Some Notes on CampusTap and the New Space

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to take a minute to address some of the comments and concerns we’ve been getting regarding our move to CampusTap. I’m cross-posting this here since many of the criticisms are being voiced here, and so that people who aren’t plugged into CampusTap can read this as well. (more in expanded post)

First of all, we’re really sorry about the delay in getting anonymous commenting up and running–the people designing CampusTap have been working extremely hard to set up that feature, as well as the RSS feed, which many people–both CampusTap users and non-users–have been requesting.

Second, we thank you for all your critical feedback–it lets us know what we need to fix and/or watch out for. At the same time, we hope that you can also be open-minded about the switch. Based on our experience with them, the CampusTap people aren’t evil, institutional hyper-capitalists scheming to take over the world with their service/product–they’re genuinely nice, earnest people who continue to go out of their way to help build us a server we’d be excited to use (partly because it’s important to them that we become users, but also because they share our interest in the possibilities of New Media).

I’ll be the first one to admit that the CampusTap site seems overwhelming and a little clannish at first, especially in comparison to clean-and-easy blogger (although, as you can tell from our whacked-out font that we’ve been trying to fix for weeks, blogger’s not problem-free either). But the main advantage of CampusTap is that we get to dream up almost anything we want and, though it will take some time to build, eventually it can be realized. The CampusTap people are all ears–seriously. They want criticisms, suggestions and feedback. All that’s required on our end is a little patience and a little trust. Honestly, this isn’t so much to ask given the ease with which, if CampusTap did do something to frustrate us, we could easily switch back to blogger. But for now, we’re making an investment (not monetary; just time- and hope-related) because we’re enthusiastic about the new, customized features Campustap can construct, given that they can also eventually provide most of the same features we love about blogger.

For one thing, CampusTap lets us have multiple blogs on our single cambridge common site. At the moment we have our main blog, a guest blog (not yet in use) and an archives page. In the future, when we get more writers, we’re looking into the possibility of an exciting layout redesign that we wouldn’t be able to do with blogger (or at least it would cost a lot to pay someone to figure it out for us).

A few of us are also warming up to the nifty calendar function, which is actually a feature we had been trying to figure out how to incorporate into cambridge common ourselves before campustap approached us. The calendar can be helpful if you want to find out about campus events in your area of interest without having to deal with a flood of emails. It also gives us at cambridge common the ability to easily show our support for various real-life campus groups’ endeavors.

Most importantly, CampusTap is an exciting experiment in online networking among campus communities. We’ll never know how useful it can be in bridging groups on campus and facilitating debate and information sharing until we—collectively—give it an honest try, understanding that it may not be perfect, we may ultimately deem it undesirable, but at least we’ll have explored it as a possibility. I hope you’ll be open to taking a chance on this project, taking its brand-nameyness with a grain of salt, and taking advantage of a rare opportunity to participate in building a network from the ground up.

Thanks for bearing with us during this time of transition. We think it’ll be worth the wait.

RELAUNCH!

We’re online with CampusTap! Come share some wisdom with us in OUR NEW HOME!

Success…?

This was a post I wrote last November and never published because it seemed to add little to the age-old question, but in retrospect, and at the beginning of a very busy semester, I think it is an appropriate time to ask some questions like these:

A couple of interesting conversations I’ve had this weekend have prompted me to really reconsider what I personally define as success, for myself. I think that sometimes what’s easiest to say and what sounds good or right is not really what we feel inside: though I may say, and truly want to believe, and sometimes do believe, that I am comfortable with my academics being less than stellar because I have chosen to spend my time here in other ways, I know that a little part of me is disappointed whenever I see my transcript and wonders if I have sacrificed or compromised my future goals in some way for something I can’t even put my finger on. I think this is true for many who enjoy their academics, but feel that their devotion to other causes, which may be equally or more important to them, make it impossible to learn and perform as they know they could.

