Harvard Newstalk

When longtime Harvard Provost Alan M. Garber ’76 suddenly became interim president earlier this month, the powerful but largely invisible administrator was unfamiliar to most Harvard affiliates. But not Harvard’s unions. They know Garber well — and they can’t stand him. This week on Newstalk (Season 2), reporters Aran Sonnad-Joshi '27 and Sheerea X. Yu '27 join host Yael S. Goldstein '26 to discus...

Sidechat, a popular social media platform on Harvard's campus, has come under scrutiny for an allegedly increasing amount of antisemitic posts and criticisms of insufficient content moderation. Host Yael S. Goldstein '26 discusses the issue with Joyce E. Kim '26 and Michelle N. Amponsah '26. Music in this episode comes freesound.org. 

National Winner, 2024 Associated Collegiate Press Podcast of the Year   Harvard’s crisis didn’t end with Gay’s resignation. As the University faces a federal lawsuit and congressional investigation into antisemitism, Newstalk takes you inside Harvard’s most tumultuous crisis in recent memory. We take you inside the fallout — from the Capitol building to Harvard’s students and faculty — to break do...

Harvard President Claudine Gay will resign Tuesday afternoon, bringing an end to the shortest presidency in the University's history.  Gay’s resignation — just six months and two days into the presidency — comes amid growing allegations of plagiarism and lasting doubts over her ability to respond to antisemitism on campus after her disastrous congressional testimony Dec. 5. The Crimson is committe...

Harvard President Claudine Gay testified before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce hoping to tell the nation how she was fighting antisemitism at Harvard. By the end of the nearly six hour hearing, she was fighting to keep her job.  Now, in news scooped by The Crimson, Harvard’s governing boards will allow Gay to stay on as university president. Our reporters were at the capitol, r...

In the days since Hamas’ October 7 attack against Israel, Harvard has faced division on campus and national backlash over its response.  Tomorrow, Harvard President Claudine Gay will stand before Congress’s House Committee on Education and the Workforce. Lawmakers will press her on antisemitism at Harvard as top donors continue to fume over the University’s handling of tensions on campus. Some hav...

This week on The Harvard Crimson's Newstalk, guest host Yael S. Goldstein ’26 takes us inside the 2023 Harvard-Yale Game. We talk to the players, students, and alumni to hear what it’s like to make the trek to the Yale Bowl in the team’s 150th season, with spirits high and the full Ivy League title on the line. 

This week on The Harvard Crimson's Newstalk, reporter Asher J. Montgomery ’26 joins host Frank S. Zhou ’26 to dive deep into a controversial course at the Harvard Kennedy School that some students say has left emotional scars. Also in this episode, Muskaan Arshad ’25, Sally E. Edwards ’26, and Jack R. Trapanick ’26 discuss the results of last week’s elections for Cambridge's City Council and Schoo...

This week on The Harvard Crimson's Newstalk, Sex Week president Julia R. Bhuiyan ’25 joins host Frank S. Zhou ’26 to discuss Sex Week at Harvard, a weeklong series of events encouraging students to better explore sex, sexuality, and body. Also in this episode, Jack R. Trapanick ’26 discusses Harvard’s agreement with the cities of Boston and Cambridge called Payment in Lieu of Taxes and why Harvard...

This week on The Harvard Crimson's Newstalk, reporter Cam E. Kettles '26 joins host Frank S. Zhou '26 to discuss Harvard's first primarily undergraduate union and its formation with a 99.4% vote amidst a national wave of undergraduate unionization. Also in this episode, Emily R. Willrich '25 and Camilla Wu '26 talk about faculty reactions to previous term course registration, a new system for spri...

This week on The Harvard Crimson's Newstalk, reporters Miles J. Herszenhorn '25 and Claire Yuan '25 join host Frank S. Zhou '26 to discuss Harvard President Claudine Gay's first 100 days as her administration navigates backlash over the University's response to the war in Israel and Gaza, the fall of affirmative action, and a slew of deans searches. Also in this episode, Thomas J. Mete '26 and Ash...

A note before our regular episode this week. In the days following Hamas’ attacks, the war in Israel and Gaza has reverberated across Harvard’s campus. Backlash against student groups. Widespread criticism against the University’s response. A thousand-person rally that stretched across Harvard Yard. The Crimson is committed to providing extensive coverage of all this and more. Stay on top of the n...

