The Harvard Crimson - Volume CXLV, No. 107

The Harvard Crimson The University Daily, Est. 1873 | Volume CXLV, No. 107 | Cambridge, Massachusetts | Monday, October 22, 2018

editorial PAGE 6

sports PAGE 8

news PAGE 5

Harvard should not give wealthy students a leg up in admissions.

Harvard football’s upset bid against Princeton falls short.

Students gather to discuss black electoral empowerment in the South.

Asian Americans Scored Highest

See Fitzsimmons Page 3

For Fitzsimmons, Trial Is Personal

Average SAT Score for Admitted Students by Race Source: Court documents submitted by Harvard

Average SAT Score

800

775

What goes down in court could decide the dean’s legacy.

Asian American White

750

By Alex A. Chaidez, Molly C. McCafferty, and Aidan F. Ryan

Hispanic American African American

725

Native American/ Native Hawaiian

Crimson Staff Writers

Dean of Admissions William R. Fitzsimmons ’67 had just hit his sixth hour testifying behind the wood-paneled witness stand in the Harvard admissions trial when things got personal.

The lawyer questioning Fitzsimmons — John M. Hughes, an attorney for Students for Fair Admissions, the anti-affirmative action advocacy group suing Harvard — pointed to comments College interviewers had scribbled on certain Asian-American students’ application files unearthed during the trial.

One interviewer described a female student as “reserved” and “hard-work-

700

675 2000

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010

2012

2014

2016

morgan j. spaulding—Crimson Designer

By Shera S. Avi-Yonah and Molly c. Mccafferty Crimson Staff Writers

Over an 18-year period stretching from 1995 to 2013, Asian-American students admitted to Harvard scored higher on the SAT than did their peer admits from other racial groups, according to data released in the admissions trial last week.

A Crimson analysis of the previously confidential dataset — which spans admissions cycles starting with the Class of 2000 and ends with the cycle for the Class of 2017 — revealed that Asian-Americans admitted to Harvard earned an average SAT score of 767 across all sections. Every section of the SAT has a maximum score of 800.

By comparison, white admits earned an average score of

‘FemaleFocused’ Group Kicks Off

745 across all sections, Hispanic-American admits earned an average of 718, Native-American and Native-Hawaiian admits an average of 712, and African-American admits an average of 704.

The same general pattern held true for Harvard applicants belonging to these racial groups in this time period.

Asian-American applicants on average scored highest on the

SAT and African-American applicants scored lowest.

Harvard’s lead lawyer William F. Lee ’72 presented data on the demographic breakdown of applicants and admits’ SAT scores as part of his questioning of Dean of Admissions William R. Fitzsimmons ’67. Lee’s quizzing of Fitzsimmons on Oct. 18 marked the fourth day of the

See SAT Page 5

ing.” “He’s quiet, and of course, wants to be a doctor,” another interviewer wrote of an unnamed male student.

Hughes argued the reviews constitute “model-minority stereotyping” and hint at widespread anti-Asian prejudice in Harvard’s admissions process.

SFFA, which sued the University in 2014 over allegations of discrimination in its race-conscious admissions process, is hoping to prove in court that the school rejects qualified Asian-American applicants in favor of less deserving candidates of other races. (Harvard has repeatedly denied all allegations of discrimination.)

Hughes looked Fitzsimmons full in the face.

He asked whether the long-serving dean — who

In Photos: Harvard Admissions Trial Hits Week Two

By andrea m. Bossi and Ashley M. Cooper Crimson Staff Writers

In the wake of all of Harvard’s historically female final clubs and sororities closing or going co-ed following the implementation of penalities against single-gender groups, several undergraduates said they are looking to fill the void left behind by organizing female-oriented programming near campus themselves.

The Muse, a new “female-focused” undergraduate group, is looking to fill in “a lack of female supportive environments” at Harvard by offering selfgrowth and social programming for female-identifying College students, its undergraduate founders said in an interview.

“The Muse came out of this space where we were really feeling just frustrated on campus not only with sanctions, but just the lack of female supportive environments and spaces on campus,” Meredith E. Pong ’20, a member of the Muse Board, said. “We really think that there needs to be space on this campus where females feel supported and just a space, honestly, to hang out and relax.”

The sanctions, which took effect with the Class of 2021, bar members of single-gender final clubs and Greek organizations from holding campus leadership positions, varsity team athletic captaincies, and from receiving the College’s endorsement for prestigious fellowships.

Students involved with Muse, which was founded by Pong, Ana M. De Bernardo ’20 and Ellie A. Corbus ’20, are hoping the group can become recognized by the College as an independent student group.

According to De Bernardo, Muse organizers prefer to describe their activities as putting on an “event series,” rather than participating in a club.

“We are branding this as an

See Muse Page 3 Inside this issue

Harvard Today 2

SFFA President Edward Blum exits the courthouse. amy y. li—Crimson photographer

Harvard’s director of admissions Marlyn E. McGrath ’70 testified for several hours on the fifth day of the trial. amy y. li—Crimson photographer

Harvard’s lead trial lawyer William F. Lee ’72 lets out a laugh. amy y. li—Crimson photographer

Council Will Fund Grads Prefer For-Profit Employ Free Student Meals

By Jonah S. Berger Crimson Staff Writer

The Undergraduate Council allocated $3,000 towards a new program that will fund meals at local restaurants for 150 Harvard undergraduates at its Sunday meeting.

Applicants to the program will be randomly placed into groups of six and will receive up to $20 in compensation for the meal.

Lowell House Representative Abby T. Scholer ’21, who sponsored the legislation — dubbed the “Engage and Affirm Together Act” — said the program is targeted to students who do not feel comfortable at large social events and would prefer to meet their peers in a more intimate setting.

“I realized that many people don’t feel comfortable in largescale party settings, or in something even the size of a House outing,” Scholar said. “And people are also looking for more meaningful connection than you would get going on a kay­

News 3

Editorial 6

aking trip with… a group of 40 or 50 or going to a really large rave.”

“This inspired me to create an act that would help students who are feeling a little isolated, feeling maybe not as engaged as they would like to be,” she added.

Scholer added that the $20 price tag per student, though lower than the $30 per person offered by the similar, College-administered Classroom to Table program, will give students plenty of leeway regarding where they can afford to eat.

The UC also voted at its meeting to release a statement calling for more prayer spaces and relaxation rooms on campus.

“Faith, religion, and spirituality are crucial elements of many Harvard students’ lives,” the statement reads. “For students who follow any religion or belief system, the ability to meditate and re-center one’s perspective and priorities can

Anticipated Industries of Harvard Seniors

Financial Services Technology or Engineering

11%

Consulting

10%

Full-Time Graduate or Professional School

Today’s Forecast

contributing writers

13%

14%

5%

See Council Page 3

Sports 7

By BRIE K. Buchanan and Jane Z. Li

10%

15%

Elena m. ramos—Crimson Designer

MOSTY Sunny High: 52 Low: 41

Despite administrators’ repeated entreaties, Harvard is still struggling to convince its graduates to go into public service.

Seventy-two percent of Harvard College’s Class of 2018 planned to enter for-profit jobs after graduating last May, according to the most recent employment report released by the College’s Office of Career Services.

Each year, OCS releases a report detailing the future plans of Harvard’s newest graduates. Ninety-eight percent of the Class of 2018 responded to the OCS survey, which asked questions about their careers, employment locations, and any fellowships or grants they had earned. Eighty-seven percent of seniors “answered the relevant questions,” according to the report.

Fourteen percent of graduates indicated they planned to work for non-profit

See jobs Page 5

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Follow @TheCrimson on Twitter.

so much to judge

THE HARVARD CRIMSON |

October 22, 2018

Page 2

Harvard Today

For Lunch Popcorn Chicken Pad Thai Butternut Squash and Pear Panini Waffle Fries

For Dinner Salmon with Green Curry Roast Turkey Breast Gnocchi with Butternut and Sage

Today’s Events

in The Real World

Study Group Institute of Politics, 4:30 p.m.

