The Harvard Graduate Council mulled student government priorities and institutional challenges brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic in its first public meeting of the semester Wednesday evening.
The Council which represents all twelve of the University’s graduate and professional schools communicates graduate student needs with Harvard administrators including University President Lawrence S. Bacow and Provost Alan M. Garber ’76. Wednesday’s meeting marked the start of biweekly public meetings, held over Zoom during the pandemic.
The meeting opened with remarks by Harvard University Health Services Director Giang T. Nguyen, who said there will “probably be stages” to the potential reopening of campus come fall. Despite a recent decline in Covid-19 cases across the country, the risk of infection remains due to the emergence of new variants, Nguyen added.
An external committee reviewing sexual harassment at Harvard found âpronounced power disparitiesâ and âinadequate reporting mechanismsâ at the University allowed decades of sexual harassment by former Government professor Jorge I. DomÃnguez to persist, according to its final report released Thursday.
The external review â commissioned in 2019 by University President Lawrence S. Bacow to investigate the circumstances that allowed DomÃnguez to sexually harass multiple women over four decades â found that the Government Department failed to take action âon known sexual harassmentâ and that the University did not adequately âmonitor employees with past infractions.â
The report found that DomÃnguezâs harassment of women was âcommon knowledgeâ in the Government department and that Harvard insufficiently censured DomÃnguez, which enabled his misconduct to persist for decades.
University President Lawrence S. Bacow defended the importance of free speech on campus during a faculty meeting Tuesday, but said that Harvard programs appointing individuals to an official role should âbe prepared to defend why an individual is worthy of recognitionâ by Harvard.
Bacowâs remarks come amid calls for the University to take action to disassociate from political figures who sought to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Multiplepetitions have demanded Harvard develop guidelines barring political figures who helped incite violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6 from holding official positions.
In his address Tuesday, Bacow denounced the riot as âa disgraceful act of insurrection.â Still, he defended the Universityâs commitment to inviting speakers of all backgrounds and perspectives to campus.
Shae O. Omonijo is a first-year graduate student in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
One hundred years ago today on January 29, 1921 at Radcliffe College, Dr. Eva Beatrice Dykes successfully submitted her dissertation “Pope and His Influence in America from 1715-1850” to become the first Black woman to complete the requirements for a Ph.D. in the United States. The morning I first saw Dr. Dykes’ dissertation submission for her Doctor of Philosophy in English Philology degree, Harvard announced the closure of campus due to the rising Covid-19 pandemic. Minutes after receiving the email from University President Lawrence S. Bacow, I rushed to Schlesinger Library archives to spend as much time as I could with Dr. Dykes’ Radcliffe records.
Thatâs about to change.
President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. has vowed to roll out a far-reaching overhaul of federal immigration laws Wednesday, his Inauguration Day.
Though experts and advocates said they are hopeful that Bidenâs reforms will ease legal restrictions on immigration, they noted that institutional change will require more time.
Harvard administrators, including University President Lawrence S. Bacow, have publicly challenged Trumpâs immigration policy over the past four years through letters, lobbying, and lawsuits. Experts agree that higher education leaders, campuses, and advocacy groups must join the government in pushing for change.
âThe Harms of the Past Four Yearsâ