Harvard Newstalk

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 marked his tenure.

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.

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: 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. 

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 to discuss the Harvard alumni who run Massachusetts. What happens when key decision-makers have to make complicated decisions between conflicting parties — and one of them is the school they once called home?

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 episode, Asher J. Montgomery ‘26 discusses how Harvard Kennedy School students gathered outside the office of HKS Dean Douglas W. Elmendorf to deliver an open letter signed by hundreds for increased access to mental well-being support at HKS.

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 and Elias J. Schisgall '25 join host Frank S. Zhou '26 to share faculty opinions on the controversy surrounding sexual harassment allegations against Harvard professor John L. Comaroff as well as perspectives on Title IX policies and procedures.

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 Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

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 hearing will be the next step in a case that sees Harvard reckon with its legacy of slavery.

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 disciplines that they study. Also in this episode, Miles J. Herszenhorn '25, Claire Yuan '25, and Marina Qu '25 take a look at the candidates for Harvard's Board of Overseers, the University’s second-highest governing body. Voting lasts until May 16, with all Harvard graduates who received their degree as of Jan. 1 — numbering over 400,000 — eligible to vote except administrators and faculty.

This week on The Harvard Crimson's Newstalk, reporters J. Sellers Hill ’25 and John N. Pena ’25 join host Frank S. Zhou '26 to discuss Housing Day, one of the most memorable days of students’ freshman year. Hear students share their emotions of anticipation, nerves, and a little bit of nausea from the exhilarating River Run experience to the thunderous dorm storming, and join them mere hours after they learn about their new houses.

Also in this episode, Jack R. Trapanick ’26 and Dylan H. Phan ’26 analyze the pick of Boston’s new ‘Night Czar’ Corean Reynolds, who was appointed by Boston Mayor Michelle Wu ’07 as director of nightlife economy to bolster business and diversity in downtown Boston.