The Harvard Crimson - Volume CXLVI, No. 124

The Harvard Crimson The University Daily, Est. 1873 | Volume CXLVI, No. 124 | Cambridge, Massachusetts | Wednesday, november 13, 2019

editorial PAGE 4

news PAGE 5

sports PAGE 6

The Dominguez review is limited in scope and not truly external

Harvard Business Review editors discuss women in the workplace

Parity among teams has finally returned to Ivy League football

Bacow Calls Strike ‘Unnecessary’ By alexandra a. chaidez and aidan f. ryan Crimson Staff Writers

University President Lawrence S. Bacow said in an interview Tuesday that Harvard’s graduate student union’s Dec. 3 strike deadline is “unnecessary” in light of ongoing negotiations between the union and University.

Harvard Graduate Students Union-United Automobile Workers — which represents roughly 5,000 Harvard graduate research assistants and student teaching fellows — set the Dec. 3 date after more than 90 percent of union voters supported authorizing a strike in a vote late last month.

Bacow said it was routine to face delays in negotiating firsttime contracts with unions like HGSU and said both sides have approached negotiations with the right intentions.

“A first contract often takes a long time to negotiate because there are a lot of issues,” Bacow said. “We’ve been negotiating in good faith. I think they’ve been negotiating good faith. We’ve made progress. We will continue to work to make progress.” ­

“I think imposing an artificial deadline and saying we’re going to strike if we don’t have an agreement by this date is unnecessary,” he added.

Dec. 3 is the final day of fall semester classes — meaning a strike would take place over reading and finals period.

HGSU did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday night. In an email to its members announcing the Dec. 3 deadline, the union’s bargaining committee wrote that it would continue negotiating in an effort to avoid a strike.

The union and the University have agreed on 11 proposals including workplace resources and intellectual property rights, but have not reached a consensus on key issues like student compensation, health benefits, and grievance procedures for sexual harassment and discrimination complaints.

University administrators are already preparing for the possibility of the strike by encouraging faculty members to draft contingency plans in the event that a strike is called. The University has also created a website with guidance on strike planning, especially for courses

Students Form New Group for Athletes By devin b. srivastava Crimson Staff Writer

In response to structural and social divides between athletes and non-athletes, the Student Athlete Advisory Council created a new committee this semester to connect athletic teams and non-athletic organizations on campus. SAAC comprises five committees, including the newly formed Athletic Outreach committee. The council seeks to provide varsity athletes “a substantial role in the overall policy-formation process regarding relevant and current issues in Harvard Athletics and the Ivy League,” according to GoCrimson.com.

The council is currently working to bring together athletes and non-athletes through initiatives like student-athlete newsletters and student-athlete

profiles, according to co-chair of the Athletic Outreach committee Olivia M. Ostrover ’20.

“Too often, student-athletes and students will not meaningfully interact during their time together at Harvard,” Ostrover wrote in an email. “We’ve always known there was a divide between student-athletes and students, but rather than just accept it, we are taking the necessary steps to change it.”

The committee also hopes to organize structured ways for varsity teams to support non-athletic organizations and vice versa. For example, a musical group may perform at a sporting event, and in turn, the athletic team may attend one of the musical group’s shows, according to SAAC Co-President Madison Earle ’20.

Survey Shows High Depression By michelle g. kurilla and tamar sarig Crimson Staff Writers

Harvard students experience significantly higher rates of depression and anxiety than the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s reported national average, according to mental health survey results conducted

by Harvard University Health Services from 2017 and 2018.

Outgoing Harvard University Health Services Director Paul J. Barreira said in an interview Tuesday that the mental health surveys included College freshmen, as well as five departments within the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Though the departments have not been delineated named, they span the sciences, humanities, and social sciences. The departments surveyed were numbered 1 to 5 in public documents.

The mental health survey documents provided by HUHS showed that the surveyed graduate departments ranged from a 15 percent to 30 percent prev­

University President Lawrence S. Bacow in his office in early October. kathryn s. kuhar—Crimson photographer

that rely on student workers to grade assignments and administer exams.

Bacow said Tuesday that his office has spoken with faculty to ensure undergraduates are not

seriously impacted by a potential strike.

“We’ve been talking to the faculty to make sure that they

See bacow Page 3

12.5%

25%

14.5%

Crimson Staff Writer

Arts and Humanities

Special/ Joint

Sciences

SEAS

Social Sciences

See athlete Page 5

Forty-eight seniors joined the Alpha Iota chapter of the academic honors society Phi Beta Kappa last week, joining 24 other members of their class elected in April.

Election indicates that an “undergraduate’s course of study is distinguished by excellence, reach, originality, and rigor,” according to the Harvard College Phi Beta Kappa website.

Committees of Harvard faculty and staff who are themselves members of Phi Beta Kappa evaluate prospective candidates. Overall, about 42 percent of the newest inductees — compared to 44 percent of the Class of 2019’s “Senior 48” cohort — concentrate solely in the Natural Sciences. Twenty-nine percent concentrate in the Social ­

20.9%

27%

margot e. shang—Crimson Designer

See health Page 3

Forty-Eight Seniors Join Phi Beta Kappa By amy y. Li

Phi Beta Kappa Divisional Distribution

alence rate of depression, and a 13.2 percent to 30 percent prevalence of anxiety.

HUHS’s report cited that this depression prevalence rate is significantly higher than what the CDC has reported.

Barreira said the CDC has reported 7.4 percent and 19.1 percent as national rates of depression and anxiety, respectively, for respondents aged 18 years old and older. The response rate to the graduate student mental health surveys was high, according to Barreira.

“Our response rates by the way, in all these programs are 60 to 70 percent,” he said. Student mental health was assessed through a survey that included two standard screening tools — the PHQ-9 for depression, and the GAD-7 for anxiety — as well as questions about the learning environment written by graduate student researchers.

