The Harvard Crimson - Volume CXLIX, No. 78

Harvard

Oktoberfest

CRIMSON

Former Fed Chair Wins Nobel Prize

HIGHEST HONORS

Former Chairman of the United States Federal Reserve Ben S. Bernanke ’75 was one of three recip ients of the Nobel Prize in Economics Monday morn ing. He becomes the 32nd Nobel laureate to have graduated from Har vard College and the second College alum awarded a Nobel Prize in 2022.

Editorial Snippets: Midterm Malaise

FALL REFLECTIONS

Earlier this semester, our Editorial Board rejoiced in the fact that we had finally reached a new nor mal. As we prepare for a seemingly-endless barrage of exams and papers, we asked our members to reflect on this season with humor while also captur ing the unique sentiment of a cohort experiencing the full renaissance of “normal” student life.

Harvard to Deactivate Alumni Emails

BY VIVI E. LU AND

J. TEICHHOLTZ

Ann Forman Lippens ’11 said she “barely used” her alumni email forwarding address after her graduation, except in one im portant moment — to email her now-husband after meeting him at a bar.

“I didn’t want him to have my gmail address in case he ended up being a total weirdo,” Lippens, a former Crimson Design editor, wrote in an email. “So I used my @post.harvard.edu account to email him.”Now married a de cade later, Lippens speculated that email forwarding gave her a sense of privacy and perhaps even the confidence to reach out. But last month, the Harvard Alumni Association announced it will deactivate all alumni email for warding addresses over the next two years, leaving some alums concerned about the loss of this means of communication. Email forwarding services provide an alias where emails can be re ceived but are not fully-function ing inboxes.

Graduates following the Class of 2020 did not have the ability to create forwarding accounts.

Some existing accounts will be deactivated as early as Dec. 1, per an email from the Harvard Alumni Association sent to the impacted alums, which cited

Men’s

with

Close Ivy Contest

Endowment Drops $2.3B

Harvard Endowment Falls to $50.9 Billion

BY ERIC YAN CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

The value of Harvard University’s endowment fell by $2.3 billion in fiscal year 2022 after the Harvard Management Company delivered a 1.8 percent loss on its investments — its first year of negative returns since 2016.

The losses, which brought the en dowment’s total value to $50.9 billion, represent the third-worst annual invest ment results Harvard has seen in the last 20 years, coming in stark contrast to the record-breaking 33.6 percent returns the University enjoyed last year.

The figures were released by Harvard on Thursday in the University’s Annu al Financial Report, which offers a rare glimpse into Harvard’s finances and in

DEAN

vestmentstrategyeachOctober.

Harvards negative returns come as high inflation and rising interest rates continue to rattle financial markets.

In a note announcing the results, HMC CEO N.P. “Narv” Narvekar wrote that the primary reason behind the endowment losses was “the poor performance of global equity markets.” The S&P 500 fell by 11 percent during fiscal year 2022, whichendedinJune.

Despite the losses, Harvard officials say they are satisfied with HMCs performance. In a note included in the report, University treasurer Paul J. Finnegan and Harvard Vice President for Finance Thomas J. Hollister wrote that the re turns were a “very good result given the significant declines in both the equity

FY 2022 Ended with $406M Budget Surplus

BY ERIC YAN CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Harvard ended fiscal year 2022 with a $406 million budget surplus, its largest in at least the last two decades, as revenues rose above pre-pandemic levels follow ing two consecutive years of decline.

The University brought in $5.8 billion in revenue over the last fiscal year — up 11 percent from fiscal year 2021. The rise was driven in part by rebounds in rev enue streams that suffered during the pandemic, such as tuition and room and board. More enrolled students were on Harvard’s campus last year than at any point in school history due to the return of undergraduates who deferred enroll ment during the pandemic.

Expenses also rose by 9 percent, an

increase that was muted by staff shortag es and supply chain challenges that pre vented the school from spending more.

The figures were released by Harvard on Thursday in the University’s Annu al Financial Report, which offers a rare glimpse into Harvard’s finances and in vestment strategy each October.

“The difficulty in hiring people and underlying supply-chain issues were common problems across the country this past year,” Harvard Vice President for Finance Thomas J. Hollister and Trea surer Paul J. Finnegan wrote in a note in cluded in the report. “The combination of the temporary boost in revenues along with temporarily suppressed spending drove a significant portion of the $406 million surplus.”

Gay Talks Pres. Search

BY ARIEL H. KIM AND MEIMEI XU CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

Though some facult y members put for ward Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sci ences Dean Claudine Gay as a candidate for the University’s next president, she remained adamant that her focus is on her current work as dean in an interview Wednesday.

“I have a great job, and I have an agenda that excites me and I’m singularly focused on that,” Gay said.

In June, Harvard President Lawrence S.Bacow announced that he will step down next year, launching the search for the University’s next leader. The presiden tial search committee has since named faculty, staff, and student advisory com mittees to give input on the selection pro cess.

Gay said Bacow has supported the FAS and appreciates the school’s contri butions to the University, adding that she would like to see the next president take on similar qualities.

“One of the things that I really appre ciated about working with him is that

he’s always ready to make my problems his problems and join me in trying to get through solutions,” she said, “My simple hope is that I have a partner like the part ner that I’ve had for the last four years. So I really look forward to the search.”

This year, the FAS brought in Govern ment professor Taeku Lee and History professors Erika Lee and Jesse E. Hoff nung-Garskof ’93 as part of an ethnic studies cluster hire initiative launched in 2019.

In addition to the three professors, Gay said she is “equally excited” to welcome the dozen new Social Sciences and Arts and Humanities faculty who will be doing work related to ethnicity, indigeneity, and migration.

“Many of them are coming to Harvard after really impactful, institution-build ing careers at other universities, and I think that really bodes well for us in terms of what the future looks like here for building and conceptualizing a really dynamic academic program in the broad areas of migration,” she said.

As the ethnic studies cluster hire draws to a close, the FAS continues two

Math Prof. Melanie Wood Wins ‘Genius Grant’

BY MARINA QU CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Harvard Mathematics professor Melanie Matchett Wood was named one of 25 re cipients of the MacArthur Fellowship on Wednesday for her work in “addressing the foundational questions in number theory from the perspective of arithmetic statistics.”

Wood joined Harvard’s Math De partment in 2020 and is the sole Har vard faculty member among this year’s MacArthur recipients. Known as the “ge nius grant,” the prize is an “$800,000, nostrings-attached award to extraordinarily

talented and creative individuals as an investment in their potential,” according to the MacArthur Fellowship Foundation website.

“This was a huge surprise,” Wood said in an interview. “Even for a mathemati cian to win, it’s exciting, and so certainly, this is something that I would never have expected to be me.”

Since the fellowship was founded in 1981, only 42 of the total 1,111 winners have studied mathematics, statistics, or proba bility.

Two Harvard College alumni — MIT professor Danna Freedman ’03 and Yale professor Emily Wang ’97 — were also named MacArthur fellows on Wednes

day.

Wood studies major mathematical questions, such as number theory, by ap plying concepts from other topics in the field.

“Lately, especially, I’ve been thinking a lot about using ideas from probability the ory to answer questions that don’t really seem like they have anything to do with probability or at least traditional proba bility at first,” she said.

Wood added that she appreciates the MacArthur Foundation’s recognition of “the creativity and the boundary-pushing in mathematics,” which she said can be harder to see in math than in disciplines in the humanities.

“Something that is very meaningful to me is how the MacArthur Foundation is honoring and celebrating the creativity in mathematics,” she said.

Wood’s journey in math began in sev enth grade when a teacher encouraged her to participate in Math Counts, a mid dle school math competition.

“To me, in middle school and high school, doing math competitions gave me a chance to face problems that I really had to puzzle on,” Wood said. “I have to try different things and to consider new ap proaches, and that part of math is the part that I really, really fell in love with.”

HUA Discusses Budget, Blue Bikes, HSA

Former DOJ Advisor Talks Regulation

HMS Prof. Awarded Medical Prize

A FUNDING INCREASE. The Harvard Undergraduate Association announced its official 2023 budget, approved social funding, and introduced a Blue Bikes subsidy program at its weekly general meeting Sunday. The Association convened in the Smith Center’s Collaborative Commons. After receiving a $550,000 allocation from the Dean of Students office last week — a 10 percent increase from that of the since-dissolved Undergraduate Council — HUA leaders spent the majority of Sunday’s meeting describing fund allocation. BY J. SELLERS HILL —

for

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AROUND THE IVIES

Despite being completely unranked in Coin Desk’s Best Universities for Blockchain at this time last year, Yale has risen to now place 34th overall. This change recognizes Yale’s recent investment in blockchain research, such as hir ing four new faculty members to its Computer Science staff. Yale aso recently received a nearly $6 million grant for blockchain research. Despite the jump in rankings, Yale falls just short of Har vard, which took the 31st slot on CoinDesk’s list.

After setting up tents on College Green on Sept. 14, student members of Fossil Free Penn have weathered extreme conditions and remained throughout fall break. The students are occupy ing the Green with the goal of getting the Uni versity to meet three main demands: preserving the Universit y City townhomes, completing fos sil fuel divestment, and making payments in lieu of taxes to Philadelphia’s public schools.

THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN

Former Princeton professors Ben Bernanke and Philip Dybvig were awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences alongside Douglas Diamond, a professor at the University of Chicago, for their research on banks and financial crises. This year, Bernanke and Dybvig are the only two Nobel Prize winners affiliated with Princeton.

THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

On Tuesday, nearly 60 student members of the Brown chapter of the Sunrise Movement attended an ExxonMobile recruitment event to protest the oil and gas company’s effect on the environment. ExxonMobile planned the event to advertise its job and internship openings, but was met with criticism claiming it failed to act to prevent climate change. Harvard students simi larly disrupted an ExxonMobile recruiting event in Cambridge on Wednesday.

The Week in Pictures

JUMPING FOR JOY. A performer balanced on stilts during an Oktoberfest celebration held in Cambridge last weekend. The celebration featured an array of entertainment, including music and beer gardens. The event also included the 17th Annual HONK! Parade, the first-ever Filipino American Festival in Harvard Square and a poetry festival celebrating the 95th anniversary of the Grolier Poetry Book Shop.

BY JOEY HUANG — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

‘PLEASANTLY SURPRISED.’ Harvard Medical School professor Frederick W. Alt will be awarded the 2023 Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize, one of Germany’s highest medical honors, at an award ceremony held at St. Paul’s Church in Frankfurt, Germany next March. The prize is given annually to scientists who have contributed significantly to medicine. Alt will be recognized for his research investigating how the immune system is capable of recognizing multiple antigens upon first contact.

BY KRISHI KISHORE — CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

‘A WELCOME PUSHBACK.’ Consumer protection expert Eugene I. “Gene” Kimmelman discussed the global impact of the European Union’s digital market regulations at a Harvard Kennedy School event on Tuesday. The event, hosted by the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government, focused on the EU’s Digital Markets Act, which aims to restrict anticompetitive behavior by powerful technology companies. The DMA will impose restraints on large technology companies, such as social networks.

BY SAMUEL P. GOLDSTON AND LEAH J. LOURENCO — CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

The project was temporarily suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Construction of Randolph Hall (pictured) is expected to be finished by the end of 2022.

J. GIORADANO — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

CLIMBING THE WALLS. An indoor rock-climbing facility opened above El Jefe’s new location in Harvard Square in August.

BY TROUNG L. NGUYEN — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

MIDTERMS. Political journalists discussed the 2022 midterm elections at an IOP

MARIACHI.

SPOOKY

MAKING

the College’s first Trans+

Celebration held

JAMMIN’. A group of wind musicians performed at the 43rd annual Oktoberfest celebration in Harvard Square last weekend.

BY MARINA QIU — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

HARVARD SQUARE HOSTS 43RD ANNUAL OKTOBERFEST

Friday 10/14

Facing nine years of prison in Russia, the WNBA basketball player is under emotional pressure and is losing confidence in a swap deal between the U.S. and Russia for her release.

Griner was arrested in February after she was stopped for possession of hashish oil in two vape cartridges present in her luggage. She was then sentenced to nine years in prison in August and is currently in her ninth month of detention. The U.S. government has claimed that her arrest was politically motivated, but Russia denies this claim and there has been no successful agreement to exchange for her release.

What’s Next

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

Sunday 10/16

WILLIAM BELDEN NOBLE LECTURE SERIES: JOHN GREEN

The Memorial Church Sanctuary, 7 p.m.-8 p.m.

Join New York Times bestselling author John Green for a lecture around the moral and ethical questions of the global climate crisis. This is part one of a fourpart series, with lectures throughout the semester.

Green is the author of “The Fault in Our Stars,”

“Looking for Alaska,” and “The Anthropocene Re viewed.”

Saturday 10/15

INTERNATIONAL ARCHAEOLOGY

DAY: MEET AN ARCHAEOLOGIST

Peabody Museum, 11 a.m.-3 p.m.

Learn about archeology with graduate students, from stone tools to string record-keeping systems.

In this hands-on event, you’ll learn about the rise of domestication in the Middle East and the ancient Inca in Peru through artifacts and replicas.

HARVARD VS. UNIVERSITY OF DEL AWARE FIELD HOCKEY

Wednesday 10/19

NUMBER ONE WITH A FORUMLA ONE: TOTO AND SUSIE WOLFF

Klarman Hall, 5 p.m-6 p.m.

Meet Toto Wolff, the Team Principal of the Mer cedes Formula One Team, to learn more about the competitive sport of motor racing.

10/20

THE FIGHT FOR PRIVACY: PROTECT ING DIGNITY, IDENTITY, AND LOVE IN THE DIGITAL AGE

Carr Center, 11 a.m.-12 p.m.

Join speaker Danielle Citron, a professor at the Uni versity of Virginia School of Law, for a discussion of ethics in the age of evolving technology. Part of the “Life 3.0: Ethics and Technology in the 21st Century” talks, the series hopes to address the long-term im

This week, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III affirmed the United States’ commitment to support Kyiv in its ef fort to regain territory after Russia’s attacks on Ukraine in the past year. Austin added that the U.S. and its allies will supply Ukraine with any weapons and supplies it needs. Currently, Ukraine Presi dent Volodymyr Zelensky has claimed the countr y will need more than $57 billion to repair damages and cover expenses incurred by Russia’s invasion.

Tuesday 10/18

FIRESIDE CHAT WITH GORICK NG 6 p.m.

Gorick Ng ’14, the Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author of The Unspoken Rules: Secrets to Start ing Your Career Off Right, is a career adviser at Harvard who focuses on first-generation, low-in come students. Ng is also on the faculty at Uni versity of California, Berkeley.

Friday 10/21

Los Angeles City Council President Nury Martinez resigned Wednesday after she was recorded making racist remarks. Martinez faced widespread calls to resign, including from her city council colleagues and United States President Joe Biden.

Students Celebrate Indigenous People’s Day with Event in Yard

More than 100 Harvard af filiates attended an In digenous People’s Day celebration organized by Natives at Harvard College on Monday.

The event, held in front of Mat thews Hall, featured speeches, a dance performance and snack time. In a statement, the NaHC wrote it was “so excited” about the turnout.

“IPD is NaHC’s largest event of the year, and we work for months in advance to organize for the day,” the organization’s board wrote in a statement sent via text.

“Our goal is to elevate the voic es of the Indigenous communi ty on campus and emphasize the importance of recognizing, cele brating, and listening to Indige nous people.”

Jovan Lim ’25, an internation al student from Singapore, said the event was important to show case Indigenous history.

“There are not many plat forms in Harvard through which we can know more about the in digenous peoples community, and I’’m not from the communi ty,” he said. “Harvard has had a very tumultuous history with In digenous peoples, and it’s import ant to recognize that.”

