Harassment and Assault Reports Oxford. In addition, Michael Liu ’19, Mat- The University Title IX Office and Office tea Mrkusic ’17, and Olga Romanova ’19 for Dispute Resolution reported in De- Brevia have been awarded international Rhodes cember that reported incidents of poten- Scholarships. American Repertory Theater tial sexual and gender-based harassment master’s graduate Yan Chen also won an had increased by 55 percent during the aca- international Rhodes. demic year ending last June 30, with formal complaints Doomed to Repeat? rising 7 percent. The con- Amplifying his earlier data tinuing increases in reports on students’ shifting inter- and complaints reflect some ests (see “Hemorrhaging combination of underlying Humanities” November-De- conditions; greater training cember 2018, page 31), Benja- and outreach to the com- min M. Schmidt ’03, now at munity that raise aware- Northeastern University, says ness of norms, standards, enrollment in history (con- and reporting procedures; sidered a social science at and news headlines high- Harvard, but not elsewhere) lighting such abuses na- has collapsed. His new work tionwide. Detailed findings, on fields of concentration, re- including data on disposi- ported in November by the tion of Harvard disclosures American Historical Asso- and complaints, may be ciation’s Perspectives on History, found at harvardmag.com/ shows a sharper drop than title9&odr-report-18.… for any other discipline since Separately, following re- the 2008 recession; in abso-
ports in The Harvard Crimson 360B/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO lute numbers and as a share and The New York Times that Lee professor of MERKEL IN MAY. Harvard’s guest of degrees being sought, interest in history economics and professor of education Ro- speaker following the Commencement appears to be at new lows not seen at least exercises on May 30 will be Angela land G. Fryer Jr. was under investigation Merkel, chancellor of Germany since since the 1950s. Winning fields from 2011 for alleged sexual harassment, the Ameri- 2005. President Lawrence S. Bacow (the first post-recession year when students can Economic Association announced on called her “one of the most widely could easily establish new concentrations) December 18 that he had resigned from its admired and broadly influential states- are exercise science and computer science. people of our time. Over her four terms executive committee, to which he had been as Germany’s chancellor, her leadership elected earlier in the year. has done much to shape the course not “Best of…” only of her nation, but also of Europe and Two year-end lists of accomplishments Single-Gender Suit the larger world. She continues to play a cited Harvard-related people and work. central role in confronting some of the A group of sororities, fraternities, and un- great challenges of our era, and I very The Chronicle of Higher Education’s list of 2018 dergraduates has filed federal and state much look forward to…a memorable “influencers” includedEdward J. Blum, the suits against Harvard’s policy (adopted by address.” Details appear at harvardmag. organizer of and attorney for Students for com/comm-merkel-18. the Corporation in late 2017) that imposes Fair Admissions, the plaintiff in the lawsuit sanctions on members of unrecognized challenging the College’s practices (see “Ad- single-gender social organizations, such Senate to nine, and the total Harvard con- missions on Trial,” January-February, page as final clubs and Greek organizations. The tingent in the House and Senate to 53 (see 15); Massachusetts attorney general Maura plaintiffs argue that the policy constitutes “Crimson on Capitol Hill: 116th,” January- Healey ’92, for opposing Trump administra- unlawful sex-based discrimination. A re- February, page 67). tion efforts to relax regulation of for-profit port detailing the claims appears at har- colleges; and Terry Karl, the Stanford facul- vardmag.com/usgso-lawsuit-18. More U.K. Scholars ty member who raised anew old charges of Following the initial announcement of sexual misconduct against Harvard faculty Congressional (116th) Update Rhodes Scholars (Brevia, January-Feb- member Jorge Domínguez, now retired (see Republican Martha McSally, M.P.P. ’90, the ruary, page 28), four seniors learned that harvardmag.com/dominguez-18). That Arizona representative who lost a race for they had been awarded Marshall Schol- publication’s separate survey of the most in- Senator Jeff Flake’s seat in November, has arships. Lyndon Hanrahan will study at fluential books of the past 20 years elicited been named to fill the Senate seat formerly the Royal College of Art, Justin Lee at Ox- academics’ nominations of The Better Angels of held by Senator John McCain. That raises ford, Manny Medrano at the University Our Nature, by Johnstone Family professor of the number of Harvard GOP affiliates in the of St. Andrews, and Vaibhav Mohanty at psychology Steven Pinker; Bowling Alone, by
Harvard Magazine 27
Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For more information, contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. at 617-495-5746 John Harvard's Journal
