How the Supreme Court Shaped Harvard’s Class of 2028
ADMISSIONS DATA. Harvard’s highly anticipated announcement on Wednesday of the Class of 2028’s demographic data showed that the makeup of the student body remained somewhat consistent with that of previous years, but the data only stated one thing definitively: the fight over Harvard’s admissions is far from over. SEE PAGE 6
Harvard Reports Drop in Black Student Enrollment
The number of Black students enrolled in Harvard’s Class of 2028 dropped by 4 percentage points compared with a year ago, offering the first indication of how the Supreme Court’s ruling against the College’s race-conscious admissions practices may transform the makeup of the student body. The data released by the College on Wednesday revealed moderate, but notable changes in the demographic composition of the Class of 2028. The share of Black students declined to 14 percent from 18 percent. The proportion of Hispanic students in the Class of 2028 increased by 2 percentage points to 16 percent from 14 percent in the Class of 2027, while the proportion of students who
identified as Asian American remained fixed at 37 percent.
The demographic composition of the Class of 2028 is remarkably similar to last year’s group of freshman students who were admitted when the College still considered race in its admissions.
Though senior University administrators said the full effects of the Supreme Court decision will not be known for several more years, the data for the Class of 2028 fell short of the worst-case scenario that Harvard’s lawyers repeatedly warned of during the nine-year admissions trial.
Dean of Admissions and Financial
Aid William R. Fitzsimmons ’67 said in the press release that Harvard benefits from having “students from different backgrounds, experiences, and beliefs.”
“Our community excels when those with varied perspectives come together — inside and outside of the classroom — around a common challenge by seeing it
through another’s perspective,” Fitzsimmons wrote.
Even as the data provided an initial sense of how the makeup of the College’s student body changed following the first admissions cycle without affirmative action, the numbers released by Harvard made it difficult to clearly compare the Class of 2028’s demographic data with previous years.
This year, the College changed its methodology for calculating demographic data as it saw a sharp rise in the number of students who opted to not disclose their race or ethnicity. In the Class of 2028, 8 percent of students chose to not disclose their race or ethnicity, whereas only 4 percent of students in the Class of 2027 chose to not report their demographic information.
Instead of displaying the proportion of students who self-identify as a certain race or ethnicity out of the entire freshman class – as the College has done in the
Judge Nixes Gino’s Defamation Charges Against Harvard
A federal judge dismissed the defamation charges in a lawsuit filed by Harvard Business School professor Francesca Gino against the University, dealing a major blow to the embattled professor’s efforts to rehabilitate her reputation and win millions from the school.
In a Wednesday ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Myong J. Joun partially granted Harvard’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit, writing that Gino had failed to plausibly allege that the University defamed her, violated her privacy, or unlawfully interfered with her relationships with publishers.
Still, Joun allowed one key plank of the lawsuit to proceed: Gino’s claim that Harvard breached its contract with her by subjecting her to disciplinary measures in violation of its own disciplinary and tenure policies.
Gino was accused of data fraud in 2021 by data investigation blog Data Colada, which said she falsified data across several academic studies. Harvard later conducted an internal investigation, placing Gino on administrative leave and initiating steps to revoke her tenure.
In response, Gino — who has denied all allegations of misconduct — sued the University and Data Colada co-authors Uri Simonsohn, Leif D. Nelson, and Joseph P. Simmons, alleging that they conspired to damage her reputation and career. Gino also claimed that she was unfairly targeted because of her gender in violation of Title IX regulations, alleging that male professors accused of similar conduct were not subjected to the same level of scrutiny. Harvard did not move to dismiss the claim of Title IX discrimination.
Joun wrote that Datar’s decision to place Gino on unpaid leave for two years could form the basis for a valid claim of breach of con-
tract, writing that the sanctions were tantamount to “removal of her tenure status.”
“In substance, she has been stripped of any ability to be a professor for at least those two years, without knowing whether she will be reinstated afterwards,” Joun wrote. “It would be premature for me to dismiss her claims on this issue.”
However, Joun dismissed Gino’s claims against the professors behind Data Colada in full — a win for academics who said the lawsuit could have a chilling effect on efforts to fight research misconduct.
Andrew T. Miltenberg, an attorney for Gino, wrote in a statement that the decision “clearly demonstrates Harvard treated Professor Gino differently from other misconduct investigations and their own stated policies.”
“We are pleased with the court’s decision to allow this litigation to continue and that
SEE ‘GINO’ ON PAGE 5
past — the percentages released this year were calculated out of the total number of students who chose to disclose their demographic information.
The result of this change was a broader discrepancy between numbers released by the College in the past and those referenced in their comparisons today.
Harvard reported last year in May that 29.8 percent of the Class of 2027 identified as Asian American, while 11.1 identified as Hispanic or Latino. Black students made up 14.1 percent of the class and 2.3 percent identified as Native American or Hawaiian.
In an effort to accurately compare the data released on Wednesday, Harvard’s Admissions Office released new numbers for the Class of 2027 that were calculated percentages out of the total number of students who disclosed their demographic information, according to a College spokesperson.
Edward J. Blum, the co-founder of the anti-affirmative action group that sued Harvard in 2014, wrote in a statement to The Crimson that the demographic results from Harvard and peer institutions are “mostly indecipherable without detailed racial data about standardized test scores, recruitment policies, advanced placement tests, legacy preferences, and other factors.”
“Yet, Harvard’s results are bewildering because throughout the SFFA litigation, the college passionately argued that maintaining the racial composition of their incoming class would not be possible without implementing the type of racial discrimination that was barred by the Supreme Court,” Blum added. “It appears that was not true.” Fitzsimmons declined a request for an interview through a Harvard spokesperson.
Students Express Concern After Drop in Black Enrollment
BY MICHELLE N. AMPONSAH, KATIE B. TIAN, AND SAMANTHA D. WU CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS
Some Harvard students said they were disappointed by the racial composition of the Class of 2028 after Harvard College reported a drop in Black enrollment on Wednesday.
The current freshmen are the first group to be admitted to the College after the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down affirmative action decision last summer, a ruling that many predicted would lead to dramatic declines in Black enrollment.
In the Class of 2028, 8 percent of applicants chose not to disclose their race or ethnicity – a notable jump from 4 percent of students in the Class of 2027. This year, the data released by the College reflects the percentage of students who chose to disclose their racial or ethnic identity. The Coalition for a Diverse
Harvard, a group of Harvard students and alumni advocating for diversity in higher education, wrote in a statement that the group was “deeply distressed” by the data.
“Harvard must address why it fell short, especially compared to other colleges,” the group wrote.
Harvard, however, is not the only university to report a drop of Black students in the Class of 2028.
MIT’s data revealed sharp declines in Black and Latino enrollment. The percentage of Black students dropped from 15 percent in the Class of 2027 to 5 percent in the Class of 2028. The percentage of Hispanic and Latino students fell to 11 percent from 16 percent.
The percentage of white students was 37 percent, while the percentage of Asian American students jumped from 40 percent to 47 percent. Similarly, at Amherst College in Massachusetts, the percentage of Black students fell dramatically from 11 percent to 3 percent
while the percentage of white and Asian American students increased. The Coalition for a Diverse Harvard also called on the University to reinstate test-optional admissions policies and end preferences for legacy applicants. The Harvard-Radcliffe Asian American Association wrote in a statement Wednesday that the group “rejects the notion that affirmative action discriminates against Asian Americans.”
“We believe that equity in admissions is crucial for the removal of barriers for marginalized groups,” the group wrote. David E. Lewis ’24-25, a student lead of the Affirmative Action Coalition at Harvard, said he was concerned that the increase in students who declined to report their race “could be somewhat inflating the numbers.”
The individual change in percentages varied by less than 5 points within racial groups,
SEE ‘REACTS’ ON PAGE 5
SAMI E. TURNER — CRIMSON DESIGNER, JULIAN J. GIORDANO AND JOEY HUANG — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHERS
In Photos: Cambridge Carnival’s
ACTION
same, while Asian enrollment dropped by 6 percentage points. The Yale Daily News reported that factors like increased recruitment, socioeconomic data use, and mentions of race in personal statements and supplements may have influenced the stable numbers. THE YALE DAILY NEWS
Following last spring’s protests, Dartmouth senior leaders announced a new Freedom of Expression Advisory Program, an expanded facilitator program, and new faculty advisory groups. These groups will address hate speech and social movements. The announcement highlighted Dartmouth’s commitment to trust, community, and accountability, acknowledging diverse student views.
THE DARTMOUTH
The Columbia Spectator’s in-depth investigation into the University’s surveillance of student protestors found that these tactics have created a culture of fear on campus. Strategies include tracking movements with CCTV, ID swipes, hiring private investigators, and printing personal information to screen students entering University buildings. Columbia students report feeling increasingly wary of being watched both during and outside of protests.
THE COLUMBIA SPECTATOR
The Cornell Student Assembly established new deputy positions in their student government, prompting the University’s governing body’s Office of Ethics to vote on the ethical implications of the resolutions. While the executive board of the student government said the changes were meant to make the assembly more transparent and organized, the changes have spurred criticisms — both over their content and their enactment.
THE CORNELL DAILY SUN
Fifteen Princeton students and affiliates arrested during last spring’s pro-Palestinian protests are still set to appear before a judge, despite a motion to dismiss their cases Tuesday. While Princeton had said it would not get involved, the students’ attorneys have had extensive talks with the school’s counsel. Other Ivies, including Columbia and Yale, have dropped similar charges. The protestors are due back in court in early October.
THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN
Lynette Laveau Saxe is the co-founder of Cambridge Carnival and a self-described “keeper of stories.”
The Soca Fusion Dancers perform across from University Park Commons Soca is a traditional Caribbean dance originating from Trinidad and Tobago.
TYPHOON YAGI HITS
VIETNAM, KILLING DOZENS AND TRIGGERING MASSIVE RESPONSE
Dozens of people are dead or missing after Super Typhoon Yagi made landfall in northern Vietnam on Saturday. The typhoon has resulted in at least 87 deaths and 70 missing individuals, causing widespread flooding and landslides. In addition to the tragic collapse of the Phong Chau bridge in Phu Tho province, which swept away nine people, key economic areas like the port city of Haiphong and Quang Ninh province have sustained significant damage.
CALIFORNIA CONSIDERS
PHONE DISCOUNTS FOR UNDOCUMENTEDIMMIGRANTS
California lawmakers are considering a proposal to offer discounted phone services to undocumented immigrants as part of a broader effort to expand access to communication and essential services. The initiative, which is still in the early stages of legislative review, aims to provide affordable mobile plans to low-income undocumented residents who currently face barriers to accessing reliable telecommunications. Advocates argue that undocumented immigrants deserve reliable access to communication.
U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES FACE OFF IN DEBATE
In a heated debate, U.S. presidential candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris clashed over key issues including the economy, healthcare, and foreign policy. The debate, marked by sharp exchanges and contrasting visions for the country’s future, highlighted the candidates’ differing approaches to addressing the nation’s challenges. Polls indicate that voters are closely watching these debates to make their decisions, with the race remaining highly competitive as election day approaches.
AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT PLANS MINIMUM AGE FOR SOCIAL MEDIA
The Australian government is drafting legislation to introduce a minimum age requirement for social media use, aiming to protect younger users from online harms. The proposed regulations would require social media platforms to verify users’ ages and restrict access to those under the designated age limit, which is expected to be set between 14 and 16 years.
NEW CHATGPT MODEL CAN REASON THROUGH SCIENCE AND MATH PROBLEMS
On Thursday, OpenAI introduced a new version of its ChatGPT chatbot aimed at addressing previous challenges in handling simple math problems, generating reliable computer code, and minimizing instances of fabricated information. The latest iteration enables the chatbot to “reason” through tasks involving math, coding, and science more effectively.
What’s Next
Start every week with a preview of what’s on the agenda around Harvard University
Friday 9/13
SCREENING: BOB LE FLAMBEUR
(BOB THE GAMBLER)
Harvard Film Archive, 7-9 p.m.
Spend an evening at the Harvard Film Archive for a screening of Bob le flambeur, a 1956 black-andwhite French film by director Jean-Pierre Melville. The film centers around an aged criminal who stages a carefully-planned casino robbery.
Saturday 9/14
POPTHROPICA!
Winthrop House, 3-4 p.m.
Join Winthrop House for an afternoon study break filled with pop music, popcorn, and other pop-themed snacks in the Senior Common Room to listen to summer tracks and mingle. The event is open to all Harvard students.
Sunday 9/15
LUDOVICO ENSEMBLE: YOUNGHI PAGH-PAAN & SARA GLOJNARIĆ
Goethe-Institut Boston, 7:30-9 p.m.
Venture out to the city for a concert hosted by the Goethe-Institut Boston, related to the Harvard Art Museum’s ongoing exhibition centered on German art. The Ludovico Ensemble will perform works by Younghi Pagh-Paan and Sara Glojnarić.
Monday 9/16
A CONVERSATION WITH STEPHEN GREENBLATT AND RAMIE TARGOFF
Loeb Drama Center, 7-8 p.m.
Attend a conversation hosted by American Repertory Theater Artistic Director Diane Paulus with English professor Stephen Greenblatt and Brandeis Professor Ramie Targoff ahead of the A.R.T.’s production of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet.”
Tuesday 9/17
POWER AND PROGRESS: OUR THOUSAND-YEAR STRUGGLE OVER TECHNOLOGY AND PROSPERITY
Harvard Kennedy School 6-7 p.m.
The 2024 Stone Lecture will feature MIT Economics Professor Daron Acemoglu. The Stone lecture is designed to bring attention to wealth concentration and broader problems of inequality.
Wednesday 9/18
FOOD LITERACY PROJECT SPEAKER SERIES: INTRO TO HUDS Smith Campus Center, 4:30-5:30 p.m. Director for Strategic Initiatives and Communications Crista Martin and Director for Residential Dining at Harvard Dining Services Barb Kempken will discuss working with farmers vendors, developing menus, and providing meals for students.
Thursday 9/19
HARVARD STUDENT AFTER HOURS
SUNNY DAYS
Friday 9/20
A DIALOGUE WITH THE WORLD: SURVEILLANCE CAPITALISM OR DEMOCRACY?
Institute of Politics, 4-5 p.m. Join the Institute of Politics for a panel discussion
SAMUEL A. HA — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER
JULIAN J. GIORDANO — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER
Harvard Academic Workers Begin Negotiations
resents fewer than 100 Harvard Law School clinical workers.
The initial meeting with the University lasted two hours, with the second bargaining meeting scheduled for Oct. 3.
The HLS clinical unit is set to start bargaining shortly after the large unit.
