Scrutiny
Harvard Wants To Talk About Israel-Palestine. Can It Succeed?
After over a year, the University still struggles with fostering dialogue on Israel-Palestine. Where does the problem lie?
Volume XXXVI, Issue VIII November 16, 2024
Dear FM, I’m in denial. I’m in denial that the semester is ending, that this is the last regular issue I will ever admin (???!?!?! :”””))))) ), that my dinoship is approaching. I will save my sappy note for my last closeout, which I am also in denial about having to write so soon! What is *un*deniable, however, is how good this issue is. Chief among the pieces we have is first-time (!!!) scrut writers XSC and WCM’s incredible deep-dive into campus dialogue efforts on Israel-Palestine. It’s the story we have all been waiting for, journalists and readers alike. Thoroughly reported, with openness and tact and a critical eye, XSC and WCM explore why talking about Israel-Palestine has been so difficult. As they note, Tarek E. Masoud, the HKS professor who leads the Middle East Dialogues, appears to have it down when it comes to fostering these conversations. Yet efforts to replicate his event have failed, and the campus environment remains fraught with tension. Why is this? What is the University getting wrong or overlooking? And what does the way forward look like? This phenomenal scrut may not hold all the answers, but it tackles the job The Crimson hadn’t yet done in elucidating the obstacles Harvard faces in building bridges (pun intended). Sometimes, though, dialogue just isn’t the goal. With impressive reporting chops, YAK and SEY capture the absurdity and the gravity of the National Men’s March to Abolish Abortion that was met with fierce(ly hilarious?) counterprotesting from the Clown March. KJK speaks to HLS instructor Alejandra Caraballo about LGBTQ rights and activism in the incoming Trump presidency. In a 15Q, carrier of FM JKW talks to Government professor Theda Skocpol about the election results, campus protest, and how Harvard’s campus may change in the next four years. Taking a step from the politics/election theme, SEY explores the goals of and ethics surrounding Future You AI, a chatbot that “impersonates” your future self, which you can talk to about decisions you want to make in your life. In a thoughtful and cogent inquiry, CS reflects on how interactions he has had since coming to college have revealed the ways in which queerness, even on a liberal campus, can be constrained by labels and heteronormativity. Finally, pulling the issue to a close, RZN reflects on the experience of viewing his admissions file and how that reminded him that what he has really been looking for has always existed outside of grades and medals and application essays. As always, many a thank must be expressed for all those who made this issue happen! Thank you XCZ, JND, OWZ, SET, and LJPE for rapid, high-quality graphics and another beautiful glossy. Thank you BHP, LLL, JJG, and AYL for being on top of it with amazing photos as always, even with pitches disappearing from the Notion! Thank you MJH, EJS, and CY for good judgment calls. Thank you FM execs for holding down the fort with editing, proofing, and 15 seniors-ing, and special shoutout to ESKS for scroofing even while abroad at a conference! Last but most certainly not least, thank you HD — for being on the same wavelength, for commiseration, for making chairing Fun! FMLove, HD + KT
Violet Barron portrait
Violet T. M. Barron '26, an organizer with Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine and a Crimson Editorial editor, says that having a “conversation with a Palestinian person, then conversation with a Zionist person” incorrectly implies that both views are “equally legitimate.”
Masoud cover portrait
Harvard Kennedy School professor Tarek E. Masoud has faced hate mail, threats to his safety, and the occasional cold shoulder from his colleagues for hosting the Middle East Dialogues, a series of conversations between Masoud and people with varied — and often extremely polarizing — viewpoints on the war in Gaza. Does he understand something about dialogue that the University should follow?
