What is the longest time that an undergraduate can stay at Harvard? “Harvard allows seven years between gap semesters, so technically you can stay around Harvard for a span of 39 years,” posits Enrique Ramirez ’17, who took one year off after his freshman year. Even though this alternating-on-and-off strategy hardly sounds like a wise … Read more
In 1954, the Supreme Court handed down its landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision, unanimously striking down state-ordered racial segregation in schools as unconstitutional. In the majority opinion, Earl Warren argued, “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.” Therefore, according to Warren, even if the separate facilities were of equal physical quality, segregation still inflicted … Read more
“This is not a clash of civilizations,” John Kerry declared on November 16, 2015, standing before a world shaken by the November 13 Islamic State-coordinated attacks on Paris. The Secretary of State, speaking at the American embassy in Paris, argued, “This is a battle between civilization itself and barbarism, between civilization and medieval and modern … Read more
Editorial note: The following article appeared in our print magazine as it was being sent to press at the height of the primary campaign season. If and when America has sufficiently caught up with the Kardashians, it should perhaps turn to reruns of this year’s presidential primary debates for its trashy TV fix. In some … Read more
Three years ago, I found myself experiencing what it meant to be “legally homeless.” There are plenty of things that most Americans take for granted that homeless people cannot. But what I was most shocked to discover was that for many poor women, maintaining menstrual hygiene was a daily struggle. Over several months, I met … Read more
Two thousand sixteen is a rather curious number. Though it is not a prime number itself, it can be written as the product of three distinct primes, said explicitly as two times two times two times two times two times three times three times seven. It is also what mathematicians call a triangular number, which … Read more
Harvard occupies a peculiar place in the American political spectrum. Browsing the conservative media and blogosphere, it takes almost no time at all to come across an article berating elite American universities as bastions of unchecked, militant liberalism. For many, this criticism extends to all (non-religious) colleges, or as surprisingly durable Republican presidential candidate Rick … Read more
Recruiting season comes every year at Harvard. In fact, I think it might come twice a year. Truth be told, I don’t really know when recruiting season is. There comes a day every autumn and/or spring when, strolling down Plympton Street at dusk, I see an army of well-dressed undergraduates hurrying past me into the … Read more
This summer, I had the privilege of working at the White House National Economic Council. It was, day after day, awe-inspiring: seeing the President board Marine One, gawking at the Oval Office, running into the Director of National Intelligence in the hallway, and, the honor of a lifetime, serving cheeseburgers on the South Lawn of … Read more
What ails our foreign policy establishment? Recently, President Obama has been severely tested in his conduct of the Afghan war, battered by his own party for his escalation of George W. Bush’s quagmire. Insurgents seem to be surging in province after province. Washington’s man on the ground, President Hamid Karzai, continues to siphon American aid … Read more