Malkin Research Professor of public policy ARTS HONORAND. Tracy K. Smith ’94, poet laureate of the United States, will receive the Harvard Arts Robert D. Putnam; and The History Manifesto, Medal at the opening of the University’s Arts First co-written by Blankfein professor of history festival on May 2. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 2012, David Armitage. for her collection Life on Mars, Smith most recently published Wade in the Water. The Arts Medal is awarded each year to a “Harvard or Radcliffe graduate Making Money on MOOCs? or faculty member who has achieved excellence in the EdX, the Harvard-MIT online-learning ven- arts and has made a contribution through the arts to ture, in need of revenue to upgrade and sus- education or the public good.” Read more about Smith and the medal at harvardmag.com/smith-medal-19. tain its platform, has announced that audi- tors’ free access to courses will be limited in duration (typically to six weeks) and that graded assessments will be offered it too will exclude home equity from fam- to a full 12 months (from nine), and adding only to enrollees who pay fees. Class Cen- ilies’ aid calculations. The announcement to research funds. A separate Yale priority tral, which evaluates online courses, found came amid reports that student-loan debt may be evolving a teaching program, the that “edX’s paywall will now be higher than is nearing $1.5 trillion—more than double Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, into a Coursera’s”—a surprising outcome because the level outstanding at the end of the last small school focusing on global and interna- the latter enterprise is an investor-backed, decade, when public institutions, pressed tional policy issues. And following the Elis’
for-profit venture.…Separately, the Business by recession-reduced state budgets, began pioneering campus-based system of carbon PHOTOGRAPH © RACHEL ELIZA GRIFFITHS School reflagged its fee-based HBX offerings raising tuition sharply. fees to reduce global-warming emissions, as Harvard Business School Online—mak- Yale is now piloting a by-building “pay-as- ing the most of its iconic brand, and suggest- On Other Campuses you-throw” charge to encourage recycling. ing that it is now a core part of the educa- The University of Virginia will create a new tional enterprise. School of Data Science, backed by a $120-mil- The Square Scene lion gift, the largest in its history, from the With Harvard Square awash in new pur- Financial-Aid Frontiers foundation of its alumnus Jaffray Woodriff, veyors of caffeine and sweets (Blue Bottle, The announcement last summer that New a hedge-fund manager.…Ronald Perelman, Flour, Pavement Coffeehouse, and Tatte Bak- York University School of Medicine had the head of MacAndrews & Forbes for ery and Café), an older, indigenous outlet raised sufficient funds to go tuition-free elic- many years, and his daughter Debra Perel- closed just before Christmas: Crema, after a ited criticisms that it was subsidizing up- man, now CEO of the enterprise and a 1996 10-year run. In an irony of commerce, it will per-income applicants and those who would Princeton graduate, have given her alma ma- be succeeded by a Bluestone Lane—another go on to have lucrative careers. But an early ter $65 million as the naming gift for a sev- premium coffee chain. Separately, in the new indicator suggests one strategic success: In- enth residential college—a key element in year, Tealuxe shuttered after more than two side Higher Ed reported that the school’s ap- that university’s plan to expand undergradu- decades, as did the adjacent Urban Outfit- plications rose 47 percent, and that appli- ate enrollment, focusing on first-generation, ters, Sweet Bakery (the cupcake purveyor), cants from members of underrepresented lower-income, and other underrepresent- and other merchants; the buildings at the groups—black, Latino, and Native American ed cohorts, including veterans and transfer triangle between Brattle and John F. Ken- students—more than doubled…Stanford, students.…Northeastern University has re- nedy Streets are nearing extensive renova- which has had a more limited financial-aid ceived a $50-million naming gift for its Col- tion into a retail mall. The Brattle Square policy than some peer institutions, includ- lege of Computer and Information Sciences Chipotle also closed, leaving a mere three
STEPHANIE MITCHELL/HPAC STEPHANIE ing Harvard, announced in December that from alumnus and trustee Amin Khoury.… choices for fast-Mexican food. Having outlined sciences pri- orities that may require as Nota Bene much as $2 billion in new re- Health honcho. Paul J. Barriera, director sources from its capital cam- of Harvard University Health Services since paign, Yale began extending 2012, will step down at the end of the aca- graduate-student fellowships demic year, June 30. An associate professor of
PEAK PROFESSORSHIP. Having concluded her challenging presidency, Harvard’s twenty-eighth, to general acclaim (“Faust in Focus,” July- August 2018, page 46), Drew Faust returned to the faculty. Just before Christmas, President Lawrence S. Bacow recognized her high rank among scholars, too, as an historian of the Civil War and the American South, appointing Faust to the Porter University Professorship, effective January 1. Her books, he said, “reflect extraordinary insight into past lives and events while illuminating themes of continuing deep relevance to our national conversation.” She succeeds the preeminent poetry critic, Helen Vendler, who became emerita last summer.
