, nearly 400 Cambridge residents and organizers have signed onto a petition demanding the reversal of the decision to close the space, according to a press release from The Better Future Project, one of the Center’s resident organizations.

Many organizers spoke in favor of the order during the meeting, including Cambridge resident Em Spooner, who said the Center was an invaluable asset for organizers in Cambridge.

“The Democracy Center has been a crucial space for grassroots organizing as well as cultural events for the last 22 years,” she said.

sally.edwards@thecrimson.com asher.montgomery@thecrimson.com

BY SALLY E. EDWARDS CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

As Harvard’s Pro-Palestinian encampment entered its sixth day, the Cambridge City Council discussed a resolution urging University administration and city leadership to respect students’ rights to peacefully protest.

While the Harvard University Police Department has maintained a constant presence within the Yard to monitor the encampment, the demonstration has remained peaceful throughout the past week.

Though advocacy groups, Harvard faculty, and politicians have called on the University to refrain from using police force on protesters, there have been no signs the administration intends to respond with police response.

Interim University President Alan M. Garber ’76 declined to rule out a police response, but told The Crimson last Monday it would require a “high bar.” HUPD Chief Victor A. Clay defended student’s rights to peacefully protest in an interview on Friday.

The resolution condemned the involvement of city police departments at other student encampments across the country as “violent crackdowns.” Councilor Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler — one of the three councilors who introduced the resolution — said it was important to emphasize the council’s commitment to free speech in the midst of widespread police response.

“This resolution is saying we respect free speech in Cambridge; we want to let people use their free speech rights,” he said.

Cambridge City Manager YiAn Huang ’05, however, clarified that even if the resolution is adopted in next week’s meeting, the Cambridge Police Department is obligated to assist the HUPD if their presence is requested.

“It is the position of the Cambridge Police Department to fully support and respond to the needs of other law enforcement agencies,” he said. “Our policies also call out specific mutual aid obligations to the Harvard University and MIT police departments.”

Huang added that while “we all want to avoid” CPD involvement in policing the encampment, he believes that the force is better suited to provide support than other outside entities.

“In the case where supportive action is needed, I strongly believe that we would want Cambridge Police — who are part of our community — involved rather than police from other communities or from the state,” he said.

Following Huang’s clarification, councilor Paul F. Toner exercised his charter right, postponing the council’s vote on the resolution until the next council meeting scheduled for May 6. In an interview with The Crimson, Huang said the city has met with Clay — as well as members of Harvard’s administration — to “ensure that there is going to be communication and coordination” between the city and the University. Huang added that he has “no idea” if CPD will be called to assist HUPD and defers to the University to navigate “the demands of the students who are very committed to this moral cause.”

“I can’t speak to their decision-making or speculate about different scenarios that they’re managing,” he said. “I know that it is a really difficult situation, where they’re trying to balance both a right to protest, freedom to exercise actions of civil disobedience, but also maintaining a campus that is safe.”

CAMBRIDGE CITY COUNCIL

Controversial Bike Lane Delay

BY AYUMI NAGATOMI CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

The Cambridge City Council narrowly approved a controversial proposal to delay a construction deadline for Cambridge’s bike lane network early Tuesday morning, over the objections of nearly 300 Cambridge residents who urged the Council to reject the policy order.

Mayor E. Denise Simmons and Councilors Paul F. Toner, Joan F. Pickett, Ayesha M. Wilson, and Patty M. Nolan ’80 voted in favor of the policy order, which will extend the city’s deadline to complete a 25-mile network of separated bike lanes under the Cycling Safety Ordinance from May 1, 2026 to Nov. 1 2027. The 5-4 vote capped off a fiery and arduous Council meeting, which began at 5:30 p.m. Monday and lasted for nearly seven hours — most of which was taken up by public comments. Though the agenda for the meeting included several other matters, the Council resolved to reconvene and consider them at 10 a.m. Tuesday. Nolan, who cast the decisive vote, said that the delay is “neither a ban or a stop to installations,” instead allowing city staff to better plan for potential disruptions to traffic patterns and small businesses. She also used her remarks to try to appease the audience composed almost entirely of committed bike lane advocates, who attended the meeting in-person and virtually to try to sway the Council to vote down the proposal.

Those of us who want a bike lane network across the city have basically won,” she said. “We must never lose sight of that.”

The policy order, which was first discussed at an early April Council meeting, reflects a significant division among Cambridge residents over the construction of separated bike lanes.

While bicycle advocates argue that the rate of traffic accidents make the construction of bike lanes squarely a public safety concern, opponents have alarmed the potential impact of bike lanes on small businesses — even going so far as to sue the city twice to halt their construction.

