DisGuide 2008

racism

2008-09-09T10:46:00.001-07:00

Upon entering Harvard College's campus, a visitor might feel that Harvard is a prime example of a university in which underrepresented domestic racial groups play a significant role on campus. Perhaps they would have heard about Harvard's 35% Black, Latino, Asian, or Native American population – higher than that of rival Ivy League schools such as Princeton or Yale. Maybe they would look at the over 100 student groups at the college alone that are based on racial, national, or cultural grounds, from the Asian American Association to Yo Creo En Venezuela, or “I believe in Venezuela.” In time they might be made aware of the fact that some of Harvard's top executive administrators – including the Senior Vice Provost of the University, the CFO of Harvard College, and last year's President of Harvard's Alumni Association – are all people of color. All of this, however, belies the reality that all who have spent significant amounts of time at Harvard, whether they are minority students, faculty, or staff – know and understand to this day: Harvard is still a place where racist ideas, actions, and practices continue. Although historical antecedents of the campus' current state stretch back hundreds of years, they remain one of Harvard's least talked about, though persistently reinforced, traditions.

“I experienced pity at the sight of this degraded and degenerate race, and their lot inspired compassion in me in thinking that they were really men." These were the words of Louis Agassiz, celebrated Harvard zoologist and well-known practicing racist, in reference to Americans of African descent in 1846 Philadelphia. Nineteenth century Harvard was the Harvard of old where White, wealthy males from New England made up almost the entire student body. Although slaves were no longer on campus with their young, studious masters—as had been the case in previous centuries—many students still had what were known as “scouts,” or Black servants who took orders from well-off White students while they were on campus. The first non-White student admitted to the college was Beverly G. Williams in 1847, though he died only a few months before the beginning of his initial year of studies from tuberculosis.

The first non-White Harvard College graduate did not come until 23 years later in the form of Richard T. Greener, an accomplished writer and public speaker who became a philosophy professor, law school dean, and foreign diplomat after his historic graduation in 1870. The first non-White Ph.D. recipient from Harvard was the more well-known W.E.B. Du Bois, NAACP founder, prolific writer, and leading figure in the scholastic emergence of sociology. However, few know that when Du Bois was a student at Harvard in the late nineteenth century he was not allowed to live in campus dormitories and was subsequently forced to rent a home in the Black section of Cambridge now known as Riverside. Du Bois viewed Harvard as a “defender of wealth and capital” and was first introduced to Marx at Harvard. He would eventually expatriate to Ghana and renounce his U.S. citizenship after joining the Communist Party and becoming disillusioned with capitalism and racism as practiced in the U.S.

Harvard's history of racial exclusion and unfair treatment continued throughout the twentieth century and still exists today in numerous guises. Various incidents between individuals have occurred on campus in the past year, and more will undoubtedly come. . One such incident happened in October of 2005 when a Black student in Pforzheimer House (Pfoho) was forcefully removed from the building and arrested by four officers for trespassing in his very own dorm. The event prompted Black student leaders and Pfoho tutors and staff to hold numerous meetings in an effort to further understanding and mitigate hostility. This was followed by a second incident in November, when a White person chased down a Muslim student walking by Lamont Library, yelling at them that they were a “filthy Jew hater.” Campus response was one of surprise, though publicity about the incident was relegated almost exclusively to a sole Harvard Crimson article. A third such incident occurred in February of this year, when Dean Judith Kidd sent out an e-mail warning the editors of The Harvard Salient, who had recently published the highly controversial Danish cartoon depictions of the prophet Mohammad, to be careful in case the decision brought violence from the Muslim community on campus. Dean Kidd was soon forced to release a letter of apology after members of the Harvard Islamic Society and others on campus criticized her insinuation that Islamic students would resort to violence. These are just a few of the untold numbers of instances of racism happening on campus last year.

Collective or group racism has also been consistently displayed on campus. One such instance where this occurs is at the Fox Club's annual “Boxer Rebellion Party.” The Asian American Women's Association (AAWA) has vocally opposed the party, as it seemingly celebrates a highly violent massacre of both residents and foreigners in China during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The blatant celebration of the massacre of thousands of Chinese citizens was, and is still, deemed racist. Requests to have the name of the party changed have gone unheeded by the Fox. Additionally, racism has entered the electronic realm through the Facebook with groups such as “Harvard White Men's Association”, a mockery of the many crucial race-based student groups on campus, and the “I should have gone to a Whiter school” Facebook group, which mocks the discomfort many students of color feel on our predominantly White campus. One other group incident on campus that stands out in particular involved a South Asian woman who was coming out of a party in Lowell and was grabbed by a White male after having racial slurs yelled at her by the all-White group that he was with. One of the comments that were purportedly said was that someone in the group wanted to “slaughter your people.” This type of inter-group terrorism still happens on campus, though the attention it garners is rarely one of substance for students, the administration, or the media.

Harvard's admissions process is another realm where racist practices exist as a framework for operation. Through the Undergraduate Minority Recruitment Program (UMRP) and the Harvard Financial Aid Initiative (HFAI) Harvard is able to publicize its perceived commitment to a diverse student body along the lines of race and class. For Black students at least, Harvard is one of the few places where the predominant national congruencies between race and class do not exist, as Black students at Harvard are overwhelmingly middle-class and wealthier. UMRP has students return back to the cities and towns that they come from to recruit other minority students to Harvard, but this neglects the fact that most minority students at Harvard went to high schools where they were also in the minority. For most minority students at Harvard, a return to their high school would mean a return to their boarding school, exam school, or suburban high school – places where the few minority students that attend would probably already be familiar with Harvard. Harvard is still inaccessible to many individuals of the rapidly increasing minority sectors of the population. Very, very few Black and Latino high school students apply to Harvard, though they make up over one-quarter of the high school population in the U.S.

There are many areas where Harvard College can improve its race relations and work harder to end racism throughout campus. The Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations functions as an awareness device for the University and, through its sponsorship and leadership of many student events on campus that serve its mission, works to bring about inter-racial and cross-cultural understanding. Much headway still needs to be made in this area, as the people who attend The Foundation's events are most often minority students and their diversity-embracing friends, hardly the majority of the college.

In terms of faculty appointments, the fact that most of Harvard's faculty members of color teach only about race and culture highlights the dearth of such professors in the departments relating to the arts and hard sciences. The core curriculum needs to be drastically re-worked to include courses related to the billions of people of Latin America, Southern Asia, and Africa (there are more Foreign Cultures courses offered on France alone than on the entire continent of Africa). Without measures to facilitate cross-community understanding, a faculty more demographically reflective of the student body, and more courses on areas of the world which many still harbor unsubstantiated or outdated images about, racism at Harvard will persist for countless commencements and convocations to come.r

mental health

2008-09-09T10:45:00.001-07:00

Mental health and mental illness are often discussed at Harvard in an abstract, academic way, or only discussed in moments of crisis. In addition, you often will only hear information about Harvard mental heath services at freshman orientation, information that is quickly forgotten after classes are underway. Please use this article as a tool of reference when talking to friends and/or loved ones is not enough, if you just need to let off some steam, or if one of your friends needs help.

Although people often bad-talk Harvard’s mental health services, the sheer number of places to turn for help with mental illness gives you a fair amont of choice. If you don’t like one, you can always try another. Odds are, you will find a group or place that suits your needs.

University Health Services (UHS): Since psychiatric disorders and mental illness are indeed disorders of the brain (not simply “character flaws” or “behavioral problems”), the most basic resource would be UHS. You can see a psychiatrist, prescribing physician or nurse as many times as need be. However, there are a limited number of visits for psychotherapy and counseling, so if you will need long-term counseling, you may need to turn somewhere else for support. If you call to set up an appointment, you may get a date weeks from then. If you want to see someone sooner, stop by the mental health services (located on the 4^th floor of UHS) and sign up for the drop-in urgent care, and you should be guaranteed a spot for that day.

Address: Holyoke Center, 75 Mount Auburn Street

Phone (Monday thru Friday 8am-5pm): 617-495-5711

Mental health phone (same as above): 617-495-2042

After hours/urgent care (after 5pm everyday, all weekend): 617-495-5711

Website: http://huhs.harvard.edu

Alcohol and Other Drug Services (AODS): This department is new and its team is still finding their niche. However, they are a great resource if you have a substance abuse problem or know someone who does. In addition, AODS enforces the unwritten rule that if you or someone you know is sick due to substance abuse, you will not get in trouble by seeking medical attention at UHS. If you stop by AODS, make sure to grab some free pens, chapstick, and maybe even a Nalgene bottle in abundance at the office. The Drug and Alcohol Peer Advisers in your dorm will also have educational materials available.

Address: 7 Linden Street

Phone: 617-496-0133

24-hour line: 617-495-5711

Website: http://huhs.harvard.edu/AboutUs/ContactUs/Redirect.aspx

Bureau of Study Counsel (BSC): The BSC is a multi-purpose resource that provides tutoring services in additon to counseling services. The BSC is probably the most welcoming and informal places you can go to get mental health care. While you aren’t getting official medical attention, counselors at the BSC can be good for bouncing off ideas, pointing you in the right direction, and being there for you with empathy and the occasional snacks of apple juice and chocolate chip cookies. You can call the phone number provided to make an appointment, and the BSC can usually get you an appointment in the next week or two.

Address: 5 Linden Street

Phone: 617-495-2581

Website: http://bsc.harvard.edu/index.html

Mental Health Awareness and Advocacy Group (MHAAG): This student-run outreach group holds regular meetings and events that serve multiple purposes, including education, support, awareness and advocacy. While it’s a small group, MHAAG hosts interesting events ranging from weekly “safe space” discussion groups to having psychiatrist Kay Redfield Jamison speak at Emerson Hall. E-mail mhaa@hcs.harvard.edu, sputnins@fas.harvard.edu, or eyang@fas.harvard.edu to join the mailing list. MHAAG is continuing its launch of two programs: the Mental Health Liaisons and the Mental Health Mentors. The Liaisons provide education to the houses and host related events, while Mentors provide one-on-one, ongoing student support. Please contact Eunice Yang at eyang@fas.harvard.edu for more information about the Mental Health Liason Program, and contact mentalhealthmentors@gmail.com for more information about the Mental Health Mentors Program.

Peer Counseling Groups: There are several different groups.

*Room 13 (617-495-4969) – Located in Grays basement, the office is open every night fom 7am to 7pm for students to receive counseling and information about Harvard procedures, roommate difficulties, alcohol, and other concerns.