So. How do you define success? How should we define success at Harvard? Do we lie to ourselves on the surface to relieve the stress or burden we may feel to do something big or achieve a certain level or result or make change, but by denying what we feel inside, do we do ourselves greater injury? Is it possible to turn an entire college of overachieving do-it-alls into satisfied and occasionally mediocre people? …how?

reminder

Hey all, just a quick reminder that we’re having a little shindig tonight at 9 pm in the Lowell Grille (in the basement of O-entryway) to celebrate our move over to CampusTap and our new writers and to hopefully encourage some friends and readers to come share their thoughts with us (along with some pizza and drinks).

update: A reader reminds me that I haven’t explained what CampusTap is. Basically, it’s a new venture being kicked off by a handful of Harvard students that seeks to be the blog platform- like Blogger- for Harvard. The Crimson has a story on the site today.

Another quick note: many apologies to those of you who are having a hard time reading the site with this new font. We have no idea why it changed and I don’t really like it. Luckily, as of 9 pm tonight, it won’t matter!

Hope to see you there.

Larry Summers Takes A Bow

One year ago, I spent the better part of the afternoon at a rally sponsored by the Coalition for an Anti-Sexist Harvard, where a hundred undergraduates suffered through subzero temperatures and intermittent rain to demand Larry Summers’ resignation. The protest was timed to coincide with a critical meeting of the faculty, which was being covered by media outlets nationwide. It was a convergence of local and national opinion – the back of my head, for example, was featured on the next week’s Independent, but I had friends whose grandparents came across their pictures by way of the Associated Press. Larry Summers probably wasn’t having a fantastic day on February 22nd. Frankly, he’s not doing much better this year, since he’s apparently opted for the whole unemployment thing instead of doggedly picking a fight.(more in expanded post)

What surprises me, though, is that I’m kind of ambivalent about the whole resignation announcement. Last year, I felt so strongly about the need for a change in leadership that I stood in an ankle-deep puddle of ice water for an hour and even filled out my own little no-confidence vote to place in the rally’s novelty-sized ballot box. If that’s not dedication, I don’t know what is. This year, for no apparent reason, I can’t seem to summon up any sort of seething rage.

It’s not like Larry Summers has personally changed my mind; if anything, I’ve been pretty disheartened by the constant controversy over things like Dean Kirby’s resignation and the backsliding on issues that hit closer to home, like Harvard’s refusal to join the lawsuit against the Solomon Amendment, pay its workers a living wage, or include gender identity and expression in its non-discrimination code. I’m convinced that leaders need to lead, and that conviction doesn’t necessarily stem from any sort of progressive belief that Harvard needs to set a global example (although, in an ideal world, maybe it would). Instead, I’d be satisfied if Harvard’s leadership took the initiative to solicit student opinion and listen to concerns instead of waiting until they’ve got dozens of unwashed labor activists calling the New York Times from their office. The student body is incredibly diverse, and almost every student group has concerns that deeply affect their college experience. I’d be refreshed if this was acknowledged by anyone, including Summers’ successor.

I’m invested in a university that functions as a model of academic excellence and democratic ideals, and I don’t believe that we were headed in the right direction – so why am I ambivalent right now? On a visceral level, I feel bad for Larry Summers because he’s human and deserves some degree of sympathy. It’s one thing to watch someone resign in an acknowledgment of bad decisions on his part; it’s another thing, though, to watch him shrug his shoulders and call it quits because a significant portion of his colleagues find him generally unlikable. My guilt complex is fairly overactive, and when I opened my inbox and found Larry Summers’ terse, wistful letter, something in me died a little. In a totally irrational way, I feel bad for wishing this upon him. Clearly, no individual student is responsible for his departure, but I held a sign and let my mullet-like haircut grace the cover of the Independent, so I feel apologetic in an admittedly irrational way.

It’s easy to become apprehensive about the more concrete effects of Summers’ departure, too. First and foremost, I worry about what this decision is going to do to the credibility of the left at Harvard. It was easy to dislike Summers when he had done something that was widely recognized as sexist – or, at the very least, wholly insensitive – by a large audience across the nation. At this time last year, the same announcement would have carried a very different symbolic weight, and it might have suggested that Harvard’s female students mattered more than its feckless president. It would have been a lesson, for better or for worse, in cause and effect and the importance of taking responsibility for one’s own actions – and that could have been meaningful for women and minorities everywhere. Instead, the lack of a single, salient source of discontent at the time of the announcement means that the whole episode is likely to go down as an anecdote about liberal academia’s chokehold on free thought – and that’s a drastically reductionist understanding of the whole debacle.

