Thomas will take over the responsibilities formerly held by Senior Associate Provost for the Harvard Library Mary Lee Kennedy, who is leaving Harvard to lead the New York Public Library as its Chief Library Officer.

Thomas, a member of the faculty at Oxford, was the first woman and non-British citizen in four centuries to lead the Bodleian Libraries, a group of nearly 40 libraries that serve the university. She previously worked as the university librarian at Cornell.

“Sarah Thomas is a leader in her field with an exceptional record of success running major academic libraries. She is uniquely capable of building on the progress we have made thus far in responding to the evolving expectations of the 21st century scholar,” Garber said in the press release.

After graduating from Smith College in 1970, Thomas earned a master’s degree in library science from Simmons College in 1973 and received her Ph.D. in German literature from Johns Hopkins University in 1983.

—Staff writer Maya Jonas-Silver can be reached at mayajonas-silver@college.harvard.edu. Follow her on Twitter @mayajonassilver.

The 15 schools span the globe, with six additions from Asia, five in the United States, three from Europe, and one from Australia. Their addition brings the total number of universities in the nonprofit X Consortium to 27.

“As we continue to grow the X Consortium and offer courses from institutions as diverse as our global community of students, we are moving forward with our mission to reimagine education,” said Anant Agarwal, president of edX, in a press release announcing the additions. “These schools, with their unique faculties and student bodies, will help us conduct collaborative research on best practices which improve education online and on campus.”

The new additions in Asia include many of the continent’s most prestigious universities. They are Tsinghua University and Peking University in China, the University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in Hong Kong, Kyoto University in Japan, and Seoul National University in South Korea.

With the addition of Cornell University, edX will expand to its second Ivy League school. The other American institutions joining edX are Berklee College of Music, Boston University, Davidson College, and the University of Washington.

The expansion into Europe includes Sweden’s Karolinska Institutet, Belgium’s Université catholique de Louvain, and Germany’s Technical University of Munich. The addition of the University of Queensland marks Australia’s second entrant into edX.

The new members will offer courses on the edX platform beginning in late 2013 or 2014. These institutions will offer courses in topics ranging from the sciences and humanities to political science and language. Hong Kong University will offer “Vernacular Heritage in Asia,” “Chinese and Western Philosophy,” “Infectious Disease and Public Health,” and “Law, Economy and Society,” while the University of Queensland courses will include “Tropical Coastal Ecosystems” and “The Science of Everyday Thinking.”

—Staff writer Amna H. Hashmi can be reached at amnahashmi@college.harvard.edu. Follow her on Twitter @amna_hashmi.

—Staff writer Cynthia W. Shih can be reached at cshih@college.harvard.edu. Follow her on Twitter at @CShih7.

Whether such an attitude is responsible for the gender disparity that exists at the Law School we cannot say. What we can say is that the disparity is glaring and troubling. Though men and women enter on equal footing, female students (despite blind assessment) soon fall behind in grades and honors. They comprise less than 20 percent of tenure-track faculty. Their representation on the prestigious Harvard Law Review is nearly as bad. School culture, characterized by cutthroat competition and the Socratic method, may also take a greater toll on women than on men, as was suggested by the “Shatter the Ceiling” coalition, founded to address systemic gender disparities at the Law School.

“The law leaves much room for interpretation, but very little for self-doubt,” Woods’s professor warns her class. When the truth is ambiguous, masculine volume and confidence can sound a lot like well-reasoned argument. The spike in women’s marks following the Law School’s introduction of a blind-grading policy is evidence that some critics will hold the same quality of work in lower regard when they know it was produced by a woman. Even when women deserve respect, subtle issues of perception—even in the absence of outright discrimination—mean that they are less likely to get it.

History is also a problem—HLS did not admit women until the 1950s; they did not make up a significant portion of the student body until recently. The disadvantages we observe may be in part the legacy of an old boys’ club.

But social psychology and history are explanations, not justifications, for the gender disparity. The more difficult and pressing question is: What can be done to address the inequity?

We hesitate to encourage the Law School to discard the Socratic method, a remedy endorsed by the Shatter coalition. It does women an extreme disservice to suggest that they are incapable of learning under a particular pedagogy. The Socratic method may be harsh, but we believe it prepares lawyers for a profession that requires rigorous and sometimes rapid analysis.

Prominent women like U.S. Supreme Court Justice and former Law School Dean Elena Kagan, former Law School professor and sitting U.S. Senator Elizabeth A. Warren, and current Dean Martha L. Minow inspire confidence. But their efficacy as role models for ambitious female law students is limited if their successes are viewed as the exception and not the rule. More work should be done to even out representation on the HLS faculty. Even if the same could not be said 20 years ago, we doubt very seriously that there are fewer qualified up-and-coming female attorneys than there are males.

Moreover, solutions to complex problems are rarely aided by a lack of transparency. We believe HLS, at the very least, should release data on grades, something it has not done since the implementation of its honors, pass/fail system. We would also encourage students and professors to reflect on personal biases. If the disparity is in part the result of underlying social and perceptual problems, it cannot be fixed overnight. But incremental changes will likely precede systemic ones.

Hopefully, if there is a 2021 movie about a woman attending Harvard Law, the audience won’t be laughing.

When the number of women on campus rushing sororities jumped to approximately 250 in both 2011 and 2012—up from about 150 in 2008—demand for an additional sorority at Harvard began to mount.

This semester, an Alpha Phi chapter joined Delta Gamma, Kappa Alpha Theta, and Kappa Kappa Gamma as Harvard’s fourth official sorority.