Harvard Academic Work-
er-United Auto Workers’s bargaining committee met representatives of the University on Thursday to begin negotiating for a contract.
The contract will mark the union’s first formal agreement with the University, covering more than 3,000 Harvard faculty across campus. Negotiations are expected to last at least several months.
HAW-UAW’s large unit, which voted to unionize in April, represents non-tenure-track faculty — including lecturers, preceptors, and postdocs — across the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard Medical School, and Harvard Divinity School. HAW-UAW also houses a smaller unit that rep-
“We’re trying to improve working conditions for thousands of people who are doing research and teaching at Harvard, and give them a voice,” said bargaining committee member Sara M. Feldman, a preceptor in Yiddish in the department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations. “So far, we really haven’t had a say over what happens.”
Harvard spokesperson Jason A. Newton wrote in a statement to The Crimson that “we look forward to meeting with Harvard Academic Workers to begin the process of negotiating this first contract.”
“We appreciate the hard work all academic workers provide and are optimistic that we will eventually agree to a contract
that is beneficial to everyone,” Newton wrote.
According to Adam Sychla, a member of the HAW-UAW bargaining committee, the union’s priorities will be based on a survey sent to union members beginning June 12.
“We put a lot of time into distributing a bargaining survey, reading through those answers, so that we can learn from individuals what they believe is important,” Sychla said.
“It’s clear from the survey that the people who are being represented by this union have a strong desire to make changes here at Harvard,” Feldman said.
Union priorities include
from the College.
The Dean of Students Office restored the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee’s full privileges as an officially recognized student organization, ending the group’s five-month suspension for violating the University’s protest guidelines. College spokesperson Jonathan Palumbo confirmed the group’s reinstatement in a statement on Monday, writing that the PSC had “successfully completed the requirements for reinstatement.”
As a recognized student group, the PSC will be able to access Harvard mailing lists, reserve certain rooms and spaces across the University, and apply for funding through the Harvard Undergraduate Association. The group was also allowed to table at the Student Activities Fair last week.
The PSC, which is the only recognized pro-Palestine student group at the College, was suspended in April and ordered to “cease all organizational ac-
tivities” for the remainder of the spring semester after it helped organize an unauthorized rally in Harvard Yard. The group had previously been placed on probation. The decision to suspend the PSC came days before Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine — a coalition of unrecognized student groups — staged a prolonged encampment in the Yard. At the time, a number of pro-Palestine students and faculty — including Harvard Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine — denounced the PSC’s suspension as an attack on the freedom to dissent. Though the PSC was not formally listed as part of the groups that organized the encampment, it shares a significant number of its members with HOOP, which took on the mantle of pro-Palestine activism at Harvard last semester. The PSC and HOOP continue to frequently coordinate their social media posts on Instagram. The PSC’s reinstatement was not related to last week’s discussion between members of HOOP and Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76, according to Palumbo. He added that the PSC did not have to reapply for recognition
The PSC wrote in a Monday evening statement that they are “committed to using our newly re- registered status to push the university towards divestment and continue to advocate for Palestinian liberation.”
The move to reinstate the PSC comes alongside the end of the year-long club freeze announced Monday morning, which launched new club registration processes for clubs seeking official recognition from the College.
The PSC, however, said that it will not deviate from its mission of pushing Harvard to divest from companies affiliated with Israel.
“We will continue to call out our university and in particular Harvard College for their draconian measures to restrict protest, free speech, and any support for Palestinian lives amidst a genocide,” the group wrote.
“Registration does not pacify us, and the university’s attempts to silence students will only result in greater resistance,” the PSC added.
wages, benefits, working conditions, and support for international workers. Another key issue for HAW-UAW is the time cap structure of positions, which sets maximum limits on the terms of some workers, including non-ladder faculty. Academic workers in the FAS are limited to two, three, and eightyear terms depending on their positions.
“Students and faculty have reached out to me personally about the time caps, asking for help, because we are always losing faculty — and for a program like mine, it’s devastating,” Feldman said.
Feldman said the 13 mem-
bers of the bargaining committee have been meeting “several times a week” to prepare for negotiations.
“We made sure to include people from different job categories and different campuses, so that we can get the best representation possible for different constituencies,” Feldman said.
Kelsey M. Tyssowski, a member of the HAW-UAW organizing committee and postdoc in the Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Molecular and Cellular Biology departments, said that she would like to see improved retirement planning options for postdocs.
“We’re often here for a tempo -
rary amount of time,” Tyssowski said, making it difficult “to actually gain any of the retirement benefits that most people our age bracket would have from their employer.”
As negotiations begin, Schyla is hopeful that the new contract could be a “transformative moment for the Harvard community.”
“The workers in our unit are an important part of what makes anything in Harvard successful — everything from teaching to re
BY
MICHAEL R. CARNEY AND DANIELLE J. IM CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS
Wadsworth House, the second oldest building on Harvard’s campus, is under renovation to improve the structure and accessibility of the building. The project, which began shortly after Commencement in June, is slated to be completed by the end of August 2025 — before the building’s tercentenary celebration in 2026.
Wadsworth House was originally built in 1726 as a home for presidents of Harvard, beginning with Benjamin Wadsworth, Class of 1690. After serving as the home of Harvard presidents for more than century, Wadsworth transitioned into housing for students and other affiliates, and today it houses the Marshal’s Office and other administrative offices.
For the course of the renovations, the Marshal’s Office has moved to the eighth floor of the Smith Campus Center.
Architecture firm Perry & Radford and Consigli Construction are spearheading the renovations. A large portion of the project focuses on improving both the building’s accessibility and compliance with the ADA, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability.
Miguel Escuer Velasquez, a manager for the Wadsworth House project, said that the renovations include installing a wheelchair lift between the first and second floors and reconfiguring existing amenities. Select doorways will also be widened.
“We’re now getting a fully accessible kitchenette, as well as improving not only the vertical mobility via the wheelchair lift but also the horizontal mobility across different sections of the building,” Escuer Velasquez said. While the wheelchair lift will connect the first two floors, it will not be able to reach the third floor due to the historical significance and dimensions of the property. Existing Harvard policies will be followed in addressing accommodations on the third floor, which houses private staff offices.
Justin Stratman, managing director of Harvard University Real Estate and Housing, said the accessibility of Wadsworth House “needed to be brought into the modern age, but doing so while honoring the historical fabric and integrity of the building.”
Wadsworth House poses a challenge for renovators who have made it a key focus to preserve the historical facade of the building. The project team has brought in a conservation specialist, a master carpenter that
specializes in historical preservation, and is drawing upon advice from the Cambridge Historical Commission to ensure the wooden exterior is kept true to its past. The project has also shed light on another side of the building’s history. Four slaves, owned by Benjamin Wadsworth and former Harvard President Edward Holyoke, Class of 1705, during the 1700s, lived in Wadsworth House, and the building serves as a reminder of Harvard’s involvement in slavery. A plaque on the side of the building was dedicated to these four people in 2016, but it has been covered by the ongoing renovations. The project initially considered removing the plaque during the course of the renovations and storing it safely but has since chosen to keep the plaque in place in order to retain the integrity of the building and its history. In lieu of the plaque being visible, temporary displays have been set up with details about and Harvard’s wider involvement in slavery.
“The big component of a project like this is the unforeseen condition, and what one discovers when you dig into the fabric of a 300 year old structure,” Stratman said.
How Harvard’s Admissions Data Stacks Up
As elite colleges nationwide began reporting racial demographic data for the first class admitted without racial considerations, two categories emerged: colleges with dramatic swings in the share of Black, Asian, and Hispanic/Latino students, and colleges with similar statistics to the previous year. With its release on Wednesday, Harvard fell firmly into the second group.
Colleges and universities have been forced to grapple with a new admissions paradigm after the Supreme Court ruled against the use of race-conscious admissions practices in college admissions. In the aftermath, several schools saw major changes in their demographic data: at MIT, students identifying as Black, Hispanic, and Native American or Pacific Islander made up 16 percent of its freshman class, marking a nine percentage point drop from the Class of 2027. Asian American students increased from 40 to 47 percent. But many schools — Harvard included — saw little to no change. While the College’s reported data remains vague, Harvard has said that the percentage of Asian students in the Class of 2028 is the same as the previous year, while the percentage of Black students fell by four points and the percentage of Hispanic/ Latino students went up by two points. Still, the College’s comparisons include recalculated data for the Class of 2027, making the numbers presented Wednesday different from those released last year. The change in methodology, which has largely remained un-
explained by Harvard, has drawn scrutiny. At many of its Ivy League peers, a similar story unfolded. While the percentage of Asian American students at Princeton dropped 2.2 percentage points, the share of both Black and Latinx students saw minimal fluctuation and was markedly in line with past years. The share of Hispanic/Latino students and Black students at Yale stayed largely similar as well, though the share of white students increased by four percent. The proportion of Asian American students at Yale decreased from 30 percent in the Class of
2027 to 24 percent this year. Other Ivy League schools saw more marked drops — at Brown, the number of Black students in the freshman class dropped by six percentage points, while the number of Latinx students dropped by four percentage points. At the University of Pennsylvania, the percentage of students from races and ethnicities historically underrepresented in higher education dropped 2 percentage points from last year’s 25 percent to 23 percent for the Class of 2028. However, Penn declined to provide a detailed breakdown of their demographics.
According to Stuart Schmill, MIT’s dean of admissions, the change is due to the Supreme Court’s decision.
In an interview with MIT’s official news publication, Schmill said that MIT “expected” that the Supreme Court’s decision overturning “would result in fewer students from historically underrepresented racial and ethnic groups.”
But while Harvard and its peer institutions had long warned that eliminating race-conscious admissions programs would severely damage their ability to maintain diverse classes — an amicus brief filed by more than a
dozen universities, such as Yale, Brown, and Dartmouth, to the Supreme Court argued that “no race-neutral alternative presently can fully replace race-conscious individualized and holistic review” — those fears did not come to pass.
Edward J. Blum, an anti-affirmative action activist who led the lawsuit against Harvard, wrote in a statement that the “admissions results from Yale, Duke, Princeton and other institutions are indecipherable without detailed racial data about standardized test scores, recruitment policies, advanced placement tests, legacy preferences, and other factors.”
According to Julie J. Park, a consulting expert for Harvard in the lawsuit and professor of higher education at the University of Maryland, while Harvard’s four-percentage-point drop in Black student enrollment between classes was less than some schools, it was still meaningful. “Yes, the percent changes at Amherst and Tufts (not to mention MIT) were even worse, but a drop of almost 30% is not great,” Park wrote. “You’re going to feel that on campus.”
“This is the first undergraduate class whose admission was impacted by the Supreme Court decision striking down the ability of colleges and universities to consider race and ethnicity as one factor among many in the admissions process,” Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean Hopi E. Hoekstra wrote in an email on Wednesday.
“Because of that decision, the data on applicant race and ethnicity were unavailable to the Admissions Office until the admissions process had been completed for all students, including those on the waitlist,” she added.
Harvard’s release comes after multiple peer institutions — including Brown, MIT, Tufts, and Amherst College — saw decreases in Black undergraduate enrollment coupled with rises in the proportion of matriculated Asian Americans.
Reverse results were seen at universities such as Yale and Princeton, both of which witnessed marginal changes in the proportion of Black students enrolled alongside
a decrease in the freshman Asian American population. The Supreme Court’s ruling in June 2023 to effectively eliminate the College’s race-conscious admissions practices came after a nine-year legal battle with the anti-affirmative action group Students for Fair Admissions.
Blum, a longtime anti-affirmative action activist, founded SFFA in 2014 as an offshoot of his earlier group, the Project on Fair Representation. Blum previously sued the University of Texas at Austin over its admissions policy, but the Supreme Court ruled in 2016 that UT Austin’s race-conscious admissions practices were constitutional.
In the months since, Harvard made several changes to its admissions process: reworked application questions, new race-neutral guidelines for alumni interviewers, and increased the breadth of its recruitment in rural areas.
In a separate change made in April, Harvard returned to requiring applicants to submit standard-
ized test scores, effective immediately — undoing a commitment to stay test-optional through the next two application cycles.
During the Supreme Court case, Harvard attorney Seth P. Waxman said that while the College continues to explore race-neutral alternatives, they had at the time found “nothing sufficient to take the place of race-conscious admissions.”
Hoesktra wrote in her email on Wednesday that Harvard remains committed to fostering a diverse student body even as it will continue to follow the law.
“We will continue to work tirelessly to pull down barriers to a Harvard education, and, in compliance with the law, to deepen even further our commitment to broad-based diversity,” Hoekstra added. “As we nurture students as both scholars and leaders for a complex world, one that requires their innovation and creativity, we owe them nothing less.”
so on many metrics, the Class of 2028 looks similar to the classes before it. While many students did not notice a change in the racial makeup of the freshman class, members of racial minority groups said they noticed a shift in the student body.
“I haven’t really noticed a difference,” Caroline M. Fouts ’28 said. “I think I just see everybody around and try to just be friends with everybody and meet new people.”
Lewis said he felt that the actual presence of Black freshmen on campus had declined.
“We have GroupMe chats every year for Black freshmen and the current GroupMe chat for this particular crop of freshmen is less than half of what it usually is,” Lewis added.
Lewis urged Harvard to further its commitment to diversity. He said that Harvard’s actions prior to the Supreme Court decision to end affirmative action were still not enough to rectify the University’s history of “participating in slavery and exploiting Black labor and Black people for hundreds of years.”
The percentage of Native American students in the Class of 2028 dropped to 1 percent. Lena M. Tinker ’25, president of Native Americans at Harvard, said that though the percentage declines “seem small,” it played an “outsized impact in reversing recent progress.”
Tinker said her main concern for institutions that have historically excluded minorities is whether “students of diverse backgrounds feel comfortable applying to the school.”
“I absolutely think it has an impact on people’s decision to apply,” she said. Many other students said they felt surprise or dissatisfaction towards the data.
Jurni A. DeLoach ’27 wrote in an
email that though the racial compositions did not surprise her, she was disappointed by the figures.
“Though I concede that this is a relatively minor decrease, that does not negate the fact that this is indicative of a worrying downward trend in Black enrollment at elite universities,” DeLoach wrote.
Agustin J. Leon-Saenz ’25, the vice president of Fuerza Latina, said he was satisfied with the increased representation of Latino students, but found it “disheartening” that the increase did not translate to other minority groups.
The proportion of international students in the Class of 2028 rose from 15.2 percent last year to 16 percent.
The College reported that the proportion of students identifying as Asian American remained the same from the previous year.
Yukong Zhao, president of Asian American Coalition for Education — an anti-affirmative action non-profit, said that affirmative action was only a “bandage.”