‘Transgender’ Could Be Defined Out of Existence Under Trump Administration

Learn why in some countries women truly do run the show (or at least have a seat at the table), whereas other areas still don’t see women in leadership roles.

The Trump administration is considering narrowing the government’s definition of gender to a condition predetermined at birth by genitalia.

This decision has the possibility to erase the identities of 1.4 million Americans who identify as transgender today, as well as countless others in the future.

Movie Coolidge Corner Theater, 7 p.m.

Check out this classic film and continue your celebration of the spookiest month of the year. The film will be shown at the Coolidge Corner Theater.

Discussion Institute of Politics, 6 p.m.

Ban Ki Moon, former General Secretary of the UN, and Susan Thornton, Acting Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, will convene at the IOP to hold a discussion of world affairs.

Migrant Caravan Resumes Advance Toward US Ticket holders line up at Austin Hall to listen to Supreme Court Justice Neil M. Gorsuch speak at a Catholic Conference. Anwit singh marta—Crimson photographer

Daily Briefing A Crimson analysis of data released during the Harvard admissions trial revealed that, over an 18-year period stretching from 1995 to 2013, AsianAmerican students admitted to Harvard scored higher on the SAT on average than did their peer admits from other racial groups. During that same time period, Asian-American applicants saw the lowest acceptance rate of any racial group, The Crimson reported last week.

In other news, Harvard’s long-serving dean of admissions William R. Fitzsimmons ’67 has now finished testifying in the trial. But the case could decide who he is at the College — and how he is remembered.

A group of Hondurans seeking to escape the conditions of poverty and corruption in their home country have entered Mexico illegally from its southern border. Trump seized this as a talking point for the upcoming elections on (who would have guessed it) his Twitter account.

Saudi Attempts to Distance Crown Prince from Killing Haven’t Quieted Uproar Ever since the news journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed in Saudi Arabia, the foreign minister has denied the crown prince was involved. But he’s left many questions unanswered. This has led to backlash around the globe.

Around the Ivies Columbia This past Thursday the Policy Planning Committee of the Arts and Sciences of Columbia College released a 145-page report that found Columbia lacks transparent promotional policies, sensitivity training, and proper structures to report incidences of harassment and discrimination, according to the Columbia Daily Spectator. The report spans two years of surveys, research, and interviews and outlines recommendations to address the stagnant levels of diversity among faculty in the Arts and Sciences.

Dartmouth Throughout the past month, students at Dartmouth reported racial slurs and other biased vandalism on the doors of their dorms, according to the Dartmouth. The incidences were first reported on September 18th and, four weeks later, three more bias incidents were also reported. The house communities affected organized gatherings to discuss the incidents, but some students are disappointed by aspects of the responses of their undergraduate advisors. Other students pointed to this as an example of why people of color may feel unsafe on Dartmouth’s campus.

UPenn The University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine is requiring students and faculty to be trained in the administration of Narcan, a drug to combat narcotic overdose, according to the Daily Pennsylvanian. The move this semester comes alongside the city of Philadelphia’s efforts to combat the rise in opiate-related deaths, the dean of the school said. He added that he personally has friends whose children have died from drug overdoses. Over 1,200 unintentional overdose deaths occurred in the city in 2017, according to the Philadelphia Department of Public Health.

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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.

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THE HARVARD CRIMSON | OCTOBER 22, 2018

Fitzsimmons From Page 1

In Court, Admissions Dean Defends 32-Year Legacy joined the admissions office straight out of graduate school in 1972 — condones the “stereotyping” of Asian-American Harvard hopefuls.

Fitzsimmons answered without hesitation.

“We do not endorse — we abhor — stereotypical comments,” he said. “This is not a part of our process. This is not who I am and not who we are.”

It was the second day of the admissions trial, which kicked off Oct. 15 in Courtroom 17 of the John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse and is expected to last for roughly three weeks. Fitzsimmons had spent much of the preceding day — and would spend most of the next two — answering detailed questions about how and why his office determines whether high schoolers are Harvard material.

The dean remained calm and composed for most of the morning Tuesday, fielding Hughes’s questions with clinical precision. His impassioned denial of the plaintiffs’ claim that Harvard stereotypes — delivered rapid-fire in forceful tones — marked a crack in his impassive facade. It was the first time he explicitly equated his moral integrity with the integrity of Harvard’s admissions process.

But in some ways, that’s long been true. Fitzsimmons’s legacy and his ties to Harvard stretch back much further than this October — further than the launch of SFFA’s suit in 2014.

He started as an undergraduate at the College in the 1960s and never really left, earning graduate degrees from another University school before embarking on his 32-year tenure as dean in 1986.

It’s been decades since Fitzsimmons became the face of

Harvard admissions.

In the first week of the highstakes and high-profile trial, Fitzsimmons repeatedly drew on his personal history at the College, referencing his own experiences as he sought to defend his alma mater. The trial could decide the fate of affirmative action in the United States.

But for Fitzsimmons, it could also decide who he is at Harvard — and how he is remembered.

Fitzsimmons Takes a Stand Intent on preserving both Harvard’s reputation and his own, Fitzsimmons took the witness stand at 2 p.m. Monday and did not leave it — apart from scheduled breaks — until Thursday around the same time.

In total, he spent close to 10 hours during the first week defending against SFFA’s accusation that the way Harvard recruits, evaluates, and selects its students is not only illegal but infected with prejudice.

“You have let the wolf of racial bias in through the front door,” SFFA lawyer Adam K. Mortara said on the opening day of the trial. Attorneys for the group spent the next hours and days trying to force Fitzsimmons to admit it.

Hughes had his first attack ready as soon as the dean stepped behind the witness stand. He asked Fitzsimmons why white students hailing from “sparse country” — meaning states with low population density — received invitations to apply to Harvard while Asian-American students with higher SAT scores did not.

A Crimson analysis of data released during the trial revealed that, in Harvard admissions cycles stretching from

1995 to 2013, Asian-American applicants earned the highest average SAT score of any racial group that applied to the school.

In that same time period, they also saw the lowest acceptance rate of any racial group.

In response, Fitzsimmons said the admissions office seeks out prospective applicants from “all backgrounds, especially those with disadvantaged economic backgrounds.” He said Harvard contacts students “from the heartland of America” because the University is “not on people’s radar” in that part of the country. He said the College reaches out to these students even if they achieve lower test scores than their peers in urban locales.

To prove the benefit of recruiting high schoolers from rural areas, Fitzsimmons noted that his own freshman- and sophomore-year roommate at Harvard — Michael B. Dolan ’67 — was born and raised in South Dakota.

“We do everything we can to reach out to a much broader range of people,” Fitzsimmons said. “We want to break the cycle.”

The next day, Fitzsimmons offered an hours-long justification of the “personal ratings” Harvard admissions officers give to applicants. Documents released over the summer as part of the suit showed that College reviewers tend to give poorer personal scores to Asian-American high schoolers. Fitzsimmons conceded that personal rankings skew lower for Asian-Americans but attributed this partly to the fact that teacher and counselor recommendations are typically “stronger” for white students.

He also emphasized that admissions office employees weigh a

Council From Page 1

plethora of factors when evaluating candidates. Ultimately, he said, he’s unsure why white students typically earn higher personal scores. The dean told the audience his job can be hard and confusing.

“We simply know that because we’re aware,” Fitzsimmons said. “It’s our office, and we’re in the business of it.

There’s evidence of it.”

“As I said in my deposition, there’s no way, looking at the whole person, to come up with a definitive answer,” he added.

