Columns
Affinity Groups, Don’t Let Harvard Shut Down Your Celebrations
With diversity under attack from all fronts — and Harvard’s perceived concessions to this assault — it is important now more than ever for students to celebrate with the communities that have shaped them into who they are.
Feminism and the Gender-Neutral Society
Feminism being the subject, you are thinking already that I am against women. But I am against feminism because it is against women. It is against them because it cannot define them.
Conservatives Deserve Better than the Salient
The widespread disregard of the Salient is not because Harvard is inherently hostile to conservative thought; it is because the publication refuses to engage in serious debate. The Salient must reject its current insular platform and give conservatives the respected space they deserve.
Make the T Free
The benefits of free MBTA passes go far beyond letting students save a few dollars — they can help Harvard form a connection with the community in a way that better serves us all.
Don’t Renovate Away Harvard’s House Community
At Eliot, keep the decorative wood and iron railings, the wood-paneled library annex with a spiral staircase, the old stone steps, and the weirdly-curved hallways.Don’t erase the small, unique features that have long distinguished our houses from the rest — and remind me that I am home.
The Endowment Should Be Taxed
Harvard has a complicated social role. It is neither entirely charitable nor entirely self-interested. I believe that its investment income should be taxed at a rate that reflects this middle ground.
Harvard’s Trash Problem Is Deeper Than That
Indeed, by forgetting about our short-term impacts, we contribute to the problems we are trying to solve. Despite the plethora of Environmental Science and Public Policy concentrators at Harvard, we don’t seem to value our own environment as much as we do distant ones.
Trump’s Harvard Simply Isn’t Real
In the eyes of many citizens, distortions and falsehoods from the Trump media machine have transformed Harvard from a symbol of American excellence to a leftist hellhole. And crucially, they have facilitated an “ends justify the means” approach to policy that is allowing the government to commit legally suspect actions.
Harvard, Pay Your PILOTs
If Harvard is serious about defending its nonprofit status from political threats, it must make good on its commitments to serve the public — especially Boston residents. It should start by paying its fair share of PILOTs in the only form that can provide truly essential services to community members: cash.
It’s Time for Harvard To Go Global
Now is the time for Harvard to do all the things that Harvard does so well. Our innovation and resolve must be a shining light to the rest of the world of higher education at its best. Opening an international campus could help us do just that.
Harvard, Clean Up Your Mess
If Harvard wants to continue as one of the most prestigious institutions, we have to ensure our campus is the best that it can be. In order to see our campus improve, we must all play our part in keeping it clean.
No, Harvard’s Endowment Cannot Withstand Trump
The headline number this week was $2.2 billion, but Trump is laying the groundwork for policies that could cost the University more in the future. And despite its large endowment, Harvard will face tremendous financial pain.
Peer Teaching Is Key to Our Education. I’m Glad Harvard’s Protecting It.
In moments of institutional uncertainty, it’s precisely this kind of peer-driven, community-centered support that keeps our University thriving. In these unprecedented times, let’s make sure we preserve it.
Harvard’s Defense of Academia Is Missing Half the Story
The thing we’ve failed to reckon with is that — though scientific research will bear the brunt of Trump’s attacks because it benefits so much from federal funding — it’s not his real target.
From the Notes of Alan M. Garber
7:08 - We sold my office supplies (to economize) so I am sitting on the floor writing this on a banana peel with a toothpick. It will be legible later; I saw this on Facebook.
