Harvard's Denaming Dilemma

05/28/23 • 11 min

From The Harvard Crimson: Harvard sophomore Ricky R. Razon IV ’25 recalls his grandmother living off a highway named after Jefferson Davis, the first and only president of the Confederacy.

At Harvard, he's found buildings and institutions with names intertwined with fraught histories. But, those names happen also to be some of the most memorable names of alumni and students' time at Harvard. This week on Newstalk, Nia L. Orakwue '25 and Natalie K Bandura '26 join host Frank S. Zhou '26 to discuss how Harvard navigates its denaming dilemma.

From The Harvard Crimson: Harvard sophomore Ricky R. Razon IV ’25 recalls his grandmother living off a highway named after Jefferson Davis, the first and only president of the Confederacy.

Previous Episode

Does Harvard Have an Academic Freedom Problem?

From The Harvard Crimson: some would say Harvard has an academic freedom problem. That superstar professors censor themselves for fear of blowback, and that the world’s sharpest students are afraid to debate ideas.

But others disagree. This week on The Harvard Crimson’s Newstalk, Rahem D. Hamid '25 and J. Sellers Hill ’25 join host Frank S. Zhou ’26 to discuss the misunderstandings and dilemmas at the heart of Harvard's dance with free speech. What is the state of academic freedom at Harvard, today?

Mosaic news clips in this episode are excerpted from MSNBC, FOX News, and TVO today.

Next Episode

Affirmative Action Falls: Inside the Protests at Harvard and Washington D.C.

National Honorable Mention, 2024 Associated Collegiate Press Podcast of the Year | Winner, 2023 Society of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence Awards for Conversational Podcast

Fights erupted in Washington D.C. and at Harvard when affirmative action fell. In the crowds, a dozen Harvard student journalists set out to find what the protests — the fights, the fears — were really about.

Dozens of interviews. 10+ hours of tape. A look inside Harvard, from the students who saw it all.

Host Frank S. Zhou '26 joins half a dozen reporters to track down what exactly happened when affirmative action fell. Here's how it went down.

National Press Club press conference footage in this episode comes from C-SPAN.