On the third day of the trial, Fitzsimmons faced grilling over Harvard’s special treatment of wealthy and well-connected applicants — and over the “Dean’s Interest List,” a special and confidential list of Harvard applicants with links to top donors who see a significantly inflated acceptance rate.

Fitzsimmons said the tactic is “important for the long-term strength of the institution.” He said favoring Harvard donors ensures funding for scholarships, among other things.

Once again, he referenced personal experience in an effort to explain how things work — even though, this time around, his testimonay was perhaps less likely to win him fans in the courtroom.Fitzsimmons said that, sometimes, the children of top donors simply aren’t College caliber. Even when that happens, the special treatment continues — Fitzsimmons cushions the blow with a personal message.

The dean said he often gives Harvard’s best benefactors “an advance warning” that their kids probably won’t make it to Cambridge.

‘There’s no formula for that’

After hours and hours spent butting heads with SFFA antagonists, Fitzsimmons finally found a friendly face in Harvard lawyer William F. Lee ’72.

When Lee stepped up to examine Fitzsimmons Wednesday, he granted what appeared to be the dean’s fondest wish: He gave Fitzsimmons the chance to talk about his time as a student at the College.

Long before becoming dean of admissions, Fitzsimmons was a record-smashing goalie for Harvard’s varsity hockey team. A resident of Kirkland House and a Social Relations concentrator, Fitzsimmons — known to his friends as “Fitz” or “Fitzy” — saved 91 goals in the 1965 Beanpot tournament, setting a school record which still stands today.He also participated in several public service organizations including the Phillips Brooks House and the Combined Charities Drive. And he was a member of the Pi Eta club, a social group one member once described as a “blue-collar” final club.

After graduation, Fitzsimmons stayed in Cambridge to attend the Graduate School of Education and obtain his Master’s and doctorate degrees.

He found his professional calling when he joined the admissions office as its director in 1972. Except for a brief stint at the Harvard Fund in the eighties, he never left. He became the dean of admissions in 1986.

In his testimony Wednesday, Fitzsimmons said none of this would have been possible without Havard’s generous financial aid program. He spoke at length about his experiences as a first-generation College student from a low-income background. The dean said he grew up in Weymouth, Mass. to par-

ents who ran a gas station and a convenience store — which he described as a “mom and pop” operation.

He said people in his town never expected anyone they knew would make it to Harvard. Fitzsimmons told Lee he attended the College “almost entirely with Harvard scholarship funding.” He worked term times and summers to help pay tuition.

“Like many low-income students, I paid my parent’s contribution because they couldn’t afford it,” Fitzsimmons testified.

He argued his own life story proves a fundamental truth: Harvard and its affiliates are better off when the school seeks diversity in its student body.

Fitzsimmons said the admissions process he has helped shape for the past three decades is structured to ensure high schoolers from a wide range of socioeconomic and racial backgrounds can attend the world’s top-ranked university — and that it shouldn’t work any other way.

“My life has been extraordinarily enriched,” Fitzsimmons said of serving as dean at a time when Harvard’s student body is more diverse than ever before.

In spite of the minute procedural details he has spent years enforcing — and hours recounting on the witness stand — Fitzsimmons said some parts of the Harvard admissions process are simply inexplicable.

“Each individual is unique in the world and how one’s background might speak to that individual is unique,” Fitzsimmons said. “There’s no formula for that.” alexandra.chaidez@thecrimson.com. molly.mccafferty@thecrimson.com aidan.ryan@thecrimson.com

Muse From Page 1

UC To Fund Undergrad Meals Students Form Group ‘Muse’ play a pivotal role in keeping students mentally grounded.”

Rewan M. Abdelwahab ’20, the vice president of the Har-

I realized that many people don’t feel comfortable in largescale party settings, or in something even the size of a House outing.

Abby T. Scholer ’21 Lowell Representative

vard Islamic Society, spoke at the meeting about the challenges she said Muslims on campus currently face in finding places to pray.

“I know a lot of students from our organization and other religious orgs on campus have to resort to praying behind stairwells or other things like that, which has been really inconvenient,” she said.

Student Life Committee chair Arnav Agrawal ’20 said he has held informal conversations

with building managers about the possible refurbishment of currently under-utilized spaces for religious use. He said a statement from the entire Council will give “weight” to students’ requests for such spaces.

“If 50 members here today vote on this, this means that, probably, representatives, who I think are pretty plugged in with Harvard’s campus, agree that this is something that students care about,” Agrawal said.

The measure drew pushback from some representatives, who argued that the Council should attempt to address the perceived lack of prayer spaces on its own before issuing a statement.

“This would feed into the idea that the UC doesn’t do anything beyond what it says,” said Lowell House Representative Julia M. Huesa ’20.

Huesa added in an interview after the meeting that statements from the Council can be useful in certain cases — such as when dealing with sexual assault and other issues the UC cannot easily fix on its own — but not in situations where the body can act unilaterally.

Also at the meeting, Finance Committee leaders announced they did not impose an acrossthe-board cut on grants during their semesterly “club sports week,” a week devoted to funding requests from club sports teams. Last year’s cut, by comparison, clocked in at 30 percent.

Committee chair Gevin B. Reynolds ’19 attributed the lack of belt-tightening to the committee’s expanded budget this year. The added funds are due in part to Harvard’s decision to increase the student activities fee, an optional sum undergraduates pay as part of their enrollment costs, as well as the fact that slightly fewer clubs requested money this semester.

“I can say that even just in the last two years of being on the UC, we’ve never gotten anywhere near close to zero in club sports week,” he said. “So this is just really, really monumental and I’m really excited and thankful for [UC Treasurer] Nadine [Khoury] and the budget she gave us this year to work with.” jonah.berger@thecrimson.com

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event series, and not a club that necessitates membership because we are trying to foster a place of inclusion and belonging without the competitive aspect,” De Bernardo said. “It makes more sense to label it as that.”

“We really also just wanted it to not be competitive in anyway: have no comp, have no dues, no punch process, no rush or any things like that to real-

We just really wanted to create a space that was really open to everyone...

Meredith E. Pong ’20 Member of Muse Board

ly be inclusive of everyone. Because at Harvard, we feel that so many organizations make you go through a long comp process, or are exclusive in some way of punching,” Pong added.

“We just really wanted to create a space that was really open to everyone and welcoming.”

Thus far, the Muse has held one on-campus event featuring outside sponsors Forty Winks, Girls Who Code, and Bulletin.

Attendees to the opening event — which occurred at the end of September — received free personalized dorm decor and giveaways. The event also featured a table of sticky notes where students could write what they felt “was lacking from their social experience” at Harvard. At least 120 people stopped by the inaugural event, according to the organizers.

“Since it was so serious a prompt, we thought people maybe people won’t opt in, but actually it was the opposite, and people were really willing to share their experiences and thoughts,” Pong said, referring to the sticky note table.

Ali Kriegsman, the COO of women’s fashion chain Bulletin, wrote in a statement that her company was “honored” to support Muse’s event.

“Bulletin decided to partner with The Muse because we’re absolutely baffled by the lack of female-friendly and female-focused spaces on Harvard’s campus,” Kriegsman wrote. “It is

absolutely critical that women and female-identifying students have a welcoming, safe, owned space they can take up

We are honored to partner with The Muse and help create... the space these students deserve.

Ali Kriegsman COO of Bulletin

without judgment. We are honored to partner with The Muse and help create - even if momentarily - the space these students deserve.”

In the future, Muse organizers hope to continue hosting female-oriented events focused on self-care and empowerment, including free bra fittings at Forty Winks in Harvard Square next month. andrea.bossi@thecrimson.com ashley.cooper@thecrimson.com

THE HARVARD CRIMSON |

October 22, 2018

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THE HARVARD CRIMSON | October 22, 2018

SAT From Page 1

Jobs From Page 1

Asian-Americans Top SAT Scores Graduates Pursue For-profit Jobs high-profile trial and the last day of the long-serving dean’s marathon testimony.

