Florida’s Attack on Education Should Ring Alarm Bells at Harvard

It’s one thing to support robust academic free speech. It’s another to reject legitimate history because you disagree with it. Anti-intellectualism is the letter of the law in the state of Florida. This should set off alarm bells for anyone who cares about academic freedom.

Scientists Must Only Seek Truth

Scientists have a unique power to unveil the deepest truths about our physical and natural world. In the world of academic research, the only goal should be to obtain truth — we should never let honesty fall second to the pursuit of personal gain.

Taking This Month to Show Gratitude for Blackness

In brainstorming what I could write about this month, I found myself constantly thinking, “That’s too basic” or “I don’t have anything new to say.” Then I realized: Why write about something new at all? I could simply write about the things that I loved about Blackness.

Harvard Needs A Nap

The reality is that students don’t sleep as much as they need to. Instead of hoping the problem will fix itself, it’s time for Harvard to take action to bring students what they need: nap pods.

South Asians, Police Abolition Is Your Responsibility Too

We should know that we would not be able to live comfortably in this country without the civil rights movement that in many ways fought against police brutality, just as Black Lives Matter does today. We can clearly articulate the problems of corruption and violence that exist in our motherlands, but why do we often fail to do so in the United States?

How Christian Hip-Hop Saved My Life

When my Christianity — constantly threatened by cultural assimilation and the transgression of someone else’s social norms — is nearly lost, Christian hip-hop acts as a surgical knife, dividing between the beautiful and the ugly, putting me and my faith back together again.

Why It’s Important to Break Down Paywalls

Rather than treating publicly shared research as a commodity, journals should consider removing paywalls to make education more equitable. Everybody deserves the opportunity to engage with the cutting edge of human ingenuity, and removing paywalls is an important first step in that direction.

BFFR.

It isn’t difficult to solicit the perspective of the people whose culture is being appropriated before promoting a product or homogenizing a new phrase. And to those that tell us that that’s too much to ask, I say… Be f-cking for real.

“Free Merch” Isn’t Free for the Planet

School spirit is great — but so is the need to preserve the environment of the only planet we have. I’d be willing to trade in a few sweatshirts for the latter.

Harvard Needs a Rat Liaison

All I could think about, as I tried to fall asleep that terrifying night, is why we need a specialized rat liaison — not just the multipurpose tool of Yard Ops — here at Harvard. More than a sassy guide, we need a compassionate, human individual to guide us in our legitimate rat-inspired plight.

Palestinian Freedom Goes Beyond Giving Kenneth Roth a Fellowship

To call for accountability means to go beyond echoing the politically neutral call for free speech and ask ourselves difficult questions: In silencing Kenneth Roth, what was Harvard trying to shield its students from? And in reinstating his fellowship without addressing its own considerable bias, who does Harvard continue to silence?

In Defense of Optimistic Pessimism

I and many other optimistic pessimists set expectations very low, so as to be either prepared for the worst or pleasantly surprised by anything better. When you think about it, what could be a more optimistic outlook than that? The most powerful good-vibes shaman in the world could only dream of a set of outcomes so favorable.

Put an End to Classroom Theatrics

Let’s choose active listening and introspection over mindless interjections, or vulnerability over stubborn dogmatism. It’s time that we raise the bar for what constitutes a meaningful classroom contribution, for ourselves and for others.

Classroom Theatrics Illustration

In Defense of Trigger Warnings

Trigger warnings serve to protect the autonomy of students with histories of trauma. It would be a mistake to abandon them because of a few errant examples of overreach. We have to affirm a culture of reading and discussing difficult works, with trigger warnings serving as a tool for this end, rather than an obstacle.