Lots to celebrate in our little Harvard blog-o-sphere lately!

Kaya's back at afropologë, wondering why supposed 'gay biology' experts seem to have such a tough time distinguishing between gender and sexual orientation.  And why all the focus on whether 'gayness' is a choice or not, when the…

Harvard students: we're either the leaders of tomorrow, or spoiled imbeciles.  Or both, I suppose.  In recent Harvard hating news, Andrew Sullivan of The Atlantic spreads some half-truths about the Stand For Security campaign:

Harvard's students fast for their janitors. Or: "How To Lose Five Pounds and Feel Totally Self-Righteous." There is another option.

Janitors, security guards, whatever -- low-wage workers are interchangeable, right?

Anyhow, the first link is a pretty flattering Boston Globe article recapping last month's hunger strike.  Our own Jess Coggins is quoted calling it a "very alienating tactic" that may hinder more than help the cause.  As I've said before, I think SLAM had sound reasons for choosing this approach: to wit, as the article notes, a hunger strike is relatively passive compared to the kind of hell student activists have raised in years past:

Hunger strikes demonstrate the depth of passion many students feel about the fight against economic inequality. They also represent a certain desperation, according to some students and labor historians, as universities become less tolerant of public disruptions, such as a high-profile sit-in at Harvard in 2001. While most protests are nonviolent, activists believe that a cultural shift since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks has encouraged administrators to crack down on civil disobedience on campus.

Give the whole thing a read; Kelly and Javier have some solid quotes.

Sullivan's second and third links are blog posts from dispatches from TJICistan and The Fourth Checkraise, respectively.  I confess I'm familiar with neither, but since the authors evidently feel entitled to bash the Harvard hunger strikers (or as they call them, "economically ignorant, self-important, 19 year old hippies" and "students from wealthy families"), I felt entitled to respond in their comment threads.  If you're so inclined, I'd encourage you to do the same.  My replies (read the posts first to get the full context):

On TJICistan:

It’s charming when folks use stereotypes, rather than evidence, to pass judgment on us Harvard brats. I’m all for constructive criticism, and there are certainly valid critiques one could make about the Stand for Security campaign. Your arguments manage to touch on none of them. My favorite tidbits:

Admittedly, being from middle-class NorCal, my perception of the mainstream political specturm may be slightly skewed left (though we have our share of rabid conservatives north of San Diego, believe me).  But the whole "Kremlin on the Charles" moniker has always struck me as a bit bizarre. …

Read the footnote on this court order allowing twelve distinguished law professors (including our own Alan Dershowitz and Richard Parker) to file an amicus brief in support of Scooter Libby.  It'll make you smile, I promise.

From How Appealing via Bitch Ph.D.

I've got two reasons for posting this.  One is to give a glimpse into the glamorous work life of CC founder Andrew Golis, who in addition to his regular duties at Talking Points Memo, recently received an Alison-Scott-esque promotion to on-camera correspondant with the fledgling TPMtv gig. …

More good news!  The security guards' union ratified a contract with AlliedBarton.  Hell yes.  Check out the stand4secutiry blog for details on the gains.

Now, if you'll indulge my double-entendre-lovin' nerdiness for a second: in this context, "What Now?" takes on a couple of meanings.   Neither of which is sexual; don't get your hopes up.

1.  A boastful phrase, indicating triumph in the face of opponents, especially those of the naysaying variety.  Like "Boo yeah," only cooler.  There's no doubt that the students' support in the Stand For Security campaign (including--yes--the hunger strike), as well as the outside pressure they mobilized from the likes of Chuck Turner, Noam Chomsky, and alumni, made a big difference in securing this win.  Kinda makes all the squabbling over tactics seem a little silly, no?

2.  A query, indicating curiosity as to what will happen next.  Is this the end of the campaign?  Maybe.  The blog doesn't indicate one way or the other, yet.  Is it the end of the fight for a living wage and fair treatment for Harvard workers?  That'd be a no.  The struggle is ongoing, and will outlast all of us and probably our legacy progeny, should we have any.  So in addition to celebrating this victory, we must also analyze and learn from it for the future.

In that vein, I'm sure the SLAM folks are debriefing amongst themselves about the 'pluses and deltas' (what worked well; what needs fixing) of the campaign.  For what it's worth, here are a couple pluses and deltas from a semi-outsider's perspective.

Calendar reform wins!  Not to be ungrateful, but...it's about friggin' time.  From Derek Bok's email today:

The decision to recommend approval of the new calendar came after receiving more than eleven hundred responses to my message of May 2, inviting reactions from all members of the Harvard community.  Respondents expressed overwhelming support for the change.  Overall, 94 percent of the respondents indicated approval of the new calendar.  Eighty-eight percent of the faculty favored the change as did 94 percent of the students and 94 percent of the staff.  In none of the individual Faculties did the majority in any of these three constituencies fall below 75 percent.

Let it not be said that the only way Harvard students know how to effect change is through sit-ins, boycotts, and other disruptive tactics (all of which usually come after negotiation attempts, anyhow).  Those have their place, but it's nice to see another lobbying victory, too.  My sense is that the UC deserves a lot of credit for this, since Ryan Petersen's been pushing it publicly for most of the year, but there's no telling what other forces were at play behind the scenes with the bigwigs.  Of course, this particular reform was long overdue, and for the reasons Bok enumerates, it pretty clearly serves the interests of the University as a whole.

As many of the supporting messages pointed out, the advantages of the new calendar include making it easier for students to take courses in other Schools at Harvard, facilitating teaching by faculty members in Schools other than their own, allowing students to compete more effectively for summer jobs and overseas programs, and providing a less stressful winter vacation, among others.

The new calendar will bring Harvard much closer to the practice at the great majority of other universities, including research universities comparable to Harvard.  The very fact that so many institutions have adopted similar calendars and maintained them over many years suggests that there are no practical problems of sufficient magnitude to militate against the change.  On the contrary, inquiries we have made of officials in peer institutions reveal widespread satisfaction with calendars similar to the one we are adopting.  According to our sources, faculty members in these universities have not experienced much difficulty in beginning the academic year around Labor Day, nor have these universities found it hard to organize orientation programs and other activities taking place in August prior to the opening of classes.  Many institutions have made creative use of the period between the end of the first semester and the beginning of the second.  Finally, we found no convincing evidence that the quality of academic work has suffered as a result of the decision to end the first semester before the winter holidays.

The one major drawback:

In response to those who've approached me to complain about the blog's inactivity over the past few days (ahem, Kam), all I can say is I had a final yesterday, I'm packing up to leave tomorrow morning, it was devastatingly beautiful out today, and online life has had to take a backseat for…

My camera failed me last night, as it's wont to do, but my friend Vanessa managed to get a bunch of good shots at the demonstration, despite the rain and darkness (more here).  Thanks, 'nester!

Out of respect for my parents and in order to keep my GPA from plummeting too drastically, I'm going…

Tonight I'm helping to plan a major demonstration as an adjunct to the traditional end-of-reading-period, um, festivities.  Freshman year Primal Scream was enough to convince me that milling around a pack of naked joggers just makes me feel more weirded out than energized for finals (not knocking…