HARVARD POLITICAL REVIEW
MAN’S BEST FRIEND
MIND THE PRESIDENCY
INTERVIEW: DON LEMON
VOLUME L NO. 2, SUMMER 2019 HARVARDPOLITICS.COM
ANIMAL FARM SUMMER 2019 HARVARD POLITICAL REVIEW 1
HARVARDPOLITICS.COM/REDLINE
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This issue’s cover topic was originally proposed by Ilana Cohen, Clay Oxford, and Amir Siraj.
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Campus Eats Grace Greason
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Kosher Kibble Joseph Winters
CAMPUS
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Man’s Best Friend Eleonore Evans
Man’s Best Friend Eleonore Evans
CULTURE
12 Change and Tradition Daniel Brickhill
35 Overpoliced, Underrepresented Katie Weiner
14 Toward a Culture of Racial Literacy Winona Guo
38 Broadway Goes Mainstream (Again) Clay Oxford
17 Cambridge Days, Harlem Nights Russell Reed
41 On Pork, Beer, and Boyfriends Marian Bothner
UNITED STATES 21 The Modern Pen and the AI Sword Kendrick Foster 24 Seattle’s Radical Experiment Bridger Gordon 29 Eagle versus Dragon Rumi Khan
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26 Mind the Presidency Isabel Cole
WORLD
INTERVIEWS 44 Truth and Trump: Don Lemon Gisella Carpio 46 Democracy and Development in Nepal: Gagan Thapa Satish Wasti
ENDPAPER 48 Kid in a Candy Store Samuel Kessler
29 Eagle versus Dragon Rumi Khan 32 Toward Union in Africa James Bikales 48 Kid in a Candy Store Samuel Kessler Email: president@harvardpolitics.com. ISSN 0090-1032. Harvard Political Review. All rights reserved. Image Credits: Photographer: 17,19- Campbell Erickson; 20- Jules Kardish. Flickr: Cover- Internet Archive Book Images. The Noun Project: 22,23- Hea Poh Lin; 26- Artdabana@design; 28- Clockwise. Pexels: 6- Kasuma; 11- Pixabay. Public Domain Photos: 3. Unsplash: 1- Karim Manjra; 1,9- Hybrid; 1,29- Pen Tsai; 1,48- Vinicious Amano; 3- Alex Pavlyuk; 4,5- Lukas Blazek; 14,15- Marcus Spiske; 21- Gertruda Valaseviciute; 24- Ben Dutton; 35- Matthew Brodeur; 35- Emiliano Bar; 38,39- Paul Green; 41- Ilham Abkar Fauzi; 42,43- Ferdinand Stohr. Wikimedia Commons: 3- Jen Mohrs; 3- Daderot; 8- Ohiopetwatch; 12- Chensiyuan; 21- ZStoler; 26- Michael Vadon; 32- Andreas 06; 44- Fuzheado; 46- ICIMOD Kathmandu; 46,47- Wikimedia Commons. Design by: Isabel Isselbacher, Madeleine LaPuerta, Trina Lilja, Kendall Rideout, and Matthew Rossi.