Jeanie Nguyen ’14, president of the Cambridge-Area Panhellenic Council, said that the Council welcomed the new addition to Harvard’s Greek scene.

“There’s definitely an increasingly high demand to join Greek life, and the Cambridge-Area Panhellenic Council is honored and more than happy to support an inclusive community where any girl who wants to join a sorority can do so,” Nguyen said.

This semester, the sorority held its first spring formal and has participated in philanthropic activities, including Relay for Life and volunteering at a food bank with fraternity Alpha Epsilon Pi.

Megan Bouché, director of marketing and extension for the Alpha Phi International Fraternity, wrote in an email that she feels the new Alpha Phis at Harvard have bonded well over the past semester.

“The fun, friendships, and activities Alpha Phis developed and participated in this past semester mirror those of the other three sororities,” Bouché wrote. “From sisterhood events at SkyZone to volunteering at the Greater Boston Food Bank to the chapter’s first formal, Alpha Phis were able to spend time together and build their sisterhood.”

Looking forward, Bouché wrote, the founding members of the Harvard Alpha Phi chapter will be able to draw upon the long-established network of Alpha Phi members and alumni.

“A few of the most exciting parts of being a founding member of Alpha Phi are the opportunities to help shape the character of Alpha Phi, chart its course, and create the traditions of a group that establish a lasting legacy at Harvard,” Bouché wrote.

Alpha Phi conducted its recruitment process in late February after the other established sororities to build awareness and accommodate women who had not been chosen by other sororities, had not accepted their bids, or had not participated in the first rounds of recruitment.

Alpha Phi will host its recruitment process at the same time as the other sororities next spring.

—Staff writer Laya Anasu can be reached at layaanasu@college.harvard.edu. Follow her on Twitter @layaanasu.

—Staff writer Elizabeth S. Auritt can be reached at eauritt@college.harvard.edu. Follow her on Twitter @eauritt.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

CORRECTION: May 17, 2013

An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that an Alpha Phi chapter became Harvard’s newest sorority this April. In fact, the chapter officially launched at the start of this semester.

In light of the controversy surrounding history professor Niall Ferguson’s recent comments about economist John Maynard Keynes’s sexuality, the Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender History—an affiliate of the American Historical Association—has called on Harvard to hire a tenure-track scholar devoted to the study of BGLTQ history.

Ferguson drew criticism after suggesting at a May 3 investors’ conference that Keynes’s economic theory derived from the fact that he was gay and childless. In a subsequent blog post, an open letter to the Harvard community, and an appearance at the Harvard College Women’s Center, Ferguson sought to apologize for and clarify his remarks.

In the Committee on LGBT History’s statement Monday, Don Romesburg, committee co-chair and associate professor at Sonoma State University, said that “the incident underscores the value of teaching and researching LGBT histories” and that it is “high time that Harvard makes a new tenure-track hire.”

Although the Faculty of Arts and Sciences has a visiting professorship in BGLTQ studies, there is no tenure-track position in history devoted specifically to the field.

The Committee’s call is not the first time attention has been drawn to the state of BGLTQ scholarship at Harvard. Last summer Harvard Kennedy School lecturer Timothy P. McCarthy ’93 raised concerns about a “queer exodus” from Harvard as seven prominent faculty members, administrators, and staff who identify as gay or lesbian left the University.

On Thursday, History Department chair David R. Armitage wrote in an email to The Crimson that prior to the recent controversy surrounding Ferguson’s comments, the department had made a request in conjunction with the Committee on Women, Gender, and Sexuality for a post dedicated to the study of the modern history of gender and sexuality. He said that the status of the request would become known later this year. Armitage added that the History Department was open to considering a specific hire in BGLTQ scholarship, but declined to make any guarantees.

According to Jennifer Brier, the other co-chair of the Committee on LGBT History and an associate professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, BGLTQ studies and gender and sexuality are “deeply related but not identical fields.”

At Harvard, Brier said, “The department does not have anyone tenured in the field, and it makes a difference.”

Brier affirmed the importance of the work that temporary faculty do to teach and engage with undergraduates, but suggested that more attention should be given to the discipline.

“People who are tenure-line faculty have a different kind of power to affect change in the institution,” Brier said.

At the same time, Brier emphasized that the creation of such a position should not “[absolve] the institution [as a whole] of thinking of the needs of LGBT people.”

Harvard Queer Students and Allies co-chair Ivel Posada ’14 affirmed this sentiment, saying that he believes the incident surrounding Ferguson’s comments could be an opportunity for the entire department to consider how it could “incorporate biographical information on sexuality in an appropriate way.”

“LGBT history is a part of history, period,” Posada said.

—Staff writer Yen H. Pham can be reached at yenpham@college.harvard.edu. Follow her on Twitter @yhpham.

Certainly, some of the reforms are quite refreshing. We are glad to see that regular classes are no longer allowed to take place during reading period. This mainly affects language courses, which previously would often continue to meet and cover new material during reading period. This change better reflects the spirit of reading period as a time for study. Under the new policy, it is clear that reading period is a time for review of the past semester’s content in preparation for a culminating assessment, as opposed to simply another week for more content to be squeezed in before finals.

Other issues are left ambiguous. The language of the new finals period, now officially titled “Final Examination and Project Period,” specifies exams “up to three hours in length.” Currently, classes holding exams are required to schedule a three-hour test. This model is unreasonable for all classes, especially those that also include other forms of final assessment like a project. In some circumstances, a one- or two- hour exam could suffice to assess students’ knowledge of relevant material. Briefer and more concise exams would certainly benefit students, freeing up time and reducing the stress of lengthy testing. As such, we hope that the new phrasing in the exam policy translates into increased flexibility for professors in constructing exams.

