Sources confirm that the third act will be a student band decided after a “battle of the bands”-esque contest.

If you don’t know who Das Racist is, we would suggest you get acquainted because they are awesome and they are going to be at Yardfest this year.

This is one of their classics:

We wonder who else will be there?

If you missed out on the Abe Liu scandal because you were hiding under some kind of sound-proof rock, then read this for the scoop.

Lyrics:

From undrafted to talk of the league
From afterthought to all over TV,
I tell you hard work is the key, but uh
This is what can happen when you dream
I’m Jeremy Lin

6 foot 3, with a 4.2
Grade point average, not vertical
Overlooked by every single team,
But never once did he let it hamper his dream,
First in the gym, last one done
Proving Hard work pays off in the long run
killed em in the previous summer
Dropped a career high when the coach finally called his number

Cut off the roster from Golden State
Knew his time was coming, so he chose to wait
Never know when you gonna get up in the game
But he made his moment count in the biggest of ways,
New York City the worlds Greatest stage,
now 20,000 rabid fans scream his name
Wasnt recruited for his ball skills,
Now you gotta wonder how they all feel,
Didnt quit, he only worked harder
went from Harvard graduate to NBA starter
the haters gonna hate and call him lucky
First ivy leaguer in the league since Chris Dudley
Must be some kinda desire
To make everybody who doubted you out to be a liar…
And even if it only lasts a moment,
Jeremy Lin took it and owned it,
You gotta respect it

From undrafted to talk of the league
From afterthought to all over TV,
I tell you hard work is the key, but uh
This is what can happen when you dream
I’m Jeremy Lin

What’s awesome about this entire story is not just that Lin is a fellow Harvardian, but the amount of work and heart the NBA player has put into getting to this stage of his career. Lin was cut by two different teams in the pre-season, and received only scant playing opportunities at the beginning of the regular season with the Knicks. His teammates believed in him, though. As Knicks center Tyler Chandler said, “We’ve been saying that [Lin] has talent in practice, but we didn’t know if it would translate in the game…He’s obviously showing all of us that he can.”

#swag

I think it’s safe to say no matter what team we hold our allegiances to in the NBA, most of us here at Harvard are rooting for you, Jeremy.

See some more gems as this thing, no doubt, blows up here.

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! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcDDD4c4Ixs

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…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UryWWFVy-ZM

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

Of course, though, this being Harvard, the movement, regardless of how small, has made national news. Alexandra Petri, a Harvard grad who writes for the Washington Post, notes in her article, “Why Occupy Harvard,” that the presence of the movement at Harvard instantly “cue[s] a nationwide rolling of eyes.” She suggests that “before we start seeking outside the scope of mainstream economics, let’s make certain we have a grip on mainstream economics.” At the end of the article, she urges students to “Occupy the libraries. Occupy the classrooms. You have just four years to devote to actually getting a grip on some small portion of the vast array of human knowledge.”

While Occupy supporters claim that the movement is a source for learning and inciting dialogue, I am inclined to believe that it has done more to shed a bad light on the university, and polarize the student body in a way that is not conducive to productive discourse. There is no way that the university can unlock the gates until the protesters are gone, given the potentiality of threats to safety to not only members of the Harvard community, but anyone outside that wishes to participate. Harvard Yard is ultimately private property, and the simple fact of the matter is that opening up the gates to throngs of protesters is a legal minefield in the event that anyone gets hurt. There have already been many documented instances of this being the case around the country, whether it’s assault or outbreaks of what has been labeled as “Zucotti Lung.”

I think the most detrimental aspect of this entire protest at Harvard is the effect it has on views within our community towards the national Occupy movement. This is, at least, an opinion I have come across in conversations with other people, and one I see merit in. There is no denying that our country has problems with economic injustice, greed, and imbalances of power. Creating a standoff with the university as opposed to tackling these issues through the proper channels, will only succeed in demonizing the few, no matter how good their intentions, against the community that simply wants them to move somewhere else. In the case of Harvard, this is especially manifest in what Petri identifies as the “potency” of the word Harvard itself. People hear that students are occupying Harvard, and it immediately makes an institution that has empirically been considered elite sound entrenched in a false spirit of activism. That is, of course, not to say that change and activism cannot happen at Harvard, because it most certainly does and can. The sit-ins in the early 2000s are a good example: they were widely supported on campus, and there was reportedly a greater sense of pride in making a tangible change since the demands were clear.

When the problems stated in the Occupy Harvard movement are as ambiguous as Harvard needing to fundamentally restructure itself in order to prevent sending off graduates to further reify the economic system as is, the result is an impasse. If it is ultimately greed that the Occupiers are protesting, then pitching tents in the Yard will never solve that–there will always be individuals that want to pursue careers in finance. There will always be different conceptions of greed. Perhaps a friend of mine said it best: “The only way I can occupy Harvard is because of those people ‘in the 1%’ that pay for it.” It seems as though this is one of the greatest tensions of the Occupy Harvard protests–a double-edged sword, if you will. The conditions of possibility for the protest are only made available by nature of the resources of the university.

We live in a democratic nation where free speech is an inherent right, and of course there is no denying that. I would urge the protesters, though, to think about how their occupation of the Yard affects the quality of their message in the grand scheme of things–not only at Harvard but on a national level. For many, it trivializes the notion of protest based on an image of the university that is beyond any student’s control. Regardless of whether I sympathize with the movement or not, I think it is the best move for both sides of the aisle for the Yard to be given back to the students and the community, and the protest to continue in a location that does not impede on student life. While everyone in the protest is entitled to their opinion, it must be kept in mind that those who disagree have an equal right to their own beliefs, and just as much of an equal right to have the access to the Yard that they as students who have worked hard to get into the university ought to enjoy.