Op Eds
America’s Free-Speech ‘Reckoning’ Threatens Liberalism Abroad
To those free-speech activists rising up against undemocratic regimes in other countries, it would be advisable to find another liberal model for now. Here in the U.S., we’re still figuring out what we think of ours.
Nothing Happens in Isolation
At the end of the day, the students in quarantine should be the ones who have the virus. And as much as Harvard shifts the blame to undergraduates, they caused their own outbreak with their callous, short-sighted alternative housing policy. They know the right strategy to control Covid-19, because they used it for a year and a half. It’s due time for it to return.
What If CAMHS Could Purr?
If Harvard chose to develop a more robust animal therapy program, it could ameliorate student mental health concerns while simultaneously alleviating some of the load on an already-overburdened CAMHS.
Harvard Trains Human Rights Defenders and Then Abandons Them
Harvard needs to take responsibility for the human rights defenders it trains. It needs to create a real, ongoing, accessible infrastructure of support. And it needs to start today.
An Exceptional School
To acknowledge our complex history and the positive changes that Roncalli has made despite it, Roncalli — just like Harvard — must firmly establish that, because it is exceptional, some traditions and practices must be discontinued or modified.
To the Class of 2026
I thought that I found that sign during a Virtual Visitas Q&A. Amidst the standard replies to questions about food, concentrations, and classes, one answer stood out to me: When asked what their favorite part of Harvard was, a current student enthusiastically replied “the people.” This answer tipped the scales and instilled the confidence I needed to accept the offer of admission. But after spending two years at Harvard, I have lost faith in that simple answer.
Profoundly Hypocritical: Harvard’s Telling Reaction Regarding Ukraine
If Harvard’s goal is truly teaching future world leaders in a diverse living environment it needs to ensure that it supports all of its students equally regardless of their skin color or religion
Lynch’s Selection as Harvard Law School’s Class Day Speaker Is Revealing
As a private citizen, Lynch has every right to make whatever career choices are best for her. However — given her recent career arc — as Harvard Law School’s graduation speaker, Lynch symbolizes the haunting emptiness that plagues much of the legal profession.
Our Next Chapter
Dear Harvard College, I am writing to let you know that I am resigning as student body president, effective immediately. I was elected on the signature promise of dissolving and replacing the Undergraduate Council. Since that’s been fulfilled, I must step aside so we can turn to our next chapter.
Let Will Smith and All People of Color Be Human
I hope, if nothing else, that those who chose to laugh at Smith in his most vulnerable moment will recognize that they were unintentionally laughing at every person of color who ever dared to be human.
Ramadan Mubarak, From My Organic Chemistry Lab
As I break my fast in my organic chemistry lab tonight, I will pray to live a future in which this University mobilizes itself in our support, for myself and for the rest of my Muslim community.
Instagram Bad
In a semester filled with so much uncertainty, accurate information is all the more important. Pictures might be worth a thousand words, but those words should be accurate, not a facade.
Physician, Know Thy Place
Harvard is the training ground for a great deal of expertise. It also aspires, I would hope, to train good laymen: citizens who are thoughtful in how they engage with expertise they can’t replicate. By adopting a more principled approach, we as students can do our part to build back Americans’ trust in experts. We can contribute, in some small way, to the cause of giving our divided country a shared set of facts.
I Want an American Accent
I hope that I will learn the American accent. It will make flirting at parties much easier and will give me back my sense of humor. I also hope that I will not lose my Kenyan accent; that I will be able to revert back to it when I need it. I hope once I land at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, I will fit right back in; that the place I call home will not think of me as foreign.