But the revised plan also leaves untouched several fundamental problems with reading and exams periods. Under the new policy, final assessments such as papers or projects must be due “no earlier than the fourth day of Reading Period” but before a class’s assigned examination date. While modifying the formally permissible range in which these assignments could be given, in all likelihood this will not meaningfully change students’ schedules. Papers and projects can still be due during reading period at professors’ discretion, and students can still easily be left facing multiple major assignments with closely coinciding due dates. In addition, by shortening reading period and extending finals period, the new plan simply recategorizes the time in which papers and projects can be due. While under the new plan assignments would be due during “finals” period, it is not clear that this would be substantially different in practice from the status quo.

FAS’s new reading and exam period policy brings much-deserved attention to the stress involved in finals period. Though a small step forward, this change is far from sufficient.

Simmons’ decision, which she announced in separate letters to FAS Dean Michael D. Smith and her colleagues on April 10, came after a long back-and-forth with administrators over a recent policy that requires regional centers to give large portions of their own excess funds to FAS.

Administrators instituted the so-called “taxation” policy in the wake of the 2008-09 financial crisis, which severely reduced the University’s endowment and the FAS budget—half of which is funded by that endowment.

Although originally implemented to temper FAS’ budget constraints, the policy was not dissolved when the FAS balanced its budget on schedule last summer. Simmons said that the Weatherhead Center has been asked to contribute more than $800,000 a year to FAS since the policy was put into place. Though the Center was happy to make that contribution on a temporary basis in the immediate aftermath of the crisis, Simmons said that the decision to make the policy permanent puts the center on dangerous footing.

“If the current policy continues, the Center’s reserves will dwindle so substantially as to compromise its ability to organize a serious program of research in international affairs for the hundreds of student associates and faculty affiliates across the University that have depended upon WCFIA for support,” Simmons wrote in an email to The Crimson.

But top FAS administrators did not acknowledge these reasons when they announced Simmons’ departure.In a letter to faculty members affiliated with the Center sent late last week, Dean of the Social Sciences Peter V. Marsden wrote that Simmons had decided to step down to pursue teaching and research.

In a statement to The Crimson last week, Smith commended Simmons’ leadership, but did not comment on the financial policy that she was protesting.

“Professor Simmons has led the Weatherhead Center with great distinction through very difficult financial times, overseeing an intellectually exciting program of scholarship and dialogue for Harvard faculty and students, as well as visiting scholars,” he wrote. “She is currently concluding her five-year term as director, which expires at the end of this academic year, and I wish to thank her for her significant dedication and service.”

Weatherhead affiliates familiar with the details of the resignation lamented the situation, saying that the departure of Simmons—who has led the center for two three-year terms—is a significant loss.

“Her resignation is a serious blow, since Beth is widely recognized as one of the top specialists on international affairs in the world today, in the prime of her intellectual career, and a fine, steady institutional leader,” government professor Robert D. Putnam said. “Losing her intellectual leadership in this way ought to be of concern to the University.”

A member of the Weatherhead executive committee, who asked to remain anonymous because of the sensitive nature of the subject, said that the FAS policy points to a larger shift in the way FAS administrators view international centers.

"She did all in her power to protect the interests of the Center and she tried to further invigorate international studies at Harvard, but encountered an administration determined to ‘tax’ the center to such an extent that it endangered its core activities,” the executive committee member said, adding that “effective” communication between the faculty and the administration has become difficult. “An atmosphere of distrust has poisoned relations between the Dean and the faculty at the WCFIA.”

Simmons has continued to perform many of the director’s duties since resigning in April and will continue with her teaching and research duties full-time in the fall. Marsden wrote in his email to Weatherhead affiliates that administrators will accept nominations for Simmons’ replacement through May 24.

—Staff Writer Nicholas P. Fandos can be reached at nicholasfandos@college.harvard.edu. Follow him on Twitter @npfandos.

Instead, they are faced with a new set of obstacles, such as finding funding and developing management skills. And upon leaving, these former students must also find housing and often form an entirely new social circle.

The Chronicle of Higher Education reports a 97.4 percent six-year graduation rate from Harvard, which translates to more than 40 students per entering class not receiving a diploma in that time.

According to Jeff Neal, a spokesperson for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, 682 students are currently on leave from the College, including students who left as long ago as the 1970s.

Those who start a business in the middle of their time at Harvard are certainly taking the road less traveled.

A TIME FOR EVERYTHING

“In the beginning, there were a lot questions and uncertainties,” said John V. Capodilupo, a former member of the class of 2014.

In his sophomore spring, Capodilupo began wondering whether a computer science concentration was right for him.

But when an offer came to work on Bobo Analytics, Inc., a company that designs a wristband that continuously collects heart-rate data and aims to replace the classic chest strap heart monitor, Capodilupo took the summer position.

For Capodilupo, an offer from a start-up seemed like the best way to find his calling.

Anand S. Gupta, however, had already found a project he cared about several months before taking his leave and tried to balance a full course load for the semester prior to leaving.

“At the end of my sophomore year, the amount of homework I was getting done proportional to the amount of project work I was getting done, that ratio was very much skewed in one way [towards the project],” said Gupta, a former member of the class of 2014.

“If you’re going to be at Harvard... don’t screw around.” Gupta said.

Splitting his time between Cambridge and Boston, Gupta is currently developing software to aid pathologists searching through digitized images of cancer-affected tissue.