*Peer Contraceptive Couselors (617-495-7561) – The PCC is a group of dedicated undergraduate men and women trained to answer basic questions about contraception, including information about regnancy, sexuality, sexually transmitted diseases, and how to access care at HUHS. The office is located near the after-hours urgent care clinic in UHS, and its drop-in hours are on Sunday thru Thursday from 7pm to midnight.

*Response (617-495-9600) – Response is a peer counseling organization staffed by women undergraduates to respond to issues of rape, acquaintance rape, sexual harassment, and relationship violence. The staff has been trained to provide confidential counseling and information on issues of rape, incest, abuse, and harassment, both psychological and physical. Their office is located in Lowell basement, room E-013, with office hours from 8pm to midnight. Calling hours are from 8pm to 7am everyday.

* Eating Concerns Hotline and Outreach – (617-495-8200): Commonly referred to as ECHO, this group was formed to address issues related to eating disorders at Harvard. ECHO offers confidential peer counseling services at its office in F Basement of Quincy House from 8 pm to 11 pm, Sunday through Thursday. The hotline is staffed every night from 8 pm to 8 am.

* Contact (617-495-8111) – Contact is a group of undergraduate peer counselors providing confidential support, counseling, and education on issues of sexual orientation. The undergraduate men and women who staff Contact have experience with coming out and being out issues and know a great deal about pertinent resources in the Harvard community. Contact is located in the basement of Thayer Hall. Hotline and drop-in hours are Thursday, Friday, and Sunday; from 8 pm to 1 am.

*InCommon (617-384-TALK) – InCommon is a group of graduate and professional school students trained to offer confidential support and counseling to peers regarding such issues as relationship concerns, academic difficulties, and stress. The hotline hours are Sunday through Thursday, 8 pm-midnight.

Website: http://www.college.harvard.edu/services/peer_counseling.html

Sexual Assault Prevention & Response: Established in 2003, this office was created to provide a safe space where victims of sexual assault can receive counseling and other forms of support confidentially. It has an abundance of on- and off-campus resources and information on sexual assualt available to students, and is accessible by phone 24 hours a day.

Address: Holyoke Center, 75 Mount Auburn Street, room 731

Office hours: 9am-5pm (Monday thru Friday)

Phone: 617-495-9100

Website: http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~osapr/

Accessible Education Office: This office is dedicated to making sure students with mental, physical, and physiological disablities receive proper accommodations and maximum access to housing, recreation, and above all, education.

Address: 20 Garden Street

Phone: 617-496-8707

Website: http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~aeo/

Harvard University Police Department: If nothing else, HUPD can bring you or friends to UHS or to an emergency room if you’re unable to, and you will get a quciker response than if you dial 911. If you live on the Yard, you can call them if you are ever locked out of your dorm.

Address: 1033 Massachusetts Avenue, 6th Floor

Phone (for emergencies or lockouts): 617-495-1212; (business line): 617-495-1215

Website: http://www.hupd.harvard.edu/

corporation

2008-09-09T10:42:00.000-07:00

Most people are familiar with Harvard's reputation as one of the most prestigious universities in the world; the college itself trumpets this tag to its incoming first-years. However, orientation week will leave first-years woefully under-informed about the nature of governance and the process of decision-making at Harvard. This is no accident. This lack of information is symptomatic of the severely antidemocratic environment created by the invisibility and inaccessibility of those who hold effective authority at the College.

In theory, major decisions about the future of Harvard College rest in the hands of the President and Fellows of Harvard College (also known as the Harvard Corporation) and the Board of Overseers. However, there is ample reason to believe that the former rules over the latter: many believe that the Board of Overseers' powers are ceremonial and many argue that it exists merely in order to confirm the decisions made by the Corporation. One author has even described it as “largely ineffectual”. Because of this fact, it makes sense to concentrate on the Corporation and its role in nurturing the college's antidemocratic climate.

In recent times, the Harvard Corporation (incidentally, the western hemisphere's oldest incorporated body) has consisted of six “fellows” who have no immediate ties to or financial/political interests in the university, and the President, who always serves on the board. The fellows serve for as many years as they deem appropriate, before choosing their own successors in total secrecy. There are two major reasons that Harvard's incoming first-years should be up-in-arms about this body:

Inaccessibility: The Corporation's meetings are (reportedly) held biweekly; however, the President and Fellows take pains not to disclose the location/time to the student body (although it is widely accepted that they meet at Loeb House, by Lamont Library). It is nearly impossible to affect the content of their discussions directly, as student petitions or demands are only heard at “their secretary's discretion”. This same secretary safeguards the minutes of all their meetings. Admittedly, the boards of governors at many multinational corporations conduct their business in similar fashion. However, Harvard is markedly distinct from those institutions. As a hallowed place of higher-education, it warrants a philosophy that rules out that kind of structure. First-years ought to reject the idea that our community can be handled from above (and the ideologies that accompany that belief); we all deserve a say in its future. In an editorial in the Crimson published in 2000, members of the Progressive Student Labor Movement (then PSLM, now SLAM) wrote: “Our liberal education is founded on the principles of open dialogue and civic participation, while the authority of the Harvard Corporation demonstrates the contrary.” The class of 2010 should echo these sentiments as the year commences.

Elitism: Given this extreme exclusivity, it is perhaps unsurprising that the members of the Harvard Corporation have almost always been white, Christian males. It was not until 1985 that the body admitted its very first Jewish man. Three hundred and fifty years of absolute homogeneity had preceded his appointment. The first non-male member was a white, corporate attorney named Judith Richards Hope (in 1989). And it was not until the twenty-first century that the first person of color became a fellow. While superficial measures have been taken to correct this self-evident racism and sexism, the historical record merely reflects the perverse philosophy that underpins the Corporation. The very fact of its existence speaks to an unconscionable elitism. First-years should vociferously contest the belief that the University, with enormously diverse concerns and constituents, can be administered by a group of essentially identical individuals (ideologically-speaking, especially). As an example, what kind of prescience authorizes the Corporation to deliberate over the question of a living-wage without input from campus workers and/or union representatives? The elitist premise upon which the Corporation was founded is no longer acceptable in the global community; indeed, it was with the same claim to “expertise” that Europe conquered and exploited much of the world. As such, incoming first-years should demand that the College take tangible steps towards abolishing the Corporation and redistributing its powers to faculty, staff, and students.

war

2008-09-09T10:41:00.001-07:00

* Military recruiters have been welcomed back with open arms throughout Harvard University in the last year, with recruiters getting access to students' emails and addresses, making special appearances at First-Year Activities Fairs, and holding Commissioning Ceremonies every year.

* Every military recruiter on campus violates Harvard's own anti-discrimination clause, which states that the university is committed to operating “without discrimination against individuals on the basis of race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity…” and “expects that all employers will act in compliance with this non-discrimination policy.”

* In recent years, Harvard has invited recruiters, not just from the Army, Air Force & Marine Corps, but from the Central Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency, and Department of Homeland Security, to career forums and other events hosted by the Office of Career Services.

* Harvard has long been in bed with the C.I.A. Professors like Ernest May were paid for open research for the C.I.A. in the 80s, while others like Samuel Huntington were found to be conducting secret research on its payroll. There is no evidence that such research has ended.

* The C.I.A. has been implicated in the use of torture (“enhanced interrogation techniques”) against prisoners illegally detained in Iraq and in secret prisons in Europe, in the kidnapping, assassination, and “extraordinary rendition” of Muslims around the world, and in historical assistance for everyone from Latin American death squads to the founders of Al Qaeda.

* The National Security Agency has been found to be tapping the phones of U.S. citizens without warrants. The Department of Homeland Security includes Immigration Enforcement, which holds hundreds of thousands of immigrants in detention camps, and Federal Emergency Management, famed for sitting on its hands during Hurricane Katrina while 1,800 people died.

(Sources: The Harvard Crimson, Office of Career Services, and www.cia-on-campus.org)

Contracting with the Pentagon:

Harvard received a total of $1.07 million in contracts from the Department of Defense in 2005.

* The University was paid $238,000 for “tuition, registration, and membership fees.”

* The College got four contracts worth $172,000 for “technical assistance” and “other professional services” (undisclosed) for 2005.

* The Kennedy School of Government got $486,000 for “training” programs in 2005.

* In 2004, Harvard Business School alone received five contracts worth $1.26 million.

* Little else is known about what kind of services the university is now offering the Pentagon.

(Sources: U.S. Department of Defense and www.governmentcontractswon.com)

Investing in War Profiteers:

* Harvard has $36.3 million invested in General Electric (G.E.), which makes billions in profits from building nuclear reactors and jet engines for use in bombers and other military machinery.

* $7 million is invested in Boeing, which profits from selling the military planes and helicopters, overseeing “missile defense” programs, and building “joint direct attack munitions” which regularly miss their targets, taking the lives of civilians in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere.

* $6.2 million is invested in United Technologies (a.k.a. Sikorsky), which makes its billions of dollars in profits from military helicopters, engines and missile systems that have inspired terror in civilians from Iraq to Lebanon, Somalia to Colombia and beyond.

* $3.7 million is invested in Halliburton, the oil giant which in one year procured $8 billion in profits from its military enterprises in Iraq. Its contracts soared 600% under the administration of Bush and Cheney, who served as its CEO and still gets millions of dollars from its profits.

(Sources: U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission and www.opensecrets.org)

feminist guide

2008-09-09T10:39:00.001-07:00

Radcliffe Union of Students

The Radcliffe Union of Students (RUS) is a mechanism through which all female undergraduates at Harvard may have their voices heard. RUS is an organization devoted to discussing and acting upon all issues important to women. We conduct panels, weekly dinner discussion groups, and events that ensure that the voices of all women are heard. In the past we provided grant money to organizations with women's issues as their primary focus. In light of the merger it is unclear whether we will continue in that capacity, but we hope to do so.

Our goals include getting more tenured women faculty, increasing publicity about issues pertinent to women at Harvard, holding panel discussions on women's issues, starting a first-year outreach program, and much much more!

We seek to address the fact that the administration often does not find it necessary to make undergraduate female voices heard. Our mentorship and outreach to first-year women will link them to an upperclasswomen and hopefully spark friendship and lend a nurturing hand to those new to Harvard. We would also like to host panel discussions during Frosh Week in which women's issues can be discussed. RUS wants the diverse women's community at Harvard College to be brought together and welcomed every year into a women-friendly environment. We are dedicated to bringing women's issues to the forefront of campus discussions at Harvard.