The reported rates of depression and anxiety among graduate students surveyed were also

Sciences, and 10 percent study the Humanities. Roughly 19 percent of this year’s cohort are pursuing joint concentrations.

Five of this year’s “Senior 48” concentrate in Applied Math, followed by four students each in both Psychology and Computer Science. In total, 20 different concentrations are represented, along with eight distinct joint concentrations.

The process for selecting the new inductees started approximately a month ago, when the Alpha Iota chapter president invited students with high GPAs to apply. Three evaluating committees — Humanities, Natural Sciences, Social Sciences — are formed which then pare down the list of candidates using their academic records and letters of recommendation.

See pbk Page 5

Anand Giridharadas Condemns ‘Elite Generosity’ in IOP Talk

Anand Giridharadas, the author of Winners Take All, poses for a photo at the JFK Jr. Forum Tuesday night. kai r. mcnamee—Crimson photographer

By fiona k. brennan and nidhi patel Contributing Writers

A nand Giridharadas, author of the book ‘Winners Take All,’ criticized the notion that elite philanthropists can bring about reform in a talk at the Harvard ­

Inside this issue

Harvard Today 2

Institute of Politics Tuesday.

Giridharadas said that these wealthy individuals claim to be solving societal problems by donating to charitable causes — but that they are really upholding the social and economic structures that are at the root of these problems. In addition

News 3

Editorial 4

to writing three books on politics in the United States and India, Giridharadas is an editor-at-large at TIME and a former columnist for the New York Times.

“It is the extraordinary elite

See iop Page 5

Sports 6

As fall turns to winter, temperatures drop and the sun sets earlier and earlier in Cambridge. kathryn s. kuhar— Crimson photographer

Today’s Forecast

Sunny High: 32 Low: 19

Visit thecrimson.com.

Follow @TheCrimson on Twitter.

red bean

THE HARVARD CRIMSON |

NOVEMBER 13, 2019

PAGE 2

HARVARD TODAY

For Lunch Meatball Sub Shrimp with Fettucini Spicy Rice, Bean, Lentil Casserole

For Dinner Emerald Beef, Vegetable Stir-Fry Moroccan-Style Grilled Fish Basil Pesto Roasted Tofu

TODAY’S EVENTS VP of Panama Isabel de Saint Malo de Alvarado’s Study Group IOP L-163, 4:30-5:45 p.m.

IN THE REAL WORLD Biggest U.S. Milk Company Files for Bankruptcy

IOP Resident Fellow H.E. Isabel de Saint Malo de Alvarado will be hosting her next study group in room L-163 at the Institute of Politics. If you’re interested in learning more about the role of the Panama Canal or the challenges that Panama is facing in general, this event is for you!

Dean Foods, the largest United States milk company, filed for bankruptcy Tuesday. The past several years have seen a decline in U.S. milk consumption with the rise in popularity of other beverages, such as plant-based milk alternatives.

The bankruptcy is expected to impact the broader dairy industry.

West Side Story Performance Farkas Hall, 7:30-10 p.m.

Join TEATRO! and La Organizacíon de Puertorriqueños for their first presentation of the famous musical West Side Story, performed by students. To top it off, this first show is completely free!

Baseline: A Conversation with John D. Sutter Harvard Center for the Environment, 5:30-6:30 p.m.

John D. Sutter, a National Geographic explorer and CNN climate analyst, will be joined by Professors Naomi Oreskes and Danile Schrag to discuss his documentary series “Baseline,” which dives into the future of the climate crisis.

Bolivian Senator Jeanine Áñez Declares Herself Interim President

Pedestrians cross Massachusetts Ave. outside the Widener Gate on an overcast Monday afternoon. ZAIDOC I.N. GEE—CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

DAILY BRIEFING University President Lawrence S. Bacow said in an interview Tuesday that Harvard’s graduate student union’s Dec. 3 strike deadline is “unnecessary” in light of ongoing negotiations between the union and University. Harvard Graduate Students Union-United Automobile Workers — which represents roughly 5,000 Harvard graduate research assistants and student teaching fellows — set the Dec. 3 date after more than 90 percent of union voters supported authorizing a strike in a vote late last month. In other news, Harvard students experience significantly higher rates of depression and anxiety than the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s reported national average, according to mental health survey results conducted by Harvard University Health Services in 2017 and 2018.

Following Evo Morales’ resignation this past Sunday, Bolivian Senator Jeanine Áñez attained temporary control of the Senate on Tuesday and assumed the presidency. Morales has fled to Mexico but has voiced his disapproval for Áñez and the power transition via Twitter.

Supreme Court Hears Arguments Over DACA Decision

On Tuesday, Supreme Court justices discussed the Trump administration’s intention to end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. During the session, Solicitor General Noel Francisco claimed that federal law fails to specifically authorize a program like DACA, even if there is no provision in the law that DACA necessarily conflicts with.

AROUND THE IVIES YALE Yale created a new vice president of university life position and appointed university secretary Kimberly Goff-Crews to fill the role, the Yale Daily News reported. The change came after Yale commissioned an external report on how administrators should respond to instances of discrimination and harassment. In her new role, Goff-Crews will oversee “Belonging at Yale,” an initiative to promote diversity and inclusion across the university.

BROWN

Brown University President Christina Paxson announced at a Veteran’s Day celebration that the University will remove out-of-pocket costs for undergraduate veteran students, the Brown Daily Herald reported Monday. The admissions process for prospective student veterans will also change — veteran applicants will not be required to submit standardized test scores, and their applications will be need-blind. The goal of these policies, according to the Daily Herald, is to increase the number of undergraduate veterans from 21 to more than 42 by 2024.

COLUMBIA

A university-wide task force at Columbia is seeking to involve students in conversations around how the school should address climate change, according to the Columbia Daily Spectator.

