Editorials
TFA Is a Positive Force
Teach for America is valuable because it provides at least a temporary solution to America’s educational problems.
The Morality of Mural Maintenance
An academic discovers breathtaking frescoes decaying in a distant land and takes them to a cultural hub for careful preservation and the enjoyment of the general public. Is he a hero to the art world, or is he a thief?
Peace, Then Prize
If the Norwegian Nobel Committee wants to maintain the reputation of the Peace Prize, it should recognize those whose work has had meaningful, lasting impact
Unethical Endowment
Harvard needs to seriously investigate and address the allegations raised in Responsible Investment’s report, and needs to do so in a transparent and public way.
Thank You, OCS
We applaud OCS for its success at linking students to these specific career opportunities. The primary concern of most upperclassmen here is securing employment post-graduation, and it is impressive that 18 to 22 percent of the student body manage to consistently land jobs in consulting and finance.
Disentangling a Debt Debacle
A short-term solution to the nation’s current crisis, though necessary, will ultimately amount to no more than a Band-Aid on a bullet hole. It may and must stem the flow of blood for now, but Congress must dive into full-scale surgery to ensure the United States’ good health.
A Year of Their Own
Making gap years accessible to all students is a worthy goal to which universities may contribute.
A Condemnable Strike
We do not want to comment on the workers’ grievances or whether the strike was justified—those concerns are better addressed by union members and managers who know more about the situation.
Yogurtas
The froyo boom is a great thing for sweet-toothed consumers—who knew there were so many fun compound words to be made with “berry”?
Keep The Pressure On
The divestment movement can and should use that tremendous public influence to achieve change toward sustainability.
A Greater, Broader, and Fuller Harvard
When tour guides lead their groups past the Hutchins Center, they will be able to say that housed in this building is the world’s premier center for African and African American Studies.
No College Left Behind
Higher education reform has long been one of President Obama’s major priorities and it is one in which there is much work to be done, in particular to address the issue of rapidly rising costs.
A Job Well Done, More To Do
We hope the new director will, like Rankin, continually seek student input and think of innovative ways (like reaching out to final clubs) to impact the student body, and in particular to think about ways in which Harvard can improve the accessibility of its sexual assault resources to students from diverse backgrounds.
A Better Dean of the College
The Dean of the College should also represent the needs of students in deliberations at the university level. Harvard is a complex place where the needs and desires of faculty of all stripes, students, staff, and the institution itself need to be reconciled.
Smolder the Smoking Ban
Everyone has the right to feel at home in his place of residence. This ban threatens that right and reminds those living in public housing that their liberty is in jeopardy on all fronts.
Talking Head Ted
Cruz’s tactics—though perhaps a career boost for Cruz—were distinctly nonstrategic for the GOP.
A Shuttle Named Desire
We hope to see future efforts like this one, especially in the area of shuttle service improvement.
We Need Fiscal Conservatives
On October 17, the United States will default on its debt for the first time. America will lose its pristine credit rating and taxpayers will suffer billions of dollars of borrowing cost increases
Slouching Toward Tehran
Iran is inching toward the bargaining table as economic sanctions continue to erode living standards in the Islamic Republic. We must be careful not to fall into the same trap in which North Korea has repeatedly ensnared the U.S., offering minimal concessions for the easing of sanctions, and then reneging on those commitments.
Getting House Renewal Right
The architects of the renewed buildings have admirably tried to develop community in the Houses by creating “cluster common rooms” for students and tutors, but the cost has been the phasing out of the private common rooms.
We Support the Pope
Pope Francis I seems intent on reversing the Vatican’s insular and non-conciliatory past and intent on making the positive values of Catholicism more accessible to the changing global demographics.
Support The Harvard Campaign
John Harvard would be surprised that nearly four centuries after his generous gift, Harvard University has 21,000 students across 12 schools. He would be shocked at the $30.7 billion endowment. He would not be able to grasp the cutting-edge research, innovation, and learning happening both in Cambridge and across the river. He could not have known then what Harvard is now, much as we do not know now what Harvard will be in another 400 years.
Never Trust an Unreleased Study
Citing a federally conducted and unreleased study, the Department of Homeland Security has claimed to have found no evidence of racial profiling at Boston’s Logan Airport.
UC Not to Blame
That a student’s interest in becoming a UC representative so precipitously drops from one year to the next cannot be explained away with a dissection of the freshman psyche.
The House That Faust Built
Harvard administration forgot, however, the three rules of real estate: location, location, location.