The case, which could decide the fate of affirmative action in the United States, kicked off four years ago when anti-affirmative action advocacy group Students for Fair Admissions sued Harvard over allegations it discriminates against Asian-American applicants.

The suit went to trial on Oct. 15 in the John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse in Boston.

In pre-trial filings, SFFA lawyers argued Harvard admissions officers should solely consider “objective” criteria — such as students’ SAT scores and GPAs — when deciding which high schoolers to accept.

Duke economist Peter S. Arcidiacono, whom SFFA retained as an expert witness, wrote in a pre-trial report that, “by controlling for test scores, one can show that [Asian-Americans applicants were] being held to a higher standard than [other applicants], all else equal.”

Harvard and its supporters disagree, arguing the SAT is an imperfect way to measure a candidate’s worth. ­

More than 20 campus student groups filed an amicus brief in July criticizing “SFFA’s erroneous assumption that test scores are a valid and reliable indicator of merit.”

In their own pre-trial filings, University lawyers wrote it would be impossible for the school to rely on SAT scores alone — too many Harvard hopefuls earn perfect marks each year.

The attorneys noted that, of the 26,000 American applicants to the Class of 2019, roughly 3,500 had perfect SAT math scores, 2,700 had perfect SAT verbal scores, and nearly 1,000 earned a perfect overall score on the SAT or ACT. Typically, admitted Harvard classes number around 1,700 students.

“The Harvard applicant pool is overwhelmingly strong on all dimensions,” school lawyers wrote in a June court filing.

“Given the extraordinary pool of applicants, many of whom have the ability to succeed academically at Harvard, the admissions process is designed to identify those students who manifest the qualities, academic and otherwise, that suggest they will become

engaged participants and leaders in an increasingly diverse, complex society.”

The data that emerged Oct. 18 separately aggregates scores for three groups of students: applicants, admits, and students who ultimately matriculated at Harvard.

The dataset — which appears to be sourced from internal Harvard records — breaks down College applicants into eight categories: white, Asian-American, African-American, Hispanic-American, Native-American/Native-Hawaiian, international citizen, “Other,” and “Unknown.”

Scores for white, A sia n-A merica n, A f rican-American, and Hispanic-American admits remained largely consistent over the time period tracked. Scores for Native-American and Native-Hawaiian students fluctuated more widely, likely a reflection of the fact that these students typically make up a very small percentage of Harvard’s student body.

For students of every race, the average SAT scores of admits were always higher than the average SAT scores of applicants belonging to the same

demographic group.

Over the period charted in the dataset, Asian-American applicants to Harvard earned an average SAT score of 726. White applicants earned an average score of 713, Native-American and Native-Hawaiian applicants an average score of 658, Hispanic-American applicants a score of 650, and African-American applicants a score of 622.

Across the same time span, Asian-Americans saw the lowest acceptance rate of any racial group, according to a Crimson analysis of the same dataset.

White applicants saw the second-lowest acceptance rate and African-American applicants saw the highest acceptance rate.

On average, 4,910 Asian Americans, 1,938 African Americans, 2,082 Hispanic Americans, 8,685 white students, and 233 Native-American and Native-Hawaiian students applied to Harvard in any given year included in the dataset.

The trial is set to continue Monday morning. shera.avi-yonah@thecrimson.com molly.mccafferty@thecrimson.com

Students Discuss Southern Black Electorate

By Laura C. Espinoza and Isabel L. Isselbacher Contributing Writers

“Black Votes Matter” co-founder LaTosha R. Brown and “Woke Vote” founder DeJuana L. Thompson joined students to discuss black electoral empowerment at the Phillips Brooks House Thursday.

Southerners Organizing Urgent Transformation through Harvard College, a recently formed student group, and the Institute of Politics’ Politics of Race and Ethnicity program co-hosted “Black Voters Matter: Conversation on Black Electoral Empowerment.”

The event was intended to engage students from Harvard, Mississippi State University, University of Southern Mississippi, and University of Alabama.

The “Black Votes Matter” and “Woke Vote” programs were designed to mobilize African-American voters in Georgia and Alabama, respectively. According to Brown, there is an unrealized potential of black electoral power in the South.

“We have a particular kind of framework that says there are red-states and blue states,” Brown said. \“If you use that as your analysis around who’s progressive and who’s not progressive, then you completely overlook that there are progressive pockets of voters in the Deep South.”

Thompson, former African American Outreach Director for the Democratic National Committee, reflected on why political campaigns are failing to connect with black voters. She criticized politicians who only devote resources to black constituencies immediately before elections instead of forming long-term community partnerships.

“If you look at the way resources come into our communities, if you look at the way anything comes in, it is always aligned with an election cycle,” Thompson said.

“You’ve got to invest in these communities to build power, to allow them to grow, but all [politicians are] concerned with — all [they] can see — is the election cycle.”

The discussion about black political empowerment comes in the wake of a recent viral incident where a Black Voters Matter bus was stopped from taking African American senior citizens to the polls in Jefferson County, Ga. Brown, who was on the bus, was dismayed after the county commissioner forced the director of the group’s living facility to deboard the seniors.

She reported that she and her co-founder “literally didn’t sleep that night.” She said the seniors on the bus, however, were less surprised.

“My head was steaming. But the seniors smiled; they were so not shocked. I mean that says something,” Brown said.

“It’s almost that there’s an expectation that someone’s gonna interfere.”

When asked by a student how she continues her work in the face of adversity, Brown broke out into song, launching into a verse of Pete Seeger’s “Keep Your Eyes on the Prize.”

Salma Abdelrahman ’20, who hopes to be a community organizer after college, said she was inspired listening to

Brown and Thompson speak.

“To see how they use it in their real day-to-day work really, I think, gave me the impetus to keep learning about this stuff and to keep dedicating my life to this stuff,” Abdelrahman said, referring to Brown’s and Thompson’s practical experiences, lessons, and strategies in organizing.

SOUTTH President Trevor W. Ladner ’20, who helped organize the event, said he hoped that students would take away key lessons of inclusion and diversity in electoral activism.

“We talk about trusting black women,” Ladner said.

“We need to listen to black women and follow their lead but that often doesn’t come with actual investment in black women.”

Investment and enfranchisement, Ladner said, are important ideas accompanying growing political momentum in the South and across the country.

“Midterms are coming up in the next month, and this is an important part of that conversation that needs to be had on campus,” he added.

UChicago Prof. Debates Ethics of Animal Rights

By Samuel H. Carter and Tamar Sarig Contributing writers

University of Chicago Philosophy Professor Martha C. Nussbaum said that society should grant enhanced legal protections for animals and reconsider the ethical principles governing human-animal interactions at a Friday talk in Boylston Hall, Nussbaum’s talk — titled ‘Working With and For Animals: Getting the Theoretical Framework Right’ — was the opening keynote lecture for the 12th annual Harvard Graduate Conference in Political Theory.

The lecture was co-sponsored by the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics and the Government Department and concluded with a discussion between Nussbaum and Priyanka Menon ’16, a graduate student in Government.

Nussbaum began her talk, which was derived from a Jan-

uary article published in the Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, by criticizing current animal rights theories developed by philosopher Jeremy Bentham and Nonhuman Rights Project founder Stephen M. Wise. According to Nussbaum, Wise’s approach over-relies on animals’ resemblance to humans, and Bentham’s framework depends on a potentially faulty conception of animal pleasure and pain.