Zhao said that he believes the drop in Black enrollment at MIT and Harvard was not caused by the Supreme Court ruling but instead reflects “failing K-12 education in too many Black and Hispanic communities.”
In a Wednesday email to Harvard affiliates announcing the admissions data, Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean Hopi E. Hoekstra wrote that it could take several admissions cycles to determine the full impact of the Supreme Court’s decision on class composition.
“As the University’s leadership asserted when the Court’s decision was announced, the change in law did not change our fundamental commitments,” Hoekstra wrote.
Harvard will have to answer for how they have destroyed her career and put every member of the Harvard faculty at risk,” Miltenberg wrote. Harvard spokesperson Jason A. Newton declined to comment on the ruling. Attorneys for Data Colada did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Unpacking the Class of 2028’s Demographic Data
Over the course of the year since the Court declared Harvard’s race-conscious admissions practices unconstitutional, the University has undertaken a series of changes to the admissions process in an effort to maintain the diversity of admitted classes while avoiding another legal challenge.
The demographic composition of the Class of 2028 is remarkably similar to last year’s group of freshman students who were admitted when the College still considered race in its admissions — an indication that the Supreme Court ruling, at least initially, only had a modest impact on Harvard.
The College rolled out new application questions, designed in the trial’s wake; it fast-tracked a return to standardized testing, reversing previous commitments to stay test-optional for longer; and it reworked interviewer guidelines in a bid to steer clear of any mention of race, if only to avoid a rerun of the nearly de -
cade-long stint in court that thrust Harvard’s tightly-kept admissions secrets into the national spotlight.
But Harvard’s highly anticipated announcement on Wednesday of the Class of 2028’s demographic data showed that the makeup of the student body remained somewhat consistent with that of previous years. The share of Asian American students stayed the same at 37 percent. The proportion of Hispanic or Latino students rose to 16 percent from 14 percent, while the share of Black students fell to 14 percent from 18 percent, according to the College.
As the College delayed its standard releases of demo -
graphic data for its admitted class, questions began to mount about what the effect of Harvard’s new admissions practices — the first in decades to not consider race — would have on a College that prides itself on its diversity. In order to comply with the Supreme Court ruling, Harvard was unable to consider an applicant’s race throughout the admissions process and could not look at demographic data until it finalized enrollment for its freshman class. As a result, the data was released months later than usual, after students choose to accept or deny their admissions offers — and its rollout prompted confu -
sion amidst a little-explained change in the way Harvard calculated its numbers. But interviews with experts, students, and people close to Harvard’s admissions process revealed that the data released by the College did little to close the discussion on Harvard’s admissions process in the case’s wake.
Instead, as questions circulate on the College’s methodology and reactions range on the demographic changes, the data only stated one thing definitively: the fight over Harvard’s admissions is far from over.
‘An Impossible Position’
Though the College’s admissions officers had to wait for months to learn the Class of 2028’s demographic composition, there was always one certainty: Harvard was going to get criticized.
If the racial and ethnic composition of the class did not change as dramatically as the University predicted it would during the trial, Harvard would’ve faced accusations that it had not complied with the law. But if the share of minority groups decreased, Harvard would’ve been slammed for not doing more to foster a diverse student body.
In the end, both happened.
Tyler M. Ransom, an economics professor at the University of Oklahoma who has authored several papers on Harvard admissions using applicant data released in the trial, said that “every one of these schools is in an impossible position.”
“They’re trying to placate their alumni and their students and faculty, who, as a whole, appear to be pro-racial preferences,” Ransom added. “Then they’re also trying to balance that against abiding by the Supreme Court ruling, which is anti-racial preferences.”
Edward J. Blum, founder of Students for Fair Admission — the anti-affirmative action group that sued Harvard — called Harvard’s data “bewil -
dering.”
“Throughout the SFFA litigation, the college passionately argued that maintaining the racial composition of their incoming class would not be possible without implementing the type of racial discrimination that was barred by the Supreme Court,” Blum wrote in a statement. “It appears that was not true.”
Richard D. Kahlenberg ’85, who served as an expert witness for Students for Fair Admissions, said he was pleased by the results that Harvard shared.
“To see today’s release that 14 percent of the students are Black, precisely the level Harvard was at during the litigation, is, I think, very good news,” Kahlenberg said.
Both Brown and MIT saw larger decreases in Black enrollment than Harvard, and overall more changes across the board. At Brown, while the percentage of Asian students rose, the share of Latino or Hispanic students fell 4 percent.
The opposite was seen at both Yale and Princeton, who saw very slight changes in Black enrollment paired with a drop in the percentage of Asian students. Harvard witnessed some of the most moderate changes when compared with other institutions, according to the College’s data.
Julie J. Park, a consulting expert for Harvard in the lawsuit and professor of higher education at the University of Maryland, conceded that the University and other experts had been bracing for a greater decline in the share of Black students in Harvard’s freshman class.
“The drop is still worrisome,” Park wrote in a statement.
‘An Element of Confusion’ For a University reeling from a year of high-profile scrutiny, Wednesday’s release could easily have been a blow off the chin: a change in demographic data that, while potentially upsetting, easily fit in with trends
ELLEN P. CASSIDY — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER
across higher education in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision.
But an abrupt and unexplained change in the College’s methods of calculating and comparing the racial composition of the Class of 2028 drew sudden scrutiny and confusion to the results.
Instead of calculating each group as a percentage of the whole class, Harvard displayed each group as a percentage of the number of students who reported their race, the College’s statement claimed.
This year, 8 percent of students opted not to report their race, compared to 4 percent last year.
In order to report percentage changes this year, Harvard stated that it recalculated last year’s demographic percentages using the same methodology as this year — by calculating out of the percentage of students that chose to report their race.
College spokesperson Jonathan Palumbo later confirmed that
have been affected by the change in data reporting.
“I think some of the negative impact is masked because of how Harvard decided to report the numbers, and also because Harvard had a higher percentage of Black students to begin with,” she wrote.
‘It Really Does Benefit Everyone’
Though some experts said that Harvard likely avoided a worstcase scenario, many leaders of affinity groups and other proponents of affirmative action said the University needs to do more to recruit a diverse student body.
Jeannie Park ’83, the co-founder of Coalition for a Diverse Harvard, a pro-affirmative action organization, slammed Harvard for the drop.
“Any drop in an already small number can dramatically impact the campus environment for students of color, and students are already reporting neg -
Any drop in an already small number can dramatically impact the campus environment for students of color, and students are already reporting negatve effects.
Harvard’s data did not account for international students.
But a Crimson analysis, corroborated by three experts, found that the numbers Harvard found did not necessarily match the numbers they had previously reported for the Class of 2028, calling into question the way in which Harvard calculated its data.
The Crimson’s calculations were made using the Common Data Set — the most updated public demographic information that the College shares for each class. Palumbo declined to provide the raw data that the College used to calculate their findings.
Palumbo also declined to clarify the reasoning behind the change in Harvard’s reporting practices or answer questions about where the data they used came from.
Kahlenberg said he struggled at first to understand the change Harvard made in reporting demographic data. He added that the change introduced “an element of confusion” to those reading the data.
“When I saw the numbers, it was hard to know what to make of this change,” he said, adding that the College had long been reporting its data “in a consistent fashion.”
Park, the education professor who consulted for the University during the trial, wrote that the way Harvard changed its data made it challenging to make comparisons to previous years’ demographic data. She wrote that she believed the drop in the number of Black students in the Class of 2028 may
ative effects,” Park said. “Harvard must address why it fell short, especially compared to other colleges.”
Monica M. Clark ’06, president of the Harvard Black Alumni Society, criticized the drop in Black enrollment at the College as “disappointing,” but praised Harvard’s efforts to promote racial diversity in its admitted class in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s ruling.
“People talk about these diversity efforts like it’s only opening doors for people of color,” Clark said. “But it really does benefit everyone.”
David E. Lewis ’24-25, student lead of the Affirmative Action Coalition at Harvard, said he was concerned with the drop in diversity.
Regardless of how the College reported the data, Lewis said a drop “will have negative impacts on the overall diversity and education that we all experience here on campus.”
Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid William R. Fitzsimmons ’67 emphasized the importance of diversity at Harvard in an interview with the Harvard Gazette, a University-run publication.
“We have worked very hard for many decades to ensure that students from every background come to Harvard,” Fitzsimmons said. “We will continue to fulfill our mission, even as we continue to follow the law with great care.”
‘The Million Dollar Question’
The ambiguity in Harvard’s announcement — common prac -
tice since the trial’s start, as a University wary of ending up back in court continues to close ranks — may have exposed it to more scrutiny and potential criticism than before.
In the wake of its first admissions cycle without affirmative action, Harvard has been left with questions from experts and litigators looking to examine the College’s results to judge whether they complied with the Supreme Court’s ruling.
Much of the scrutiny around Harvard’s ability to admit a class so demographically similar to those taken under race-conscious admissions relates back to the trial, during which the University and SFFA both speculated what Harvard’s admissions would look like without the consideration of race.
Economists hired by Harvard and SFFA simulated what the composition of past classes would be if they were not admitted under race-conscious policies. Both sides speculated that the Class of 2019 — which was 14 percent Black — would have seen its Black population roughly halved were the class not admitted with the consideration of race.
In a brief filed with the Supreme Court in 2022, three months before oral arguments between the University and SFFA, Harvard wrote that it had established a committee in 2017 “to evaluate race-neutral alternatives” to its race-conscious policies.
Though the committee evaluated 13 potential race-neutral scenarios, it “concluded that none would currently allow Harvard to achieve the educational benefits of diversity while maintaining its standard of excellence,” according to the brief.
“The million dollar question is, ‘how did they do it?’” Kahlenberg said of Harvard’s results.
Blum — the activist who sued Harvard — wrote that “the admissions results from Harvard and other institutions are mostly indecipherable without detailed racial data about standardized test scores, recruitment policies, advanced placement tests, legacy preferences, and other factors.”
Kahlenberg also called on Harvard to share more information about their admitted class and admissions practices in order to avoid scrutiny.
“The suspicion will be that Harvard cheated,” Kahlenberg said. “Moving forward, Harvard needs to do everything it can to show clearly that it is engaging in authentic, race neutral strategies that are perfectly legal.”
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William R. Fitzsimmons, the Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid, pictured speaking in May at Class Day. JULIAN J. GIORDANO — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER
The Harvard Admiddions & Financial Aid Offices are located at 86 Brattle Street. MARINA QU — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER
Jeannie Park ’83
Co-founder, Coalition for a Diverse Harvad
DSO Unveils New Club Registration Process After Freeze
process, which will open on Thursday, will allow clubs to become officially recognized by the end of the fall semester. Clubs will not be able to apply for recognition during the spring semester.
The Dean of Students Office announced Monday it will end its year-long pause on considering applications from prospective student organizations, paving the way for new clubs to request official recognition from the College through a revamped application process.
The decision to stop approving new student organizations last year came amid an internal club audit that was conducted by the DSO in conjunction with Harvard’s risk management office.
The review followed a series of financial mismanagement scandals involving independent undergraduate organizations.
The audit resulted in the elimination of more than 100 independent student organizations, Assistant Dean for Student Engagement Andrew Donahue wrote in a statement. The College recognized more than 470 student groups prior to the audit, but only 366 organizations continue to hold official recognition following the audit.
It was not immediately clear how the DSO decided to strip the student organizations of their official recognition or if they would be allowed to reapply in the fall. Donahue did not provide a list of the groups that lost official recognition from the College.
The reformed application
New groups will have until September 29 to submit an online application “including a mission statement, constitution, and descriptions of “the organization’s use of resources and impact on campus,” according to the DSO’s announcement.
The Office of Student Engagement and Harvard Undergraduate Association’s extracurricular team will conduct a preliminary review of applications. Donahue will make a final recommendation for certain organizations to move forward to a mandatory three-part training process in October and November regarding campus events, managing finances, and organizational leadership.
The College’s Committee on Student Life will then consider new clubs for approval in December, and successful applicants will be officially recognized for the spring 2025 semester.
Prior to last year’s recognition pause, students applying for official status completed two interviews with DSO staff and HUA officers. The previous semester-long application process ended with student groups receiving “provisional status” for two semesters, after which student leaders would complete a checkin interview before gaining official status.
Under the new application process, Donahue will effectively take on the role of gatekeeper. He will review the recommendations from the HUA and the Office of Student Engagement and
make the final recommendation.
If necessary, Donahue will also serve as the tie-breaking vote.
College recognition confers clubs the ability to access Harvard mailing lists, reserve campus meeting spaces, and receive official funding, which comes from the Student Activities Fee and is distributed by the HUA.
The DSO wrote in the Monday statement that the club freeze “allowed the Office of Student Engagement to assess the student organization environment and reimagine a recognition process that will result in more student organizations that are able to endure after their founders move on from Harvard.”
Despite the recognition pause, some students informally started clubs, though they
HUA Creates New Executive Cabinet to Serve Co-Presidents
The new cabinet includes a chief of staff, executive secretary, internal events manager, public relations manager, director of technology solutions, director of service, and director of advocacy.
Harvard Undergraduate Association Co-Presidents Jonathan Haileselassie ’26 and Ashley C. Adirika ’26 announced the formation of an executive cabinet, a new administrative entity that will report directly to the co-presidents. Though some roles created by Haileselassie and Adirika have already existed within the HUA, there is no mention of an executive cabinet in the HUA’s constitution and its formation effectively constitutes a centralization of power by the co-presidents.
“The Executive Cabinet Members serve at the discretion of the current Student Body Co-Presidents with respect to specific duties and terms of office and may be removed from office by the Student Body Co-Presidents at any time,” according to a document published by the HUA.
Adirika said in an interview that she and Haileselassie formalized an executive cabinet to include members that will support their platform to build “A United Harvard.”
“Some of the goals that we have are just different than some of the goals that existed last year,” Adirika said, citing the roles of director of community service and director of advocacy as aligning better with their current vision for the body.
The individuals selected to serve on the cabinet will work with the HUA co-presidents and nine other HUA executive officers, fulfilling responsibilities such as managing the HUA’s “public image and communication strategies” and coordinating town halls and forums “to gather student input and raise awareness on key issues,” according to a document delineating the responsibilities of each position.
Former Academic Officer Peter E. Chon ’26 said that while some similar roles — including the position of executive speechwriter — existed under previous administrations, the decision to create a cabinet was a major change within the organization.
“If we call this an expansion of the executive cabinets, it is a very big expansion — to the point that it’s fair to call it something new,” Chon said.
Cabinet members will also be required to work a set number of hours weekly as established by the co-presidents and the chief of staff, though the document did not specify the exact time requirement. The HUA co-presidents also hold unilateral authority to remove cabinet members from their positions at any time, according to the document.
