Category: News

Student Perspective: The Best Way to Spread a Climate Message? Wear It.

Two students sit in a table with a backpack in front of them that reads "Join the cause! tinyurl.com/clim8pack"

How can students talk about climate change in a way that sparks action, innovation, and change? This spring, a handful of students in GOV 1318, a new course titled “The Great Food Transformation,” took a fresh approach to climate communications. They used digital backpacks to start conversations about the food system and its impacts on…Continue Reading Student Perspective: The Best Way to Spread a Climate Message? Wear It.

Can prisons be abolished? Look at 1973 Walpole takeover

On 50th anniversary, former prisoners, activists recall when inmates ran prison without incident during guard strike The topic proved painful, even explosive. In fall of 1972, inmates at the state prison in Walpole, Massachusetts, peacefully organized themselves into a labor union called the National Prisoners Reform Association. The following March guards went on strike, and…Continue Reading Can prisons be abolished? Look at 1973 Walpole takeover

Powerful summers in St. Louis

Commonwealth Project students collaborate on community-led justice, cultural initiatives, research in region with longstanding economic, racial woes Some of Saul Glist’s most meaningful time while a Harvard student has been spent in St. Louis, where he has worked with community leaders and programs over the past three summers. After falling in love with the city…Continue Reading Powerful summers in St. Louis

Between Harvard and St. Louis

Image of students and mentors Summer 2019.

“What could Harvard do that would be useful in St Louis?” Our team—Catie Barr ’20, Saul Glist ’22, Kale Catchings ’23, and I—was the first group of Harvard undergraduates tasked with a multi-pronged effort at making knowledge mutual: to assist front-line practitioners tackling racial capitalism in the city with our skills while we learned from their know-how….Continue Reading Between Harvard and St. Louis

Stepping up to the front line

Students take care of local communities in engaged scholarship course One student worked with the Harvard Muslim Youth Program (HMYP) to build a supportive, online community space for Muslim youth in and around Boston. Another served as a home-health aide for the local elderly population in Arizona. Others focused on mentorship, jazz education, and student mutual-aid networks….Continue Reading Stepping up to the front line

20 fall courses that cultivate community connections

Harvard undergraduates may be learning remotely this fall, but they will have many opportunities to connect with community groups and schools in the Greater Boston area through the Mindich Program in Engaged Scholarship.  Engaged scholarship courses allow students to explore and cultivate community connections through language, film, data analysis, political activism, and community-inspired arts. Instructors have…Continue Reading 20 fall courses that cultivate community connections

Social engagement through music connects students with local musicians of color

“Social Engagement Through Music: Histories, Economies, Communities” is a new, team-based, immersive course in which students collaborate with and provide professional support to musicians from Boston’s immigrant communities. The course also provides an intellectual framework for understanding the historical circumstances, economic and political realities, and community needs of these artists. The course is the first…Continue Reading Social engagement through music connects students with local musicians of color