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Fifteen institutions of higher education joined edX on Tuesday, expanding Harvard and MIT’s one-year-old virtual learning venture for the first time to Asia and more than doubling the rapidly expanding platform’s size.Sarah E. Thomas, director of Oxford University’s library system, was appointed vice president for the Harvard Library, University Provost Alan M. Garber ’76 announced in a press release Monday.The Nieman Foundation of Journalism has named 24 journalists from across the globe to the 2013-2014 class of Nieman Fellows, who will take temporary leaves from their journalism careers to study at Harvard.Evelynn M. Hammonds has been in negotiations about a possible departure from her position as Dean of Harvard College and is expected not to return to the post in the fall, a person with direct knowledge of the situation confirmed Friday.In light of the controversy surrounding history professor Niall Ferguson’s recent comments about economist John Maynard Keynes’s sexuality, the Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender History—an affiliate of the American Historical Association—has called on Harvard to hire a tenure-track scholar devoted to the study of BGLTQ history.With an inaugural group of 46 women, Harvard’s newest sorority Alpha Phi has sought to transition into the Harvard social scene in recent weeks.Students in the Visiting Undergraduate Student Program said they were not expecting to witness a massive cheating investigation, two University-wide closures resulting from the weather, an email search scandal, or a deadly act of terrorism when they came to Harvard this year.With the Association of American Medical Colleges slated to introduce a new MCAT in 2015, Harvard students say that the premed track at Harvard does not adequately prepare them for the exam. And, they say, they often face prohibitively expensive costs when they turn to classes run by test preparatory companies for instruction.An international ambassador for Harvard, a trailblazing judge and policymaker, and a seasoned College administrator will receive the 2013 Harvard Medal for “extraordinary service” to the University, the Harvard Alumni Association announced Wednesday.History of science professor Anne Harrington ’82 and her husband John R. Durant have been appointed as the new Masters of Pforzheimer House, resident dean Lisa Boes announced in an email to the Pfoho community Thursday morning.University President Drew G. Faust received $899,734 in salary and benefits in 2011, according to a recent filing with the Internal Revenue Service. While that figure is about the same as last year’s, Harvard’s chief investment manager, who is paid far more than most administrators, saw a 52 percent increase in her earnings.Classmates and advisers remembered Joanna Y. Li ’12 as a kind and discerning friend who often went out of her way to help out those around her with a well-timed gift, a meaningful conversation, or a ukulele serenade. Li, who had been on leave from the College since February 2012, died on May 7 in her Somerville apartment.Every Harvard student who founds a start-up does not become the next billionaire under 30. Instead, they are faced with a new set of obstacles, such as finding funding and developing management skills. And upon leaving, these former students must also find housing and often form an entirely new social circle.Harvard Law School will accept members of the Harvard College Class of 2015 next year in the pilot stage of a new deferred admission program for college juniors, according to the Law School’s Assistant Dean and Chief Admissions Officer Jessica L. Soban ’02.The bill would provide undocumented immigrants who arrived before 2011 with a 13-year process that would lead to legalization and eventually citizenship.More than a month after stepping down as head of Harvard’s Weatherhead Center for International Affairs in protest of a Faculty of Arts and Sciences’ financial policy, government professor Beth A. Simmons said that top FAS deans have not formally acknowledged her resignation.Harvard completed a $168.5 million sale of Watertown’s Arsenal on the Charles to electronic health records company athenahealth, Inc., according to a Monday announcement by real estate firm Avison Young.Before an audience of about 30 Harvard students and affiliates crowded in the intimate setting of the Harvard College Women’s Center, history professor Niall Ferguson offered another apology Monday afternoon for his recent controversial comments about economist John Maynard Keynes’s sexuality.A computer science concentrator and iLab regular, Zachary Hamed ’14 was selected as one of 22 2013 Thiel Fellows. The fellowship awards $100,000 to 22 young people from the ages of 17-20 to continue entrepreneurship projects related to science and technology.The winning projects, most of which were senior theses, were selected from a pool of nominations by students’ faculty supervisors. Hoopes winners are awarded $4,000 each and their nominators receive $1,000.As the Harvard women’s rugby team transitions to varsity status next year, the Crimson will have an experienced leader at the helm of the emerging program. The Harvard Athletic Department announced the hiring of Sue Parker last Wednesday. Parker will take over as head coach of the varsity team starting in the fall of 2013.The Institute of Politics announced Thursday the creation and sponsorship of the John C. Culver Institute of Politics Scholarship, which will be awarded annually to fund the tuition and mandatory fees for two-year graduate study at the Harvard Kennedy School. The first Culver Scholars will enroll at the Kennedy School for the 2014-2015 academic year.The Cambridge Public Health Department and Harvard University Health Services are urging a limited number of students and faculty to undergo tuberculosis tests after a member of the Harvard community recently tested positive for the infection.The Cambridge Public Health Department and Harvard University Health Services are urging a limited number of students and faculty to undergo tuberculosis tests after a member of the Harvard community recently tested positive for the infection.As the clock struck midnight, shouts rang out across Harvard Yard. Despite exams to come in nine hours, students bared it all in the spring incarnation of an age-old, clothing-optional tradition: Primal Scream.Richard J. Murnane, a professor known for his research on the intersection of economics and education, has been named acting dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, University President Drew G. Faust announced Thursday.Speaking off the cuff to a packed crowd in Memorial Church Thursday evening, Korean pop sensation Psy remarked on how strange it was to be giving a talk at Harvard.The law firm Brune & Richard is an anomaly. In a world where female lawyers represent fewer than 20 percent of partners in private practices, women make up 12 of the 18 lawyers at Brune & Richard.A proposal that the Faculty of Arts and Sciences approved at their monthly meeting on Tuesday will restructure reading and exam periods starting in 2014.The Harvard-Allston Task Force engaged in the first of a round of discussions on community benefits in Harvard’s new Institutional Master Plan for Allston development at a task force meeting Wednesday evening.An envelope sent to Harvard Law School Professor Alan M. Dershowitz that was opened Thursday afternoon contained a suspicious white powder, prompting the evacuation of Hauser Hall’s fifth floor.Joanna Li '12, a Kirkland House resident and neurobiology concentrator who had been on leave from the College since last spring semester, died Tuesday in Somerville, Kirkland House administrators announced in an email to the House community Wednesday night.Among the top students in their graduating classes, men and women entering