The Lost Museum • Academia’s Class Gap • Yellow Wolf MAY-JUNE 2017 • $4.95 Language and Mind L inguistics then and now KATHRYN DAVIDSON Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For more information, contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. at 617-495-5746 smeg.com Refrigerator FAB28 Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For more information, contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. at 617-495-5746 170504_Smeg_spread.indd 1 3/8/17 11:03 AM smeg.com Refrigerator FAB28 Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For more information, contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. at 617-495-5746 170504_Smeg_spread.indd 1 3/8/17 11:03 AM Seeking Great Leaders The Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative offers a calendar year of rigorous education and reflection for highly accomplished leaders in business, government, law, medicine, and other sectors who are transitioning from their primary careers to their next years of service. Led by award-winning faculty members from across Harvard, the program aims to deploy a new leadership force tackling the world’s most challenging social and environmental problems. be inspired at +1-617-496-5479 170509_AdvancedLeadership.indd 1 3/20/17 12:56 PM MAY-JUNE 2017, VOLUME 119, NUMBER 5 FEATURES 35 Forum: Harvard’s Class Gap | by Richard D. Kahlenberg The academy and overlooked Americans 40 Vita: Yellow Wolf | by Daniel J. Sharfstein Brief life of a Native American witness to history: c. 1855-1935 42 The Lost Museum | by Jonathan Shaw Recreating Harvard’s “Philosophy Chamber” 50 A Language Out of Nothing | by Marina N. Bolotnikova p. 15 Linguists’ search for the nature of speech JOHN HARVARD’S JOURNAL 18 Bridge with a view, social-club saga continued, Commencement CEO, cranes on campus, fleet elephant, Dunster departure, fewer graduate admissions, Allston ambitions, online updates, Mark Zuckerberg returns, diving into data science, exclusivity in extracurriculars, sailor from Mongolia, basketballers’ seesaw seasons, and a winter-sports summary p. 18 p. 80 DEPARTMENTS 4 Cambridge 02138 | Letters from our readers—and investment prospects 5 The View from Mass Hall 12 Right Now | Social-media smokescreens, epigenetics explained, making green buildings healthier 2 16A Harvard | Events on and off campus, Mount Auburn Cemetery, American bird art, Commencement week, caffeine and sweets in the Square, and more 58 Montage | Choreography reconceptualized, a literary lens on finance (and vice versa), designing museum exhibitions, Martha’s Vineyard, how liberal democracies came to be, and more 68 Alumni | Hands-on drama dean, and Overseer and HAA director candidates 72 The College Pump | Golf hazard, rowing the contaminated Charles, and the ultimate spider man p. 60 80 Treasure | The Peabody’s anthropological anniversary On the cover: The linguistics formulas model the 73 Crimson Classifieds meanings of sentences. Photograph by Jim Harrison CLOCKWISE FROM LACHINE; TOP: PAUL JIM HARRISON PEABODY (2); MUSEUM OF ARCHAEOLOGY & ETHNOLOGY © PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE www.harvardmagazine.com Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For more information, contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. at 617-495-5746 LETTERS EDITOR: John S. Rosenberg SENIOR EDITOR: Jean Martin Cambridge MANAGING EDITOR: Jonathan S. Shaw ART DIRECTOR: Jennifer Carling Houghton Library, coddled campuses, labor law ASSOCIATE EDITORS: Marina Bolotnikova, Sophia Nguyen STAFF WRITER/EDITOR: Lydialyle Gibson DIGITAL MEDIA MANAGER: Oset Babür JUSTICE BREYER ASSISTANT EDITOR: Nell Porter Brown A comment from an un- Speech that they greatly BERTA GREENWALD LEDECKY informed foreigner. It seems disagree with is labeled as UNDERGRADUATE FELLOWS to me that the U.S. Supreme fascist, or communist, or Matthew Browne, Lily Scherlis Court is the very insurance racist, or sexist, or some that the government reflects other smear word. Rarely CONTRIBUTING EDITORS what people want, to some do they want to allow it. John T. Bethell, Lincoln Caplan, John extent anyway, that many The same is true of any de Cuevas, Dick Friedman, Adam foreigners look on with envy “democracy.” Even true de- Goodheart, Elizabeth Gudrais, Jim (“A Workable Democracy,” mocracies are intolerant. Harrison, Courtney Humphries, by Lincoln Caplan, March- They only grudgingly allow Christopher S. Johnson, Adam Kirsch, April, page 48). In the U.K., others to speak, if they can- Colleen Lannon, Spencer Lenfield, Stu decisions of the courts are subject to govern- not discourage it, or ban it, or intimidate it, Rosner, Deborah Smullyan, Mark Steele ment modification. I wish that they were not. or call it names like “rude” or “disruptive” HARVARD MAGAZINE INC. Hugh Quick, M.B.A. ’56 or “nasty” or “uncalled for.” PRESIDENT: Margaret H. Marshall, Ed.M. Ilminster, Somerset, England The people in