The nation’s first-ever student protest sparked from rancid dairy. According to the Harvard Gazette, a decade even before the American Revolution, Harvard’s “Great Butter Rebellion” of 1766 was perhaps the first sign of America’s spirit as united in civil disobedience—and it started from a Harvard dining hall. Despite the strangeness of this origin story, student […]
“Paulo Freire did not study at Harvard. Harvard studies Paulo Freire!” remembered Victor Arruda ’25, who is from Freire’s hometown in the outskirts of Recife, Brazil. “Coming from Pernambuco, I have sort of always known Freire; his name is all over: streets, schools, buildings,” said Arruda. Victor added that he would like American students to know […]
For a school focused on academics and post-grad success, sex often is an afterthought at Harvard. Internship interviews, CS 124 problem sets, HUM10 readings, MCAT studying—beyond our school obligations, many Harvard students do not give themselves the time or energy to build sexual relationships. But this is not just a trend at Harvard, as a […]
“ERA YES.” “Stop the Pipeline.” “Dissent is Patriotic.” Throughout history, political and social movements have utilized buttons as a way to voice their agendas. Easily worn and displayed, buttons effectively distribute a variety of messages to a mass audience. A current exhibition at Harvard Kennedy School called “Political Buttons” features buttons collected from the 1960s, […]
“Essentially, it was a social club,” said Sean McGann, decade-long employee and current manager of Leavitt & Peirce. For much of its history, the tobacco shop was not just integrated, but a central part of Harvard campus; students living in the Hilton Block passed through the shop—occupying the dorm’s first floor—each day. Billiards tables lined […]
Last March, I was given a single Insomnia cookie in exchange for downloading yet another app that was attempting to launch in front of Harvard’s Science Center. Almost one year later, and what seemed like just another tech startup has produced some of the funniest and most controversial content on campus. Sidechat, an app that […]
“Social justice is the notion that every person deserves to live with dignity,” Darren Walker proclaimed to the packed audience attending the JFK Jr. Forum at the Institute of Politics. On February 21st, 2023, Walker, alongside Douglas Elemendorf and Henry Louis Gates Jr, joined the Harvard Kennedy School and the Hutchins Center for African American […]
Motor scooters remain a constant presence at Harvard, most often used by athletes who want to travel between the athletic facilities—located across the river—and the rest of campus. Despite occasional jokes about errant sidewalk riders and certain classes that seem to attract higher quantities of scooter users, they have become a mainstay in the backs […]
How did the media impact public perception during the Cold War? In less than 20 seconds, Chat GPT was able to give me four ledes to my history essay: propaganda, news coverage, popular culture, and fear and anxiety, as well as thorough, 2-3 sentence explanations for each. I then inputted, Can you give me some […]
The Harvard Undergraduate Association (HUA), the new student government formed to replace the old Undergraduate Council, is hosting its second election for its officer positions. Given the crucial role of the finance committee in securing and distributing funding for student organizations, and some issues present in the initial semester, the Independent reached out to both […]