Harvard Law School earn similar undergraduate grades and LSAT scores. But as soon as students step into Wasserstein Hall, a dramatic gender disparity emerges.Students at the Harvard Law School voted in support of a referendum calling on Harvard University to divest from fossil fuel companies, becoming the second student body after the College to vote in support of divestment.The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences’ inaugural Harvard Horizons initiative—a program designed to highlight some of the best work of Harvard Ph.D. students—culminated in a TED Talk-style symposium on Monday.In an hour-long discussion that touched on a variety of topics ranging from the expansion of HarvardX to development in Allston, frustrated professors questioned the consultative mechanisms currently in place and the degree to which administrators are willing to listen to the faculty.Students and members of the Harvard University Security, Parking, and Museum Guard Union rallied outside of Widener Library on Monday to call attention to the union’s ongoing contract negotiations with the University.University President Drew G. Faust signed the “Cambridge Community Compact for a Sustainable Future” on Monday in an official gesture of Harvard’s commitment to working with other institutions to address the threat of climate change in Cambridge.Now, as more and more professors sign up for Twitter handles, the exchange of academic information has accelerated to match the rapid-fire pace of online social media.Eighty-two percent of students accepted into Harvard’s class of 2017 have decided to attend Harvard—the highest yield in 44 years.Award-winning journalist Soledad M. O’Brien ’88-’00 will be this year’s Class Day speaker, the Senior Class Committee announced Tuesday night.A task force of 16 professors and deans pulled from nearly all of the University’s schools convened for the first time Monday to begin its task of reviewing existing University email privacy policies and recommending new ones.Legislation inquiring into the legality of renting parking spaces in apartment garages was among the most contested issues discussed during Monday night’s City Council meeting, as Councillors related the matter to the larger issue of government regulation.A task force of 16 professors and deans pulled from nearly all of the University’s schools convened for the first time Monday to begin its task of reviewing existing University email privacy policies and recommending new ones.Undergraduate Council Representatives marked their final general meeting of the year with discussions about the potential removal of pre-term planning and a vote on previously-discussed changes to UC election procedure.At the end of a year marked by several high-profile top-down administrative decisions, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences will dedicate a large portion of its final monthly meeting Tuesday to a broad discussion of its relationship with administrators.In an interview with The Crimson last week, Dean of the College Evelynn M. Hammonds and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Michael D. Smith expressed regret over the handling of the search of Harvard resident deans’ email accounts.In the face of international criticism, Harvard History professor Niall Ferguson apologized for his comments about John Maynard Keynes’ sexual orientation and its relation to his economic theories, prompting mixed reactions from the Harvard community.At Elizabeth Warren and Elena Kagan’s former place of work, women constitute fewer than a fifth of all professors and assistant professors of law—a disparity that Harvard Law School Dean Martha L. Minow called “absolutely inadequate.” With only 18 women among 92 tenure-track faculty members, the gender imbalance of Harvard Law School’s faculty is comparable to that of other elite law schools, yet still among the most severe of the approximately 200 law schools nationwide.In a new study published last month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences, Harvard researchers found that two pairs of dopamine-producing neurons in fruit flies may be exclusively linked with aggressive behavior.Timothy Williamson was named Harvard’s permanent Director of Athletic Communications on Thursday after serving in the role on an interim basis for three months. Williamson succeeds previous director Kurt K. Svoboda, who became the Senior Assistant Athletic Director at Stanford University in February.Potential incoming House Masters Anne Harrington ’82 and John R. Durant, and their eight year old son Jamie, visited Pforzheimer House on Friday evening to engage with the students they may soon oversee.A team of Harvard researchers have created what they say is the smallest robotic insect capable of flight—a nickel-sized prototype called RoboBee—that could one day be deployed in swarms for tasks, including environmental monitoring and search-and-rescue operations.Award-winning broadcast journalist Soledad M. O’Brien ’88-’00 visited the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum on Thursday for a discussion on her career and experiences in journalism.As it prepares to launch the capital campaign, Harvard may look back to lessons learned from its 1990s campaign. It may also turn an eye toward its peer institutions, like Stanford and MIT, who have recently run successful fundraising drives in the 21st century.Harvard College students have received eight of the thirty 2013 Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans, which offer financial assistance to first- and second-generation immigrants pursuing graduate studies.Calling for comprehensive solutions to the water crisis in the West Bank, Tufts professor Annette Huber-Lee and Palestinian refugee Nidal al-Azraq presented work on improving Palestinian access to adequate safe water at an event hosted Thursday evening by the Kennedy School’s Carr Center for Human Rights Policy.Because of the work done by Olenka M. Polak ’15, non-English speakers will be able to go to the movie theater and enjoy blockbusters in their native tongues.Speaking to an audience of professors and graduate students, Yale Law School dean Robert C. Post ’69 presented his case for a constitutional basis for campaign finance reform and argued against the Supreme Court’s controversial Citizens United decision which allows a certain degree of corporate participation in political campaigns based on the First Amendment right to freedom of speech.The Philosophy Department at San Jose State University condemned Harvard government professor Michael J. Sandel’s teaching of the edX course ER22x: “Justice” in an open letter sent this week.A recent study at Harvard Medical School found that young adults in the United States between the ages of 18 and 25 utilized less health insurance coverage for their chronic asthma than adolescents between the ages of 14 and 18 did.Eight members of the Harvard community received recognition for their commitment to teaching and mentorship at the annual Teaching and Advising Awards Dinner held Tuesday evening in Kirkland Dining Hall.Researchers at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences have developed a mechanism for tactile sensation that will allow robotic machinery to be more gentle, durable, and affordable than before.Motivation in rats is influenced not only by their most recent experiences, but also by a series of recent experiences, according to a recent study by a team of Harvard biology researchers.No longer just interesting for their dietary habits, carnivorous plants have recently attracted the attention of Harvard Forest researchers by offering insight into the early detection of irreversible water pollution.Researchers at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute have discovered a hormone which may lead to new treatments for patients afflicted with diabetes.The latest research