Affirmative Action for the Privileged Rich

The admittance rate for Harvard’s class of 2025 was 3.43%, the lowest ever . . . except for “ALDCs”:  athletes, “legacies” (children of Harvard alums), “dean’s interest list” (children of rich donors) and children of Harvard faculty and employees (“fac brats“). Naturally these offspring of the school’s “Old Boy’s Club” are largely White:

.”.. 43% of Harvard’s white students are either recruited athletes, legacy students, on the dean’s interest list (their parents have donated to the school) or children of faculty and staff …. The kicker? Roughly three-quarters of these applicants would have been rejected if it weren’t for having rich or Harvard-connected parents or being an athlete.”

— “Turns out, Harvard students aren’t that smart after all,” Tayo Bero, The Guardian

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Image (“Harvard Legacy Admissions”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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Insect-Sized Solar-Powered Flying Robot

“At half the weight of a paper clip, ‘RoboBee X-wing’ has achieved untethered flight using ultra-lightweight solar cells, powering piezoelectric actuators, via a stripped down circuit board.”

More:

“Harvard’s RoboBee X-Wing can fly under its own power,” Mariella Moon, EnGadget

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Harvard Prof Apologizes to Dead Economist

“Niall Ferguson, the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History at Harvard University, on Saturday released an apology for comments he made about John Maynard Keynes. Ferguson said that Keynes didn’t care about future generations because he was gay and did not have children. In a statement posted on his blog, Ferguson said that his comments were off-the-cuff and ‘as stupid as they were insensitive.'”

 –“Harvard Prof Apologizes for Comments on Keynes,” Inside Higher Ed

Class of ’62

Dr. Theodore John Kaczynski regrets that he will be unable to attend the Harvard Class of 1962 50th Reunion due to long-standing prior committments.

More:

“Unabomber sends Harvard class update,” Alli Knothe and Travis Andersen, Boston Globe

“Droves Return for Class Reunions,” Fatima Mirza, Harvard Crimson

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Image (“Kaczynski, Class of ’62”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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The Origin of the Arts

Famed Harvard sociobiologist and Pellegrino University Professor emeritus E.O. Wilson writes about Art:

“The exact date at which the process leading to authentic creative arts is unknown.”

“On the Origins of the Arts,” E.O. Wilson, Harvard Magazine

Well, one thing’s for sure: E.O. Wilson can’t write worth a damn. Read that article and see.

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Short Link: http://wp.me/p6sb6-d4v

Image (“New Discoveries at Lascaux”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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Legacy Admissions

Colleges call them “legacy admissions,” high school students who get admission preference because their parents are rich alumni. A new publication edited by Richard D. Kahlenberg calls them what they are: Affirmative Action for the Rich.