This week on The Harvard Crimson's Newstalk, reporters Muskaan Arshad ’25 and Julian J. Giordano ’25 join host Frank S. Zhou ’26 to discuss the racist, transphobic tweets that sparked a protest and left Cambridge City Council candidates under fire. Also in this episode, J. Sellers Hill ’25 and Nia L. Orakwue ’25 talk about mental health resources at Harvard and why barriers to student trust and un...

This week on The Harvard Crimson's Newstalk, reporters Michelle N. Amponsah ’26 and Emma H. Haidar ’26 join host Frank S. Zhou ’26 to discuss changes to admissions interviews guidelines for alumni interviewing college applicants. Also in this episode, Rahem D. Hamid ’25 and Elias J. Schisgall ’25 talk about the controversial proposal to merge Harvard's small language programs and the future of the...

This week on The Harvard Crimson's Newstalk, reporters Sally E. Edwards '26 and Azusa M. Lippit '26 join Frank S. Zhou '26 to discuss the contract impasse between unionized Cambridge Public Schools educators and the school district. Also in this episode, Jasmine Palma '26 and Austin H. Wang '26 talk Harvard astrophysics and cosmology professor Abraham "Avi" Loeb's search for extraterrestial life.

This week on The Harvard Crimson's Newstalk, reporters Julian J. Giordano '25 and Samuel P. Goldston '26 join host Frank S. Zhou '26 to discuss the city of Cambridge's elections season and two recent candidate forums. Also in this episode, Thomas J. Mete '26 and Asher J. Montgomery '26 talk Harvard Kennedy School's Dean Douglas W. Elmendorf decision to step down as dean and the controversies that...

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...

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...

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...

From The Harvard Crimson: Massachusetts governors Mitt Romney, Deval L. Patrick ’78, Charlie D. Baker ’79, and Maura T. Healey ’92 don’t share a party, vision, or even home state. But the four most recent governors of Massachusetts do have one thing in common: a Harvard diploma.  This week on The Harvard Crimson ’s Newstalk, Sally E. Edwards ’26 and Jack R. Trapanick ’26 join host Frank Zhou ’26 t...

This week on The Harvard Crimson ’s Newstalk, Miles J. Herszenhorn ’25 and Managing Editor Brandon L. Kingdollar ’24 join host Frank Zhou ’26 to discuss the sentencing of renowned nanoscience pioneer and convicted felon Charles Lieber : the trial and downfall of an American chemist once named “the leading chemist in the world” and its impact on U.S.-China educational collaboration. Also in this ep...

Winner, 2023 Society of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence Awards for Narrative Podcast Listen to The Unabomber: The Man, The Myth, and The Manifesto: https://unabomber.transistor.fm. This week on The Harvard Crimson's Newstalk, a preview of Fifteen Minutes Magazine's 50-minute audio scrutiny, The Unabomber: The Man, The Myth, and The Manifesto . Also in this episode, Rahem D. Hamid '25 a...

This week on The Harvard Crimson's Newstalk, reporters Yusuf S. Mian '25 and Ryan H. Doan-Nguyen '25 join host Frank S. Zhou '26 to discuss activists' week-long picketing to protest the police killing of Sayed Faisal at Cambridge City Hall . Also in this episode, Rahem D. Hamid '25 and Elias J. Schisgall '25 talk about Republican megadonor Kenneth C. Griffin's $300 million donation to Harvard's Fa...

This week on The Harvard Crimson's Newstalk, reporters Michelle N. Amponsah ’26 and Emma H. Haidar ’26 join host Frank S. Zhou '26 to discuss interviews with Harvard's newly admitted Class of 2027 and Harvard Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid William R. Fitzsimmons ’67. Also in this episode, Jasmine Palma '26 on the lawsuit brought by Tamara K. Lanier against the University , whose April 13th h...

This week on The Harvard Crimson's Newstalk, reporters Rahem D. Hamid ’25 and Ryan H. Doan-Nguyen ’25 join host Frank S. Zhou '26 to discuss Harvard's chapter of Phi Beta Kappa , the nation's oldest academic honor society. Last week, 24 Harvard juniors learned that they were the first members of their class tapped for the chapter. Hear them share their reactions and learn about the breadth of disc...