The Council commissioned an economic impact study on the amended Cycling Safety Ordinance — the 2020 measure mandating the construction of the bike lane network. But the study’s results, released in February, were inconclusive, prompting some Councilors to ask for more time to collect data on the CSO’s impact. During the meeting, the Council rejected a toned-down substitution from the four Councilors who ultimately voted against the original order — Burhan Azeem, Jivan Sobrin -

ho-Wheeler, Sumbul Siddiqui, and Vice Mayor Marc C. McGovern.

The substitute order, intended as a compromise measure, would have split the construction of bike lanes on Broadway and Cambridge Street into two phases, allowing half to be completed in 2025 and the remain -

ing half in 2026 without having to delay the timeline.

Sobrinho-Wheeler, whose primary mode of transportation is by bicycle, said delaying bike lane installation would only cause more accidents — adding that he himself had been involved in a crash.

“I know it’s going to lead to

more stories like mine and the folks in public comment: more lost teeth, more broken bones, more ambulance rides, more potential fatalities,” Sobrinho-Wheeler said.

“I hope the Cambridge City Council allows the cycling safety ordinance to move forward on schedule,” he wrote. “We’ve made so much progress on bike infrastructure in recent years — let keep it up!”

But Toner said that the policy order will be able to bring flexibility for the City staff to implement the bike lane expansion.

“Everybody keeps talking about this as a delay,” Toner said. “What we proposed was nothing more than extension up to 2027.”

“We never called for a ban. We never called for a delay. We were asking for an extension of time to do this right,” he added. During the marathon public comment session, many residents discussed the rate of bike accidents on Cambridge streets and said separate bike lanes needed to be built rapidly to ensure public safety. Austin Ledzian, a Cambridge resident, cited that 65 crashes took place on Cambridge Street since

“There just aren’t a lot of things that come before the Council where you can say, ‘this has the potential to save a life,’ and this is one of them,” he added. “I don’t know how I vote for something that could potentially cause a life to be lost.”

The proposal was also opposed by State Representative Mike L. Connolly, who urged the Council to vote the order down in a post on X before the meeting.

they won, and others feeling like they lost.”

ayumi.nagatomi@thecrimson.com

Council Endorses Bill Letting Cities Demand Payments From Nonprofits

BY LAUREL M. SHUGART CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

of

ments. Nonprofit institutions participating in the PILOT program — including universities like Harvard — that own over $15 million in property are asked to voluntarily pay a fraction of what they would pay in property taxes to supplement the city’s budget. Institutions can also count the value of “community benefits”

toward up to 50 percent of the PILOT payment. Harvard has current PILOT agreements with both Boston — which it has consistently underpaid — and Cambridge. Under the proposed bill, cities and towns could opt to require eligible institutions to make PILOT payments equal to 25 percent of their assessed property value. In the meeting, some councilors stressed the necessity of the PILOT payments for supporting the city’s growing budget, particularly regarding large landholders like Harvard, which owns more than 16 million square feet of property in Cambridge.

Councilor Patty M. Nolan ’80 said the goal is to “get to a point where those nonprofits that can

afford to give more to cities in which they operate in exchange for some of the benefits” and to “increase the contribution to be commensurate with what a community believes is necessary.”

But the bill, though unlikely to pass, raised questions in the meeting about how exactly the city would place a valuation on Harvard’s sprawling campus — especially its academic and administrative buildings.

In the Tuesday meeting — a continuation of the marathon Council meeting which began Monday — City Manager Yi-An Huang ’05 also noted the difficulty in evaluating Harvard’s property because there is little precedent for taxing classroom and administrative buildings.

“Valuing for instance, classrooms and classroom lab space that doesn’t typically sell or rent doesn’t have a lot of case law,” Huang said, “If you are talking about tax exempt properties that are not selling or have many different uses, it’s a little bit harder to value those, at least upon quick review.”

“This isn’t a reason to support or not support, but I think it’s a little hard to evaluate exactly what the implications might be,” he added.

In an interview on Tuesday, Huang said he was open to the idea of the bill but wanted to see more “discussion of the contours of the legislation.”

“I think broadly, the idea that municipalities would have more

flexibility in finding revenues makes sense to me,” Huang said.

“I do think that the level of shift in policy to actually tax nonprofits is pretty significant, and so I don’t really take that lightly.”

Councilor Paul F. Toner raised concern over what other nonprofits would be affected by the new PILOT program, citing off-target burdens on larger nonprofit affordable housing developers who own large amounts of land in the city, like Homeowners Rehab Inc. and Just-A-Start.

“It’s possible that through that ordinance, we would be able to say which organizations were subject to this and which weren’t, but I’m not 100 percent sure if we would have that flexibility,” Acting City Solicitor Megan Bayer

said in the Tuesday meeting. Harvard spokesperson Amy Kamosa defended Harvard’s contributions to Cambridge and Boston in a Monday statement, saying the University is “deeply engaged in and committed to partnerships and collaborations in our host communities.”