Mission Accomplished— RUS and other women’s organizations at Harvard have established at long last a new Women's Center on campus!

RUS History (as submitted to the Women's Guide to Harvard, June 2001)

At a time when there is no longer any such thing as a Radcliffe student, the Radcliffe Union of students seems a meaningless anachronism. Why should a group that, by the terms of the 1999 merger between Harvard and Radcliffe, cannot have any official contact with Radcliffe choose to name itself after that institution? There are several reasons why this name is still meaningful, for various reasons that, in an ideal world, would, like the title itself, be anachronistic. These reasons, however, are woven into the history of RUS and into the troubled history of women at Harvard.

Radcliffe's transition from an independent undergraduate college for women to a non-degree granting institute for advanced study with no students at all happened in two major steps. After being founded as the Harvard Annex in 1879, the institution soon-to-be-known-as Radcliffe accommodated female students but never actually had its own faculty. In Radcliffe Yard, female students were taught in gender-segregated classrooms by the same professors who taught Harvard students in Harvard Yard. The path to full coeducation began during World War II as classrooms were integrated, and moved further forward at the beginning of the 1970's when men and women slowly began to live together. The first of Radcliffe's two major steps away from undergraduate education took place in 1977, with the "non-merger merger" agreement, by which Radcliffe ceded much of its educational responsibilities to Harvard. Women were still admitted to "Harvard-Radcliffe" and received a different diploma from men when they graduated. The second phase of the process took place in 1999 with an official merger fully transforming Radcliffe into the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, and removing "Radcliffe" from admissions certificates and diplomas.

The Radcliffe Union of Students was founded in 1969 partially in response to the difficulties women faced as the men's and women's colleges grew closer and closer. It intended to provide a student government more independent of sometimes overbearing administrative influences than the parallel Radcliffe Government Association. As the preamble to RUS' constitution reads: "We, the students of Radcliffe College, to maintain its identity as a distinct institution, and to represent, support, and encourage the interests of undergraduate women at Harvard University, have organized ourselves into a Union of Students." Since it was conceived with those words, RUS has made numerous changes still intimately felt by all Harvard undergraduates. The group was a major force, for example, in effecting the abolition of parietal rules, the restrictions that limited the hours of coeducational mingling in dorms and enforced curfews that would now seem absurd to undergrads. RUS also helped incite the campaign and continue the struggle for a committee on Women's Studies—a program that Harvard was the last Ivy to establish. As early as the '70's, RUS was also struggling to increase the University's still-abysmal number of tenured women. Harvard's sexual harassment policy and current security measures (like better lighting and escort services) are also due in part to RUS activism. A Women's Center, located in Phillips Brooks House, was established for sometime during the '70's, also thanks to the group.

These historical campaigns do not only suggest, however, that RUS was an important force in the past, when Radcliffe students were a disempowered minority, but also give us an idea of how necessary a group like it is in the present. Harvard was until now the only Ivy without some kind of space for women—a Women's Center. [In 2004, only 4 of 32 tenured positions went to women in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.] The Committee on Women's Studies still lacks departmental status and the power to give tenured positions. These are only examples, but clearly the struggle for equal coeducation has not yet been won. The mission of the current Radcliffe Union of Students, to be a visible feminist presence on Harvard's campus, follows in the tradition of this effort. We hope that the name of Radcliffe will continue to evoke a tenacious tradition of Radcliffe women—both to keep the history and current condition of women at Harvard vocal, visible, and alive, and to buttress, with their strength and experiences, our own participation in this long struggle.

by Jessica Rosenberg, RUS member class of 2004, June 2001

What’s in a name?

Part of the reason for our name is just history: RUS used to be the student governing body of Radcliffe College, much like the Undergraduate Council today. Between the 1977 agreement and the 1999 merger of Harvard and Radcliffe, RUS got $5 from every woman undergraduate's termbill, which we then redistributed to women's groups on campus.

After the 1999 merger we saw no need to change our name, since the college had stated there was no need for any student groups to remove Radcliffe from their names. We keep the name although all of our members are students at Harvard, and Harvard alone. We keep the name to remember the women who came before us: who had to clean rooms of Harvard students, who were not allowed into Harvard's Faculty Club, who could not enter Lamont Library until the late 1960's. Most of all we keep the name to remind us that Harvard has not always had any kind of commitment to educating women, and that with that lack of tradition we must be constantly watchful. There is still a long way to go.

by Lisa Vogt, RUS member class of 2001, 2000

Famous Radcliffe Alumnae

Alberta Scott, 1898 – first African American to graduate from Radcliffe
Margaret Atwood, 1947 - author 1962 masters degree from Radcliffe
Benazir Bhutto, ex-Prime Minister of Pakistan.
Melissa Block, radio journalist, Co-host, All Things Considered
Caitlin Carson, actress
Stockard Channing, actress, famous for her roles in Grease and The West Wing
Amy Gutmann, Current president of the University of Pennsylvania
Abigail Folger, 1964 - American heiress and murder victim.
Helen Keller, deafblind writer, activist
Ursula K. Le Guin, American writer, poet
Elizabeth (Sadie) Holloway Marston, M.A. 1921 - co-creator of the comic book character, Wonder Woman
Anne McCaffrey, 1947 - Science fiction author
Gertrude Stein, American writer, poet, playwright and feminist
Abby Sutherland, cum laude graduate, head mistress, president, and owner of The Ogontz School for Girls. Sutherland deeded the school to Penn State in 1950.
Charlotte Wilder, M.A. - poet and eldest sister of Thornton Wilder

Resources

Feminist Bookstores in MASSACHUSETTS:

Center for New Words
in transition
The Center for New Words continues to sponsor regular events.
newwords@world.std.com
http://www.centerfornewwords.org/

Radzukina's Gifts for Womyn
714 North Broadway
Haverhill MA 01832
978-521-1333

Pride & Joy *
20 Crafts Ave.
Northampton MA 01060
413-585-0683
Fax: 413-584-4848
Info@nohoprideandjoy.com
www.nohoprideandjoy.com

Third Wave Feminist Bookseller
42A Green St.
Northampton, MA 01060
413-586-7851

Recovering Hearts Book and Gift Store
2 & 4 StandishSt.
Provincetown MA 02657
508-487-4875
Fax 508-487-1445

Womencrafts Inc. *
376 Commercial St. / Box 190
Provincetown MA 02657
508-487-2501
Fax 508-487-2629
info@womencrafts.com
http://www.womencrafts.com

Radical Resources in the Area:

www.inciteboston.blogspot.com/
www.lucyparsons.org
www.commchurch.org
45 Mt Auburn St
Campus Women’s Center (Canaday Basement, B-Entryway)

queer guide

2008-09-09T10:37:00.001-07:00

I’ve got my fair share of complaints about Boston. As you start senior year, you’ll have a list, too. I’ve walked from Tufts to Harvard in the pouring rain at 2am, because public transportation closes down at midnight. The guy in the Pit who shouts verses from the Book of Revelations has personally singled me out for damnation. I’ve searched in vain for a grocery store in Harvard Square, and shaved years off my life by resigning myself to eating taquitos from 7-11. I pay taxes to Mitt Romney.

But for all its faults, Boston’s a decent place to be young, socially conscious, and queer-friendly – not necessarily because it’s cornered the market on activism, culture, or nightlife, but because it’s got a little bit of something for everyone. You don’t necessarily have to venture outside the Yard to find a niche that you can call your own, because Harvard has plenty of diverse communities of its own. Still, there’s no reason to pass up on what Boston’s got to offer – and if you know where to find genderqueer slam poets, volunteer at a legal information hotline, and eat a Monkey Wrench, you’ll probably find that Boston seems infinitely more inviting.

Within the confines of Harvard Yard, the largest queer extracurricular organization is the Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Transgender, and Supporters’ Alliance (BGLTSA), which offers a jam-packed slate of community, political, and social activities throughout the year. The calendar changes to reflect the interests of the BGLTSA’s membership, but watch for the introductory meeting, Queer Thanksgiving, the Trans Day of Remembrance, the fall, winter, and spring dances, the Papodopolous Lecture, and Gaypril, a month of heightened visibility on campus. To really get plugged into the campus community, join the high-traffic Open List, which acts as a venue for the community to interact via email. If you want to share an article, start a debate, or solicit opinions, that’s the place to do it. (If you want to get dangerously close to committing libel, that’s been done too.) If you’re primarily interested in weekly updates from the BGLTSA itself, the low-traffic Announce List is a lighter (and way less amusing) alternative.

Girlspot is Harvard’s group for queer women and their supporters; in the past, the group has organized dinners, discussions, and a queer women’s film series that ranged from nuanced, insightful films about women in love to low-budget flicks about lesbian vampires. Still, Girlspot is also famous for its room parties, where there’s a decent chance that you’ll make out with someone who goes to school in rural Massachusetts but seems determined to spend the night in Cambridge. BOND, or Building on Diversity, officially seeks to provide safe, non-judgmental social space, which unofficially translates into dark, gin-scented pre-games and the occasional pizza-and-beer soiree. The Queer Asian Forum (QAF) grew from a popular Facebook group into an actual group with actual people, and those actual people have organized well-attended discussions and film screenings that range from issues of queer Asian identity to broader issues of race, sexuality, and grappling with multiple identities. If you’re interested in trans activism, a group of Harvard students, staff, faculty, and alums known as the Transgender Task Force (TTF) are a great way to get involved with policy issues on campus. Last year, TTF successfully lobbied the University to include gender identity in its nondiscrimination code, and set off a wave of similar decisions at institutions across the country. As the University tackles the responsibility that comes along with that decision, though, there’s still plenty of work to be done. Everyone should also read Trannies Talk Back (TTB), a series of essays published by trans students at Harvard. If you’re looking for coverage of all things queer, Quench, in its incarnations as a blog and zine, is one of the most fantastically irreverent publications on campus.