SUMMER 2019 HARVARD POLITICAL REVIEW 1
FROM THE PRESIDENT
HARVARD POLITICAL REVIEW
Animal Farm
A Nonpartisan Undergraduate Journal of Politics, Est. 1969—Vol. L, No. 2
EDITORIAL BOARD PRESIDENT: Russell Reed PUBLISHER: Wyatt Hurt MANAGING EDITOR: Chimaoge Ibenwuku ASSOCIATE MANAGING EDITOR: Katie Weiner ASSOCIATE MANAGING EDITOR: Jessica Boutchie STAFF DIRECTOR: Alexis Mealey SENIOR COVERS EDITOR: Sarah Shamoon ASSOCIATE COVERS EDITOR: Lauren Anderson SENIOR U.S. EDITOR: Amir Siraj ASSOCIATE U.S. EDITOR: Ilana Cohen ASSOCIATE U.S. EDITOR: Clay Oxford SENIOR WORLD EDITOR: Keshav Rastogi ASSOCIATE WORLD EDITOR: Kelsey Chen ASSOCIATE WORLD EDITOR: Corbin Duncan SENIOR CULTURE EDITOR: Savitri Fouda ASSOCIATE CULTURE EDITOR: Marian Bothner SENIOR CAMPUS EDITOR: Will Imbrie-Moore ASSOCIATE CAMPUS EDITOR: May Wang INTERVIEWS EDITOR: Gordon Kamer BUSINESS MANAGER: Cate Brock ASSOCIATE BUSINESS MANAGER: Cathy Yin SENIOR DESIGN EDITOR: Matthew Rossi ASSOCIATE DESIGN EDITOR: Madeleine LaPuerta ASSOCIATE DESIGN EDITOR: Trina Lilja SENIOR MULTIMEDIA EDITOR: Jacob Heberle ASSOCIATE MULTIMEDIA EDITOR: Nicolas Medrano SENIOR TECH DIRECTOR: Jason Huang ASSOCIATE TECH DIRECTOR: Natea Eshetu Bashada ASSOCIATE TECH DIRECTOR: Max Snyder COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT DIRECTOR: Alexandra Diggs
STAFF Alisha Ukani, Allison Piper, Amy Danoff, Amy Wang, Annelisa Kingsbury Lee, Audrey Sheehy, Bridger Gordon, Byron Hurlbut, Campbell Erickson , Carter Nakamoto, Chloe Lemmel-Hay, Chris Sun, Clara Bates, Colton Carpenter, Connor Brown, Connor Schoen, Daniel Friedman, David Gutierrez, Devon Black, DJ Kranchalk, Eliot Harrison, Elton Lossner, Emily Malpass, Erica Newman-Corre, Esha Chaudhuri, Ethan Schultz, Gabrielle Landry, Graham Walter, Hadley DeBello, Hope Kudo, Hossam Mabed, Ifedayo Famojuro, Isa Flores-Jones, Jake McIntyre, James Blanchfield, Jamie Bikales, Jamie Weisenberg, Jay Gopalan, Jennifer Horowitz, Johannes Lang, Jon Riege, Jose Larios, Jacob Kern, Joseph Minatel, Josh Berry, Katherine Ho, Kendall Rideout, Kendrick Foster, Kevin Bi, Lainey Newman, Lauren Fadiman, Lindsey Bouldin, Lu Shao, Manuel Abecasis, Matthew Hatfield, Matthew Shaw, Max Snyder, Meena Venkataramanan, Melissa Gayton, Mfundo Radebe, Michael Montella, Michael Wornow, Mikael Tessema, Mimi Alphonsus, Natalie Dabkowski, Nick Danby, Nikole Naloy, Noah Knopf, Noah Redlich, Pawel Rybacki, Peter Wright, Peyton Dunham, Rob Capodilupo, Roger Cawdette, , Ryan Chung, Samantha Frenkel-Popell, Sandy Koenig, Sanika Mahajan, Sarah Tisdall, Satish Wasti, Sebastian Reyes, Sophie Dicara, Tamara Shamir, Tom Slack, Trina Lilja, Vanessa Ruales, Victor Agbafe, Will Finigan, William Boggs, Yash Kumbhat, Yashaar Hafizka, Yuri-Grace Ohashi, Zachary Buttenwieser, Zehan Zhou SENIOR WRITERS: Akshaya Annapragada, Alicia Zhang, Andrew Zucker, Anirudh Suresh, Ari Berman, Beverly Brown, Chad Borgman, Cindy Jung, Darwin Peng, Derek Paulhus, Drew Pendergrass, Henry Brooks, Jacob Link, Marty Berger, Nicolas Yan, Perry Abdulkadir, Perry Arrasmith, Sal DeFrancesco, Sam Kessler
ADVISORY BOARD Jonathan Alter Richard L. Berke E.J. Dionne, Jr. Ron Fournier
Walter Isaacson Whitney Patton Maralee Schwartz
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“H
uman exceptionalism” is a term that refers to the apparent division between human beings — Homo sapiens — and the rest of the animal kingdom. People point to various traits that make us distinctly human, from abstract cognitive processing to environmental manipulation to complex communication. What these arguments overlook, however, is the far larger number of characteristics that make humans and nonhuman animals alike. At its core, it is a philosophical debate as much as a scientific one, but neither side can deny that, different or the same, the existences of humans and nonhuman animals remain deeply intertwined. Animals — and even more so, animal products — are part of everyday human life. According to the Department of Agriculture, the average American consumes over 200 pounds of meat and poultry each year, and despite serious declines in fur consumption, leather products remain commonplace even in the country’s most liberal enclaves. Around two thirds of Americans also own pets, and even as most industries declined dramatically during the recession, the pet care industry reached new heights. These trends vary greatly across the globe, but while treatment