“In addition to a long history of making voluntary PILOT payments in both Boston and Cambridge, the University makes other direct contributions through real estate taxes, water and sewer fees, and other fees and permits,” Kamosa wrote, adding that Harvard also provides programs and initiatives that benefit both cities.

laurel.shugart@thecrimson.com

The Council approved a controversial proposal to delay a construction deadline for the city’s bike lane network. JULIAN J. GIORDANO — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

CPD Facing Increased Overtime Shifts Amid Shortages

16-HOUR SHIFTS. Due to staffing shortages, the Camrbidge Police Department is increasing overtime shifts for officers.

Amid staffing shortages, the Cambridge Police Department is increasingly “forcing” officers to work back-to-back shifts to cover open positions.

Forcing occurs when the department does not have the minimum number of officers available to respond to calls for service. According to Cambridge Police Commissioner Christine A. Elow, in these cases, the most junior officer available “gets forced to stay” after their shift, working up to 16 hours straight.

Elow said she is “really concerned” about forcing and its effects on officer’s morale in a Tuesday interview, as the department is working to fill 26 vacancies.

“If you have a young family, or if you have a number of different challenges, when you think you’re only working eight hours and you’re working 16 hours, that is not good for retention — to say the least,” she said.

Sergeant Beth Halloran, who runs Cambridge’s police academy, said that her team works with recruits to explain forcing during the training process.

“We explain that given the lack of police officers and the inability to kind of fill these positions, that

oftentimes you come for work for eight, but you have to stay for 16,” she said. “We let them know that it happens quite often, depending on the month, depending on vacations.”

Woody Miller, who retired from CPD last year after working as an officer for 36 years said that because of forcing, the demands of policing are “not conducive” to a family lifestyle.

“There’s a lot of stuff you miss, like when you have kids, you miss all the events — the baseball games, the soccer games, the basketball games,” he said. “Your family life is cut very short.”

According to Miller, prior to the staffing issues, only a small number of designated officers were forced. Miller worked as one of these officers as a member of the fourth platoon.

Miller said that the department relying on forcing when there are staffing shortages is necessary in order to keep residents safe.

“We live crazy lives just so we can protect the public at large,” he said.

Elow said that CPD is “constantly struggling to fill the open slots that we have,” and referenced the city’s requirement that officers live in Cambridge as a main reason for the department’s staffing challenges.

“This is a city that is really hard to rent,” she said, citing Cambridge’s declining working class population as a result of the increasing lack of affordable housing in the city. “I think our demographics in the city have changed pretty drastically — and that’s impacting, I will say, our hiring.”

Miller said that the depart-

ment has struggled to recruit new officers amid a recent decrease in appreciation for police officers, on top of the difficulty the job poses.

“We were never heroes, but now we’re really not heroes,” he said.

Elow also said that the 2020 Black Lives Matter protest against police brutality also contributes to the force’s difficulty to hire new recruits.

I do feel like the George Floyd national narrative has had an im-

HUPD Sees Decline in Use of Force in 2023, Increase in Arrests

BY SALLY E. EDWARDS AND

The number of arrests made by the Harvard Police Department increased by nearly 20 percent in 2023, according to a recent update to the HUPD dashboard.

Launched in 2021, the dashboard provides information on HUPD’s calls to service, field stops, arrests, uses of force, and personnel complaints. The new data, which was released on April 1, is the first update to the dashboard since summer 2023.

While these arrests largely result from cases of thefts, incidents of assault and trespassing also

lot faster.”

HUPD spokesperson Steven G. Catalano wrote in an email to The Crimson that the force “takes into account many factors, including the seriousness of the offense and the victim’s preferences in how they want the case concluded, when deciding whether to pursue criminal complaints or effect an arrest.”

The dashboard also showed a nearly 50 percent decrease in use of force by the HUPD in 2023— from 14 instances in 2022 to eight instances in 2023. Use of force is described as the application of “physical techniques or tactics, chemical agents or weapons to another person,” according to the HUPD website. It

We have a higher number of officers deployed, and we are more vigilant now because of the heightened attention at Harvard University, we’re able to respond to trespassing calls a lot faster.

constitute a large proportion of arrests. This comes as the force continues to grapple with the campus fallout from Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza, which HUPD Chief Victor A. Clay said contributes to the recent increase in trespassing arrests.

“After October 7, we were far more vigilant,” he said in a Friday interview. “We have a higher number of officers deployed, and we are more vigilant now because of the heightened attention at Harvard University, we’re able to respond to trespassing calls a

does not include when an individual is voluntarily subjected to being searched or handcuffed.