Columbia president Lee Bollinger announced the creation of the task force in September. At two town halls that it hosted this week, faculty and administrators made several suggestions for bolstering Columbia’s efforts to address climate change, including the creation of a school dedicated to climate change and the incorporation of climate justice into the university’s undergraduate curriculum.

THE UNIVERSITY DAILY, EST. 1873

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Blog Chairs Lorenzo F. Manuali ’21 Trula J. Rael ’21

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Sports Chairs Joseph W. Minatel ’21 Henry Zhu ’20

Copyright 2019, The Harvard Crimson (USPS 236-560). No articles, editorials, cartoons or any part thereof appearing in The Crimson may be reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the President. The Associated Press holds the right to reprint any materials published in The Crimson. The Crimson is a non-profit, independent corporation, founded in 1873 and incorporated in 1967. Second-class postage paid in Boston, Massachusetts. Published Monday through Friday except holidays and during vacations, three times weekly during reading and exam periods by The Harvard Crimson Inc., 14 Plympton St., Cambridge, Mass. 02138 Weather icons made by Freepik, Yannick, Situ Herrera, OCHA, SimpleIcon, Catalin Fertu from flaticon.com is licensed by CC BY 3.0.

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CORRECTIONS The Harvard Crimson is committed to accuracy in its reporting. Factual errors are corrected promptly on this page. Readers with information about errors are asked to e-mail the managing editor at managingeditor@thecrimson.com.

PAGE 3

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | NOVEMBER 13, 2019

Podcast Taping Discusses Women

By DOHYUN KIM CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Three Harvard Business Review editors and a Harvard Business School professor discussed approaches to resolving workplace conflicts at a live taping of the podcast “Women at Work” Tuesday night, drawing a packed crowd to the Business School’s Klarman Hall.

The Business Review launched “Women at Work” in Jan. 2018, and the podcast has since received roughly 6.2 million downloads across its four seasons, Business Review spokesperson Amy Poftak said.

The podcast intends to create a platform for exploring issues women face in the workplace, from managing parental leave to dealing with credit-stealing colleagues, according to the Business Review’s website.

“Women at Work” co-hosts Amy J. Bernstein, Amy E. Gallo, and Nicole T. Torres invited Business School Professor Linda A. Hill to be a special guest on Tuesday’s live show, where the four spoke about resolving conflicts with colleagues or supervisors as a woman, sharing advice on how to manage emo­

tions and move past workplace disputes.

Gallo said that when faced with difficult conflicts, she focuses on being self-aware and proactively managing her responses.

Think about the person, put yourself in their shoes. This helps to break the sort of narcissistic rumination most of us go into when we’re in stress.

Amy E. Gallo Business Review Editor

“If we see conflict as a threat to our identity, to our needs or resources, it’s very likely we will go into a stress response,” Gallo said. “The key is to try to calm yourself down. Think about the person, put yourself in their shoes. This helps to break the sort of narcissistic rumination most of us go into when we’re under stress.”

All four panelists stressed the importance of clearly articulating goals while resolving conflicts.

“I’ll admit, most of my adult life and probably for my childhood, too, anytime I entered a conflit my goal was to be right – and that is not a good goal,” Gallo said. “If Linda and I showed up to a conversation both trying to prove that we’re right, then where do we have to go?”

“Do I need to get this project just done and on budget?

Do I need to preserve my relationship with this person I’m talking to? Do I need to just get out of this conversation and move on with my life?” she added.

Hill said she tries to recognize defensiveness when she negotiates a solution to a workplace problem.

“Separate their impact from their intent,” she said. “What makes us defensive is when we suggest that we’re not well intended and we can’t be trusted.”

In response, audience member Julie E. Salganik said the most difficult conflicts she has faced in her career have happened when people started con-

HEALTH FROM PAGE 1

HUHS Survey Shows High Depression, Anxiety Rates significantly higher than those of incoming freshmen, according to Barreira.

Though survey results indicate depression rates and anxiety rates climbing to 30 percent in some departments, incoming freshmen — who were surveyed during their first week at the College — reported depression and anxiety at rates of 7 percent and 8.5 percent, respectively.

Our response rates by the way, in these programs are 60 to 70 percent.

Paul J. Barreira HUHS Director

The PHQ-9 screens respondents into five categories based on their symptoms, ranging from “minimum” to “severe.” A score of 10 or higher out of 27 on the test is considered a positive screening, and includes participants in the “moderate” group,

Barreira said. The GAD-7 follows a similar principle, with scores of 10 or above out of 21 considered a positive screening that indicates at least “moderate” anxiety.

“There’s a small percentage of students across the University, just graduate students, who we would want every one of them to be in treatment or at least getting an evaluation,” Barreira said.

Beyond clinical symptoms, the survey data also reveals several other factors that point to student mental health issues, according to Barreira. Among these are high rates of loneliness, feeling like an imposter, and a sense of being overwhelmed.

“It really prompts people to think differently about what’s causing the distress that graduate students experience,” Barreira said. “That’s where it gets a lot of discussion going.”

To address the mental health surveys, Barreira said he spoke with leaders in the departments he surveyed as well as students.

The conversations, however, have remained internal.

“We did this with a commitment that the data is only for us to share between ourselves and our faculty in a confidential way,” he said.

It really prompts people to think differently about what’s causing the distress that graduate students experience.

versations in ways that were insensitive, often because of the disparities in intent and impact that Hill mentioned.

“You have to be sincere about not just your goals, but also what you’re experiencing,” said Salganik.

The most important source of power is expertise, knowing something that no one else knows, having unique knowledge.

Linda A. Hill HBS Professor

At the end of the discussion, Hill urged the audience to remember that they “are not powerless.”

“If you’re in situations where you’re powerless, you can be taken advantage of. And the most important source of power is expertise, knowing something that no one else knows, having unique knowledge,” she said.

