Word: systemic
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...message to faculty in October, President Faust wisely observed, “The residential House system is a cornerstone of the undergraduate experience at Harvard. Houses at Harvard are far more than just buildings. They are the locus where teaching, learning, advising and vibrant community all intersect.” I couldn’t agree more. And when the comprehensive Report on Harvard House Renewal was released in April 2009, Dean Hammonds affirmed the importance of the Houses as “essential, not ancillary, to a Harvard education.” Almost simultaneously, however, deep financial cuts...
...reality of the “seismic” crisis meant, at first, a 15 percent budget cut for the Houses. We all worked at it. Then it was a 25 percent cut. House masters feared that next 10 percent would shake the foundations of the House system. What would go? Senior Common Rooms? Faculty-student dinners? House library hours? Modest stipends for fellowships tutors? Arts internships? Masters open houses? Junior parents weekends? Facebooks? Hot breakfasts? Then, when it was suggested that House administrative staff be reduced, we felt the cuts had hit bone. For decades, the Houses have operated...
...kept, where their successes are heralded, their vulnerabilities noticed and responded to. This is where they will today receive their diplomas. The Houses are cherished not only by students, but also by tutors, faculty, and staff who are part of these unique, intergenerational, academic communities. Undermining the House system cannot be on the table, even in this crisis...
...Madison and his brethren brilliantly sought to limit the danger of one-party factionalism by establishing a political system with numerous checks and balances. But even with obstacles in place, political leaders frequently run amok when power is concentrated in the hands of one party...
...beauty of our democratic system is that it is self-correcting. The problem is that the corrections meted out by an understandably outraged electorate often push the pendulum too far in the opposite direction. Last November, voters understandably upset with Republican excesses, gave the Democratic Party the presidency along with complete and expanded control of Congress. Predictably, one-party Democratic rule is proving susceptible to the same dangers that befell Republicans, and have befallen so many predecessors throughout our history...