NEWS
THE HARVARD CRIMSON
COMMENCEMENT 2023
5
COMAROFF
Letter Calls for Comaroff’s AAAS Removal OPEN LETTER. Harvard students and student groups pressure the American Academy of Arts and Sciences to remove Comaroff’s membership. BY ELIAS J. SCHISGALL AND DARLEY A.C. BOIT CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS
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ore than 70 Harvard students and three student groups called on the American Academy of Arts and Sciences to review Harvard professor John L. Comaroff’s membership in an open letter to the organization Saturday. “Membership in the Academy of Arts and Sciences is a rare honor,” the letter states. “Professor John Comaroff’s repeated
harassment and professional conduct policies. The letter points to the Academy’s rules stating a professor may be removed from the academy following an “institutional triggering event,” meaning “the individual’s employer or a reputable third party” took action against the scholar in question, arguing Gay’s sanctions on Comaroff constituted a triggering event. “Per AAAS procedures, wherein Harvard’s finding of culpability should trigger an automatic investigation by the Academy, we call for the Board and Membership Committee to take appropriate action quickly and transparently,” the letter reads. The letter also references a federal lawsuit against Harvard
What really sets this action apart – even though it is obviously about John Comaroff – is that we’re really here looking for allies and looking to open a conversation about academic freedom and its intersections with sexual violence and power-based harassment. Will M. Sutton ’23 Co-drafter of the open letter to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences In March, the John Harvard Statue was postered in a demonstration against Comaroff’s employment. JULIAN J. GIORDANO—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER
assaults on academic freedom, intellectual vitality, and a safe learning environment mean that he has failed to live up to the values and expectations of this position.” Comaroff, a professor of African and African American Studies and Anthropology, was placed on unpaid administrative leave by Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean Claudine Gay in 2022 after two University investigations found Comaroff in violation of the school’s sexual
filed by three female graduate Anthropology students claiming the University ignored years of harassment allegations against the professor. Referring to accounts of harassment in the suit, which is awaiting trial, the letter states that “harassing or assaulting students represents a significant disruption to their education and freedom of inquiry.” Comaroff’s lawyers have consistently denied all allegations of sexual harassment and profes-
sional retaliation. “The letter to AAAS is another publicity stunt in a relentless campaign by a small group of protestors to smear Professor John Comaroff,” wrote Comaroff’s attorneys, Harvard Law School professor Janet E. Halley, Ruth K. O’Meara-Costello ’02, and Norman S. Zalkind. “This campaign against Professor Comaroff, which eschews fairness and due process, is based on allegations that have been either rejected in a full investigation or that are complete-
ly untested, anonymous, and second-hand at best,” they added. In a statement, Will M. Sutton ’23, who helped draft the letter, said he trusted the Academy to make the correct decision and declined to respond to “those who have no bearing on the Academy’s internal process.” Alison Franklin, the Academy’s chief communications officer, confirmed the letter was received in an email. She declined to comment further, citing a policy that membership proceedings are confidential.
Saturday’s letter follows a wave of student activism surrounding Comaroff after he returned to campus in fall 2022 to teach an elective course. The campaign has largely been lead by anti-rape culture student activist group Our Harvard Can Do Better, which signed the letter. Connor Chung ’23, who helped draft the letter, said professors like Comaroff “have spent decades using their power to stifle free speech and undermine survivors and whistleblowers.”
In an interview, Sutton said part of the intention was to help build a coalition against sexual harassment in academia. “What really sets this action apart – even though it is obviously about John Comaroff – is that we’re really here looking for allies and looking to open a conversation about academic freedom and its intersections with sexual violence and power-based harassment,” he said. elias.schisgall@thecrimson.com darley.boit@thecrimson.com
President Bacow Earned $1.3 Million in 2021, Tax Filings Show BY KRISHI KISHORE AND ROHAN RAJEEV CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS
Harvard University President Lawrence S. Bacow earned more than $1.3 million in calendar year
2021, a pay increase from the $1.1 million he made in 2020. Bacow, who will step down at the end of June, earned a base salary of $1,021,179 in 2021, a marked pay bump from his $888,371 base salary in the previous year. Other parts of Bacow’s compensation
Harvard University President Lawrence S. Bacow earned more than $1.3 million in the 2021 calendar year ADDISON Y. LU—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER
384,552 That’s the number of hours of pro bono legal work contributed by the J.D. Class of 2023.
That’s an average of 673 hours per student!
