Ten HPR writers discuss their experiences this summer interning, traveling, politicking, and going home. Read about travels through China, cultural shocks in Chile, attempts to forge bipartisanship in Washington D.C., and more in 2013’s Summer Dispatch!
Harvard professor Steven Pinker wrote a controversial essay for The New Republic earlier this week, defending a mild form of “scientism.” Though the term has many definitions — and Pinker explains several of them — his version expresses confidence in science as a source of morality and human purpose, and a belief that data collection, … Read more
The Harvard Gazette recently published a story about new research out of Harvard Medical School that “raises new questions about weight gain and energy use in the general obese population.” This study represents just one of many that seek to find the a gene that determines a complex human trait, a pursuit that I think … Read more
Four semesters ago, Harvard introduced the Freshman Pledge system. It was a call for freshmen to reaffirm the values of integrity and kindness that was met with little fanfare. At the time, the general consensus was that the pledges were an overbearing move that overstepped the institution’s mission. This very publication referred to the pledge … Read more
From two consecutive reports of rape on Harvard’s campus last August to a rape victim’s personal account of her painful experience at Amherst College to the recent Steubenville rape trial that gained national attention—awareness about the pervasiveness of sexual assault and rape culture has increased across the nation, sparking dialogue about the importance of combating … Read more
Today, prevalent cases on the desks of college counselors involve serious concerns including depression, anxiety, and eating disorders, a relatively recent phenomenon in the long history of higher education. For the last several years, Harvard has seen a corresponding increase in the frequency and intensity of conversations regarding mental health. Punctuated by viral articles in … Read more
This reflection was written by a member of the HPR Editorial Board who wished to write anonymously. There’s always a lot to think about when people die, and when people kill. I thought first of friends, and then of the victims I didn’t know. Then of those who knew people running, and then of those … Read more
The decision whether to attend or to boycott Tyga’s performance today is a critical one. It is not simply a matter of deciding to spend time having fun listening to a famous artist’s music for one night. Instead, it is a political choice—one with serious, tangible implications. Following the announcement that hip-hop artist Tyga would … Read more
“Vote Yes on 1 for Harvard’s UC Election: Divest From Fossil Fuels!” “Vote Yes to a Social Choice Fund, Referendum #3!” Leading up to the November 18 Undergraduate Council election, slogans such as these were plastered over campus and the Internet, encouraging students to vote yes on two important referendums: Divest Harvard, led by the … Read more
Dennis Upkins’s “The Myth of Black Homophobia” is one of the more extreme examples of “privilism” making the rounds among Harvard’s liberal vanguard. The blog post, which does contain some valid arguments, criticizes the scapegoating of the black community for homophobia, but it also relies heavily on broad brush recriminations of white people. Upkins, as … Read more