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Food for Thought

No paper nor problem set will ever compare to the sheer chaos that is the Monday lunch shift. What I do — what we all do — at this school is not as hard as it once seemed.


Harvard, Russia, and the Affiliations That Define Us

It is possible that we are all prisoners to collective responsibility; it is possible that our institutional definitions lie beyond revision. But no matter how futile, it merits attempting to define ourselves.


Harvard Should Protect Whistleblowers

Harvard has the opportunity to set an important precedent, fulfill its obligations to Data Colada, and perform a valuable public service by covering Data Colada’s legal fees. It should seize this opportunity before academia as a whole pays the price.


A Free Kurdistan Starts with Language Preservation

While I feel empowered by the opportunity to learn the Kurdish language at Harvard, I am infuriated that others do not get the same chance. In different parts of Kurdistan, the act of preserving our indigenous language is often treated as criminal.


On Scrambled Eggs and Sibling Relationships

Find your scrambled eggs, and savor the garlic-flavored moments that keep your sibling relationships alive, even from afar. This ritual reminds me that no matter how far apart we are or for how long, my sister and I will always share a bond.


Gatekeeping Gay

We all deserve the freedom to venture beyond the confines of the boxes in which we have been placed and select for ourselves the lifestyles, pronouns, and partners that are most congruous.


Leveling the Playing Field on Aristocrat Sports Preferences

While our admissions department should attempt to cultivate excellence in the incoming class, it should not sacrifice fairness to do so. World class rowers are world class. But that doesn’t mean they deserve a spot at Harvard.


The Sassy Man Apocalypse

The long-awaited canon event of male self-actualization may finally be upon us. Coined initially as the “sassy man apocalypse,” this seemingly global wave of male self-actualization has been anticipated and longed for by feminists for generations.


Why Harvard?

You’ll find yourself a recent graduate, head still halfway full of Shakespeare or Marx or Joseph Conrad, wondering whether it’s worth venturing your partial answer to the eternal question – “Why Harvard?” — for whichever undergraduates might happen to lend an ear.


The Case for Changing the National Anthem

My love for America is why I want her to continue to change, evolve, and become better. I ask everyone to understand that criticizing America does not mean we hate this country. It means we love it. ​​​​​​​


Does Harvard Really ‘Defend Diversity?’

Any one of these actions could begin to show students that Harvard treats diversity as more than a statistic. But as we wait for Harvard to take its students of color seriously, remember: Without action to back it up, “defend diversity” is just a slogan.


Dish Soap and Greek Myths

Students too frequently fall into the trap of maligning all work as burdensome and dreary, and it affects our attitude at Harvard. Perceiving every semester as work, something to overcome or accomplish, makes school a drag.


Harvard Isn’t Fun Enough. That’s No Laughing Matter.

Fun is no laughing matter. It is an institutional imperative for students to be happy and socially connected. A mental health crisis fueled by record loneliness is what happens when we act like fun is not an essential, soul-nourishing part of the human experience.  So why do our fetes falter? I see two things dimming the Friday night lights.


What Are You Celebrating Today?

On this Fourth of July, two years after I pored through Frederick Douglass’s words, I think about the damning Harvard’s Legacy of Slavery report and how the Court’s decision represents yet another moment of grief and discomfort for the Generational African Americans on this campus.


Admissions Can’t Be a Dirty Word

The thing that unsettles me most about today’s affirmative action decision is that admissions remains a dirty word on Harvard’s campus. There exists a politics of politeness that proscribes honest discussion about Harvard College’s admissions practices. This reluctance has long held back reform; now, it could restrain the student response to the fall of affirmative action too.


The Supreme Court Killed Campus Diversity. What Now?

Unable to consider a student’s race, admissions offices will be forced to compare students’ resumes without the full context of the privilege and inequality that informed them. The Court’s conservative justices have crafted a college admissions landscape effectively stacked against students of color. Today, the Supreme Court has sent an abundantly clear message: College is for the privileged.


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