Nussbaum proceeded to propose a new ethical framework, which she described as a “capabilities approach” and “an approach to justice for both humans and other animals.” Nussbaum also discussed what she described as a lack of consideration for animals under American and international law, and the need for an “ethical revolution, a consciousness-raising movement of truly international proportions” in society’s views on animal rights.

“It typically takes an ethical movement to get law going,” Nussbaum said. Nussbaum added that she hopes that her new framework will spur changes in the way non-human animals are treated by governments around the world.

“It’s time to acknowledge that we share the world with other species, and that what they’re able to do and be matters greatly,” Nussbaum said.

Jacob S. Hoerger, a thirdyear graduate student in the Government department and the organizer of Nussbaum’s talk, said that the graduate conference aims to provide “a stimulating night of conversation and to try to have talks that are at the forefront of new research.”

He said that he hoped audiences would be “thinking about animal rights issues more seriously than when they walked in the door.”

Daniel T. Roberts, a first-year

graduate student in Government department and self-described “anthro-centric” thinker, said he came to the lecture “as an opportunity to challenge my preconceptions and as kind of a healthy thought exercise.”

Though Roberts said he felt that Nussbaum was too quick to dismiss certain opposing views, he also said he found her research “very compelling,” and hopes it can also be applied to solve human problems.

Man Ha Tse, an S.J.D. candidate studying at Harvard Law School, also said he found the talk worthwhile.

“I think, probably, a majority of the population doesn’t even think of this as an issue that is worthy of serious scholarly intention,” she said, “So I always think it’s important to have serious scholars like Martha Nussbaum putting forward these ideas. I think it makes a difference, ultimately, in that way.”

organizations, eight percent indicated they planned to go work for the government or public institutions, and four percent indicated they would freelance or take on individual entrepreneurial pursuits.

The report’s findings come as Harvard is redoubling its efforts to steer graduates toward public service — a post-graduate path College alumni have historically been reluctant to pursue. Twenty-five percent of graduates entered consulting or finance in 2017, while just seven percent entered the public sector or worked for non-profits. Similarly, 25 percent of graduates entered consulting or finance in 2016, while six percent went into the public sector or non-profits.

Newly installed University President Lawrence S. Bacow pitched the importance of public service to alumni and students during his first trip to Washington, D.C. as president this summer. And, in his inauguration speech earlier this month, he reiterated his commitment to to increase funding for undergraduate public service internships.

Harvard’s newest alumni were also awarded 122 fellowships, including seven Rhodes scholarships, one Marshall, 16 Fulbright Grants, and six Schwarzman scholarships.

The idea of immediately enrolling in graduate school seems to have fallen out of vogue at Harvard, according to OCS Director Robin Mount. Fourteen percent of graduating seniors last May said they planned to attend a full-time graduate or professional school, down from 19 percent in 2017.

“Students used to go direct­

ly to medical school and law school,” Mount said in an interview. “And now both medical school and law school are really encouraging students to take at least one year off, if not two, so we’re not seeing as many students going straight into graduate school.”

Still, Mount noted that the 14 percent figure excludes students who choose to attend graduate or professional school several years after leaving college.

“About 83 percent of our students will go back to graduate or professional school,” Mount said. Mount describes life after graduation as “a 10-year journey of sort of discovering what you’re interested in, what questions you want to try and answer, where you feel you can make an impact.”

The senior job report also showed that jobs in technology have overtaken consulting in post-grad popularity. The percentage of students going into tech has steadily grown; six percent entered the field in 2013, compared to 11 percent in 2018.

Mount said students are also increasingly interested in “telling diverse stories” — meaning they plan to pursue careers in “creative writing or writing for television or streaming services, music, theater.”

Six percent of the Class of 2018 indicated they were unsure of their future plans. OCS provides guidance and advising after graduation specifically targeted to students suffering from professional indeicison.

After a six month follow-up, “we offer them special help with one of our advisers who’s in the area closest to what they’re interested in,” Mount said.

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THE HARVARD CRIMSON | October 22, 2018

Page 6

Editorial The Crimson Editorial board

column

Wealthy Children Should Not Get a Leg Up in Admissions

Young Voters and Excitement, Or Lack Thereof

L

ast week, federal court proceedings in the Students for Fair Admissions-led lawsuit against Harvard revealed that the College has an entrenched preference for the children of wealthy donors. We do not find these new developments particularly surprising. This preference, perhaps designed to help keep Harvard financially afloat, has long been an open secret. However, as unsurprising as these revelations are, we still find them unacceptable.

While we are hardly shocked by the confirmation that Harvard tips the scales of its admissions in favor of the children of prolific donors, we are still discomfited by the incongruity of this potential quid-pro quo with the mission of this college — for the same reason we have many times called for the elimination of legacy preference in the College’s admissions.

Indeed, Harvard’s preference for both legacy students and children of wealthy donors has thrown the College’s purportedly holistic admissions standards into serious question, and stands out as deeply incompatible with its mission.

The College states that its mission to seek out and build promising students across the globe who show the promise and skill to become leaders in our future society. This message has been repeated numerous times by deans, presidents,

and the very admissions officers who admitted us.

Yet we are now faced more bluntly than ever with the reality that some of our peers have gotten here — at least, in no small part — because of their families’ monetary clout. Harvard’s unabashed

Indeed, Harvard’s preference for both legacy students and children of wealthy donors has thrown the College’s purportedly holistic admissions standards into serious question, and stands out as deeply incompatible with its mission. preference for these applicants undercuts its claim to educate the future leaders of the world.

Moreover, we are disturbed by the way SFFA has attempted to equivocate affirmative action and preference for the children of wealthy donors.

It is incredibly reductive to analogize these two admissions preferenc-

es. Unlike a preference for the children of wealthy donors, affirmative action is meant to redress, in small part, the inequities that students coming from certain backgrounds face. Affirmative action — especially at an intitution like Harvard — can offer disadvantaged students the ability to excel.

Admitting students from wealthy and well-connected backgrounds without a guarantee of the same rigorous process that applies to the rest of the class diminishes the legitimacy of Harvard’s admissions process.

SFFA has seized upon this as a way to discredit affirmative action, but this is a slippery slope. By doing so, they conflate these two very different admissions practices. We hope that the courts as well as SFFA come to see the error in their reasoning and the nuances between these two controversial practices. Indeed, one is far more equitable than the other.

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.

Michelle I. gao

L

between the lines

Two weeks ago, I finally registered to vote.

It was anticlimactic, though, and not just because I had to wait until the envelope with my registration forms reached my county’s board of elections. It was anticlimactic because I had no real excitement about the process.

That lack of momentousness was weird, because it should be exciting to become a voter — especially a young voter — right now. We might be the key demographic in the 2018 midterms, and it does seem like we are excited. Here at Harvard, “young people have been really excited about this upcoming election,” as one student put it. Around the country, “Young voters [are] energized for midterms,” as a Tufts survey announces. Consequently, “young voters will decide the 2018 elections” and “have the ‘potential to change politics,’” as many headlines maintain.

The caveat being, of course, “if they actually vote.”

Thus, people are trying to make voting even more exciting. Here at the College, the Harvard-Yale Votes Challenge taps into our deepest rivalry because “it would be exciting to challenge each other to increase our voter participation rates.” Elsewhere, the nonprofit Chicago Votes hosted “Give a Shit Weekend” — a bluntly named event designed to “get young people excited about election season.” The most ambitious initiative might be comedian Billy Eichner and comedy website Funny Or Die’s “Glam Up the Midterms” tour — it wants to get young people to think of the elections as the “sexiest event of the year.”

Perhaps the most effective burst of excite-

Don’t settle for the scenario in which young voters vote just because we think that it will be exciting or sexy.

