Lady Gaga’s newest endeavor, the Born This Way Foundation, is set to launch this year at Harvard’s Sanders Theatre. It will be a one day event co-hosted by the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard, the Harvard Graduate School of Education, the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and The California Endowment. The Born This Way Foundation is a non-profit group that will reach out to youths in campaigns aimed at reducing bullying and creating a more accepting and empathetic culture. Kathleen McCartney, Dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, said: “We share the spirit of the Born This Way Foundation in our commitment to inspire social change, empower youth, and foster moral communities. It is an honor to host this historic event on our campus.” The event will be held on February 29th. More information can be found at the Foundation’s website.

Made by yours truly.

Happy studying! 

On Harvard Time releases their annual “Fuck Yale” video -- and it’s funny as hell.

Keyword: tried

This is really just painful to watch. It’s like someone filled a dump truck with awkward, terrible jokes and put them into Final Cut. And damn, Yale -- y’all sure have a lot of our swag?

Clearly they didn’t learn their lesson from last year because they used that damn song again. Points for new ideas!

We can’t wait to see how much better Harvard’s is…

In the wake of the first “Occupy Harvard” protest on Wednesday, November 9th and the subsequent lockdown of Harvard Yard, many students have begun to express their discontent with the actions of the protesters. A petition has started called “Free Harvard,” which notes that, “We completely support Occupy Harvard’s right to protest and free speech. However, we petition, as a compromise to the interests of those invested in the Harvard community, that Occupy Harvard move their camp to an area outside the gate perimeter of the Yard.” The website currently states that it has nearly 500 signatures, though it is not updated live, but daily. This is quite a large number in comparison to the 15 or so tents in the Yard itself, which the Boston Globe reports are often unoccupied when the rain starts or when classes are in session. While members of the movement argue that the intention was never to miss class, but rather have the tents act as symbolism, other people, not only students, find this symbolism an impediment to their daily lives and work. Unless you have a Harvard ID, there is no way to get into the Yard. (For example, I had a friend visiting from out of town who had never seen Harvard, and she was not allowed to visit the Yard because there was the possibility we might be protesters.)

Harvard has released a statement that says, “The university has a fundamental obligation to be attentive to the safety, security, and well-being of its students, faculty, and staff on campus…The events of [Wednesday] night raised safety concerns: The number of demonstrators was large, many of the demonstrators were not from Harvard, and specific behaviors were troubling.” Indeed, it was reported by the Globe that “a university police officer was ‘roughed up’ at the protest – elbowed and pushed – as protestors pulled at his gun belt and stole his radio.”

source

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The notoriously snarky website Gawker caught wind of a Crimson editorial on Harvard students using Facebook in the classroom, or what most of us would simply call procrastinating. The article, however, takes this intuitive answer in an entirely different direction. Maureen O’Connor for Gawker introduces the piece with: “Elite college newspaper The Harvard Crimson has noticed a trend.”

Turns out in the Crimson the answer to why students use Facebook in lectures, or basically all the time, is not that everyone likes it/is stalking everyone else, but rather that we are a hoard of “Return On Time Investment” super-students. Hemi H. Gandhi for the Crimson writes, “During class, students will give their attention to whatever they think will give them the most utility in each moment. Past generations of students must also have wanted to maximize their ROTI during class. But technological innovation has provided today’s students with more options to do so in real time, via their smartphones and laptops.” Gawker deftly responds with this long reason of why we use Facebook with “According to my Harvard-to-English dictionary, the [former] translates roughly to: “Cuz we feel like it.”

When Gandhi continues on this line of reasoning, arguing for more innovative teaching practices to keep students’ attention, Gawker inserts “Also, Zuckerberg.” We’re inclined to agree with Gawker on this one–people, not just Harvard students, use Facebook to procrastinate. Sure, there are tons of incredible internet resources, but Facebook is not exactly one of them for maximizing critical thinking. Facebook usage in class doesn’t have to do with ROTI or seeing how much we can multi-task. It’s making sure that one guy/girl that you dated in high school is not happier than you.

Check out Gawker’s article: http://gawker.com/5852770/harvard-investigation-why-does-everyone-play-on-facebook-during-class

Check out the Crimson’s article: http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2011/10/24/facebook-class-phenomenon/

Calling all Harvard students, it’s that time of year again! That means that we want to see your costumes for Halloween 2011. Based on our submissions, we’ll vote on the best one and you can expect to see some other quality submissions that catch our eye. Send your picture to us by Tuesday November 1st, at thehvoicemail@gmail.com.

Check out our winners from last year here!

http://verynoice.com/2010/11/halloween-costume-contest-winners/