“They’re centralizing a lot of their power,” Chon said. “They’re formalizing it with a lot of bureaucratic nonsense.”
Students of all class years are eligible to apply to cabinet positions, according to the application for cabinet positions linked on the HUA’s website.
The application asks applicants to rank up to three cabinet positions in addition to listing their availability for the fall semester. All applicants will be interviewed by the HUA co-presidents, who retain full authority over the hiring process.
Adirika said the expansion of the HUA’s cabinet adds necessary headcount for the current administration to follow through on its campaign promises.
“We need more manpower to get those things done,” she added.
were unable to access benefits like funding and meeting spaces. Club sports and student organizations affiliated with academic departments at Harvard were still able to apply for recognition during the pause.
Adam M. Bartholomew ’26, who began trying to found the Harvard College Steelpan Ensemble in December 2022, said Associate Director of Student Organizations and Resources JonRobert Bagley told him that “the easiest pathway to becoming recognized” would be to pursue department-sponsored recognition.
Though Bartholomew and his co-founder Elizabeth A. Bennett ’26 gained departmental recognition ahead of the 2024-25 academic year, they said they ini-
tially struggled to find information about registration and funding.
“There’s no centralized location, and there’s also no centralized place where you go and ask for that initial help — never mind funding,” Bennett said. “Just like, ‘Hey, I want to set up an organization. Where do I start?’ I think that would be helpful.”
Unrecognized student groups also came into the spotlight in April when the College suspended the Palestine Solidarity Committee, revoking its ability to hold events on campus. Since the PSC’s suspension, pro-Palestine activism on campus — including a 20-day Harvard Yard encampment — has primarily been organized by Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine, a coalition of
unrecognized student groups. Some students interested in forming a new organization said they were frustrated by the lack of information available prior to the start of the academic year.
Maibritt M.M. Henkel ’25, who has been working to cofound the Rethinking Economics club since summer 2023, said she was frustrated by the lack of communication about when and how the club recognition process would return. “I found it very confusing,” Henkel said. “It would be nice just to have a bit of institutional acknowledgement that this is hurting certain students.”
Harvard Assistant Dean of Student Engagement and Leadership Andy Donahue said in a Monday interview that Dean of Students Office administrators will play a larger role in the updated recognition process for new student organizations.
During a year-long internal club audit in the 2023-24 academic year, the DSO recruited an advisory committee of around a dozen undergraduates to include “the student voice” on club recognition — but Donahue said the group fell apart due to absences and “no interest in student participation.”
Donahue said there will be “more staff involvement” in the new recognition procedure, adding that DSO staff members are better positioned to evaluate applications and support prospective clubs than current undergraduates.
“From our experiences — folks who do this every day, have chosen this for our career path — we have a great deal more knowledge of best practice, ways that the institution can support student organizations, than students who are in positions for one year,” Donahue said.
Before the DSO announced the redesigned system on Monday, students looking to start new clubs were required to complete interviews with members of the Harvard Undergraduate Association’s extracurriculars team.
The HUA came under fire this spring after former Co-President John S. Cooke ’25 was expelled from the Fox Club and subsequently ousted in a recall election. One disbanded ticket to succeed Cooke
and co-president Shikoh Misu Hirabayashi ’24-’25 ran on a platform of “no more scandals,” proposing to dissolve the HUA.
Though HUA officers will play a smaller role in evaluating club applications, Donahue praised the new HUA leadership and extracurriculars team in Monday’s interview.
“We have really positive partners in the HUA,” Donahue said, adding that HUA Extracurriculars Team Officer Joel O. Crawford ’26 was “a very vocal proponent” of “making sure students have a voice” in planning the club recognition process.
Donahue added that students on the Committee of Student Life — an advisory group of faculty, staff, and students chaired by Dean of Students Thomas Dunne — will have a say in final approval for recognition.
The updated process involves application review from the HUA’s extracurricular team and DSO administrators, as well as a threepart training course for all leaders of successful club applicants. In the event of disagreement
about a club’s eligibility for recognition, Donahue will serve as the “tie-breaking vote,” according to the DSO’s Monday announcement. In a change from the previous process, student organizations will not be able to apply for official recognition in the spring. The year-long audit also included an evaluation of club recognition procedures at other “Ivy+” institutions, a group including Ivy League colleges and schools like Stanford and MIT. Donahue said the College’s new structure is a “middle ground” compared to the “Ivy+” schools. The semester-long process also shortens the path to official recognition, which previously required two semesters of “provisional status” in addition to one semester of application review.
“The hope is that our process has enough rigor where students are prepared to lead their organizations, full stop, in the spring term,” Donahue said.
CATHERINE H. FENG — CRIMSON DESIGNER
The Dean of Students Office is housed in University Hall. FRANK S. ZHOU — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER
Rakesh Khurana’s Instagram Idealism
TENSIONED TENURE. A look back at Rakesh Khurana’s 10 years at the head of Harvard College reveals an idealism that was as uncommon and laudable as it was, at times, incomplete.
Rakesh Khurana’s 11th year as Dean of Harvard College will be his last. Last Thursday, Khurana announced he will step down at the end of the 2024–25 academic year.
As might be expected, reactions have varied. There’s no consensus on how to remember Khurana’s deanship and none is forthcoming, but one thing cannot be denied: He served in interesting times. Affirmative action, Covid, Oct. 7 — Dean Khurana has been one of precious few constants through the most tumultuous, trying decade in Harvard’s modern history.
A look back at Rakesh Khurana’s 10 years at the head of Harvard College reveals an idealism that was as uncommon and laudable as it was, at times, incomplete.
Let’s begin with the good. Khurana championed civic engagement and intellectual vitality long before they became campus buzzwords. He
streamlined the College’s bureaucracy by consolidating a host of offices into the Office of Student Services and the Dean of Students Office. And he fought the good fight for affirmative action, traveling to Washington D.C. to defend Harvard’s noble commitment to diversity.
But Khurana is perhaps best-known for his work outside his office.
Khurana — by far the most visible administrator on campus — attends nearly every College event, each time posting a half-dozen smiling selfies with students on his trademark Instagram account. He welcomes students when they arrive on campus and stays behind to snap pictures when they leave.
Here, though, we would offer a nugget of wisdom from Generation Z: Instagram isn’t real life. The smiling faces on Khurana’s instagram belie the times in his tenure when he has been far less popular.
Despite — and sometimes because of — his sunny idealism, Khurana in several cases fell short. He dared to take on final clubs and other single-gender organizations — a noble goal — but his
efforts inadvertently resulted in the shutdown of, at one point, every Harvard sorority, while the wealthy men’s clubs survived by lawyering up.
Years later, the final clubs remain, and, after the court ruling that brought the saga to its unhappy end, hopes of moving against them again appear dim. And from restricting tailgates before big football games to strictly regulating student parties, under him the College took what we have called an “abstinence-only approach to fun.”
More recently, the draconian sanctions levied against student protesters by the College Administrative Board, which Khurana leads, have — rightfully — provoked ire. To some, the image of Khurana standing, hands in his pockets, on the edge of the encampment, says it all.
Khurana’s tenure speaks to a tension that even the best administrators with the best intentions cannot wish away: In roles like his, you can be nice oftener than you can be kind. At his best, Dean Khurana has exemplified engaged, approachable leadership. He cares deeply about the students of Harvard College. But on the few occasions that his positions stood at odds with the students they affected, “Khuranagram” could feel saccharine. While we would be remiss to ignore Khurana’s failures, we recognize that he led under untold constraints. Harvard is a behemoth. Balancing the interests of alumni, his superiors, faculty, and students is no easy task. Many of his decisions were not made alone. The College’s next dean should emulate the best of Rakesh Khurana — our approachable, jovial, kind champion — and improve on his shortcomings. Like Khurana, they will, in the end, be judged on what they did, good and bad alike — not how they seemed. Goodbye, Dean Khurana. We look forward to one last year of selfies in the Yard and dining hall conversations over Lucky Charms.
–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.
Nobody Pays Attention in Class at Harvard
America is facing an epidemic of inattention, and Harvard is no exception. Walk into most any lecture hall at America’s greatest university and you’ll see a sea of laptop screens. Many will display diligent notes, yes. But at least as many and probably more will light up with Wordle, Slack, iMessage, Instagram, or Amazon.
Harvard’s inattention problem is nothing less than a crisis. Thankfully the University need look no further for a solution than its own backyard: This year, Cambridge Public Schools banned cellphone use during class time in middle and high schools, and Harvard should take a page out of their book. Classroom inattention deserves our immediate attention for a few reasons.
First, it represents a serious threat to the quality of a Harvard education. Much ink has been spilled about grade inflation — the rigor of how students are assessed on the information they learn. But whether students truly learn the information appears to us a concern at least as serious. That a significant proportion of Harvard students get good grades while only hardly listening in class suggests something very worrisome about the College’s standard of education. We speak from experience here. We’ve all indulged the urge to zone out after 10 or 15 minutes listening to a dense lecture and pulled up our website of choice, and that’s no moral failing.
Actually, it’s a lot more like an addiction. We’re talking about devices tailor-made to create dependency with all the harms that attend it. Just look at the pandemic: A year and a half of online schooling accustomed us to treating the classroom as just another tab and — surprise! — it made us less attentive and more hyperactive.
Like cigarettes, the users aren’t the only ones who bear the consequences — plenty of studies have shown that classroom device use also has a secondhand effect on non-users. Again, we know this from experience. With 15 laptop screens lighting up be -
tween you and your professor, it’s almost impossible for your attention not to drift to their contents. And as much as we do our peers a disservice when we use our phones or computers, we disrespect the world-class professors, lecturers, and other academic workers who dedicate their time and energy to teach our courses.
Now, to be clear, this isn’t a cry for device cubbies in the Science Center. The educators at CPS might have the right idea, but limiting device use in the classroom should look different for adults in college than for adolescents in secondary school.
A top-down devices ban would be a bridge too far, but to attend to our attention crisis, we all have a role to play.
Students, try your best to put away your phone and close that extra tab. We’ve all done it before. We’ll probably all do it again. By now, it feels like our brains are hardwired this way, so start small: Keep your phone in your backpack or take notes on paper.
Professors, ask yourselves whether laptops are truly necessary in your class. If not, consider a ban (with exceptions, of course, for those of us who use technology to meet accessibility needs). Your Q score might suffer, but we’ll all appreciate it in the long run. And administrators, think big. It’s hard to change culture from on high and we’re not looking for edicts from above. But reflect on how to be a guiding hand pointing in the right direction.
Last semester, we — the Editorial Board — moved to ban laptops from our thrice-weekly staff meetings. We didn’t all love the idea. We weren’t sure what would happen. We couldn’t know how many of us would stick around for the experiment. But we tried it. Now, we’re happy to report: It worked. Our membership stayed steady. Our meetings got better, snappier, smarter. It turns out it’s worth it to pay attention when someone has something to say. We only get four years at Harvard. Let’s be present for them.
Harvard’s Frustratingly Incomplete Data
MORE. It’s the Supreme Court that put our College’s diversity at risk, but the responsibility to respond lies with Harvard. It can begin by telling the truth.
The release yesterday of the demographic data for Harvard’s first class admitted post-affirmative action was as opaque as it was concerning.
Totally without explanation, the College changed how it calculates the racial demographics of the admitted class, frustrating any attempt at close scrutiny. Still, what we can piece together from the scrambled numbers appears to confirm what we feared: The Supreme Court’s backward, badly reasoned decision on affirmative action has done real harm to the diversity of our campus.
The data released yesterday shows a four percent year-over-year drop in the proportion of the class that identifies as Black, from 18 percent to 14 percent. That’s a decrease of more than a fifth and, to the extent that the figures obtained by the new methodology are comparable to those obtained by the old one, the lowest proportion of Black admits in nearly a decade.
The consequences, should this dip continue or steepen, will be many. A sustained decrease in Harvard’s Black population will intensify racebased educational inequity in a nation where education is already highly inequitable; shut out talented students who face far higher obstacles in their path to Cambridge; increase the isolation some Black students already feel on Harvard’s campus; and deprive the entire student population of the many well-documented benefits of a diverse learning environment.
And, as the experience of MIT and Amherst College make clear, in the new age of college ad -
missions, things can still get much, much worse. The two schools saw the Black proportion of their newest classes drop by 10 and eight percentage points, respectively.
Don’t celebrate that Harvard didn’t see such a precipitous decline yet, though — its entirely opaque new method for calculating demographic data makes it hard to say anything for sure.
The College has for years calculated racial demographics as a proportion of total admitted students, but this year, coincidentally, it’s decided to switch to measuring them as a proportion of students who report their racial background.
(After it, coincidentally, delayed the release of its admissions statistics months beyond its usual timeline.)
Now, we understand the need for caution. The past year makes amply clear that any sensitive information Harvard discloses can and will be used against it. But in this instance, it’s more dangerous by far to withhold it. It’s essential for the nation to know just how much damage the Court has done and whether its foremost university has been able to blunt the effect.
That should begin with properly explaining the methodological shift, but it must go beyond
Harvard, It’s Time for You To Explain Yourself
BY DALEVYON L.J. KNIGHT
When Harvard released its admissions data Wednesday morning, I — like many of my peers — was outraged. Beyond the new essay prompts, the last-minute SAT requirement, and the actual results of the data released, I am most appalled by Harvard’s laughable lack of transparency.
After the Supreme Court’s decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard overturned race-based affirmative action in June of 2023, I figured that Harvard might take some time to release the 2028 statistics. But it took more than four months after National College Decision Day to finally receive the results.
The data itself holds a palpable weight. While to some, the decline of Black students from 18 percent for the Class of 2027 to now 14 percent in the Class of 2028 seems small, for many Harvard students like myself, the stakes could not be higher. Left unchecked, the school’s acceptance rate of Black students could plummet. If the makeup of Harvard’s freshman class altered so drastically in a single year, what might our campus look like next year? Or five, 10, or 50 years from now? What was once a pessimistic nightmare for Black students is now becoming a potential reality.
Immediately after the Supreme Court decision, University leadership and former president Claudine Gay emphasized that Harvard “will determine how to preserve … our essential values” and we at this school will “move forward together.” Black students were promised that our identities would continue to be protected and represented on Harvard’s campus. That promise has now been broken.
Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean Hopi E. Hoekstra claimed that the admissions team expanded recruitment travel programs and outreach to schools and community organizations last fall. In addition, the administration increased their outreach to rural communities in the South and Midwest.
Harvard seems to be moving two steps forward and three steps back. Beyond delaying the release of its admissions data, Harvard also changed how it calculates the data in the first place. Rather than reporting demographic information as a fraction of the whole class, as Harvard has traditionally done, they instead reported numbers computed as a proportion of students who chose to disclose their demographic information.