Griffin R. Andres—Crimson Photographer

Op-ed

Harvard Fails the Humanities By ben M. roth

T

his past Wednesday, Harvard presented the inaugural Mahindra Award for Global Distinction in the Humanities to the eminent novelist J. M. Coetzee. In doing so, it had a chance to show the Harvard community and wider world why the humanities matter. It failed, offering a slapdash ceremony that instead trivialized literature, philosophy, history, music, and art, confirming instead of rebutting misguided pronouncements of the humanities’ continued slide into irrelevance.

The Mahindra Award “celebrates the work and vision of an internationally renowned public figure whose career has contributed significantly to the flourishing of the arts and humanities.” It is meant to “provide an opportunity to give wide visibility to various aspects of the humanities, not only as a group of academic disciplines but as a form of public service.” Coetzee was an excellent choice for the inaugural award, to add to his Nobel, two Bookers, and countless others. In novels like “Waiting for the Barbarians,” “Life and Times of Michael K,” and “Elizabeth Costello,” he has given the world serious, disturbing, and lasting meditations on human pathos and intellect, dignity and indignity.

One cannot imagine any better recipient, only a better and more fitting ceremony.

Homi K. Bhabha, Director of the Mahindra Humanities Center and master of ceremonies for the evening, introduced Coetzee by holding forth grandiosely and at great length, indeed seemingly for longer than Coetzee himself. If one actually listened to Bhabha — perhaps one isn’t supposed to do this at awards ceremonies — it quickly became apparent that he wasn’t really saying anything at all. Sadly, this was far from the low point of the evening.

After University President Lawrence S. Bacow’s presentation of the award,

Coetzee gave an oblique acceptance speech. Then Bhabha noted that he had “playfully” asked Coetzee to name three of his favorite things, and the majority of the evening was handed over to a rambling, associative discussion between eleven intellectuals, from Harvard and beyond, of bicycles, Bach, and Roget’s Thesaurus. This half-scripted, half-extemporaneous group discussion quickly become so farcical that Jamaica Kincaid prefaced her comments by openly complaining that she had begged Bhabha to let her skip the event, before riffing on her hatred of the thesaurus and drawing the evening’s most enthusiastic response from the crowd. Robert B. Pippin, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Chicago and Coetzee’s former colleague on the Committee on Social Thought there, was flown in for the evening to say all of two-dozen words. One was left wondering what connection, if any, other of the panelists had to Coetzee or his work, and how many thousands of dollars, ever harder to find for the humanities, had been spent on the proceedings.

As my companion for the evening put it, it was like overhearing a dinner party conversation, of interest not in itself, but only if one were already invested in the guests. To put it more bluntly: The format of the evening reduced the learning and eloquence of Stephen J. Greenblatt, Elaine Scarry, and the rest of its distinguished panelists to mere conversational fodder. I was left to imagine what one of my first-year students, if in the audience, would have thought: Is this all that the humanities is for? Making clever connections between Bach and bicycles in a desperate attempt to impress? To pass time? Why not let the panelists actually talk with substance about the work of the writer we were there to celebrate?

Only 15 percent of Harvard’s most recently graduated class reported concentrating in the humanities. A similar-

ly small percentage of the newest class intends to concentrate there. Strikingly, Harvard does not break down this data according to the traditional triad of the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Instead, it separates the biological sciences, physical sciences, engineering, computer science, and math all apart into their own categories, so that it can pretend that Harvard College remains a balanced liberal arts institution, instead of one increasingly dominated by empirical and quantitative fields and careerist anxieties. The Mahindra ceremony, intended to give visibility to the humanities, certainly gave students no reason to think this trend away from the humanities is troubling.

Award ceremonies are not academic conferences, and one shouldn’t attend them expecting to hear papers of rigorous interpretation and argument. But why did the University dedicate an hour of the ceremony to what was essentially a joke? Why not choose two or three speakers engaged both intellectually and personally with Coetzee and allow them to do what critics, historians, and philosophers can: open up Coetzee’s work for the audience and wider world, showing them why it matters, why the humanities matter, why the humanities still matter?

I imagine that Coetzee enjoyed Stephen Prutsman’s performances of Bach, but otherwise found the proceedings ridiculous, beneath his own famous and well earned moral seriousness. One wouldn’t be surprised if he came away from the evening with an altogether lower opinion of our institution.

Harvard can do better: for the humanities, and for the next person in Coetzee’s place. Let us hope, in two years when the Mahindra Award is handed out again, it does.

—Ben M. Roth is a Preceptor in the Harvard College Writing Program.

ment has come from, of all places, Taylor Swift.

She broke her long political silence to encourage people to vote, and people actually did. The site to which she linked, vote.org, reported a “massive surge” in registrations of young voters, who make up the majority of her fan demographic.

For all the noise, though, Swift’s actual post was reasonable and uncontroversial. She simply stated whom she was going to vote for and why, but she didn’t compel anyone to vote the same way. To anyone who looked at her Instagram, all she asked you to do was: “educate yourself,” “register,” and “vote based on who most closely represents your values.”

It is funny that this message was the one that broke through. To me, it showed the silliness of us young people waiting for jolts of excitement, like a celebrity endorsement, to spur us to register. Swift added her sheen of celebrity to a mundane act, but she was also highlighting how mundane the act is.

Voting is not very exciting. There may be a few interesting swing districts or states, in which the act of voting for a revolutionary candidate would truly be exciting. But most of us cannot participate in those races. For most of us who live in places that lean one way or another, race outcomes are essentially predetermined, and the act of voting itself does not matter much. I confess that I simply expect the gears of democracy to keep turning, regardless of my own civic participation — elections will be held, voters will vote, losers will

Voting may feel mundane, but that voting can feel mundane is the real privilege. People had to fight for this right hundreds of years ago. Women had to fight just a hundred years ago.

It is shortsighted and selfish of us not to vote, holding out for something as fickle as excitement. give up power, and winners will rise in their place.

This is not to say that voting is stupid — on the contrary. Voting may feel mundane, but that voting can feel mundane is the real privilege. People had to fight for this right hundreds of years ago.

Women had to fight just a hundred years ago. It is shortsighted and selfish of us not to vote, holding out for something as fickle as excitement.

So voting is not overhyped, but excitement is.

I love that there are so many initiatives trying to get young people excited to vote.

I hope that they make the difference in the upcoming midterms. But I worry that they will not address the deeper dysfunction in our civic culture, manifested in consistently low voter participation rates and frantic action taken only after the crises of democracy that we have seen since the last election.

Don’t let us young voters off the hook. Don’t settle for the scenario in which young voters vote just because we think that it will be exciting or sexy. Even if we swing the 2018 midterms, there are deeper problems with our mindsets around voting. Because voting will not always feel exciting, and because voting is not really that exciting — but that is all the more reason we must do it.

—Michelle I. Gao ’21, a Crimson Editorial editor, lives in Adams House. Her column usually appears on alternate Wednesdays.

Page 7

Sports

this week’s games

preview

THE HARVARD CRIMSON | october 22, 2018

thursday ______________________________________

friday ______________________________________

saturday ______________________________________

Field Hockey vs. Boston College 6:00 p.m., Berylson Field

Women’s Ice Hockey at Cornell 3:00 p.m., Ithaca, N.Y.

Football at Dartmouth 1:30 p.m., Hanover, N.H.

Women’s Volleyball vs. Columbia 7:00 p.m., Malkin Athletic Center

Men’s Ice Hockey at Dartmouth 7:00 p.m., Hanover, N.H.

field hockey

Harvard Drops Princeton, Remains Unbeaten in Ivy By tahmid ahmed Contributing Writer

Saturday’s win against Princeton wasn’t just to make a statement. It wasn’t just to prove the doubters wrong. It wasn’t just to move the team a step closer to the Ivy League Championship. The win was about a devoted and determined family who played their hearts out and fought back multiple times, like all championship winning teams.