Anthony M. Trujillo, a Ph.D. candidate and History Depart ment teaching fellow from the Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo tribe in New Mexico, said Indigenous People’s Day is a “celebration of Indigenous life and presence” and a show of solidarity towards Native students.

“This university just can’t ig nore Indigenous life, thought, creativity, if it wants to be a lead ing institution in the next years and decades, centuries to come,” he said.

The NaHC organizers criti cized Harvard, saying the Univer sity “harms Indigenous people on campus and around the globe in many” ways.

“Harvard still recognizes Co lumbus Day, still benefits from land dispossession from Mas sachusetts to Brazil, still doesn’t offer Indigenous Studies/Ethnic Studies, still doesn’t teach many Indigenous languages nor allow Indigenous studies to use their languages for their language re quirement,” the group’s state ment read. Harvard spokespeo ple declined to comment. NaHC board members added that they

are “very grateful for the amazing work that the Harvard University Native American Program does to support Native students.”

“The funding, programming, and community they provide re ally supports our community,” they wrote.

Sami E. Turner ’25, a resident of Lawrence, Kansas, said her proximity to Indigenous people in her hometown gave her more opportunities to learn about Na tive history and culture.

“There’s a pretty substantial

indigenous population in my hometown, because of the [Has kell’s Indian Nations] University, and so I felt like there were much more opportunities to learn about the community,” she said. “But I don’t feel like, on Harvard’s campus, I’ve seen as much.”

“I don’t think Harvard has of fered a lot of resources or events to talk about Indigenous history and culture, as it pertains specif ically to Harvard’s history,” Turn er added.

The NaHC hosts other events

Deans Khurana, Long Discuss Paths to Education at Harvard

ter their time at the College, was folded into HGSE’s new master’s program.

Harvard College Dean Rakesh Khurana and Harvard Graduate School of Education Dean Brid get T. Long discussed pathways to education careers at an event hosted by the College on Tues day.

The administrators highlight ed partnerships between the Col lege and the Graduate School of Education before a small crowd of students in Harvard’s Smith Campus Center.

“If you’re looking to maxi mize impact, there is no job that will give you greater satisfaction than being a teacher,” Long said at the event.

The event comes as HGSE is promoting a new master’s pro gram in Teaching and Teach er Leadership, which began this fall.

Long talked about several pathways to education for under graduates, such as the education secondary offered at the College.

Harvard recently shut down two programs that offered a pathway to teaching for College students.

The Undergraduate Teacher Ed ucation Program, which allowed students to earn their teaching certification while in College, was shuttered last year. The Har vard Teacher Fellows program, an initiative that trained un dergraduates to become teach ers during and immediately af

“We want to build on what the college has already been able to do, especially for our teacher ed ucation candidates,” Long said.

“Part of what tonight is about is just to make sure that you under stand that with all of the chang es, there are so many opportuni ties there for you, and it’s really about growing those opportuni ties now.”

At the event, Long lauded con nections between HGSE and the College and said she hopes to ex pand education offerings at Har vard.

“I think that the sky’s the lim it because, in many respects, we want to be as inclusive as possi ble for anyone who believes in the importance of education and wants to work with us,” she said.

Long, who was appointed as chair of the National Board for Education Sciences by President Barack Obama, discussed the impact of Covid-19 on education, saying the education system re flects broader societal inequities.

“The inequities I’m talking about have been around for de cades, but then, when the pan demic happened, it just shows how stark the differences are,” she said.

Khurana asked audience members whether a student or ganization — similar to the Har vard Institute of Politics, housed

at the Harvard Kennedy School — would help interest under graduates in education.

“I think part of the promise of college is that you find your sub-communities — you find your people — in certain inter ests,” he said.

Midway through the event, Khurana, who moderated, asked audience members to weigh in on student interest in pursuing a career in education. Hannah B. Thurlby ’23 said many students feel pressure to take higher-pay ing jobs after graduation.

“There is that pressure, I think, from a lot of students at the College: ‘Oh, you’re not going to make X amount of money im mediately after graduation,’” she said.

Thurlby suggested for other students in the room to seek out current teachers and peers in terested in the education sector for encouragement and advice. Long encouraged attendees to be open to stints in other fields, re calling her own experience as a Goldman Sachs intern.

“I was bored out of my mind,” she said. “Like, really? I’m sup posed to stay up all night for what?

Doing a spreadsheet? I’ll stay up all night when we’re talking about real things and having impact and helping and prompting people. That’s worth it.”

throughout the year such as open mics, fundraisers and communi ty meals. Olyvia L. Snyder ’26, a freshman on the Women’s Rugby team, said she and others attend ed the event to support a Native Hawaiian teammate who helped organize the event.

“She has done a great job of bringing awareness to this event as a whole and to Indigenous peo ple,” she said.

Alumni Association to Deactivate Email Forwarding Services

email security, spam filtering, and functionality consider ations in the decision.

Adam S. Hickey ’99, who re ceived notice from the HAA on Sept. 30 that his @post.harvard. edu email would be deactivat ed on Dec. 1, said the news was “somewhat shocking.”

“I liked the idea of having an address that was going to follow me forever, so that if I change from one provider to anoth er in the future, that address would always be good. And so I used my post.harvard address for almost everything, virtual ly everything that asked me for an email address,” said Hick ey, a former Crimson Editorial editor. “Over the last 20-some years, hundreds of accounts.”

Harvard spokesperson Christopher M. Hennessey wrote in a statement that the University introduced alum ni email forwarding in the late 1990s, and technologies around security and spam filtering have since evolved. Many alumni have expressed frustration with the functionality of forwarding services, and Harvard is typical ly unable to address these prob lems, he wrote.

Hennessey added that Har vard will not be replacing alum ni email forwarding services with fully functioning inbox es due to the legal and security risks associated with the under taking.

Emily Van Dyke ’03, pres ident of the Native American Alumni of Harvard Universi ty and a board member for the Harvard Club of Seattle, said she worries the change may lead to “impacts on communi cations” with members of the groups.

“Those of us who have a very

small, very overcommitted group of people like on NAA HU’s board, we’re not going to have the resources to proactive ly come up with a way to make sure people aren’t taken by sur prise if if they’re suddenly effec tively removed from our list serv,” Van Dyke said.

In an email to leaders of alumni clubs and shared inter est groups, HAA Executive Di rector Philip W. Lovejoy wrote that organizations that use for warding services for verifica tion of alumni status or as an email account will be presented with alternative solutions.

“While we explore alterna tives, your Club or SIG email forwarding address will not be deactivated until we have a new option to provide,” Lovejoy wrote.

Some alumni had not heard about the forwarding service deactivation prior to outreach from The Crimson.

“I didn’t know about this and I don’t know the underlying rea son why they’re discontinuing,” Henry Li ’16 wrote in an email. “I don’t use the email very much at all, maybe once over the past 5 years, but it would still be nice to keep it, especially if it’s not cost ing Harvard much money.”

Though Van Dyke said de activations may pose new chal lenges, she acknowledged the reasons behind phasing out the service.

“I am sorry that they’re not able to honor this commitment because we were all told that we’d have these emails in perpe tuity,” Van Dyke said. “It is dis appointing to lose that, but I’m sure we’ll manage.”

More than 100 Harvard affiliates attended an Indigenous People’s Day celebration organized by Natives at Harvard College on Monday. DEKYI T. TSOTSONG — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

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Harvard Endowment Value Falls $2.3 Billion Following Negative Returns

Several of Harvard’s peer insti tutions also experienced endow ment losses during the last fiscal year. MIT’s investments lost 5.3 percent, while Cornell report ed a 1.3 percent loss. Yale report ed a slight positive return, at 0.8 percent.

The endowment distribut ed $2.1 billion toward Harvard’s operational budget in fiscal year 2022, representing 36 percent of the University’s annual reve nue, according to the financial report. Harvard ended the fiscal year with a $406 million budget surplus. In his note included in the report, Narvekar announced that the Harvard Corporation — the University’s highest govern ing board — approved a proposal that will “moderately increase” the risk level of HMC’s portfolio “over a multi-year period.” HMC formed a risk tolerance group in 2018 to assess how the endow ment could take on more risk in its investments while balancing the University’s need for budget ary stability.

“This increase will eventually make our risk level more consis tent with that of various peers, although it will still be lower than some,” Narvekar wrote.

Last year, despite re cord-breaking totals, Har vard’s endowment performance trailed that of many of its peers, which Narvekar attributed to the “opportunity cost of taking low er risk” than some other institu tions.

By

HMC has drastically scaled back its investments in nonre newable energy sources in re cent years, which Narvekar said contributed slightly to its over all losses in fiscal year 2022. Har vard announced it would allow its remaining investments in the fossil fuel industry to expire and it has committed to achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emis sions in its portfolio by 2050.

In a departure from past practice, HMC did not release a breakdown of the endowment’s performance by asset class in the report. The change comes fol lowing a restructuring at HMC that has shifted the vast majority of the endowment’s assets to ex ternal managers, which “made simplified allocation reporting increasingly arbitrary,” accord ing to HMC spokesperson Pat rick S. McKiernan.

“Individual investments can straddle multiple asset classes and HMC wants to avoid report ing with false precision,” McKi ernan wrote in a statement.

does make us cautious about for ward-looking returns in private portfolios.”

FY22 Ended with $406M Budget Surplus

Consistent with previous years, Harvard’s largest revenue source was its own endowment, which distributed $2.1 billion toward the University’s operating expens es, accounting for about 36 per cent of total revenue. The distri butions represented 4.2 percent of the endowment’s market value.

serves

Endowment distributions made up a majority of the rev enue at three Harvard schools — the Radcliffe Institute for Ad vanced Study, the Harvard Divin ity School, and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. The schools least reliant on the endowment were the Harvard Business School, the School of Public Health, and the Graduate School of Education.

access to borrowings as needed.” Hollister and Finnegan char acterized the negative endow ment returns as a “very good re sult given the significant declines in both the equity and bond mar kets in the past year,” but add

prudent planning and sound management have put us in a strong financial position that, along with the generous support of alums and friends, enables us to fulfill our mission.

Harvard Man

Company

a

percent loss on its invest ments in the fiscal year ending in June 2022, marking the first time HMC has posted negative investment returns since

drop brought the endow ment’s total value to $50.9

— down $2.3 billion

“A number of institutional in vestors leaned into the conven tional energy sector, through either equities or commodity fu tures, adding materially to their total return,” Narvekar wrote. “HMC did not participate in these returns given the Universi ty’s commitment to tackling the impacts of climate change, sup porting sustainable solutions, and achieving our stated net zero goals.”

HMC had previously main tained an in-house investment team while also hiring external managers to oversee portions of the endowment, an approach Narvekar phased out in 2016.

In his note, Narvekar also cautioned that the newly re leased figures may not reflect the actual current market value of some of the endowment’s assets. HMC’s venture capital invest ments returned “high single dig its” despite the “deeply negative performance of relevant public equity indices,” Narvekar wrote.

“The more private assets an investor had in its portfolio in FY22, the stronger their perfor mance,” he wrote. “This is some what counterintuitive and may indicate that private managers have not yet marked their port folios to reflect general market conditions. This phenomenon

In his closing remarks, Narvekar wrote the contrast be tween HMC’s recent losses and its historic gains last year high lights the need to focus on longterm investment returns.

“We remain confident that the steps we have taken — and those still in process — to con struct a portfolio that serves the University’s long-term interests will allow Harvard to maintain and increase its critical support of students, faculty, and re search for generations to come,” Narvekar wrote.

Harvard increased spend ing on financial aid by $70 mil lion during the past fiscal year. In March, Harvard College expand ed its financial aid program to al low students from families with annual incomes below $75,000 to attend for free — an increase from the previous $65,000 threshold — starting from the Class of 2026.

Cash gifts to the endowment totalled $584 million in fiscal year 2022 while current use gifts totalled $505 million.

The Harvard Management Company reported a 1.8 percent loss on its investments during the past fiscal year, its first year of negative returns since 2016. De spite the losses, Hollister and Fin negan wrote in the report that the University’s financial condition “remains very strong” due to “am ple levels of liquidity, compara tively low levels of debt, and ready

ed that the University “remains cautious.” Harvard President Lawrence S. Bacow wrote in the report that Havard remains pre pared for headwinds.

“Though we find ourselves in a better public health situation today, there remains instability in the global economy and mar kets, which will continue to in fluence the University’s financial resources,” he wrote. “Fortu nately, prudent planning and sound management have put us in a strong financial position that, along with the generous support of alums and friends, enables us to fulfill our mission.”

Harvard’s FY22 Finances

Lawrence S. Bacow Harvard President

WHETHER as a husband, friend, co-worker, student, or dog dad, first-year Har vard Law School student

Jeremy C. Hendley always found selfless ways to solve others’ problems, according to friends and family.

When Luanne Lee re turned to work on a rainy day earlier this spring, her feet were soaking wet.

She had just trekked through an ankle-high pool of water to move her car from a flooding parking lot at the Riverwind Casino in Norman, Oklahoma, where she worked.

Soon after making it inside, she realized her co-worker who was walking alongside her, Jere my C. Hendley, had disappeared into the downpour.

More than 30 minutes later, he returned — bearing a dry pair of shoes and socks to help her get through the shift.

“I’ll never forget that,” she said. “That was just how kind-hearted he was — always thinking of others.”

Whether it was as a husband, friend, co-worker, student, or dog dad, Hendley always found selfless ways to solve others’ problems, according to friends and family.

Hendley, a first-year student at Harvard Law School, died by suicide on Sept. 2. He was 35.

Born June 27, 1987, in Ada, Oklahoma, Hendley developed a passion for legal studies as an un dergraduate at East Central Uni versity, where he graduated in 2015. According to Christine Pap pas, one of Hendley’s professors and mentors at ECU, he was a per fectionist and a straight-A stu dent, motivated by a desire to help his wife gain American citizen ship.

“It was a joy to me to hear him talk so passionately about want ing to serve,” Pappas said. “Be coming an attorney was his high est goal.”

‘There for All of That’

Hendley’s wife, Alma A. Hend ley, was unaware for years that she might be eligible for the De ferred Action for Childhood Ar rivals program, which protects from deportation some un documented immigrants who were brought to the country at a young age.

Jeremy Hendley supported her through a decade-long legal process that eventually allowed her to become a U.S. citizen.

“Together we researched op portunities available to me and he eventually learned about the DACA program,” Alma Hendley wrote in a statement.

Even after enrolling in DACA, Alma Hendley said her path to citizenship left her in a constant “legal limbo” because of the “ex cruciating” expectations for ap plicants.

“I had to do a lot of the legal

Jeremy Hendley

hurdles that many Dreamers have to go through,” she said in an interview. “Jeremy was there for all of that.”

After many setbacks and de lays — including record wait times caused by the Covid-19 pandemic — Alma Hendley was granted U.S. citizenship on De cember 13, 2021.

“Without Jeremy as advocate and as a sponsor for me I would not have my U.S. Citizenship,” Alma Hendley wrote.

The two were married for 12 years.

“A lot of our friends some times would say, ‘Gosh, you

guys have been together for a long time. How do you make it work?’” she said. “I think part of it was just learning to grow to gether and change together.”

Alma Hendley added that her husband’s love extended to Lou is, an 11-year-old white standard poodle they adopted as a rescue.

“That was his baby, and he would do anything for him,” Alma Hendley said. “What he loved was spending time with Louis, talking about Louis, showing pictures to his employ ees about him.”

‘The Person to Go To’

Growing up, Hendley developed a passion for card games and the intellectual challenge they pre sented. After college, he worked as a dealer for the Chickasaw Na tion’s Riverwind Casino, where he was soon promoted to train new employees.

Over 16 years working for the Chickasaw Nation Division of Commerce, Hendley mentored many who went through the ca sino’s training program.