In addition, the public has no data on the percentage of white students who enrolled at Harvard. While we can crunch some numbers in an attempt to approximate the figure, it would still be wrought with ambiguity; the number calculated would presumably not include students who identify both as white and as part of another identity group.
This opaqueness further leads to distrust between Black students and the Harvard administration. It raises countless questions about the data — the new methodology, the reason for the delay — that will probably remain unanswered.
I can’t help but ask: Harvard, how can you say you want the best for your students yet continue to keep us in the dark? How can you say you are working tirelessly to break down barriers to a Harvard education when you have historically — and continue to be — an active hindrance to Black students on your campus? Is this what you call a diverse and inclusive education?
Despite many broken promises and perpetual disappointment, I see a way forward — a way for Harvard
it. To truly understand the University’s response to this sea change in how it conducts its admissions would require it finally disclose information long missing from its releases about each incoming class. Its two proxies for the socioeconomic status of its incoming class — the proportion of first-generation students and the proportion of Pell Grant-qualifying students — conflate a wide range of income levels and aren’t broken down by racial group. And the College does not collect information about the proportion of Black students who are generationally African-American — in other words, who are the descendants of American enslaved people. Without these indicators, it’s difficult to truly understand the kinds of diversity Harvard achieves and, just as important, those we may not realize it leaves out. Fortunately, it doesn’t take data to see how Harvard can improve. To start, it can finally abolish legacy admissions — an antiquated,
to turn their go-to buzzwords of diversity, representation, and inclusion into a reality.
This institution will have to be attentive, transparent, and willing to face backlash. If the administration truly believes in protecting and uplifting minority groups on this campus, it must do away with petty politics. Harvard’s own vanity cannot get in the way of making amends with its most vulnerable students. Harvard, I call on you to be explicit. Lay out your
Harvard Doesn’t Need Racial Preferences to be Diverse
BY RICHARD D. KAHLENBERG
Harvard’s long-awaited release of the racial demographics of the Class of 2028 — the first admitted after the Supreme Court prohibited colleges from employing racial preferences — defied all the gloomy predictions. During the nearly nine-year court battle over Harvard’s admissions policies, officials swore that there was no possible way to preserve racial diversity without employing racial preferences in admissions. The data released yesterday makes plain that they were wrong.
As an expert witness for Students for Fair Admissions, I testified that Harvard could take steps — such as increasing preferences for socioeconomic disadvantage — to create healthy levels of racial diversity.
Harvard said the alternatives I proposed were not workable. Its expert witness, economics professor David E. Card, predicted that the share of Black students would decline precipitously in the absence of racial preferences, from 14 percent to six percent.
The gloomy predictions were widespread. Yale Law School professor Justin Driver, writing in the New York Times, said “a decision banning affirmative action would be catastrophic for the presence of marginalized racial groups on the nation’s leading campuses.”
In an amicus brief, several liberal arts colleges said that without racial preferences, Black student admissions would drop to 2.1 percent on their campuses — a
return to early 1960s levels. And when six U.S. Supreme Court justices found that the use of racial preferences at Harvard — and a similar program at the University of North Carolina — violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the U.S. Constitution, the three dissenters claimed the decisions would have a “devastating impact.”
But when Harvard released its data today, the share of Black students was not 6 percent or 2 percent. It was 14 percent. Hispanic enrollment was 16 percent. And Asian representation remained roughly steady at 37 percent.
Racial diversity survived.
The numbers are not precisely analogous to the way Harvard reported racial data in the past, for reasons having to do with how it factors in students who decline to report their race. But even accounting for that difference, it seems clear that Harvard avoided the disaster that College officials and the higher education establishment had claimed would befall them.
How Harvard did it is the million-dollar question.
The University said it increased its recruitment efforts following the Court’s decision, including sending its staff to 150 cities. And over the longer term, they have also worked to dramatically increase socioeconomic diversity: The share of first-generation college students was 7 percent in the class of 2019; it now stands at 20.5 percent in the class of 2028. These are very positive developments.
At other prestigious universities, like Yale and Duke, a similar pattern emerged.
Yale’s Black and Hispanic representation stayed even at 14 and 19 percent, respectively, and its socioeconomic diversity also increased. Yale’s admissions dean said “the class of 2028 includes the greatest representation of first-generation and low-income students on record.”
At Duke, where the share of Black students increased slightly, the institution doubled its share of students who qualify for Pell grants — a federal program for low-income college students — over just a two-year period. The economic diversity, Duke’s admissions dean said, “was clearly helpful for us this year in terms of racial diversity in enrollment.”
Still, some suspect that in addition to using socioeconomic factors, which are perfectly legal, Harvard may have stretched the ability the Supreme Court granted colleges to consider the discussion of race in a student essay beyond what the ruling intended. The justices in the majority warned that the essay provision could not be used as a covert racial preference, while Justice Sonia M. Sotomayor called it “an attempt to put lipstick on a pig.”
Harvard has two tasks moving forward: continue to solidify legal and effective strategies for maintaining diversity on campus and dispel suspicion that they are cheating.
Simulations that Duke professor Peter S. Arcidiacono and I created for SFFA suggested that Harvard would have to substantially increase the share of students from the bottom two-thirds of the economic dis-
tribution, from 18 percent to 49 percent, to preserve racial diversity. The benefits of socioeconomic diversity are clear, but to attain such numbers Harvard’s practices cannot remain stagnant — they must remain open to new race-neutral strategies. For example, I recommended that the University discontinue legacy preferences, a policy that disproportionately benefits white and wealthy students.
And to settle speculation that it is cheating, Harvard should disclose more granular socioeconomic data than it has thus far. For example, what share of the student body comes from various income quintiles of the American population?
Professor Raj Chetty ’00 found that Harvard had 15 times as many rich students than low income students in the Class of 2013. The University should report this data on an annual basis.
Embracing socioeconomic affirmative action was always the right thing to do from a moral perspective, because it rewards talented students who overcome odds — many of them Black and Hispanic. In a new legal environment, this approach also provides the best shield against litigation suggesting that Harvard is breaking the law.
–Richard D. Kahlenberg ’85 is the director of the American Identity Project at the Progressive Policy Institute. He was an expert witness for Students for Fair Admissions in its lawsuit against Harvard.
JULIAN J. GIORDANO— CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER
EMILY N. DIAL— CRIMSON DESIGNER
Students: HUPD Struggles to Solve Thefts
CRIME. More than a dozen students said HUPD failed to help them recover belongings after they were stolen.
MONTGOMERY
During a late night study session in a common room of Winthrop House last semester, Emma S. de Jong ’26 returned from the bathroom to find her laptop, iPad, backpack and family rings missing from the table where she left them.
The Harvard University Police Department was quick to respond.
Soon, de Jong was in a police car, tracking her laptop’s location on her phone alongside an officer. As the pair drove behind Pennypacker Hall, they matched her item’s location to a woman walking alone on the sidewalk.
“There’s no one else on the street but this one woman who is carrying massive bags,” she said.
“Immediately I think, ‘Okay, I’m going to get all of my things back right now, this is perfect.’”
But the officer with de Jong was unable to search the woman, who was uncooperative, without probable cause. He took de Jong’s information, gave her a case number, and told her an HUPD detective would be in touch.
Then she waited for ten days.
By the time a detective contacted her about opening an investigation, she had gone abroad for the summer and felt the chances of re-
covering her belongings were slim. Her second contact with the detective came in mid-June, where he informed her that the case was closed.
De Jong’s experience is not unique. In interviews, more than a dozen students whose belongings have been stolen said that HUPD’s efforts to investigate the thefts and identify a perpetrator proved fruitless.
In many cases, they said, they would go long stretches without a follow-up from their detective, leaving them without thousands of dollars worth of personal items — and without any answers.
In an email, HUPD spokesperson Steven G. Catalano wrote that HUPD is “focusing time and attention on clusters of motor vehicle and bicycle thefts on-campus,” adding that HUPD actively investigates all reports of bicycle and motor vehicle thefts on campus.
He encouraged students to keep their doors and windows locked, and use two locks to secure their scooters or bikes.
De Jong said her experience left her “really disappointed, and honestly disheartened.”
“The follow up just didn’t feel thorough, and sometimes it didn’t feel like it was taken seriously,” she added.
‘Out of Our Jurisdiction’
For incidents where individuals steal electronics, bags, or other valuables from dorms or buildings, HUPD was able to close multiple investigations, pressing charges in some instances.
After investigating a series of thefts of backpacks, drones and scooters from the Dillon Field House in fall 2023, for instance, HUPD ultimately filed complaints against at least four individuals in their early 20s.
But other students whose dorms were stolen from said HUPD was less effective in helping them locate their belongings.
When Sami E. Turner ’25 was a sophomore, an individual entered her Dewolfe common room and stole her and her roommates’ devices while they were away from the dorm.
“We lost, like, thousands of dollars worth of stuff,” said Turner, a Crimson Design chair. “We then called HUPD — and they came and they filed a report — but there wasn’t really anything after that.”
Turner said that despite having the location of her roommate’s laptop on their Find My app – a resource recommended by HUPD — the department told her the incident was “out of our jurisdiction.”
Manav Bansal ’25 recounted a similar experience as a freshman: early one morning, he was woken up by HUPD officers at his door and told that his dorm had likely been entered.
Someone had opened a common room window, which turned out to have faulty locks, and stolen his laptop, iPad, AirPods, and his roommate’s Playstation.
“It was a little bit of a shock to me,” he said. “I’ll just say the campus police weren’t very helpful or kind.”
HUPD redirected Bansal to the Cambridge Police Department,
and the perpetrator was never found. Despite the faulty window lock, Bansal said he received little support, financial or otherwise, from Harvard and the HUPD, adding it “was a huge economic and psychological burden on me.”
‘Accommodating, But Not That Efficient.’
Student complaints about HUPD come as Harvard’s campus has seen elevated levels of theft — especially involving scooters. According to HUPD logs, in the first week of school alone, there were an average of three scooter thefts per day. All were secured with locks.
Most of these cases end unceremoniously, with Catalano writing that only two motor vehicle thefts resulted in HUPD pressing criminal charges against a perpetrator in 2024. HUPD categorizes scooters as “motor vehicles” in their logs.
While there may be cases in which students are able to retrieve their items and opt not to press charges, interviews with students suggested a pattern of HUPD detectives failing to help students get their scooters back in the first place.
When Katherrin A. Billordo ’26 exited her Mather dorm earlier this month, she was greeted by pieces of her chain lock littered on the concrete. After calling HUPD, an officer arrived and reviewed the basic facts of the case, before advising her to keep her scooter inside — although it’s against University policy.
Over a week later, Billordo has yet to hear back from a detective.
“I’m a little upset, but like, I don’t blame them, right?” she said.
“Because I feel like that’s pretty low on their list of priorities.”
Catalano wrote in a statement that HUPD “actively investigates any and all crimes on-campus, focusing efforts on incidents that have high solvability rates.”
Jacklynn Okereke ’26, who has had two scooters stolen, said HUPD “never followed up” on her case.
“If there’s a set time frame where they don’t find your scooter or anything, they should at least tell you that they didn’t find anything,” she said. “It’s better than just wondering, and then finally giving up after a month.”
However, Khoi A. Nguyen ’26 said he found the detectives “very friendly, helpful” when his Razor scooter was stolen two years ago from inside Winthrop.
“I thought they wouldn’t care given it’s a scooter, 70 bucks — that they would ignore it,” Nguyen said. “They actually tried to follow up with me multiple times about the case of my scooter.”
Still, he was never able to recover the scooter.
Several students said additional security cameras on campus would help prevent or solve scooter thefts at higher rates.
“I feel like that’s very logical,” Billordo said. “If there’s three scooters stolen from Mather in one week, I would assume that’s cause for more surveillance.”
“It would have been nice if there were security cameras in
that part of the Yard, especially if scooter theft is like a common crime on campus,” said Julia L. Dong ’27, whose scooter was stolen outside of Harvard Hall earlier this month.
The Cambridge City Council recently approved a pilot program to install surveillance cameras in Central Square — a proposal which could expand into Harvard Square. Cambridge Police Department spokesperson Robert Goulston wrote that Harvard would have access to the security footage through the public records request process.
Harvard spokesperson Jonathan L. Swain did not respond to a request for comment on the University’s policy on security cameras. Catalano, in his email, declined to share specifics about how HUPD detectives operate or respond directly to students’ concerns that their belongings are — by and large — going unrecovered. And students, faced with unsolved investigations, feel left in the dust.
De Jong said she felt that the officer she worked with on the night her items were stolen was “very accommodating, but not that efficient.”
“The situation the night before was completely in their hands,” de Jong said. “I could have gotten all my things back, and it wasn’t possible — and certainly no longer possible after waiting a week for the case to be opened.”
sally.edwards@thecrimson.com asher.montgomery@thecrimson.com
Construction to Resume on Harvard Square Kiosk, Ending Delay
BY
Construction is slated to resume on the Harvard Square Kiosk Plaza with an eye toward completing
the project by 2026, the Harvard Square Business Association announced on Thursday.
The renovation project has been in the works for nearly a decade, but the construction was delayed by a variety of factors, including the Covid-19 pandemic and supply chain issues, according to HSBA Executive Director Denise Jillson.
HSBA announced in an email that the project will go through eight phases before it is completed in 2026. The update comes after a years-long delay in the project, with the latest update on the city’s website being from mid2022.
Jillson said in an interview that several recent incidents — such as the falling debris in Harvard Square’s MBTA station — also likely contributed to the project’s delay.
“It was just really clear that the MBTA wanted to make sure that everything was solid before construction began upstairs, overhead with the plaza,” Jillson said.
“Because from the sidewalk below, there’s just — literally, in some cases — just a couple feet before you hit the top of the tunnel.”
The renovation will start with Phase 8, due to delays involving
minor water pipe issues with the Massachusetts Water Resource Authority.
“Luckily, they’re moving forward with Phase 8, because all of the requirements around that particular phase are in a position for us to move forward,” Jillson said.
Jillson also discussed some of the planned changes, including improving accessibility of the overall space.
“I think probably the one thing that will please everybody is that the plaza will be ADA compliant, and right now it’s not,” she said. “So it’s very difficult for people with disabilities to maneuver through the plaza.”
City spokesperson Jeremy C. Warnick wrote in an emailed statement that “by transforming this historic landmark into a dynamic public space, we look forward to creating more opportunities for creativity, connection, and collaboration in the center of Harvard Square.”
The current renovation project aims to enhance Harvard Square and adapt the historic site to be a
Decker Survives Primary After Recount
State Rep. Marjorie C. Decker won the 25th Middlesex Democratic primary after progressive challenger Evan MacKay ’19 conceded the race on Thursday, following a recount confirming Decker’s razor-thin margin of 41 votes.
