Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean Claudine Gay said in a Friday interview that Harvard is currently planning for fall 2021 with the âoverriding goalâ of âcharting a path to a full return for our students, our faculty, and staff.â
Gay said she is eager for Harvard to regain its âcampus-based identity,â and she hopes fall 2021 will include âas much in-person learning as possibleâ for undergraduates.
Gay acknowledged, however, that despite the âpositive a set of trendsâ in regard to reduced Covid-19 spread on campus this spring, she foresees that âthere might be some form of the pandemic still with usâ in the fall.
In light of the threatened departure of Professor Cornel R. West â74 from Harvard, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Claudine Gay said during a faculty meeting Tuesday that Harvard is âunequivocallyâ committed to supporting an environment in which faculty of color can thrive.
West â a Professor of the Practice of Public Philosophy at the Harvard Divinity School and of African and African American Studies in the FAS â threatened in late February to leave Harvard for the second time after he said the University denied his request for consideration of tenure.
In subsequent media coverage, West claimed that the University cited that his work was âtoo riskyâ and âtoo fraughtâ while reviewing his tenure request. Student organizers who had rallied in support of Westâs tenure have argued that the decision not to consider him for tenure speaks to broader challenges that faculty of color face at Harvard.
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences professor Evelyn L. Hu and Physics professor John M. Doyle moved for the establishment of a new graduate program in Quantum Science and Engineering during a meeting of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Tuesday.
The program â which would bridge several existing departments and areas in FAS and SEAS, including Chemistry, Physics, and Computer Science â would train students in speaking âa common languageâ relevant to practical applications of the study of subatomic particle behavior, Doyle said in an interview.
Hu said in an interview that the emergence of a field in quantum science bears resemblance to the initial days of computer science, when âcomputer science slowly emerged from math.â
Former Harvard Chemistry chair Charles M. Lieber is set to go to trial on federal charges after his attorney eliminated the possibility of a plea in a Friday status conference.
“At this time, Your Honor, there is no possibility of a plea and there will be a trial,” Marc L. Mukasey, Lieber’s counsel, told Magistrate Judge Marianne B. Bowler of the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts.
Last June, a federal grand jury indicted Lieber who serves as a University Professor, Harvard’s highest academic honor on charges that he lied to federal investigators who were examining funding he had received from the Chinese government. He was also indicted on four tax offenses the following month.
Doctoral students from across Harvardâs graduate and professional schools penned a letter in support of Practice of Public Philosophy Cornel R. West â74, who recently threatened a second departure from the University after he said the administration dismissed his request to be considered for tenure.
Published on Monday, the letter amassed over 150 signatures from doctoral students at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the Graduate School of Education, Harvard Medical School, the Graduate School of Design, and the School of Public Health as of Wednesday night.
In the letter, students wrote that failing to grant tenure to West â âone of the most important intellectuals of our timeâ â stands as âan urgent matter of equity and parity for the University.â