Volume XXXVI, Issue VII November 9, 2024
Dear FM, It has been brought to my attention that I will face severe consequences for graduating this spring. No longer will I be able to rely on the Mojo Marinated or Miso Roasted or Red Spiced chicken that HUDS so generously provides me. Subsequently, I’m told, the quality of my nourishment will depend chiefly upon my ability to secure employment and my aptitude for cooking. As a hyper-coddled man-child, I find this pretty troubling. Luckily, for the moment I have sustenance far better than HUDS: a steady stream of thoughtful longform stories called FM. Here’s another issue — so delayed, but finally complete — bon appetit. In this week’s cover story, news-FM dream team CNS and MTB delve into the renowned yet oddly decentralized world of Harvard’s postgraduate fellowship advising. For the sixth year in a row, Harvard had more Rhodes Scholarship winners than any other American University. Yet Harvard’s winners are not evenly distributed across the 12 Houses — and not without some cause, some sources suggest. As the dust settles on the current crop of Rhodes Scholars, this scrut provides an essential look into the institutional machinery (and inequalities) that help some of Harvard’s brightest earn fellowships abroad. (You’ll even get to hear from 14p’s own TB3 before he won the big prize!) But there’s so much more to college life than scholarships. Just ask YAK and MH, who attend Sex Week events to learn about the organizers’ vision for sex education at Harvard. Or talk to AWA, who inquires into what belonging looks like in freshman friend groups. Or even take a look at MEL’s Venn Diagram, which compares two places I’d shudder to enter: the Chamber of Secrets, and the showers in Canaday Hall. Next up, ASM and CJ profile Nina Howe-Goldstein, a senior with a hilarious Substack, a budding Mather newsletter empire, and a novel in the works. DLJK asks what life looks like through the prism of “Deal or No Deal.” In a refreshing antidote to election coverage, SG imagines what cold emails to laboratory principal investigators would look like if they borrowed the language of campaign fundraising. Finally, in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton hitting her hometown of Tampa, AJM questions how to reconcile the storm’s catastrophic force — and sensational portrayals of it online — with her community’s relative sense of normalcy. Thanks to JND, OWZ, and XCZ, for late-night graphics on demand and to LLL, BHP, JJG, AYL, for capturing just what we needed. MJH, EJS, and CY are incredibly helpful, and this issue was no exception. IYG deserves a shout out for her scrut proofing (and accompanying me and AHL in our Gen Ed journey), and FM Execs always have my heart. Finally, to KT: you’ve done the most, and you deserve the most. FMLove, HD + KT
Harvard Gets More Rhodes Scholars Than Any Other School. Why Do Some of Its Houses Get So Few?
Last year, if Leverett House had been its own university, it would have ranked second in total recipients of the Rhodes Scholarship, just above Yale. Meanwhile, houses like Currier, Winthrop, and Kirkland have only seen one or two U.S. Rhodes Scholars in the last decade.
Is the Next JD Vance Sitting in Your Philosophy Seminar?
Ask them, and they might insist that theirs is not so much a political project as is a philosophical one. But this same insistence on deep questions has also informed a rising conservative political movement — the so-called “New Right” — which eschews traditional Republican party politics in favor of more philosophical, and often more radical, views.
Are Whales Trying to Tell Us Something?
Project CETI, an interdisciplinary initiative consisting of over 50 scientists, is working to uncover — and eventually decode — patterns in whale “speech.”
Volume XXXVI, Issue VI October 26, 2024
Dear FM, Some of my friends bought two costumes for the double halloweekend. Here at FM, I decided we could do better. That’s why this issue is dressing up the magazine with not three, not four, but nine stylish articles. In our cover story, SJ takes us on a voyage Herman Melville could hardly have dreamt up: a journey to understand the language of whales. Project CETI, a massive interdisciplinary initiative with roots at Harvard, has spent the last four years collecting, processing, and now uncovering hidden linguistic structure in sperm whale clicks. But what would having another species as communicative and intelligent as humans mean for us? SJ guides us through the project and its striking implications with clarity, elegance, and wit. The articles don’t get any less eclectic from there. AAK and ASM experience the “gleeful absurdity” of Harvard’s undergraduate whistling society, the completely unserious club that has also performed at Yardfest. The prolific KJK pens an irreverent ode to Panopto’s 2x speed function. In keeping with the season, MEL and NFLL look back on the “more refined” Halloweens of Harvard’s past. Out in Harvard Square, ASA and NSK chronicle the real-life rom-com that led Rachel Kanter to create Lovestruck Books, an upcoming local bookstore specializing in romance novels. RZN and KEH check in with the Square’s street performers and how they’re navigating the location’s changing character. Back indoors, MRD and CDT get an exclusive look into a day in the life of Harvard’s most paparazzi-shy microcelebrity — a Mouse in Kirkland Dining Hall. CS stops by History 10, a revamped introductory course taught by three department all-stars aiming to showcase how broad a discipline history can be — and reverse declines in humanities concentration numbers. Finally, CJK closes out the issue with a somber and exquisite endpaper on incarceration, the killing of Marcellus Williams, and choosing love. Special shoutout to FM Compers for absolutely killing it — you make our jobs easy. Thanks to SET, LPE, JND, OWZ, XCZ, for color and wonder, and to LLL, BHP, JJG, AYL, for grounding our words. MJH, EJS, and CY have been handling so much, and I’m thankful they shouldered us on top of it all. All FM Execs deserve some thanks too, especially SEW for excellent scroofing (and letting me sneak into Lev library). Finally, I am once again indescribably grateful for KT, whose presence by my side (in Lowell, for countless hours) made all the difference this week. FMLove, HD + KT