The district’s recount came after a contentious race between Decker — who has been a fixture of Cambridge politics for 25 years and had never previously received less than 83 percent of the vote in a primary — and MacKay, the former president of Harvard’s graduate student union. The result was a testament to how shaky Decker’s political standing had become over the course of a bruising campaign which saw MacKay cast her as a stand-in for longstanding issues of transparency and account-
ability in Massachusetts’ state legislature.
Even the near-total backing of the state’s Democratic establishment — including Governor Maura T. Healy ’92, U.S. Sen. Ed J. Markey (D-Mass.), and a majority of the Cambridge City Council — could not rescue her from coming within a millimeter of losing to a Harvard graduate student with no political experience to speak of.
“I want to extend sincere congratulations to Rep Decker for her re-election and con -
tinued public service for Cambridge,” MacKay said in a press release.
Early on election night, preliminary results showed MacKay in the lead, and they declared victory when 99 percent of the votes had been counted. But when the remaining votes were counted, Mackey’s 40-vote lead flipped to a 41-point loss.
Though the initial electoral results that announced Decker’s victory by a 41-vote lead were not close enough to result in a district-wide recount, MacKay was
able to request recounts in indi-
vidual wards.
The recounts took place for most of the day on Thursday at the Russell Youth Center.
Decker’s campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
MacKay said in the press release that they were “deeply moved by the ways that our community came together to advocate for issues that matter including housing, transportation, and climate justice.”
“I’m eternally grateful for our
supporters and volunteers and residents in Cambridge for engaging in state politics and boldly fighting for our core values of social, racial, economic, and environmental justice,” MacKay added. “Although we came up short, the work continues.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.
Decker’s campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
MacKay said in the press release that they were “deeply moved by the ways that our com-
munity came together to advocate for issues that matter including housing, transportation, and climate justice.”
“I’m eternally grateful for our supporters and volunteers and residents in Cambridge for engaging in state politics and boldly fighting for our core values of social, racial, economic, and environmental justice,” MacKay added. “Although we came up short, the work continues.”
Boston recently approved Harvard Chabad’s building plans for the Longwood Center for Jewish Life, a satellite center in Longwood.
The new satellite center will feature educational and social programming for Jewish Harvard students. It will provide kosher food, lodging, and chaplaincy resources for Jewish patients and families, including Longwood Medical services through the Patient & Family Hospitality Center.
Longwood, a Boston medical campus, houses Harvard’s Medical School, Dental School, and School of Public Health, as well as several prominent Boston hospitals.
“This is wonderful news that we’ve been waiting now for a long time,” said Rabbi Hirschy Zarchi, Harvard Chabad’s founder and president.
The approval process for the satellite centers faced obstacles from city boards, Zarchi added.
“There’s been, unfortunately, a lot of opposition to this project, a lot of NIMBYs, including some who had some power by placing themselves on some of these boards, some of who expressed publicly or
in their opposition that this is a project that brings no value to the neighborhood,” Zarchi said. Chabad also faced pushback against its proposal to expand its Cambridge headquarters, which was rejected by the Cambridge Board of Zoning Appeal in June following opposition from the group’s neighbors. Some Harvard students have also expressed discontent with the organization’s efforts to expand, citing criticisms of pro-Palestine protests last spring.
“There’s a significant number of Jewish students at the College and across Harvard who feel very unwelcome by Chabad,” said Violet T.M. Barron ’26, a leading organizer with Jews for Palestine and a Crimson Editorial editor.
In Longwood, however, the Boston Office of Historic Preservation wrote in an emailed statement that they were “excited” for the project.
“The updated design of the Chabad Center will benefit the cultural and architectural diversity of the neighborhood while maintaining the District’s unique historic character,” the office wrote.
The center “was in the works for a couple of years” and was “preceded first by a process of purchasing a number of properties in the area,” Zarchi said. He pointed to the donations of Harvard Chabad alumni
and benefactors as funding sources for the properties.
The satellite center will be the first Harvard-affiliated Jewish institution in Longwood, though non-Harvard-affiliated centers like the synagogue Temple Israel of Boston have been in the area since 1928.
Zarchi said the new center will provide an important hub for Jewish affiliates who are not on Harvard’s main campus.
Jewish students on the Longwood campus have “endured an incredibly difficult year, like we’ve seen at other parts of Harvard and throughout the academic community, but we’ve heard specifically from many students and faculty in the LMA about too many incidents over the past year where they’ve felt deep isolation,” Zarchi said, referring to the Longwood Medical Area.
Zarchi cited the rise in antisemitism as a factor that further intensified the feeling of isolation among Longwood’s Jewish students.
“They’ve been the subject of very bigoted and hateful rhetoric from members of the community,” he said. “So the need for a space, a home where they can find community, find comfort and just be Jewish, feeling safely and with dignity, couldn’t have come at a more important time.”
Previously, Harvard affiliates on the Longwood campus who wanted to attend Harvard Chabad programming needed to make the commute from Boston to Cambridge.
“Oftentimes, it’s been very difficult in terms of transportation,” said Camila “Cami” Tussie, a fourth year student at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine. Tussie said that due to religious reasons, the only way those who observe Shabbat can travel is by foot, and the Longwood campus has limited large gathering spaces.
Betty Ben Dor, a fourth year at HSDM, said “having a physical space for us is just going to be a really nice way to bring it together.”
“I do think that we have an amazing community here in Longwood, but we’ve always felt a little bit without a home base,” Ben Dor said.
BY JINA H. CHOE AND JACK R. TRAPANICK CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS
Boston planners will install separated bike lanes along Western Avenue, a major, rapidly developing thoroughfare in Allston, this fall, the city announced in a press release last month.
The bike lanes will be run from North Harvard Street to the Leo Birmingham Parkway. The upper half of the street, which runs through the heart of Harvard’s Allston campus, already has bike lanes.
The project will also bring “patch-paving repairs” and “intersection safety improvements at North Harvard Street and Western Avenue,” according to the press release.
The undertaking comes as a result of the Western Avenue Corridor Study and Rezoning, a series of conversations with local stakeholders to plan and discuss the future of Western Avenue. It is also part of a larger attempt by the city of Boston to grow its bike lane network and improve traffic safety.
The bike lanes are also another signal of just how much Allston’s Western Avenue has transformed over recent years.
Fifteen years ago, car was king on Western Avenue. Aside from intermittent housing, the avenue largely consisted of auto bodies, car rentals, and parking lots. Most buildings did not exceed one or two stories, and things were quiet after working hours.
Today, the street is teeming with residential and office developments reaching up to seven stories high and totaling millions of square feet in space. Thousands of new residents are set to settle in the area as those projects go online in the coming years, accompanied by new gyms, restaurants, and retail outlets.
At the same time, the Boston Planning and Development Agency has worked to leverage the burst of development in the area to advance the city’s own priorities for growth, like adding affordable housing and converting parking lots to new uses.
In 2022, it rezoned Western Avenue to allow for denser and taller buildings and incentivize bringing more retail, affordable units, and open space to the strip — although not everyone was happy with the final result. The rampant development in the area means the street is often peppered with diversions and
heavy construction vehicles. Scott Mullen, a policy researcher at A Better City, a local business association, said the construction has made the road particularly unsafe for bikers.
The BDPA’s planned changes, he said, would improve the problem. The bike lanes on Western Ave are a precursor to a broader reworking of the thoroughfare proposed by the BPDA. The transitway plan is meant to reduce chronic congestion and bus delays currently plaguing the area through central bus lanes, bike lanes, and wider sidewalks. Car traffic would be limited to just one way, a major shift for the area likely to draw
Allston Harvard Task Force and avid cyclist, said in an interview. “It’s always been the fastest way to get places, but never the safest way, and now it can be both.”
State Rep. Marjorie C. Decker, pictured in 2018, won the 25th Middlesex Democratic primary race after her challenger conceded following a recount. AMANDA Y. SU — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER
Singer Daya Brings
New Life to Harvard
YARDFEST. For a few hours, the pressures awaiting college life sat still and looked pretty in favor of music, friendship, and pure joy.
BY LAUREN E. MEI CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Students excitedly filled Harvard Yard on Friday night in anticipation of pop singer Daya’s Crimson Jam performance. Best known for her hit singles “Hideaway,” “Sit Still Look Pretty,” and “Don’t Let Me Down,” Daya headlined Crimson Jam and brought new life to the Old Yard with upbeat 2010s nostalgia. Opening performances from student bands Boom Boom Sauce, Vinyl Club, and Midnight Curfew kicked the night off and got students hyped for the festivities ahead. Unique for being a hybrid of a block party and a music festival, Crimson Jam also featured inflatable attractions, games, custom shirts, and a Mediterranean buffet. With the appeal of many activities, hundreds of undergraduate students flocked to the Yard to celebrate the first week of school and end the summer with a bang. While some students came to watch Daya perform, others came to have a social night with their friends or even perform on stage. As one of the first large social events of the year, Crimson Jam drew many freshmen eager to get acquainted with the bubbling social culture at Harvard.
Darren Ath-Ly ’28 arrived
with a group of fellow first-years and looked to Crimson Jam as a bonding experience.
“I’m excited to hang out with my friends and make memories,” Ath-Ly said.
Zackhery R. Facey ’28 saw Crimson Jam as an inspirational opportunity to experience musical talent at Harvard and was drawn to the event’s spotlight on student talent.
“We have student-led creators. It is really great that we have a lot of talented people at Harvard. I’m really excited to see what they have in store,” Facey said.
Other students attended Crimson Jam for more than the social aspect of the event. Members from the popular student band Boom Boom Sauce reflected on the amazing energy attendees felt.
For Boom Boom Sauce’s lead singer, Elyse G. Martin-Smith ’25, Crimson Jam was a sentimental way to begin her last year at Harvard.
“It felt like a great way to start off my senior year. We never got a Crimson Jam my first year, so it feels like a very full-circle moment,” Martin-Smith said. Boom Boom Sauce’s pianist, Timi I. Esan ’27, enjoyed Crimson Jam for the creative liberties he experienced and encouragement from the positive crowd.
“It was a vibe. The crowd was really fun. I feel like I had so much freedom,” Esan said.
The sound of students singing Daya’s songs could be heard all throughout the night as students roared and scream-sang their hearts out. An array of colorful lights from the stage cast
Harvard Yard in a luminous and nostalgic glow.
For Victor E. Bowker ’27, Crimson Jam allowed him to see the Yard from a new perspective.
“I thought it was a great experience, and I think it’s a transformative way to bring everyone together and to see the Yard in a non-academic way,” Bowker said.
Other students emphasized the good energy and music.
“I certainly had a good time with my friends. Daya really put her all into ‘Sit Still Look Pretty.’ The last song, ‘Don’t Let Me Down,’ definitely had the best energy out of everything that happened,” Zahra F. Choudry ’27 said.
“It was the best Crimson Jam. We need more headliners like that. It was a lit, crazy movie,” Ariel K. Mekonen ’27 said. As the final notes of music rang through the Yard, the energy in the air was palpable, leaving students with the lingering beat and hoarse voices from singing along. The combination of Daya’s electrifying performance and the special connection shared between those in the crowd made the night something that will hide away in the memories of all those who attended.
Crimson Jam 2024 definitely did not let students down. The night was not only a celebration of music and talent, but a reminder of the spirit and unity that lives within the camaraderie of Harvard — a night where, for a few hours, the pressures awaiting college life sat still and looked pretty in favor of music, friendship, and pure joy.
BY HANNAH E. GADWAY CRIMSON STAFF WRITER
Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” is popular. By some accounts, it’s the second-mostperformed Shakespeare play in the United States, and to many Americans who are used to high school English class, it’s synonymous with the Bard. Making this well-known work feel new or relevant today is therefore a daunting challenge, but the American Repertory Theater’s latest production of the tragedy revitalizes the play’s relatability and excitement. Although the play has some purported aims that don’t feel fully realized, the A.R.T’s production of “Romeo and Juliet’ is nonetheless entertaining and lively, retaining its classic beauty while imbuing it with imaginative choreography.
Amy Rubin’s set design is barebones, making the audience focus on Shakespeare’s words instead of extensive scenic design. Most of the props are formed from a single wooden cube that shifts about the stage, serving as Juliet’s balcony, the Capulets’ tomb, and the lovers’ deathbed at various points of the production. This set makes it clear that the play is not attempting to place Romeo and Juliet in a radically new environment. Rather, the production underscores the timeliness of Shakespeare’s script by emphasizing that the star-crossed lovers could be in any location or society. Their experiences feel universalized by a stage that requires the audience to use their imagination and project their own experiences. The most alluring feature of “Romeo and Juliet” is its choreography. The movement director and choreographer, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, brings an original, funny, and cinematic feel to the production. Key moments are highlighted through an engaging slo-mo effect, reminding its audience of certain scenes’ importance. For example, when Romeo (Rudy Pankow)
meets Juliet (Emilia Suárez) at the Capulet celebration, the dancers — including Juliet — slow while Romeo glides through the party at a normal pace, eyes trained on his new love as a heartbeat sound effect rings out. As Romeo’s speech turns to Juliet’s beauty, audiences also see through the direction that his attention is trained on her. Cherkaoui plays with the actors’ movements in other ways as well, capitalizing on the Bard’s lack of stage directions in the original script to give the production unique twists. A notable pantomime is added where Friar Laurence (Terrence Mann) tells Juliet his feigned suicide plan. As he whispers in her ear, a pre-recorded version of his idea echoes across the stage, and Juliet moves away from his mouth to act out an idealized version of the final act’s events. This direction perfectly marries creative sound design (Daniel Lundberg) with fresh choreography to make the old play feel exceedingly new.
While the various technical aspects of the production are well-done and make the beloved tale of Romeo and Juliet feel engrossing, the intended vision of the show’s director muddies the classic feel of the production to some degree. In the show’s program, the Tony Award-winning director of the show, Diane M. Paulus ’88, states that she wants to reframe Romeo and Juliet not “as a story about hate, but rather as a story about love.” According to this overall concept, the audience is meant to focus on the love blooming between the teenagers at the show’s heart instead of the hate that controls fair Verona.