HUPD saw the most significant decrease in use of force in instances involving medical calls and well-being checks. Reasons for the use of force include effecting arrest or to “prevent imminent harm to self or others.”

While use of force incidents decreased in 2023, HUPD faced significant criticism from students following an April 2023 swatting attack in Leverett House. During the incident, HUPD officers entered a

dorm room in Leverett and ordered students out of their rooms at gunpoint after receiving a threatening call.

Clay said that in the year since the incident, HUPD officers attended a training on swatting hosted by the Municipal Police Training Committee and have participated in multiple online seminars that discuss “regional and global swatting.”

“We’ve had multiple conversations within HUPD on how to identify swatting early so that we don’t become a victim to this — because I do believe the police department and the people involved are both victims in swatting,” Clay said.

The updated data also reveal that Black individuals comprised a third of HUPD’s 2023 arrests. While this is a dramatic decrease from the force’s arrests of Black individuals in 2022, it is still disproportionate to the demographic makeup of both Cambridge and Harvard. Though in 2023 10.6 percent of Cambridge residents, 6.7 percent of Harvard undergraduates and graduate students, and 6.8 percent of faculty and staff were Black, 36.7 percent of individuals arrested or served criminal complaints by HUPD were Black.

Catalano wrote in an email that HUPD “takes seriously its responsibility to protect the rights of all members of our community.”

“As part of that commitment, officers will not stop people in a manner that unlawfully discriminates on the basis of race, age, sex, national origin, ethnicity, religion, gender, gender identity, gender presentation, or sexual orientation,” Catalano wrote. “All field stops and arrests must be based on reasonable articulable suspicion or probable cause that a crime has occurred, is in the process of occurring, or is about to occur.”

sally.edwards@thecrimson.com asher.montgomery@thecrimson.com

pact,” she said. “Specifically when you’re trying to hire people of color or people with a social justice lens.”

Chris Sullivan, president of the Cambridge Police Patrol Officer Association, echoed Elow’s sentiments. In an email to the Crimson, Sullivan wrote that while the conversations around police accountability “led to useful reforms,” it also “marked a period of extreme negativity and

even hostility toward the entire law enforcement profession.”

“It prompted a large number of early departures or retirements from the field,” he wrote.

“And it became a major barrier to men and women who may have considered law enforcement as a career field, but became reluctant to do so under the conditions created by “defund police” activists.”

“If you want a job like that, that pays a

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Elow said that despite the increased difficulties of policing, CPD is actively recruiting “people who really care about the community, who want to make a difference with our most vulnerable and marginalized.”

Legislature Limits Emergency Assistance Shelter Stays

BY LAUREL M. SHUGART CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

State legislators voted Thursday to pass a bill imposing a nine-month limit on families staying in staterun Emergency Assistance Shelters effective June 1.

The bill aims to mitigate the financial burden on the state’s Emergency Assistance program, which organizes shelter for unhoused and migrant families eligible for housing under the state’s 1983 “right to shelter” law. The program has consistently been at its maximum capacity of 7,500 families since November of last year and currently faces a $224 million deficit.

The new limits will affect families staying in both EA shelters and state-run temporary overflow sites across the state, including those staying in the Registry of Deeds Building in East Cambridge.

The bill is the latest burden facing families in the Cambridge and Roxbury overflow sites, who already have to report their engagement in case management, em-

ployment, and rehousing efforts monthly to remain eligible for shelter according to a March regulation issued by Governor Maura T. Healey ’92.

The Cambridge site, which opened in December to handle the increasingly large volume of families in need of shelter, was intended to temporarily house families for just a few days. However, the site has been near capacity for months as staff struggle to transition families into permanent housing options.

Despite the limits, the bill leaves open the possibility of up to two 90day extensions for eligible families.

Eligibility for extension is determined by a number of factors, including pregnancy or disability status, employment or enrollment in job training programs, and those at risk from domestic violence. Additionally, extensions may be available if leaving a shelter would disrupt a child’s education, or if a guardian cannot work because of barriers to child care.

Families will also be able to apply for a hardship waiver, which

permits additional time in shelter, but these must be certified by the state housing secretary. The bill also requires the Healey Administration to complete a rehousing plan and case management for all families and pregnant women in the EA program. The bill is a part of the supplemental budget for fiscal year 2024, and comes as a compromise between the House’s $260 million budget and the Senate’s $825 million, which both passed last month. Now totalling $426 million, the compromise bill allocates $251 million from the state’s transitional escrow budget for fiscal year 24 — which

training program.

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Cambridge Police officers are increasingly being asked to work 16-hour shifts as the department faces a hiring shortage.

JINA H. CHOE — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

Victor A. Clay Harvard University Chief of Police