“If you go through training, you’re going to meet Jeremy,” recalled Tia Q. Le, a co-worker Hendley trained when she first

LGBTQ+ Advocates Discuss Activism at IOP

TUESDAY NIGHT, advo cates discussed LGBTQ+ activism on campus.

BY MIA H. DILORENZO AND DYLAN H. PHAN CONTRIBUTING

LGBTQ+ advocates discussed their coming out experiences and activist work in honor of National Coming Out Day at a Harvard In stitute of Politics forum on Tues day evening.

The panel, co-hosted by the IOP and the Shorenstein Center, aimed to increase LGBTQ+ visi bility on Harvard’s campus.

David Grasso, CEO of Bold TV, moderated the discussion, which featured broadcaster and author Keith O. Boykin, Harvard Ken nedy School Fellow Ian Daniel, political commentator Sally R. Kohn, Newton city councilor Hol ly Ryan, and Zander S. Moricz ’26, a litigant in Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” lawsuit.

The conversation kicked off with a discussion of individual coming out experiences and the

support networks needed to fa cilitate inclusivity.

“The first person I ever came out to was actually a teacher,” Moricz said. “I think that’s why when we see this sacred, safe, guaranteed space being polluted for so many children, what you’re seeing is that loss of an opportu nity to have a community that is accepting and that will allow you to nurture and identify your iden tity.”

Moricz’s district in Sarasota, Fla. became one of the first coun ties to adopt Governor Ron De Santis’ “Don’t Say Gay” policies, which require district faculty and administrators to report if a stu dent comes out or changes their pronouns to the student’s family.

Moricz led his activist organi zation — the Social, Equity, and Education Initiative — in protest against the “Don’t Say Gay” poli cies.

“We immediately explod ed with hundreds of rallies and protests and walk-outs, and we did so much immediate organiz ing to try to put this in the public sphere,” Moricz said in an inter

view following the forum.

In the interview, Moricz said his activism comes from a sense of fear and urgency.

“It is not motivation. It’s not in spiration. It’s fear,” Moricz said. “I am directing the efforts in Flori da while attending school at Har vard because I’m horrified about what will happen if I let go of all of this work.”

During the panel, Boykin dis cussed the impact of discrimi natory policies on intersectional identities, particularly LGBTQ+ people of color.

He said as a student at Har vard Law School decades ago, he recognized the need for social progress.

“But as a Black man and a Black gay man — I think a lot of people in the Black community — we’ve been feeling this for hun dreds of years. There was never a time we felt, for most of us, when we felt safe in this country,” Boy kin said.

While at law school, Boykin co-created the Coalition for Civ il Rights, an organization of mul tiple affinity groups aimed at cre

ating a unified campus activist movement.

In an interview after the event, Daniel said Harvard students are urging administrators to estab lish LGBTQ+ and anti-racism ed ucation practices.

He currently works alongside graduate students at Harvard Kennedy School to advocate for systemic change at the Universi ty.

“What I was seeing around LGBT issues was disturbing. There was no education around it. There were death threats hap pening on campus. There was bigoted language in my own co hort,” Daniel said. “I just saw a systemic problem.”

In his interview after the pan el, Moricz highlighted the need for widespread LGBTQ+ advoca cy.

“This is an emergency, and the reaction needs to be from every one that this is an emergency,” he said. “Our reactions, our organiz ing, our movements need to be urgent and aggressive because this is an urgent, aggressive prob lem.”

began working at the casino three years ago.

Le said she remembers Jer emy as “a very good dresser,” a “kind soul” who “never got frus trated at any of the students,” and as “hands down, the best dealer I’ve ever seen.”

“He was brilliant — you know the minute you see him,” Le said.

I really got the impression that he was someone who was very giving and very selfless — that he was at HLS to do things that were bigger than himself.

dream, according to his friends and family. When he learned he was accepted, Hendley was “the happiest person in the world,” Lee said.

“I got to see him every day with a smile from ear to ear on his face, walking five feet off the ground,” Lee said. “He was the proudest and the happiest per son that I’ve ever seen.”

Brian T. Broderick, a firstyear Law School student who was in Jeremy Hendley’s section, said he first met Hendley online over the summer via LinkedIn and Slack.

“I got the sense that he was friendly,” Broderick said. “I got the sense that he was really look ing forward to coming to Harvard and being part of the HLS com munity. Nothing but positive.”

“You have to know, mentally, a lot of math. You have to do it re ally quickly. And he was so fast.”

“I was so lucky to have him as a teacher. I don’t think I would have been as successful as I was without him,” she added.

Luanne Lee, who worked alongside Hendley in the Chick asaw Nation’s training depart ment for five years, said he was known at work as “a good per son, but also the trainer — the person to go to, the person that knew it all.”

Hendley was put in charge of managing Blackjack, Ultimate Texas Hold ’Em, Jackpot Hold ’Em, Craps, and Roulette, among other table games at the casino, according to Lee.

“Every game that the Chicka saw Nation trains, he knew it — even poker,” Lee said.

Hendley was “like one of my own kids,” she added.

Co-workers also remember Jeremy Hendley’s sense of hu mor and knowledgeability.

“The Riverwind Casino com munity loved him,” Lee said. “He was the backup for everything: ‘Go to Jeremy. Let’s ask Jeremy. He’ll know.’ Everyone just loved him.”

‘At HLS to Do Things That Were Bigger Than Himself’

Attending Harvard Law School was Jeremy Hendley’s ultimate

When the two finally met on campus during the Law School’s first-year orientation, they in stantly bonded.

“I really got the impression that he was someone who was very giving and very selfless — that he was at HLS to do things that were bigger than himself,” Broderick said.

“He didn’t seem like some one who was into this for his own goals or someone who just wants to line his own pockets,” he add ed. “He really wanted to make a difference.”

After he was accepted to Har vard Law School last spring, Hendley set his eyes on a career as an immigration attorney.

“He really admired that Har vard had a DACA clinic, and that was something that he was look ing forward to doing,” Alma Hen dley said. “He went out of his way to help people, and I know peo ple say that a lot about their loved ones, but Jeremy was an on-call guy all the time.”

Pappas said she remembered Hendley’s eagerness to mentor her students at East Central Uni versity after he was accepted to HLS, offering to help them on the LSAT and seek out letters of rec ommendation.

“He was 100 percent helpful and positive all the time,” she said. “Couldn’t wait to help oth er people.”

Jeremy C. Hendley, pictured with his wife, Alma A. Hendley. COURTESY OF ALMA A. HENDLEY

ryan.doannguyen@thecrimson.com john.pena@thecrimson.com

ROE

Jeremy C. Hendley loved his 11-year-old white standard poodle, Louis.

COURTESY OF ALMA A. HENDLEY

Brian T. Broderick First-Year Harvard Law School student

“

The Threat is Inside the Gates

permanent a revised version of said policy. A year lat er we recognize that our reasoning was deeply mis guided: The real threat to student safety on campus lies not beyond the gates in Cambridge, but within.

The call, as they say, is coming from inside the house.

Our campus is, although sometimes a restrictive Harvard “bubble,” also quite safe — at least according to a Univer sity report released on September 30, which reported the lowest levels of on-campus crime in the past decade.

Harvard’s report — which suggested that crime rates fell for the fourth year in a row in 2021, with only 142 registered criminal incidents — certainly appears encouraging. Yet tethering any public dis cussion of safety to highly variable (as well as easy to miscalculate or misrepresent) crime statistics can be misleading. Particularly given the lingering effect of pandemic-era restrictions, we find reason to doubt that the statistical picture closely mirrors the reality of our community. The marginal swings identified by such reports, if overstated in relevance, risk flattening all nuance to alternately cause excess alarmism and undue relaxation. Student and affili ate safety should remain our priority, regardless of fast-shifting numbers.

On that front, and despite the reassuring report, our Editorial Board cannot feel at ease. Just last fall, out of concern for student safety and comfort, we praised Harvard for its policy of closing its gates to the public after 5 p.m. and argued in favor of making

No non-University Cambridge resident poses quite as acute and constant a threat to Harvard affil iates as their own peers; suggesting otherwise, and, in doing so, othering our entire local community and depicting them as an alien menace to be locked out for our safety was our grave mistake. Depictions of Cambridge — a city the US Chamber of Commerce recently deemed the second-safest city in America for trick-or-treating because of low numbers of vi olent crime, pedestrain fatalities and registered sex offenders — as somehow ‘dangerous’ are nothing but distracting, unbridled alarmism.

Truth is, in our quiet corner of Massachusetts, any potential external harm pales in comparison to the greatest danger students face on a daily basis: Ti tle IX concerns, and the University’s failure to ade quately address them. When we speak of a Title IX crisis on campus, as we have been forced to do with depressing frequency, we mean that there are peo ple whom we considered members of our commu nity that violate Title IX guidelines. Sexual assault and harassment cases do not just magically appear on a campus devoid of active perpetrators. A per verse subsector of our peers, professors and oth er non-Cantabrigian acquaintances represents the most recurrent and intractable threat to our safety.

But how could we feel fully secure with alleged predators, such as professors Roland G. Fryer Jr. and John L. Comaroff, among our teaching staff? How, then, can the Yard be a safe space for all, gates locked or not?

The short answer is that it can’t be — and won’t be until the University finally recognizes Title IX as a public safety concern of paramount importance, one that affects the entire campus. As we have ar gued before, doing so entails the University taking

Harvard, Support Iranians Now

BY RAMEEN A. JAVADIAN AND CIARA S. MOEZIDIS

Throughout Iran, calls of “Jin, Jiyan, Azadi” or “Zan, Zen degi, Azadi” ring not only in the streets but in the halls of schools and universities. In stead of echoing these calls for “Woman, Life, Freedom,” Harvard University Pres ident Lawrence S. Bacow has remained silent in the face of student demands for an expression of solidarity. This is a seri ous dereliction of his duty and the duty of the Harvard community more broadly to shed light on the atrocities at Sharif University of Technology and express support for the past few weeks of civil resistance in Iran — in other words, to pursue justice and Veritas.

Iranian women are leading an inter sectional movement for change that has been met with brutality and further op pression by the regime. Recently, Iranian armed forces raided Sharif University in Tehran, assaulting and arresting dozens of students and faculty members whose conditions and whereabouts remain un known. Sharif University has captured greater media attention due to its dis tinguished status, but similar modes of repression are enacted across many schools in the country of over 80 million people.

These protests began following the death of 22-year-old Kurdish woman Jina (Mahsa) Amini while in the custo dy of the “morality police’’ for what they deemed improper head-covering. Jina’s death served as the catalyst for the larg est mobilization against the regime since 2009, when millions took to the streets to protest alleged election rigging.

The civil demonstrations have been met with brutality and repression by the regime, including internet blackouts, mass arrests, and the killing of hundreds of people. As protestors continue to be silenced, the need for prominent mem bers of the international community to amplify Iranian voices grows even more dire.

As members of the Harvard commu nity from Iran or the Iranian diaspora, we write to mark the deafening silence on our campus. Students, the very souls of higher education institutions, are be ing targeted. These violations are clos er to Harvard than many realize. There are numerous members of the Iranian community at Harvard — your neigh bors, classmates, friends, and teachers. The University numbers former stu dents of Sharif and other Iranian univer sities among its affiliates. Multiple Irani an Harvard affiliates wanted to join us in authoring this op-ed but could not put it to their name for fear of retribution by the regime, including losing their ability to travel to Iran.

As hurting but hopeful Iranians at Harvard, we need your voice to join in support of this fight for freedom. We in the Harvard community have an obliga

tion to use our privilege and capacity to advocate for our fellow students and all Iranians struggling for justice.

One need not look further than Har vard’s motto, “Veritas,” to understand that this institution is premised on a com mitment to the truth. We ask for your sol idarity not simply because the victims are Iranian or affiliated with prestigious institutions of higher education but be cause they are students, just like us, seek ing knowledge and truth. Academic in stitutions like ours must stand together at the forefront of the struggle for truth and intellectual integrity, and that can not be interrupted by borders or nation alities. Several universities have already released statements in solidarity with Iranians. Harvard’s comparative silence is stark.

A statement from President Bacow would go a long way. This is exempli fied by the case of Shervin Hajipour — an Iranian singer arrested for his song, “Baraye” (For), which has reached mil lions of views and is regarded by many as the anthem of this movement. After international outcry Hajipour was re leased on bail. Hajipour’s case remains the exception rather than the rule, how ever, as the Iranian regime continues to crack down on activists, many of whom we cannot honor with our attention be cause their names are unknown.

As we strive to speak out in support of students standing against injustice, in tolerance, and brutality in Iran, we em phasize the need to aspire in the same measure to the liberation of populations suffering from oppression elsewhere. What is happening in Iran is an intersec tional movement that concerns all of us — one part of a larger struggle against in stitutionalized oppression. We condemn the human rights atrocities of every state that perpetuates cycles of injustice to wards communities of all kinds, includ ing students and activists.

Recognizing state oppression global ly, we also stand firm against reckless in terventionist policies, like that of the 1953 U.S. coup of Iran’s democratically-elect ed leader, Mohammad Mossadegh. It is of utmost importance that we carefully listen to the needs of Iranians, avoiding further harm to those whom we need to empower through supportive action.

President Bacow, you have the oppor tunity to empower, but your silence as the leader of a world-renowned institu tion is complicity. This can still change. An official statement of support would go a long way as a meaningful expression of solidarity with your students and the people of Iran risking their lives for free dom.

It is not too late to say “Woman, Life, Freedom.”

—Rameen A. Javadian is a first-year master’s student in Theological Studies at the Harvard Divinity School. Ciara S. Moezidis is a second-year master’s stu dent in Theological Studies at the Har vard Divinity School.

a proactive, not reactive, approach to Title IX issues on campus: a combination of having consistent dia logues to improve Title IX policies, fostering an ex plicitly and aggressively anti-harassment campus culture, and finally implementing third-party arbi tration, which the graduate student union has re peatedly strived for. It might, more pressingly, also involve accepting greater institutional responsi bility, perhaps by reconsidering a University-wide reading of Title IX so intent on legally distancing the University from the alleged retaliatory practices of its faculty members that it has prompted reproach from the Department of Justice itself.

Above all, the shift towards treating sexual mis conduct as our chief safety concern must entail a re commitment to Title IX reform on campus and be yond.

The constructive feedback that the American Council on Education, a higher education member ship organization that includes Harvard, has shared with the Biden administration on its proposed Title IX amendments embodies said commitment, and highlights a prime opportunity to make strides in re defining Title IX procedures across college campuses.

The process won’t be without controversy. There are increasing fair concerns regarding reform, par ticularly about lackluster due process protections afforded to the accused in some proposed amend ments — even if none of them are sufficiently con vincing, at this time, to distract us from address ing the obstacles that lead an estimated 63 percent of rape cases to go unreported. Said obstacles, we know, stem from deep rooted cultural issues that cannot be neatly uprooted by policy: For many vic tims, often women, coming forward means not only confronting their attackers, but also facing up to an overwhelming culture of shame and dismissal that reinforces trauma before a path toward justice ever appears.

We are also aware that in cases involving the prosecution of severe accusations, the golden stan dard of innocent until proven guilty — albeit theoret ically sacrosanct — tends to prove malleable. When

The Inn-vasion

inherent inequalities in conceived notions of de servingness — of respect, dignity, and compassion — come into play, the standard is rapidly corrupt ed. That much is neither new nor unique: The pre sumed criminality of marginalized identities (par ticularly racial ones, given the inflated carceral and exoneration rates of Black people), and inversely, the presumed innocence of young white men facing misconduct accusations in particular, has been well recorded.

These concocted notions of inherent innocence or guilt sway us too frequently — particularly when physical evidence is scant, as is often the case with al legations of misconduct or harassment. In those in stances, the crushing burden of proof placed on vic tims to avoid any potential injuries inflicted upon the accused’s reputation and future prospects reveals a grotesque misalignment between the principle of ensuring justice and the real procedural hurdles to doing so.