This past Saturday, field hockey dispatched of No. 3 Princeton (11-4, 4-1 Ivy) with a final score of 3-1. With the victory, the team is in prime position to capture the Ivy League crown.

“I am so incredibly proud of this team, this family,” senior captain Kathleen Young said.

“We have all worked so hard for this moment and these are the moments we play for.”

Harvard (13-1, 5-0) started the game off with a hot start, as juniors Bente van Vlijmen and Casey Allen scored goals at 5:46 and 19:37, respectively.

“It was an unbelievable feeling,” said van Vlijmen of the first goal. “It felt unreal but we had to keep our heads in the game. We brought incredible energy going into the game and therefore we were able to score goals early in the first half. This allowed us to shock Princeton and put them on their heels.”

Van Vlijmen has now scored a total of 11 goals in the season and leads the Ivy League in scoring with 27 points (11 goals, five assists).

“A lot of girls are scoring and it’s awesome to see that our team has depth and we don’t just rely on individuals,” van Vlijmen said.

The Crimson extended its comfortable two-score lead at 44:45 with a goal courtesy of sophomore Tessel Huibregtsen. The midfielder was not just a goal scorer, but also a key facilitator as she contrib­

ONE FOR EACH Bente van Vlijmen, Casey Allen, and Tessel Huibregtsen were the Crimson goal scorers in Saturday’s 3-1 victory over Princeton. timothy r. o’meara—Crimson photographer

uted an assist. For the second straight game, Huibregtsen scored multiple points, and she now possesses a career high of 14 points (5 goals, four assists).

However, it was not just the offense that helped the team.

The defense also made a significant impact. The team only conceded one goal during the contest at 66:03 and first-year goalkeeper Ellie Shahbo had four saves.

“I feel very honored to be a part of such a hard working team,” Shahbo said. “I mean, people were throwing their bodies on the line to make sure

the ball stayed out of our goal and rolled into theirs — today’s game was a huge testament to the character of the girls on the team.”

When asked what kept her momentum going throughout the game, Shahbo attributed her tenacity to the team’s determination.

“At the end of the game there was literally blood, sweat and tears left on the field,” the goalie said. “Playing big games, like Princeton, is one of the reasons you play sports — to have a challenge to overcome, and the next best thing is getting to do

it with people you love.”

Shahbo has now won seven straight starts, four of which were against Ivy foes, and has conceded just three goals during that period.

This marks the team’s first win against a top-five opponent during the Tjerk van Herwaarden era.

“It is fantastic to see this program take massive steps forward,” coach van Herwaarden said. “We know we can play with the best teams in this country.”

The team is now on a 10game winning streak, the sec-

ond longest in the nation, and has won 20 of its last 21 Ivy League meetings. Although the team displayed some weaknesses during the game, it played extremely well for the most part.

“Our game plan was executed very well,” van Herwaarden said. “Our attack and defensive unit stepped up and took care of business. There were moments where we could have kept more control — it was overall a high intensity game and we lost some control at some moments.”

Van Herwaarden attributes

much of the Crimson’s success to the team’s focus on reaching its potential.

“That has been the focus from day one,” said the seven-year veteran head coach.

“The records and streaks are an outcome of that process. The combination of a very strong defense, a forward line that can score goals, and a midfield that is able to go with speed is truly the reason for our current success.”

The team is set to face off against No. 11 Boston College next Thursday at Berylson Field.

crew

Harvard Heads to Charles River for the 54th Regatta

By Mohamed Ahmed Contributing Writer

A s midterm exams come to a close, Harvard crew underwent its first test of the year.

Over the course of last weekend, the Crimson participated in numerous races, including the men’s club eights and light­

weight fours, which both managed to secure the best times in their respective races.

Harvard placed first in the men’s club eights with a time of 14:46.85 and in the women’s lightweight fours with a time of 20:07.050.

“The team overall is extremely happy with its perfor-

mance,” said Erica Holmes, captain of the women’s heavyweight team. “It was a really fantastic day for us.”

For the women’s championship eights, the Harvard women’s team not only beat several other schools, securing 12th place, but managed to beat its time at the Head of the Charles

last year. The team was the ninth collegiate team to cross the finish line, finishing with a time of 17.46.122. Stanford and California emerged as the top two collegiate teams in the field, and Yale and Princeton also both bested Harvard in the race.

“That shows huge improve-

EITHER OAR All four of Harvard’s crews competed at the historic Head of the Charles Regatta this weekend. Quinn G. PErini—Crimson photographer

ment for us,” Holmes said. “Really great progress from where we were this time last year.”

Senior David Wexner, captain of the men’s lightweight crew, described his team’s performance as a mixed bag.

“I think some boats outperformed the rank; that’s always good to see,” Wexner said. “Our lightweight eight was third last year, sixth this year. You would like to see that place a little better.”

The top boat for the men’s lightweight finished with a time of 16:14.324. Cornell proved to be the victor in the competitive field, finishing just three seconds ahead of Princeton with a time of 15:43.872.

In the lightweight fours, Harvard finished in sixth with a time of 18:26.620. Georgetown finished more than a minute ahead of the Crimson with a time of 17:33.192.

One thing Wexner mentioned that his team executed well was managing the conditions associated with race day, which included the large headwind that occurred during the race.

Holmes also credits her teammates for the great job they did navigating the wind that occurred during their race.

“The wind was really tough today,” Holmes said. “Huge, huge gusts of wind, which gave us a lot of technical things to focus on, like getting the blades to the water faster.”

Not even cold, brittle temperature could drive spectators away from the race. Throughout the day, as the rowers competed, they felt the presence of the large body of spectators cheering them on.

“We would have a huge sup-

port base at Weld, our boathouse,” Holmes said. “Hundreds of alumni and family friends that are cheering for us.”

When describing what her thought process was throughout the race, Holmes mentioned the importance of finding the boat’s stride.

“We had a goal to settle in to a good rhythm,” Holmes said.

“Once we found that rhythm we knew we were going to have a good race.”

Other notable performances on the men’s side included placing fifth in the men’s club fours, and placing first, eighth, and ninth in the men’s club eights.

Harvard also placed sixth and ninth in the men’s lightweight eights.

The men’s heavyweight crew finished fifth overall in a field of 33 teams. Harvard was the third collegiate team to finish, trailing Brown and Yale. The Bulldogs finished 19 seconds in front of Harvard with a time of 14.52.556.

On the women’s side, the Radcliffe crew finished first in the women’s lightweight fours and also placed fifth and ninth in the women’s lightweight eights. In the clubs eight, the team finished with a top time of 16:57.56 but was disqualified, nullifying its victory.

Overall, Harvard’s performance was a good one, with the Crimson managing to secure not one, but two first-place victories.

“Our team is really excited for the coming year ahead,” Holmes said. “We are in a much better place than this time last year. The team worked really hard over the summer to come back stronger. We have seen that show this weekend.”

Sports Weekend Recap

SCORES

field hockey @ princeton W, 3-1 _______________________________________________________

men’s soccer @ Princeton l, 3-0 ________________________________________________________

woMen’s volleyball vs. dartmouth w, 3-1 ________________________________________________________

women’s ice hockey vs. dartmouth w, 3-1 ________________________________________________________

men’s water polo vs. loyola marymount w, 1 4-11 ________________________________________________________

men’s water polo @ Santa clara l, 15-13 ________________________________________________________

rugby vs. brown w, 76-7 ________________________________________________________

men’s water polo @ San jose st. l, 13-12 ________________________________________________________

Women’s soccer @ Princeton l, 2-0 ________________________________________________________

women’s golf @ no. stanford invitational 16th ________________________________________________________ Timothy R. O’MEARA—Crimson photographer

football

harvard’s upset bid falls short

By Jack Stockless Crimson Staff Writer

Glancing up above the concrete bleachers of Harvard Stadium at the conclusion of the third quarter, one might have thought that the scoreboard was not displaying the Harvard–Princeton game. Tigers 10, Crimson 7 was the tally at the end of three. For a team that had averaged 52 points over its first five contests, Princeton was struggling mightily and Harvard was within striking distance in a crucial Ivy League battle.