differs, all belief systems and governments must grapple with nonhuman inhabitants. Beyond the local, trends in the human-animal relationship can also have global consequences. There have been five mass planetary extinctions in the last half-billion years; the most recent, which marked the end of the dinosaurs’ reign, was 65 million years ago. But today, biologists believe we are undergoing the sixth mass extinction — and this time, the cause is human activity. According to the World Wildlife Fund, at least 1,000 species now go extinct every year, and one of the leading causes of this loss of biodiversity is deforestation for agricultural purposes. To many scientists, the demise of other animal species reads as a bellwether of the human consequences of climate change that are only just beginning; biodiversity is, after all, one of the main indicators of a healthy ecosystem. After generations of growing estrangement
from one another, it appears that the fates of humans and nonhuman animals may be converging once more. In the second issue published by the HPR’s 51st editorial board, three writers explore various aspects of this contentious human-animal relationship in different contexts: in our food systems, on our campuses, and even in our homes. In “Campus Eats,” Grace Greason uncovers the Harvard University Dining Services’ long journey toward food sustainability, investigating the continued presence of red meat in daily dining options. Joseph Winters explores the relationship between animals and food from a very different angle: the luxury pet food industry, which he finds to be surprisingly prominent in “Kosher Kibble.” Putting pets into a broader discourse, Eleonore Evans considers whether pet ownership may increase environmental awareness in “Man’s Best Friend.” As always, these articles are joined by a breadth of cutting-edge pieces within our recurring sections, covering issues ranging from the role of mental health specialists in determining presidential wellness to the racist legacy of the War on Drugs in the legal marijuana industry. As Daniel Brickhill recalls in “Change and Tradition,” the HPR was founded 50 years ago in 1969, a product of the radical and history-making activism that defined Harvard that year. Today, we find ourselves on a campus that has been much quieter since then. Given the state of American politics and students’ lingering dissatisfaction with the status quo in the United States and at Harvard, it seems that activism may well be on the rise again in Cambridge today. As a constitutionally nonpartisan magazine, the HPR remains dedicated to representing the great variety of student perspectives on both sides of the picket line. We invite you to follow along in this magazine and on our website, and on behalf of all of us at the HPR, I hope you enjoy our second edition!
Russell Reed President
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Campus Eats Grace Greason
“A
n act of rebellion” is how a director of Harvard University Dining Services described the student response to “less meat Mondays,” a short-lived initiative in the dining halls a few years ago. By serving only one meat-based entrée instead of the usual two or three, HUDS expected to see an obvious decrease in meat consumption across campus. But the experiment had the opposite effect according to Crista Martin, the director for strategic initiatives and communications at HUDS. “The student body ate more meat on that one night than they did on the others when they had choice,” Martin told the HPR. “The student response was, ‘You want to limit our choices, so we’ll eat more of it.’” Martin admits that students’ dietary preferences have changed significantly in the years since then, but the school has yet to revisit the idea. Instead, as Harvard lauds itself for leading the campus sustainability movement by cutting energy consumption and composting food waste, it continues to serve large quantities of meat and animal products. This still harms the environment: Livestock raised for consumption account for nearly 15 percent of total global greenhouse gas emissions. While the University has recently launched initiatives and set ambitious targets to reduce the environmental impact of its campus food system, a real, effective transition to sustainable eating will necessitate further top-down efforts as well as a commitment among students to reduce meat consumption.