The resulting framework prioritizes the ac cused’s imagined bright future over the real, damn ing assaults that have violently derailed victims’ life courses.

Our sorely-needed Title IX paradigm shift should reflect that reality. Until it does, many of our fellow peers, especially those who identify as queer or fe male, will remain unacceptably fearful within a city otherwise safe enough to prove dull. It is not their ex clusive obligation to painstakingly negotiate culture or policy changes that address their fears — that bur den falls upon all of us within the gates.

The call is coming from inside the house — the bold, uncompromising answer must do so too.

This staff editorial solely represents the majority view of The Crimson Editorial Board. It is the prod uct of discussions at regular Editorial Board meet ings. In order to ensure the impartiality of our jour nalism, Crimson editors who choose to opine and vote at these meetings are not involved in the report ing of articles on similar topics.

Editorial Snippets: Midterm Malaise

Think of the Children!

BY JULIE HENG

E

arlier this semester, our Editorial Board rejoiced in the fact that we had finally reached a new normal. Yet even as we shed mandatory masking and thrice-weekly testing, we were un able to eliminate midterms and other fall staples.

As we prepare for a seeming ly-endless barrage of exams and papers, we asked our members to reflect on this season with humor while also capturing the unique sentiment of a cohort experiencing the full renaissance of “normal” student life.

W

hat October cliché are you most — or least — looking forward to?

I’m looking forward to the way everything looks in the fall — it’s just such a pretty season. There’s a tree in bloom on Plympton street, across from the building where the publication you’re reading was crafted: The tree is red, yellow, and orange and the leaves are big. The tree has started to shed. Every time I walk by 14 Plympton St., I look first at the building and then the tree; I’m reminded of some fundamen tal truths — autumn in Cambridge is beautiful, and there will always be people in 14p.

—Shanivi Srikonda ’24

I like the red and green and yel low leaves. They remind me of home — of my mom, saying, “Oh, Sterling! Aren’t the leaves beau tiful?” It is my senior fall, and in some ways, things are as fresh as first year. Some relationships are re-invigorating, some are form ing anew. Some remain, some fall away. I’m learning to be OK with it all, to let the leaves fall and grow again, where they may.

—Sterling M. Bland ’23

I expect to see every single one of you go all out for Halloween. I’m talking fake blood by the bucket ful, mechanical arms powered by tiny servos, or rhinestone-studding every inch of visible skin. Give me drama! Halloween is the one night (or series of nights, for us college students) of the year when it’s ac ceptable to do anything you want with your physical form — as long as it’s not boring.

—Christina M. Xiao ‘24

Fall means pies! With October in full sway, it is now time to eat as many pies as you want. From the classics like pecan pie to the ran dom everything-but-the-kitchensink pies, it is now the most socially acceptable time to eat pie for break fast, lunch, and dinner. This is the one delicious, classic cliché that I am most excited about.

—Hea Pushpraj ’25

Known for spooky season, ap ple-picking, and beautiful foliage, October epitomizes my love for the fall. It’s finally socially permissible to break out my Timbs and laugh at the horde waiting inside Starbucks for their pumpkin-spiced lattes (you know who you are).

Plus, the weather inspires the har dest fits. October has everything to deem it the best month, but I re fuse to call it such: slandered by its most infamous alias, cuffing sea son never fails to make me gag.

Between couple’s costumes and pumpkin patch dates, nothing makes me want to inspire a horror movie more.

Call me a hater, but this cliché has to go. You don’t actually like that person – it’s just October.

— Maia Patel-Masini ’25

October is the best month of the year.

Not only does the cold weather make us stronger, but it’s a month

for sweaters and screenings of “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.”

— Brooks B. Anderson ’25

There’s nothing quite like the be trayal of a rain-dampened leaf mas querading as something crunchy — a stomp-able entity. Coming from California, where October is dry to the point of destruction, these soft, two-faced leaves were a new spe cies to me.

But even now, three autumns later, my boot still seeks out ev ery promising leaf on the walk to class. The fallen foliage, blending like sunset on the Cambridge side walks, is too inviting not to.

—Eleanor V. Wikstrom ’24

Every October, the windows of The Crimson’s Sanctum come alive with a mosaic of red, orange, and fading green leaves from the tree in the courtyard across the street. Usually, the tree reminds me of my favorite fall traditions to come: birthdays, big sweaters, warm drinks, and eventually snow. This year, it’s a pesky landlord remind ing me that my residence within the four walls of The Crimson is al most at a close.

—Raquel Coronell Uribe ’22-’23

What’s one thing sustain ing you through this midterms season?

Midterm season means tiny treats around every corner. Stop ping to steal the last few Earl Grey Tea packets in Winthrop’s dining hall before heading across Kaneb courtyard to cozy up with my lap top for a handful of hours. A pack et of peanut M&Ms from the near est vending machine. A cafe au lait from Clover in between my 9 and 10:30 a.m. sections — and (if I’ve re ally earned it) another one before lecture at 1:30. Don’t worry about the caffeinated chihuahua shake, it’ll pass.

—Haley A. Lifrieri ’24

The end of September means the end of Capital One Café’s 50 percent off deal and the beginning of Octo ber and haunting midterms. I’ve always hated coffee, but to sustain this undead status for midterms, I came to love coffee: to wake myself up to study, to keep studying, and to distract myself from studying for half an hour.

But without the sale, I cannot pay full price for a mediocre (and colorfully inconsistent) chai latte. Now I await the return of Starbucks in Harvard Square in November — if I am paying $6 for a coffee, it bet ter be good.

—Brian Baltazar Pimentel ’23

Copious volumes of iced coffee and daily references to my “Days Until Thanksgiving Break” count down.

— Gracia A. Perala ’25

I have recently discovered two things that have made my mid term season much more bearable: 1) Dumplings are one of the best foods to ever exist and 2) Dumpling Kitchen is open until 2:15 a.m. (at least according to Uber Eats).

After a long night in Lamont (and I’m talking long-long — So cial Studies readings can be bru tal), trudging back to my dorm room tastes a bit sweeter when I’m met with a beautiful brown bag of dumplings in front of the Kirkland gates.

—Nicole B. Alexander ’24

As I trudge through midterm season, there is nothing I look for ward to more than going to sleep after a long day of studying. The stress-induced fatigue of academ ic pressure or soothing relief after

finishing a paper or exam makes the dreamless rest all the better. Even though midterms are relent less, and the rising sun just shines a light on a new set of assignments, the precious hours of sleep are ex actly what I need to get through an other day. Plus, it’s almost Decem ber anyway — right?

—Libby E. Tseng ’24

I took a break for the long week end and went to Disney with my dad: I photosynthesized and sa vored every sip of my iced lattes.

As a self proclaimed cold-blood ed human, I knew I’d return to hot lattes as soon as my plane land ed back in Massachusetts (my fall-midterms season is unoffi cially sponsored by vanilla lattes). Post-trip, I’m feeling stressed, but refreshed, and ready to pull some all-nighters.

—Abigail V. Mack ’25

Walks across the Yard, skirting between tables to chat with friends in Kirkland dining hall, traversing up the stairs of Smith Campus Cen ter to find a cozy nook to study in for the afternoon — these are my pock ets of peace.

Movement throughout the day lets me catch a breath, slow down, and appreciate the fleeting mo ments.

Whether I am three hours deep into an intensive organic chemistry exam review or exhausted beyond measure from a dance practice that ended at midnight, I always find time to slip into the common room and share a laugh with my room mates or trek to a swinging chair in the courtyard for a Facetime checkin with my brother. And with that, the shadow of midterms subsides, and all is well.

—Alvira Tyagi ’25

As much as red spiced chicken and brain break help, it’s really sol idarity with friends that keeps me going through midterms — that is, solidarity in exhaustion and abject dread about deadlines and exams.

—Lucas Gazianis ’24

Compartmentalization has kept me together. Midterm season (arguably the second half of the se mester in its entirety) has a tenden cy to upend plans I made for the se mester.

Not this time though! I am ac tively trying to set boundaries be tween the different parts of my life. I structure preparing for my mid terms around my week, and not my week around my midterm. Having midterms doesn’t mean everything else in my life has to pause. It isn’t the easiest thing to do but I continu ally find new ways of compartmen talizing.

—Joshia Ochieng ’24

Sheer inertia has kept me go ing this midterm season. There’s a thousand things that make me hap py (certain friends, home-cooked meals in my new kitchen, the right smile from the right person, and this board in particular) and a cou ple thousand that don’t (midterms, tripping on the same stone twice, little sleep, seeing closeness twist ed into distance).

Throughout it all, nothing has kept me going but the knowledge that I was already going — that I’m on track to get my degree, that I wake up every day in a Harvard dorm, with views to a Harvard li brary to a bunch of Harvard emails reminding me of my Harvard work. That to not keep going would re quire more effort than to merely follow through.

Maybe that’s what keeps all of us on track: We are already here, fol lowing a fenced, carefully craft ed crimson path. Whether that’s good thing, or just the execution of pre-programmed days, I’m not quite sure.

—Guillermo

Y

ou start by giving children a choice: “What do you want now, pretzels or water?”

Most choose pretzels, so you give them pretzels to eat. Then, ask again: pretzels or water? Unsur prisingly, many choose water. At this point, you ask them what they’ll want tomorrow.

“Presumably they’re not going to be thirsty anymore, and so they should revert to their preferred op tion, which is the pretzels,” said Cristina Atance, a professor of psy chology and Director of the Child hood Cognition and Learning Lab oratory at the University of Ottawa. (She conducted the study and was kind enough to tell me about it over Zoom.)

But overwhelmingly, the kids in Atance’s study said they would want water. It was difficult for them to separate their future selves from feeling thirsty in the moment.

We suffer from what the researchers call the “end-of-history illusion,” where at every age, people underestimate how much they will change in the future and imagine that their current selves will remain constant until the end of history.

Fascinating. But that’s just chil dren, and children lack patience, right?

Well, yes and no — while adults have more knowledge and experi ence and better behavioral control than children, all humans are no toriously lousy at setting aside cur rent mental states and biases when thinking about the future.

We are terrible at predicting our future emotions, no good at imag ining our future preferences, and very bad at forecasting our future values, personalities, and trajecto ries.

One study by Harvard Profes sor of Psychology Dan Gilbert asked nearly 20,000 young, mid dle-aged, and older people how much they changed in the past 10 years and how much they expect ed to change in the following 10. The results showed that at every age, people believed that they had changed significantly in the past but would change fairly little in the future. Twenty-year-olds, for ex ample, predicted that they would change less than 30-year-olds re ported actually having changed in the same period.

In other words, we suffer from what the researchers call the “end-of-history illusion,” where at every age, people underestimate how much they will change in the future and imagine that their cur rent selves will remain constant until the end of history. Essentially, like the children in the pretzel test, we end up mispredicting future de cisions by skewing towards cur rent states.

Surprisingly, though, research also shows that we don’t have the same biases if we think about oth ers’ future needs and wants. That is, even if a child overwhelming ly imagines wanting water tomor row, they often imagine that a fel low pretzel-lover will revert to baseline and prefer pretzels.

“The term we’ve used with chil dren and adults is ‘other-over-self advantage,’” Atance said. “What we mean by that is that when you’re reasoning about another person versus yourself, you seem to kind of show an advantage in your reason ing, or you tend to predict more ac curately.”

We may not know the cause of this “other-over-self advantage” phenomenon, but it is still excit ing to know that imagining the fu tures of others can help us better

predict our own. This gives us a su perpower of sorts, one that points us to a simple yet radical propos al — to think of others. Specifically, let’s think of the children: after all, we think more like they do than we might like to admit.

In July, I visited FUTURES, an eclectic-electric museum-festival in the Smithsonian Arts and Indus tries Building in Washington, D.C. There, I marveled at exhibits that juxtaposed historical artifacts, like science fiction author Octavia But ler’s typewriter, with retro visions, like Robert McCall’s 1960 Space Sail of the Future. The Bakelizer, the first machine to create complete ly synthetic plastic material, was featured alongside afrofuturist art, biodegradable burial pods, and a live AI light show.

Amid the inventions and re inventions, the Museum invit ed visitors to reflect on what they expect or hope for in the future. Last month, the FUTURES team summarized the data from their 650,000 visitors. One major con clusion was sad if unsurprising: People are much more optimis tic that large-scale crises will be solved by innovation and technolo gy — not peaceful, cooperative, hu man-centered solutions.

I wonder if this lack of optimism comes from a similar “end-of-his tory illusion,” where we can imag ine the things and technologies around us changing more than we see ourselves changing.

But this reasoning may be short-sighted, since technology is a product of society, and our insti tutions and customs are ultimate ly mutable. If technologies are mutable, does that not mean our ideas – which both help create and are shaped by that technology — change as well?

How much would our predic tions change if, instead of think ing about how we see the future, we think collectively about how our peers will? What if we think of the children?

“

How much would our predictions change if, instead of thinking about how we see the future, we think collectively about how our peers will? What if we think of the children?

When we think of the children, we can think for them (how we owe them a good world to grow into) and think about them (how they re veal our own failings), and we can think like them, too. According to the FUTURES data, the youngest visitors were “more likely to talk to friends and family about the future after seeing the exhibition, to see solutions for the future that were exciting to them, and to recognize similarities between themselves and the people shaping the future.”

At the FUTURES exhibit, I found myself reading through the handwritten reflections — predic tions spanning generations pinned across the walls. I noticed common threads and personal goals: ex ploration and education, new jobs and opportunities, health, and re lationships. Of all the visitor-sub mitted notecards that I read, I was most struck by those written by children under 10 — rumpled and compassionate hopes to work hard and “save enyrgy.”

One note in particular stood out: “I will write my letters to make a future that is bright.”

—Julie

Harvard Falls Short of PILOT Request

ed.

For the 11th consecutive year, Harvard fell short of financial contributions requested by the city of Boston under a program in which nonprofits are asked to voluntarily give the city money in lieu of taxes.

Under the Payment in Lieu of Taxes program, or PILOT, the city requests voluntary con tributions from nonprofit “ed ucational, medical, and cultur al” institutions with property in Boston valued at upwards of $15 million.

The institutions, which are exempt from paying property taxes as nonprofits, are asked to pay 25 percent of the property taxes they would have paid if not for their nonprofit statuses.

In fiscal year 2022, Harvard contributed a total of almost $10.8 million — 79 percent of the nearly $13.7 million request, ac cording to city data. This fis cal cycle marks the fifth year in a row that Harvard paid 79 per cent of the city’s PILOT request.

The 2022 payment includes $6.8 million in “community ben efits credit” — programs run by institutions that are considered by the city to “uniquely benefit Boston residents.”

Harvard cites the Arnold Ar boretum, Harvard Law School Pro Bono Program, and sum mer academies hosted on cam pus for underserved high school students as community benefits.

Fifty percent of an institution’s PILOT payments can come in the form of such programming.

Many other large area non profits — including Boston Uni versity, Tufts University, Boston College, the New England Aquar ium, and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum — also fell short of the city’s fiscal year 2022

request.

Boston is home to many non profits, making much of the city’s land tax-exempt.

The PILOT program is meant to “offset the burden placed on Boston taxpayers to fund City services for all property own ers,” according to the city of Bos ton’s website.

Harvard has never paid the full amount requested by the city under PILOT since the program’s inception in 2011.

University spokesperson Amy Kamosa defended Har vard’s contributions to the city in a statement.

“As a nonprofit, Harvard’s

robust engagement with its host communities, including the City of Boston, takes many forms,” she wrote. “The Uni versity reliably makes PILOT payments, pays municipal tax es on all non-exempt proper ty, and works directly with the community through meaning ful, and--increasingly more crit ical--community programs, ini tiatives and outreach.”

