As Professor Maya Jasanoff concluded her senior year at Harvard in 1996, she faced a question dreaded by many college students: what should I do when I graduate? Living in Adams House and finishing up her history and literature senior thesis, Jasanoff imagined what life after college would entail. “I knew that I had to […]
If you’ve ever rushed to CVS to buy a box of chocolates on Valentine’s Day, you’re part of a generations-long, world-wide chocolate obsession. The impulse is not your fault: chocolate manufacturers massively marketed chocolate into a household staple and transformed the way people expressed love. To help unravel this history, the Independent spoke to a […]
Professor Elisa New and Larry Summers are very different people. “Larry is an extrovert and I’m an introvert; he likes sports and competition and I do not,” New tells the Independent. “We are in many ways a dramatic illustration of how opposites attract.” Summers was President of Harvard University from 2001 to 2006. He served […]
Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?
These words capture the enigma of the now — our endeavor to position the Independent on a timeline of its past, present, and future.
You’re staring in the mirror. It’s day infinity of being stuck at home, and your split ends aren’t the only thing that’s dull. Life, it seems, is an endless stream of Zoom classes and news articles. But look in the mirror—there’s infinite potential for change! You could cut your hair, dye it, pierce your ears, […]
In line with the many other realities of our COVID-adjusted world, the end of semester move-out from Harvard’s dorms looked quite different this year and presented its unique set of challenges. As planned for the fall semester, the administration required most undergraduate and graduate students living on campus to return home in the week before […]
With the shift to virtual learning and working from home, many Americans are sleeping quite differently than they did before the pandemic. For Harvard students, this means no more 6:00 a.m alarms for sports practice; no more late-night study sessions in Lamont. No more walks to the dining hall to grab a bite before class, […]
In the depths of Annenberg dining hall my freshmen year, only inches of wooden table separated me from a newfound friend. But with one word, one piercing assumption, that distance became a mile. “So, where are your parents from?” they asked, wide-eyed and earnest. Parents. The dreaded plural. My heart jumped into my throat; my […]
On Wednesday, April 29, Harvard Graduate Student Union (HGSU) members held a virtual press conference to demand for university support and the administration’s commitment to stable pay and benefits amidst the current coronavirus pandemic. They argued that, in order to fully devote themselves to their research for COVID-19 and to attain some financial stability in […]
The Independent recently had the chance to speak with lecturer Judd Cramer, who, alongside serving on the undergraduate advising team for the Economics department, currently teaches ECON 1042: Sports Economics. He shed light on the importance of sports economics, illuminating the opportunities it has in store for students and prospecting the future of the field. […]