BACOW FROM PAGE 1

Bacow Criticizes Strike Deadline take preparations so that students are not inconvenienced, so that grades can be reported, so that people can graduate,” Bacow said.

“People forget that we have people who graduate mid-year.

So, as I said, I really don’t think it’s necessary.”

Bacow also reiterated the University’s position that the compensation its negotiators have offered is “more generous” than the contracts UAW-affiliated unions have signed at other universities.

“It’s in our interest to see that the packages which we offer our graduate students are competitive with other universities,” Bacow said.

“We want to be able to attract and retain the very best graduate students.”

He also restated that the University does not support HGSU’s long-standing proposal for a third-party grievance procedures when issues of sexual misconduct or discrimination arise, arguing that issues could

result from a process that operates outside of Harvard’s formal processes for addressing such issues.

I really don’t think it’s necessary.

Lawrence S. Bacow University President

“We cannot have two different procedures on campus, I think, for dealing with Title IX complaints, depending upon a student’s status in a particular moment in time,” Bacow said.

“What they proposed is problematic in a number of different dimensions, and so we’re trying to explain why we think that doesn’t work, given our legal obligations under Title IX.” The University and HGSU are slated to meet for their next bargaining session Friday. alexandra.chaidez@thecrimson.com aidan.ryan@thecrimson.com

The latest on music, film, theater, and culture.

That’s artsy.

Paul J. Barreira HUHS Director

Barreria said in a September 2019 interview with The Crimson that he will focus on the Graduate Student Mental Health Initiative after he steps down from HUHS Director this month.

The Crimson thecrimson.com/arts

michelle.kurilla@thecrimson.com tamar.sarig@thecrimson.com

Proud to cover Harvard for 146 years and counting.

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THE HARVARD CRIMSON | NOVEMBER 13, 2019

PAGE 4

EDITORIAL THE CRIMSON EDITORIAL BOARD

COLUMN

A Call to UC Candidates

When the Devil Beats His Wife

A

t this point in the year, our Board usually endorses an Undergraduate Council presidential ticket.

This year, however, some of the UC tickets have joined student groups led by Act on a Dream in boycotting The Crimson in response to its coverage of a Sept.

12 Abolish ICE rally, during which The Crimson requested comment from United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

In light of these recent events, we have chosen to forgo an endorsement this year.

As an Editorial Board, we believe first and foremost in the free exchange of ideas among the student voices that make up the College.

It disappoints us to know that some of our peers do not wish to work with us or represent themselves through our pages and endorsement processes.

In place of our endorsement this year, we would like to offer a few thoughts that we hope the UC candidates will keep in mind as they campaign.

First, we encourage all candidates to

As an Editorial Board, we believe first and foremost in the free exchange of ideas among the student voices that make up the College. recognize the limits of the institution they seek to lead.

Consciousness of the failures of past UC leaderships should be a powerful benchmark for the current campaigns.

Grandiose promises minimize the important work Council leaders can often do on a smaller scale.

A year is shorter than it seems, and the next leaders should consider what they will reasonably have the time to accomplish.

Moreover, establishing institutional transparency and supporting student advocacy and activism are two programmatic goals we believe all candidates should forefront.

Another issue a number of tickets have highlighted is the wastefulness of the UC. The Council has failed to account for more than $100,000 in disbursements since 2017. These financial transactions should be more transparent. Leaders should seek to rein in superfluous spending.

And we believe, alongside some candidates, that the UC should prioritize funding inclusive social events and activities led by a broad range of groups and individuals on campus.

This year, we hope that UC candidates move forward with achievable goals to aid the student body and leave behind any political theater that has taken up the Council’s time in the past.

Leading the UC should be about more than photo shoots, weekly emails, and flag waving — it’s an opportunity for students to have a say in the disbursement of a sizeable budget that has the poten-

tial to have a positive impact on campus.

As such, leadership is a serious responsibility — ideally more about thoughtful and inclusive management and policy than flashy politics.

Leadership is a serious responsibility — ideally more about thoughtful and inclusive management and policy than flashy politics.

Much as we see our own institutional role, we see the role of UC leaders as a uniting force — one that encourages dialogue and supports student activism and advocacy, even if we’ve disagreed with them on certain issues.

As leaders, the candidates should seek to amplify students’ interests and perspectives and promote discourse across divides.

Unity isn’t about agreement, but about recognizing the necessity of all the diverse perspectives and challenges that make up a social whole.

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.

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The Crimson @thecrimson OP-ED

The Domínguez External Review Must Not Be A Whitewash

By REVA DHINGRA, SOPHIE E. HILL, AND ALLISON H. MYREN

I

n May, the Harvard administration announced an external review into the institutional failures surrounding the case of former Government Professor Jorge I. Domínguez. The case garnered national media attention after 18 women spoke out about being sexually harassed by Domínguez, raising concerns that the University knew about his misconduct and failed to act.

As graduate students in the Government department, we welcomed the news of an external review. Rebuilding trust in Harvard’s response to sexual harassment is an urgent task — especially when less than half of all Harvard students (roughly 47 percent) think it is “very” or “extremely” likely that campus officials would conduct a fair investigation into a report of sexual misconduct.

However, since the announcement, several worrying signs have emerged.

First, the administration appointed a review committee that is not truly external. The committee chair, Susan Hockfield, held a visiting professorship at the Harvard Kennedy School in 2012 and is on the board of Harvard’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. Another committee member, Kenji Yoshino, spent six years on Harvard’s Board of Overseers, and served as its president in 2016-17.

Only one committee member, Vicki J. Magley, is genuinely independent of Harvard.

But institutions are composed of individuals, and institutional failures cannot be understood without examining individual behavior and decisions.