“These local benefits are an important extension of Har vard’s mission, serve thousands of local residents every year, and reflect years of collaboration be tween the University, its neigh bors, and city partners,” she add

Harvard’s eleventh year of payments that fall below the requested amount comes as the University is moving ahead with ambitious development plans in Boston’s Allston neighborhood, where the school owns roughly one-third of the land.

In a statement, Boston City Councilor Elizabeth A. “Liz” Breadon, who represents All ston-Brighton, called for re forms to the PILOT payment sys tem.

“As the Boston Institution al Master Planning process for Harvard kicks into gear in the not-too-distant future, City and

institutional leaders should re view the efficacy of the PILOT program and more clearly de fine how community benefits are evaluated,” she wrote.

Breadon also called for fur ther cooperation between Har vard and the city of Boston.

“I believe that overall, the City of Boston under-leverages the re sources of its many nonprofit in stitutions of higher learning,” she wrote.

“I look forward to strength ening partnerships with institu tions like Harvard.”

Rock Climbing Gym Opens in Square

BY KATE DELVAL GONZALEZ CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Central Rock Gym rocked Harvard Square with its grand opening in the Abbot Building this past August.

Hundreds of people turned out for the gym’s Har vard Square opening on Aug. 12, according to the location’s general manager, Che Hart man.

The gym currently has rock climbing programs but will soon expand to offer yoga and fitness classes.

In an interview, Hartman attributed the great turnout of the Harvard Square open ing to the gym’s existing cus tomer base.

“The word gets out real ly quickly,” she said. “Our al ready existing Central Rock family knew we were coming.”

Hartman added that the location’s first few months “have been amazing”.

Since the opening of its first location in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 2009, Cen tral Rock Gym has expand ed to 15 locations in New En gland and New York.

Hartman said both Har vard and MIT students have frequented the new gym thanks to its convenient lo cation close to the Harvard Square T station and Harvard Yard.

THE FOUNDING. The Central Rock Gym, which recently opened a new location in Harvard Square, launched at its first location in Worcester, Massachu setts, in 2009. It now has 15 locations in New England.

Another neighbor of Cen tral Rock Gym is the new lo cation of El Jefe’s Taqueria, a beloved Harvard Square hot spot.

BY KATE DELVAL GONZALEZ CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Harvard Square hosted Cam bridge’s 43rd Annual Oktoberfest on Sunday, complete with beer, sausages, and music to entertain overflow crowds.

The event, which took place Sunday on Church St. and Brat tle St., has been hosted in Har vard Square every year since 1978, when it was first organized by Frank Cardullo.

the Harvard Square Philippine American Alliance for the first time this year in honor of Filipino American History Month, which extends throughout the month of October.

Filipino artists and bands per formed on a stage that was locat ed in a parking lot on Church St. alongside booths that were set up by local Filipino-owned busi nesses.

The festival was headlined by a 5:30 p.m. performance by rap per EZ Mil, who was joined by other artists and dance troupes on the Church St. Stage.

The weekend festivities also featured an interactive art instal lation called “Chalk on the Walk,” which invited attendees to create chalk artwork on the Church St. pavement.

The Grolier Poetry Book Shop, founded in 1927, joined Oktober fest for the first time this year in celebration of its 95th anniversa ry.

The event coincided with the 17th Annual HONK! Parade, which was the first-ever Filipi no American Festival in Harvard Square, as well as a poetry festi val celebrating the 95th anniver sary of the Grolier Poetry Book Shop, on Plympton St., located one building over from The Crim son building.

The popular Harvard Square restaurants Alden and Harlow and Wusong Road hosted Okto berfest outdoor beer gardens, along with the Commonwealth Wine School.

Several live music stages were set up throughout Harvard Square, featuring an array of bands from Cambridge and be yond.

Many musical groups per formed on the Oktoberfest main stage, including La Banda Inter nacional de Chelsea, the Jamaica Plain Honk Band, and the School of Honk.

Sunday’s festivities also in cluded the Filipino American Festival, which was hosted by

The shop hosted poetry read ings, including from Boston Youth Poet Laureate Anjalequa Birkett and current Boston Poet Laureate Porsha Olayiwola.

Revels, a Cambridge-based performance group, also joined the festivities on Sunday to pro mote its Midwinter Revels pro gram, which will be held in Sand ers Theatre in December.

Jennifer Sur, the organiza tion’s administrative services manager, said Revels’ produc tions “look at different cultures and different time periods.”

“We look at the traditions around the solstice for those cul tures, or Christmas, too, depend ing on the culture,” Jennifer Sur said.

This year’s production will look at Mexican, Irish, and Jew ish cultures set in Ellis Island in the 1920s, Jennifer Sur said.

The celebration concluded at Grendel’s Den, a resturaunt and bar on Winthrop St. off of the sqa ure, hosted an Oktoberfest af ter-party featuring the 20th an nual keg tapping ceremony.

Hartman teased a po tential partnership with the restaurant, saying they have been “absolutely the best.”

“They plan on hooking up our members and are more than happy to grow a partner ship, which is awesome,” she said.

Another upside of the gym’s location, according to Hartman, has been its prox imity to foot traffic.

“The nice thing about where we’re located, is you’re walking the streets – you can see right into the gym, and you can see people on the walls,” she said.

“Just the visibility of us from people walking by has been amazing,” she added.

Hartman also said the gym welcomes newcomers.

“A lot of people in the Cam bridge area that have no idea what rock climbing is, or may be do but didn’t know that we’re here, can actually see our space, and they will kind of mosey on up,” she said.

Central Rock Gym’s Har vard Square location offers student discounts at the begin ning of each school year. This year’s special ended on Oct. 1, but the gym continues to offer a discounted membership for anyone aged 22 and under.

Reflecting on the business’ first couple months, Hart man acknowledged stress as sociated with the opening but said a highlight has been the customers.

“But the first day as soon as people started coming with smiling faces — it’s very cheesy — but that’s been the best part,” she said.

KELSEY J. GRIFFIN — FLOURISH CHART

Che Hartman Central Rock

been

Performers

HONK!

stage

the Square.

CRIMSON

Researchers Identify Sea Level Fingerprints

JEREMIAH

Anew study conducted by Harvard researchers ap pears to have detected the first-ever proof of changes in ocean levels due to glacial melt ing, known as sea level finger prints.

The study, led by Harvard professor Jerry X. Mitrovica and Harvard Ph.D. Sophie Coulson, could be key to predicting future sea level changes amid the effects of climate change.

“Sea level is one of the most complex and, I would say, detri mental impacts of climate,” Mi trovica said. “If you want to know what sea level is going to look like in 2100, then what you have to ask is what you think the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets and gla ciers will look like.”

Sea level is one of the most complex and, I would say, detrimental impacts of climate.

Jerry X. Mitrovica Harvard Professor

When ice glaciers melt, ocean levels fall near the glacier and rise several thousand miles away due to glacial gravitational pulls — re sulting in a pattern known as sea level fingerprints. While scientists have broadly agreed that sea lev el fingerprints exist, the study by Coulson and Mitrovica is the first to identify proof of it in nature.

Mitrovica said scientists have faced difficulties for years in identifying sea level rise that can be specifically attributed to gla ciers because of the array of envi

ronmental factors that also raise ocean levels.

“You’re trying to pull out of this very noisy ocean of ours… a relatively small signal,” Mitrovi ca said.

Mitrovica and his team were able to observe sea level finger prints thanks to European satel lite data and a new method they used to account for the effects of wind and tides.

“We developed a way that we could correct for this wind-driv en stuff,” he said. “Prior to our work, I think you’d have to prob ably wait another 20 years to see a clear fingerprint signal. But be cause you were able to see very close to the ice sheet that was melting, we shortened that times cale by decades.”

Mitrovica, who has studied the phenomenon of sea level fin gerprints for years, said he was “overwhelmed” when he learned

Professor Melanie Matchett Wood Wins ‘Genius Grant’

At age 16, Wood became the first female member of the U.S. Inter national Mathematical Olympi ad Team.

After completing her under graduate degree at Duke Univer sity, Wood then went on to earn a Ph.D. at Princeton University in 2009.

Before coming to Harvard, she held faculty positions at Stanford University, the University of Wis consin-Madison, and the Univer sity of California, Berkeley.

Wood was also a Five-Year Fel low with the American Institute of Mathematics.

According to Harvard Math ematics department chair Mi chael J. Hopkins, Wood is inter ested in lowering barriers in the math world and tries to encour age students by allowing them to join in her research projects.

“In her research, she’s remark able for doing things that cut across fields,” Hopkins said in an interview on Wednesday. “With

in her research, she always man ages to find things — little parts of it — that could be projects for students, for undergraduates or grad students.”

“She’s inspiring,” he added. “You talk to her and you’re sort of immediately aware you’re talking to someone that thinks about math at a very high level and yet can communicate math at any level.”

of his team’s research findings.

I knew that it was there, but I just didn’t think we would be the ones to see it.

Jerry X. Mitrovica Harvard Professor

“For us, it’s a kind of bookend because we were the group that developed the ideas of sea lev el fingerprints,” he said. “I knew that it was there, but I just didn’t think we would be the ones to see it. I got quite emotional about it because we’ve written at least two dozen papers that have success fully refined how you make pre dictions of fingerprints.”

Gay Discusses Harvard Presidential Search

other hiring initiatives.

“With a national search ac tively underway, we will wel come the inaugural FAS cam pus curator, who will lead the reimagining of our visual cul ture and partner with the cam pus community to expand the narratives we tell in our shared spaces,” Gay wrote in a message to FAS affiliates at the beginning of the semester.

She said Wednesday that an “impressive group of candi dates” has been identified for the campus curator position.

Over the summer, the FAS Committee on Visual Cul ture and Signage toured three “high-impact” spaces identi fied in a report that outlined recommendations for creating a more “dynamic, welcoming, and inclusive” visual culture on campus, Gay said. These spac es include the Faculty Room

Pictures worth a thousand words.

in University Hall, Annenberg Hall, and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Center in Lehman Hall.

Gay said the committee is now gathering information and formulating questions about each space in anticipation of the campus curator.

During Tuesday’s first facul ty meeting of the semester, Gay provided updates on the FAS’ climate cluster hire initiative.

On Wednesday, Gay said she hopes the FAS will recruit up to three scholars who study envi ronment, climate, and sustain ability in the next two years.

Gay added that the hiring ini tiatives are “high leverage moves that help to stimulate further hiring across the school in ways that are highly complementary.”

The Crimson thecrimson.com

From Weeks to Weld.

The Crimson

jeremiah.curran@thecrimson.com

“

TEATRO! Brings Washington Heights Rhythms to the Loeb

BY ALANA L. YOUNG CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

t this point in the se mester, most students are buckling down and thinking of nothing more than surviving the next exam. But even with mid terms in full swing, the cast and crew members of “In the Heights” are spending hours practicing in Loeb Drama Center every eve ning. And now, just six weeks after the start of the term, TEATRO! — Harvard’s Latinx performing arts organization — is almost ready for the premiere of the musical originally written by Lin-Manuel Miranda.

This quick turnaround is no small feat. Callia H. Chuang ’23, one of three co-choreographers, described the quick turnaround as one of the fastest timelines in recent Harvard memory. Ch uang felt that given the consider able amount of dance numbers, the choreographers in particu lar were under huge pressure. Be

cause of this, as co-choreogra pher Jennifer Chu ’24 explained, the team actually started “plan ning and making choreo[graphy] in the summer.”

AStill, the choreographers re mained flexible. “After we got back on campus, I think we were all really inspired by the cast members,” Chu said, “Because we knew that things would change. And leaving more room for play actually allowed us to take more inspiration from the people we cast and bring their personalities and their energy into our move ment.”

The choreographers were not the only crewmembers who felt the pressure of the quick turn around. Many of the performers, who were not cast until this se mester, have also devoted extra time to the show. “I realized a lot of it was on me to just read through the script, go through the music myself, and create my own rela tionship [to the character] before being told by the director,” said Di ego Flores Romero ’23, who plays the lead character Usnavi.

Yet his pressure has not pre vented the “In the Heights” cast and crew from enjoying the pro

duction. “[Rehearsals are] some thing I really look forward to ev ery day which has made it a lot easier,” said Roseanne O. Strat egos ’25, who plays questioning college student Nina. “I really think that everyone’s putting a lot of work into this show which has made it go a lot smoother.”

Isabella E. Peña ‘24, cast as Va nessa, an aspiring fashion de signer and Usnavi’s love interest, agreed that the hard work of the team has made the time crunch more manageable and enjoyable. “Any given day, we’re rehearsing sometime between 5 and 11 P.M., so I’m getting to know the cast re ally well and getting to know the

ly wasn’t a lot of Latine represen tation in terms of people going on stage and of people running shows and I didn’t see any large musicals produced by or about Hispanic people,” she said.

To Ramirez, “In the Heights” is also a chance for greater Latine visibility within musical theater as a whole. “In the Heights is the gold standard of Latine represen tation in musical theater. There really isn’t another show that does it like ‘Heights.’ … there isn’t any part of the musical theater can on that engages with Latine repre sentation, identities, and experi ences the way that ‘Heights’ does,” she said. Because of this, Ramirez

from the film. She was especially concerned that the movie failed to grapple with the conflict sur rounding Nina and Benny’s rela tionship arising from Benny’s race and the colorism in Nina’s family.

“I find it very important that there’s this story of colorism and racism even within communi ties of color,” Ramirez said, “yet it was totally erased in the mov ie. There was no mention of [Ni na’s father] having any sort of prejudice against Benny.” On top of including this dynamic in TE ATRO!’s production, Ramirez sought to “deepen that storyline” by genderbending Benny’s char acter, who will be played by Al yssa M. Gaines ’26. “Not only is it a story of tension between Nina’s Puerto Rican family and Benny as an African American, but it’s also a queer story between two young women,” she said.

directing team and the choreog raphers really well which is fun,” she said.

The tight turnaround didn’t prevent Director Aviva L.F. Ramirez ’23 from pursuing her goal of increasing Latine repre sentation within Harvard’s the ater scene, either. “When I was a first-year starting out in the the ater community here, there real

is hopeful that “people feel seen” by the show.

Ramirez has also set out to rec tify what she believes are mistakes made by the movie adaptation of “In the Heights.” Like many crit ics of director Jon M. Chu’s ver sion, Ramirez finds that the full range of what it can mean to be a Latine person in terms of skin tone and experience was missing

Japanese Breakfast is Jubilant at Boston’s Roadrunner

BY SAMANTHA H. CHUNG CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Indie artist Japanese Break fast, the project of writer and musician Michelle Zauner, is on the rise. After the release of her breakout third album “Jubi lee,” which was nominated for two Grammy Awards, as well as the critical and commercial suc cess of Zauner’s bestselling mem oir “Crying in H Mart,” Japanese Breakfast has experienced a mo ment of long-awaited recogni tion nine years into their career.

On Sept. 29, Zauner and her band performed at Boston’s Roadrun ner to a sold-out audience. Zaun er was completely at home on the stage, bringing her charisma and passion to the large venue. She loves to perform, and she wanted the audience to know it.

The concert began with “Papri ka,” a bright and buzzy opener that announced the band’s pres ence with a chorus of horns. For this song, a light-up gong, which Zauner would hit enthusiastical ly on time with the music, was brought onstage. The gong stayed onstage for the remainder of the show, becoming the centerpiece of an effective minimalist set by changing colors to fit the mood of

each song.

A confident opening song to Jap anese Breakfast’s set, “Paprika” touches on the euphoria of per forming onstage: “How’s it feel to stand at the height of your powers / To captivate every heart? / Pro jеcting your visions to strangers / Who feel it, who listen to linger on еvery word.” The song perfectly captured the energy of the crowd, who hung onto every note from the moment Zauner stepped on stage.

