Category: News

by Max J. Krupnick, Harvard Magazine, January-February, 2024 Most American school children learn about one Southern bus ride—on December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, when Rosa Parks declined to cede her seat in the white section to a white man. Her refusal and ensuing arrest sparked the yearlong Montgomery bus boycott and catalyzed the civil rights…Continue Reading Break Every Chain: How black plaintiffs in the Jim Crow South sought justice

by Sarah Lewis, for the Washington Post, January 14, 2024 Sarah Lewis is the John L. Loeb associate professor of the humanities and associate professor of African and African American Studies at Harvard University, and the author of the forthcoming book “The Unseen Truth: How Race Changed Sight in America.” On March 31, 1968, days…Continue Reading Opinion: How we learn to see history: A case study at the National Cathedral

By Christy DeSmith, Harvard Staff Writer, Harvard Gazette, February 9, 2024. In 2016, President Barack Obama delivered a historic speech at Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Park that recalled a tragic past but saw an imperative for a better future. “He didn’t apologize for the United States’ role in nuclear warfare,” Alondra Nelson said. “What he said is that the scientific…Continue Reading Need For Moral Revolution

By Ellie S. Klibaner-Schiff, Associate Magazine Editor, Harvard Crimson, 9 February 2024 The historian of science sat down with Fifteen Minutes to talk about gender, science, and her ideal superpower. “Science is done by humans in context in cultural spaces, and is inflected by those contexts,” she says. Sarah S. Richardson is the Aramont Professor…Continue Reading Fifteen Questions: Sarah S. Richardson on Gender Equity in Science, Interdisciplinary Research, and Purring as a Superpower

By John Lin, Associate Magazine Editor, Harvard Crimson, 26 January 2024 Henry Lee Professor of Economics Claudia D. Goldin speaks with Fifteen Minutes about her Nobel Prize, gender gaps in economics, and the Barbie movie.… FM: You just got back from the Nobel Prize ceremony about a month ago. Could you describe that experience? It…Continue Reading Fifteen Questions: Claudia D. Goldin on the Nobel Prize, Women in Economics, and the Barbie Movie

Harvard Crimson column by Steven A. Pinker, Contributing Opinion Writer, 29 January 2024 Harvard admissions should be more meritocratic. By “merit” I don’t mean cosmic merit — moral deservingness, a judgment by the almighty at the gates of heaven. I mean the traits that enable a student to profit from an elite university education, including…Continue Reading Harvard Admissions Should Be More Meritocratic

WSJ Commentary by Roland Fryer, January 22, 2024 A war is raging over “diversity, equity, and inclusion.” Opponents and supporters of DEI have very different ideas about what it is. “DEI is racist because reverse racism is racism,” hedge-fund manager Bill Ackman tweets. “Good businesses look where others don’t, to find the employees that will put your…Continue Reading DEI Is Worth Saving From Its Excesses

NYT Guest Essay by Caroline Elkins, Frances Frei and Anne Morriss, January 21, 2024 Support for corporate and academic diversity, equity and inclusion efforts appears to be shrinking, even though most people want the same thing: competitive organizations where everyone who shows up to work has a fair shot at success. As Harvard-based educators and advisers with decades of…Continue Reading Critics of D.E.I. Forget That It Works

NYT Guest Essay by Edward L. Glaeser and Carlo Ratti, December 26, 2023 A company backed by Silicon Valley’s most powerful investors, including the LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and the venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, assembled a land empire outside San Francisco and announced a bold vision to build a brand-new city — and was immediately castigated by the…Continue Reading Billionaire-Built Cities Would Be Better Than Nothing

By Caroline Elkins King Charles III will travel this week to Kenya, his first visit to a Commonwealth country as Britain’s monarch. There, according to Buckingham Palace, he will “acknowledge the more painful aspects of the UK and Kenya’s shared history, including the Emergency (1952-60) … [taking] time during the visit to deepen his understanding of the…Continue Reading King Charles, Britain already admitted to torture in Kenya, no need for you to choke on an apology