As a first-year, you can get involved in the groups that already exist, start your own organization, or act as an advocate for queer issues in other campus communities. Regardless, you’ll inevitably hear criticism that different queer organizations on campus are too reactionary, too complacent, too involved in queer life, too removed from reality, too political, too social, only draw very concerned students when those students happen to be very single and undersexed, are too focused on differences, and don’t take differences seriously enough. I’d venture that each of those assessments resonates with somebody at any given time. You can either consider that a scathing critique of existing organizations, or you can shrug it off as a testament to the diversity of queer communities on campus, but whatever you do, don’t let the shortcomings of existing organizations keep you from getting involved. It’s college, organizations change completely over the course of four years. And if you don’t get involved, there’s a good chance that awful people who are worse than you in every respect will take charge, and then everybody loses.

And whether you’re there to make posters for a rally, find a book for a class, or watch Trick on VHS, everyone has access to the Resource Center (RC), located in Thayer Basement, which has a lending library of books, magazines, videos, and DVDs and is staffed by student volunteers on weekdays from 11am to 5pm. It’s usually got food and safer-sex supplies, too, and functions as a well-utilized lounge where queer and heterosexual students congregate, watch DVDs, and try to do work. Generally, the RC is where papers and problem sets go to die, but it’s so awesome that nobody really cares.

You can also join First-Year Group, where queer and questioning first-year students meet every week in a safe, confidential setting to connect and get acclimated to Harvard. If you’re not quite sure where you fit into the campus scene or just want to get connected to the other queer and questioning people in your class, it’s probably your best bet. You can ask your proctor for details, or check the BGLTSA’s website for information on the first meeting. Whether you’re a first-year or not, you can also access Contact, a peer counseling group that specializes in gender and sexuality issues, by calling, dropping by the office, or applying to get trained as a peer counselor and help with the work they do.

The upperclass houses also host their own events, courtesy of the BGLT Tutors in each of the twelve residences. In recent years, Mather has had a queer women’s film series, Mather and Dunster have done must-attend morning-after brunches on Sundays, Currier has hosted Queer Eye screenings, Eliot has had a Queer Tea, and Lowell has had pre-professional dinners, guest speakers like Wicked author Gregory Maguire, L Word screenings, and history brunches. (And history brunches, by the way, are much, much better than they sound. If you’ve ever wanted to kick back with an omelet and watch old German films about star-crossed lesbians in boarding schools, well, welcome to Harvard.) For the most part, nobody explains where places like the Junior Common Room (JCR) or the Senior Common Room (SCR) are located in each house, which is especially frustrating when it’s winter and you’re totally lost. You’ll learn pretty quickly, but if you’re ever unsure, just drop an email to the organizer of the event, check each house’s website for a map of the building. If you can’t find the building itself, Harvard’s website has a map feature with the entire campus at your fingertips.

Overall, students across campus are doing a lot with gender and sexuality issues, but there are some things that undergraduates can’t provide – which is good, because you don’t want to get hormones, Prozac, or HIV-testing from the same people who you party with, as a general rule. Unless that person is Sara Kimmel, who heads up mental health services at University Health Services (UHS) and the Bureau of Study Counsel (“the Bureau”) on Linden Street. She won’t actually party with you (apparently, the medical profession is big on “boundaries”), but she’s incredibly approachable, and a great person to contact about queer health – and transgender health, especially – if you’ve got questions you’re not comfortable bringing to UHS. Depending on their primary care physician, students have reported different experiences at UHS, ranging from “wow, she asked about my ‘partners’” to “seriously, trust me, the swelling is not pregnancy-related.” I’m not even responsible enough to remember whether I’m allergic to any medications, so I’m not going to tell you how to live your life. If you find that you’re unhappy with your doctor at UHS, though, you should feel comfortable switching to a different one; Dr. Churchill, Dr. Osher, and Dr. Wang have gotten pretty high praise for their sensitivity to queer students in the past. You can schedule appointments with your doctor to get tested for sexually transmitted infections (STIs). If you’re sexually active, you can access UHS’s anonymous or confidential HIV testing services. Confidential testing is usually done by your primary care physician over the course of two appointments, is covered by your insurance, and the results can be released to employers and insurers under certain circumstances. Anonymous testing is administered orally by a trained counselor, costs $10 (although you won’t be turned away if you’re unable to pay for the test), and you’ll be asked to supply a code to identify yourself instead of your name. You can schedule anonymous testing by calling the Surgical Specialties Department at (617) 495-2139. It’s all on UHS’s website, but the less you have to navigate that, the better.

Once you’ve gotten the hang of Harvard, though, there’s plenty to do off-campus – and though extracurricular groups occasionally host outings, there’s no reason why you can’t get busy on your own. If you’re into high-octane coffee, vegan snacks, and shamelessly flirting with baristas who are walking sex, try Diesel, a queer women’s café near Tufts University in Davis Square. If you plan to stay and study, come early, because seating is scarce on weekends. (They push the garage theme; the Monkey Wrench is one of their better sandwiches, and the front of the café is a glass-paned, fully functional garage door that’s hoisted open on warm days.) The Milky Way Café is supposed to be another prime locale in Jamaica Plain, a neighborhood that boasts impressive progressive and queer women’s communities. It’s a bit of a schlep, but might be worth it. The South End – on the Orange Line, within walking distance of the Back Bay stop – has blocks of cafes, specialty stores, and upscale restaurants, primarily geared at gay men. If you’re itching for corporate coffee, the Starbucks on Tremont Street is probably the gayest in Boston, but honestly, you can do better – Francesca’s doesn’t have a whole lot of seating, but it serves sandwiches, salads, and trademark drinks like the Sex on the Counter, the caffeinated, non-alcoholic equivalent of a Sex on the Beach. And if you’re interested in actually having sex on a counter, Good Vibrations in Boston probably stocks any and everything sex-related that strikes your fancy.

After hours, there’s not a whole lot that caters to the queer community on a nightly basis – most clubs have a weekly gay or lesbian night, and it’s a matter of finding your favorite and planning your life around that. If you’re 19+, the best night is probably Thursdays at the Embassy/Modern, which routinely devolves into a crush of sweaty people and the Top 40. For queer women, there’s Pink and Tribe; Avalon and Axis on Lansdowne Street tends to cater to gay men. In the past, ManRay in Central Square was a staple for fantastically sketchy parties on Wednesdays, and Aria in the Theatre District was uber-trendy on Thursdays, but ManRay finally closed after struggling to stay afloat for years, and Aria has lost a lot (like, almost all) of its clientele to Embassy/Modern. If you send an email a day or two in advance, you can usually get on the guest list and pay reduced admission. Whatever you do, always bring a state-issued ID – even at clubs that are 19+, the bouncers are pretty strict. For the most up-to-date information on admission, age restrictions, and schedules, check each club’s website. And if you’re not necessarily in the mood for clubbing, GenderCrash features a lineup of incredible open-mic performances on the first Thursday of every month, and the BGLTSA usually sends a sizeable contingent. In downtown Boston, Club Café has karaoke, and even though the bar is 21+, the super-cheap Thanksgiving buffet at the adjoining 209 is a must-try if you’re spending the holiday with the family instead of, um, your family.

It’s not quite Ibiza, but it’s easy enough to find a place in Boston to shake your ass and/or watch yourself. Still, there’s something admirable about giving back, too. You can check out regular volunteer opportunities at a variety of organizations, or seek out groups that organize projects on an ad hoc basis. Fenway is widely regarded as a hotbed for work on queer health, although the Gay Men’s Domestic Violence Project (GMDVP) and the Network/La Red have also done outreach on sexual health and violence, too. The Boston Alliance for Gay and Lesbian Youth (BAGLY) and the Gay/Lesbian/Straight Education Network (GLSEN) might have opportunities to get involved in queer youth issues, if you’re committed to making a difference in that arena. If you’re ready to become a militant homosexual, there are plenty of political action groups – like MassEquality, the Queer Asian Pacific Alliance (QAPA), and the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition (MTPC) – that offer opportunities to get involved. And if you just want to help out, Community Servings uses volunteers to help make meals for people living with HIV/AIDS and Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD) trains volunteers twice a year to work on its Legal Information Hotline. Whether you’re involved in queer activities at Harvard or not, Boston’s got some of the best NGOs and service providers in the US, so if you’re interested in activism, community organizing, fundraising, human rights, government, law, medicine, lobbying, public service, or anything else that’s remotely related to caring about other people, you’re in a good place to get pretty phenomenal experience.

Obviously, being queer doesn’t mean that that has to define you and the things you’re interested in, and being straight doesn’t preclude you from getting involved with gender and sexuality issues. Nonetheless, Harvard’s queer community is vibrant because it’s a diverse group of students advancing a diverse set of needs, and together, that group makes its presence felt. It’s rare to find a group that takes care of its members in the same way that the queer community strives to do; students staff their own Resource Center, counsel their peers, fight political battles on behalf of one another, and arrange social events that tend to kick ass. I think that’s rare, and I think it becomes infinitely more meaningful when you get beyond the divisions that exist and try to contribute whatever you’ve got. You can say a lot of unkind things about Harvard – and trust me, you will – but you can’t claim that there’s a shortage of opportunities to make a difference.

For more information on Harvard’s groups, check out:

BGLTSA: http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/queer
Girlspot: http://www.xanga.com/girlspot
BOND: http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/bond
TTF: http://hcs.harvard.edu/queer/ttf/activism.html
Quench: http://www.quenchzine.blogspot.com
Contact: http://www.digitas.harvard.edu/~contact

art and activism

2008-07-24T16:21:00.001-07:00

(this is a short list of organizations, venues, bookstores etc. and is meant to open the doors to arts and activism in Boston, not provide a Yellow-Pages listing of them all. I reccomend that you visit any of the websites below and check their calendars and link pages for the most up to date information and listings of other great groups and events you can attend and participate in!)

Calendars and Event Listings
http://www.radicalendar.org/calendar/index.php?view=month&group=bostonimc

Open Mic Listings
General Open Mics: http://www.sambayer.com/openmikes.html
Poetry Open mics: http://www.poetz.com/boston/index.htm

At Harvard:

Spoken Word Society:

Harvard Arts Organization:
Contact: Alison Cohen cohen@fas, Rebecca Chase chase@fas, Caitlin Hartman chartman@fas, Weekly writing workshops; teaching opportunities, 1-2 open mics per semester

BlackCast:
Theater. Incredible. Totally student established and Student Run. Talk to Shawna Strayhorn strayhor@fas

Cultural Agents Initiative:
www.culturalagents.org
Bridging the gap between artists and the academy. Internationally focused.