Zauner’s bouncy, infectious ener gy shone primarily through her music. Her clear voice and soar ing high notes exuded joy. She didn’t spend much time talking to the audience, instead letting the performance speak for it self. The songs flowed seamless ly into each other, transitioning smoothly between the fizzy en ergy of “Jubilee” and the quieter, more ambient sound that charac terized her earlier work in songs such as “The Woman That Loves You” and “Road Head.”

The setlist was a balanced mix of tracks from each of Japanese Breakfast’s three albums. Zaun er performed some of her big gest hits, such as the energet ic, city-pop song “Be Sweet” and the dreamy anthem “Boyish.” In terspersed between these hit sin

gles were standout album tracks from Japanese Breakfast’s nineyear career.

Zauner’s charisma and stage presence added a new dimension to each song she performed. She sang “Savage Good Boy,” a satir ical song about a billionaire hid ing in a bunker at the end of the world, with an ironic attitude and wry delivery. And on the flip side, a particularly touching mo ment occurred during the wist ful ballad “Tactics,” when Zaun er’s bandmate and husband Peter Bradley joined her at the keyboard.

The band also performed the song “Glider,” an ethereal track from the video game “Sable,” whose soundtrack Zauner composed.

Although the song was written to be heard alongside game visuals, “Glider” worked just as well as a standalone track in concert. The song’s atmospheric woodwinds coupled with Zauner’s vocals cre ated a sense of stepping into a fan tasy world reminiscent of Joe Hi saishi and Studio Ghibli.

Finally, a highlight of the show was concert opener Yo La Ten go, the ‘80s indie rock band who inspired Zauner’s own music. Yo La Tengo’s Ira Kaplan joined Jap anese Breakfast on guitar for the final encore song “Diving Wom

an,”

The crewmembers were un mistakably excited about next week’s performance. Flores Romero was particularly ea ger to see his parents in the audi ence. “I’ve done musicals before, but I don’t think [my parents] have been able to come before due to the language barrier. I’m hoping they’ll understand ‘In the Heights’ more,” she said.

RESPIRA. After weeks of preparing for the first major musical of the semester, Harvard’s TEATRO! is preparing for the Friday evening premiere of “In the Heights.”

Leaving more room for play actually allowed us to take more inspiration from the people we cast

“

song

ends

minutes of

noise from every in strument onstage. Kaplan is an incredible guitarist, and “Diving Woman” was a truly transcen dent experience to hear live.

Japanese Breakfast’s show at Roadrunner captured the full range of the band’s discography, from plaintive longing to biting satire to the unfettered joy of “Ju bilee.” And through it all, Zaun er’s passion showed how deserv

ing Japanese Breakfast is of their quickly rising fame. When they tour in Boston again, they’ll come back to an audience that’s eager for their return.

Japanese

A New Bookstore to Delight Beacon Hill Tourists and Residents

BY HANNAH E. GADWAY CONTRIBUTING WRITER

On Friday, Sept. 30, Beacon Hill Books and Cafe opened on Boston’s famed Charles Street. It is the first new bookstore to open in the neighborhood in nearly 30 years. A visit to the bookstore on its opening day revealed that it seeks to be more than just a reg ular business, curated and deco rated with magic in mind.

Only one hour after opening, the store was abuzz with cus tomers exploring its nooks and crannies. Children inspected the books, patrons chatted with the staff, and many posed for selfies in front of photogenic displays.

It’s clear that every inch of the space was meticulously de signed. The first and second floors give the impression of being a tai lored apartment more than a re tail space. Towering bookcas es painted in pale blue line the walls and tables display catered selections of novels. Fresh flow ers adorn the mantle of a crack ling fireplace. Scattered through out the store are small chairs that invite patrons to sit and start a book.

The third floor, dedicated to children and young adult read ers, seems to draw the most at tention from visitors. A gleaming red button rests on the wall with

the words “PRESS ME.” When one obliges, a steam engine whis tles to life and appears atop the bookshelves. A tiny squirrel — Paige, the store’s mascot — sits in the conductor’s car. Beside the fire, tiny chairs surround a minia ture tea set. Nearby, a small childsized door with a gold knock er invites young visitors to walk through and peruse the books.

The magical qualities of the store were apparent to its visi tors. Two customers browsing amongst the shelves, Nikki Stone and Kass Aitken, commented on their experience in the store. “It’s so cute!” said Stone.

Aitken compared entering the store to “an ‘Alice in Wonderland’ experience. Walking in that door from the street was pleasantly de lightful,” Aitken said. It indeed feels like entering a new world, engineered to entice.

In an interview with The Har vard Crimson, the store’s own er, Melissa Fetter, revealed the inspiration behind its design: “I worked with wonderful archi tects, local architects — Pauli & Uribe Associate Architects — and an interior designer named Cathy Kincaid, and then I have a great passion for aesthetics and interiors,” said Fetter. “I think re tail businesses that thrive in this day thrive because you make the space so compelling that peo ple will choose to come into the store to make the purchase, rath er than do what is more conve

nient and order online from that company whose name must not be mentioned. You have to make it really fun for people to come in. And so that’s what we’ve done.”

Fetter is new to the world of running a small business, but she is confident that her background gives her the experience neces sary to make Beacon Hill Books and Cafe work.

“I worked at JPMorgan for many years and then spent 20 years doing a lot of philanthrop ic work chairing different art mu seum boards, you know, very ac tive in the community,” she said. “But somehow all of those experi ences come together in a way that I feel prepares me to be a small business operator. And because I don’t have a background in re tailing or bookselling, it means that I’ve been able to approach ev erything with very fresh eyes and look at it through the view of the consumer.”

The space promises to be a source of attraction for tourists in the city, and locals are just as excited about the opening of a new business. One resident, Erin Buechele, said, “I live right down the street, and every single day when I walk down Charles I peek in, and I’m just thrilled. I love in dependent bookstores and I think that everyone should support them. And, I’m excited for the cafe to open.”

The cafe that Buechele men tions will soon be open for break

fast, lunch, and afternoon tea. Fetter estimates that the space will be ready within a couple of weeks.

Although the bookstore and cafe are located in Beacon Hill, Fetter made it clear that it is a space for both those in and out side of the neighborhood:

“This is a bookstore for all of Boston and for people traveling to Boston. Our curation of books and the programming that we will offer are inclusive and wel coming of everyone,” she said. “And I hope that your readers will find that we’re a good excuse to come across town to enjoy all that Beacon Hill and the neighboring area have to offer.”

The store offers a space for students looking to enjoy books in a comfortable atmosphere, too. Fetter hopes that it will rekin dle the magical experience that reading can bring.

“I want to inspire a lifelong love of reading. I think it’s so crit ically important. And I think we can kind of do that: We can make it fun, we can let people in, and then they can find out on their own. What a gift it is to read,” she said.

Beacon Hill Books and Cafe is located at 71 Charles Street. When its cafe officially opens, it will be announced on the store’s Instagram page, @beaconhill booksandcafe.

Harvard Square Open Market Brings Community to Cambridge

BY STELLA A. GILBERT CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

As fall winds struck Cambridge last weekend, one attraction brought warmth to an otherwise cold day: the Harvard Square Open Market. Located on Church Street, the market runs week ly on Sundays through Oct. 30, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and fea tures the shops of dozens of lo cal Boston-area artists, curators, and business owners with a vast range of products from posters to plants to secondhand clothes.

The market is a result of the Harvard Square Business Associ ation’s partnership with New En gland Open Markets and offers an opportunity for small businesses that may not otherwise have the option to sell goods in person to reach a larger client base.

“I don’t have a physical store,” said Ariana LaMotte, owner of Ariana Thrifts. “I’ve been selling at the New England Open Mar kets all summer — just popping up here and there.”

Artist Amy Hartigan also ap preciates the market for letting her explore a burgeoning hobby.

“My main hustle was that I owned a consulting company do ing marketing and PR, but then I started painting so now I’m hop ing my side hustle becomes my main hustle,” she said.

Even business owners with brick-and-mortar locations can benefit from the open market. Bob Perry, for example, runs the market stand for Cheapo Re cords, which also has a location in Central Square.

“The store and the market go hand in hand — the store is al ways open and markets create a new location every weekend,” Perry said. “It’s like having two stores on a Sunday.”

Even young people have gotten involved in the vendor communi ty. Boy Scouts Richard Zaloom

and Alex Saba from Troop 194 sold popcorn at the market.

We’ve never tried going out of our hometown of Bedford. But we decided that since we know a few people who work in this area, we would set up at the market and see how well we could do,” Zaloom said.

“And so far we’re doing really well!” Saba said with a nod, not ing that they also ran into a for mer member of their troop as they were selling that day.

Supporting members of the community is at the core of the market’s mission. Cellist Keefer Glenshaw studies at the Berklee College of Music and busks at the open market every week, where passersby can enjoy his music.

“There have been a couple times where my money has ful ly blown away and people have had the kindness to pick it up and bring it back to my tip basket,” he said.

Like Glenshaw, many other vendors lauded the strong com munity at the open market.

“Every time I do a show like this, I meet new people and then we can do collaborations or learn about new shows,” Hartigan said.

Fiona Kikoyo, the owner of Phionah — a business that sells homemade pillows and candles — similarly admires the breadth of goods the market has to offer.

“This market just has diversi ty. There’s so much you can find here and everyone has different things to sell,” Kikoyo said.

So why support the market?

Gabrielle Boyce, owner of The G Spot Vintage Shop shared a sim ple yet powerful answer.

“Support local artists! Sup port local businesses! Shop sus tainably! Shop local!” she said. “Coming here puts money back into our city.”

Disney’s Star Wars Finds A New Hope in ‘Andor’

BY DANIEL PINCKNEY CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Returning to a galaxy far, far away once again, “Andor” plants the seeds of the beloved Rebel lion that has captured audiences’ imaginations since May 1977. The first episode of the newest addi tion to the well-known franchise premiered on Sept. 21 on Dis ney+. Since Disney’s acquisition of “Stars Wars” in 2012, the franchise has struggled to find the right bal ance between telling new sto ries and relying on its established mythos. “Andor” seeks to right the scales and offer a compelling sto ry that dovetails with the movies.

The show ties directly into the 2016 film “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” one of Disney’s first forays into the “Star Wars” universe.

“Rogue One”’s story focused on the Rebel Alliance’s acquisition of the plans for the Empire’s su per weapon, events that catalyze the action of Lucas’s original 1977 film. “Rogue One” introduced au diences to characters like Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) and Cassian An dor (Diego Luna), Rebel spies who sacrifice their lives for the great er good of the galaxy. Reception of the film was mixed; it earned less than anticipated at the box of fice but garnered positive reviews from critics, who praised its ad

herence to the source material.

In the time since its theatrical re lease, it has grown more popular among fans, especially against the shaky track record of Disney’s other “Star Wars” offerings.

The new series is set years be fore “Rogue One” and further de velops the backstory of Cassian Andor, with Diego Luna reprising his role as the titular character.

From the outset, “Andor” strives to both illuminate a new side of the galaxy and to appeal to fans of George Lucas’s original film tril ogy. The title card hearkens back to the wide space shots of “A New Hope”’s opening scene, but after that, the series immediately sets about establishing its own dis tinctive style. The show’s first ep isode mixes neo-noir aesthet ics with spy thriller story beats to create a wholly new atmosphere amongst the “Star Wars” can on. This unique visual presenta tion grounds the story’s explora tion of several complex themes including responsibility, guilt, and whether the ends justify the means.

The show depends on its tit ular character to grapple with these questions. Cassian Andor’s moral ambiguity is a welcome departure from the binary goodversus-evil narratives that have dominated “Star Wars” since Dis ney’s takeover. Many of the com

plaints leveled at Disney’s sequel trilogy focused on poor charac terization and development, but “Andor” largely avoids that issue, creating a hero that defies flat ste reotypes.

Throughout the premiere, Cassian grapples with the conse quences of his actions. In one par ticularly well-acted scene, Luna conveys the inner turmoil Cas sian feels through a series of facial expressions before he decides to kill someone threatening his ano nymity. The strain of the decision and Cassian’s guilt are both evi dent, demonstrating Luna’s im pressive range and control. His performance largely carries the first episode, giving audiences a sketch of a rougher, more aimless Andor than in “Rogue One”.

The show stumbles a bit, however, with its other charac ters.

The introduction of another droid sidekick and strange alien animals feel like tropes for “Star Wars,” and “Andor” has both. An dor’s droid sidekick, B2EMO — an innocent and naive salvage droid — clearly emulates both R2-D2 and BB-8. While Andor seems to care about the droid, B2EMO adds little to the story that Andor’s oth er allies, namely Bix and Brasso, do not.

Meanwhile, the hounds roaming the planet Ferrix might as well be scenery. Their inclu sion seems to be Disney’s attempt

to continue merchandising the lucrative franchise. Fortunately, their inclusion does not distract from the story.

More concerning is the char acterization of the show’s antag onist, Syril Karn. A corporate un derling whose ambition directly clashes with his robotic adher ence to the rules, Karn’s villainy is underbaked. His desire to do what he views as right complicates his status as the enemy, but a lack of nuanced motives undermine au dience sympathy. In addition, the show so far has not illustrated what power he actually possess es to endanger the hero, so his re lentlessness comes off as an emp ty threat. Hopefully, the rest of the season explores more of his moti vation and creates a compelling foil to Andor.

Despite these minor criti cisms, the show as a whole ap pears poised for success. Audi ence members who have seen “Rogue One” know where Cas sian’s story will end, but this new series offers compelling hints to ward how he became the selfless Rebel spy they know. For more casual fans, the central mystery of the story, alluded to in flash backs throughout the premiere, will likely draw them into want ing more.

Much as how “The Mandalori an” — Disney’s other major “Star

Wars” success — used the trap pings of the galaxy far, far away to tell a new story, “Andor” ex plores a different side of the uni verse without abandoning the themes of Lucas’s vision that con tinue to resonate with audiences

today. The “Andor” premiere suc ceeds in charting its own path into the gray underworld from which our protagonist and the Rebellion emerge.

STELLA A. GILBERT — CRIMSON

Q&A:

ADELE BACOW ON URBAN DESIGN, LIFE WITH LARRY, AND BOOK CLUBBING

THE URBAN PLANNER and first lady of Harvard sat down with Fifteen Minutes to discuss her artistic pursuits and her formative college years at Wellesley. “I grew up in a very protected, secure, happy home life,” she says. “And then to come up North and be exposed to all the new ideas and the changes in the world, it was extremely eye-opening.”

BY MAYA M. F. WILSON CRIMSON MAGAZINE ASSOCIATE EDITOR

what am I going to do with all these pots?” I think that some times when you do something for a long time, it’s time to move on to something else. I got a lot of enjoyment out of it for many years, and now I’m more drawn to music — classical music. I also play a lot of duets with a friend, which is fun. I used to play with my mother, and I used to play with our son.

FM: Does the friend you play with happen to be married to a person named Alan?

AFB: No. But there’s a high prob ability!

FM: What are you reading right now?

A

dele F. Bacow is no stranger to Cam bridge. She’s worked in urban planning for over 30 years and was the founding president of Commu nity Partners Consultants. Be fore that, she completed her un dergrad at Wellesley College and received her graduate degree at MIT. Her husband is current Harvard University President Lawrence S. Bacow.

This interview has been edit ed for length and clarity.

FM: Have you all been cele brating the high holidays?

Does your family have any tra ditions for Rosh Hashanah?

Adele F. Bacow: Of course, we al ways do. It’s a time of reflection. We got to have dinner with my niece and her husband and my sister and her husband and their families, so that was a treat. And then going to our synagogue.

What we always do is part of the time we go to Harvard Hillel and part at our synagogue that we be long to in Newton.

FM: Do you have a favorite dish you like to eat?

AFB: It’s so funny, I emailed a staff person, wrote an email and said, “I made your chocolate date cake. It was delicious.” And I then was like, well actually, lately I’ve been baking this apple cranber ry tart that I make every year be cause it’s got apples for the start of the New Year. So I sent her that recipe. So we’re trading recipes.