conducted by Harvard Medical School researchers may revolutionize our current understanding of embryonic development. Specifically, a new study published last week in the journal Cell offers a new model to describe the way in which cells gain specific functions within the embryo.Speaking at a panel discussion at the Walter Lippmann House Wednesday evening, several professional journalists said that Twitter fundamentally shaped the way they covered the Boston Marathon bombings and the ensuing shootout and manhunt.As the September launch of Harvard’s multi-billion-dollar capital campaign approaches, top-level administrators and members of the University’s development office are targeting and schmoozing prominent donors in search of gifts for Harvard’s most ambitious fundraising effort in history.In order to address concerns of declining student enrollment in the humanities, the Harvard Arts and Humanities Division is preparing to release an in-depth report analyzing trends in the humanities and recommending ways to rekindle undergraduate interest in the liberal arts.Patrons at Hemenway Gymnasium exercised for a cause Wednesday as the gym dedicated its 19 treadmills to a fundraising effort in honor of participants at this year’s Boston Marathon.Young adults aged 18 to 29, also known as the millennial generation, have an increased distrust in every political institution except the military, according to a biannual Institute of Politics report released Tuesday. Written and analyzed by students, the report also showed an increased polarization among party lines since the election and split opinions about gun regulation.Blood splattered across the shoulders of boxer Robert Z. Cai '14 on Wednesday night as he continued throwing punches despite a bleeding nose.In pithy TED Talks fashion, four seniors shared anecdotes about Nicaraguan funerals, failed start-ups, and the behind-the-scenes workings of the Undergraduate Council Wednesday night at the final Harvard Undergraduates Speak event of the semester.Speaking to a packed crowd at the Graduate School of Education Wednesday night, linguist Noam Chomsky and other panelists argued for an education model that promotes a reciprocal relationship between teacher and student.In an indication that the student-led movement to reform mental health resources may be losing steam, Harvard University Health Services postponed the release of mental health survey results after zero students showed up to either of its two public presentations in the last week.Sending text messages and making phone calls, several Harvard students sought to get out the vote for a U.S. Senate primary election that generated relatively little enthusiasm among political activists on campus.Despite low voter turnout across the state, participation at the polls in Quincy House was higher than expected Tuesday, as undergraduates and other members of the community cast their ballots in the first step towards filling the congressional seat vacated by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.Harvard Kennedy School Dean David T. Ellwood addressed student concerns Tuesday night about the possible cancellation of a popular adaptive leadership course, but did not commit to maintaining practical leadership training in the Kennedy School’s curriculum.Six years after embarking on a year-long roadtrip across America, Shane M. and Amy E. Bugbee set out on another—this time, to Harvard.As the field of humanities seeks to assert its educational value and revive dwindling student interest, faculty and administrators from several universities gathered at the Knafel Gymnasium, formerly known as the Radcliffe Gymnasium, Tuesday afternoon to discuss the future of the humanities at Harvard and beyond.When Harvard’s capital campaign goes public later this year, the University is expected to formally unveil a handful of ambitious—and abstract—goals for which they will solicit billions of dollars in gifts.Rep. Edward J. Markey, the veteran Democrat from Malden, grew a step closer to securing a seat in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday night as he defeated Rep. Stephen F. Lynch, his more moderate challenger, in the Democratic primary special election. Gabriel E. Gomez, a former Navy SEAL from Cohasset, defeated two other candidates to secure the Republican Party nomination.Campaign volunteers across the Commonwealth made thousands of last-minute phone calls on Tuesday afternoon, urging registered voters to turn out for the special election primary before the polls close at 8 p.m.Campaign volunteers across the Commonwealth made thousands of last-minute phone calls on Tuesday afternoon, urging registered voters to turn out for the special election primary before the polls close at 8 p.m.Voters trekked to the polls Tuesday morning to cast ballots in the party primaries that by tonight will narrow the field of serious contenders for the state’s U.S. Senate seat down to two.On Tuesday, voters will head to the polls for the special-election primary to fill the state’s vacated U.S. Senate seat. But experts predict that turnout will be low in the election to pick between either party-line-Democrat Edward J. Markey and his underdog, more moderate challenger Stephen F. Lynch, or a diverse slate of Republican hopefuls.For some students, the repercussions of an alcohol-related UHS trip carry over beyond the hospital visit itself—causing them and others to question whether they should make the trip to after-hours at all.Several upcoming projects—including the renovation of all 12 of Harvard’s residential Houses, the expansion of financial aid initiatives, and the construction of a new student center—suggest that a sizable chunk of the capital campaign’s proceeds will ultimately benefit undergraduates.Standing behind her acclaimed painting “Jesus of the People”—a depiction of Christ as a young black man—artist Janet McKenzie spoke about her art and inspiration Monday night at Memorial Church.Eleven months after negotiations began and nine months after their contract expired, representatives from the Harvard University Police Association expressed continued frustration with the stalled progress in their conversations with the University.Eight teams of finalists for the New Venture Competition will face off Tuesday for the final round of the student track of the Harvard Business School entrepreneurship contest.The Radcliffe Gymnasium will now be known as the Knafel Center, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study announced on Thursday, following a recent $10.5 million gift from long-time University donor and venture capitalist Sidney R. Knafel ’52.Harvard has received a $50 million dollar gift for basic research in the life sciences from the Blavatnik Family Foundation, the University announced Monday morning.As the University prepares for the public launch of a multi-billion dollar capital campaign, Harvard’s office of Alumni Affairs and Development, which is wrapping up a two-year “quiet phase,” is working to incorporate centralization into the campaign.In a round of discussions led by administrators this past week, the Committee on Academic Integrity began a “consulting phase” to solicit feedback from members of the Harvard community on its proposal to create the College’s first ever honor code.Three panelists described current medical research and long-term goals to reform care and policy on athletic head trauma and concussions during a biannual symposium of the Harvard Society for Mind, Brain, and Behavior in Science Center C on Friday afternoon.With signs that read “Nosotros Somos Iguales” and “Keep Families Together” as a backdrop, students gathered on the steps of Memorial Church Saturday evening to speak out about comprehensive immigration reform.Researchers at the Harvard Kennedy School praised the efficacy of the response by medical and law enforcement officials to the