This piece was originally part of a Harvard Independent themed series responding to, “How do you believe that the spirit and integrity of a Harvard College education can be best preserved in the upcoming fall semester?” Responses were collected prior to the July 6 announcement that the college would be adopting a virtual education model. When […]
On Wednesday, April 29, those students who would be staying on campus in the coming summer received an email from the Dean of Students Office. They were promised a private bathroom, a private kitchen, and access to laundry facilities warned that common rooms and dining halls would be shut, and told to prepare to be […]
Two Hundred Computer Scientists and One Rat In the week before move-out, courses take different stances on social distancing By MICHAEL KIELSTRA and JULIO V. PARDO On Monday, March 9, the day before students were told that they would be moving out early, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were already recommending that people […]
Mission Visitas-ible The pre-frosh we met at Visitas By MICHAEL KIELSTRA, JEN EASON, and MARISSA GARCIA Ryan Nguyen would like to be a human rights lawyer, but you wouldn’t immediately know it. He doesn’t talk about capital-I Injustices or concrete plans for getting to law school. Rather, when I ask him why he applied to […]
Mask Heroes HGSU-UAW provides masks for custodial workers By MICHAEL KIELSTRA “I’ve heard that, for a while, you weren’t receiving adequate personal protective equipment from Harvard for your job,” I said. “Is that correct?” “Yes.” Doris Reina-Lamdaverde, Harvard University custodian, is a woman who wastes no words. I was introduced to her by Mark Wright, […]
Solidarity Forever HGSU-UAW’s December strike leads to lasting relationships By MICHAEL KIELSTRA In December 2019, Harvard’s graduate students went on strike, demanding better pay, robust health benefits, and a more reliable harassment grievance process. The Independent spoke several times to Matt Volpe, a member of the HGSU-UAW union and fourth-year graduate student in the Chemistry […]
Counterpoint to “The New Universal Grading Policy” BY MICHAEL KIELSTRA From Caesar’s wife to the Virgin Mary, history is full of things which must, for one reason or another, remain above reproach. I would add Harvard’s grades to this category. The American education system gives students and educators an incredible amount of freedom, […]
Studios and Individuals An interview with the professor and head TF for Drawing 1 BY MICHAEL KIELSTRA “The day that they found out it was awful… people were in tears and confused… It’s hard for me to imagine how this is going to work.” Katarina Burin, an artist who teaches Drawing 1, […]
Feed a Cold and Starve a Fever HUDS’s internal communication breaks down as dining halls adjust to an emptier campus By MICHAEL KIELSTRA Every day, Harvard University Dining Services (HUDS) serves three meals to the vast majority of students on campus, as well as plenty of professors and staff and, sometimes, Dean Khurana. They estimate […]
HUECU-Dot-Org HUECU, and its members, go mobile By MICHAEL KIELSTRA The Harvard University Employees’ Credit Union operates in a sort of limbo between Harvard and not-Harvard. It is a separate organization, and the Harvard Management Corporation cannot order it to do anything, but all its employees have @harvard.edu email addresses. Technically, as Tom Montilli, executive […]