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Why the Grad Student Union Election Is Still Contested
Harvard’s graduate-student union election ended inconclusively last December. Although 1,456 students voted against unionization, and 1,272 voted in favor, more than 300 additional ballots—larger than the voting margin—remain under challenge. During the …
Apollo 17 Turns 50
The photograph is 50 years old now, a black-and-white image of two Harvard alumni meeting in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. One of them, Jonathan Smart ’69, wears a diver’s wetsuit with the hood pulled back. The other, Harrison Schmitt, Ph.D. ’64, has …
Issue: November-December 2022
Conversation on Teaching, Continued: Going Global
The Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) continues its series of "Conversations@FAS" —focused this semester on teaching and learning. Following a February 11 panel and discussion on activity-based learning , the March 25 session, "Instilling a Global …
'60s Generation Confronts '90s Protest
When David Illingworth ’71 and Allan Ryan went to college, the causes of the day were civil rights and opposition to the Vietnam War. Now, campus progressive groups are rallying to oppose sweatshop labor and support a “living wage” for University …
No Surprises: Harvard's 2010 Financial Report
The Harvard University Financial Report for fiscal year 2010 (ended last June 30), released today, appears to fulfill administrators' fondest hopes in that it conveys essentially no surprises. In this respect, the report contrasts sharply with the fiscal …
The Art of Protest
Before you get to any of the poems in Clint Smith’s new book, Counting Descent —some with titles like “How to Fight,” and “No More Elegies Today,” and “Ode to the Only Black Kid in the Class”—you’ll find an epigraph from Ralph Ellison’s interview with the …
Issue: January-February 2017
Harvard Reports Budget Surplus of $77 Million
For the third year in a row, Harvard reported a modest budget surplus, expressing cautious optimism about its future financial performance. Operating revenue for fiscal year 2016 exceeded operating expenses by $77 million, up from last year’s surplus of …
“Our History Is a Treasure Box”
It started 150 years ago , with the idea that perhaps Harvard should offer a graduate program. Initially, the College faculty balked: wouldn’t a graduate school siphon funding and attention from undergraduates? Not according to President Charles William …
The Fiction of Limbo
M y fiction is constantly in transit,” says novelist and Briggs-Copeland Lecturer Paul Yoon. “If I were to self-analyze it, my guess is that it probably comes from the fact that my history is one of transit, of being in limbo.” For Yoon—whose most recent …
Issue: May-June 2020
In Esteemed Company
Ten men and women were awarded honorary degrees from Harvard this year. Besides the Commencement speaker, U.S. Secretary of Energy (and Nobel laureate in physics) Steven Chu, the group includes a filmmaker, a jazz musician, a novelist and New Yorker …
Land of the Living
In April and May , birders flock to Mount Auburn Cemetery. Dressed in fleece and caps, binoculars slung around their necks, they enter by the Egyptian Revival gateway at 7 a.m. , and spread stealthily across the sculpted 175-acre landscape. Winding …
Issue: May-June 2017
Air Pollution’s Systemic Effects
Breathing fine particles suspended in the air is harmful for everyone—and can kill those with cardiovascular or respiratory vulnerabilities, a fact known since the 1990s . Now a study of 95 million Medicare hospitalization claims from 2000 to 2012 links …
Issue: March-April 2020
“This Beautiful Machine”
Paola Arlotta is searching for the words to describe the clusters of cells, incubating quietly in a small room next to her laboratory, that have profoundly reshaped her life’s work—not just the how or how much or how fast of her research, but the very …
Issue: July-August 2023
Off the Shelf
Stay True, by Hua Hsu, Ph.D. ’08 (Doubleday, $26). A New Yorker staff writer and Vassar associate professor travels back to his youth as a son of Taiwanese immigrants, coming to terms with his culture, and his college friendship with Ken, a perfectly …
Issue: September-October 2022
Eat, Drink, Read
I f you agree with C.S. Lewis that “eating and reading are two pleasures that combine admirably,” then head straight to the Map Room Tea Lounge, at the Boston Public Library. The amber-toned room with a vintage feel opened last year in the landmark …
Issue: January-February 2020