Similarly, Merrill H. Lutsky and Erik C. Schluntz, both former members of the class of 2015, found themselves without enough hours to work on a project they co-founded.

“I had to take a midterm for my psych course, and then I literally had to leave that, get in a taxi, and leave for the airport to fly out for the interview.” said Lutsky, referring to an interview with Y Combinator, a selective for-profit start-up incubator that provides start-up founders with seed money and mentorship.

Lutsky and Schluntz were accepted into the 2013 YC “winter class” for their start-up, Posmetrics. Originally inspired by their Computer Science 50 final project, Posmetrics provides a mobile application for giving real time feedback of hotels and restaurants. According to its website, the app could increase feedback rates over 100-fold compared to current survey methods.

A DAY IN THE LIFE

“Working on a start up company sort of consumes your entire life. I find myself constantly thinking about how we could be growing faster than we are,” Lutsky said. “If you can’t really sustain that high pace of innovation and progress and growth within your company all the way from day one to [initial public offer], you’re likely to be outrun by competition.”

Lutsky said founders of a start-up need to be adaptable and capable of covering all the bases while their start-up is in its initial stage before developing their team.

Coming from technical backgrounds, Lutsky and Schluntz had to reinvent themselves as “sales guys.”

“Having to train ourselves to fulfill that role was one of the more interesting personal challenges of starting a company,” Lutsky said.

“You think your college life is kind of a roller coaster. Like, ‘Oh, this week I’ve got psets, like I’ve got three psets due tomorrow and two midterms to turn in the morning after,” Gupta said, moving his finger up and down in front of his face. “For [a start-up], the roller coaster highs and lows are much bigger.”

Besides running a business, leaving Harvard means having to start a life on your own, which comes with all the difficulties that some would gloss over.

“Housing is a pain in the ass and ridiculously hard to find,” said Ben M. Yu, a former member of the Class of 2014. “I lived in a garage for a good while. A bunch of the [Thiel] fellows had this awesome ‘mansion.’... They needed someone to take a temporary lease on it until the end of April.... They had two rooms available, one of them was a garage and the other was the pool house.”

Because the pool house was 8 feet long, Yu opted for the garage, where he found new value in heated blankets.

Yu became a Thiel Fellow in 2011, leaving Harvard after his freshman fall semester. He initially planned to work on Pricemash, a tool designed to compare prices for online items fitted with the ability to consider online deals from outside providers, such as Groupon.

But when Pricemash failed, Yu started work on Sprayable Energy, a topical caffeine spray, which delivers a more even energized feeling when compared to the energy spike from caffeinated drinks. Launch has been delayed for some time because of the health requirements that Sprayable Energy has to meet.

THE “TROUGH OF SORROW”

“It’s extremely difficult to work on something by yourself,” Yu said. “Inevitably, every start-up goes through a ‘trough of sorrow’ and everything is going to shit and everything looks like it’ll never succeed.”

Yu learned from his experience at Pricemash that he was not cut-out for a management position and belonged closer to the technical side of a business. He believes his decision to manage his company was a hasty one.

“I misconstrued that as, ‘I need to work with what I have,’ rather than ‘I need to build the skills that I want to have,’” Yu said.

Lutsky remembers the difficulties he and Schluntz had getting off the ground upon moving to California.

“It was pretty much me and my co-founder running around San Francisco all day going to various hotels and businesses, getting kicked out of various hotels and businesses,” Lutsky said. “Going from sort of a Harvard lifestyle to the depths of being kicked out of hotels was an abrupt transition. There were very hectic days of not much sleep, getting phones hung up on us [while] talking to more professional clients.”

REGRETS?

“I’m trying to think of some juicy ugly stories...but I can’t think of anything. I’ve had a wonderful time so far,” said Connor N. Zwick, a former member of the class of 2015.

Zwick left Harvard after his freshman year to work on his “coco controller” after becoming a Thiel Fellow. The slide-on “coco” cell phone case features an analog stick and tactile buttons, which allow users to play games on their phones the same way they would play on hand-held consoles.

Zwick and co-founder Colton T. Gyulay, another former member of the class of 2015, put up their Kickstarter website to crowdsource funds for their company in August 2012. They took the page down after less than three days when they decided to redesign the case to accommodate the iPhone 5, and consequently raised over $26,000 in the process. They plan to relaunch sometime this year.

Like Zwick, other former students had similarly positive comments regarding their choices to take leaves of absence.

“The greater danger at the time was in not leaving, the regret we would’ve had had somebody else pursued this kind of thing and been successful in the space [while] the two of us had been sitting around in class,” Lutsky said. “Even if everything were to fall apart tomorrow, I still think I would have made the same decision.”

“I actually don’t regret it at all. And I think I would have regretted it if—well, one, if the business failed—but more importantly if we were away from Boston,” Capodilupo said. “The biggest drawback I experienced was just being away from all the relationships I’d built,...not having that daily interaction of going to a party Friday night with everybody. It’s a dramatic difference that I didn’t think was going to be as stark.”

Yu echoed similar sentiment.

“Do I regret taking my leave? No, not at all,” Yu said. “The only downside is that I’m still technically a freshman.”

IN THE SHADOW OF “THE SOCIAL NETWORK”

After the 2010 film was released and since the Thiel Fellowship has gained so much publicity, dropping out of college to make millions of dollars almost seems trendy.

Beyond putting budding entrepreneurs in the public eye, however, the “dropout fad” has also changed the tone within the start-up sphere.

