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Alexander Gassel’s “Painted Poetry”
At first glance, the more romantic paintings by Alexander Gassel could simply be storybook illustrations. Entranced lovers stand in a boat rocked by waves. Angels crane against a dark night. The swirling Madonna envelops her child amid blossoms. Yet the …
Issue: May-June 2021
Clothes Overboard!
The first hot-air balloon trip across the English Channel began buoyantly. “We rose slowly and majestically from the Cliff,” wrote John Jeffries, A.B. 1763. A “beautiful assembly” cheered on the Boston-born medical doctor and his more expert partner, …
Issue: May-June 2021
A New Day for Dunster
Smelling of fresh paint , and with the tags still dangling off the Herman Miller furniture, Dunster House welcomed students back on August 29 following 15 months of physical renewal. With construction under way since June 2014, the Dunster community had …
Can Harvard Advance Social Justice and Inclusion?
Elite universities have been challenged to confront social justice, and particularly racism, on their campuses—a challenge that has been expressed, at Harvard and peer schools, by loud and frequently mocked student protests. The controversy over racist …
War's Other Consequences
“I wanted people to think about the homeland differently when it comes to the costs of war,” said Makeda Best . “We think everything is happening abroad, but it’s happening here too. It’s always been happening here.” Best, the Harvard Art Museums’ …
Plans for Winthrop House Renewal Include Expansion
Harvard has released broad sketches of plans for the renovation of Winthrop House ; the work is scheduled to begin in 2016 and end the following year. Winthrop will be the second full House, after Dunster , to undergo renewal as part of a $1-billion-plus …
Making the Public Record Public
Generally, librarians are tasked with protecting books. But over the past decade, Harvard Law School (HLS) librarians have sent tens of thousands of books to the literary guillotine, severing their spines and running their pages through scanners. In …
“What Happened to the Dream?”
Rolling back abortion rights, ending affirmative action, and threatening democratic processes: sometimes, says former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch ’81, J.D. ’84 , she feels like “forward progress in the world has stopped yet again.” On Wednesday …
The Irresistible Allison Feaster
When the clock ran out on the Boston Celtics’ first game against the Brooklyn Nets in last season’s NBA playoffs—a chaotic, glorious, preposterous win that would help propel the team all the way to June and the finals and a matchup with the mighty Golden …
Issue: November-December 2022
News Briefs
A Coach Cashiered On July 9 , The Harvard Crimson and The Boston Globe reported that Peter Brand, head fencing coach since 1999, had been dismissed. A statement released by director of athletics Robert L. Scalise said: “In April, Harvard was made aware of …
Issue: September-October 2019
“Let Us Be Courageous Together”
On the eve of her installation as the thirtieth president, the Harvard Gazette asked Claudine Gay about the most significant possibilities she saw before the University she now leads. Alluding to her remarks last December 15 , when her election was …
Issue: November-December 2023
Mentorship
Your donation to Harvard Magazine enables us to mentor a new generation of writers. We’ve had the privilege of working with some remarkable students over the years—many of whom remain professionally engaged in writing and editing at publications such …
HMS Names Barbara McNeil Acting Dean
Barbara J. McNeil, Watts professor of health care policy and professor of radiology at Harvard Medical School (HMS), has been appointed acting dean of the faculty of medicine beginning August 1, Harvard president Drew Faust and provost Alan Garber …
Mumblecore’s Maestro
If this interview with Andrew Bujalski—in a chichi Manhattan hotel, the morning of the theatrical release of his latest movie, Results —were a scene in one of his films, it might go something like this. The camera would measure every inch of awkward …
Issue: September-October 2015
Locked In
The lingering symbols of this past spring semester are surely the laminated signs, zip-tied to locked iron gates, starkly stating, “Harvard Yard Closed” and directing those with University IDs to use the Widener, Meyer, or Lamont gates, where security …
Issue: July-August 2024