Forum

A Retreat from Rankings

Harvard Law School’s withdrawal from the U.S. News & World Report will help improve legal education at large

Marbella Marlo 12.8.2022: Holiday Edition, Forum

Just hours after Yale Law School announced its official withdrawal from the U.S. News & World Report’s Rankings on November 16th, Harvard Law School followed suit. Yale’s decision became a catalyst for an exodus of other prestigious law schools from the annual report, including Stanford, Georgetown, Berkeley, and Columbia. While I’ll admit I appreciate discovering […]

My Final Editor’s Letter: Writing the Words That Matter

Mary Julia Koch 12.8.2022: Holiday Edition, Forum

“HAPPY RETIREMENT!” screamed a chorus of voices as I walked into our office on 12 Arrow Street last night. For the first time in my two years serving at the helm of the Harvard Independent, I was completely surprised by what my staff had created for me: a surprise “Retirement Party,” featuring the dozens of […]

Brazil’s Fight is Our Fight

We can’t afford to ignore the anti-democratic protests in the Square.

Manuel Yepes 11.17.22: The Game, Forum

To a casual observer, the spirited crowd gathered at Harvard Square on November 6th may have seemed to be celebrating the outcome of a Brazilian soccer match, or perhaps heralding the upcoming World Cup. Yet a closer look and some knowledge of Brazilian politics would have correctly identified it not as a celebration, but a […]

Inside the HUA Retreat

Pulling back the curtain on our $10k funding allocation

LyLena D. Estabine 11.17.22: The Game, Forum

After years of discontent about the previous student government’s ineffective management and excessive spending on an Airbnb retreat in New Hampshire, students finally dissolved the Undergraduate Council (the UC) and installed the HUA in its place last April. However, the HUA Executive Team decided that we, too, should have a retreat for officers, not only […]

Pilgrims Marry Bulldogs

An analysis of marriage rates amongst Ivy League students

Carly Brail 11.17.22: The Game, Forum

The-enemies-to-lovers trope has dominated the current era of young adult novels, in which former enemies realize their affection for each other and fall deeply in love. Contemporary culture has also specifically capitalized on forbidden love between college enemies, in online novels and in country music which appeals to listeners with deep-seated college allegiances. Conner Smith’s […]

Southern California vs. New England: A Satire

A Californian’s honest take on Cambridge culture.

Ryan McCarthy 11.10.22: Mid November, Forum

New England: the most wonderful place I have ever lived. With its rich history, changing seasons, and endless caches of toll roads and strip malls, it really is the only place I could see myself living upon graduating Harvard. How could a born-again northerner like me ever return to the dregs of SoCal? Personally, the […]

The Shark of the Supreme Court

Students for Fair Admissions vs. Harvard: a Teaser

Charles Steinbaum 11.03.2022: The Political Issue, Forum

Brett Kavanaugh – in both appearance and essence – is a dangerous fish. A mako shark, to be precise. Not because he interrogates with vigor and valor, but because he actively sharks. Let me explain by way of an example. He sharked Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson during her first line of questioning. Call it rude, […]

To “Disagree Agreeably”: Talks on the Rocks, Volume 1

A Conversation with IOP’s John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum

Marbella Marlo, Proof Schubert Reed and Maddie Proctor 11.03.2022: The Political Issue, Forum

Plastic spiderwebs hang from the rafters, and patrons and barkeeps flit around, masquerading as witches and clowns. It was Halloween at Shay’s Pub in Harvard Square. It was also the first installment of a new column in The Harvard Independent, “Talks on the Rocks”—in which three members of our editorial board converse over drinks with […]

The President Predicts: The Moneyline for the 2022 Midterms

A look at four misunderstood big-races that could decide control of the Senate and House

Matthew Shum and Noah Tavares 11.03.2022: The Political Issue, Forum

The upcoming midterm elections on November 8th have generated increasing national buzz around the increasing extremism of conservative politics and the progressive pivot to issues in the culture war. Nonpartisan pollsters predict that Republicans are favored to win the House, while the Senate is expected to be extremely close. At the Indy, we wanted to […]

Protests in Iran: Sparks of a Revolution?

The death of Mahsa Amini has reignited an Iranian movement for “Women, Life, and Freedom.”

Alice Khayami 11.03.2022: The Political Issue, Forum

On September 13, Mahsa (Zhina) Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman visited Tehran, where she was arrested by the Iranian morality police for “improperly” wearing her mandatory hijab. Three days later, she died at the hands of these officials. Since her death, hundreds of protests have erupted across Iran, gaining traction online. The Iranian government cracked […]