That all changed in the fourth quarter, as the contest quickly devolved into a gunslinging battle between the pair of offenses.

With 48 seconds remaining in the game, the Crimson pulled within eight points courtesy of a toe-tap touchdown to Tyler Adams in the back right corner of the end zone. With two timeouts remaining — not enough to prevent Princeton from wasting the rest of the clock — Harvard sent out its onside kicking unit for the second time of the quarter.

The kick from Jonah Lipel bounded twice but fell right into the waiting arms of a Ti­

gers special teamer. Just like that, Harvard’s longshot bid to forge a comeback was all for naught.

With three knees to run the clock down, Princeton solidified a tight 29-21 decision. Despite the loss, the Crimson (3-3, 1-2 Ivy) played the Tigers (6-0, 3-0) better than any of their prior opponents had to this point.

Princeton’s 29 points represented far less than its previous low of 45 against Columbia, and Harvard’s 22 marked the first time any opponent had posted more than 10 against the visitors.

“You take away the late score and I’m not sure we could’ve played any better defensively,” Harvard coach Tim Murphy said. “I use the word heroically. That’s how well we played.

That’s how hard we played.”

Before the Adams touchdown, there was a near identical situation to allow the Crimson to cut the Tigers’ lead to 2214. Bolstered by a favorable pass interference call on a fourth and 10 chance, senior quarterback Tom Stewart ultimately aired out a deep pass to senior receiver Henry Taylor, who corralled the ball, tapped his heel, and fell backwards out of the end zone.

Along with that pass interference, Princeton accumulated seven total penalties after recording just 14 in its first five games.

“At the end of the day, we’ve got to be more disciplined and that’s something we preach,” Princeton coach Bob Surace said. “Those things against a team that’s as disciplined and as good as Harvard, that’s the recipe for a tough day.”

Harvard’s hopes were quickly dashed following the Taylor touchdown as well. An onside kick attempt from Lipel failed to regift possession to his offense. Two plays later, running back Charlie Volker exploded for a 49-yard score to put the Tigers up by 15.

A penalty against the home team at the outset of the final frame proved costly. Princeton opted to keep its offense on the field on fourth and four.

Quarterback John Lovett targeted receiver Stephen Carlson, who missed the pass but got wrapped up with defensive back Bennett Bay near the goal line. Pass interference, first down.

Lovett capitalized on the mistake, as he let loose a bullet toward the end zone. Jesper Horsted, cutting right to

left, funnelled the pass into his hands and fell to the ground for the touchdown. After a blocked point-after attempt, the Tigers extended their lead to 16-7.

On the Crimson’s next drive, Princeton jumped all over a reeling Harvard team. Stewart found Taylor for a short completion on their own end of the field, but defensive back TJ Floyd pried the ball from the wideout’s grasp, and defensive tackle Jake Strain smothered the ball to give the Tigers possession at their opponent’s 29.

However, the Crimson halted the visitors’ progress by driving it back eight yards and forcing a punt.

Taylor’s turnover did not lead directly to points, but it was one of two on the day for the senior wideout, and the first one was much more influential.

On a long drive that started at the endpoint of the first quarter, the Crimson marched down to the Tigers’ 23. Looking to erase the zero on its end of the scoreboard, Harvard opted for a double reverse pass. Taylor fired to Jack Cook at the goal line, but his pass sailed into double coverage and Floyd came down with the jump ball. Instead of seven points for the home team, the visitors marched downfield

i scream, you scream Sophomore back Aaron Shampklin ran for 123 yards in the tilt against Princeton. Timothy R. O’MEARA—Crimson photographer

to tack on three.

The third quarter took on a completely different character from the 19-14 fourth. Neither team advanced into the red zone throughout the stanza, and the defenses completely outshined the offensive units. On its first two drives of the third, the Princeton offense gained 13 combined yards. The second series was punctuated by a sack from Crimson defensive end Scott Garrison for a loss of nine.

On Harvard’s first offensive chance of the period, the Tigers’ defense responded and quieted the home crowd. Two snaps of the three and out resulted in Stewart collapsing to the ground on sacks. By the end of the third quarter, the teams combined for six punts on six drives. Princeton narrowly won the game’s sack battle, 4-3.

Crucial to the Crimson’s limiting of the Tigers to just 10 points through three quarters was its third-down defense.

Coming into the tilt, Princeton’s offense ranked third in the nation in third-down percentage (53 percent). It succeeded on just five of 18 thirddown tries.

“Their safeties were coming up and when we had the box blocked, the safeties came up and they were tackling us for four yard gains,” Surace said.

“Third downs in particular there were some fights. It was a matter of inches on both sides.”

Two consecutive plays early in the second quarter summarized the usually electrifying Princeton offense. On the first snap, Horsted appeared to have dropped a pass, but reached out with his left hand as he was hit to salvage the completion. The next play, Lovett faced pressure and bobbled the ball. Rather than play it safe, Lovett pulled the ball up from between his legs and fired a long bomb to Horsted, who made a leaping two-handed catch.

Unsurprisingly, Horsted was Lovett’s favorite target.

The senior tandem connected for 126 yards in the air. In this game, Lovett — wearing a large cast on his left arm — relied more on his arm than on his feet, as he carried the ball just 45 yards, his season low.

“We were just aware he could tuck it and run at any time, so we made sure we stayed and played assignment and sound football so that when it came time and he tucked it and ran, we had someone in position to make a play,” captain Zach Miller said.

Despite the theatrics, the

Crimson’s defense held strong and curtailed the visitors’ momentum, limiting the Tigers to three points on that possession.

After 30 minutes of play, Princeton’s 10 points marked its lowest first-half output all season.

In fact, the Tigers scored more than 10 points in the second quarter alone in each of their first five games. Strong stands by the defensive line were especially useful — defensive tackle Stone Hart tackled Lovett twice for losses.

Later in the second quarter, a read option delivered for the home side. Harvard marched down to the Tigers’ five yard line on the strength of completions to Adam Scott and runs

by Aaron Shampklin. On first and goal, Shampklin received a wildcat snap, fooled nearly everyone in the stadium with a fake handoff to B.J. Watson, and took the ball himself for the score. The Crimson pulled within a field goal, and it managed to maintain that deficit heading into the locker room.

On Princeton’s first drive of the game, it appeared as though Harvard had a chance to stop the Tigers’ potent offense early on. The first two plays saw Lovett brought down behind the line of scrimmage and then throw an incompletion. However, Lovett regrouped for two consecutive first downs, and ultimately the dual threat signal caller took the ball 33 yards on fourth-and-one for a touchdown to open the scoring.

Stewart struggled in the first 30 minutes of play, facing immense pressure from the opposing defensive line. He finished the half 4-for-12 for 42 yards, but a number of completions to Scott set up Harvard’s first touchdown. Stewart regrouped in the second half, finishing 19-of-35 for 223 yards and two touchdowns. The senior field general spread out his targets, as each of Adams, Scott, and Taylor finished with over 40 yards in the air.

“You wonder if we should play two minute offense all the time,” Murphy said. “Very impressed with [Stewart’s] composure and his ability to throw the deep ball…. I think the bottom line is they were playing a lot of prevent defense, and we took advantage of that and we got behind them a couple times.”

The backfield carried the offensive attack until the fourth quarter. By the end of the game, Shampklin had racked up 123 yards. jack.stockless@thecrimson.com