28 March - April 2019
Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For more information, contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. at 617-495-5746 their now-classmates who may remain en- decision to eliminate loans from financial- psychiatry and HUHS staff member before meshed in “[p]roblems at home with their aid packages) matter far beyond the tiny his appointment as director, he oversaw a families and friends—typically some com- slice of the population these schools serve. significant expansion of resources devoted bination of evictions, convictions, and vio- They may be among the relatively few ven- to counseling and mental-health services, lence…”: the antithesis of a bank of social ues where the effort is even being made, in among other initiatives. capital upon which to draw. a society where it has become possible, even Harsh though those demands are, some normal, for people never to come into contact Early admissions. The College announced students even reported being disowned across class boundaries. in mid December that it had admitted 13.4 when they decided to accept a scholarship So the lessons taught and learned on such percent of early-action applicants to the for an education away from home. And giv- campuses are a social experiment of rare im- class of 2023 (935 of 6,958 hopefuls), down en the differences between the privileged port. Jack doesn’t focus on the benefits to slightly from 14.5 percent admitted in the poor and the doubly disadvantaged, who upper-income college students of bringing prior year (when 964 of 6,630 applicants may seem to others a single cohort in ra- them into contact, at least nominally, with were admitted). Details on those admitted cial or other terms, some of the most dis- economically disadvantaged peers. “One and their academic interests can be found advantaged undergraduates encounter the could argue that exposure to different peo- at harvardmag.com/early-action-18. Yale old truth that “All skin folk ain’t kinfolk.” ple, customs, and ways of life is as impor- and Princeton accepted 13.2 and 13.9 per- The more acutely such differences are felt, tant as the lessons students learn in their cent of early applicants, respectively. Jack finds, the less likely it is that the stu- classes,” he writes—“that college is about dents affected will perceive that advisers, expanding your world-view.” This is the ar- Higher-ed indicators. The Higher-Ed- office hours, and counseling resources are gument made, on racial and ethnic grounds, ucation Price Index for the year ended meant for them. for affirmative action in admissions. June 2018 was 2.8 percent: down from the The practical weight of his research is that prior year’s 3.3 percent but—the Com- institutions that have made it their business It is not the job of monfund (which compiles it) reported— to effect such diversity also have to recognize above the average of 2.4 percent for the that access is not inclusion. For admissions offi- students from under- preceding five fiscal years. Separately, cers and administrators, perhaps the primary Moody’s, the credit-rating service, ex- value of Jack’s book lies in the power of its represented groups to tended its negative financial outlook for personal stories, making that lesson indelibly higher education for a second year, citing vivid. Pforzheimer professor of teaching and teach wealthy peers low tuition revenue (after financial aid) learning Richard J. Light did much the same and continued inflation in expenses. thing, for a different group of students, in about their lives. Making the Most of College (see “The Storyteller,” Miscellany. Leah Rosovsky ’78, M.B.A. ’84, January-February 2001, page 32), and Rachel But across classes, he continues, “this vice president for strategy and programs L. Gable, Ed.D. ’16, provided a statistical por- learning too often comes in the form of since January 2013, stepped down at year- trait of the social and academic experiences poor students having to justify their deci- end; she is now a dean’s administrative fel- of first-generation and low-income students sions about what activities they do or do not low at Harvard Business School.…Pomona in her dissertation (see “Mastering the ‘Hid- want to partake in. Not everyone is asked to College president emeritus David Oxtoby den Curriculum,’” November-December 2017, explain themselves: poor students are often ’72, president of the Board of Overseers dur- page 18). Jack’s carefully elicited anecdotes, asked why they won’t go out for dinner or to ing the 2013-2014 academic year, has been and the surrounding context, complete the a dance club, but no one is asking rich stu- appointed president of the American Acad- narrative. dents to justify spending $30 for a lobster.” emy of Arts and Sciences.…Poet, memoirist, The societal context. More broadly, Jack In purely humane terms, Jack writes, and editor Meghan O’Rourke, the Rad- is exploring the widening socioeconomic “[W]e need to make a concerted effort to cliffe Institute’s 2014-2015 Putnam Fellow, gaps—geographic, residential, and other- teach students about each other. Under- has been appointed editor of The Yale Review wise—in the United States (often layered standing your peers can help limit misun- effective July 1—the two-hundredth an- atop sharply drawn lines between the races, derstanding and exclusion.” But broadly, niversary of the literary quarterly’s found- particularly in some of the most economi- “This expansion of world-view must go ing.…Ackman professor of public econom- cally vibrant coastal cities). “[B]eing poor,” both ways….It is not just a matter of poor ics Raj Chetty has been named a fellow of he writes of a doubly disadvantaged student students adjusting to a world of wealth: up- the American Academy of Political and So- from a small farming town, “had never made per-income students must learn to be more cial Science.…New fellows of the American him feel like an outsider until he came to accepting of other students’ ways of life.” Association for the Advancement of Sci- Renowned.” For some underprivileged stu- Beyond the experiment in access and inclu- ence include Eric J. Chaisson, associate of dents, Jack says, such experiences are their sion now under way at Renowned, Jack is the Harvard College Observatory; David first direct encounter with economically pointing toward the society in which such D. Ginty, Lefler professor of neurobiology; comfortable fellow citizens—and vice versa. places are embedded: “It is not the job of and Dani Rodrik, Ford Foundation pro- In this sense, selective colleges’ nearly students from underrepresented groups to fessor of international political economy. two-decade efforts to become more eco- teach wealthy white students about their nomically diverse (dating to Princeton’s lives.” vj.s.r.
Harvard Magazine 29
Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For more information, contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. at 617-495-5746