A Look Back

HOUSING THE HUMANITIES

The Great Hall is no more. Regret it not.

Though scores of first-years had passed through the Union's old distinguished dining room, in its last years it had grown tawdry. The famous butter-patted ceiling was looking more dirty than distinguished; the paint was peeling off the walls; the rotunda was encased with God-awful green-blue floral curtains; and the tray return area was a steam-filled Rube Goldberg contraption.

Now the first-years take their meals in a beautifully reworked Annenberg Hall. And the Union has become the Barker Center for Humanities, housing 12 different University departments and centers.... Kudos go to the University and its architects, who did a fine job balancing the old and the new.... Harvard ought to continue renovating and revamping its other older buildings with a similar eye to that used in the Barker Center construction. The University's beautiful old campus will benefit from future updates which incorporate the spirit of the past into a productive future. Sept. 17, 1997

THE LESSONS SCOTT KRUEGER TAUGHT US

The loss last week of MIT first-year Scott Krueger was nothing short of tragic. For most college students left to reflect on his death, the incident has served as a sad reminder that activities considered to be a routine part of college life can be dangerous and even fatal....

The cause of preventing alcohol-related deaths could be greatly advanced by making sure that every first-year is schooled in the basic knowledge about alcohol consumption and overconsumption or abuse....

Proctors and tutors need to take a more responsible approach to the problem of heavy drinking instead of sending the message of "as long as I don't see it, it's all right." Leaving inexperienced first-years to figure out their own limits without guidance leaves them in the kind of ignorance that cost Scott Krueger his life. Proctors and tutors should either give a stern warning about the risks of drinking, in terms of both physical health and administrative punishment, or--and this might be the more effective approach--they should advise students on how to drink safely.   Oct. 7, 1997

JIANG: RETURN DEMOCRACY'S CALL

On the eve of Jiang Zemin's visit to Harvard, we welcome both the Chinese president and his critics. From Jiang, we expect words of historic importance. From his critics, we hope to see a vociferous and memorable protest....

Jiang, a professed fan of American culture, will have his chance to see American-style political activism up close--perhaps too close for comfort. Here and nowhere else will Jiang take questions from students interested in the issues, who are not fawning before a powerful head of state. Unfortunately, at Jiang's request, he will have seen the questions beforehand--a far cry from the unscripted question period agreed to by most political speakers at Harvard....

[Still,] at Harvard, seen by many abroad as a bastion of American liberalism, Jiang will be forced to confront calls for democratic reform more than anywhere else on his U.S. tour. At Harvard, more than anywhere else, Jiang will be forced to see that in America, the right to free expression is not his alone.   Oct. 31, 1997

FOOTBALL BRINGS HARVARD FAME

Throngs of Harvard students and affiliates flooded New Haven on Saturday. They taunted Elis, celebrated Harvard's dominance and imbibed. And some of them even went to a football game.

The Game saw Harvard reach a number of team marks, capping off what was arguably the team's best season ever. For the first time in its history, the Crimson has beaten all the other members of the Ivy League. For the first time since 1919, it has completed a nine-win season. And for the first time since 1987, Harvard sits atop the Ivy League as the division champion....

While the success of the Crimson gives Harvard much cause for celebration, it also draws attention to the peculiar status of football as the only varsity sport in which postseason play is banned in the Ivy League. The presidents of the eight colleges should reverse their current stance prohibiting their football teams from participating in Division I-AA postseason competition.   Nov. 24, 1997

VOTE `NO' ON GRAPES

We urge you to vote no on table grapes because currently there is no safe option for Harvard if we care both about the conditions of the workers who pick the grapes pesticide levels on our grapes. With the no option, grapes will come to Harvard tables only when the working conditions are improved through the work of the United Farm Workers (UFW)....

The [Grape] Coalition does not even take on one of the UFW's main assertions: that workers are not free to unionize or to express grievances. The Coalition points to the small size of the union as proof that workers feel satisfied by conditions, but growers have routinely intimidated their workers with the threat of being fired to prevent them from participating. It is not good enough for individual Harvard students to choose each morning if grapes should be shunned; as student body we need to stand up and be heard, for the rights of those workers toiling away in California.   Dec. 3, 1997

BROKEN TRUST

This week's rape and assault allegations against Kirkland House sophomore Joshua M. Elster have shocked the Harvard community. Whether or not the allegations prove true, Elster's arrest has served as a catalyst for overdue discussions about the prevalence of rape and date rape on campus and it has exposed the University's ability--whether intentional or not--to suppress sensitive, yet public information....