package consisted of $244,855 in nontaxable benefits, $36,360 in deferred compensation, and $27,806 in other reportable compensation. Bacow’s nontaxable benefits include his housing at Elmwood, the Harvard president’s residence. Harvard disclosed the earnings of its highest-paid and key administrators and faculty members in the school’s annual Form 990 tax filings on Friday, as required by the Internal Revenue Service for all tax-exempt organizations. Salaries are reported on a calendar year basis rather than a fiscal year. Other top administrators at Harvard also received pay hikes. University Provost Alan M. Garber ’76 earned $946,159 in total compensation in 2021, up from $825,670 in 2020. Former Executive Vice President Katherine N. Lapp, who departed Harvard in the summer of 2022, made $783,839 in 2021, a slight increase over her $770,423 compensation reported for the previous year. Harvard President-elect and Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean Claudine Gay earned
$879,079 in 2021, up from the $824,068 reported in 2020. Compensation for Bacow, Garber, and Lapp in 2020 was reduced after they cut their salaries by 25 percent in April 2020 as part of University-wide efforts to reduce spending during the onset of the pandemic. Other Harvard administrators, including deans of the University’s 12 schools, were given the option to take a pay cut or contribute to a support fund for employees experiencing hardship. For some administrators, the pay cuts continued into fiscal year 2022. Harvard’s highest-paid employee in 2021 was David J. Malan ’99, who teaches the popular introductory computer science course Computer Science 50: “Introduction to Computer Science I.” Malan earned almost $1.6 million, up from $1.4 million in 2020. Unlike many other highpaid faculty members at Harvard, Malan’s earnings primarily come from other reportable compensation rather than from base salary. In 2021, Malan earned $1.16 million in other reportable compensation while
making $389,856 in base salary. Top executives at the Harvard Management Company, the entity responsible for managing Harvard’s $50.9 billion endowment, also received significant pay bumps and earned far more than University officials, consistent with past compensation trends. Harvard and HMC file taxes separately. As was the case in 2020, several top HMC executives, including Chief Executive Officer N.P. “Narv” Narvekar and Chief Investment Officer Richard W. Slocum, deferred millions of their 2021 compensation to future years. Narvekar earned $8.7 million in compensation in calendar year 2021 but deferred more than $2 million of that sum to future years, making the total compensation he was awarded $6.65 million. Narvekar’s deferral-adjusted compensation marks a sharp increase from the $6.24 million he made in 2020. Similarly, Slocum was awarded $5.3 million in compensation in 2021 but made a total of $7 million after adjusting for deferrals, up from his 2020 earnings
of roughly $5 million in deferral-adjusted compensation. HMC Chief Operating Officer Sanjeev Daga earned a deferral-adjusted compensation total of $5.52 million, a decrease from the $6 million he earned in 2020. Daga’s 2020 compensation reflected more than $1 million in reimbursements for lost compensation resulting from his departure from Columbia University’s Investment Management Company in 2018. At the University, other top-earning administrators in 2021 included Vice President for Alumni Affairs and Development Brian K. Lee, who earned $847,878, and Vice President and General Counsel Diane E. Lopez, who earned $679,096. Consistent with previous years, Harvard Business School Dean Srikant M. Datar and Harvard Medical School Dean George Q. Daley ’82 were the highest-paid deans across the University, earning more than $982,000 and $930,000, respectively. krishi.kishore@thecrimson.com rohan.rajeev@thecrimson.com
Harvard Law School • 24 IN-HOUSE CLINICS • ANIMAL LAW & POLICY CLINIC • FOOD LAW & POLICY CLINIC •
HEALTH LAW & POLICY CLINIC • CRIMINAL JUSTICE INSTITUTE • CYBERLAW CLINIC • EDUCATION LAW CLINIC • ELECTION LAW CLINIC • EMMETT ENVIRONMENTAL LAW & POLICY CLINIC • IMMIGRATION & REFUGEE ADVOCACY CLINIC • CRIMMIGRATION CLINIC • HARVARD LEGAL AID BUREAU • HARVARD DISPUTE SYSTEMS DESIGN CLINIC • INSTITUTE TO END MASS INCARCERATION • INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS CLINIC • RELIGIOUS FREEDOM CLINIC • TRANSACTIONAL LAW CLINICS • DOMESTIC VIOLENCE & FAMILY LAW CLINIC • FEDERAL TAX CLINIC • HOUSING LAW CLINIC • LGBTQ+ ADVOCACY CLINIC • MAKING RIGHTS REAL: THE GHANA PROJECT CLINIC • MEDIATION CLINIC • CONSUMER PROTECTION CLINIC • VETERANS LAW & DISABILITY BENEFITS CLINIC • 13 EXTERNSHIP CLINICS • CAPITAL PUNISHMENT CLINIC • CHILD ADVOCACY CLINIC • CRIMINAL JUSTICE APPELLATE CLINIC • CRIMINAL PROSECUTION CLINIC • DEMOCRACY AND THE RULE OF LAW CLINIC • EMPLOYMENT LAW CLINIC • FEDERAL COURTS CLINIC • GOVERNMENT LAWYER: ATTORNEY GENERAL CLINIC • GOVERNMENT LAWYER: U.S. ATTORNEY CLINIC • GOVERNMENT LAWYER: SEMESTER IN WASHINGTON • JUDICIAL PROCESS IN TRIAL COURTS CLINIC • SPORTS LAW CLINIC • SUPREME COURT LITIGATION CLINIC • 11 STUDENT PRACTICE ORGANIZATIONS • HARVARD DEFENDERS • HARVARD LAW ENTREPRENEURSHIP PROJECT • HARVARD MEDIATION PROGRAM • HARVARD PRISON LEGAL ASSISTANCE PROJECT • HLS ADVOCATES FOR HUMAN RIGHTS • HLS IMMIGRATION PROJECT • HLS MISSISSIPPI DELTA PROJECT • HLS NEGOTIATORS • PROJECT NO ONE LEAVES • RECORDING ARTISTS PROJECT • TENANT ADVOCACY PROJECT
The faculty and staff of Harvard Law School extend our warmest congratulations to the Class of 2023 — we are extraordinarily proud of your commitment to service!