“WE ARE NOT THE FOOD POLICE” There is little question that Harvard acknowledges the importance of sustainable eating in theory. In every dining hall, signs and pamphlets listing the health benefits of seafood and encouraging plant-based proteins are propped up by serving counters and plastered on napkin dispensers. In April 2019, as part of its five-year University-wide Sustainability Plan, Harvard released its “sustainable and healthful food standards,” which listed objectives including limiting red and processed meats, prioritizing “the purchase of plant-based products and products from suppliers who implement more humane practices,” and serving more foods that have a “smaller emissions footprint and are less resource-intensive.” If Harvard recognizes the importance of a plant-based diet, however, HUDS thus far has been reluctant to promote it at the expense of what it considers student choice and autonomy. Martin insisted, “We are not the food police. We cannot tell you what you can or cannot eat. We believe very much in your right to choose.” At HUDS, she explained, “we think it’s our responsibility to try to present a lot of varied options especially with an eye toward health and wellbeing and environmental sustainability.” HUDS could not provide information on how much or what types of meat it serves to students. According to online menus, however, meat is typically available every day in at least two en-
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trées per meal and at the salad and sandwich bars, and nearly every day in a soup, chili, and culinary display. Additionally, beef hot dogs and hamburgers — as well as other freshly made turkey and chicken dishes — can be ordered from dining hall grills at any time during lunch and dinner. This protein-packed menu in part reflects HUDS’ laissezfaire attitude regarding student demand for meat. “Anything that students aren’t eating we don’t serve. So if students stopped eating hamburgers we would stop putting them on the menu,” Martin said. “We put a lot of emphasis on plant-based protein. But at every meal there will definitely be at least one, maybe multiple meat-based entrées.” Harvard has increased the amount and variety of vegetarian and vegan options over the past few years in line with rising student demand and campus health and sustainability initiatives. If there is a line between telling students what they can eat and promoting foods that they should not eat, however, Harvard is unsure where it stands. Plant-based offerings like falafel sandwiches and tofu bowls appear to be supplementing, not replacing, the meat dishes that are centered at meals and celebrated at school events, such as the HUDS-sponsored back-to-school “Beach Bash” that appeared to serve enough lobsters to feed every undergraduate student. The grill’s veggie burgers are likely a welcome sight to the school’s vegans and vegetarians. But are they winning over students who usually prefer Big Macs? Harvard cannot say, because it lacks any quantitative data on the dietary habits of its student body or the effects of its efforts to promote sustainable eating. David Havelick, a manager at Harvard’s Office for Sustainability, told the HPR that this is something the University is trying to address in its food standards. The standards, which were developed by a multi-disciplinary faculty committee with input from the OFS, include a goal to “develop a plan to track food purchases by category (e.g., red meat, cheese, beans)” to allow Harvard to better quantify the climate impact and greenhouse gas emissions associated with the food it buys.
DIFFERENT DINING HALLS, DIFFERENT OPTIONS Not all colleges across the country share Harvard’s approach to sustainable eating. At the University of North Texas, meat is alive and well. But the school is also one of a few nationwide to operate a 100 percent vegan dining hall. The aptly named Mean Greens Café, as well as other campus initiatives, have earned UNT an A+ grade and “Dean’s List” ranking from PETA, which publishes a vegan report card for over 1,500 colleges nationwide. Harvard, on the other hand, lands itself a mere B. One of five cafeterias at UNT, Mean Greens Café has served exclusively vegan cuisine since it opened in 2011. Yet the dining hall is a favorite among carnivores and herbivores alike according to Alyssa Torrance, the communications manager of UNT dining services. Mean Greens serves 1,500 to 2,000 meals per weekday to students and faculty from all over campus who enjoy its plant-based offerings — which include typical cafeteria-style hot and cold lines, a dessert bar, a panini station, and even a signature grilled peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Mean Greens also harvests many of its own salad greens and vegetables organically in a converted freight container behind the cafeteria. Mean Greens has received overwhelmingly positive feedback
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from students, Torrance said in an interview with the HPR. However, she denied that UNT has an unusually large vegan or vegetarian population. Instead, she said that the cafeteria is simply a campus favorite, and one that she hopes could catch on at other schools too. “We have a pretty devoted following to Mean Greens, and many of those people are not full-time vegans or vegetarians,” Torrance said. “I think other schools probably just don’t realize that students nowadays are looking for really fresh and healthy flavorful options, and you don’t necessarily need animal products to achieve that.” Around the Ivy League, initiatives to promote plant-based eating have been more modest than those at UNT, but no less successful. The main cafeteria at Dartmouth, which also received an A+ from PETA, has a dedicated vegan and vegetarian station, as well as make-your-own omelet and stir fry bars.