This violates the calls from survivors, graduate students, and the Government department’s Committee on Climate Change, which was set up in the wake of this scandal, for a fully independent investigation. We do not question the expertise and experience of these individ-

uals. But their affiliations undermine the credibility of the review and may deter individuals with important information from coming forward.

Second, we are concerned that the administration is attempting to restrict the scope of the review. University President Lawrence S. Bacow explicitly stated that they are “not asking the committee to review the behavior or decisions of individual members of the Harvard community in regard to the Dominguez matter.” We agree that the focus of the external review should be on institutional failures.

But institutions are composed of individuals, and institutional failures cannot be understood without examining individual behavior and decisions. Some may find it uncomfortable to be reminded of their own role in this decades-long case.

But as Bacow himself once said: “There are both reassuring truths and unsettling truths, and great universities must embrace them both.”

Despite our concerns over the impartiality and the scope of the review, we still believe it can be successful — as long as the committee is willing to hold itself to a high standard of transparency and thoroughness. So far, the only communication we have received from the committee is that they will visit campus for one day in December. We do not know their mandate, their methodology, or their timeline.

This falls far short of the standards set by other institutions, such as a recent independent investigation into sexual misconduct by a professor at Yale that lasted six months and received input from over 100 people.

Worse still, the committee has failed to arrange a meeting with the women who came forward, even when several of them offered to fly to the committee’s preferred location of New York City at their own expense. The committee has offered only two potential dates for the remainder of the calendar year, one of which coincides with the previously scheduled campus visit.

If this committee fails to engage with survivors, they will do a disservice to the safety and well-being of our community. We owe it to Terry G. Karl, Suzanna Challen, Nienke Grossman, Yoshiko M. Herrera, Charna Sherman, and many

more to demonstrate that their voices have been heard.

To protect the integrity of the external review, we are calling on the committee to publicly address our concerns by taking the following actions:

When we confront the failures of the past, the truths we uncover are unlikely to be reassuring — but we must embrace them nonetheless.

First, ensure a basic level of transparency by announcing the mandate, methodology, and timeline of the review.

Then, provide details on what measures are being taken to minimize potential conflicts-of-interest given the affiliations of the reviewers.

And finally, commit to putting in the time and resources to conduct this review thoroughly, by holding more campus visits, proactively reaching out to individuals who may have been impacted by this case, and publicizing the channels through which individuals can provide input.

The external review will not fix the mistakes of the past, but it will help to build a common understanding that ensures those mistakes are never repeated.

To do this, the external review must be transparent, it must be fair, and it must be thorough.

We have dedicated countless hours to lobbying the administration for this review. To say that we are deeply invested in its success would be an understatement.

But we will not participate in a whitewash. When we confront the failures of the past, the truths we uncover are unlikely to be reassuring — but we must embrace them nonetheless.

—Reva Dhingra is a third-year graduate student in Government. Sophie E. Hill is a fourth-year graduate student in Government. Allison H. Myren is a third-year graduate student in Government. They are members of the Government Department Graduate Student Association’s External Review Working Group.

Ben A. Roy HAPPINESS, THE NEW LIE

M

y friend survived sexual assault recently, and I have spent time trying to comfort her and make sure she is doing alright. As a child, I, too, was sexually assaulted, and, as a friend and a fellow survivor, I want to give her the sort of strength and support I wish I had gotten when it happened to me.

As always, it is as reassuring as it is heartbreaking to know that I am not the only one.

“When it happened to me.” In writing this column, I realize my default is to make sexual assault sound like this thing that just happens to unlucky people, like when your dog dies or you come down with the flu.

Here’s the thing: It’s not, it’s an outrage every time, and we should stop describing sexual assault in passive and impersonal terms.

If you want people to be careful, you don’t say, “Oh, did you hear? Mrs. Finch was murdered two days ago,” you say, “Someone murdered Mrs. Finch.”

We shouldn’t say the “prevalence of sexual misconduct at Harvard remains unchanged from four years ago” — we should say, “There are just as many men raping, groping, leering, stalking, and harassing on campus today as there were four years ago.”

We shouldn’t just say 52 percent of female students do not believe that the school “will take appropriate action in response to incidents of harassment and discrimination” — we should make it clear that, “On Harvard’s campus, men are making 52 percent of women feel unsafe, and Harvard isn’t doing enough to protect them.”

Those of us who survive are not just statistics — we each have our own horrific story to tell. But when it comes to speaking up, victims are stuck in a catch-22. In order to stop the perpetrator from hurting more people, the victim must submit to a formal investigation. But any attempt by the victim to alert others to the danger the perpetrator poses to the community is considered a kind of slander until (or rather if) the perpetrator is ever convicted.

In Harvard’s case, even if the victim and the perpetrator live in the same House, administrators are not required to separate them until the Office of Dispute Resolution has issued a final report and the Administrative Board has decided on an appropriate disciplinary response (which usually takes around six weeks!), meaning essentially that if the victim lives in the same House as their abuser, the victim is screwed.

Another issue: Harvard is interested in protecting its brand and public image. This motivation means that Harvard should not be trusted to adjudicate what should be criminal cases.

Just look at the latest person to sue Harvard for big bucks. Damilare Sonoiki ’13 never received his degree after the Ad Board found him responsible for the accusations of sexual assault he faced from three women in his senior year. But now Sonoiki, an immigrant from Nigeria, is claiming that the color of his skin influenced the Ad Board, which at the time did not contain any black men, in making its decision, among other factors in the process.

Sonoiki seems to be borrowing from the winning rhetoric of Clarence Thomas, who infamously pulled the race card when he called the Anita Hill hearing a “high-tech lynching.” Still, the allegations against Sonoiki, though serious enough at the time to suspend his diploma, apparently were not serious enough to keep him from delivering the Class Day oration. Apparently, folks, the show must go on.

We can only imagine how his accusers must have felt, watching Sonoiki be so publicly honored.