Boston Marathon bombings in a paper published last week by the school’s Program on Crisis Leadership.As voters in the Commonwealth prepare to head to the polls on Tuesday to choose their parties’ nominees for the state’s open U.S. Senate seat, they will have to consider a number of education platforms ranging from consensus proposals to uniquely bold new ideas.Four seniors have been selected to deliver speeches at the annual Class Day ceremony on May 29, the Senior Class Committee announced on Sunday.Next September, every upperclassman house and freshman residential yard except Kirkland House will elect new Undergraduate Council representatives.Harvard astronomers have discovered two exoplanets in the recently found Kepler-62 planetary system that are covered in endless oceans of water, making them viable candidates for sustaining life.The Boston attorney conducting an outside investigation of Harvard’s email search scandal will share a written report of his findings with the Harvard community, according to a statement issued Friday afternoon by William F. Lee ’72, the Harvard Corporation subcommittee chair overseeing the external review.Three Harvard University Police Department officers were among those honored for their heroic efforts by the Boston Celtics Friday night at the TD Garden as part of the Celtics’ “Heroes Among Us” community outreach program.The Committee on Academic Integrity is soliciting feedback from undergraduates, faculty, and teaching fellows on a proposal to establish Harvard’s first-ever honor code.In a conversation that steered clear of much of the controversy surrounding his arrival at the Harvard Kennedy School, former President of Mexico Felipe Calderon reflected on his term in office.During a talk Thursday at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, which was held to promote the book “The New Digital Age,” Google's Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt spoke to the way Google has navigated the changing relationship between technology and government.A group of Undergraduate Council members drafted a memorandum on Harvard’s undergraduate email privacy policy that clarifies the policy, identifies potential ambiguity, and makes recommendations for changes.In honor of her efforts to expand educational opportunities, the Harvard Graduate School of Education announced yesterday that journalist and television anchor Soledad O’Brien ’00 will be a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the school for the 2013-2014 academic year.For the more than 60 percent of Amherst College professors who voted against partnering with edX, reaching hundreds of thousands of students around the world does not align with the college’s mission to be “a purposefully small residential community.”Speaking before a Sanders Theatre crowd on Thursday, Academy Award-winning actor and filmmaker Matt Damon, a Cambridge native formerly of the Class of 1992, said he was glad to be home in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings.On Wednesday night, around 100 students spent part of the evening folding paper cranes in Winthrop Common Room. The cranes, totalling 285 so far, were made to remember last week’s bombing and subsequent manhunt that claimed four lives and injured hundreds.With flickering candles in hand, about 50 Harvard community members gathered in front of Memorial Church Wednesday evening to share or listen to stories of healing after sexual assault.Despite the cancellation of Harvard’s admitted student weekend in the wake of a week of chaos following the Boston marathon bombings, admissions counselors and prospective students agree that the yield for the Class of 2017 will likely be consistent with that of years past.Last spring, while her peers were sitting through Life Science lectures and replicating ages-old science experiments in lab, Valentina Lyau ’15 was learning a little differently. Ten minutes down Oxford Street, Lyau swiped into the restricted-access facilities of Northwest Laboratories to construct a virtual reality as part of a research seminar called Life Sciences 100r.Boston Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis said that high levels of training and familiarity between different agencies were crucial to law enforcement’s quick apprehension of the Boston Marathon bombings suspects at a Wednesday panel at Harvard’s Institute of Politics.Joshua P. Zoffer ’14 and Ben D. Sprung-Keyser ’15 were named the youngest team champions in the history of the American Parliamentary Debate Association’s national tournament on Sunday, marking the second consecutive year that a Harvard team has won the tournament.In a new study published last March in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, Harvard researchers reveal that even a single incident of malnutrition in early childhood can have a profound effect on an individual’s adult personality. Individuals who had suffered from severe starvation as infants tended to be more neurotic and less adventurous, sociable, curious, and organized as adults.University President Drew G. Faust, Reverend Johnathan L. Walton, and other members of the Harvard community gathered outside Memorial Church on Wednesday to inaugurate Harvard’s newest common space, “The Porch.”The Experiment Fund, the Harvard-affiliated seed-stage investment fund launched January of 2012, held its inaugural Experimenter Assembly in Kirkland Junior Common Room on Wednesday afternoon. During the public event, partners of the fund reflected on the organization’s first year of operations and celebrated its considerable progress thus far.In the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings, many Harvard Square restaurants and businesses are donating portions of their sales to help victims of the attacks.With next week’s primary election looming, Massachusetts politicians vying to fill the state’s open U.S. Senate seat found themselves grappling with an uncomfortable question this week: how soon is too soon to get back on the campaign trail after a devastating tragedy?With next week’s primary election looming, Massachusetts politicians vying to fill the state’s open U.S. Senate seat found themselves grappling with an uncomfortable question this week: how soon is too soon to get back on the campaign trail after a devastating tragedy?Around 25 Harvard employees and students gathered in front of the Holyoke Center on Tuesday afternoon to protest what they allege to be the discriminatory layoffs of three workers at University Financial Services.Before an audience of over 400 packed in Emerson Hall Tuesday evening, former world No. 1 tennis player Andre Agassi shared stories of his experiences in tennis and his strategies for overcoming challenges he faced.Faculty of Arts and Sciences classes have promoted group work in the classroom for years, but the flipped classroom method goes a step further by moving the traditional lecture out of the lecture hall.Following outcry over a Harvard Kennedy School faculty committee’s decision not to promote lecturer Dean Williams—whose two courses on leadership are critical to the school’s practical curriculum, students say—the Kennedy School Student Government will request a meeting with administrators to discuss the decision and its implications for the school’s mission.After coming under fire last week for a Microsoft Excel error and what have been called unconventional research methods in a prominent 2010 macroeconomics paper, Harvard Kennedy School professor Carmen M. Reinhart and economics and public policy professor Kenneth S. Rogoff are continuing to defend their research, saying that despite one mistake, their core conclusions remain unchanged.There was a theme of “hope” at the Institute of Politics Tuesday night, as United States Deputy Secretary of Defense Ashton B. Carter detailed a plan for how the United States can make the transition from a war-burdened