MEAT ME HALFWAY Philosophical arguments aside, noticeably reducing meat’s presence on Harvard’s campus could create a backlash among students accustomed to filling up on red spice chicken and fried broccoli-cheddar chicken, said Havelick. Any initiative targeting specific foods, such as red meat, could seem hypocritical while HUDS continues to serve other products from industries criticized for their environmental impact or ethical violations, like palm oil and poultry, he added. The solution, according to Havelick, is to switch the focus from controlling what dining halls serve to reducing student demand for meat. Compared to banishing bacon and burgers, “what the science has shown is the more effective thing is to serve more delicious, exciting plant-based foods that have a lower impact on climate,” Havelick said. “And to use also behavioral insights — little nudges — to push people to choose healthier, more sustainable foods … That’s going to have a better impact than if we removed red meat and that became the big news article and everyone thought [Harvard was] controlling what people ate.” These behavioral nudges are at the heart of campus initiatives that educate students about the health and environmental impacts of their food choices and promote more sustainable options. One program, VER-EAT!-AS, labels HUDS dishes as green, yellow, or red according to their carbon, nitrogen, and water “foodprints.” Another OFS effort led to the debut of the legendary vegan ‘Beyond Burger’ in dining halls last year. Students are also stepping up to promote healthy and sustainable eating among their peers. The student-run Environmental Action Committee sponsors a “Veguary” campaign every February to encourage students to sign a pledge to reduce their meat consumption for the month however they see fit. This year, a record 161 students accepted the challenge. Student representatives in the OFS-run Resource Efficiency Program and Council of Student Sustainability Leaders have also developed projects with similar goals. As a first-year college student and Resource Efficiency Program representative last year, Meaghan Townsend published a guide to plant-based eating at Harvard that quoted several student athletes who opt for plant-based diets. For vegans and vegetarians at Harvard, however, the cafeteria may always be greener on the other side. While first-year students eat at Annenberg Hall, the upperclassmen dining experi-
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ence is centered around the 12 residential Houses, which each have their own dining hall and serve the same selection of foods every day. Students must eat in their assigned houses on certain days and times, but they are mostly free to grab meals in whichever dining hall they prefer. Perhaps a rotating vegetarian or vegan dining hall — Lowell on Monday, Quincy on Tuesday, and so on — would be less disruptive to those with strong loyalties to their own House’s kitchen. It could also be the key to reaching students who are ambivalent about eating meat but will continue to do so as long as it remains a central part of each meal. For some plant-based eaters at Harvard, though, sustainable eating does not require an overhaul of the entire dining system. Jacob Fortinsky, a sophomore who published an op-ed in The Crimson last January imploring Harvard to cut back on serving meat, said in an interview with the HPR, “If they just have an additional plant-based entrée, the result of that will be less meat consumption.” Fortinsky continued: “The low-hanging fruit is for them to have more alternatives. In an ideal world they’d be transitioning to a vegan diet. Obviously, that’s not possible now.” Fortinsky is right: Non-vegan favorites like the ‘veritaffle’ will remain a steady part of student life for the foreseeable future. But Harvard is no longer content with maintaining the status quo, as its new and lofty food standards prove. “The student body changes all the time,” Havelick said. “What didn’t work three years ago might make a difference three years from now. At the same time as I’m wary of these simple solutions like Meatless Mondays or getting rid of red meat, I feel much more optimistic about the future than I am about the past.” Maybe it is time to give less meat Mondays another chance. n
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