• Harvard SEAS Features
• SEAS Struggles to Attract Minority Students: Yet amidst this rapid growth, the school has seen its proportion of African-American and Latino students remain substantially below the proportions in the overall Harvard population. With 415 students currently concentrating in SEAS, only 4.8 percent identify as African-American and 2.4 percent identify as Latino. Among all Harvard students, the corresponding percentages are roughly 11 percent and 10 percent, according to statistics from the Admissions office.
• Stretch Marks: And thus far, SEAS' remarkable capacity for growth shows no signs of abating--a potentially worrying trend that might force the school's administration to discover new ways to manage the growth while it operates within budget constraints and marshals finite research and lab space.
• Computer Science at Harvard Sees Large Gender Imbalance: In fact, computer science is the most gender-skewed concentration offered at Harvard, with women comprising only 13 percent of undergraduate CS majors ... Interviews with over a dozen women involved with computer science revealed no clear consensus on the issue. While some believe this disparity is due to the difficulties faced by female CS concentrators at Harvard, others say that they have found a welcoming environment in Harvard CS and ascribe the variance to experiences that women face prior to college.
• Harvard Attracts More Potential Engineers: Cited by Harvard Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid William R. Fitzsimmons '67 as one of three central trends driving an increase in applications to Harvard, the rise in applicants interested in these fields has been all but meteoric since the establishment of an independent School of Engineering and Applied Sciences almost three years ago.
• Politics and Advocacy Features
• Student Up For City Council: If Cheung does secure enough votes in November, he will be the youngest member of the Council, the first Asian-American elected, and the only student within the body in recent years. He says his student identity is what motivates him to run, and he intends to mobilize student support to aid him on what may well be an uphill battle for a seat.
• Harvard Sets Tone for Future of ROTC: Students and faculty members expressed concerns about ROTC's recruitment of undergraduates for the war. Faculty members also questioned the academic rigor of ROTC courses, which were taught by military officers in the Departments of Military Science, Naval Science andAerospace Studies. In April 1969 a group of students occupied University Hall in an act of protest against the Corps, and the Faculty subsequently voted to expel the ROTC program.
• Women in Charge: Lam, Cox, Flores: For the first time since 2000, three of the major political organizations on campus--the Undergraduate Council, the Harvard College Democrats, and the Student Advisory Committee to the IOP--are headed up by female leaders. Andrea R. Flores '10 serves as president of the UC, Eva Z. Lam '10 is president of the Dems, and Mary K.B. Cox '10 is president of the SAC.
• Miscellaneous Features
• After a Decade, the Sackler Finally Opens Its Doors: When the Arthur M. Sackler Art Museum opened its doors in October 1985, many involved in the project dubbed its completion "The Miracle on Quincy Street." The moniker was hardly hyperbole. Harvard museum administrators had recognized the need for an extension to the overcrowded Fogg Art Museum since the 1950s, but the proposal was slow to gain traction, says former Fogg Director and Professor of Fine Arts Seymour Slive.
• Handle With Care: Students and UHS administrators have endlessly debated the quality of Harvard's mental health services, which treats about 15 percent of the students in the College--or roughly 1,000 undergraduates--in any given school year, according to Director of Behavioral Health and Academic Counseling Paul J. Barreira. The wrongful death lawsuit filed against Harvard College and UHS last November focused campus attention on potential issues with UHS's mental health policies.
• Veritas Aims for the Stars: These are just a few scenes in the evolving life of Veritas Records. From performances to album production, the label fills a unique role in the Harvard community as one of the sole outlets for students interested in modern music. With a host of new projects and bands, the label is gearing up for what it hopes will be its most prominent, prolific, and exciting year yet.

© 2023, Evan T.R. Rosenman