Scrutiny
The Theory, Born at Harvard, That Could Remake Right-Wing Jurisprudence
Over the past five years, common good constitutionalism has taken tenuous root in elite legal academia. It’s now beginning to find its way into courtrooms. But scholars remain divided on its potential to reshape the legal landscape — and whose “common good” it seeks to advance.
Volume XXXVI, Issue XI
Dear FM, In this week’s cover story, SG and JES probe a legal theory with growing influence on the right-wing legal landscape: common good constitutionalism. The theory itself originated at Harvard, from the work of Harvard Law School professor C. Adrian C. Vermeule ’90. Through careful analysis of material ranging from dense legal documents to tweets, SG and JES raise questions about the future of common good constitutionalism. Will the theory begin to appear in more court decisions and law school syllabi? What will law school students — the future’s lawyers and judges — make of the theory? And will common good constitutionalism remake right-wing jurisprudence, much like originalism did a few decades ago? Elsewhere, CB talks to another figure in the legal world: Alfredo Gutierrez Ortiz Mena, a former justice of the Mexican Supreme Court. DCB takes up One Tap Away — our new laundry app — in a levity that will make you mourn Crimson Cash. Closing the issue out, AM gets philosophical about flies. FMLove, MTB + YAK
Can Privilege Be Taught? Beacon Academy Thinks So.
Staff and alumni say Beacon changes the trajectory of its students’ lives. Some wonder what parts of their identity they may have to give up in the process.
Volume XXXVI, Issue X
Dear Reader, This week's scrutiny covers Beacon Academy, a gap year program between eighth and ninth grade designed to help students from historically underrepresented communities gain admission to private high schools. What differentiates Beacon from similar college preparatory programs is its cultural curriculum: Alongside their coursework, students will take trips to Martha's Vineyard, take rowing lessons, and learn dinner table etiquette. AR and CGH examine how Beacon Academy helps its students achieve upward mobility—at the risk of alienating parts of their identities in the process. Also in this issue: KJK's first column installment on the cringiness of cringe, EMK's conversation with Prof. Spencer Lee-Lenfield, and JPL's endpaper on falling back in love with visual art. FMLove, YAK+MTB
Beacon Academy Temple Israel
Temple Israel, where Beacon Academy used to run its gap-year program.
Volume XXXVI, Issue IX
Dear Reader, We kick off this semester with MHJ's profile of Yi-An Huang '05, Cambridge's eleventh city manager. Huang's role is a complicated one. He's partially a bureaucrat and partially a politician, and many describe him as the most powerful person in Cambridge. Through extensive reporting and incisive prose, MHJ deftly portrays the way Huang has navigated his time in City Hall. Has Huang brought change to his historically contentious role — or have the many demands of the job ultimately changed him? Elsewhere in this issue, you'll find VWR's 15Q with Professor Annabel Kim and KJK's 15Q with Professor Curtis McMullen, HGL and JPL's look at consciousness studies with Professor Anne Harrington, and MSA's report on Bread and Puppet's latest Cambridge performance. KJK takes a tour of the city's internet-free cafés, and HPL attempts to attend every event pubbed to him, over mailing list, flyers, and word-of-mouth. In her latest Venn Diagram, MEL compares the new Harvard Foundation with the act of sharing one's location, and HPL unveils FM's first cyptic crossword. MRT closes us out with his reflection on losing and learning from the HUA election. FMLove, YAK+MTB
The Man in the Middle
Yi-An Huang ’05 is Cambridge’s eleventh city manager, and he sits atop a bureaucratic machine that employs nearly 4,000 staff. Every pothole that gets fixed, every police call that is made, and nearly every city dollar that gets spent — all of it, eventually, can be traced to the man who sits in a corner office on the first floor of City Hall.
The Weight of Lightweight Rowing
It is an open secret that lightweight rowing can promote disordered eating. But the category persists as a collegiate sport, and Harvard is one of the few schools that offers it.
Volume XXXVI, Issue VIII
Dear Reader, In the last cover story of the semester, ECG, AR, and KJK take us inside the world of lightweight rowing, in which every rower must weigh less than a set weight limit. In theory, the category is the great equalizer in a sport that prioritizes size and strength. In reality, it often leaves its rowers with eating disorders. With rigor and empathy, these reporters examine the impact Harvard’s lightweight program has had on its athletes — and the limits of reform in a sport defined by weight. In this week’s Around Towns, true soldiers JES and SLSY take us to the Battle of Lexington — reenacted at 4:16am on its 250th anniversary. VWR plays pickleball with the Harvard Pickleball Club. JPL, MSA, and NURC party at Queer Prom. JHP sets out in search of a sports bar near Harvard’s campus. AJPL and MSA look at the story behind Allston’s nickname “Rat City.” XSC profiles the married HBS alumni who founded Beli (like Letterboxd, but for food). AJPL and MK speak to Narayan Khandekar, director of the Harvard Art Museums’ Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies. AR writes about HMS researchers affected by the Trump administration’s funding cuts. ASM profiles Ed Childs, an icon of Harvard’s labor movement. JMK and SZ explore the effects of the Trump administration on ESPP concentrators’ job prospects. CGH brings us a write-around profile of Michael Abramowitz, a former CrimEd suing the Trump administration for its dismantling of Voice of America. JES and NURC speak to Logan McCarty, Chem 20 lecturer and opera singer. CJ writes about Brittany Charlton and her fight to save the LGBTQ Health Center of Excellence. For a double-feature 15Q, CL sits down with poet and Economics PhD CJC, and CES talks to chess grandmaster and Economics professor KSR. Our columnists close out the semester. AJBS blurs the boundary between the digital world and “real life.” AS writes about her study-abroad experience in Cuba. CS traces his genealogy of queer ancestors. In a standalone column, MEL quits her phone for a week. This issue brings a quartet of poignant introspections. JES writes about the memories stored on her old laptop. IS writes about her mother’s feelings about weakness. JMK writes an introspection about growth, feeling, and magnolia trees. Capping off her annual series, MG writes a letter to her senior year. At the end of the semester, we could all use a little levity. MHJ and NURC parody the chaos of the Currier mailing list. JK and MK compare corsetry to LS1b. MEL compares the Widener stacks to Harvard fighting back. And, finally, FM’s staff presents Alan Garber with advice on how to recoup billions of dollars in cut funding. FMLove, YAK + MTB
Can Fenway Health Meet the Moment?
For years, Fenway Health has faced down financial insolvency and prolonged union negotiations. Now, it must contend with a new challenge: a federal government hostile to its founding mission as a community-based LGBTQ health center.
To Call Allston Home
On the surface, Allston’s high turnover makes our neighborhood seem like a place where people come and go. But its residents — renters, homeowners, artists, families — refuse to let transience define them. Today, they are fighting for a community where those who want to stay can stay.
Actor Observer Members
The members of Actor Observer. From left to right: Nick J. Grieco, guitar; Jake M. Satow, bassist; Kyle F. Kowalsky, guitar; Greg W. Marquis, vocals; Daniel R. Goterch, drums.