In some ways, the play aligns with this vision through Emilio Sosa’s costuming. The Capulets and Montagues’ modern outfits are not distinguished from one another in any meaningful way, shying away from a tendency to dress the houses in opposing colors. Yet some directorial choices seem to actually highlight the hateful effects of Romeo and Juliet’s love. The death of
Mercutio (Clay Singer) is dramatic and bloody, with his screams of “a plague o’ both your houses” feeling bitter and resentful. Additionally, when Juliet feigns death, her family’s shadows are projected upon a white sheet. Their writhing figures screech in harrowing pain, making her plans with Romeo feel twisted instead of beautiful. These choices indeed heighten the play’s emotional core but are confusing when paired with Paulus’s vision of a love-centered “Romeo and Juliet.” The play’s vision is perhaps weakened most by its modified ending, which departs from Shakespeare’s script. In the original finale, Lord Capulet (Bradley Dean) and Lord Montague (Terence Archie) join hands and agree to raise a monument to their children in order to break away from their ancient grudge.
A.R.T.’s “Romeo and Juliet” replaces this scene with another silent pantomime in which both families plant a garden together while the shades of Romeo and Juliet embrace at the center of the stage. The symbolism of regrowth is clear but also somewhat cheesy, as if the production does not trust the audience to understand the Lords’ peace agreement without in-your-face visuals. Strangely, this is the first time in the play’s minimalistic staging that extensive props are used. Despite some creative shortcomings, the A.R.T.’s production of “Romeo and Juliet” understands the entertainment value that Shakespeare’s work provides and supplements the emotional power of its tragedy with fantastic choreography. When the show doesn’t dwell on its director’s grand aims, it feels the most true to itself and the play’s original feel. Overall, the A.R.T’s take on the work is classic yet exciting and will remind audiences of the spell that Shakespeare’s work still casts upon us to this day.
“Romeo and Juliet” runs at the Loeb Drama Center through Oct. 6.
hannah.gadway@thecrimson.com
hannah.gadway@thecrimson.com
Geppetto Review: A Beautifully Casual Dining Experience
Right outside of the Lechmere Station in Cambridge Crossing lies Geppetto, a quaint, Italianinspired eatery. This dinneronly establishment opened in 2021 and offers high-quality Italian food with innovative techniques. Headed by two chefs — Chef Will Gilson covering the cuisine and Chef Brian Mercury as the pastry chef — Geppetto is sure to offer patrons something to satisfy their cravings. Staff eagerly await guests’ arrival and swiftly seat them. The walls are a deep teal green, the seating is a light pink leather, and the establishment is accented with a light golden wood grain. This particular color scheme has the potential to be disastrous, but Geppetto does just the opposite. With vases and frames bursting with faux
foliage accenting the empty spaces between the booths, the restaurant’s visual weight is as cohesive as it is stunning.
The artificial lighting is composed of mostly overhead paper lamps, laced with the occasional small, gilded lamp on the square black and white marble tabletops. Floor-to-ceiling windows line two of the walls, letting a plethora of late afternoon light spill into the space. Light, upbeat jazz plays in the background over the murmur of patrons. The atmosphere is warm and inviting, but not too casual — the kind of place to take anyone, from friends to colleagues to dates.
The evening starts off with a glass bottle of water, left at the table for patrons to refill the empty glasses as they please. As for the food, the rigatoni bolognese stands out as a particularly delectable option on the menu. Within 15 minutes of ordering, the entree arrived at the table, the plate hot to
scheme of Boston’s Italian restaurants — of which there are many — Gufo’s margherita holds its own. The crust is thin, but not paper thin, and creates a wonderfully easy eating experience. A strong, well-rounded tomato sauce serves as the base for fresh mozzarella and the classic pizza companion of aromatic, fresh-tasting basil. While not the best pizza in
the touch. The dish is doused with a healthy sprinkling of freshly grated Parmesan and a rosemary garnish. This dish is enough to satisfy the eyes, and the taste meets expectations. The pork is tender and the sauce well-rounded. Even more, the underlying notes of fennel are complemented well by the soffritto. However, the sauce is a bit greasy — as is partially expected from a bolognese — and it loses some of its spiced flavor to the pork’s fat. The dish’s overall texture is saved by the noodles, which are cooked to al dente perfection. The size of the dish itself is enough to satiate, leaving some room for dessert — and when the waitstaff offer the dessert menu post-entree, take it.
Geppetto’s dessert menu offers traditional Italian options like gelato, espresso, and affogato (espresso with gelato) with a bit of a twist: an entire dessert drink selection on the other side. These liquors
the greater Boston area, Gufo’s margherita is certainly a strong contender, with only a few drawbacks. In true American style, there is too much oregano on the pizza, creating more of a flavor clash than a light accent. The cheese is spread evenly across the whole pizza — a purely aesthetic choice, but one that still distracts from the authentic margherita’s individual mozzarella slices. The pizza’s outside crust is a good size and thickness, though it is unfortunately quite burnt, making it not tasty enough to eat on its own. In all, though, the drawbacks are quite minor when compared to the pleasant surprise of finding an — almost — true Italian margherita
range in tastes from balanced to bittersweet and include two dessert wines. The averna — a caramel liquor infused with Dr. Pepper, orange, and spice — is a bit strong, as the liquor overpowers some of the intended flavor profiles. Overall, its sweetness, hint of spice, and subtle complexity can only be explained by the Dr. Pepper.
A cool, refreshing sorbetto — a fruit-based dessert similar to ice cream without the dairy — completes the meal. One of the flavor options is quite unique: elderflower. This base flavor, colored a beautiful pale purple, is topped with a cubed red-orange candied rhubarb. The flavor is subtle and flowery, complemented by the sweet and sour rhubarb. Its texture is smooth and creamy, causing it to melt immediately in the mouth. It is a small serving for the price, but the flavor combo is unique and satisfying, and therefore worth a try.
Geppetto offers a dining ex -
in Boston, an honor which is reserved for only a few pizzerias. Although the pizza is successful, the arancini are undoubtedly the highlight of the restaurant. Gufo’s arancini are cacio e pepe style, which is a rare choice for Boston-made arancini, but one that serves them incredibly well. The perfectly crunchy rice balls boast a nice balance of both cheese and rice. The light topping of pepper hits moments after the first bite, bringing a sharp balance to the appetizer. The parmesan’s texture adds that little bit of crumble to the arancino, and the different cheeses — including the one draped on top of the three arancini — coalesce perfectly at the top of the palate.
The squid ink pasta, the low point of the meal, boasts some strange culinary choices. The overly spicy ‘nduja butter and lemon sauce clash with the seafoodbased dish and would belong better with a meat dish than a delicate pasta. The pasta itself, although quite a bit thicker than spaghetti — which is the standard shape for squid-ink pasta — is cooked well, if not slightly underdone, and the jet-black dough is pleasant, making up for any missing cooking time. Gufo is certainly a step up from many Boston-area Italian restaurants. Satisfying arancini can often be hard to find in Italian restaurants in the U.S. in general, yet Gufo manages to hit the nail right on the head with theirs. However, Italian cuisine, while simple at face value, relies heavily on the subtleties of a dish — elements that sometimes slipped through Gufo’s fingers. Instead of succumbing to the over-Americanization of its Italian tastes, the owl will hopefully wisen up regarding its few mistakes, allowing Gufo to transform into a mainstay of Italian cuisine in Boston. COURTESY OF GABRIELLE A. DAVID
perience comfortable for any patron. The space remains intimate and inviting despite its large size, and the ambiance reflects that of a nice home to which one is invited over for a casual sit-down event. Not to mention, the staff are on top of it all — quick, efficient, and incredibly kind. The restaurant’s Northern Italian influence is clear throughout the menu, coupling nicely with a local New England flare. The flavors mingle well throughout the entrees, despite minor imperfections. Whether you’re looking for a new place for a date night or want to escape to somewhere unique with welcoming air, Geppetto is the place to go.
4 STARS
gabrielle.david@thecrimson.com
3.5 STARS
alessandro.drake@thecrimson.com
Bruce H. Mann is the Carl F. Schipper, Jr. Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. He studies legal history, with a focus on the intersections among legal, economic, and social change in the 17th and 18th centuries. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
FM: How did you initially become interested in legal history?
BHM: I started in law school, had an allergic reaction, and always loved history. One of my undergraduate professors had made the side comment that legal history was a wide open field, so I walked over to the graduate school, introduced myself to the historian I would want to work with, and said, “I would like to study legal history and work out a joint program, and I’d like you to direct my dissertation.”
At the time, most legal historians were interested just in doctrine and institutional structures. What was current in early Amer ican history at the time was more social history, history from the bottom up, and I thought it would be fun to see if I could blend those two.
FM: You’ve taught at many, many schools including Har vard and received a bunch of awards for your teaching. What draws you to the class room?
BHM: Oh, it’s such fun.
In the law school classroom, par ticularly since I teach first years, I get to be the one who has the first crack at showing them an entire ly new world, the first crack at re wiring their brains, and teaching them how to read in a way they’ve never read before.
Teaching socratically, it’s very empowering. It’s like a bodybuild ing course for the mind, and it teaches people how to continue to teach themselves.
A lot of students come into law school from a whole variety of backgrounds, not necessarily sure if they belong, not really ac customed to putting themselves forward, and I get to show them what they are capable of.
FM: What has been one of the most memorable moments in your teaching career?
BHM: Back when I was at Penn, there was one class that had a number of stu dents who were several years older than the others. There was a woman in the class who had been a high level city official in New York City in the Budget Office and came to law school in her 30s. Very capable, very smart, but didn’t quite have the confidence in coming back and competing with folks who were much younger.
And I remember, as I was ques tioning her, she started to crum ble, and I just kind of reached out and said, “Come on, play with me. You can do this.” And she did great. And she came up after class and said, “That was an important moment.” And I said, “I know. You can do this.” She’s gone on to an incredible career in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. It would have been very easy just to go on to someone else or to let her crumble. But that’s not what teaching is.
Q&A:
BRUCE H. MANN ON STUDYING DEBT AND GOLDEN RETRIEVERS FIFTEEN QUESTIONS 15
LEGAL HISTORIAN and Harvard professor of law Bruce Mann sat down with FM to discuss socratic teaching, the pervasiveness of debt, and supporting his wife, Massachusetts State Senator Elizabeth Warren, on the campaign trail.
BY KAITLYN TSAI CRIMSON MAGAZINE CHAIR
1980 hits, and all
use the credit card payment system for everything means that there’s probably never a moment during the day in which we’re not in debt, which is all fine because debt has many facets, and it’s incredibly important to the functioning of a commercial economy. But it also can represent an incredible burden.
FM: You published “Republic of Debtors” a couple decades ago now, and it’s one of your most famous books. Why do you think it is important to study the way American society responded to debt back in that time?
BHM: I’m interested in the relationship among legal change, social change, and economic change, primarily in the 18th century. One of the things that was appealing about studying debt is that debt is pervasive. Today we go into debt on a daily basis: You buy a slice of pizza using a credit card — you have incurred debt. The fact that we
So by studying debt, you’re studying a topic that touches everyone’s life. Even in the 18th century, it would touch the lives of servants and enslaved persons who might not themselves be in debt, but who are dependent upon masters and owners who work. When debts go bad, it’s a point of contact with the legal system that touches most people, whereas criminal law, for example, doesn’t. So you really can have a window into the very fabric of society by focusing on debt.
FM: I’m curious if you see any parallels or differences between how debt is treated today versus back in the 18th century?
BHM: There are a lot of parallels.
In the 18th century, to the extent that there was debt relief, it was for merchants — people in commerce. The notion was only merchants incur risk, and they therefore have a claim to protection. And the notion was, for everyone else, debt was not a necessity, but a choice. And as a choice, it was a moral choice, and therefore they didn’t deserve any relief at all.
That distinction between business debt and individual debt — what we would now call consumer debt — is very deeply rooted. That shows up in the 21st century.
Back in the 1990s, credit card companies put pressure on Congress through intensive lobbying to reform the bankruptcy laws to make it harder for consumers to take bankaruptcy and discharge their debts. The claim was that, “Everyone’s losing all this money because of all these deadbeats.”
Empirical work showed that the vast majority of folks who wound up in bankruptcy did so for one of
three reasons: uninsured medical expense, job loss, and divorce or death of a partner. Those aren’t those irresponsible people, but the credit card industry was determined to squeeze out the last bit of profit it could from those folks. It really succeeded in perverting the bankruptcy system by the time of the so-called Bankruptcy Abuse and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, which is one of these Orwellian titles. So a lot of the same conflicts, the same assumptions that business should get preferential treatment over individuals. They have been pretty much constant throughout American history.
FM: Practically, what kinds of policies could alleviate or combat these very complicated and systemic problems?
BHM: You’re right to describe it as systemic. From 1935 to 1980, gross domestic product was going up, economy’s on the rise. 90 cents of every new dollar of income basically went to folks who were in the bottom 90 percent of the population.
DANIEL MORALES ROSALES — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER
Undefeated Debut at Home
GLOWING START. The Crimson began its season by sweeping the Harvard invitational last weekend, defeating Stonehill, Merrimack and New Hampshre in emphatic fashion.
BY KATHARINE FROST AND REED M. TRIMBLE CRIMSON STAFF WRITER
he Harvard wom-
Ten’s volleyball team (3-0, 0-0 Ivy) started the season off right with a home victory against the Stonehill Skyhawks (1-3, 0-0 NEC) last Friday night, followed by victories over the Merrimack College Warriors (06, 0-0 MAAC) and the University of New Hampshire Wildcats (3-3, 0-3 American East). By sweeping the Harvard Invitational, the squad clinched an undefeated opening weekend for the second consecutive season.
A near-capacity crowd filed into the bleachers of the Malkin Athletic Center to watch the season opener for the Crimson on Friday. The atmosphere buzzed with excitement, as the crowd welcomed the team to its home arena. An eager crowd awaited to see the follow-up performance from a squad that returned to a winning record for the first time since 2017 during the 2023 season. Memories of that team were magnified by the reality that the Crimson opened this season squaring off against the same foe as it did last year, the Skyhawks.
Graduation had hit Harvard hard this spring, as the team lost a loaded senior class from last season’s 15-9 squad. As a result, all eyes were on Head Coach Jennifer Weiss to see if she would be able to keep the momentum rolling. With the victory in the home opener, Weiss lived up to the pressure, and then continued to steer the team to success the next day.
“This year definitely feels different,” sophomore setter Amelie Lima said. “Their impact on the team was immense,” Lima said, of the recently-departed 2024 graduates. Still, the right-side attacker indicated confidence in the team’s trajectory: “Although we are a younger team this year, I know it will be a great season.” Harvard 3, Stonehill 0 Harvard appeared on track for a celebratory opening as it took an early lead in the first set. However, in a foreshadowing of the set to come, Stonehill went on a quick scoring run to even up the score. The first set quickly became a game of runs, with momentum swinging swiftly between teams.
Unforced errors plagued both teams throughout the first set and helped spark runs for the opposing side. An early Skyhawk run came after the Crimson failed to convert on multiple kill opportunities, hitting the ball out of bounds each time. Stonehill then squandered its momentum and its lead with a crucial service error, which allowed Harvard to recover from its plague of mistakes.
