Crimson opinion writer

Joseph W. Hernandez

Latest Content


Graduating Public School Doesn’t Make You an Imposter

Currently, at every level, the American educational system seems to leave disadvantaged students behind, while praising the most privileged students for making the most of opportunities only they can access.


Gifted and Talented, or Left Behind: The Educational Inequality of Exam Schools

Rather than telling students what they deserve solely on the basis of deeply flawed standardized tests that only measure prior academic experience, an equitable schooling system would divide students not by privilege, but instead by their individual academic needs.


We Built the Harvard Bubble. It’s Time to Pop It.

It’s long past time for us to pop the Harvard bubble. By establishing relationships with the local communities we’ve ignored for far too long, we can begin to deconstruct the ivory tower we’ve built, brick by brick.


Does Harvard Really ‘Defend Diversity?’

Any one of these actions could begin to show students that Harvard treats diversity as more than a statistic. But as we wait for Harvard to take its students of color seriously, remember: Without action to back it up, “defend diversity” is just a slogan.


The Supreme Court Killed Campus Diversity. What Now?

Unable to consider a student’s race, admissions offices will be forced to compare students’ resumes without the full context of the privilege and inequality that informed them. The Court’s conservative justices have crafted a college admissions landscape effectively stacked against students of color. Today, the Supreme Court has sent an abundantly clear message: College is for the privileged.


All Europe, All the Time — How Harvard is Failing Ethnic Studies

While the promise of new Ethnic Studies hires is a start, we need more than promises — we need an Ethnic Studies department where professors are afforded the same degree of job security and basic respect as their colleagues in other departments via tenure. Further, to recognize the intrinsic value of ethnic studies, Harvard College should create an ethnic studies course requirement, stamping it as essential to an undergraduate education.


Dissent: Harvard Square is Not the Center of the Universe

It’s time we asked ourselves, who’s really to blame for Harvard Square being so inaccessible: individual tourists or the multibillion-dollar university that created a local economy with 16 dessert shops, more than 10 banks, and an overpriced CVS in an effort to appeal to them?


Clubs for the Rich, Jobs for Everyone Else

If the HUA cares about its only job, then it’s time to prove it by making a meaningful push for financial aid within student organizations. Club funding affects real people. When we pretend it doesn’t, we wind up with the completely inadequate and exclusive system we see today: Clubs for the rich, and jobs for everyone else.