Columns
Why Is a Harvard Center Celebrating a Man Israel Convicted of Murder?
Platforming and celebrating Abu Srour without even describing to potential attendees the crimes he’s alleged of committing is wrong — and provides yet another indication of anti-Israel bias at CMES.
Churches for Me, Basements for Thee: Inequity in Harvard’s Religious Spaces
If Harvard really cares about diversity, as it absolutely should, they must take religious life for all students seriously.
Diversity Isn’t the Point of Affirmative Action. Justice Is.
The durability of the diversity myth masks the real reason we should support affirmative action: that it’s the right thing to do.
The Hubris of Harvard Students
I’m often dismayed by the behavior of my fellow students. We believe, with a false sense of self-importance, that we simply know better.
Faculty Are Back on the Ad Board. It’s Time to Let Students Join Too.
By embracing student representation, Harvard can create a more just, equitable, and effective disciplinary system — one that truly reflects the values and interests of its entire community.
It’s Time for Harvard To Act Local
Harvard students clearly care about politics, but often neglect to engage with legislative bodies closest to them — in Cambridge City Council and Beacon Hill.
We Need Students on the Ad Board
If we want Harvard to serve as a community in the true sense of the word, then we must all play a part, even with the difficult aspects of living together. Harvard students are ready for the challenge: What we need is for the administration to give it to us.
Clubs Offer a ‘Transformative’ Education — Just Not the Ones You’d Think
Nothing will change us as profoundly as the hundreds of extracurricular opportunities offered to us the moment we step on campus — so long as we have the courage to choose them well.
Close Quincy Courtyard Now
I look forward to the day Harvard finally does the right thing and closes the Yard and all other residential common spaces. But I also think baby steps — closing Quincy courtyard — are a step in the right direction.
Want Better Harvard Debates? Make Rhetoric Mandatory.
Expos 45 has the potential to imbue students with the strength to be open and vulnerable to new perspectives. Thorough instruction in considerate, empathetic, and willing conversation holds tremendous power.
Affirmative Action Was Wrong. But Harvard Shouldn’t Abandon Diversity.
Harvard should look like America. Affirmative action was a narrow-minded, easy way to get there.
It’s Time for the Humanities To Learn Some Science
At Harvard and beyond, we’re overlooking the need for exposure to STEM among students in non-STEM fields, with serious implications for policy, ethics, and governance.
Take it From a Slumping Sophomore: Gratitude Should Replace Veritas
The trials and tribulations of our middle years on campus often go unspoken.
Real Echo Chambers Aren’t at Harvard. They’re at Voucher-Funded Religious Schools.
The real threat to educational diversity isn’t confined to Harvard’s campus; it’s unfolding in the expanding network of conservative religious private schools funded by state taxpayers.
Harvard Is Not Home to America’s Best and Brightest
The myth that Harvard has a monopoly on genius is rooted in two core beliefs: that Harvard College admits the best applicants and that its world-class academics then produce world-class graduates. Neither are true.
We Deserve To Know How Many Generational African Americans Go to Harvard
With the admissions data released last week, it seems almost certain that the number of Black students in Harvard’s Class of 2028 is lower than in years past. But because Harvard doesn’t count us, I have no idea how many fewer people like me the new freshman class has.
Stakes of Care in Times of Contention
Stakes of care are not born from the ether. It is only through a collective commitment to preserving the dignity of others that we open the door for meaningful conversation.
Harvard Is Doing Discourse Wrong
Real discourse requires us all to acknowledge reality. Until we do that, Harvard’s commitment to “intellectual vitality” is nothing more than an epitaph in waiting.
Sound Bites, Not Substance: How Politicians Are Failing Young Voters
Though politicians on both sides of the aisle claim to represent young people, their policy platforms do not reflect the generational shift.
The Next Dean of Harvard College Needs To Be Fun
The repeated failures of attempts to impose on the social lives of students offers a lesson to the next dean of the College that they would be wise to heed: Show us you care but don’t overbear.
My New Tutor Is ChatGPT. Here Are My Concerns.
With my ChatGPT tutor, any basic conceptual question I have is reliably answered in a couple of seconds. I am concerned by this change.
Housing a Happier Harvard
Harvard freshmen should be happy to call their dorms home. That happiness is worth the investment.
Harvard Students Should Stop Taking Extracurriculars So Seriously
Extracurriculars at Harvard must change. We all deserve a hobby.
‘Zionist’ Is Not a Slur. Harvard Students Need To Stop Using It as One.
Zionism — the movement for self-determination and statehood for the Jewish people in their ancestral homeland — should not be a dirty word.
Admissions Statistics Aren’t Very Revealing. Here’s What To Look At Instead.
Look beyond attention-grabbing statistics and continue to engage this issue at the depth it requires. History will remember fondly those of us who do.