HARVARD GLOBETROTTERS?
As the College continues to encourage students to spend time across the pond, it is simultaneously making it easier for students to do so. One year after imposing stricter restrictions on students†international study, the College decided to reinstate some nations still under State Department travel warnings. The old policy relied too heavily on general blanket warnings and ignored regional variations in safety in different countries. For example, students could not obtain grants (or course credit) for studying in relatively safe countries such as Israel, Lebanon, and Kenya.
Harvard Summer School also expanded its study-abroad programs, facilitating students paths†to a summer outside the U.S. Just five years ago, Harvard offered only two such programs, forcing students to hunt through third-party offerings and plow through piles of paperwork and petitions. But despite the recent expansion in programs, Harvard has allocated limited financial aid for the students enrolled in them. And last April, the shortage of international study grants for Harvard students came to light as an increase in applications (eased by a new common grant application) meant that many students did not receive needed funds. Harvard deserves much praise for encouraging and expanding study abroad, but it needs to continue to increase its funding for study and research abroad.
SAVING MONEY WITH E-COURSEPACKS
Coursepack costs remained unreasonably high this past year, with many coursepacks costing well over $100. These high prices make it difficult for lower-income students to purchase important course materials and force them to depend on library reserves.
The costs are all the more troubling because they are often easily avoidable. A large number of sources are available through Harvard University Library extensive e-resources subscriptions. For example, each of the 30 readings in this semester Ec 10 coursepack were available free online through e-resources. The College cannot continue to double-charge students for such materials, and professors and teaching fellows must be trained on how to use the Library e-resources. We also welcome the Undergraduate Council advocacy for centralized resources to assist instructors in assembling cheaper coursepacks.
BANKROLLING AN IVY-LEAGUE EDUCATION
While coursepack costs remained exorbitant this past year, Harvard continued to make a college education more accessible to low-income families. In April, the Harvard Financial Aid Initiative (HFAI) was expanded to eliminate the family contribution for students with family incomes under $60,000 per year and dramatically reduced the contribution of families with income under $80,000, a move that pushed Harvard far ahead of its competitors, and will hopefully generate a ripple effect across higher education. But Harvard must not neglect the students (and their) families with annual incomes too large to qualify for Harvard grants, but who still struggle to finance a college education.
FREEDOM OF SPEECH: THE LIFEBLOOD OF A UNIVERSITY
It would not be an overstatement to say that without free speech and an unfettered exchange of ideas, a true University could not exist. All ideas, no matter how unpleasant to some, deserve to be voiced and judged on their merits. This year, several instances of curtailed speech raised our ire. Last November, DePaul University professor Norman G. Finkelstein speech at Harvard Law School was frequently interrupted by a vocal minority of protesters, who shouted taunts and attempted to drown out his words. A similarly worrying episode occurred in the spring, when some students tore pro-life posters depicting a talking fetus named Elena.
While we make no judgments on the content of Finkelstein speech or the ⁅lena †posters, it is important to defend the right of individuals on a university campus to speak without fear of malicious attacks, censorship, or unconstructive interruptions. This University is not well served when some try to silence debate. Rather, it is through substantial debate that new and different ideas can be expressed, and the community can learn as a whole.
HARVARD AND THE HURRICANE
Following the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina, the University joined schools across the country in generously opening its doors and its wallet to the storm victims, matching donations to charities engaged in aid and restoration of New Orleans, accepting 25 displaced students from New Orleans colleges for the fall semester, and waving tuition for these students. Harvard should be commended for its charitable contributions in the aftermath of this tragedy.
GOOGLING HARVARD
Google last year launched ⁇oogle Print, †an initiative to digitize and make available online the vast holdings of the libraries of several major public and university libraries, including Harvard. Nevertheless, some publishers protested Google decision to digitize print works on the grounds of copyright infringement. Google, for its part, allowed publishers to instruct it which books not to scan at all. While we understand the concerns of the publishers, copyright laws are not meant as a means to keep information protected, but rather as a way to disseminate it justly, keeping in mind the labor of the writers and editors. Furthermore, readers would not be able to access complete works not in the public domain, as only a maximum of 20 percent could be viewed. Thus, Google Print contribution to research and academia would far outweigh any concerns regarding copyright infringement.
LATE-NIGHT FOOD AND PATERNALISM
The Cambridge Licensing Commission (CLC) reasoning behind its perennial refusal to allow Harvard Square nightlife to exist by forcing all restaurants and bars to shut down at 2 a.m. could not be more nonsensical. For example, the CLC claims that that noise from late-night eateries, such as Felipe Taqueria (which faced penalties last fall for selling burritos a few minutes past 2 a.m.), would be disruptive to Cambridge residents. Most of the Square restaurants and bars, however, are in non-residential areas. Clearly, the city could grant these restaurants later hours, boosting the city economy, with little sacrifice of residential quality of life.
The CLC ought to remember that Cambridge permanent residents are not its only constituency. Cambridge needs be more sympathetic to the interests of the University, which employs hundreds of Cantabrigians, and its students, whose spending helps to support the city. It is Harvard that draws in visitors from far and wide to Cambridge.
