In Episode 1 of Under Review, hosts Matteo Wong and Olivia Oldham explore an incident of police violence against a Black undergraduate from April 2018, the resulting review committee, and its reverberations to the present day.

II. A Strange House

How can Harvard, an institution with so much history, have so little memory? 

The racial reckonings and Black Lives Matter protests that swept the country this past summer brought attention to a trend in how Harvard seems to deal with student activism and concerns surrounding race, racism, and diversity: to commission a diversity review. These committees and reports long predate this summer, and reading them it can seem, at times, like some things have not changed at the University — in race relations, Harvard’s review process, or the findings and recommendations. What can these diversity reviews accomplish, and what can’t they?

“Under Review” is a podcast from The Harvard Crimson, hosted by Matteo Wong and Olivia Oldham, chairs of The Crimson’s weekly magazine, Fifteen Minutes. Each week, they will explore controversies and diversity reviews stretching across 40 years of Harvard history, speaking to dozens of students, activists, experts, and more, to try and understand how the Harvard diversity review works — or doesn’t.

“Under Review” is produced by Zing Gee and Thomas Maisonneuve. Music by Ian Chan. Art by Meera S. Nair.