Group items tagged

Campus - November 2, 2011 2:23 amAn Open Letter to Greg MankiwBy Harvard Talks Politics The following letter was sent to Greg Mankiw by the organizers of today's Economics 10 walkout. Wednesday November 2, 2011 Dear Professor Mankiw- Today, we are walking out of your class, Economics 10, in order to express our discontent with the bias inherent in this introductory economics course. We are deeply concerned about the way that this bias affects students, the University, and our greater society. As Harvard undergraduates, we enrolled in Economics 10 hoping to gain a broad and introductory foundation of economic theory that would assist us in our various intellectual pursuits and diverse disciplines, which range from Economics, to Government, to Environmental Sciences and Public Policy, and beyond. Instead, we found a course that espouses a specific-and limited-view of economics that we believe perpetuates problematic and inefficient systems of economic inequality in our society today. A legitimate academic study of economics must include a critical discussion of both the benefits and flaws of different economic simplifying models. As your class does not include primary sources and rarely features articles from academic journals, we have very little access to alternative approaches to economics. There is no justification for presenting Adam Smith's economic theories as more fundamental or basic than, for example, Keynesian theory. Care in presenting an unbiased perspective on economics is particularly important for an introductory course of 700 students that nominally provides a sound foundation for further study in economics. Many Harvard students do not have the ability to opt out of Economics 10. This class is required for Economics and Environmental Science and Public Policy concentrators, while Social Studies concentrators must take an introductory economics course-and the only other eligible class, Professor Steven Margolin's class Critical Perspec

Students Launch 'Occupy the Facts' By JOSE A. DELREAL, CRIMSON STAFF WRITER Published: Monday, November 07, 2011 6 16 COMMENT EMAIL PRINT About 20 students Sunday night launched "Occupy the Facts," a nascent student organization hoping to combat charges that protestors in the Occupy movement are uninformed about public policy issues. The organization seeks to conduct important policy research and make their findings accessible to Occupy protesters and the public. The group will spend the next three weeks developing information packages. "I want to see if we [can] create something that could research public policy surrounding the occupiers' demands," said Peter D. Davis '12, one of the project facilitators. "We want to be able to create fact sheets." One of the projects' goals is to eventually transform their policy findings into various formats, including educational YouTube videos and info-graphics. Davis said that the inspiration for "Occupy the Facts" is the potential for Occupy to affect social change. "I see the Occupy movement as a platform that might just have a chance at making the kind of change that a lot of people in our generation have been dreaming of," Davis said. Talia B. Lavin '12, another active student participant, protested the criticism levied against the movement. "I've noticed this persistent criticism that the demands of the movement aren't specific enough," Talia B. Lavin '12 said. "The goal is to reach out to people who have heard a lot about Occupy but aren't sure what Occupy is trying to achieve." Davis believes the charges that Occupy participants are uninformed are distracting from the movement's potential. "This group is calling those peoples' bluffs," Davis said. Davis met with a small group last week to determine how they could help the Occupy movement. They came to the conclusion that they could leverage Harvard's research resources to make policy information more acces

Occupy Protest Shuts Down Harvard Yard By JOSE A. DELREAL Published: Wednesday, November 09, 2011 4 158 COMMENT EMAIL PRINT DANIEL M. LYNCH GSAS student Marissa M. Egertsrom teaches the basics of "General Assemblies" while facilitating a conversation Wednesday night on the Law School campus. UPDATED 4:34 a.m. 11/10/11 A tent city was hastily constructed in front of University Hall Wednesday night during a tense dialogue between "Occupy Harvard" protesters and Dean of Student Life Suzy M. Nelson. The occupation followed a protest on campus involving more than roughly 350 participants sympathetic to the Occupy movement, during which Harvard Yard was shut down by Harvard University Police officers and Securitas guards. The protest was intended to convey disapproval of the University's perceived complicity in growing income inequality across the country. Participants included students, staff, faculty, and community members. Around 7 p.m., protesters were met with increased security that would prevent Boston residents who were not Harvard affiliates from entering the Yard. Multimedia GALLERY OCCUPY HARVARD BEGINS PHOTO "I think it's absurd. Do we really need eight guards per gate?" said Nicandro G. L. Iannacci '13, who has participated in other Occupy events. "The idea that the only people allowed here to have this conversation are members of the Harvard community, specifically, is wrong. Why not welcome more people in?" In response to the limited access to the Yard, demonstrators relocated to the Harvard Law School campus. As they marched past freshman dorms, they chanted, "Out of your rooms and into the Yard," rallying the students in the dorms to join. After a general assembly, protesters left the Law School campus and tried to re-enter the Yard to set up a tent city, but Securitas guards prevented demonstrators from entering by locking the gates. In a tense exchange, students tried to push their way into the Yard-some holding up

Occupy the Vote A new student initiative, "Occupy the Facts," should also emphasize political engagement By THE CRIMSON STAFF Published: Thursday, November 10, 2011 0 8 COMMENT EMAIL PRINT In Nov. 2010, days before the Republicans' midterm triumph, at the crest of the Tea Party wave, The Guardian's Gary Lounge wrote that the movement "…does not exist. It has no members, leaders, office bearers, headquarters, policies, participatory structures, budget or representatives." One year later, the Tea Party' fortunes have ebbed somewhat, and it has been largely supplanted by Occupy Wall Street as the epicenter of American populism. And yet, Lounge's words are perhaps even more pertinent now than they were then, as they also aptly encapsulate the gravest deficiencies of this latest protest movement. Like its rightwing predecessor, Occupy Wall Street has been criticized-by The Crimson, no less-for its permeating incoherence and debilitating disorganization. Enter "Occupy the Facts," a new, Harvard-grown student group dedicated to providing an intellectual foundation and policy platform for the headless movement. "Occupy the Facts" appears to be a direct response to these allegations of incoherence; its goal, according to co-founder Peter D. Davis '12, "is calling those peoples' bluffs." His colleague, Talia B. Lavin '12, likewise said that "I've noticed this persistent criticism that the demands of the movement aren't specific enough. The goal is to reach out to people who have heard a lot about Occupy but aren't sure what Occupy is trying to achieve." Our democracy is ill-served by blind, amorphous rage, and so we are heartened to see some effort to channel this populist energy into constructive issue advocacy. We are living today with the consequences of the Tea Party's failure to provide intelligible solutions to our most pressing national problems, and the effort to better inform and orient this new upsurge of popu