economy to one that fosters peace and international cohesion.In a speech that drew mixed reactions from an audience of about 30 Allston-Brighton residents, Romance Languages and Literatures Professor Doris Sommer described art’s potential for social empowerment both in the community and internationally at the Allston Education Portal Tuesday evening.Harvard Medical School’s New England Primate Research Center will largely discontinue its operations by 2015, the Medical School announced Tuesday.Harvard Medical School’s New England Primate Research Center will largely discontinue its operations by 2015, the Medical School announced Tuesday.In the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings, and with primary day a week away, the two men battling for the Democratic nod to seek the state’s open Senate seat tangled over their voting records on homeland security in a debate Monday night at the WBZ-TV studios in Allston.Scholars face an ethically fraught task in translating a text from one language into another, panelists agreed during a Monday afternoon discussion about translation held in Emerson Hall.In a room in Sever Hall Monday night, cookies were passed around and tea was served—a low-key setting for the discussion of sex. For two hours, representatives from the Office of Sexual Assault Prevention and Response and Harvard College Munch—a kinky sex discussion group at the College—discussed the importance of consent and negotiation in relationships.Student criticism of the University’s communication with the Harvard community after last Monday’s bombings at the Boston Marathon and the subsequent manhunt for the bombing suspects has drawn increased attention to the University’s process of alerting students during emergencies.When Old Quincy reopens its doors in the fall after a year of construction, it will feature flat-screen televisions and furniture in every common room, new ceiling fans in every bedroom, and printers on every floor. But upperclassmen aren't biting.The Cambridge City Council voted on Monday night to bolster the city’s mental health services in the wake of last week’s Boston Marathon bombings and the subsequent manhunt. Councillors said that the need for mental health services in the city is great as many Cantabrigians struggle to process the tragedies of last week, as well as the fact that Cambridge residents were behind the atrocities.For some, however, a traditional encounter with a work of art in a museum is necessarily devoid of a device like an iPad. And as Harvard’s cultural collections come of age in the digital era, curators and other museum administrators must straddle a fine line between enhancing their collections and distracting from their original purpose.Dressed in red saris and adorned with flowers, two South Asian women met in front of the Science Center on Sunday afternoon to be joined in pretend wedlock.Aside from the near constant, piercing sound of sirens, the normally vibrant Harvard Square lay silent.The morning after the Boston Marathon bombings, Undergraduate Council representative Brett M. Biebelberg ’16 began to draft legislation firmly criticizing what he termed the University’s “flop” in communicating with students in the hours after the deadly attacks.Hundreds of prospective Harvard freshmen, many eager to see the College for the first time, had their plans interrupted by the lockdown in the Boston area Friday which forced Harvard officials to cancel the annual spring weekend for admitted students.Friday’s city-wide lockdown prompted seven Harvard varsity teams to postpone or withdraw from competition.Following the cancellation of Visitas weekend Friday afternoon, Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid William R. Fitzsimmons ’67 told The Crimson Friday night that officials may consider the possibility of granting an extension for accepted students to reply to their offers of admission to the College.Harvard Square remained quiet Friday night as students and residents slowly took back to the streets following the conclusion of a manhunt for the second Marathon bombing suspect that left much of the greater Boston area effectively on lockdown.On Friday, as police lights flashed through their shuttered windows, Tsarnaev’s former coworkers and classmates were left to ponder an unsettling question: how could they reconcile the soft-spoken teenager they had known with the suspected terrorist whose flight left the greater Boston area in a state of fear-ridden lockdown for a full day?As Greater Boston came to a standstill Friday morning during the manhunt for marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, Harvard students sat anxiously in spaces across campus, glued to television screens as they waited news of developments.In this space, The Crimson will provide updates on the situation at Harvard as the manhunt in the greater Boston metropolitan area progresses. To share information, please email news@thecrimson.com.With greater Boston on lockdown as law enforcement officers hunt down the Boston Marathon bombing suspect, Harvard has canceled programming for Visitas weekend.After a fatal shooting and a manhunt, The Crimson's Page 1.Harvard University will be closed Friday due to public safety concerns prompted by an at-large gunman suspected of playing a role in Monday’s Boston Marathon bombings.Student leaders criticized what some have characterized as a dangerously delayed communication from the University following Monday’s bombing at the Boston Marathon during the monthly meeting of the Harvard College Safety Committee Thursday.Hours before a standoff with police in Watertown concluded with the death of one of the two men believed to be responsible for the Boston Marathon bombings, healing began in Boston on Thursday morning.As a fatal shooting at MIT and the ensuing police chase created a sense of chaos in and around Cambridge, students said that infrequent communications from University administration left them worried and in the dark as a frightening situation developed nearby.A massive manhunt that began with the shooting of an MIT police officer in Cambridge Thursday night and paralyzed the greater Boston community for a full day concluded Friday evening with the apprehension of the second marathon bombing suspect in a standoff in Watertown.Employees of the Harvard-owned DoubleTree Suites by Hilton Hotel Boston filed charges of unfair labor practices on Wednesday alleging that management illegally interfered with their unionization process. The charges, filed with the National Labor Relations Board, follow a March petition by workers that announced their intention to begin the process of deciding whether or not to join UNITE HERE! Local 26, the state branch of a national union that represents more than 250,000 workers.Most students who have taken a Harvard mathematics course have at some point used the WolframAlpha search engine or the Mathematica computation software to help solve a tough question on a problem set. On Thursday evening, several dozen of these undergraduates gathered in Science Center Hall D to see the man behind the machine—Stephen Wolfram.Harvard affiliates discussed compassion and altruism and how the concepts apply to everyday life Thursday evening at Gutman Library during the third event in a series of panel-style conversations called “Living Compassion.”Representatives from the Harvard University Health Services and Drug and Alcohol Peer Advisors previewed Harvard Proof, a new alcohol education program tailored to the Harvard student that will replace AlcoholEdu this fall, during the monthly Committee on Student Life meeting Thursday morning.Law enforcement officials said early Friday morning that they believe two suspects involved in a firefight with police in Watertown early Friday morning are the same two men suspected of Monday’s Boston Marathon bombings that killed three and injured 174.After