At the end of the day, Harvard seems more afraid of being sued than it is of allowing sex offenders to remain on campus.

A reformed Title IX Office and sanctions against final clubs have so far failed to protect innocent students. What they have done, to their credit, is removed the excuse of ignorance from the guilty parties. Mandatory Title IX training means that everyone on this campus who rapes, gropes, leers, stalks, or harasses anyone else does so knowing that they are breaking the law.

So, I believe, the solution should be obvious.

We need a real commitment from the University to protect the student body and support victims in their pursuit of legal retribution. Enough empty words, fanfare, and virtue signaling — we need dollars spent, we need complete transparency and accountability from the administration, we need bodies in offices around the clock ready to help victims at a moment’s notice.

And when people commit crimes, they need to be taken to court. Harvard should be doing everything in its power to help victims of sexual assault pursue legal action, regardless of their ability to pay, because justice should not be reserved for the rich, and if not because it’s the right thing to do, then because Harvard needs to atone for the abuses it has looked the other way for during its long and troubled history. A leave of absence is not a punishment, nor is shuffling abusers around to different Houses like some twobit Catholic Church. In the South there is a saying that rain falls on a sunny day “when the devil beats his wife.” Too many tears have been shed by too many victims on this campus, because even one is too many, and because we were sold the lie that in college better days lay ahead. Harvard has spent enough time playing God — it’s about time we freed the devil’s wife and sent him where the sun don’t shine.

—Ben A. Roy ’20 is a Classics concentrator in Kirkland House. His column appears on alternate Wednesdays.

PAGE 5

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | NOVEMBER 13, 2019

ATHLETE FROM PAGE 1

IOP FROM PAGE 1

New Group Addresses In IOP Talk, Giridharadas Student-Athlete Isolation Criticizes ‘Elite Generosity’ “We need to generate more school spirit around athletics, dance, the arts, and everything and anything associated with Harvard and the incredible people that comprise it,” Ostrover said. “That is a collective effort, and a goal we can only achieve together.”

Athletics Director Robert L. Scalise has recently spoken about the structural isolation some student-athletes face on campus. He said the College’s schedule forces athletes to associate with other athletes, isolating them. Men’s volleyball player Adam Gordon ’21, who serves as his team’s SAAC representative, said that he hopes the new committee will increase awareness about athletics on campus and combat stereotypes that student-athletes often face.

“This committee was created

in response to [these issues], as a way to address them and make our presence a little larger outside of the actual athletics and competing,” he said. “Giving back to the school in some way [will] show that we rightfully earned our position on the team at the school and that we have every right to be here as much as any student.”

Faculty athletics representative and former Dean of Freshmen Thomas A. Dingman ’67 said in an interview last month that structural issues that cause student-athlete isolation can potentially detract from their academic experience. He said administrative action can work to address this problem.

“There are some practical things we can do,” Dingman said. “We can look at the shuttle schedule to get people

back [from the athletics facilities] more. We can look at when classes are offered.”

The student-athlete experience is a topic the ongoing study of the Athletics Department should address, Dingman said.

The review would allow an “objective third party” to weigh in on the issue, according to Dingman.

Outside consulting firm Mercer is conducting the review, which was first announced last month by Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Science Claudine Gay. Scalise and other top administrators including Dean of the College Rakesh Khurana are on the advisory committee overseeing the study, which will include input from students and staff. devin.srivastava@thecrimson.com

PBK FROM PAGE 1

Phi Beta Kappa Announces New Senior Members “I got the invitation to apply a few weeks earlier,” Molecular and Cellular Biology concentrator Sophia M. Jackman ’20 said.

“It was super exciting to be invited to apply to begin with and then it felt incredible to have actually gotten it.”

Social Studies concentrator Lilla B. Gabrieli ’20 said her professors “flagged that this might be something on the horizon.”

Her thesis adviser later wrote her a letter of recommendation.

Many learned of their induction early in the day Nov. 4.

“I found out when I first checked my email the morning it was released,” Government concentrator Rachel F. Tropp ’20 said. “I was on my way to class. It was really exciting.”

Nicholas E. Stauffer-Mason ’20, a joint concentrator in Government and East Asian Studies, wrote in an email that he discovered his induction after completing a tutoring session at the Writing Center.

“The first thing I did was call my grandmother, who was Phi Beta Kappa at DePauw and has always pushed me to do my best,” Stauffer-Mason said.

The selection committee looks for students who have exhibited both “depth of study and breadth of intellectual interest,” according to the College’s PBK website.

Several of the new inductees said they have pursued studies in a variety of fields and that the honor affirmed their academic choices.

Michael T. Shirek ’20 — a Psychology concentrator pursuing a secondary in Germanic and Scandinavian Studies — said he hopes to pursue a career in film and found the honor to be validating.

“Sometimes it feels like people don’t really want to take me seriously because it doesn’t really sound like I’m working towards anything,” Shriek said.

“This is a validation of what I’ve done so far for me — that what

I’ve done has been worth it.”

Similarly, Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality concentrator Sarah M. Lipson ’19-’20 said she has wide-varying interests.

Lipson, who is conducting thesis research based in psychology as a pre-med, said she found her academic interests “a little bit tough making everything fit.” Lipson said she is honored and appreciative to be inducted into PBK. “I think it’s a nice recognition of all the hard work I’ve put in, and I do hope it recognizes the diversity of experiences I’ve had in the academic sphere,” Lipson said. “At the same time, I also feel aware that this is only one way for that to be recognized.”

“I try to balance an appreciation for the recognition and an understanding of all the other fantastic people and experiences that happen at Harvard,” she added.

generosity of our time that upholds a system of extraordinary elite hoarding,” Giridharadas said during the talk in the JFK Jr. Forum.

