Crimson opinion writer

Aaryan K. Rawal

Latest Content


Remembering Harvard’s Homosexual Purge

Building a queer-inclusive institution begins by reckoning with our obvious failures. After all, if our College can’t even appropriately respond to the Secret Court, then how can we trust it to confront the less visible harms of ongoing queerphobia?


I Admitted Myself to the Psych Ward a Month Ago.

I am immensely grateful that the psychiatric ward was life-saving, in no small part because of incredible Harvard administrators who advocated for me. However, I am also deeply troubled that the College’s ambiguous protocols, rather than my wellness, dictate my journey to stability.


The Fight for Ethnic Studies Is a Fight for All Identities, Everywhere

The movement for ethnic studies is larger than a single concentration. It is about leveraging the influence of our institution to defy the unchecked censorship and hate that seeks to erase identity from our earliest educational systems.


It’s Time For Queer Affirmative Action

Decades after Bakke, it may be fruitful to ground rationales for queer-conscious admissions in a university’s interest in rectifying societal discrimination.


Courting Complicity: Harvard’s Tolerance of Anti-Queerness

For Harvard to meet its obligations to inclusivity, it can no longer simply default to platitudes. It must instead leverage its stature to highlight the adverse educational impacts of anti-trans discrimination and affirm those impacted — or else tolerate an educational status quo rapidly descending into anti-queerness.