Blog: Harvard

The open access movement argues that academic research, especially taxpayer-funded research, should be online and free for everyone to read. Today, many papers go into journals that charge high prices and jealously guard copyrights on this research (despite its being paid for by the public), keeping the information inaccessible to anyone without access to a well-funded university library. The movement is a close sibling to the rest of the copyright reform movement.

Led by Computer Science Professor Stuart Shieber (who happened to be my academic advisor in college, though that didn't mean much), Harvard's FAS is considering a proposal to publish all articles online, unless the author opts out of the system. This is a great step and it's great to see another example of Harvard leading in doing the right thing, opening the door for other universities to follow.

Gathering for a bunch of parties with seven hundred of your fellow classmates doesn't feel all that unusual when you already gather for parties with many fellow classmates on a regular basis as it is.

The reunion was great, though, with the one complaint that it was really, really hot, and I hadn't thought to bring a fan for my non-air-conditioned dorm room. The people there fell into approximately four categories: people I don't know (maybe 60%), people I already see or talk to online regularly (maybe 20%... yes, it's a lot), people I haven't seen in years (maybe 20%), and people I didn't know in college but realized I really should have (about ten such people, including one girl who works at the same company as I do, though in the Mountain View office (bringing to a grand total of eight the number of coworkers in my class (which is nothing compared to the half of Stanford they hire each year))).

I didn't get a lot of pictures, but here are a few, which include some but not all of the people I spent most of the time talking to (since I was often busy talking to them rather than taking pictures).

Unlike most colleges, Harvard has no student center. Very few places exist on campus where all students can congregate. In 1996, Harvard tried to build a social center in the basement of Memorial Hall, called Loker Commons. Loker was just the kind of place a bunch of 40-something administrators might create: it closed early, the few mediocre food vendors closed even earlier, and the whole place sported a sterile, uncomfortable, bright fluorescent interior.

Now, the administration is considering turning the place into a pub, after the success of a series of "Pub Nights". Without knowing many of the details, it seems like a good idea. There was no reason this should have taken ten years, though.

In an article in the Harvard Crimson (which doesn't seem to be posted online), Associate Dean of the College Judith Kidd is quoted as saying, "It appears that students really enjoy having a place where they can go with friends to hang out, hear good music, and have low-cost refreshments."

Wow!

Students like social spaces, music, and drinks? What a shock! I kid about Kidd, but in fairness to her, I'm sure she didn't mean it to come across that way. Actually, she has been doing a lot to facilitate more social interaction on campus through concerts, pub nights, and other events which five years ago were almost impossible to organize. And a student center in Allston may be in the works, while ten years ago, Harvard took away the student center and turned it into faculty offices.

No matter what their age, social interaction is a fundamental human desire. And everyone from colleges to conference organizers to political activists are well advised to take that to heart.