The report of the incident and Elster's arrest did not appear in the HUPD [Harvard University Police Department] blotter and the relevant incident numbers were skipped. HUPD claims the reports were misrecorded in the blotter, a record that is public for the sake of student safety. For breaking the law--and its trust with the student body--the HUPD should be investigated by state authorities.

The University has also been negligent in its silence. Kirkland House did not hold a meeting after students saw Elster arrested Saturday afternoon. House administrators should have, at the very least, made an effort to quell rumors about the incident by giving its students the facts of the situation...Regardless of the outcome of this case...the College should mount an awareness campaign about rape on campus and, like many other colleges, hold mandatory information sessions on date rape for all students.   Feb. 5, 1998

STANDING FIRM AT HLS

Harvard's stance on discrimination in the U.S. military is about to affect its pocketbook. Under the provisions of the Solomon Amendment, this fiscal year Harvard Law School (HLS) stands to lose almost $1 million in federal grants due to its ban on military recruitment at its Office of Career Services (OCS). The ban, which exists because of the military's policy regarding homosexuals, is an important measure of protest that HLS should uphold. The loss of funding with which the law school is threatened is an act of aggressive financial coercion which inappropriately ties scholarship money to the school's right to uphold its on-campus non-discrimination policy.

HLS does not permit recruiters from any organization to make use of its OCS without signing a non-discrimination agreement. The U.S. military should be no exception. Regardless of one's opinion concerning the functional necessity of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, it does represent a form of discrimination against homosexuals. HLS has the right to keep any organization that maintains such a doctrine from making use of its facilities.   Feb. 24, 1998

VICTORIOUS HOOPSTERS

The Harvard of the West may have a verdant campus, warm winters and Chelsea Clinton. But it no longer has a chance at the NCAA women's basketball title.

On Saturday night, a magical Crimson team stunned every fan in America with a hard-fought 71-67 victory over Stanford, the number one seed in the West regional. It was the first time in history that a number 16 seed made it past the first round and the first victory ever by an Ivy League women's team in the NCAAs; the game will go down in the annals of college basketball as one of the most dramatic upsets ever....

Even after losing two of its stars to knee injuries, Stanford--champions of the Pac-10, winners of 15 straight, participants in last year's Final Four, fifth-ranked going into this year's tournament and dubbed by some as the "team of the '90s"--seemed a Goliath of the first rank. And yet, on Saturday the Crimson reminded us that on the basketball court, as, we like to think, in life, anything is possible.... In the second half, the Cardinal crept within striking distance as Harvard missed shots and committed costly turnovers. Stanford even managed to grab the lead by three with 3:58 to play. It was then, with the crowd of more than 5,000 standing and screaming for victory, with Harvard Coach Kathy Delaney-Smith looking worried on the sidelines, with viewers around the nation expecting what was only logical to expect--that the favorite would at long last prove its dominance--that this Crimson team reminded us all of its own incredible talent and unflagging spirit.   March 16, 1998

AFTER CHOICE

When those portentous white envelopes slide underneath the doors of anxious first-years tomorrow morning, the randomization experiment will be nearly complete.... After the Class of '98 graduates, some of us will remember when the House had character, but none who lived with it intact will remain at the College....

But before the tentacles of bureaucracy do their dirty work and this scenario comes to life, Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis '68 must perform his promised re-evaluation of the randomization project one year from now. If the re-evaluation does not happen on schedule, there will be no students around to remind Lewis of his promise, and it may never happen at all.   March 18, 1998

SEEKING A VOICE

Two and a half months into the Undergraduate Council's new administration, we find ourselves asking, what has the council done lately?

According to council President Beth A. Stewart '00, the council has been quietly but purposefully working on issues from securing "fro-yo in the 'Berg" to making cable--at least in the House junior common rooms--a possibility for next semester.... But for all its hard work on these somewhat yawnable student life issues, the council has been conspicuously silent on matters rising higher than television, food and transportation....