Early in the set for the Crimson, it was sophomore outside hitter Ali Farquhar finding openings for the team, putting points on the board for Harvard. But as the set neared crunch time, Farquhar’s starting counterpart, junior outside hitter Brynne Faltisnsky, stepped up. Following a well-timed timeout by Weiss to slow a building Skyhawk run, Faltinsky went on a nearly one-woman run for Harvard, as the Crimson sealed the back-andforth first set with a 25-22 victory. With the cobwebs shaken off,
Harvard cruised through the next two sets to lopsided 25-14 and 2517 victories. Stonehill was able to hide its lack of size in the first set, but it quickly caught up with the Skyhawks. Though Stonehill ended the game with a lead in blocks, its dearth of height at the net led to the Skyhawks hitting an abysmal .077% overall. On the other hand, Harvard hit at .234%. This is the second straight season that the Crimson have begun play with a decisive sweep against Stonehill; last year, Harvard defeated the Skyhawks 2511, 25-17, 25-20.
Leading the charge for the Crimson was the returning captain, senior outside hitter, Corinne Furey. Furey set a new career-high record with 16 kills, using her height and ability to find the open court to her advantage. This new mark not only led the team, but surpassed her old career-high of ten, from her sophomore season. Faltinsky nearly joined Furey in the double digit kills party, but narrowly missed out and finished with nine. While the upperclassmen led the way for Harvard in kills, some promising younger players also had nice performances. Farquhar played a key role in getting the Crimson out of the gates fast. Fellow sophomore, middle blocker Ryleigh Patterson, garnered five kills alongside two blocks and an ace for Harvard. Patterson’s ace was one of ten on the day for the Crimson. Harvard bested the Skyhawks 10-4 in the ace department.
Perhaps the biggest bright spot for the Crimson was the debut of first-year Ryleigh Resmer. In her first collegiate bout of action, Resmer delivered seven kills and four blocks and boasted a .455 hitting percentage. Harvard’s blend of youth and experience was perfectly encapsulated when the young Resmer and veteran Furey combined for four of the Crimson’s final five points to seal the third set and the match.
Integrating the first-years into the team and building chemistry on and off the court can be a problem for many programs, but Harvard has a creative solution that allows young talents like Resmer to perform out of the gates.
“I was elected as a ‘schmaster,’ a sophomore who helps guide and assimilate the first-years on the team,” Lima explained. “Being a resource has been amazing because I was in the same spot last year, and I know at times school and practice can feel extremely exhausting and overwhelming but being able to help one another is rewarding.”
The rewards of that help were evident in the play of the freshmen as well as the camaraderie displayed by the Crimson players, both experienced and green, throughout the weekend.
Harvard 3, Merrimack 2 Harvard looked to carry over momentum from its Friday match against Merrimack, the following afternoon. These hopes came to fruition early, as the Crimson jumped out to a 9-5 lead over the Warriors. Merrimack proved to be no push-over though, as the Warriors stabilized the deficit before responding with two swift runs to clinch the first set 25-21.
In an inverse of the first set, Merrimack carried over momentum from the opener and used it to take control of the second set early on. However, Harvard’s grit allowed it to stay within striking distance of the Warriors. Eventually, the Crimson seized the moment and overtook Merrimack behind the leadership of Furey. The veteran stepped up once again for Harvard and secured
three of the final four points of the set to capture the set 25-23 and level the game at one set all. The third set maintained the early game pattern of one side taking an early lead before being chased down and surpassed by the other team. The Warriors wasted no time, surging out to an early 4-0 advantage, but as quickly as the lead was created, it vanished. The Crimson immediately responded with a run of its own and never looked back from there. A 25-20 third set in favor of Harvard put the Crimson within one set of victory. Once again though, the Warriors lived up to their fighting name as Merrimack held Harvard at arms length throughout the fourth set. For the third set in a row, the Warriors took an early lead against the Crimson. This time, Merrimack was able to hold off Harvard. Although the Crimson nipped at the Warriors’ heels throughout the set, Harvard was unable to erase the early deficit and succumbed to a 25-20 loss, sending the match to a decisive fifth set.
Due to the abbreviated nature of fifth sets in volleyball — fifth sets only go to 15 points, unlike the 25 point sets earlier in the match — a fast start is critical to secure the clincher and the victory. For the first time since the opening set, Harvard took the lead early. Unlike the first set, the Crimson was able to maintain this lead. Harvard never left this set in doubt, as a 9-3 run to start the set culminated in a 15-7 final set victory for the Crimson.
The heroes of this marathon match were familiar names for Harvard. Faltinsky, seemingly unsatisfied with being one kill short of double digits in the first match of the season, blew past the double digit barrier to amass a whopping 19 kills on the game. This was not only a game-high mark but also a career-high mark for Faltinsky, destroying her previous one-match high of 13.
Furey continued her impressive play from the first game with another double-digit kill perfor-
GAMES TO WATCH THIS WEEK
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mance, this time tallying 11 kills along with two blocks.
The Crimson also had strong play from the inside of the court. The young pair of Riley Resmer and Ryleigh Patterson had a block party against Merrimack, and everyone was invited. Resmer roofed the Warriors five times while her counterpart Patterson logged four blocks. Patterson also notched eight kills and an ace in the game.
Crafty senior setter Rocky Aguirre showcased her all around brilliance by affecting every aspect of the match. Aguirre put up her typical gaudy assist numbers leading the team and game with 39. For reference, the Warriors’ two leaders in assists had 39 assists combined in the game. Aguirre also contributed seven kills, three blocks, and an ace.
Harvard 3, University of New Hampshire 2
In a seeming repeat of the squad’s sluggish start against Merrimack, the Crimson found itself trailing the Wildcats by two sets early in the final game of the Harvard Invitational. UNH found its groove quite quickly on the fourth floor of the Malkin Athletic Center, decisively taking the first set 25-10.
The Wildcats kicked things off with a service ace, sending the ball directly down the middle of the court. Despite sending the ball long on a service error on the next point, Harvard was unable to take advantage of its offensive opportunity, sending possession back to UNH after failing to dig out a kill. The Wildcats showcased their serving prowess throughout the first set, posting four aces throughout their first 25 points, taking advantage of confusion on the Crimson end that allowed New Hampshire to attack the gaps in the center of the court. The sluggish start by Harvard saw Weiss call a timeout barely five minutes into play, as the visitors continued to capitalize on the Crimson’s miscommunication, resulting in a quick 9-1 lead for UNH.
The rest of the set proved sim-
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ilarly dismal for the home squad, with a few glimpses of glory being overshadowed by New Hampshire’s seeming dominant style of play. Unable to bounce back throughout the first set, Harvard took the court for the second set brimming with energy and a desire to level the score at one-apiece. The first three quarters of the set did exactly that. After falling behind 8-4, the Crimson was determined to find its groove and dig itself out of the deficit. With a kill by freshman Bennett Trubey, the Dallas native was able to ignite a much needed spark that saw the team claw its way back to an even 8-8 score with two more kills and an ace from Lima. The next series of points saw the score bounce back and forth between the two squads, with the Crimson even taking an 18-17 lead in the back half of the set after capitalizing on a succession of Wildcat errors.
But the second-set comeback simply wasn’t to be. Even with the change in play, which saw the home team look more confident and determined in the middle of the court, the team once again succumbed to a sluggish slump, enabling UNH to claim eight of the next nine points and ultimately clinch the set with a 25-19 scoreline.
Instead of allowing emotions to run high, the team approached the next three sets with an underdog mentality. Gunning to protect its home turf, the Crimson set out to end the weekend undefeated, a feat that, after the second set, seemed a lofty goal. However, the team thrived under the pressure. Working together and shaking off the nerves from the slow start, the Crimson’s players started swinging harder, hitting bigger, and finding the corners of the court. With nothing to lose, the team started to gain its confidence back point-by-point, finding its first bout of success with a 25-21 victory in the third. The flipped script was not due to a reduction in the Wildcats’ level of play, but a rise in the Crimson’s performance that saw it strive
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to match the prowess of its difficult opponent. Notably, the Wildcats have proved a tricky foe in the past for the Crimson, with Harvard narrowly finding victory against the squad in its 2023 matchup, clinching the victory in a fifth set. After the fourth set of this bout proved to be a back-and-forth battle, with the Crimson prevailing 25-23, it all came down to the precarious fifth. Tired from its earlier match against Merrimack but still riding the excitement of its comeback, the Crimson stayed cool and collected as it dominated against the visiting team. While the set remained tight through the first 20 points, with the teams staying gridlocked at 11 points each, Harvard showed why it deserved to win the weekend. With a succession of four quick points, in the form of three kills and an ace from senior Teia Piette, the team concluded the five set saga and ended the weekend undefeated.
Matches like this are “why volleyball is such a fun sport,” Lima said. “Our team was on the same page whenever we were down in some sets. We collectively agreed that we wanted to win more, and that slight change in confidence shifted the entire match in our favor.”
The team’s cohesive play throughout the tournament saw it land the most All-Tournament Team selections, with Aguirre, Patterson, and senior Lindsey Zhang making it on the competitive roster. The team will look to capitalize on its successful tournament this upcoming weekend, as it takes on another slew of competent opponents at the Art Carmichael Invitational in Kingston, R.I.. The team will face the hosts, the University of Rhode Island, on Thursday September 12 at 6:00 pm followed by two additional games against Stony Brook and Northern Illinois at 1:00pm and 4:00pm, respectively, on Friday, September 13. The tournament will be streamed on ESPN+.
katharine.forst@thecrimson.com reed.trimble@thecrimson.com
The Harvard women’s volleyball team celebrating a score during the game v. Merrimack on September 7th. DYLAN
The Momentum Continues
The undefeated Harvard women’s soccer team
(3-0-2, 0-0 Ivy) returned home to Jordan Field on Sunday afternoon to battle against a familiar matchup in the No. 20 ranked team in the nation, Pepperdine. After a competitive bout in which each team found the net late in the game, the Crimson battled to a tie, 1-1. Coming into the matchup, the Waves were flying high, after their notable win against No. 3 ranked UCLA on September 1. On paper, the Crimson was the underdog, but it was motivated by the opportunity to knock off a top-25 team and, hopefully, notch its fourth victory in five games to start the 2024-25 season.
“Heading into the Pepperdine game I was confident in the performance this team was going to put out, based on how much we’ve grown throughout the season so far,” senior defender Jade Rose. “We have a relatively young team this year, so every game is a chance for us to mature as a team and as individuals to prepare us for Ivy play.”
The matchup began with an early push from Pepperdine. The Waves had no intention of keeping the ball in the backfield, constantly seeking to push the ball forward to score early. This push forced junior goalie Rhiannon Stewart to proactively defend the net, as Pepperdine attempted its
first shot on goal just a few minutes into play. Stewart was up for the task, as she grabbed her first save of the afternoon. Despite her quick thinking, Pepperdine maintained the advantage as it quickly attempted two corner kicks and fired another shot on goal, all within the first ten minutes of play. Stewart held her ground once again, saving another shot for the Crimson.
“It was a frustrating start for us against Pepperdine, with them having a lot of success exploiting us on the counter attack and from the wing,” Stewart said. “I think once we were able to solve some of our ball retention problems higher on the pitch we were better protected from the counter attacks and the back line did a good job of minimizing chances on goal in the second half.”
After seeing the efforts once again made by its goalie, Harvard returned with a counter of its own against the Waves. The Crimson’s first shot on goal came from junior defender August Hunter, off a crafty feed from sophomore forward Jasmine Leshnick. Unfortunately, the ball went straight into the hands of the Pepperdine keeper. The next 10 minutes of play proved to be back and forth, as both Harvard and Pepperdine would tag team shots on goal. Both goalkeepers remained strong in their play, refusing to concede any goals. In fact, Stewart tied her career high in saves after only 18 minutes of gameplay.
On the offensive end, both sophomore forward Anna Rayhill and junior forward Audrey Francois attempted shots, but neither player could find the back of the net. Sophomore midfielder Anya Van Den Einde, sophomore forward Susie Long, and Leshnick were unable to
succeed in their follow-on efforts to generate pressure on goal, joining Rayhill and Francois in being stalled by the lock-down Waves defense. Both teams were sent into the locker room at the half-way mark tied 0-0.
Both teams took to the field in the second half with a renewed sense of urgency. But as the second half began, it was Harvard that began with a stronger surge, as the squad made it a point to gain control quickly over the Waves.
The Crimson’s defense picked up where it left off in the first half, maintaining its shutout mentality, which allowed the offense to find an early rhythm and create more scoring opportunities. In the opening 20 minutes of the half, Rayhill made a skillful cross to senior Josefine Hasbo for Harvard’s closest shot on goal of the game, but Hasbo could not quite convert. Senior forward Nicola Golen and sophomore midfielder Írena Héðinsdóttir Gonzalez also added shots on goal in the early minutes of the second half. With 15 minutes left, however, the score was still 0-0.
Finally, at the 77 minute mark, the narrative of the game changed entirely. No longer was the Crimson the underdog, it was the aggressor. Francois flipped the script, as she chased down a through ball into the midfield, attempting to gain the upper hand on her defender and make a shot on goal. Upon her entry into the box, Francois drew a foul, which was rewarded with a much-needed penalty kick chance. Head Coach Chris Hambin ultimately selected the experience veteran Hasbo to take the PK. The Danish midfielder rose to the occasion and
sank the shot in the bottom left corner of the net to give Harvard the lead, 1-0, with 13 minutes left in the contest.
“We were applying a lot of pressure on Pepperdine for a goal, and it was a good ball in behind from Anya. I really just wanted to get on the end of it,” Francois said, describing her mentality as she streaked down the field with the goal in her sights.
Pepperdine wasn’t phased by the Crimson’s lead, as it rushed to even the contest with the remaining time left. Ultimately, the Waves responded five minutes later with a goal of their own, bringing the
tie the game at 1-1. With two goals in the span of less than five minutes of gameplay, the contest had ratcheted up decisively. The Waves’ goal ended Harvard’s 441-minute scoreless run and represented the first goal conceded by Stewart and the Crimson this season. Harvard made a lastditch effort to push the ball down the field, but it could not get another shot on goal. Pepperdine, however, would get one more shot on goal, but Stewart made a lasting save in the final minute of the contest to al-
Sophomore midfielder Anya Van Den Einde during the game v. Pepperdine ELIZA NUESTRO — COURTESY OF HARVARD ATHLETICS
Daya Dazzles at Crimson Jam
George
Elyse G. Martin-Smith ’25, one of the lead singers of Boom Boom Sauce, sings covers of hit songs. ELLEN P. CASSIDY