“I think obviously that there’s a danger in overly romanticizing this kind of lifestyle,” Lutsky said. “The reality is that it’s very difficult work. If you come out here to work on a company...that is pretty much all me and my co-founder do.”

As college students see an increasing number of their peers leave academia to start businesses, the reality of the situation is often warped.

A March article in “The Atlantic” mentions research on Chicago Public School students, saying that students often do not apply to selective colleges because of the misconceptions they have about opportunities outside of higher education.

“I think this was not the best time to start because it’s marked with a lot of idealism, and not so much realistic, pragmatic expectations,” Yu said, reflecting on his entrance into entrepreneurship.

“DROPOUT”

“It’s not like I’m dropping out forever,” Zwick said with an emphasis on “forever.” “It’s more like I’m taking a few gap years.”

Each of the former students mentioned stated that Harvard’s policy on leaves of absence is generous. The policy allows any student to take a five-year leave once they’ve been enrolled at the college for a semester. None of them ruled out the possibility of returning completely.

“I talked to a lot of entrepreneurs from other universities in Boston where you can’t take more than a term of light course load or else you have to decide to permanently leave,” Lutsky said.

And, of course, the term “dropout” often comes with a stigma that many would choose to steer away from.

“I don’t like the word ‘dropout’ because I didn’t drop out,” Capodilupo said. “It’s got a lot of funny connotations to it. Some people are like, ‘You’re too good for school?’ and other people get angry when you say it, like, ‘Oh, how could you possibly drop out of Harvard?’”

Gupta also avoided the term ‘dropout.’

“In the grand scheme of things I will be back in academia,” he said. “Whether it’s now or 10 years from now, it will happen.”

—Staff Writer Manny I. Fox Morone can be reached at mmorone@college.harvard.edu. Follow him on Twitter @mannyfoxmorone.

Similar to the 2+2 Program at Harvard Business School, this new program will require admitted students to work for two years after their college graduation before entering the Law School in order to encourage work experience. The first admitted class will enter the Law School in the fall of 2017.

The new admissions process, called the Junior Deferral Pilot, will likely be open exclusively to Harvard College juniors for the first few years.

Soban said the program is intended to give students “the room to explore and be able to come back” to the Law School. During the two-year deferral period, which could be expanded on a case-by-case basis, students are encouraged to pursue a variety of job opportunities, including fellowships, Teach for America, or business.

“We’re giving people some guard rails,” said Soban, a former Crimson business editor. “It’s for people who want to have something locked down so they can focus on their job search and explore their passions.”

The program is also forward-looking, designed to help students develop “networks and work experience so that after Law School they can hit the ground running,” Soban said.

Soban said the program aims in part to attract students with a hard science background, although applicants with a wide variety of interests are encouraged to apply.

“Having a technical background as an attorney is increasingly valuable,” she said, adding that the interdisciplinary nature of the profession has established a greater need for lawyers who have experience working in other fields, particularly the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields known as STEM.

A significant portion of students at the Law School already enter the classroom with work experience. Currently, more than 75 percent of Harvard Law School students enter the class at least one year out of college, while about 50 percent enter after two, Soban said.

The program’s first applicants will face an admissions process very similar to that of normal Law School hopefuls. The application will be released in the fall around the same time as the standard JD application in September. College juniors interested in the program must submit a personal statement, scores for the LSAT, and letters of recommendation.

Unlike students who apply through the normal process, however, participants in this new program will be allowed to submit scores from the February LSAT exam and will also receive in-person interviews at the Harvard Law School campus as opposed to speaking with admissions officers via the videoconferencing software Skype.

In addition, applicants will be required to submit their transcript through the end of their junior year.

Soban added that the shifted admissions cycle allows students to complete their applications and study for the LSAT during their junior year instead of as seniors or while they have a job, a change she hopes will alleviate some of the stress of applying to Law School.

Applicants will be notified of their admissions status during the early part of the summer after their junior year. Soban said she is uncertain how many students will be admitted under the new program because the number of applicants is hard to gauge at this point, though she said the process would be “competitive.”

Brent C. Westbrook ’15, president of the Harvard College Black Pre-Law Association, said he plans to apply to Harvard Law School through the new program.

“My initial reaction to this policy is that it is good,” he said. “I think it gives you real world exposure, and you are a lot more mature going into law school. I think a lot of people don’t understand what sector of law school they want to go into right after college, and this helps them figure that out.”

Hillary Preston, a first-year student at the Law School who took three years off after college, said that she found her work experience to be valuable when she stepped back into the classroom.

“I think it puts the Law School in perspective,” she said. “Not coming straight from school, I have a more forward-looking approach.”

—Staff writer Dev A. Patel can be reached at devpatel@college.harvard.edu. Follow him on Twitter @dev_a_patel.

Eighty-one Harvard undergraduates were honored with the Thomas T. Hoopes Prize for outstanding scholarly work or research, Harvard announced Friday.

The winning projects, most of which were senior theses, were selected from a pool of nominations by students’ faculty supervisors. Hoopes winners are awarded $4,000 each and their nominators receive $1,000.

Aaron J. Deutsch ’13 was among the many recipients who expressed pride at the recognition.

“It is certainly a big honor, and I’m just really glad that all of the hard work I put into it was recognized by this committee,” he said.

After learning that his roommate was selected, Andrew K. Cohen ’13 checked his email and realized that he had won as well.

“I wasn’t expecting it at all, so I was completely floored. It was awesome,” he said.

After learning of his award, Christopher A. Devine ’13 emailed his principal investigator and postdoctoral advisor.