FM: Given all of your work in urban design, I’ve been won dering what you think the best designed part of Harvard or Cambridge is? What’s the worst?

AFB: I don’t know that I have one spot that I’d say “this is my fa vorite place in Harvard.” I think what I appreciate about Harvard is how easy it is to walk in and out of the various parts of campus. Even though Harvard Yard has a fence around it, it’s open and ac cessible and anybody can walk in and feel welcomed. So I like that part.

FM: What about Cambridge more broadly? Any parts that you think could be reinvi sioned?

AFB: I spent a lot of time around Central Square when I was an undergrad and graduate stu dent. It makes me feel good to see how Central Square has really strengthened, both its commer cial but also its connection to the street and the various neighbor hoods. That’s an area I think has really strengthened in the last 20 years or so, which is saying a lot, because I think it’s hard after two years of Covid, with so many businesses having to close their doors.

FM: How did you and Larry meet?

AFB: His roommate, Alan, was dating my friend, Debbie, who lived across the hall from me in my first year of college. We didn’t meet until September after I graduated from college, but they introduced us, so our first date was a blind date. Do you know what a blind date is?

FM: Yes, I know what a blind date is! What did you do?

AFB: We went to a Greek festi val in Watertown. He had a great

smile and he was easy to talk to. They had dancing and a lot of ouzo and a lot of fun, which is hysteri cal because Larry doesn’t like ouzo and he doesn’t like to dance. But we had a good time. We double-dated with the couple that introduced us — that’s another old term. Oh, and the important thing to know about them is they got married a week be fore we did and drove on their hon eymoon down from Massachusetts to my hometown in Florida for the wedding. And we’re all still good friends, and we’re all still married.

FM: Do you remember what your second date was?

AFB: Larry was in law school at the time, and he invited me with his friend, his friend was dating anoth er roommate, they’d since got mar ried the same week we did—

FM: Wait, the same week again?

AFB: Yes.

FM: All three of them got mar ried the same week?

AFB: No, all four. He had three roommates named Alan. We were the first ones to admit we were en gaged. Within six weeks, they all got engaged, and we all got mar ried in successive weekends in June in 1975. We’re all still married, and we’re all still good friends.

FM: In a Gazette article, you said being in college is the best age! Do you still feel that way?

AFB: I did say that! No, your life will get better than being in college. Be ing around people at college age is wonderful because generally peo

ple are full of promise, full of hope, full of enthusiasm, full of curiosity, and open to ideas. Your life should get richer and fuller as you get old er, which I think it does, if you’re for tunate. So for someone in my stage, I love being around college-aged kids for the reasons I just said. But don’t be dismayed. There’s so much uncertainty, and those questions can feel overwhelming, but with time, you’ll figure it out.

FM: What were you like in col lege?

AFB: I went to Wellesley College, and I came from a very mediocre public high school in Jacksonville, Florida, and I really didn’t learn to study until I got to college because I kind of didn’t have to. So I was very nerdy the first couple years. I just studied all the time, because I was worried I was going to flunk out. For some unknown reasons I made up a major in Urban Design and took a lot of classes at MIT in architecture and planning. I think I was braver than I knew I was, because I didn’t know anyone in those fields, and I took the bus most days to MIT to take these classes and I would be literally the only woman in these classes studying architecture and planning. And you just sort of put one foot in front of the other and do what you think you want to do somehow. In retrospect, I think that was pretty brave of me to do that, but I don’t think I thought about it in those terms at the time.

In college, I was like a kid in a candy shop. I loved the oppor tunities that Boston offered. Ev ery weekend I would usher at the ART and I would see the concerts for free. In those days you could do that. Symphonies, plays, that kind

of thing. And I just really ate up be ing in the city.

I was a freshman in 1969. That was a pivotal year. It was the Wom en’s Revolution, it was right after Martin Luther King, it was Bobby Kennedy, race riots. The spring of my year, students were sent home. It was Kent State, it was Vietnam War protesting. I was protesting in front of the president’s house at Wellesley. When I was taking class es at MIT I was gassed at one of the protests. It was a very complex time to be in college, and I grew up in a very protected, secure, happy home life. And then to come up North and be exposed to all the new ideas and the changes in the world, it was ex tremely eye-opening. I feel like it was very pivotal to my development as a human being, as a woman, as a professional, as someone just opening your eyes to the world. I think that perhaps what I witnessed helped steer me towards my profes sional goals.

FM: The arts have clearly been a really important part of your life since forever. Do you pursue art in your free time, or as a hobby still? Do you have a favorite me dium?

AFB: I’m more into music now. I’ve been taking piano lessons for years, and I probably play the piano al most everyday. I read a lot when I can, but I’m not, like, a painter. I used to do pottery very seriously, but I finally gave away my potter’s wheel. I was actually the found ing president of the Wellesley Col lege Potters Association. And then, when I took up piano, and working, it became hard to combine every thing. My friends and I, we’re at the stage now where we’re like, “Well,

AFB: I just finished a book of es says by — she wrote the “Dutch House” and “Bel Canto” — Ann Patchett. She wrote a book that came out during Covid, similar to essays she’d written previous ly, but they were beautifully writ ten, I really enjoyed that. Each es say talks about a different time in her life that was profound, rang ing from her first semester at college when she couldn’t come home and decided she was going to make Thanksgiving dinner for her college friends and what she learned about herself in do ing that, to someone who was her mentor, to what it was like being a writer. I think it was a time of reflection, and a compilation of previous essays that she’d writ ten, but they were very insight ful. Let me look up the name, you might like this book: “These Pre cious Days: Essays.” I’m also just starting to read a book called “River of Doubt” that talks about Teddy Roosevelt’s passage down the Amazon after he lost the presidential election, which my book club is reading, but I liter ally just started it so I can’t speak on that. And before that I read “Crying in H-Mart.” Do you know it? It’s a memoir. But I’ve been in the same book club for over 35 years, it’s really fun. We raised our family in New ton and it was started by some friends when our kids were little and in preschool together, and one of them said, “We can talk about things other than kids.” So they started a bookclub, so I joined it! And we’ve been meet ing for a long, long time. But they’re avid readers. A number of them are in more than one book club. It’s impres sive. One friend — this shows you how much she likes to read — she said when she was a little girl, she would read in the shower. And I said, how do you do that? She said she stayed in the show er and the water would go down her back. Hahaha. Don’t worry, I don’t read in the shower.

FM: What misconceptions do you think people have about the Harvard presidency?

AFB: People say to me a lot, “How does Larry handle all the stress of being president?” And the one thing I’ll say about him is he doesn’t get stressed about hard decisions. He’s a good decision maker and he’s got a great team, and he’s good at working with his team in having to navigate real ly complex issues. So it’s not like he stays up all night thinking, “What am I going to do about this next issue?” It’s more that it’s consistently relentless.

FM: So, you retired, and Larry is phasing out of the presiden cy. What are you guys looking forward to in this next stage?

AFB: For me, the thing I’m look ing forward to the most is to have his undivided attention. He’s al ways juggling so many issues and so many demands on his time and wanting to respond quickly, which he does, to every overture. So I think for both of us it’ll be nice to just relax and for him not to have those consistent demands on his attention. Just to be able to walk the beach with re laxation, spend time with family and friends, and smell the roses a bit more!

Minutes is the magazine of The Harvard Crimson. To read other longform pieces,

COURTESY

FAS Talks Climate Initiatives, Workload at Meeting

Bernanke ’75 Wins Nobel Prize in Economics

sive bailouts,” Tore Ellingsen, Chair of the Committee for the Prize in Economic Sciences, said in a Nobel Committee press release.

BY RAHEM D. HAMID CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Former Chairman of the Unit ed States Federal Reserve Ben S. Bernanke ’75 was one of three recipients of the Nobel Prize in Economics Monday morning.

He becomes the 32nd No bel laureate to have graduated from Harvard College and the second College alum awarded a Nobel Prize in 2022, after Caro lyn R. Bertozzi ’88 received the award for her work in chemis try last week.

With Bernanke’s award, Harvard has now seen 36 of its current and former instructors or alumni take home the prize in economics. Harvard-affiliat ed winners account for roughly 40 percent of the 92 total laure ates in economic sciences since the category was added in 1968.

ON TUESDAY, Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Scienc es met in-person for the first time since prior to Covid-19.

BY ARIEL H. KIM CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Members of Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sci ences gathered in the Science Center Tuesday for their first in-person meeting since Feb ruary 2020.

The FAS discussed a range of issues including a cluster hire for climate scholars, a report on faculty workload, Harvard’s new mental health campaign, and an upcoming change in their dental insurance plan.

Though University President Lawrence S. Bacow typically leads faculty meetings, FAS Dean Claudine Gay took charge on Tuesday, saying Bacow was “un der the weather.”

On the docket for Tuesday’s meeting was a presentation from Vice Provost for Climate and Sus tainability James H. Stock on the vision and priorities for the new ly established Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability.

In June, the University an nounced the establishment of the Salata Institute, funded by a $200

million donation from Melanie Salata and Jean E. Salata. Stock has been charged with directing the institute.

Gay said during Tuesday’s meeting that the launch of the in stitute “signals Harvard’s com mitment to bringing its academic resources to bear on the existen tial challenge of climate change.”

“We have an opportunity both to partner with other Schools and the Institute and to capitalize on our unique strengths and identi ties — chief among them, our ac ademic breadth,” she said Tues day.

In a June email to all FAS de partment chairs, Gay announced the launch of a cluster hire for up to three senior appointments for scholars in environment, cli mate, and sustainability. She called on all departments to iden tify and nominate individuals for consideration in the hire.

Stock emphasized the impor tance of working across academ ic disciplines to address climate issues, referring to a University report issued last month on the future of Harvard’s climate edu cation.

Gay also discussed the FAS Faculty Workload Committee’s report, which she shared with the faculty at the end of last month.

The Faculty Workload Commit tee was convened in fall 2021 as part of the FAS Strategic Planning

process to assess faculty work load expectations and the distri bution of responsibilities within and across departments.

According to the report, the Committee found that there is an “increasing and unsustainable” amount of non-research work ex pected of faculty and that non-re search work is distributed inequi tably across faculty.

To address the concerns, it recommended that the FAS look into where work can be eliminat ed, streamlined, or delegated to administrative staff. The report also suggested the FAS estab lish clear expectations about the amount of non-research work that faculty should take on.

THE FAS had not met in person for a meeting prior to Tuesday since February 2020, prior to the Covid-19 pandem ic. The faculty, which meets monthly to discuss and vote on FAS issues and policies, had been meeting virtually since the pandemic hit.

Harvard University Health Services Director Giang T. Nguy en also provided faculty mem bers with a public health update.

He began by describing Har vard’s new telehealth services and mental health awareness

campaign. Encouraging facul ty to stay informed on Harvard’s mental health resources, Nguyen pointed to the Crimson Folder, a school-specific document outlin ing how to recognize and assist a student in distress.

He added that faculty will re ceive training on how to support students in need.

Professor of the Arts Vijay Iyer raised concerns about the priva cy of students who utilize campus mental health resources.

He said he would like to refer his students to resources, but he finds it difficult to reassure them that their records will be kept in confidence.

In response, Nguyen talked about University, state, and fed eral regulations protecting the privacy and security of health re cords.

The first faculty meeting of the academic year was marked by a change in venue: faculty meet ings before the pandemic were typically hosted in Universi ty Hall. The shift in location, ac cording to Gay, was “carefully considered.”

Subsequent meetings will be held on Zoom, except for the final meeting of the year, which will take place in Sanders Theater.

Staff writer Meimei Xu contrib uted reporting.

Harvard College Student Groups Celebrate Latinx Heritage Month with Fair, Films

MONIQUE I. VOBECKY

Student groups at Harvard are celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month by hosting cultural events and discussions on campus.

Hispanic Heritage Month, which aims to recognize the histories and cultures of Latinx Ameri cans, spans from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15.

The student organization Fuerza Latina hosted its inaugu ral cultural fair on Saturday. The event, called Ritmo Latino, show cased the cultural traditions and foods of more than 10 Latin coun tries.

Alejandra Beltran ’25, the so cial chair of Fuerza Latina, said she was inspired to plan the event to bring students of different His panic cultures together.

“Since this event includes all of the countries that don’t even have an organization, it’s the first time something like this has ever happened,” she said.

The fair featured cuisine from

the Latinx diaspora, with a deco rated table for each country rep resented. Several student cultur al groups and individuals also performed during the event.

“The point of this event is that it’s a cultural showcase, so every country is going to have a small presentation,” Beltran said.

“When the event finishes we encourage everyone to go through every table to have a little sample of food from every coun try.”

Beltran added that planning the event required significant, yet fulfilling hard work.

“The only thing we are getting out of this is sharing our passion and a piece of home with each other,” she said.

Kilbert Baez-Arias ’24, pres ident of the Dominican Student Association, also praised the in terchange between Latinx stu dent groups at Ritmo Latino.

“I think that it’s a great way for there to be collaboration amongst the different groups, so that we just kind of feel a lot more connected to each other,” he said.

The Harvard Foundation and the Phillips Brooks House Associ ation also teamed up to celebrate Latinx heritage by co-hosting a screening of the documentary “Latino Pioneers in Boston” on Thursday.

Matias Ramos, associate di rector of the Harvard Founda tion, said the film highlights the considerable contributions and perseverance of Latinx Pioneers in the Boston area.

“Today’s stories show the breadth of experiences and ap proaches that Latino communi ty leaders have taken over the last 50 years to make a difference in Boston,” he said. “They worked together with others to create a shared voice and to bring de mands forward that advanced ac cess to education, representation in media, political power, and or ganizing.”

Ramos added that the screen ing has important takeaways for students, such as the “humility and empathy and kindness” illus trated in the film’s stories.

“No matter where you come

from, you have a special

Brooks House

said

Bernanke shares the prize with Douglas W. Diamond, a professor at the University of Chicago, and Philip H. Dybvig, a professor at Washington Uni versity in St. Louis, “for research on banks and financial crises.”

“The laureates’ insights have improved our ability to avoid both serious crises and expen

In a press conference, Ber nanke said the prize was “com pletely unexpected.”

“My wife and I shut off our cell phones when we went to bed last night,” he said. “It was our daughter in Chicago who was finally contacted, and called us on the landline to inform us that this had happened.”

After graduating from the College summa cum laude and as a member of academic honor society Phi Beta Kappa, the for mer Winthrop House resident attended MIT for his Ph.D. be fore teaching at Stanford, MIT, NYU, and Princeton, where he chaired the economics depart ment for six years.

He chaired the Council of Economic Advisors under U.S. President George W. Bush, be fore serving two terms as Chair man of the Federal Reserve — a role he held throughout the fi nancial crisis of 2007-2008.

Bernanke returned to Cam bridge to deliver the 2008 Class Day address and briefly ap peared in the 2016 Winthrop House Housing Day video, in which he declared that “Win throp House is money in the bank.”

From Boston to Boylston.

hopes

we stay in our bubbles,”

ly

said.

as part of the Latinx community

to know the story of our local communi ties.”

Dominguez said she hopes students will feel a call to action to engage with and assist individ uals outside of

pus.

specific hope is that while we’re

realize we’re part of a

community outside of

campus,” she said.

ON MONDAY, former United States Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke ’75 won the Nobel Prize.

Harvard professor Taeku Lee checks in before entering his first Faculty of Arts and Sciences meeting since he was hired over the summer. NICHOLAS T. JACOBSSON — CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

Harvard Set to Return to Ice

will fall onto the shoulders of its experienced seniors. All three of Harvard’s seniors, forward Anne Bloomer, defender Kyra Wil loughby, and forward Kristin Del la Rovere, will serve as captains this season. Stone has high hopes for the group.

