Nation & World

Nadia Murad came to Harvard as a survivor of genocide under ISIS, an advocate for victims of sexual violence, and the first Iraqi citizen to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Her talk focused on her personal journey and how her ordeal turned her into an activist.

Masha Gessen’s lecture “How We Think About Migration,” was delivered Wednesday at Paine Hall. It was the first of two lectures on “How Do We Talk About Migration” that Gessen delivered as part of the Tanner Lectures on Human Values.

A panel of journalists and former Rep. Barbara Comstock discussed what might lie ahead for presidential investigations Wednesday at the Institute of Politics’ John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum.

Amanda Sloat, senior fellow at the Project on Europe at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center, explains the chaos befalling the U.K. as it hashes out Brexit.

Radcliffe fellow and former director of advocacy and communications for Doctors Without Borders helped rescue 77,000 Mediterranean immigrants over four years — until politicians shut down the operation.

Former New York City transportation commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan, speaking at the Graduate School of Design, describes successful pedestrian-friendly efforts and offers advice to those seeking change.

Was there an upside to segregation? At Harvard, Vanessa Siddle Walker, president-elect of the American Educational Research Association, said black educators secretly networked to instill high aspirations, and beat the system, before Brown v. Board of Education.

A conference organized by Harvard graduate students explores the ethics of love and desire after #MeToo.

Author Daniel Ziblatt analyzes the worldwide movement toward autocracy and concludes American democracy is safe — for now.

Harvard President Larry Bacow, on a 10-day trip to the Far East, tells audience at Peking University in China of commonalities, and expresses hope for continued collaboration.

Adam Serwer, a staff writer for The Atlantic and a Shorenstein fellow, discusses the lasting appeal of white supremacist ideology in light of an avowed white supremacist’s attack on two mosques in New Zealand that killed 50 people and injured dozens more.

Disadvantaged students today are doing no better compared to their advantaged peers than they were in 1954, despite countless programs to bridge this gap. The blame, say researchers, lies in a decline in teacher quality.

Harvard scholar Nara Dillon is seeking lessons on poverty reduction from China’s success, part of Harvard’s long-running, broad engagement with the world’s most populous nation that continues over spring break when President Larry Bacow visits.

As part of the class “GeoSciFi Movies: Real vs. Fiction,” students took part in a role-playing game that had them play the parts of the government and citizens of the island of Montserrat, as well as a group of scientists monitoring the island’s volcano.

The Gazette follows students working at the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, a student-run legal services organization that helps students practice law in the real world, as they represent young immigrants and help them start new lives in their new country.

Harvard Professor Raj Chetty says big data suggests some ways to counter the slipping U.S. standard of living.

Jin Park ’18, a DACA recipient and Rhodes scholar, testified before the House Judiciary Committee Tuesday about the “impossible position” he and others like him are now in if they leave the U.S. to study or work as a result of termination of protections.

A seminar at Harvard’s Kennedy School, planned to assess the outcomes of the Trump-Kim summit in Vietnam, instead dissected the meeting’s “failure” and what it means for diplomacy.

Former Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, who excited Democrats’ hopes with his progressive message in Florida’s gubernatorial race in November, will work with students at the Institute of Politics this semester to expand ideas of how change happens.

Madga Matache is the head of the Roma Program at the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University (Harvard FXB), where she is shedding light on the lives of Romani children and teens who continue to face racism and discrimination in and out of the classroom.

Newly named general editor of a book project documenting espionage and intelligence throughout human history, Harvard Kennedy School senior fellow Calder Walton discusses the context of the FBI’s investigation into President Trump’s connections to Russia and how spies and spying have evolved over centuries.

Harvard defended its admissions policies in U.S. District Court in Boston in a final hearing as part of a lawsuit that could change the landscape for higher education.

Pervasive racism and hate requires a response that addresses it at various levels, from politics to public safety to schools, experts at a Harvard Chan School forum said.

As NATO approaches its 70th anniversary, a new report from Harvard Kennedy School affiliates says the stalwart military alliance is in “crisis,” facing challenges from outside and within like never before.

Harvard Kennedy’s School’s Ricardo Hausmann, director of the Center for International Development and professor of the practice of economic development, discusses deteriorating conditions in Venezuela.

The Institute of Politics’ National Campaign for Political and Civic Engagement weekend-long conference drew approximately 125 students and school administrators, who shared notes on campus voting initiatives in the 2018 elections and brainstormed how to expand on them in 2020.

Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, a 2017 Harvard Nieman Fellow, and his Iranian wife, journalist Yeganeh Rezaian, a fall 2016 Shorenstein Fellow, talk about their experiences as prisoners of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.

Giving a talk at the American Enterprise Institute in D.C., Harvard President Larry Bacow reaffirmed his support for colleges and universities and his belief that they can help change the world, despite fears Americans are increasingly questioning the value of a college degree.

With the launch of a new national initiative and a network of district partners, the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University will partner with rural schools to move the needle on absenteeism and college readiness and enrollment.

Harvard Professor Erica Chenoweth discovers nonviolent civil resistance is far more successful in effecting change than violent campaigns.