Rap music has always placed a special significance on hometown. As a source of pride and community, rappers continually make lyrical reference to the city that gave them their start, be it “Chiraq” or “good ol’ Watts.” Beyond the hometown shoutout, local styles influence the way artists make use of rhyme and rhythm and add … Read more
Political scientist Charles Murray’s visit to Middlebury last March triggered protests and violence. This fall, Murray is slated to speak at Harvard on September 6th as part of the Harvard College Open Campus Initiative’s speaker series. It is understandable why many are outraged by Murray’s ideas. In his controversial 1994 book The Bell Curve, Murray … Read more
José Antonio Vargas is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and activist. His work has appeared in the Washington Post, Huffington Post, and San Francisco Chronicle. In 2011, he published an article in the New York Times revealing his undocumented status. He has since founded Define American, a non-profit organization aimed at creating a dialog on issues … Read more
When a Harvard committee released its new report on unrecognized single-gender social organizations, it quietly changed the terms of the final club debate. Unlike the original sanctions, which would allow the exclusive clubs to remain if they made a lukewarm commitment to gender inclusivity, the proposed sanctions acknowledge the fundamental inequalities these clubs represent. However, … Read more
I’m not here to lambast the final clubs for the inequality and gender, race and class-based discrimination they perpetuate. While those negatives undoubtedly exist, the recently proposed ban on “Unrecognized Single Gender Social Organizations” does little to fix these harms. To truly help female students, Harvard should focus on making concerted, proactive policy decisions that … Read more
The dangers of economic monopolies are clear. As Ec10 students know, firms that monopolize the market maximize their own profits and reduce social surplus, charging higher prices and producing a lower quantity of goods than a market with genuinely free enterprise. Likewise, firms with disproportionate market power have the ability to stifle innovation by pushing … Read more
Harvard’s new policy improves upon the existing policy adopted in May 2016, which misidentified the most problematic aspect of USGSOs, and also gave those groups an easy way out: gender-exclusive membership. The fact that only men could join male final clubs was never the culprit of their often exclusionary, elitist, and unhealthy practices. Admitting women … Read more
The British Labour Party is currently facing internal fracturing and an identity crisis which impede its ability to effectively oppose Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservative government. The Labour frontbench, headed by Jeremy Corbyn, represents a fringe wing of the party, and largely does not resonate with the majority of Labour Party Members of Parliament, or … Read more
For the past four years, the Harvard College Israel Trek, sponsored by Harvard Hillel, has taken 50 Harvard students to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories over spring break to travel throughout the region and learn about its complex history. This year, we packed our bags and joined the trek for what proved to be … Read more
“Call your Senators 202-224-3121 Demand Special Prosecutor&Select Committee investigation on #TrumpRussia #TeamOfLiars #TheResistance” With a handful of words and a sprinkling of emojis, an activist group that opposes the agenda of President Donald Trump charged on March 6 its tens of thousands of Twitter followers with dialing Congress. The response was substantial—over a thousand users retweeted … Read more