Following a historic 2021-22 campaign that featured the first Beanpot title and NCAA tour nament berth since 2015, the No. 13/13 Harvard women’s ice hock ey team begins the season in the midst of a transition. In addition to the new threads that the Crim son will wear this season, the team will feature many new fac es when it kicks off its season at Bright-Landry Hockey Center on Oct. 15 versus Quinnipiac.

“We’re young compared to a year ago,” said head coach Katey Stone, who is entering her 28th season at the helm. “We are go ing to be learning as we go a bit more.”

This expected learning curve has been reflected in the media’s preseason rankings. After finish ing last season ranked ninth in both the USA Today and USCHO poll, the Crimson started the sea son ranked 13th in each. Even af ter claiming the ECAC regular season title in 2021-22, coach es across the league are doubt ful of Harvard’s chance to re peat. In the ECAC preseason poll, which is voted on by the confer ence’s coaches and sports infor mation directors, the Crimson is picked to finish seventh behind fellow Ivy league schools: Cor nell, Princeton, and Yale.

The Crimson will be without nine seniors from last year’s 22win squad. This group includes defender Emma Buckles ’22, who led the team in plus-minus, and forward Becca Gilmore ’22, who paced the squad in assists and points. Harvard will attempt to replace their production with un derclassmen, as only six of the 18 returning players are juniors or seniors. Along with the firstyears, the beginning of the season

will also be an adjustment for the sophomores.

“[With] a lot of depth in our senior class, a lot of our sopho mores didn’t play a bunch of min utes,” Stone said. “They are still gaining a lot of experience.”

Out of the 12 returning soph omores, only four have recorded a goal, with forward Paige Lester pacing the group with three. Only one sophomore, defender Mia

Biotti, has recorded double-dig it points. Goalkeeping is also an area where the Crimson lack ex perience, as sophomores Daisy Boynton and Alex Pellicci have a combined three career starts.

Throughout the offseason, the class of five first-years has made a positive impression through its high energy and potential for growth.

“They have great enthusiasm

and there are tremendous op portunities for all of them,” Stone said.

Along with the departing se nior class, the Crimson will have to replace the production from Taze Thompson and Lind say Reed. Last year, Thompson ranked fifth on the team in goals and points, capturing Ivy League Rookie of the Year honors and a spot on the ECAC All-Rook

ie Team. After her brilliant cam paign, she decided to transfer and will lace up her skates for North eastern this upcoming season. Reed is also missing from the of ficial team roster.

The senior holds the Harvard record for saves in a season and has the third-highest all-time ca reer save percentage in program history (.927).

The leadership of the squad

“They are the engine for our team and will be all year,” said the reigning Ivy League Coach of the Year.

Bloomer will hope to build upon the scoring prowess that she showed last year. The Chi cago native paced the team with 20 goals last season and post ed the Crimson’s only hat trick of the season. Bloomer was also known for her late-game heroics, as she registered four game-win ning goals throughout the sea son. Willoughby will serve as the anchor for the Harvard de fense, and is coming off a season where she led the Crimson with 35 blocked shots and earned an All-Ivy League Honorable men tion. Della Rovere, an ECAC and Ivy League First Teamer last sea son, will continue to lead the team from the center. She led Harvard with 403 faceoff wins and dished out a career-best 25 assists in 2021-22.

Building off of the team phi losophy of last year, the Crimson’s playstyle will be predicated on its hard work and pre-game prepa ration.

“One of the biggest things for us to do is to make sure that we outwork everybody we play, and if we do we have a lot of good op portunities in front of us,” Stone said.

Harvard will open the season with a four-game homestand. Although the Crimson will have the added boost from the home crowd, the inexperienced squad will be tested early, as two of the matchups feature ranked oppo nents in No. 7/7 Quinnipiac and No. 8/8 Yale.

The biggest test for the young squad will happen in November, when Harvard travels to Duluth, Minn. to take on No. 5/4 Minneso ta-Duluth.

BY MADDIE B. BARKATE

The Harvard men’s soccer team (5-4-2, 0-1-1) met Columbia at home this past Saturday while on the hunt for their first Ivy League win. Although the Crimson led for most of the hard-fought con test, the Lions were able to net one in the second half, ending the game tied 1-1.

The first goal of the game came quickly for Harvard. Ju nior defender Nik White scored his third goal of the season off of a stellar corner kick from junior midfielder Willem Ebbinge at the 3:21 mark, putting Harvard up early. Ebbinge is now at a teambest 6 assists on the season, also leading the team with 12 points on three goals and six assists. He is one of the Crimson’s most con sistent players, marking points in most of the games this season.

Unfortunately for Harvard, immediately after White scored, he went down with an early inju ry. Although this was a big blow for the Crimson, they rebound ed quickly, keeping Columbia to only one shot on goal in the first half, which senior goalkeeper Os kar Nilsson knocked away with an impressive dive. The defen sive players for the Crimson have been steady this season, only al lowing 16 goals to Harvard’s 22 goals.

A particular brightspot for the Crimson is sophomore defend er Jan Riecke, who once again played all 90 minutes of the com petition, bringing his total tal ly on the year up to 990 minutes.

White has been another import ant player for Harvard, playing most, if not all, of many games and contributing 3 goals and 1 as sist. His 7 points place him fourth on the team, behind sophomore forward Alessandro Arlotti, se nior forward Martín Vician, and Ebbinge.

Harvard entered the second half up by 1, which was almost extended by Vician early on, but thanks to a great effort from Li ons senior goalkeeper Michael Collodi, he was denied from add ing to his 5 goals on the season. The game continued for around 10 minutes, until Columbia made it a tie game off of first-year mid fielder Joao Lima, who laid in an assist from teammate first-year midfielder Ryan Yang. Yang re gained a failed clear, passed it though to Lima, who corralled the ball quickly in order to sweep it past Nilsson and knot the game.

Columbia’s Lima has had a strong season so far, earning Ivy League Rookie of the Week hon ors off of his performance at Har vard, in which he had his second goal of the year.

A Harvard firstyear has earned this honor in the past, midfielder Matus Vician, for his performance in Harvard’s 6-0 win over Fairfield on Sept. 24th, in which he posted four points off of one goal and two assists. The younger brother of senior Martín Vician, Matus Vician is making a name for himself early for the Crimson.

However, the game only got more exciting. Both teams had several other chances to end on top in the last few minutes.

Soph omore defender Kristján Gun

narsson almost was able to put the game away for the Crimson in the 73rd minute after sprint ing up the right side of the field. However, the shot sailed wide of the net with minutes to play. Nils son’s goalkeeping skills were on full display in the final five min utes of the game, as he had to come up with two remarkable saves. His last save was one of his most impressive, barely reach ing a shot from 15 yards out off the foot of Columbia’s Lima. A relief for Crimson fans, he delivered on all three of his saves, maintaining the tie for Harvard.

This result moved the Crim son to 39-26-6 all-time against Columbia.

Ebbinge and Nilsson both played well for Harvard. Ebbinge, besides his assist to White, pro vided many opportunities for the Crimson, while Nilsson made sev eral notable saves in order to keep Harvard in the game. However, it was a team effort, as the Crimson controlled most of the possession during play and proved itself to be a composed and competitive team.

Harvard now looks ahead to the rest of its season, with which the exception of Holy Cross on Oct. 18th, will be all in-league play. After one loss to Cornell and this tie to Columbia, the Crimson is facing several must-win games in order to still have a shot at the Ivy League title.

The Crimson will continue its quest for its first league win on the road against the Brown Universi ty Bears this Saturday, Oct. 15.

Three Harvard defenders guard the goal against a corner kick from Columbia. The teams tied 1-1 on Saturday.

SAMUEL M. BENNET — CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

Then-junior forward Anne Bloomer focuses on the puck in last season’s game against Colgate. Bloomer will serve as one of three captains this year.

ANGELA DELA CRUZ — CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER

Harvard Wins Three Straight Matches

Following a disappointing loss to division rival Princ eton the previous week, the Harvard men’s water polo team entered last weekend with a grim determination and something to prove.

And prove it did. The Crimson (10-4, 4-1 Ivy League) emerged from the long weekend with a three game winning streak. Har vard swept all three opponents, besting Brown (9-7, 2-3) and Con necticut (1-6) on Saturday on a back-to-back road trip, before re turning to Cambridge on Sunday to dismantle MIT (3-10, 1-5 NEW MAC).

“As far as a wake-up call goes, that was really how we took that loss as a team,” said junior cen ter Kaleb Archer on the game against Princeton.

Archer felt the loss was good motivation for the team to focus on improving its game-plan, aim ing to avoid repeats of any mis takes the team had made at Princ eton –– including losses.

Head coach Ted Minnis at tributed Harvard’s ability to bounce back so successfully from its previous loss to the level of se niority and experience present in the current team; many players have won before with the Crim son during its undefeated run in 2019 for the NWPC Champion ship.

“They understand that each game is a new opportunity to im prove,” Minnis said. “I think we came back and had a good week of practice, and worked on cor recting things that hindered us in the game. We’re doing a better job of executing.”

Although Harvard’s hard work this week paid dividends, the games were not without their own separate challenges. Last Saturday saw a doubleheader for the Crimson, starting early in the morning in Providence, RI where Harvard battled Brown.

This game would be the first time the Crimson has faced Brown this season, but the matchup also carried weight be yond the typical Ivy-versus-Ivy ri valry; last season, Harvard had lost to the Bears 13-15 for thirdplace in the 2021 NWPC Champi onships despite posting a perfect record against Brown all season.

The Crimson was able to dominate play, scoring early in the game. The goal from senior center defender Gabe Putnam opened the floodgates for six con secutive goals scored by Harvard in the first quarter.

Yet, with three seconds left in the first quarter, Brown’s Matt Simko was able to sneak one into the net to set the score at 9-4 in fa vor of the Crimson.

The Bears’ scoring would catch Harvard by surprise, with Brown managing to out-score a quenched Crimson team in the fourth quarter 4-2.

“I think sometimes the games where you come out with a big lead are the ones that are a little bit mentally more difficult,” Ar cher explained. “With the closer games, you’re locked in because that’s the competitive nature, and the game’s tight, so obviously you can feel how much every pos session matters, and you’re just grinding that out. I think that’s one of the things that really sur prised me, is sometimes those games where you’re four or five up, you really need to fight that mental battle to stay locked in.”

Though Harvard’s strong play ensured a secure lead, these laps es in game-time dominance from the team cost it valuable goals, and this concentration is an ele ment that the team is working to improve on.

“That was an example of us waxing and waning, in a sense,” Archer admitted.

“I think there were flashes when we were doing the right things, but there were also some times where we’re making some mental lapses that let them back into it. But I think all-in-all, it was a great learning game and a big step for us.”

Despite these few slip-ups, Harvard had a strong showing against its rivals in Providence, ultimately defeating Brown 15 to 10. Junior attacker Owen Hale

scored four goals, and senior goalie Noah Hodge put on a sol id 12 save performance. The game was an especially big milestone for junior defender Cam Dough erty, who recorded his first ever career hat-trick.

“I’m proud of Cam: his first ca reer hat-trick, and to do it in a ri valry game is a testament to his hard work,” Minnis said.

Dougherty had been a cen ter for the past two years and had come into the season’s training camp as such.

Yet, with the addition of many new faces, including first-year utility James Rozolis-Hill (who posted two goals against Brown), the team’s depth chart was start ing to crowd. Dougherty then shifted to defender, stepping up to excel in his new position. The hat-trick, among other things, looks to be a promising sign of what Dougherty has to offer in the reconfigured roster.

Following its victory at Brown, a tired Crimson team continued its Saturday trip with a stop at Connecticut College. Evidently, commuting from a major rivalry game, with all of its emotions and exhaustion, to a game against another conference team is not without its drawbacks.

“Rolling that right in the Conn. College game was very mentally and physically draining,” Archer

remarked. “Playing two games, three hours apart, while traveling to-and-from them was a quick, quick turnaround. I think it sort of was an exercise in our mental fortitude, and I think the guys ex ecuted super well.”

Fortitude was something Con necticut also struggled with: it was also playing a doubleheader and had lost to MIT on its senior day earlier that morning.

Harvard would add to Con necticut’s loss column, seizing a decisive 20-6 victory over the Camels.

Both Rozolis-Hill and sopho more attacker Alex James were able to net four goals each, with this marking James’ first fourgoal performance of the season.

It was the second time this sea son that Harvard has been able to score 20 or more goals in a single game.

This performance put the team in a strong position as it re turned to Cambridge to face off against its final opponents for the weekend.

If the game against Brown had been defined by Harvard’s ini tial dominance, the game against MIT was less so. Last October, the Crimson had splashed to a slight ly chippy 16-10 victory against the Engineers.

Though the score had com pounded to a heftier 21-11 victory

this time around, the flaws from last season’s match-up had not necessarily been erased.

Once again, Harvard strug gled in the first half, giving up the lead early to MIT and having to fight to turn the tide.

“I still think we gave up too many goals in the MIT game,” said Minnis, while noting MIT’s strong ability to capitalize on the Crimson’s mistakes and score on their powerplay as key factors in what made this game challeng ing.

Archer also commented on the slower start from Harvard, at tributing it to a “feeling-out pro cess” for getting a good grasp of MIT’s current roster and play style.

Harvard would luckily go on to find its offensive footing, net ting seven consecutive goals to establish a 9-3 lead. By the fourth quarter, the Crimson would only allow one goal while roping to gether seven for itself.

“I think our in-practice prepa ration this week really had us ready for it,” explained Archer, referring to the team’s ability to turn the game around. “We knew exactly what they were gonna go out and do, and they sort of played exactly into it, and we were able to handle it well.”

He also attributed Harvard’s success to the team’s fitness,

noting it as a means of outlast ing opponents while playing at a high-level.

Another decisive factor for the win, decided Minnis, was the presence of first-year goalie Tan ner Furtak in net. Despite this be ing his first match against MIT, Furtak was able to settle in during the second half to make a total of six saves.

Though only a first-year, Furtak has been able to step in and step up where he is needed most––not only as another goal ie between the pipes to share the season workload with start er goalie Noah Hodge, but also as the future of the program. With senior Hodge leaving next year, Furtak will be expected to take over the net.

Luckily, he’s been getting plen ty of experience and help.

“[Hodge], our captain, has been like a great mentor for him,” Archer mentioned. “In practice, we’re scrimmaging, and they’re on opposite sides of the pool––it doesn’t feel like there’s a drop off. They’re both working very hard, doing great things.”

Given the opportunity to learn from the one Minnis called “one of the best goalies in the world, and one of the top goalies on the east coast”, will be undoubted ly valuable for Furtak’s develop ment.

In the meantime, the Crimson looks ahead to its next few games this weekend. The tough lineup features Long Beach State (12-6, 1-1 Big West) and Pomona (9-11, 4-1 SCIAC).

All four upcoming games will take place at home in Blodgett Pool, with three happening as part of the Harvard Invitational.

As part of the series, the Crim son will take on the No. 6 ranked team in the nation (Harvard cur rently sits at number 13), but the team doesn’t seem to mind.

“We’re really excited about that, and the opportunity to show how externally competitive our conference, the east coast water polo, and our team specifically can be,” Archer said.

With regards to any take aways or lessons from this week end, Minnis reiterated the impor tance of striving for continuous improvement.

“[We] still have a lot of work to do,” Minnis remarked. “I think for us, just keep getting better at ev ery phase of the game. This is a staircase that we’re climbing, and we gotta be at the top every No vember.”

Also to look forward to this weekend is the Long Beach State game on October 15th which will be the team’s featured Breast Can cer Awareness game.

“Raising awareness in any sense for breast cancer is some thing that is very near and dear to our team and personally,” Archer said.

“I’m excited that that’s the cause that we can champion and raise awareness for while playing our sport.”

BY