a day marked by a flurry of conflicting media reports and few details from investigators, consensus emerged Wednesday evening that investigators had discovered footage that they believe may be useful in identifying the person or people responsible for Monday’s deadly blasts near the finish line of the Boston Marathon.Four Harvard students are working to allow the blind and visually impaired to experience visual art by using 3D printing and audio components.Four professors from Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard Business School participated in the panel, whose discussion largely centered on Professor Joseph S. Nye Jr.’s new book, “Presidential Leadership and the Creation of the American Era.”After two and a half years of planning, the Digital Public Library of America website will go live on Thursday at noon, becoming the first national digital library in the world.While nutritionists have questioned the healthiness of nuts due to their high fat content, a Harvard School of Public Health study published earlier this month correlates increased consumption of walnuts with reduced risk of Type 2 diabetes in women.According to Harvard researchers, recent summer temperatures in certain northern regions of the world have been the hottest in more ...The trip, which is an optional part of Astronomy 100, allows undergraduate students to work with Harvard Astronomy’s Supernova Forensics group to identify and learn more about the nature of supernovae, or stellar explosions. But more than supplementing students’ academic material, the course’s unique spring break trip gives students a glimpse into the lives of professional astronomers.A student-run website launched last week will connect sustainability projects on Harvard’s campus to potential donors, paving the way for green improvements to University facilities, including LED lights in the Quad and a new dishwasher for Cabot Cafe.Some Harvard community members came to the Kennedy School courtyard, joining hands and trading stories at an afternoon vigil. Others assembled in Boston Common, signing posters and laying down flowers beneath the setting sun. Still others congregated around the steps of Memorial Church in Tercentenary Theater, lighting candles and embracing in spite of a strong evening wind.The day after two bombs exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing three and injuring at least 176 to date, government officials and investigators revealed a preliminary theory about the nature of the explosives used and the way in which they may have been transported.Just as it seemed all members of the Harvard community who ran or attended the Boston Marathon were safely accounted for after the fatal bombing, FBI officials said Monday that Krystle Campbell, a former Harvard Business School employee whose mother and brother still work at the University, was among three killed in the attacks.A day after students criticized the University for how it communicated with undergraduates in the hours following two bomb explosions at the Boston Marathon Monday afternoon, Dean of the College Evelynn M. Hammonds told students in an email that Harvard “can and will do better to communicate with our community in times of crisis.”Harvard will pay $1,500 to University employees who have extended health insurance coverage to their same-sex spouses under the University family medical plan in an attempt to compensate for additional taxes that these employees must pay that their heterosexual colleagues do not.More than a hundred students and community members packed Geological Lecture Hall Tuesday evening to listen to a conversation between psychology professors Steven Pinker and Howard E. Gardner ’65.Less than twenty-four hours after two bombs exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing at least three and injuring at least 176, government officials and investigators met the media at a hotel near the blast zone to report that the investigation of the bombings is ongoing and rapidly growing in scope.Less than twenty-four hours after two bombs exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing at least three and injuring at least 176, government officials and investigators met the media at a hotel near the blast zone to report that the investigation of the bombings is ongoing and rapidly growing in scope.Three people died and more than 130 were injured, though as of press time there were no confirmed reports of Harvard faculty, students, or staff suffering injuries due to the blast.In the wake of two bomb explosions that killed three people and injured more than 130 others, Harvard students criticized what they described as the University’s slow communication with undergraduates.With cell phone service in Boston down and TV news slow to sort out the details, members of the Harvard community turned to Twitter and other forms of social media to find and exchange the latest news about the bombings.As Harvard affiliates anxiously awaited news from loved ones running or attending the tragedy-marred Boston Marathon Monday afternoon, House communities, peer advising groups, and concerned individuals created spaces where they could come together to try to make sense of the day's events.While the Harvard community struggled to comprehend the news of deadly explosions at the Boston Marathon, several dozen students gathered at Harvard Hillel Monday to commemorate Yom HaZikaron, Israel’s day of remembrance for fallen soldiers and victims of terrorism.In the hours after bombings at the Boston Marathon, Harvard Square was thrust into a state of unrest following unconfirmed bomb threats, an evacuation of the John F. Kennedy School of Government, and the cancellation of some evening classes. The Cambridge Police Department confirmed that the area was clear of all potential threats Monday evening.The final mile of the Boston Marathon was transformed into a grisly and chaotic scene Monday when two bombs exploded near the finish line at around 2:50 p.m., leaving three dead and more than 130 injured. Witnesses described dozens of victims sprawled across the course and limbs left lying amid broken glass on a blood-stained Boylston Street in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston.As you hear updates from friends, professors, staff, and other Harvard affiliates who were at the Boston Marathon at the time of the explosions, please email The Crimson at news@thecrimson.com. The Crimson will post a list of individuals confirmed to be safe.In an email to University President Drew G. Faust last Friday, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Docket Committee asked for clarification of the scope and timetable of an outside investigation of Harvard’s email search scandal commissioned by Faust earlier this month.Rep. Edward J. Markey, the candidate emerging as frontrunner in the race to replace Secretary of State John F. Kerry in the Senate, visited Harvard on Friday afternoon to make his case to students.Representatives of the Undergraduate Council met on Sunday for their general meeting, voting in favor of legislation that would officially request Harvard University Dining Services and the Office of Student Life—which determines dining hall schedules—to provide spring break dining starting in the 2013-2014 school year.Harvard’s proposal for the Barry’s Corner Residential and Retail Commons in Allston was unanimously approved by the Boston Redevelopment Authority board Thursday evening. The project is slated to break ground in the fall of 2013.Harvard economics professor Raj Chetty ’00 won the John Bates Clark Medal Friday. Awarded by the American Economic Association, the award recognizes the contribution of an American economist under 40 to the field of economics. Chetty, who at 33 is one of the award’s youngest recipients, joins the ranks of famous economists like Lawrence H. Summers, Milton Friedman, Paul R. Krugman, and