BY: KATE KADYAN ’26
Clarence Thomas, arguably one of the Supreme Court’s most esteemed conservative members, used to pledge allegiance to a much more radical left group, the Black Panthers. Now he strikes down affirmative action as “racial discrimination” and holds that abortion “has no basis in the constitution.” What triggered this shift from the left to the right? It turns out, as he stated in an interview with CNN, this change of heart largely occurred after witnessing student activism at Harvard.
It is hard to conceive of Harvard student activism provoking such a profound change in an individual’s life (and, in turn, the direction of the nation), when student activism today is relatively sidelined. It can be discouraging to see the enthusiasm and time Harvard students pour into pre-professional clubs compared to service and political activism; while hours are spent on CBE slides, Harvard itself has yet to install a composting system. Perhaps more accurate admissions essays would have expressed students’ burning wishes to join McKinsey rather than their passionate desire to improve the world.
Student activism—a practice that thrives when everyone participates— is inherently opposed to this culture of exclusivity. In an interview with the Independent, Kawsar Yasin ’26, a Harvard sophomore who engages in activism both as a member of the Palestinian Solidarity Committee (PSC) and through her protesting of the reversal of affirmative action, likewise expressed that she was sometimes “disappointed” in the political engagement of the Harvard student body. “Lots of students [feed] into the culture of exclusivity, [and] culture of pre-professionalism,” Yasin said, noting its detriment to student activism.
Although initially entering her first-year hopeful, Yasin quickly saw the lack of support surrounding activism projects. “[I grew] disillusioned throughout the year, upset about which causes students were willing to rally around,” she said. Causes which were extremely local to Harvard were well-supported, whereas those with a broader scope, such as affirmative action or Harvard Divest, an organization seeking to divest Harvard the endowment from investments in prison and oil, were more sporadically attended. For instance, following accusations of sexual harassment toward Harvard professor John Comaroff, a rally against his continued employment was attended by over 70 students. However, the protests regarding Harvard Divest or affirmative action consisted of the same “15 to 20 kids,” Yasin said. Moreover, these displays are usually organized by those who are personally involved in the issue. According to Yasin’s experience participating in said protests, many of the Comaroff rally organizers were themselves victims of sexual harassment or violence. While these particularly affected students hold an understandable stake in the protest’s purpose, the movement’s growth and overall impact are severely stunted when these are the only students that participate.
However, after serving as a pre-orientation leader of the First-Year Urban Program, Yasin feels more optimistic with Harvard’s upcoming class. “Meeting first years brought me back to a point in time when I was hopeful about this institution,” she stated. Other members of the PSC, Eva Frazier ’26 and Shraddha Joshi ’24, agreed with Yasin’s sentiments. In an interview with the Independent, the two explained that it is often first-years who are most receptive to events staged by the PSC.
After the PSC protest at convocation, new students were quick to tell members how inspiring they found the display. “[We] had a lot of first-years come up afterwards,” said Frazier. While it is certainly encouraging that incoming Harvard students are eager to enact change and are receptive to global human rights issues, the enthusiasm of first-years in contrast to upper classmen may reflect poorly on Harvard’s ability to bolster political engagement.
As stated earlier, this phenomenon might partly derive from Harvard’s competitive extracurricular applications and comp processes, creating the false impression that clubs must be exclusive in order to be impactful. Additionally, it is far too easy to get lulled into complacency by the reassuring solidity, wealth, and beauty of Harvard’s campus and student culture. Entering Harvard, I believed this community would spur me to become more politically engaged. Instead the Harvard bubble insulated me from pressing issues far more than my hometown.
The lack of emphasis placed on activism is especially disappointing, considering the key place protests held in Harvard’s past. Clarence Thomas, then a visitor on campus, witnessed the Harvard Square riots of 1970, which were initially planned as a Vietnam War protest. The march began peacefully but quickly descended into a riot with protestors throwing rocks and starting fires. Two-thousand police officers tear-gassed the protesters in response.
In that moment, Clarence Thomas self-reportedly became disillusioned with radicalism, saying in the 2013 interview with CNN, “this is going too far.” Canaday stands as a living testament to the ferocity of the student protests. The dorm, built in 1974, was designed to be riot-proof; not to protect students from riots, but to prevent students themselves from rioting.
Of course, returning to the 1970s style of protesting and activism is both unwise and unwarranted (at the very least, many students may not want to turn any more judges conservative). But, this history does indicate that student activism has a greater influence than popularly perceived today. Despite the devastating effect of the Harvard Square riots on civilians at the time (and the modern-day Supreme Court), this event speaks to the power that activism has in shaping impressions of global issues.
Harvard students are in a unique position where visible action warrants mainstream coverage, debunking any myths that only campus-related protests can impact meaningful change. So, while the wealth and illustriousness of Harvard’s campus makes getting the impetus to protest a bit more difficult, it may just be all the more worthwhile.
Kate Kadyan ’26 (katekadyan@college.harvard.edu) fights hard to remember that even though Harvard landscaping is perfect, the world isn’t.