“There were lots of exclamation points involved,” he said.

Reflecting on the Hoopes recognition, Cohen said that the process of writing his thesis was even more valuable to him than the award.

“It was first the time in my academic year I enjoyed the process of doing a rigorous assignment,” he said.

William M. Rafey ’13 also mentioned the rigors of writing a thesis.

“The hardest part about thesis-writing is not the fact that it’s so long but that you realize it’s senior year and you realize you won’t see your friends in the same place again,” he said. “The opportunity cost is high.”

Deutsch nevertheless recommended that every undergraduate write a thesis.

“As long as you find a project you’re excited about and an advisor you’re comfortable with, and who you can maintain good relationship with...it’s definitely a rewarding experience,” he said.

Andres A. de la Llera Kurth ’13 said that being awarded the Hoopes Prize has special significance coming from the underrepresented field of engineering sciences.

“Engineering and computer science do not appear too often in [Hoopes Prize winners’ lists]”, he said, noting that there were no engineering or computer science concentrators among this year’s Phi Beta Kappa Junior 24.

Kurth built a low-cost medical device meant for eye cataract surgery. He said his interest in the topic stems from his background in Chile, where cataracts are a significant health problem. His prototype worked successfully on fish eyes, and he said he hopes to patent his device by the end of the year.

“There are so many incredible theses written every year and to be selected out of those is really humbling,” Devine concluded.

A full list of winners is listed below:

Christian C. Anderson ’13, Hana Bajramovic ’13, Aditya Balasubramanian ’13, Devin R. Bean ’13, Zachary N. Bernstein ’13, Raj A. Bhuptani ’13, Nicholas F. Brazeau ’13, Seth H. Cassel ’13, Yi J. Chow ’13, Andrew Cohen ’13, Bradley L. Craig ’13, Ashok K. Cutkosky ’13, Carl Daher ’13, Lauren Dai ’13, Andres A. de la Llera Kurth ’13, Aaron J. Deutsch ’13, Christopher A. Devine ’13, Louis R. Evans ’13, John L. Ezekowitz ’13, Meghan L. Ferreira ’13, Daniel J. Frim ‘14, Katie L. Gallogly-Swan ’13, Julian B. Gewirtz ’13, Noah S. Guiney ’13, James B. Gusberg ’13, Layla Hazemi ’13, Samuel F. Himel ’13, Julia Hu ’13, Jessica Hwang ’13, Ethel L. Hylton ’13, Jillian J. Jordan ’13, Laila Kasuri ’13, Adam B. Kern ’13, Seungsoo Kim ’13, Kristie T. La ’13, Adam Lam ’13, Keli Liu ’13, Sara S. Lytle ’13, Julia G. Mason ’13, Bay B. McCulloch ’13, Sarah L. McCuskee ’13, James Meixiong '13, Adam K. Mitchell ’13, Ann M. Morgan ’13, Benjamin Naddaff-Hafrey ’13, Kelsey H. Natsuhara ’13, Nicole Paulet Piedra ’13, MaryGabrielle Prezioso ’13, William M. Rafey ’13, Brianna Rennix ’13, Vaida Rimeikyte ’13, Christian B. Ronald ’13, Ryan M. Rossner ’13, Ariel L. Rubin ’13, Alexander L. Sahn ’13, Mary J. Sakellariadis ’13, Laura Savarese ’13, Leeann Saw ’13, Zachary T. Sheets ’13, Andrew Shindi ’13, Alicia C. Smart ’13, Thomas J. Snyder ’13, Georgia V. Stasinopoulos ’13, Sarah C. Stein Lubrano ’13, Elliot J. Stein ’13, Abby P. Sun ’13, Gabrielle M. Tandet ’13, Aparajita Tripathi ’13, Emily S. Unger ’13, Sezen Unluonen ’13, Gili Vidan ’13, Katherine E. Warren ’13, Mark Warren ’13, Olivia G. Weeks ’13, Zoe A.Y. Weinberg ’13, Benjamin B.H. Wilcox ’13, Frankie K.S. Wong ’13, Alice Xiang ’13, Alexa K. Zahl ’13, Michele Zemplenyi '13, George W. Zuo ’13

—Staff writer Melody Y. Guan can be reached at yguan@college.harvard.edu. Follow her on Twitter @MelodyGuan.

The upcoming capital campaign is an exciting and long overdue development. The last capital campaign ended in 1999, and our peer schools have raised record sums of money since then. This campaign is an exceptional opportunity to strengthen the University and develop our campus and programs for a world that is very different than it was 14 years ago. The University should aim high, not just in terms of the fundraising total but also in its priorities and vision for the future.

There are few who doubt that this capital campaign is necessary. Many of our Houses have long since passed the point where quaint and charming turns into hopelessly outdated and, in some cases, borderline dilapidated. The School of Engineering and Applied Sciences shows real promise, but it needs more funding to grow. In a time of federal budget austerity, the new capital campaign will allow the University to fund crucial basic research even as the government fails to do so. There is so much that is great about Harvard and so much to be done.

The performance of recent capital campaigns at our peer schools is encouraging, but their success underlines the urgency of this campaign. Stanford’s recent campaign aimed to raise $4.3 billion. Instead, it raised $6.23 billion. The Stanford Challenge, as the campaign was called, supported various education and research initiatives, including $2.33 billion earmarked specifically for seeking solutions to global problems. Yale managed to renovate its residential colleges largely without the help of a capital campaign, but that school’s  renovations put their residential amenities ahead of Harvard’s—a competitive disadvantage in the fight for the most talented college students. Harvard should not fall behind as our peers build up their fundraising.