VES department:
Classes. Professors. Great opportunity and great access to materials. (also, check the back of the building for rich dumpster-diving)

Beyond Harvard:

BRAZILIAN CULTURAL CENTER
www.bccne.org
(not really so much activism, but a great place to take capoeira and samba classes, dance, hear great music and meet lots of dope people, particularly those involved in the large Brazilian immigrant community of the Boston area)

BLACKOUT ARTS COLLECTIVE
www.blackoutartscollective.com
Blackout Arts Collective (BAC) is a grassroots coalition of artists, activists and educators working to empower communities of color through the arts. We use the tools of culture and education to raise awareness and catalyze action around the critical issues that impact our communities. We believe in the power of the creative process to transform lives, mobilize communities, and build a more just society. BAC is a national organization that operates through local action facilitated by our seven city chapters. Contact a chapter near you for information about membership, events, or programming.

Boston Chapter
The second oldest chapter of Blackout has become known for its dynamic performances at local venues like the Lizard Lounge and Piano's and its spearheading of the first Lyrics on Lockdown Tour in 2001. Contact boston@blackoutartscollective.com

JAMAICA PLAIN VAGINA MONOLOGUES
There is a great performance of Vagina Monologues that goes on in Jamaica Plain in Boston each year, which focuses particularly on the LGBT community and issues surrounding gender and sexuality.

REFLECT AND STRENGTHEN
www.reflectandstrengthen.org
Create a safe space for girls and women to examine and explore issues in our lives, share our stories, heal fro m trauma, develop strategies for dealing with a wide range of issues and support each other as women.
* Girl's Rap: support groups, guided by licensed counselors where internalized sexism and other barriers that keep girls and women from meeting their full potential are examined and broken while supporting each other and healing from life's traumas and experiences.
* What's the 411: circles for young women to think critically about society, the world and history through social justice education while making positive change through organizing in collaboration with our communities.
* Street Theater: Members create, direct and produce plays, which express our ideas, experiences and spirits through theater, spoken word, poetry, dance, music, hip hop, instruments, and visual art.
New Programming / Coming Soon:
* Urban Word: a multi-media project aiming to engage youth not involved in youth programs and or school.
* Our Sisters Behind the Wall: a project led by R & S members working with girls ages 14-16 who are incarcerated.
* School Based Reflect and Strengthen: R & S is in the process of building collaborations with several Boston Public Schools.

CRITICAL BREAKDOWN
http://www.criticalbreakdown.org/
Contact: Erik Wissa
Hip Hop youth activist program with well established roots in Boston. See their website for more details. Part of American Friends Service Committee.

ARTISTS FOR HUMANITY
www.afhboston.com
Artists For Humanity's mission is to bridge economic, racial and social divisions by providing underserved youth with the keys to self-sufficiency through paid employment in the arts.

CASA DE LA CULTURA/CENTER FOR LATINO ARTS
http://www.iba-etc.org/claboston/programs.html
La Casa de la Cultura / Center for Latino Arts (CLA) is a cutting-edge multi-functional community arts center whose mission is to preserve and promote Latino art. Conveying to both Latinos and non-Latinos the vitality of contemporary and traditional Latino cultural expressions, the Center offers performances, exhibits and classes in a variety of art forms, including: Latin jazz, folk dance and music, poetry, theater and the visual arts. The CLA combines our Jorge Hernandez Cultural Center (converted into a 450-person capacity performance venue from a historic church in 1986) with a new community arts center (historically renovated from the adjacent parish house in 2003) that includes a gallery, dance studio and visual arts studio.

CLA's goals are to provide high quality and affordable: Arts Education, particularly for at-risk youth in Villa Victoria; Advocacy, Coordination, Support and Incubation for Latino artists and arts organizations; Exhibition, Work, Rehearsal, Performance and Rental Space; and opportunities for Cross-Cultural Collaboration between Latinos and the rest of the city's diverse populations. Celebrating Boston's growing diversity, the Center for Latino Arts is taking shape as a new landmark in the city that will transcend Villa Victoria and the Latino community and become a fixture engraved into the cultural life of Boston as a whole. La Casa de la Cultura / Center for Latino Arts is a program of Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción (IBA). For more information, contact Javier Torres, Manager of the Arts and Culture Department at (617) 927-1737.

BOSTON PROGRESS
www.bostonprogress.org
Contact: Giles Li
Boston Progress provides a safe space for Asian Pacific American perspectives to be expressed and observed through visual, performance and literary arts. Boston Progress seeks to build a sense of community among its membership, and outreach to APA communities by promoting the importance of art as a tool for community education and activism. Boston Progress values diversity of viewpoints in representing APA experiences and steadfastly opposes discrimination based on race, religion, sexual orientation, gender, ethnicity, age, appearance, disability or any other immutable characteristics.

EAST MEETS WEST BOOKSTORE (run by Boston Progress)
In Cambridge (right down Mass ave towards Central Square)
monthly open-mic series. completely volunteer-run (always looking for volunteers)

PROJECT HIP HOP
Contact: George Lee, Director: Mariama White Hammond
www.projecthiphop.org
Project HIP-HOP (Highways Into the Past- History, Organizing & Power) is a youth-led organization. Hip hop culture and the history of resistance to injustice are our primary tools for engaging and developing young people as activists and organizers. We provide opportunities for young people to work together gaining the skills and experiences to educate and organize in their schools, communities and the broader society.

While we believe that movement requires the participation of many different peoples, Project HIP-HOP is particularly interested in building the skills of young people who are often labeled "at-risk." We believe that these youth are most in need of the resources we offer and are most keenly aware of the human reality of the injustices in our society.

CENTER FOR NEW WORDS (Cambridge)
www.centerfornewwords.org
Feminist bookstore
Monthly open-mic series

ASIAN AMERICAN RESOURCE WORKSHOP
www.aarw.org
The mission of the Asian American Resource Workshop is to work for the empowerment of the Asian Pacific American community to achieve its full participation in the U.S. society.
We are a member-based organization that seeks to document the diverse Asian Pacific American histories, experiences, and social conditions. Our resource and activities are used to respond to current Asian Pacific American issues and to promote Asian Pacific American identity.
The AARW is located in the heart of Chinatown at the corner of Harrison Avenue and Beach Street 33 Harrison Ave., 5th floor, Boston, MA 02111.

Venues:

MIDDLE EAST
Concert venue and restaurant that attracts both mainstream and underground performers. Also has had benefit concerts and welcomes local (even Harvard student) performers to the stage.

LEFTIST LOUNGE
www.leftistlounge.com
"Leftist Lounge is a gathering of people who strive to build a powerful social movement. We are people who believe that to mobilize for change, we must offer more than dry meetings with patronizing white liberals who attempt to contain real transformation. We understand that transformation is as personal as it is societal. Through celebration and affirmation of our creative power we can reshape the world...Leftist Lounge offers a sporadic party, giving space to the community to dance, eat, laugh, and inspire each other. We are the block party back in the day. We are there to celebrate life, creation, and change. You should be there too." (from website)
Location: Jorge Hernandez Cultural Center
85 West Newton St.
South End, Boston MA

JORGE HERNANDEZ CULTURAL CENTER
In addition to leftist lounge, hosts many other events and performances.
The Jorge Hernández Cultural Center (JHCC) is a multi-functional dynamic rental facility converted into a 450-person capacity performance venue from a historic church in 1986. It is adjacent to La Casa de la Cultura (historically renovated from the adjacent parish house in 2003) that includes an art gallery, dance studio and visual arts studio.

beyond the gates

2008-07-24T15:58:00.001-07:00

Boston is the city that made me fall in love with all cities. This could be due to the fact that Boston also happens to be the city where I was raised, but it could also be due to the diverse and plentiful activities, neighborhoods and cultures that Boston has to offer. Growing up, I would grab a friend and hop on the T without a second thought, ending up in Charlestown, or the South End, or Allston. Boston seemed to be the ultimate life-size playground, but then a funny thing happened during my first semester at Harvard: I barely left campus.

This tendency, I soon learned, is not a rare occurrence in the Harvard community, and the Harvard administration is all but supporting it. Indeed, Harvard students are very busy people, and we should all definitely be taking advantage of the resources that are offered to us on campus— but since I imagine many of us chose Harvard because of its urban environment, why should we ignore our city now that we’re here?

It’s not that Harvard had ever explicitly told me to not to venture into the diverse neighborhoods that surround Harvard Square, but the predominant culture of Harvard encourages students to stay within the cocoon of its gates. The student handbook offers little information about activities off campus, and the HUPD’s guide to staying safe, the “Playing It Safe” handbook, highlights a recommendation to walk on four “designated paths” throughout the Cambridge campus (for a map of these pathways go to: www.hupd.harvard.edu/designated_paths.php.) While the HUPD has actually mapped out the preferred place they want students to inhabit, it hasn’t offered any safe routes for traveling around the city. Perhaps the HUPD believes that the best spots for students is on those paths, and within the greater confines of Harvard’s watchful eye… These handbooks say little about public transportation and fail to list major urban cultural events that actually could enrich a student’s experience.

A resolution for the new school year should be to get off Harvard’s “safe paths.” There are seemingly endless neighborhoods and areas easy to get to from Harvard. One of the many things you could do is get on the 66 bus, it’ll pick you up right on JFK street, and head over to Allston to check out a tons of small restaurants, or a punk show at Regeneration. Check out other shows at The Abbey in Inman Square. You could take the T the end of the Orange Line, and wander around the Arnold Arboretum on a sunny day, or attend a poetry reading at the Spontaneous Celebrations community center in Jamaica Plain. Heck, just look for events that are close to home, like the World’s Fair festival in Central Square, or just go people-watching in Cambridgeport and admire the fact that everyone is not a college student! Riding a bike is a great way to explore the Boston area, and Cambridge is pretty good about having bike lanes. Check out the bicycle safety pamphlets that are offered in the basement of Dudley House.

Just like in any city, though, getting off a “safe” path also means that you need to of course be cautious in your actions and aware of your surroundings. This article’s ambition is to inspire people to push out of Harvard’s campus, and challenge and enjoy themselves in different environments; this experience must always include being aware of, and critically examining why one feels safe or not safe in a certain environment. Writer and urban activist Jane Jacobs (RIP), theorizes in her book The Life and Death of Great American Cities, that urban neighborhoods are in fact safer than secluded areas like suburbs, because city streets are often populated, and city dwellers tend to look out for eachother. If Jacobs’ theory interests you, I recommend checking out the aforementioned book, and if you’re specifically interested in the history of urban life in Boston, Ronald Formisano’s book Boston Against Busing discusses not only the “Busing” phenomena of the ‘70s, but also the cultural and historical character of Boston’s different neighborhoods.

