Scrutiny
Harvard’s Funds Are Back. Can Its Scientists Trust the Government Again?
With funding at a constant risk of revocation, Harvard is not out of the clear — and researchers are still fighting for their futures.
The Trump v. Harvard Issue
Dear Reader, Just over a year after the 2024 Presidential election, we bring you a first-of-its-kind themed issue, focused on the fallout of the Trump administration’s ongoing attacks against Harvard. In this issue’s cover story, MLB and JPL explore the human cost of the Trump administration’s funding cuts. Last spring, the Trump administration froze billions of dollars in federal funding to Harvard. The University terminated research projects and laid off workers in droves. Most of Harvard’s funds were restored this fall, but researchers are still dealing with the irreversible damage. If federal funding can be revoked at the whims of the White House, how can Harvard comfortably rely on the government again? OJ and TV examine more aftershocks of federal funding pressure. In October, Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences laid off 25% of staff represented by the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers. Many of these staff members worked in student-facing roles as lecturers and advisers. Through a series of profiles, OJ and TV tell the stories of those lost in the layoffs. ASM reports on the changes to the First-Year Urban Program, a preorientation program for freshmen interested in organizing and public service. Founded amid a surge of student activism in the early ’80s, FUP has long been known for its activist and anti-institutional spirit. But this year, in the wake of the federal government’s attack on broadly-defined DEI initiatives, staff altered FUP’s core programming. Staff say the revisions signal a new direction for the program; student leaders and program founders see the changes as a betrayal of FUP’s values. ASM asks how a preorientation program for activists can continue to exist at a university cracking down on campus activism. To understand how Harvard may continue to change under pressure from the Trump administration, CGH and MMN go westward to Stanford’s Hoover Institution. Though it formally identifies as nonpartisan, the Hoover Institution is widely understood as a center for conservative thought at a predominantly liberal university. CGH and MMN explore what a similar center could look like on our own campus. Elsewhere in this issue, RAD interviews Susan B. Glasser, a staff writer at The New Yorker who authors a weekly “Letter From Trump’s Washington.” In one of her signature venn diagrams, MEL compares Donald J. Trump to the dreaded sophomore slump. A pair of personal essays close us out: MEL writes about how political polarization has split her family apart, and SG explores her personal ties to scientific research. For the past year, Harvard’s conflict with the federal government has been a fixture in the national news. This issue illuminates the stories behind those headlines. FMLove, YAK+MTB
Volume XXXVI, Issue XIV
Dear Reader, This issue’s cover story takes us back in time, to the New England Primate Center — Harvard’s leading primate research center, which suddenly closed in 2013. The center had pioneered biomedical breakthroughs for decades but had come under intense public and media scrutiny after a series of animal misconduct allegations. JBR and EFN write a brilliant piece exploring the center’s rise and the calculus behind its closure. Elsewhere, KJK about cyborgs, and John Green, and memes. MK and AWA HUDS hack with Claire J. Saffitz ’09. AWS and CME write twin pieces on Lamont: a 24-hour stakeout and an inquiry on the aesthetic of the “Lamonster.” CX, AF, and KC visit a couple of faculty offices, exploring their curious office decor. WJM writes an introspection on a train trip across America, and pairs with NNG to create our latest venn diagram (family vacation, grade deflation). SOG pens an ode to the Gayke. OJ, NO, and AA talk to tourists in the yard. And AXN closes us out with an exploration of what it means to be “it” — both in tag, and in life. FMLove, MTB + YAK
The Unraveling of the New England Primate Research Center
For 50 years, the New England Primate Research Center pioneered research in HIV, Parkinson’s, and addiction. But as a series of animal misconduct allegations eroded the center’s legacy, Harvard, the Medical School, and the NEPRC itself struggled to control a slow collapse.
Do Boston’s Russian Math Programs Hold the Equation for Success?
In a school system still in recovery from pandemic learning loss, RSM and programs like it may push the students who can afford them further ahead, leaving others on the edge of a widening educational gap.
Volume XXXVI, Issue XIII
Dear Reader, This week, our issue opens with a Camberville double feature. First, we turn to an outgrowth of Cambridge's competitive parenting culture. SAB and AJPL take an in-depth look at the Russian School of Mathematics, an after-school math program with 15 centers in Massachusetts alone. So many students have enrolled in the program that it's begun to change the inner workings of Cambridge classrooms. What does it mean for Cambridge students when the center of learning moves beyond the school day? In our second scrutiny, RCG and CJ examine polyamory in Somerville. In 2020, Somerville became the first U.S. city to allow groups of more than two partners to register for a domestic partnership. At the time, the ordinance received national media attention. Five years out, this story asks: What is it actually like to be polyamorous in Somerville? Elsewhere in this issue: KJK's column on corecore, SG's 15Q with Benjamin L. Bivort, SG's conversation with Taylor Swift scholar Stephanie Burt, HGL's review of the grand opening PopUp Bagels, MAB and VO's venn diagram about turkey terrorism, and MEL's lovely endpaper about unseen sickness. FMLove, YAK+MTB
Love and the Law: A Look at Polyamorous Camberville
In 2020, 11 Somerville city councilors drafted an ordinance for domestic partnerships, previously nonexistent in the municipal code. As they were finalizing the legislation that would define domestic partnerships between two people, city councilor J.T. Scott asked a modest but far-reaching question: why only two?
Suzi Grossman Portrait
Suzanne wrote thank you letters to the Somerville City Council after the passage of the ordinance on domestic partnerships.
Haley Slavick Portrait
Haley J. Slavick met one of her partners at a non-monogamous speed dating night.