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NEWS DIGEST: 2/21/2020

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION

 

Opponents of Affirmative Action Appeal Their Case Against Harvard | New York Times

“While the judge said she would ‘not dismantle a very fine admissions program that passes constitutional muster, solely because it could do better,’ the plaintiffs urged the appeals court to do so.” 

 

How Andrew Yang Quieted the Asian American Right | The Atlantic

It’s “harder for opponents of affirmative action to gain traction when a prominent figure like Yang has taken a strong stance in favor” of it and for other egalitarian policies.

 

The Changing Meaning of Affirmative Action | New Yorker

A valuable history of affirmative action as highly successful but limited by a “terrible paradox:” “Once we amended the Constitution and passed laws to protect people of color from being treated differently in ways that were harmful to them, the government had trouble enacting programs that treat people of color differently in ways that might be beneficial.” However, Asian American and Latinx communities are barely mentioned, and, despite directly mentioning the terrible ramifications of Shelby County v. Holder on voting rights, Menand does not connect Blum to that lawsuit. 


 

ETHNIC STUDIES

 

Potential Ethnic Studies Faculty Hire Erika Lee Visits Harvard | Harvard Crimson

Xenophobia is not just about immigration but can be understood as a form of racism, said Prof. Lee. Rather than rising and falling in response to national crises, Lee contended it has remained strong throughout American history.

 

Education or Indigenous Erasure? | Harvard Crimson

Gabrielle Langkilde '23: American-style schools distort or completely refuse to teach our histories. History textbooks mention indigenous people as being “discovered.” Harvard refuses to institute ethnic studies.

 

UP CLOSE:  Playing the Last Hand | Yale Daily News

History of Ethnic Studies activism at Yale.

 

SF State celebrates 50th anniversary of the College of Ethnic Studies | SF State News

Student strikers at San Francisco State University in the late 1960s wanted a university that was more diverse, less Eurocentric and ready to prove that it valued people of color and their perspectives. Last October San Francisco State celebrated the 50th anniversary of its College of Ethnic Studies, which was founded to provide the relevant education strikers demanded.

 

CAMPUS

 

The Old Boys’ Network: Racism, Sexism, and Alleged Favoritism In Harvard’s Police Department | Harvard Crimson

An investigation found repeated instances of racism and sexism in Harvard’s police department spanning the past 28 years.

 

How Harvard Aims to Muzzle Unions | New York Review of Books Daily

"Harvard is attacking freedoms so basic that we have forgotten how hard-won they were," writes History & AAAS Prof Walter Johnson (a Diverse Harvard member).

 

As the nation shifted from ‘Negro’ to black | Harvard Gazette

Kent Garrett '63:  In 1959, 18 "Negro boys" arrived to spend the next four years at America's bastion of white privilege, Harvard. I was one of them. Harvard changed us, and we changed Harvard.

 

Where Bacow Lives, Slaves Once Did | Harvard Crimson

"I suggest that the first area of research for" the new committee examining Harvard's legacy of slavery "be President Bacow’s very own residence. Elmwood has a long and fraught history of slavery."

 

Harvard Students Form Coalition Supporting Slave Photo Lawsuit's Demands | Harvard Crimson

Students across Harvard created a coalition demanding that Harvard stop displaying, publishing, and selling the rights to the images of two enslaved people late last year.

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