Giridharadas said that these wealthy individuals claim to be solving societal problems by donating to charitable causes — but that they are really upholding the social and economic structures that are at the root of these problems. In addition to writing three books on politics in the United States and India, Giridharadas is an editor-at-large at TIME and a former columnist for the New York Times.

“It is the extraordinary elite generosity of our time that upholds a system of extraordinary elite hoarding,” Giridharadas said during the talk in the JFK Jr. Forum.

Giridharadas explained his view that the American people believe that business and entrepreneurship, rather than the “slothful” public sector, are the best ways to promote social change.

“We’re not getting transformational reform because we have outsourced the job of changing the world to the people with the most to lose from real change,” Giridharadas said.

Philanthropy allows the wealthy to “scrub” their tarnished reputations, according to Giridharadas. He also crit-

amy.li@thecrimson.com

Harvard, from the Law School to Longwood.

The Crimson thecrimson.com

icized universities like Harvard that accept donations from billionaires — some of whom he said have unethical backgrounds — and even put their names on buildings.

“Harvard has perfected this art and has perfected taking money and remaking the names of people who are scoundrels,” Giridharadas said in an interview immediately after the event Tuesday. “Harvard has allowed itself to become the world’s most prestigious drivethrough reputational laundromat.”

“There’s some money you shouldn’t take at all ever, no matter what. Hello, Jeffrey Epstein,” Giridharadas added.

University spokesperson Jonathan L. Swain declined to comment but pointed to recent comments made by administrators regarding the school’s donation policy.

In an interview last month, University Provost Alan M. Garber ’76 said that Harvard must have a “principled approach” when deciding whether or not to return gifts. Garber also said there “may well” be occasions when a gift should be returned, and administrators should be conscious of changing attitudes nationwide regarding certain donations.

The University is currently conducting a review of billionaire donor and convicted sex

offender Epstein’s donations to the University.

Ayesha P. Venkateshwaran, a student at the Harvard School of Public Health, said she found the talk both “difficult” and “important” to hear — particularly Giridharadas’ opinion that college students have not done enough to protest against this flawed system. Giridharadas said during the event that reform “begins with anybody who’s part of this institution.”

Harvard Kennedy School student Oriol S. Borras also said that Giridharadas raised important points. Still, he pointed out that these criticisms of philanthropy in a capitalist society are not new.

“I would say, like in some countries in Europe, we have parties that are saying what he was saying,” Barras said. “I think the fact that this is being said in the United States, and it’s being said in a kind of conservative university as Harvard is, it’s like an innovative thing.”

At the conclusion of his talk, Giridharadas called upon the audience to advocate for a new age of reform through the public sector. He said he hopes the American people can come to speak to each other in “a public language, not a language of optimization and leverage and scale, but a language of public words, philosophical words about the common good.”

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SPORTS

WEEKLY RECAP

SCORES

MEN’S BASKETBALL VS. SIENA 7 P.M., THURSDAY ___________________________________________________________ WOMEN’S BASKETBALL VS. SIENA W, 68-51 ___________________________________________________________

MEN’S WATER POLO VS. MIT W, 14-5 ___________________________________________________________ MEN’S SOCCER VS. COLUMBIA L, 6-1 ___________________________________________________________ MEN’S ICE HOCKEY VS. NO. 15 QUINNIPIAC W, 7-2 ___________________________________________________________

FOOTBALL

Parity Has Finally Returned In Ivy League Football

By JOSEPH MINATEL CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Parity is a classic buzzword when describing Ivy League football. Whether you have been a head coach in the league for 26 seasons or an Ancient Eight sports reporter for three years, you have heard the word parity used to describe the conference.

“Anyone can beat anybody,” we constantly claim. Do I continue to say this so that I can justify any missed picks in my Around the Ivies columns? Perhaps. Am I writing this column so that I can further justify any missed picks from my co-writers and myself in the future?

Also possible. Maybe we are scared that we are going to lose our touch.

Recently, this parity talk has been mostly lip service. Princeton rattled off an impressive 17 straight wins. Dartmouth had only lost one game in nearly two years, and its loss came at the hands of those very same Princeton Tigers.

The middle teams were extremely middling, and a loss meant you were well out of the running for teams hoping to lose less than four games. And Brown was, well, you know, Brown.

But as Bob Dylan once mumbled through a song, “the times they are a-changin.’” While Brown continues to do much of the same, many teams are feeling the switching tide. The mighty mighty Tigers have finally fallen, and we will likely have a new champion once again. The Big Green has seemingly taken the throne as the new leaders. Middling teams are battling it out. As recent results have shown, Ivy League parity is back - for better and for worse.

Anyone who has been pay­

ing attention to recent conference play can see that the parity is back in the Ancient Eight.

We are seeing crazy blowouts followed by nail-biting classics.

Princeton had not previously lost since 2017, and this past week they lost by three possessions.

Games between Penn, Brown, and Cornell have been barn-burning matchups coming down to the wire each week. In the three games between these teams, the victorious squad has remarkably won by only two or fewer points.

For Harvard, a close loss on the road at the Tigers left hope for the future. A defensive battle against Dartmouth gave the Crimson an opening for a share at the Ivy League title. This is where Ivy League parity struck in classic chaotic fashion.

Harvard was a mere six seconds away from an improbable victory and a great chance at a shared Ivy League title, assuming Dartmouth could defeat Princeton and the Crimson could win out against lesser teams than the Big Green. One Hail Mary later, Harvard found itself fighting for a hopeful twoloss conference season to stay near the top of an Ivy League race that was likely lost.

One week later, the worst offense in the Ancient Eight topped the Crimson in overtime and Harvard will now need to win out in order to finish in the top half of the league.

Such is the way of Ancient Eight Football in the fall of the 2019 season.