several Nobel Prize winners who have previously won the award.CommonWheels—an Allston-based bicycle collective dedicated to fostering a community of cyclists—is one of ten Allston based nonprofits to receive a grant from the Harvard as a part of the Harvard Allston Partnership Fund. Last month Harvard pledged to extend the HAPF, which was founded in 2009 and has granted money to 20 nonprofits, by $500,000 dollars over five years.A small but supportive crowd came out to see local hip hop and soul artist Shea Rose perform at a concert in the Eliot House courtyard Saturday night that began at the same time rapper Tyga took the stage at Yardfest in Tercentenary Theater.Twice during his performance in Tercentenary Theater Saturday evening, rapper Tyga alluded to the controversy surrounding his appearance at Yardfest. “Despite all the haters, we’re here,” he yelled into his microphone just minutes into his performance, saying he appreciated everyone who came out for the concert.Harvard Management Company’s Director of Private Equity Peter F. Dolan ’83 left HMC on Wednesday after nearly 20 years with the firm, according to a University official familiar with the matter.More than 100 members of the Harvard community rallied outside Massachusetts Hall on Thursday to deliver a petition calling for Harvard to divest from fossil fuels.The week after the Committee on Academic Integrity unveiled its proposal for a student honor code, several members of the faculty remained divided on whether the new code would foster a culture of greater academic integrity among the undergraduate body.Recognizing how current social attitudes towards rape have come into being will help students dismantle a rape culture that places undue burden on victims, according to Tithi Bhattacharya, an associate professor at Purdue University who spoke at Dudley House Thursday evening.In a recent assignment for her sophomore tutorial, African and African American Studies concentrator Yasmin Rawlins ’15 trekked to Merengue, a Dominican restaurant in Roxbury, to interview the owners.In the first admissions cycle since the Government 1310 cheating scandal, applicants to Harvard College who had cheated in high school faced no increased scrutiny, a Harvard spokesperson confirmed Thursday.Twenty-four members of the Class of 2014 were inducted into the Harvard chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, the nation’s oldest honor society, the chapter announced Thursday afternoon.Twenty-four members of the Class of 2014 were inducted into the Harvard chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, the nation’s oldest honor society, the chapter announced Thursday afternoon.New York City Council Member Brad Lander and Somerville Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone discussed the role citizens can play in crafting a local budget in a talk about urban democracy and civic engagement at the Harvard Kennedy School on Wednesday.An internal investigation by Harvard Medical School into scientific misconduct by one of its former stem cell researchers used information from the researcher’s colleagues and computer hard drive searches to confirm a breach of academic integrity, according to the investigation’s official report.In an era of massive consolidation in the healthcare industry, two major teaching hospitals, including Harvard-affiliated Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and several large physicians organizations expressed interest in merging, according to a memo obtained by The Boston Globe last week.University President Drew G. Faust acknowledged in an interview Tuesday that administrators do not yet have a complete picture of the sequence of events surrounding secret searches of resident deans’ email accounts, but said she hopes a forthcoming review by esteemed Boston attorney Michael B. Keating will clarify lingering uncertainty.In an effort to make student life more accessible to students with families, Harvard Kennedy School students are working together with the Kennedy School Student Government to introduce family-friendly social programming.The three Republicans vying for Massachusetts’ open Senate seat debated gun control regulations at the WBZ-TV studios in Allston Wednesday night, hours after news outlets reported a bipartisan Senate compromise on the issue.Upperclassmen and freshmen alike were drawn to the African and African American Studies Advising Fortnight event “Savoring Success” on Wednesday evening, which used alumni stories to inform potential concentrators about career opportunities open to undergraduates who study in the department.San Jose State University will offer more courses that integrate Harvard’s virtual learning platform edX into their lesson plans, as well as work with other California universities to replicate this initiative at schools across the state, SJSU and edX announced Wednesday.Professor David R. Liu ’94 and coworkers have reported a new synthetic method of directly building polymers by reading the genetic code off of DNA. According to Liu, this method could eventually lead to the discovery of useful new biological compounds.Some students said they intend to spend the evening of Yardfest fulfilling extracurricular and academic commitments, while still others had previously made plans to attend the spring concerts at other universities also slated for this coming weekend.The Massachusetts State Police said on Tuesday that they will file a criminal charge against Samuel J. Jackson, the driver who piloted a charter bus carrying Pennsylvania school children into the Western Avenue Bridge on the evening of February 2, injuring 39 students.Pat Levitt, a neuroscience professor at the University of Southern California, discussed the ways early development shapes social behavior in a lecture Tuesday afternoon.Nearly two and a half years after its originally slated release date, a database intended to increase the transparency of the Administrative Board process has yet to be made public.The Cambridge City Council voted 7-1-1 Monday night in favor of approving the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s rezoning petition, paving the way for the university’s plans for development of lab, office, housing, and research space in Kendall Square.Hundreds of members of the Class of 2016 crowded into Annenberg Hall Monday night for the kickoff of advising fortnight. The two-week long program consists of a series of panels, open houses, teas, and socials for each of the College’s 48 concentrations with the goal of helping freshmen to choose their concentrations by the end of their sophomore fall.Christian author Jim Wallis and Memorial Church Minister Jonathan L. Walton argued that the public should harness the power of religion to pursue the “common good” in politics on Monday in an event hosted by the Harvard Kennedy School’s Center for Public Leadership.To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government, four panelists came together in the JFK Jr. Forum on Monday to discuss the role of business and government in making America work.After years of swimming in suspicions that fish confer health benefits, a new study by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health and University of Washington found conclusive evidence that omega-3 fatty acids corresponded to a reduced risk of death in the elderly, especially from cardiovascular disease. In older adults, higher blood levels of these fatty acids may even increase lifespan.The Harvard administration threatened to severely sanction a resident dean who shared with two students an internal email advising Administrative Board members on how to counsel undergraduates implicated in the Government 1310 cheating case, four College administrators said Monday.The College Events Board and the Harvard College Concert Commission will retain rapper Tyga as the headliner for Yardfest, but will