The debate over affirmative action and race preferences in university admissions is among the most bitter and intractable in American politics. In principle, affirmative action is a straightforward case of compensatory justice. Black and Hispanic students, supporters claim, suffer from structural injustices that may cause them to perform worse than they would if they were … Read more
Antiguan-American novelist Jamaica Kincaid is often described as “angry.” Kincaid is best known for her candid and overtly critical approach to themes such as colonialism, racism, and gender. In her 1988 novel A Small Place, Kincaid condemns the colonial legacy of Antigua, extends her criticism to the modern tourist industry, and even criticizes her reader. … Read more
In a glass petri dish, a roundworm no bigger than a human hair squirms away from a droplet of acid. In a white coat above it, a researcher watches patiently, documenting the worm’s every move. And in a series of labs around the world, Dr. Stephen Larson and the OpenWorm team are trying to figure … Read more
“I never really questioned the fact that I was going to go to college. I didn’t really think there were other options.” For Gaby Díaz Quiñones ’17, the idea of attending college was always assumed and influenced a great deal by her mother’s completion of a bachelor’s degree, she told the HPR. Díaz Quiñones’s circumstance—being … Read more
Dawn Neely-Randall has seen many things in her 24 years teaching in Ohio schools, but 2014 was different. With the advent of the Common Core State Standards in Ohio, students had to take a pilot version of the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) test on top of the standard Ohio … Read more
“It’s ridiculous. It’s 2015. Pretty much every other college in the United States has a Latinx Studies program; at this point, it’s almost like Harvard is deliberately trying to not have one.” As I sit at the Dunster House dining hall table over dinner, Itzel Vasquez-Rodriguez ‘17 explains her dissatisfaction with the lack of a … Read more
Conflict: this was the word that came to mind when I thought of the Jewish state. As a frequent consumer of both American and Pakistani media, I have read my fair share about tensions and negotiations with the Palestinians, but I am far from an expert. This past March, I was preparing to travel with … Read more
General Stanley McChrystal served as commander of the Joint Special Operations Command before becoming the top commander in Afghanistan in 2009. He resigned from that position in 2010 and is now a member of the Yale University faculty. Harvard Political Review: What do you believe has been most responsible for your success? Stanley McChrystal: Anything you become … Read more
In 2022, hundreds of thousands of fans from every corner instances of abuse, both in countries that send migrants and of the world will descend upon the tiny Gulf state of Qatar to rambunctiously cheer on their favorite soccer teams. Before the festivities of the FIFA World Cup begin, however, a migration in the opposite … Read more
There are students among us who have to balance the dual desire of protecting one’s country and pursuing an education. After serving as a UN Peacekeeper in South Sudan during part of his service to South Korea, Jason Kwon ’14-’16 returned to Harvard as a junior to find that his freshman-year roommates had already graduated. After … Read more