As a History concentrator, I rarely have any time for numbers. But as a sports fan, I love statistics. Taking a look at the recent box scores of the Ivy League and deciding to completely throw out actual reliable statistical analysis, we can arbitrarily prove the return of pari-

ANYONE’S GAME Columbia’s recent overtime victory over Harvard is the latest in a series of developments in the return of Ivy League parity. TIMOTHY R. O’MEARA—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

ty to the Ancient Eight without any actual mathematical principles.

This season, Yale was pummeled 42-10 by Dartmouth. The Bulldogs were picked as the preseason favorite to take home the crown, yet seemed to be underperforming by sneaking by in tight victories and showing they do not belong with a big dog such as the Big Green Defensive MachineTM. Yale barely topped a strug-

gling Penn, winning 46-41 thanks to its offense. Oh what a year in the Ivy League.

This Penn Quaker team was handily dispatched by a struggling Columbia, 44-6, yet the Bulldogs wailed on the Lions in an easy 45-10 victory. For a Harvard team that played Dartmouth to the final heart-wrenching whistle, Columbia was seen by many as a speed bump on the Crimson schedule. An overtime loss in

New York City later, Harvard was left scratching its head about a season of what-couldhave beens.

What does all this mean?

Technically speaking, the transitive property is not a scientific way to look at the performance of sports teams. But I can tell you one thing: In any given week, do not count a single team out. That is the lesson to learn from Ivy League Football these days.

This is the league of parity, and as long as you are not named Brown University, you should never feel like you are out of a game.

This league is all about chaos, and after a few years of dominating superpowers and under performing bottom-feeders, the Ancient Eight is chaotic once again. Ivy League parity is back and better than ever. joseph.minatel@thecrimson.com

FIELD HOCKEY

Field Hockey Beats Columbia in Final Contest of Season

By DAVID ALEY CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Huddling in a circle on a brisk morning in New York City, donned with purple ribbons in their hair and around their arms, the athletes on the Harvard Women’s field hockey team were motivated to win for a few particularly meaningful reasons.

Not only did the players want to make the best of their last shot at impressing the NCAA voters in hopes to receive a bid

for the NCAA tournament selection, and to raise awareness for Meningitis, a neurological disease that has affected one of the most important members of the team, senior forward Maddie Earle.

“Obviously, the game was super important to us, both from a field hockey point of view, as well as due to the fact that [Earle] and [senior midfielder] Olivia Ostrover had organized it as a Meningitis Awareness game,” said junior captain Mimi Tarrant about the weekend’s con-

test. “I really think that honoring the game for that cause helped us keep everything in perspective. Our main message before the game was to enjoy playing and to play for those who maybe aren’t able to.”

The No. 15 Crimson women (13-4, 6-1 Ivy League) defeated Columbia (7-9 3-4 Ivy League) by a score of 2-1 in the final regular season contest of the season.

Led by a pair of goals by captain Bente van Vlijmen in the first and third quarters, the

Harvard team reached 13 wins for the third straight year, a first for the program.

But to van Vlijmen, although the team came out with a win, there is still much room for improvement.

“We really had to show the NCAA and the people who make the decision for the bid [in the NCAA tournament] in this game that we can take on teams and really dominate them,” said van Vlijmen. “We only beat them by two to one, and that, I think, was a little bit of a disap-

CLOSING TIME Senior Bente van Vlijmen moves the ball up the field in the final game of her college athelte career. TIMOTHY R. O’MEARA—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

pointment because I know we can do better as a team.”

Although a few unfavorable circumstances threw the team off their game—a frozen field Friday night forced the game to be moved to Saturday morning—van Vlijmen didn’t want to make excuses for the team. It was a game where the Crimson expected to win and win big, so a finish as close as this one showed the team that they need to be more focused and ensure they don’t underestimate any more teams in future matches.

Still, van Vlijmen made sure that the team didn’t walk away without a few highlights. At 12:38 in the first quarter, she put in a shot during a designed play on a penalty corner shot.

“I think [the designed play that led to the goal] really was a big team effort and if one of those little parts of the chain doesn’t go right, nothing will go right,” said van Vlijmen. “You score as a team and not as an individual.”

It wasn’t until around four minutes into the third quarter that Harvard netted its second goal, and van Vlijmen noted that the team struggled for a while to find its flow and structure with the offense.

“I started on [Columbia’s] 25-yard line, and when that happens, I really don’t think I just try to put all my power behind what I do and try to be decisive and quick,” said van Vlijmen of the second goal. “We had all hoped that we had scored [the second goal] a little earlier on, but it was still a very important goal.”

The second goal put van Vlijmen in second place on Harvard’s all-time points list. And while she feels grateful to be recognized for such an achievement, the senior noted that this was in no small part due to the help of the rest of her teammates.

Without the help of her teammates, especially the defenders, who seldom get recognized van Vlijmen explained, the achievement would not have been possible. These themes of teamwork and selflessness have been mainstays for the team throughout the fall in Cambridge.

While the Crimson women eventually learned that they did not earn a bid into the NCAA tournament after the selection of teams on Sunday evening, both van Vlijmen and Tarrant had time to reflect on the season.

They view the growth of the team as something that cannot merely be measured in an NCAA Tournament bid, but a more holistic perspective that may take several seasons to fully realize.

“Our team has definitely taken big strides this season,” Tarrant said. “With nearly a whole new backline coming in as we got six new freshmen, it was always going to take a bit of time to gel as a new team. Luckily, we managed to do that pretty early on, and we have definitely seen our freshman grow in confidence throughout the season. I think what has been most rewarding to see is the variety of people who have stepped up to take responsibility for the team.”

And in her final season with the team, van Vlijmen is optimistic about the future of the team and what is yet to come for the field hockey program in the coming seasons.

“Overall, I think we’ve shown that this program can compete at the top now,” van Vlijmen said. “We played some games incredibly well, and some games not as well, so I think a huge area where we can grow in as a team is finding consistency and utilizing our talent.”