power try to do the same ’69. DIRECTORS: Peter K. Bol, Jonathan thing. They do not want to lose their power, L.S. Byrnes, D.B.A. ’80, Scott V. Edwards, I was delighted to read the comprehen- and they do not want to answer criticism of sive and thoughtful article discussing Justice their power. If people in power are able to Thomas F. Kelly, Ph.D. ’73, Ann Marie Stephen Breyer, my much beloved former censor, they will try to censor. If the people Lipinski, NF ’90, Lars Peter Knoth boss. I enjoyed the article tremendously, but out of power strongly object to being cen- Madsen, John P. Reardon Jr. ’60, also noted a small error. On page 51, the ar- sored, the people in power might back off, Bryan E. Simmons ’83 ticle refers to one of the Justice’s earlier aca- especially in America—a nation that has a demic works. The proper title for the book tradition that encourages free speech and BOARD OF INCORPORATORS is Breaking the Vicious Circle, not Breaking the Vi- condemns censorship. This magazine, at first called the Harvard Bulletin, was cious Cycle. Sometimes organizations, like homeown- founded in 1898. Its Board of Incorporators was char- Aileen McGrath, J.D. ’07 ers associations, forget that free speech is tered in 1924 and remains active in the magazine’s governance. The membership is as follows: Stephen J. Law clerk to Justice Breyer, October term 2008 the rule in America, not the exception—not Bailey, AMP ’94; Jeffrey S. Behrens ’89, William I. Ben- San Francisco a gift that citizens should be grateful for, but nett ’62, M.D. ’69; John T. Bethell ’54; Peter K. Bol; Fox a right that they should fiercely defend. Butterfield ’61, A.M. ’64; Sewell Chan ’98; Jonathan S. Editor’s note: We are grateful for the correc- Dr. Edward Vogt, J.D. ’68 Cohn ’91; Philip M. Cronin ’53, J.D. ’56; John de Cuevas ’52; James F. Dwinell III ’62; Anne Fadiman ’74; Benja- tion, and in awe of McGrath’s sharp eye. Walnut Creek, Calif. min M. Friedman ’66, Ph.D. ’71; Robert H. Giles, NF ’66; Richard H. Gilman, M.B.A. ’83; Owen Gingerich, When i taught political science at UC A SCHOLARLY TEMPLE Ph.D. ’62; Adam K. Goodheart ’92; Philip C. Haughey ’57; Brian R. Hecht ’92; Sarah Blaffer Hrdy ’68, Ph.D. Berkeley, I told my students that they did As a graduate student in history, I quick- ’75; Ellen Hume ’68; Alex S. Jones, NF ’82; Bill Kovach, not really favor free speech and thought. ly came to regard Harvard’s Houghton Li- NF ’89; Florence Ladd, BI ’72; Jennifer 8 Lee ’99; Ran- Since the 1960s, the students were for brary as a scholarly temple whose treasures dolph C. Lindel ’66; Ann Marie Lipinski, NF ’90; Scott mostly leftist views. In the 1950s, the closed- surprised and enthralled (“An ‘Enchanted Malkin ’80, J.D.-M.B.A. ’83; Margaret H. Marshall, Ed.M. ’69, Ed ’77, L ’78; Lisa L. Martin, Ph.D. ’90; David minded students of America were for more Palace,’” March-April, page 36). My favorite McClintick ’62; Winthrop L. McCormack ’67; M. Lee rightist views. of its holdings, a journal kept by Transcen- Pelton, Ph.D. ’84; John P. Reardon Jr. ’60; Harriet Ritvo But whether the national pendulum is at dentalist writer Margaret Fuller during the ’68, Ph.D. ’75; Henry Rosovsky, JF ’57, Ph.D. ’59, LL.D. ’98; Barbara Rudolph ’77; Robert N. Shapiro ’72, J.D. the right or at the left, they all have in com- republican revolt in Rome in 1849, had been ’78; Theda Skocpol, Ph.D. ’75; Peter A. Spiers ’76; Scott mon that they are against truly free speech. recovered from Fuller’s fatal shipwreck off H. Stossel ’91; Sherry Turkle ’69, Ph.D. ’76; Robert H. Weiss ’54; Jan Ziolkowski. 4 May - June 2017 Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For more information, contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. at 617-495-5746 THE VIEW FROM MASS HALL The Work of the Whole Life ver the years, I have often been asked how many students attend Harvard, and I have quickly respond- ed “about 22,000.” If you visit the official “Harvard At a Glance” page online, you will find this same figure. OBut I have come to realize that “about 22,000” significantly un- derstates the number of students who come to learn on our cam- pus each year. It fails to acknowledge fully what is becoming an increasingly important part of our educational mission because it only includes those formally enrolled in degree programs. There is, in fact, another Harvard—a less visible but no less vibrant universe of learners who devote anywhere from a day to months of their time to deepening their knowledge in continuing and executive education programs offered throughout our schools. Their share in our community might surprise you: in any given year, Harvard educates approximately seven non-degree students for every one of its degree students (a figure that does not include the millions of learners we reach online through HarvardX). Non-degree programs attract everyone from high school and col- lege students to working professionals to retirees.