Op Eds
Criminality Is Not Born
Society may not have the power to mend every broken family, but it does have the power to make sure every young person has access to a quality education.
“Extraordinarily Rare” Is Not an Excuse
Today we say to President Faust: Climate change is an “extraordinarily rare circumstance,” and it demands the extraordinary action of divestment.
Treating in Tongues
The inability to communicate in a high-stress, high-stakes situation renders you stricken and powerless in a unique and terrifying way.
Nate Silver Is not a Witch
Early this year, Nate Silver wore a halo. Having called 50 of 50 states correctly in November’s election, Silver was declared the true winner of the presidential race and even the staunchest of realists were starting to suspect there might be some supernatural forces on his side. His 1.000 batting average helped maintain his book’s best-seller status, drove unprecedented traffic to the New York Times website’s politics section, and won him the uncontested title of America’s favorite statistician.
It'll Only Get Worse
The Middle East is hardly a model of stability. Civil wars, bloody suppressions, and international conflicts seem par for the course. However, the past few years have seen an increase in violent struggles in the region. And these recent upheavals are harbingers of future Mideast chaos, caused in part by the decreasing global importance of oil. An isolationist shift in American foreign policy, excepting only Israel, will exacerbate this trend toward regional destabilization.
The Price of Scandal
As sad as it is to say, the story is tried and true. Politician makes a grievous personal error and then denies it until enough evidence surfaces to make him admit the truth.
The Caricatures of Harvard
So it seems that both the right and left have a dystopian image of our school, one in which we’re all brainwashed automata, trained to be either greedy, conformist free-marketeers or hardcore leftists.
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Smartphone
The distractions we see clearly now will fade away as technology necessarily becomes faster and more invisible.
Being the Majestic Mountain in Harvard Yard
The spirit of FOP need not be squandered come September 1.
The Internet is Yours, So Protect It
You’ve grown up with the internet, developed alongside it, and stored a significant amount of your lives on it. And now you know that they, the NSA, are collecting your stuff, your information—not rightfully theirs, but rightfully yours.
Cut Budgets Responsibly
Today, there is no real reason for the Medical School to value its directly hired workers over its subcontracted ones. All workers employed at the Medical School and at all other Harvard-affiliated institutions work as equal members of the Harvard community, and no part of the Harvard community, especially not those among the lowest paid, should be singled out to bear the brunt of budget shortfalls.
The Diplomatic Option
The transport of these weapons will have to occur amid a protracted civil war defined by humanitarian disaster and the previous use of chemical weapons. It will require significant resources to ensure that those weapons are secure. At worst, inadequate protection could lead to the capture and further use of those weapons.
Help Always on the HorZion
Sixty years and several fateful wars make quite a difference. With its weight fully behind the Jewish state, the United States has hitched its “strategic Western interests” directly to Israel’s future.
Pop the Bubble
There is no better time to travel than during the college years—when you are your sole responsibility, when you are exploring your interests and figuring out what you want to do with the rest of your life.
Bring Snowden Back
Limiting the government’s power over its citizens is one of the core values of the United States.
Redefining Sustainability
Sustainability has been a major challenge for us throughout modern history, encompassing the century-long concern of securing a sustainable energy source and the search for sustainable transportation.
To the Freshmen, to Make Much of Time
As to the first bit about making friends, it’s no hackneyed coincidence that most seniors will tell you they learned the most from their peers. It’s backed up by facts! Well, statistics at least. (Sorry, future statistics concentrators.)
Letter To The Editor
Recruited athletes are a small part of Harvard’s student body; why do they warrant their own pie chart dissecting their “ethnicity?” (“Black” is not an ethnicity, by the way.)
Should Doctoral Dissertations Become Top Secret?
At Harvard, dissertations that authors choose to embargo from being released online are also barred from use in the library in their paper versions. They are effectively made top secret. Why?