69 Questions with Dean Khurana
We ask 69 questions to Rakesh Khurana, Danoff Dean of Harvard College.
Harvard’s History Hole
Why are students digging up the Yard—and what are they finding?
Near the front of Harvard Yard lies a small, fenced-off pit, with a dirt pile that seems to grow every day. Most students walk by, give it a glance, and continue along, but for some, the nearby sign captures their attention enough to warrant a closer look. After all, it is not every day that […]
The Future of Divest Harvard
Now that Harvard agreed to divest its endowment from fossil fuels, what’s next for the student divestment movement?
This year the impossible happened. The Harvard Endowment finally announced in a September email from President Bacow to undergraduates that it would no longer be engaging in partnerships with funds that had substantial holdings in fossil fuel equity. This announcement is the result of grassroots student activism that has been knocking on Harvard’s door for almost a decade.
Made by Marl0: Keith Raffel and the Balancing Test
Our Time at Harvard is More Than Just a Resume-Builder
I’ve been wanting to start this column for many reasons, but meeting Keith Raffel was undoubtedly the deciding factor. After meeting with me over Zoom mid-August to review my course selection, to which he supported each of my class choices (and perhaps with a little too much optimization), we grabbed lunch in the Mather Dining Hall […]
Annenberg, Reviewed
A first-year’s perspective on food and community at Harvard
High ceilings, wood paneling, stained glass, and animated chatter. Welcome to Annenberg, Harvard’s designated freshman dining hall. Though it’s primarily known for its beautiful interior, which was inspired by the halls of Oxford and Cambridge, Annenberg’s food and ambience must be appreciated as hallmarks of the Harvard first-year experience. The record-large class of 2025 all […]
Finding a Flow
Harvard has a rap scene, and its members are making moves. Student rappers are travelling across the country to record, throwing live shows, and giving back to their communities. The Independent spoke to Jaeschel Acheampong ’24 (“YoungJae”), Erick Silva ’25 (“E Moreland”), and Braden Ellis ’24 (“shock apollo,” recently changed from “brady williams”). Acheampong has […]
Reborn: The Harvard Men’s Soccer Team
The story behind the newfound success of the Harvard men’s soccer team
The Harvard men’s soccer team has been reborn. After two years without a win, they started off the 2021 season with a 3-2-1 record, beginning with a 4-0 victory over Central Connecticut State University. What provoked this new beginning? After a year off the field, the team boasts a fresh coaching staff, goal-oriented upperclassmen, and […]
“We stand for the flag, and if you don’t like it, we don’t care.”
Dispute over students’ Nicki Minaj flag sparks freedom of speech debate
Mather House was built to suppress. The blockish and brutish tower still maintains the strict and secure attitude of its 1970 anti-protest design. But from under the mass of concrete has sprung a stem of blatant, star-spangled expression in the form of a Nicki Minaj flag. Red, white, blue, and Barbz (her fanbase’s self-dubbed moniker), […]
Safety School vs. Crimson Sucks
First-year’s first football game: Harvard vs. Brown
“I think they were winning when I left. They won, right?”
My Bisexuality is Not Your Bisexuality
A reflection on September 23rd, National Bisexual Pride Day
You know when someone opens their mouth, and you can just tell the bullshit they are about to spew will piss you off? He saunters over and shoulders his way into my conversation. If he had thought for only a moment about his target demographic, maybe he would realize how my talk of bisexual pride […]
“Exhilarating”: Social Life for Students Who Gapped and Students Who Didn’t
A record-breaking 20% of Harvard College’s Class of 2024 chose to defer their first year— three times higher than the usual amount, according to an August 2020 Forbes article. The class of 2025 became the largest class in Harvard’s history and perhaps also the most diverse in experiences. How are these first-years adjusting to campus […]
First Impressions
Working hard, fitting in, and finding friends in our first month at Harvard
And just like that, Zoom high school came to an end. The lucky undergraduate class of 2025 began our first of four years at Harvard with an introduction from Ivy Yard Dean Katie Denzon to the common phenomenon of impostor syndrome. Denzon spoke of the tendency for first-year students to characterize ourselves as “other,” believing […]
River Parties
A peek inside the first-year social scene
Harvard may be going through a bit of a social dry spell. But is that really such a bad thing?