Don’t get me wrong, one doesn’t necessarily need to leave Harvard Square in order to find some gems of Cambridge, but it becomes increasingly important to get off campus as Harvard Square increasingly resembles an outdoor mall. Gentrification, in the form of the corporate takeover of small independent businesses, has transformed the old Harvard Square from a bustling artsy intellectual center, to a land of chain stores. A prime example of the gentrification process happened at the corner of JFK and Eliot Streets. Where the Citizen’s Bank now resides, was once a little 24 hour diner called The Tasty. The guys behind the counter at The Tasty always had a nickname for you, and usually remembered how you liked your grilled cheese sandwich. In 1997 The Tasty was bought out, and an Abercrombie and Fitch branch was erected in its place. While the diner was always bustling, the clothing store had more trouble, and after a few years the bank moved in.

Whether the corporation be a bank or a clothing store, neither establishment can replace the personal connection that The Tasty brought to Harvard Square. Although this unique establishment and connection is gone from our neighborhood, that kind of connection still exists in many pockets and corners of Boston, and it’s just too good to be missed.

campus media guide

2008-07-24T15:57:00.001-07:00

The lowdown you won't find in the front pages or comp meetings of Harvard's official media.

The Crimson:

The Harvard Crimson bills itself as “the only breakfast-table daily newspaper in Cambridge, MA,” your only source for news on campus and off. Since its founding in 1873 as The Magenta, The Crimson has maintained a virtual monopoly on news coverage of what's going down in and around Harvard University, with a staff of several hundred and a daily readership of 14,000.

The Crimson is a private corporation, officially independent of the university. Yet the newspaper is still subject to close scrutiny and interaction with the Harvard administration and with various advertisers. For years, The Crimson has taken part in regular meetings with the president and the deans of the university. It also has a whole department dedicated to relations with “Business.”

The paper is structured just like a private corporation, with an executive leadership known as a “Guard,” including a president, managing editor, business manager, and extensive executive boards in the News, Editorial, Business, Magazine, Sports, Arts, and other departments. Though the real power is in the hands of the executives, all staff writers are granted the status of “editor.”

All aspiring staff writers are subjected to a complicated “comp” process, whereby editors extract many of their news stories, editorials, reviews, and other material from willing “compers.” Sometime in the last month of every semester, a new class of “compers” is inducted into the staff of The Crimson through an elaborate ritual known as “elections.”

The Crimson's News Board makes claims to objectivity and fairness in its reporting. However, it is subject to the criticism from the Left that its coverage is overly favorable to the Harvard administration and big corporations, and to familiar criticism from the campus Right that its coverage is overly “liberal” and antagonistic to the policies of the Bush administration.

The Editorial Board issues both signed opinion editorials and its own unsigned opinions every day in the name of “The Crimson Staff.” These opinions have swung to the Right in recent years, coming out in staunch support of discriminatory groups on campus, the occupation of Iraq, free market economics, and the administration of Larry Summers.

Though a Diversity Committee and financial aid fund were instituted in recent years, The Crimson still faces allegations of bias and exclusivity. Out of the last 6 Editorial Chairs, only one has been a woman. Out of 18 columnists published by the Editorial Board last year, only 3 were people of color.

But it's not fixed in stone. The Harvard Crimson is a vast enterprise with a volunteer staff open to all Harvard undergraduates. With people like you, it could be a different kind of newspaper.

To comp The Crimson: Attend a comp meeting for one of the boards in September or February.

To tell The Crimson about a news story: Email news@thecrimson.com and call 617.576.6565

To submit an Opinion Editorial (650-900 words) to The Crimson, email it to editorial@thecrimson.com or pcbrzez@fas.

To submit a Letter to the Editor (50-200 words) to The Crimson, email it to letters@thecrimson.com

Other Campus Media

Note: A fresh alternative newspaper may be coming soon, to be published by the editors of the “Disorientation Guide,” and maybe you! Editors, writers, and artists wanted. To get involved, contact ausmani@fas, mgould@fas, or mroosev@fas.

The Harvard University Gazette

This is the weekly publication of Harvard's PR wing, the Office of News and Public Affairs, the same people who run the university website. It is crafted to keep the shine on the university's image and put a positive spin on any and all campus news. Everything that goes into the Gazette is approved by the Office and by “the President and Fellows of Harvard College.”

The Harvard Independent

The “student-run weekly newsmagazine” of Harvard College. Founded in 1969 as an alternative to what was, back then, a more left-wing Crimson. The Independent or “Indy” now offers a range of content centered around news, student life and the arts. Though it tries to compete with The Crimson, the poor weekly has never managed to be taken as seriously as other publications.

The Harvard Advocate

The “premier literary magazine of Harvard College,” claiming to be the oldest college literary magazine in the country. The Advocate seems to be published primarily for the enjoyment of self-styled literati and glitterati. “Mother Advocate” is admired in the literary and art worlds, but like other Harvard institutions, it has also been subject to accusations of elitism and pretension.

The Salient

Harvard's own “naturally conservative” journal, a well-funded and well-run publication. The Salient is infamous for its publication of anti-Islam cartoons attacking the prophet Mohammed, and an editor's call for the College to “reestablish standards of morality and strongly consider disciplinary measures for those violating them…even more so to homosexuals.”

Perspective

Presented as Harvard's “Liberal Monthly,” Perspective or “Perspy” is the counterpart to The Salient, but less controversial and quite harmless. Its content tends toward invective against George Bush and support for Democratic politics, and it shares much of its leadership and readership with clubs like the College Dems, Environmental Action Committee, and BGLTSA.

Harvard Political Review and Harvard International Review

These are the two student publications with the closest ties to the political establishment. The Political Review, published by the IOP, tends to cozy up to political figures and rarely stray from the political center. The International Review is intimately connected to the U.S. foreign policy establishment through its celebrity authors and its publisher, the International Relations Council.

Online Media

In recent years, campus blogs have gained both fame and infamy for their timelier, edgier coverage and commentary about goings-on at Harvard and beyond.

Cambridge Common (www.cambridgecommon.com), the most widely read of the Harvard blogs, run by progressive politicos since 2005 as a virtual “common” for campus dialogue and dissent.

Quench Zine (quenchzine.blogspot.com) is a creative zine, self-published online and in print by a collective of queer and transgender students at Harvard.

Dem Apples (www.demapples.com) is the official website of the Harvard College Democrats, and Red Ivy (redivy.campustap.com) is its Republican foil.

Immigration Orange (immigrationorange.campustap.com) is another site started by a campus politico, this one for debate and discussion on issues of immigration, borders, and foreign policy.

And, if you're not satisfied with what's out there, start your own blog at www.campustap.com, a network for student blogs. “This is your campus,” it says. “Go ahead, say something.”

Alternative Sources of Info

“The Democracy Center” is a free space, independent media center, and political and cultural venue near Harvard Square at 45 Mount Auburn Street (next to Tommy's Pizza and Daedalus). It was opened up by Harvard students and Boston residents in 2004. Among many other groups, it now hosts the Papercut Zine Library, a public lending library with a collection of over 6,500 independent publications. Papercut's collection includes: Politics, personal, education, fiction, poetry, music, humor, health and sex, art and film, cooking and food, race, class, gender, queer issues, environment, travel, foreign language, and more. Membership is free. Open daily 2-7 pm.

Lucy Parsons Center is one of the best alternative bookstores in the Northeast, with a well-stocked collection of new, used and bargain books, and more than 200 magazines, newspapers, and journals. The LPC also carries posters, postcards, shirts, and political paraphernalia of all kinds. Frequent in-store events include reading and discussion groups, poetry, music, and free film nights every Wednesday. Open every day from 12-9pm. Located in Boston's South End at 549 Columbus Avenue (Take the Green E line to the Symphony stop, or the #1 Mass Ave. bus).

Independent Bookstores in Cambridge:

The Harvard Bookstore is the independent place to go for new and bargain books in Harvard Square (the Coop was bought out by Barnes & Noble long ago). It also hosts free in-house events with authors and critics every week. Located at the corner of Mass. Ave. and Plympton St.

Grolier Poetry Book Shop is the oldest independent bookstore in the area, stocking 15,000 poetic works in its little storefront. For eighty years now, it has been a destination of choice for radical writers like e.e. cummings and Allen Ginsberg. Located at 6 Plympton Street.

Revolution Books is where the People's Republic of Cambridge goes for all things communist and socialist. Revolution is run by the Revolutionary Communist Party, which some people have found to be a “Maoist cult.” An interesting place nonetheless. Located at 1156 Mass. Ave.

Raven Books is Harvard Square's only independent destination for used books. Raven has strong collections in alternative literature, art, history, political theory, philosophy, and anthropology, and adds over 1,000 books a week. Will buy your books too. Located at 52-B J.F.K. Street.

More Books for Free:

Public Libraries are the local pit stops for those who can't find what they're looking for in Lamont or Widener. The Cambridge Public Library is located at 45 Pearl Street, just off Mass. Ave. near Central Square. The Boston Public Library is at 700 Boylston Street at Copley Square.

final clubs

2008-07-24T15:25:00.001-07:00

A final club is a specific type of single-gendered exclusive social group made up of Harvard students. There are eight male final clubs at Harvard: The A.D., The Delphic, The Fly, The Fox, The Owl, The Porcellian, The Phoenix and The Spee. Each of these clubs owns a piece of property in Harvard Square that is appraised in the millions of dollars. Additionally, there are five female clubs: The Bee, The Isis, Pleiades, The Seneca, and Sabliere. Of these, only the Bee possesses property in the square. Though most of this article will focus on male final clubs, it is important to note that the proliferation of female final clubs does not adequately address the injustices of the male final club system.

Though similar to fraternities, final clubs are different in several key respects. First, final clubs do not house club members. Second, final clubs are not affiliated with larger, national organizations. Lastly, Harvard University no longer recognizes final clubs as official campus groups, although this is only a recent development. Up until 1984, Harvard not only recognized but financially supported final clubs from the time of their inception, in that year the college gave the clubs an ultimatum: go co-ed or go private. The clubs unanimously chose to preserve their exclusively male membership.