As Harvard determines the priorities for the campaign, administrators should give students and faculty a stake in the planning, prioritizing, and fundraising. This campaign will be a University-wide effort, so it is crucial to involve the entire University community. Students and faculty have day-to-day knowledge that will be crucial in planning big-ticket items like House renewal and other campus improvements.

Above all, the University should be bold. Some projects, like the roughly $1 billion House renewal, are expenditures of necessity. As important as they are, those projects will not define the future of the University. It is projects like the new developments in Allston, an undergraduate student center, funding for cutting-edge research, and many more projects still to be announced that will advance the University’s mission and help the University adapt to an ever-changing world. The University’s goals should reflect tremendous optimism and high hopes for the future.

Students and faculty in at least two undergraduate courses—Molecular and Cellular Biology 56: ”Physical Biochemistry: Understanding Macromolecular Machines” and Physics 15b: “Introductory Electromagnetism”—were contacted in late April by the Cambridge Public Health Department, according to Jonathan A. Marks ’15, a student enrolled in both classes.

“The Cambridge Public Health Department has been working with the Harvard University Infection Control nurses to identify people at greatest risk of TB infection/disease, and to prevent further TB disease,” wrote Joanne Ferraro of the CPHD in an email to at-risk students obtained by the Crimson.

Tuberculosis, or TB, is a bacterial infection that typically affects the lungs and can be spread through the air. Although sometimes lethal, tuberculosis is normally treated with a course of antibiotics.

In a statement released Friday evening, Harvard University Health Services confirmed the case but emphasized the disease’s low transmission risk.

“TB is not highly contagious and therefore the risk to those who have been in contact with the affected person is low. As is practice, Harvard University Health Services notified the Cambridge Public Health Department, which alerted those who may have come into contact with the affected person and encouraged those people to be tested,” wrote UHS spokesperson Lindsey Baker.

Students and faculty considered at-risk for infection have been advised by the Cambridge Public Health Department to immediately undergo tuberculin skin tests. In addition, since infected individuals may take up to twelve weeks to test positive, at-risk individuals will have to retest by mid-July, according to emails sent to students.

Tuberculosis was last reported on Harvard’s campus in 2010, when one Harvard undergraduate tested positive for the infection. Students and faculty in close contact with the individual were also asked to undergo TB testing.

—Staff writer Quinn D. Hatoff can be reached at quinnhatoff@college.harvard.edu. Follow him on Twitter @QuinnHatoff.

Those awarded the scholarship—named in honor of John C. Culver ’54, IOP’s Senior Advisory Committee chair emeritus—must be graduates of either Harvard College or one of the IOP’s 24 consortium colleges. All applicants must also show their involvement with the IOP or, if they did not attend Harvard, their respective consortium college’s political engagement efforts.

“It is fitting that this scholarship at [the] Harvard Kennedy School bears the name of Senator John Culver, whose intelligence, integrity, and outstanding service to our nation are an inspiration,” Caroline B. Kennedy ’80 said in a press release.

Kennedy, who championed the establishment of the scholarship, is the IOP Senior Advisory Committee chair, a position Culver held for 14 years.

“We hope that Culver Scholars will be motivated by his extraordinary example in the years to come,” she added.

Prior to his involvement at the IOP, Culver pursued distinguished political and military careers. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps before being elected congressman for Iowa’s second congressional district in 1964, a seat he held for five terms. In 1974, he was elected to the U.S. Senate and served until 1980.

Besides his work with the Senior Advisory Committee, Culver also served as the interim director of the IOP from 2010 to 2011 before current director C. M. Tray Grayson ’94 was appointed in 2011.

“John Culver’s dedication to the Institute of Politics has helped us achieve excellence and become a model for similar institutions nationwide,” Grayson said of his predecessor in a press release. “We are very proud to offer this scholarship in his name.”

The scholarship named in his honor will be awarded to students who are not only involved in civic engagement efforts, but also display academic excellence, commitment to public service, and leadership experience.

Preference in selecting Culver Scholars will be given to applicants who were involved with their respective college’s National Campaign for Political and Civic Engagement affiliate organization. Launched by the IOP in 2003, the National Campaign is active at each of the 24 consortium colleges from which applicants must have graduated.

—Staff writer Steven R. Watros can be reached at watros@college.harvard.edu. Follow him on Twitter @SteveWatros.

A proposal that the Faculty of Arts and Sciences approved at their monthly meeting on Tuesday will restructure reading and exam periods starting in the fall of 2014. It outlines the kind of assignments that may be assigned or due throughout Reading Period, which will be shortened from eight days to six or seven.

The proposal, which the faculty approved unanimously, stipulates that courses may not assign new material during Reading Period, though “short, regular assignments” dealing with material from the last two weeks of classes may be due during the first three days. These short assignments include problem sets and response papers.

Culminating assignments such as projects, take-home exams, final papers, and presentations will be due “no earlier than the fourth day of Reading Period” but must be due “on or before the day of each course’s assigned Examination Group.” Exam period will also be renamed Final Examination and Project Period.

Seated exams “of whatever duration ... or scope” must also be given during the course’s assigned exam slot. Except for certain intensive language courses, the proposal prohibits “regular instruction” during Reading Period, although courses may hold review sessions and sections, as well as make-up classes.

Jen Q. Y. Zhu ’14, Vice President of the Undergraduate Council, voiced approval for the proposal.