It makes sense for activists to be apprehensive about the announcement – not necessarily disappointed that Summers is leaving, but disappointed that the whole ordeal is likely to become a retroactive pox on the left at Harvard. Summers is departing at a time when there’s no single error in judgment that might merit his removal from power. Overall, this – more than anything else – is disappointing to those of us who can identify a litany of past frustrations and are still hoping against hope for positive, progressive institutional change. Harvard can easily stand up for its students and develop ethical fiber by divesting from Sudan, by refusing federal money until all of its students are eligible for the same employment opportunities, by updating its non-discrimination code, by fully recognizing underfunded academic disciplines, and by paying its workers a living wage. The feuds that marked Summers’ tenure didn’t have to be political, but the intractability of the university’s position turned them into ideologically charged free-for-alls between liberal academia and a controversial, more conservative figurehead. Now, by avoiding any issue directly and stepping down in a period of general discontent, there’s a good chance that the decision will go down in history as a victory of the implacable left, without really remembering why discontent built over the years. Overall, that’s bad news for those of us who will sacrifice a good pair of shoes and risk frostbite to fight sexism, but can’t seem to get excited about a decisive victory over nothing in particular.

on the radio

Earlier this evening I participated in a roundtable discussion on WHRB about the Summers resignation. The other panelists were Zach Seward, the former Crimson Managing Editor who broke the story itself for the WSJ, Eric Lesser, the President of the Dems, and Matt Meisel, one of the co-chairs of the Crimson. I think it was a good discussion, although the other three probably contributed more to it than I did. The piece also featured a taped statement from Professor James Engell on behalf of the faculty, an interview with Richard Bradley of Harvard Rules and a (wo)man on the street montage of Harvard students. Check it out and share your reactions.

on covering coverage and breaking news

On a few email lists, and now in the comments section, has been the complaint that Cambridge Common thinks it “broke” the news that Larry is resigning. I quickly mentioned this issue earlier today, but I thought it was fair to address it more in full. Apologies to people on the FUP list who have already read this explanation. (more in expanded post)

I do not claim to have “broken” the fact that Larry Summers was resigning. Simply speaking, I (and people on email lists) “broke” the fact that the Crimson believed that the WSJ had the story and that some Crimson staff members were sharing this information. That fact (and it is a fact) was verified by two sources and a half a dozen emails. I realize that the emails are less reliable, but the sources at the Crimson were as reliable as any sources that the Crimson uses on reporting on other things.

Simply said, this was coverage of the Crimson. If anything, that people believed that because I reported this fact-that the Crimson believed that it had been scooped by the WSJ- they believed that Larry was in fact resigning is a testament to the reliability of the Crimson.

To the extent that you believe that the Crimson should not be covered as a newsmaker in and of itself, or to the extent that you do not trust me as a source and therefore don’t believe my sources were legitimate, I would understand concern and clarification. But if you believe that I am a reliable source and the Crimson is a legitimate thing to be covered, I held myself to the same standards that the Crimson holds itself to.

It seems odd to me that some have decried my coverage of the “breaking” of the story, and yet do so because they are so interested in that fact as a piece of news. Because I wrote about the “breaking” of the story before it was “broken” doesn’t make my story any less legitimate. In addition, this seems ironic to me considering the fact that the story the Crimson ended up running this morning was about the fact that another media source had confirmed the story but they could not.

In any event, I want to make this clear because it’s important to me not to delegitimize the hard work done by the people who actually confirmed the truth of the story and worked hard to do so. I was excited to find out about the process as it was happening, but only because the process itself is important and a valid thing to cover.

I hope that’s clear. Feel free to share your thoughts and wisdom. If you’re interested, you can read more about my thoughts on alternative media at Harvard.