Final clubs have a long history at Harvard, the oldest of them dating back to the 18th century. Over the course of each club's history, it has developed a network of graduates whose continued involvement in club practices and patronage toward club members shows these institutions to be much more than social organizations. The nepotism of club graduates has turned on campus social groups into far-reaching and powerful financial and business networks, both unabashedly partial and of their nature discriminatory.

By not allowing women into their clubs, final club members and their governing boards of graduates (“grad-boards”) create unfairly gendered networks and social spaces alike. The atmosphere at final clubs is undeniably a hetero-normative and male-dominated one. This environment fosters not only sexism and homophobia but also, and much more troublingly, sexual assault. Though Harvard will not release figures revealing where on campus sexual assault occurs, in 2002 Assistant Dean of the College Karen E. Avery '87 told female first-years to be aware of "potential dangers that have been reported in regard to final clubs." Many women will not attend final club parties without groups of friends because of the intimidating environment they find inside. Large groups of women flocking to clubs together, though, by no means solve the problems they face inside.

Final clubs are sexist, self-serving and elitist institutions. And though hardly as discriminatory as they once were, it should come as no surprise that final clubs membership is largely heterosexual, affluent, and white. Not to mention of a single sex.

However, neither female final clubs nor co-ed ones are an adequate solution. Female final clubs are likewise exclusive and discriminatory. Co-ed clubs are likely to be as elitist as final clubs. They too would be more than just social clubs. Harvard's growing fraternity and sorority scene begets many of the same problems. At other schools, students are provided with more neutral spaces on campus to congregate. Harvard has thus far failed to provide its students with such an alternative. However, this hardly means that there is nothing to do but go to final clubs. On the contrary, these clubs are just one facet of Harvard's social scene. And one should add that the only way to stop final clubs is to stop supporting them. Going to and joining final clubs means to tolerate the sexism, elitism, and nepotism that they facilitate. For the socially conscious Harvard student, these are institutions not only to avoid but to expose for what they are and for the unjust practices they perpetuate.

Facts on Final Clubs

FINAL CLUBS: The A.D., Delphic, Fly, Fox, Owl, Phoenix, Porcellian, Spee

Finals Clubs are male social clubs. Women cannot be members.

Men join the clubs through a selection process called “punching,” usually in their sophmore year. One Spee punch event was comprised of taking a bus to Wellesley College to play football, drinking vodka on the bus and looking at porn.

The clubs have a long history of affiliation with Harvard. Though they are privately owned, their records are kept in the Harvard archives, and until 1984, Harvard was including membership in yearbooks, and paying for their heat and phone services.

In 1984, the clubs privatized under pressure from Harvard, because they violate the school’s non-discrimination policy.

They are now governed by “grad boards,” groups of club alumni who own the property.

The graduate inter-club council meets with Harvard administrators at least once a year.

Final clubs are privately owned, but sit in the middle of Harvard’s campus.

They are comprised solely of Harvard men, and at least 10 % of Harvard males will belong to them at some point.

Studies conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice have shown that all-male social spaces are high risk environments for sexual assault.

Harvard administrators have warned students about sexual assault and Final Clubs. Dean Karen Avery said to the Crimson that she hoped to “raise freshman awareness to some of the potential dangers that have been reported in regard to final clubs,” including date rape drugs and sexual assault.

Some Final Clubs activities have included the Owl’s demeaning “Catholic School-Girl Night,” and videotaping Harvard students’ breasts, and filming women performing fellatio and kissing each other in front of the camera.

The combined property values of the eight clubs is $ 15,537,900.

The scheduled date of completion for Harvard’s new student center in Allston will be 2019.

If you or anyone you know has experienced sexual assault, please contact the Office of Sexual Assault Prevention and Response at 617-495-9100 or email osapr@fas.harvard.edu.

ec10

2008-07-21T00:32:00.000-07:00

While many members of the class of 2010 may harbor reservations about certain aspects of the Harvard experience, few incoming first-years seriously doubt the credentials of the education it promises. Harvard's reputation for academic excellence precedes it. Certainly, the myth is not without its merits; first-years will find some excellent professors and classes in the years they spend here. However, this fact should not paper over the serious cracks that appear upon closer scrutiny. In particular, first-years ought to engage Harvard's economics department with serious skepticism and a critical eye.

Ec10 and the Economics Department
“Social Analysis 10: Principles of Economics” is Harvard's official introductory economics course. It is consistently one of the most popular classes at the College; the vast majority of Harvard students are first exposed to the study of economics under the tutelage of its experienced professor, Gregory Mankiw. Consequently, we can agree that it is particularly important that the course maintain high standards. At the very least, as an introductory course, it ought to encourage critical thinking and cover a wide array of ideas and theories. Tragically, Ec10 fails miserably, on both counts. First: partly because TFs teach the conceptual content of the course, all lectures and most sections disaffiliate students from their critical capacities. Instead, students answer bland problem sets without ever contemplating the deeper social realities the abstractions supposedly model. Second: Ec10 ignores the immense ideological diversity within the wider field of economics, especially when one looks back through time. Marx, one of history's greatest and most influential economists, does not appear in the course material. In response to this kind of critique, we often hear that students are taught the “consensus” and/or “the tools they need to succeed”. However, first-years ought to demand much more from their education: we deserve a thorough introduction to the science, as well as familiarity with its shortcomings. Thus, when we learn that efficient markets beat inefficient central-planning every time, we ought also to be told that alternative systems of economic organization have been envisioned. When we learn that privatization of companies keeps prices low and quality high, we ought to hear the outstanding benefits of state- or democratic control of those same industries. When we hear that, more or less, the world improves as capitalism is consolidated, we ought to hear the voices of those exploited sets of people for whom the consolidation of capitalism means permanent servitude of the worst kind.

Generally-speaking, this bias in the kinds of perspectives presented to students reflects the composition of faculty in the economics department. The chief economists of the Reagan and Bush administrations, Martin Feldstein and Mankiw, both reside and teach at Harvard today. In fact, with the exception of a few years, one of this pair (mostly Feldstein) has taught Ec10 to most everyone who has taken it in the last few decades. In this vein, few economics classes here will ask students to challenge conventional economic theory. Instead, in direct violation of the college's liberal arts tradition, the department of economics at Harvard molds its concentrators into automatons who uncritically embrace the status-quo, ready for deployment at the nearest investment bank; economics classes at Harvard reek of pre-professionalism. Again, one could argue that economics courses at other colleges prepare their students for similar goals in similar ways. From a very general standpoint, that fact is indisputable; it illustrates the manner in which our educational systems facilitate the existence of the system in which we live: under mainstream economic theory, privilege is earned and poverty deserved, no ifs or buts about it. People prosper because they make the right decisions, end of story. According to what's taught, free trade and open markets facilitate this process by discovering the individuals that deserve prosperity. Conveniently, mainstream economics refuses (or lacks the capacity) to consider the systemic oppression many individuals have to navigate. In that way, it rationalizes and makes palatable the blatant suffering upon which our Harvardian privileges depend (for example, think of our janitors, our dining hall workers, our security guards, and more)

The “Washington Consensus” at Harvard
Aside from affording mainstream economics uncritical preeminence in its classrooms, Harvard – as an institution – has also played an active role in shaping national policies to embrace free markets, free-trade, and the like. For example: in the early-1990's, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) paid Harvard and its employees to oversee the privatization of Russia's previously state-owned industries. Ideally-speaking, Harvard's team of experts, led by Professor Andrei Shleifer, were appointed in order to make Russia's transition to capitalism painless. In reality, the US government brought a lawsuit charging Shleifer, his wife, his assistant, and his assistant's wife with insider trading (buying Russian stocks while under contract). Harvard and Shleifer eventually settled the lawsuit for a whopping $26.5 million. Of course, Shleifer, one of former President Larry Summers' close friends, is still a tenured professor at Harvard.

On a related note, it is also worth mentioning that Larry Summers – who will reportedly return to Harvard in the prestigious role of University Professor in the 2007-2008 academic year – oversaw the intensification of the World Bank's commitment to precisely the kind of theory prevalent in Harvard's economics classrooms. In his time as its Chief Economist, the World Bank required countries asking for loans to adopt certain structural adjustments (opening up their markets, lowering their trade barriers, etc.). Yet, apart from the fact that this relationship belies democratic values and creates all sorts of elitisms, structural adjustment plans have been largely unsuccessful, so much so that the Bank has begun to distance itself from them. It goes without saying that this kind of history will remain hidden in the fanfare that will inevitably accompany Summers' return.

The class of 2010 should think very critically about the state of economics at Harvard. It is certainly true that one can learn quite a bit from some of the economics professors here; no criticism of the department or the discipline ought to obscure that fact. However, first-years ought to be very wary of unthinkingly subscribing to the mainstream, as most economics classes will encourage them to do. Our education ceases to be meaningful when it stops asking us to pose challenging questions and permits us to accept comfortable answers.

Neoliberalism 101

2007-10-07T10:50:00.000-07:00

By Ted Lechterman

Introduction

It’s not your grandmother’s liberalism, that’s for sure. There are, in fact, two brands of neoliberalism. When contrasted against neorealism, neoliberalism can mean the approach to international relations that stresses collective security through interdependence, supranational institutions, and soft power. In the economic realm, however, neoliberalism forms the backbone of the right-wing intellectual movement. Today, neoliberalism—sometimes referred to as free-market capitalism or market fundamentalism—has ascended to the point where it has co-opted the title of “mainstream” economics. While neoliberalism presents a legitimate approach to economics, its hegemony obscures equally legitimate approaches from the fields of study, debate, and policy. The following presents a brief introduction and a critical analysis of certain aspects of neoliberalism, which I will use as a shorthand for the convergence of similar streams of mainstream economic thought. I first examine the reach of neoliberalism’s influence; next I draw out some of its guiding principles before discussing its policy prescriptions and evaluating their impact.

