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 […]
SMHL Leaders Spearhead Mental Health Initiatives CAMHS attendance is plummeting, and student leaders Trenfield and Boit are taking strides to reconnect students to mental health resources amidst pandemic By GRAHAM WALTER Over half of American college students have struggled with some form of mental illness in their university experience, according to the National Alliance on […]
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 […]
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, […]
HeadspUCe The UC partners with Headspace to offer undergraduates a flexible mental health resource By JEN EASON We’ve all been receiving a lot of bad news lately. The best thing I’ve read this week was a meme about Toyota commercials. So, Noah Harris ’22, the Treasurer of the Harvard Undergraduate Council (UC), decided to bring […]
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 […]
De-densifying of Harvard’s Campus: the International Student’s Perspective Following the College’s response to the COVID-19 epidemic, international students faced unprecedented challenges in making it home in what was, for some, their last week at college. BY MIMI TARRANT On Tuesday March 10, the Harvard College campus was shaken by President Bacow’s and Dean Khuranas’s […]
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 […]
Transfer Troubles What happens when the first House isn’t “the one”? By JEN EASON “I’ve only gotten into one thing at Harvard,” says a current quadling, referring to the rejection letter the College sent them on February 18, 2020 for their interhouse transfer application. It’s a pretty opaque process. The Independent reached out to Harvard […]