push back the start time of his performance on Saturday to accommodate students unhappy with the selection, the two organizations announced in a statement Monday night.Representatives of the Undergraduate Council voted unanimously Sunday night to express “tremendous concern” over administrators’ searches of resident deans’ email accounts and the broader issue of email privacy at Harvard.Students sampled ethnic cuisine, attended cultural exhibitions, and competed to be named the first ever “Face of Africa” during “Africa Night,” an annual celebration of African culture hosted by the Harvard African Students Association Sunday.Over 800 female alumni flooded Harvard Business School’s campus on Thursday and Friday to attend the W50 Summit, a celebration of the 50th anniversary of women’s admission to the school’s MBA program.Laure E. “Voop” de Vulpillieres ’02, a non-resident tutor in Kirkland, shared her secrets for success at asking people out on dates with about 80 students gathered in Cabot House Living Room Friday night.A new study conducted by psychology researchers at Harvard suggests that early and frequent testing improves students’ retention of educational material taught through a virtual platform.The government and psychology departments have introduced new initiatives meant to encourage undergraduates to make personal connections with their professors, as large concentrations work to counteract the idea that their size allows for little contact between faculty and students.Students, administrators, professors, and alumni from across the Harvard community are speaking up and sharing their personal experiences with mental illness and stress as part of the newly launched “Harvard Speaks Up” online video series.Pieter Lehrer, associate head coach at the University of California, Berkeley, was named the new coach of the Harvard’s men’s soccer team on Thursday.Hotel workers, activists, and students gathered in front of Cambridge City Hall Thursday afternoon to protest what they characterized as unfair labor practices at the Le Méridien hotel in Cambridge.Projects ranging in focus from mental health care for children in India to sexually transmitted infection prevention are among the eight finalist proposals for the inaugural Deans’ Health and Life Sciences Challenge, Harvard University announced Thursday.Sheryl K. Sandberg ’91, chief operating officer of Facebook, told audience members in a packed Sanders Theater to be aggressive in pursuit of their ambitions.A recent string of top-down administrative decisions, culminating in revelations Tuesday that Dean of the College Evelynn M. Hammonds broke faculty email privacy policy in authorizing the search of a resident dean’s email accounts, has faculty members calling for a broad reconsideration of their own governance.As the U.S. presence in Iraq and Afghanistan winds down, a recent report by Harvard Kennedy School lecturer Linda J. Bilmes ’80 predicts that the aggregate cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will fall between $4 and $6 trillion.In celebration of its annual Islamic Awareness Month, the Harvard Islamic Society kicked off a series of events this week in order to bring attention to Islamic issues and the Muslim community at Harvard.Timing may play a more important role in the survival of evolutionarily beneficial mutations in bacteria than previously thought, a discovery which might have implications on cancer research, according to a study by Harvard researchers released last month.A recent study from Harvard’s Laboratory for Visual Neuroplasticity at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary suggests that audio-based video games can help blind individuals to navigate physical spaces.A recent addition to local dining options brings a taste of Tuscany to Harvard Square.A research team at the Harvard School of Public Health has found that overconsumption of salt—and its effects on the cardiovascular system—can be linked to 2.3 million deaths worldwide, nearly 40 percent of which were premature.In light of recent provocations from North Korean leaders, Harvard professors and students said that although such behavior from the nation is a common occurrence, the new round of rhetoric should be viewed with caution.Defending political prisoners in a country without rule of law is a dangerous but important job, said attorney Maryna Kavaleuskaya at her talk called “Defending Political Prisoners in Belarus” at Harvard Law School on Wednesday.In response to revelations of a previously undisclosed round of secret email searches announced at a faculty meeting Tuesday, student representatives expressed concern about administrative transparency surrounding email privacy, including the security of the students’ own accounts.Though discussion of a proposal to alter reading period was eclipsed by revelations about the extent of faculty email searches at Tuesday’s faculty meeting, the Committee on Undergraduate Education continued to debate the possibly of banning due dates for assignments during reading period at their meeting Wednesday afternoon.The Faculty of Arts and Sciences continued its efforts to promote diversity on Wednesday morning at the latest installment of Diversity Dialogues, a popular lecture series designed to foster discussion of diversity among Harvard’s faculty and staff.The Graduate Student Council of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences elected Summer A. Shafer as GSC president Wednesday evening. Several other executive board positions were taken in a surprise coup that Shafer called “an impromptu coalition,” as a number of write-in candidacies were declared at last night’s meeting.Former U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman Jr. and former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd discussed China’s likely unseating of the United States as the world’s greatest economic power at the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum Wednesday evening.Stanford University administrators have announced that they will begin to collaborate with edX to build upon the virtual learning initiative’s open source platform, which will be released to the public in June.Mark D. Gearan ’78, President of the Hobart and William Smith Colleges, returned to his alma mater on Tuesday to discuss public service and his experiences in service and politics in the Winthrop House Senior Common room.Members of the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers voted to ratify their new contract on Tuesday, marking the official end of the union’s longest ever negotiations with the University.Harvard announced the 10 team finalists for the first-ever Deans’ Cultural Entrepreneurship Challenge on Monday.Attendees filled the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum Tuesday night as panelists discussed the newly appointed Pope’s influence on the direction of the Catholic Church.Contradicting a previous statement, Dean of the College Evelynn M. Hammonds told faculty at their monthly meeting Tuesday that she authorized a second round of secret email searches that probed the faculty and administrative accounts of a single resident dean identified as having leaked confidential information about the Government 1310 cheating case.The U.S. District Court of Massachusetts denied Harvard’s request last week to try a class-action lawsuit in federal court filed against the University by the wait staff at Loeb House and the Harvard Faculty Club.MIT leaders, including President L. Rafael Reif, crowded into City Hall on Monday night to lobby the Council to support their plans for the university’s development in Kendall Square.Members of the Harvard-Allston Task Force and other Allston residents criticized Harvard for what they called a failure to include sufficient benefits for the neighborhood in their Barry’s Corner development plans at a meeting on Monday evening. |