Neoliberalism at Harvard and Beyond

Neoliberalism is the lingua franca of Harvard’s economics department and the only school of thought to which a credulous student of economics will be exposed. [1] Neoliberalism is the guiding philosophy behind the Harvard Corporation, which helps to explain why movements toward socially responsible investing and employment policies encounter bitter resistance. A frequent critic of student labor activism is N. Gregory Mankiw, professor of the giant introductory economics class Social Analysis 10: Principles of Economics (“Ec 10”). Mankiw has worked as chairman of President Bush’s Council of Economic Advisors. Mankiw was preceded by Martin Feldstein, who taught Ec 10 for 20 years and was chairman himself under President Reagan. Feldstein mentored none other than Lawrence H. Summers, former Harvard president, Secretary of the Treasury, and chief economist at the World Bank. Summers, whose economic policies, like those of his colleagues, leaned heavily to the right, in turn mentored the infamous Andrei Shleifer. With the help of Summers, Shleifer later settled a lawsuit with the Justice Department that charged him with defrauding the U.S. Government for corrupt dealings while advising Russian industrial privatisation. While I do not mean to imply a link between neoliberalism and corruption, I do want to emphasize that the political positions and controversies that have become associated with these Harvard economists are not mere coincidences, but rather predictable consequences of neoliberal economic philosophy. Many of President Summers’ polarizing statements, for example, came out of the context of neoliberal policy positions, and, to an extent, Shleifer’s missteps in Russia resulted from the policies he was implementing. These conspicuous characters and events, however, overshadow the day to day influence of neoliberalism at Harvard, where economics is the largest undergraduate concentration and the financial industry draws in the highest percentage of students after graduation.

Economic liberalism has governed several periods of American history, including the period leading up to the Great Depression. The Keynesian welfare state emerged from the Depression and World War II as a model compromise between a growing market economy and an inclusive distribution of wealth. This model lacked the dynamism that many economists believe to be central to economic health. What began as a critique of the largess of the welfare state, however, resulted in a concerted effort to unbridle the forces of capitalism. The progenitors of neoliberalism, such as Friedrich Hayek, Milton Friedman, and Ayn Rand, reacted to the egalitarian ethos of the welfare state with a call to restore the spirit of rational egoism, advocating for a society in which each individual pursues her self-interest. Neoliberalism took center stage during the Reagan Administration, and has been the guiding force behind U.S. economic policy ever since. The so-called Washington Consensus, the term for the neoliberal package of policy prescriptions that the U.S. has exported internationally, now governs the policies of many U.S. allies, recipients of U.S. aid, the Bretton Woods institutions, and the World Trade Organization (WTO). Recently, neoliberalism has been encroaching on the European Union, one of the few remaining bastions for social democracy, such as with the election of Nicolas Sarkozy in France.

What’s Wrong with Self-Interest?

Neoliberalism begins from a particular view of human nature: homo economicus. The “economic man” is one who acts rationally, by maximizing his self-interest. Self-interest, in this context, traditionally means material resources, though revisionists have pointed out that the maximizandum (i.e., that which we are to maximize) could be any resource, from something as mundane as physical sustenance, to something instrumental like money or power, to something as abstract as happiness. Economic man, and neoliberal thought more generally, engages in instrumental reason, the process of determining the best means to a given end. According to neoliberal psychology, human beings have limited, if any, authentic concern for each other, or for higher principles such as community, religion, justice, or the good life. The economic man, therefore, is invariably selfish, distrustful of cooperative ventures, and pessimistic about human capabilities. He is reminiscent of a being in Hobbes’ state of nature, where a constant war of all against all proscribes social behavior.

We must ask ourselves whether (1) the concept of homo economicus presents an accurate description of human behavior, and (2) whether it presents a desirable or legitimate form of such behavior. I believe it does neither of these. In fact, homo economicus has undergone significant criticism for its atomistic assumptions (cf. methodological individualism) about human sociality; it is continually facing challenges from the natural sciences for its descriptive fallacies, and from normative fields, such as theology and moral philosophy, for the implications of its amoralism.

Despite its dubious claims to truth, just as subatomic particles ground the natural sciences, homo economicus is the fundamental principle of mainstream economic analysis. Even more surprising, given its limited generalizability even at the individual level, homo economicus is extended to analogize aggregate social units, such as the firm and the state. For the firm it has the effect of justifying its raison d’être of maximizing profits for its shareholders and minimizing costs. Likewise it justifies the nation-state as a unitary rational actor attempting to maximize power of one kind or another. Homo economicus thus sustains the corporate ethic that governs the economy and increasingly invades other domains of social life, economizing our relationships with one another. What begins as a claim to scientific impartiality becomes a normative ethic unto itself. Yet neoliberalism often cloaks itself in scientific rhetoric, and its normative underpinnings, which at the very least merit debate, elude the public conscience.

Privatization and “Free” Markets

When neoliberals argue for privatization of government services, they are claiming that private industry, through the profit motive, can run services better or more efficiently than government agencies. Value claims like “better” and “most efficient,” however, beg the question as to what might constitute goodness or efficiency. As I explained earlier, instrumental reason, the process by which one determines the best means to a given end, is the sine qua non of neoliberal thought. Concerns for efficiency and maximization, therefore, always rule out over alternatives. The fact that the profit motive might not be appropriate in many government activities—e.g., health care, defense, education—cannot enter into neoliberal reasoning, and thus often escapes public discussion.

The buzzword “choice” also comes up a lot in the context of privatization. By turning public goods over to individual stewardship, neoliberalism argues that through the ensuing competition of the market individuals can gain more options at various prices. While this may be true, it is rarely desirable. One function of government is to solve collection action problems by holding public goods in common and providing services to which each citizen has an equal claim. Privitization, on the other hand, tends to exacerbate inequalities. For example, those who are already wealthy and financially astute have the most to gain from the privatization of Social Security. Those who have less money often have less time and financial experience to administrate their own retirement funds effectively. Rhetorically, choice benefits everyone. Practically this is rarely the case.

Privitization is one element of the argument for free markets, the idea that governments are maladroit at economic management, and that regulations and taxes infringe on innovation and production. Rather, neoliberals insist, the “invisible hand” of the market will regulate the natural give-and-take of supply and demand. An unregulated market can produce more, they argue, and an ever-enlarging economic pie is best because it provides more “choice,” which benefits everyone. Neoliberals advocate against labor unions and minimum wages, which they regard as artificial barriers to efficiency.

“Free” Trade

According to the theory of comparative advantage, when nations specialize in industries in which they are most adept and trade their excess production, more goods enter into the economy with the potential to benefit all of the trading partners.

In reality, specializing in the production of certain goods takes away a country’s self-sufficiency and leaves it vulnerable to fluctuations in the global economy. Furthermore, the rallying cry of free trade finds conspicuous sympathy from multinational corporations, who are more than happy to exploit untapped markets for labor and consumption in hitherto recalcitrant regions. Free trade contributes to the rise in inequality among nations and the uneven distribution of the benefits and losses from globalization. Neoliberals argue that global poverty is the result of local policies, rather than globalization itself. However, when a developing country, recovering from the yoke of colonialism, finds its options closed off by aggressive foreign investment and dogmatic trading regimes, it is hard to argue that local policies are the result of autonomous choice.

Three Critiques of Market Fundamentalism

1. Inequality and Distributive Justice: It should be no surprise that we enter the world endowed with a set of resources entirely contingent on the family, country, and circumstances into which we are born. Without modest regulation, such as collective bargaining or minimum wages, those of us who must sell our labor fall at the mercy of those born with a better hand of cards. The logic of profit maximization, meanwhile, leads firms to compensate labor at the bare minimum. An unregulated market confers disproportionate benefits to the most well-off while exploiting the labor of the least well-off. These trends tend to be self-reinforcing: increasing concentration of wealth corresponds to an increasing concentration of power in monied interests. Poverty—the inability to provide for one’s basic needs—is but one endemic consequence of inequality.

Neoliberals are generally deaf to concerns about inequality because of their obsession with Pareto optimality. Pareto optimality holds that if someone can be made better off without making anyone else worse off, one can, and one should, make a “Pareto improvement” by accepting the exchange. Economic growth, therefore, takes precedence over economic justice. From this logic, if the rich get richer and the poor stay poor, society experiences a net gain. The logic of Pareto tends to form the horizon of neoliberal responses to distributive justice

2. Public Safety and Environmental Degradation: Without any counterbalance, the lack of regulation under a free market paradigm threatens public health and depletes the environment. Marketing dangerous products and polluting the environment are tremendously efficient practices in the short-run, as firms can write off the costs of safety mechanisms and environmental sustainability. Conservation and wellness only enter into the neoliberal calculus when they can be seen as profitable for one reason or another. Currently, what seems to be most profitable (or least costly) is to use public relations techniques to convince consumers that a particular company or product is “green,” regardless of its true environmental impact. Examine the current ad campaigns of the energy industry for a case in point.

3. Consumer Culture and Escapism: The hegemony of the reigning economic order conspires to convince the losing parties of the inevitability of their plight. The escapism of consumerism and mass-produced popular culture distracts the least well-off from their declining standard of living and erodes civil society. We tend to be much more interested in Paris or Britney’s latest exploits than the fact that 30,000 children under the age of 5 die each day from preventable diseases, or that many of us lack health insurance. Particularly under the gloss of neoliberalism’s scientific rhetoric, the economy as we know it seems monolithic and immutable, so much so that we feel like no amount of our own effort could have an impact. Neoliberalism bears particular blame for this state of affairs because it promotes the skewed distributional patterns that lead to despair and despondency. It encourages the escapist enterprises that prey upon our vulnerabilities and prolong our struggle.

Alternative Schools of Thought

The overriding theme of this piece has been that markets, while appropriate in certain circumstances, can be dangerous in others. Market values need to be weighed against other values, and this is something neoliberalism, the dominant economic ideology of our time, fails to do. How can we promote a dynamic vision of the economy without sacrificing our beliefs about the right and the good? Not all heterodox theories are equally advanced or consistent in their tenets, but an inquisitive student owes it to herself to apprise herself of all the options. A common misconception—one which neoliberal demagogues have relished in perpetuating—is that the only alternative to neoliberalism is some form of socialist command economy. This could not be further from the truth. Countless schools of economic thought are advancing critiques of the reigning dogma as well as alternative ways to organize the production and distribution of resources, particularly with an eye toward social and environmental justice. The onus, however, is on the student to discover these alternatives. Chances are, you won’t find them at Harvard.

Endnotes

[1]: A critic might contend that the Economics Department subscribes, rather, to neoclassical foundations, which might serve as a jumping off point for neoliberal ideology. I argue, however, that neoclassical foundations lend themselves too easily to neoliberal ideology, to the point where distinguishing between the two is not instructive. Whether or not this has always been the case is debatable. Today, though, we see a convergence of neoclassical and neoliberal thought, so much so that to call oneself a neoclassicist but not a neoliberal has become self-contradictory.