“It’s definitely good that it was passed,” Zhu said. “I know students have expressed to us in the past how stressful it is to have... all your papers due the same day at the end of Reading Period.... This allows a little more flexibility, and a little more time to actually use Reading Period to be preparing for a lot of the final assignments or final exams or projects or papers, and so on.”

Zhu attended Committee on Undergraduate Education meetings throughout the semester, where faculty, administrators, and students discussed the proposal. She also praised Dean of Undergraduate Education Jay M. Harris for seeking input from both the UC and faculty on the proposal.

Harris invited UC representatives to attend a faculty town hall meeting about the proposal on April 16, according to Zhu. During the meeting, she said, faculty raised concerns about, among other things, how the proposed change would affect problem sets.

Harris wrote in an email that the approved proposal “should help spread out due dates, and give students time to do their work.” He added that the proposal will make it unlikely that students have three or four papers or projects due on the same day, “while still holding students responsible for managing their time well.” He said the proposal, originally developed by the CUE, was “significantly revised,” both after meeting with the UC and after the town hall meeting. The original language of the proposal, for example, did not designate the first three days of Reading Period for short assignment due dates.

—Nicholas P. Fandos contributed to the reporting of this story.

—Staff Writer Madeline R. Conway can be reached at mconway@college.harvard.edu. Follow her on Twitter @MadelineRConway.

The event, which takes place at midnight before the first exam of each semester, drew a diverse crowd to the Yard Thursday night. Daring undergraduates stripped down past their undergarments and sprinted around the Old Yard to the tunes of “The Final Countdown” and “Chariots of Fire,” performed by the Harvard University Band.

Though a number of students lined the freshman dorms in support of their classmates, Harvard affiliates were not the only spectators. Primal Scream drew viewers from across Cambridge and even from foreign nations.

“I think it’s pretty cool,” said Kan-Ju Lin, a Taiwanese post-doctoral student at MIT, of the scantily clad Harvardians. “I’ve never seen people running naked.”

Participants ranged from Primal Scream virgins to veterans.

“I’m halfway there,” said Edwin L. Whitman ’15, who has completed four of four dashes. “Spring’s always a smaller turnout but it’s the people who do it all the time or the seniors so it’s more fun.”

Unlike Whitman, not all of this semester’s screamers planned to run.

“It was so awesome,” Phebe J. Hong ’16 said. “It was totally spontaneous. I decided at the last minute—I just took everything off and I ran.”

The winter run is historically better-attended, and participants this spring were as sparse as clothing. Still, over one hundred students rose to the occasion for a lap to end this year’s reading period.

Primal Scream, which began in the 1960s as a communal, cathartic yell before the start of exams, neglected clothing in the 1990s when it went au natural. To this day, many students appreciate the break it offers in the midst of exam stress.

“It’s a tradition,” Brian W. Ventura ’16 said. “It’s a lot of fun… We’re stereotyped as being uptight but this is kind of a nice release.”

One lap was only the tip of the iceberg for a number of particularly excited nudists, who continued on in their birthday suits for a second lap or, in the case of one intrepid runner, a racy photo with John Harvard.

“There should be so much more skin,” Hong said.

Despite the influx of tourists gathering on the steps of University Hall for a glimpse of the action, no increase in Harvard University Police Department officers was noted. Securitas officers declined to comment.

—Staff writer Cordelia F. Mendez can be reached at cordeliamendez@college.harvard.edu. Follow her on Twitter @CrimsonCordelia.

—Staff writer Molly L. Roberts can be reached at mollyroberts@college.harvard.edu. Follow her on Twitter @MollyLRoberts.

The nine-building plan, which Harvard hopes to file with the city around July 1, will include a section devoted entirely to community benefits. University representatives said these will be based on input from residents and the task force.

Allston residents’ opinions of what would constitute community benefits varied widely. Task force member Harry E. Mattison suggested planting trees along Western Avenue, while Allston resident Tom Lally pushed for transportation improvements.

“Allston has been clamoring for mass transit,” Lally said. “Build us a subway from Central Square to Watertown Square that goes through Allston.”

Boston Redevelopment Authority chief planner Kairos Shen said that mass transit is outside Harvard’s jurisdiction.

“The University should not substitute for state government,” he said. Shen added that the University could address transportation issues in Allston with the Harvard-Allston shuttle and the creation of new bike lanes.

Linda Kowalcky, deputy director of the BRA, presented on four preliminary categories of community benefits: public realm and open space, education, neighborhood infrastructure and amenities, and economic and workforce development.

Additionally, Kowalcky mentioned the inclusion of a project that would substantially improve the neighborhood, an idea originally referred to as a “transformational project” in Harvard’s first IMP for Allston in 2007. The 2007 master plan, which included designs for a $1 billion science complex, was halted in 2009 because of financial constraints.

Task force chair Ray V. Mellone echoed the need to pursue projects that could have a large impact on the community.

While the next few task force meetings have been scheduled to cover Harvard’s goals for educational community benefits, Kowalcky said that issues of transportation and housing will also need to be addressed in the coming weeks.

“At these meetings we’re not going to [solve] every housing problem or transportation problem or education problem,” Kowalcky said. “What we can do is try to identify what the key objectives are—what outcomes folks want to see.”

Wednesday night’s task force meeting was the first since two Harvard development plans were approved by BRA board review and was the first meeting this semester devoted entirely to community benefits.

Shen cited complaints about the fast pace of Harvard’s development as the impetus behind community benefit-oriented meetings.

—Staff writer Marco J. Barber Grossi can be reached at mbarbergrossi@college.harvard.edu. Follow him on Twitter @marco_jbg.