Think we’re spiffy?

Come hang out with us at the Cambridge Common R E L A U N C H party!
This Thursday, 9-11 pm, Lowell Grille.
Some food, some great company and some RELAUNCHING!!!

civilized cultures would never do such a…oh wait…

Things like this are part of why I’m so frustrated when people make broad generalizations about the noble attributes of ‘Western Civilization’ in opposition to “[Islam,] a rather sizable religious tradition [that] doesn’t seem even to comprehend the notion of free expression.”

Some guy I’m reading for class wrote the following a while ago:

It will be said, that we do not now put to death the introducers of new opinions: we are not like our fathers who slew the prophets, we even build sepulchres to them. It is true we no longer put heretics to death; and the amount of penal infliction which modern feeling would probably tolerate, even against the most obnoxious opinions, is not sufficient to extirpate them. But let us not flatter ourselves that we are yet free from the stain of even legal persecution. Penalties for opinion, or at least for its expression, still exist by law; and their enforcement is not, even in these times, so unexampled as to make it at all incredible that they may some day be revived in full force.
-J.S. Mill, “On Liberty”

More recently, a popular music group had this to say:

I know you’d like to think your shit don’t stink
But lean a little bit closer
See that roses really smell like boo-boo
Yeah, roses really smell like boo-boo
-Outkast, “Roses”

Wise sentiments, both.

avoiding a fall after summers

A recent anonymous commentor offered some good reasons why we undergrads should care about our presidents’ resignation. In particular, they note that this is an important opportunity to reassess and clarify our own priorities for our undergraduate education–priorities we want the next president to take up. After this year’s UC elections, I proposed coming up with a wish list for the coming year; now, I think another exercise in envisioning and articulating is in order.

If we don’t start talking now about what we want from our future head honcho, we doom ourselves to complacency in what may be, as Francisco predicts, a continuation of the same old problems (does the corporation have the real power anyway?).

What do we want our new president to advocate for? What changes do we wish to see? (more in expanded post)

I, for one, agree with the aforementioned commentor that the continuation of financial aid improvement is a top priority. Students’ financial situations make a huge difference in their Harvard experience–from feeling annoyed when peers casually discuss plans to jet-set to Paris for spring break, to having to work multiple jobs in order to get a head start on paying off loans. A president should be committed to recruiting low-income students and supporting them while they’re here.

A new president should have more respect than Summers had for the social sciences. Desiring to improve the ‘hard,’ ‘empirical’ sciences is all well and good, but faculty in the humanities also deserve respect, attention, and support. Holding up the science departments as bastions of real truth while relegating humanities fields to a mere means of filling out a liberal arts education implies a dangerous tendency to ignore the ways that science is embedded in social practices (courses in the history of science department offer some fascinating perspectives on this).

A new president should seek innovative ways of building community among undergraduates, transforming the mosaic-style diversity of Harvard–where groups self-segregate and there are too few consistent attempts to bridge them–into a more mobile, fluid, kaleidoscopic diversity. Expanding social space, as the anonymous commentor noted, should be one of the new president’s concerns, but so should capitalizing on what positive momentum was created by last year’s summers scandal (whether or not you think it was blown out of proportion, the Women and Minorities Task force that was created as a result could become a major asset in promoting diversity among faculty in general and within certain departments specifically).

Finally, it seems to me that the both the FAS faculty and the new president will have to come up with more effective, satisfactory way of communicating. Maybe the problems had a lot to do with Summers’ personality and style of interaction, but perhaps if the faculty had some mechanism for airing grievances before they grow so out-of-hand as to warrant a call for a no-confidence vote, it could create a more open relationship between faculty and administration so that the president doesn’t have to be a bulldozer in order to get things done. Maybe I’m naive in thinking that this sort of improvement can be made, but it seems to me that a president should be able to persuasively advocate a vision for reforms while still being able to take faculty feedback into consideration.

Those who know more about this and all things Harvard than I do, please share some wisdom. What’s on your wish list for the post-Summers era?