Though predictable, the relative silence of the body this semester is disheartening. Long-term issues of immense significance to students--Ad Board reform, Core reform, Faculty diversity and especially financial aid, to name the most pressing--have not been publicly addressed by this term's council....

The political debates and social advocacy of the last administration have been shunned in favor of shorter meetings focusing on more immediately achievable goals.... The council must expand its focus to reinclude the significant social issues for which Harvard students need a voice, or risk finding itself in a new and even more disheartening state of irrelevance.   April 9, 1998

NO IFS, ANDS OR BUTTS

We support Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis '68 in his crusade to ban smoking in all Harvard dorms. Students will welcome this long-anticipated policy that follows a trend to expand non-smoking areas both in Cambridge and around the country....

The cracks in the walls and doors of Harvard's many old dorm rooms allow smoke to leave its room of origin. It pollutes hallways and seeps through the doors of non-smokers. Thus, these innocents are put at a higher risk of smoking-related ailments by their fellow students....

The Committee on House Life, House masters and students should rally behind Lewis in support of a safer and less malodorous dorm environment, but should also open a dialogue with smokers to determine how best to meet their needs.   April 14, 1998

UNDER FIRE

In the year 2023, when this year's seniors return for their 25th reunion and recall the glory days of their Harvard experience, the diversity of background, culture, opinion and upbringing distributed among their peers will be foremost in their minds. Diversity is the apotheosis of today's Harvard experience--nay, of today's educational experience. But in the courts of law and public opinion, the opponents of affirmative action and diversity are winning a battle against these programs....

Colleges and universities are gateways to elite society. Education is the key that grants one access to privilege, to standing, to power. Universities therefore have a moral obligation to swing wide their doors and extend to those who have historically been missing from this elite an opportunity to change this situation.

We applaud our peers at Harvard and at more than 70 other colleges and universities who rallied on the Day of Action to preserve affirmative action. Further, we urge Rudenstine to continue to use (and use further) his bully pulpit, explaining the defense for affirmative action in a way that only a well-respected member of the academy can.   April 16, 1998

SO LONG, FAREWELL

Negotiations are reported to be underway to redefine Radcliffe as an "allied institution" of Harvard University and remove its "college" title. Such a redefinition is both necessary and long overdue--Radcliffe is many things, but it is not an undergraduate educational facility. To make it an allied institution of Harvard would be beneficial to both undergraduates and Radcliffe itself.

First, removing the "college" tagline from Radcliffe's name would put an end to the schizophrenic system of admitting female undergraduates to both Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges and having Radcliffe collect tuition dollars which are immediately transferred to Harvard.... Undergraduates deserve a clearly-defined identity as students of Harvard College, and Radcliffe deserves to be more than just a vestigial gateway for female students.

As the situation stands, Radcliffe is constrained by its misleading appellation as a college. It does not employ a full-time faculty; it does not offer courses for credit to undergraduates. By calling itself what it is--a research and support institution allied with Harvard University--Radcliffe can devote all its energy to its continued excellence as a center for women's studies and history. A change in focus would be an acknowledgment of all Radcliffe has achieved for women at Harvard.   April 20, 1998

SMUGNESS AT THE TOP

Once again, just as it has prevented rain from falling on Commencement Day for the last 346 years, Harvard has defied gravity. When Princeton, Yale, Stanford, MIT and the University of Pennsylvania announced their decisions to offer more generous financial aid packages earlier this year, any Harvard-trained economist might have expected that a price war would drive down the costs of a Harvard education too.

But such economists would be forgetting Harvard's little pact with God. Instead of pledging to increase financial aid this year, Harvard pledged close to nothing (our offers would remain within "shouting distance" of those of other schools, promised President Neil L. Rudenstine). And now the results are in. Not only did the College's higher prices fail to deter students from enrolling; the percentage of admitted students choosing to matriculate actually increased....

The College's failure to commit to leading rather than following on the crucial matter of financial aid embodies every negative stereotype that those outside of Harvard associate with our fair University. It is arrogant, selfish and snide. The University coddles its funds, running capital campaigns to build extra squash courts while throwing its students (even the squash players) into ungodly debt.

Rudenstine may be leading the fight to preserve affirmative action in higher education, but when it comes to affordability our president is awfully silent.   May 20, 1998