As part of advocacy efforts for European studies and issues of European interest, the members of the Undergraduate Board have penned a number of editorial pieces.
A click on the title of each article below leads to the complete article in The Harvard Crimson.
From Arts on Friday, March 18, 2005
Fascism's 'Flaming Motor'
By LAURA E. KOLBE
Did writers in pre-World War II Russia, Italy and Germany contribute to the rise of fascismand the murders of millionsin their respective nations? Approximately 50 Harvard students, faculty, andcommunity members crowded into the Center for European Studies (CES) March 4 to reach a verdict. The proceedings, however, were highly unconventional. There were no first-hand witnesses. Most testimony bordered on hearsay. And all of the defendants were dead.
From Arts on Friday, March 18, 2005
MOVIE REVIEW: Mondovino
By LAURA E. KOLBE
“Le vin est mort,” declares independent vintner Aimé Guibert early in the documentary Mondovino. Wine is dead. It’s not quite Nietzche, but it has a similar dour finality that may at first strike the viewer as overblown. After watching Mondovino, however, audiences may well find themselves as passionate about the high-stakes game of winemaking as Guibert is.
From Opinion on Wednesday, February 02, 2005
International Adventure Wanted
By AZRA PRAVDIC and ALEXANDER BEVILACQUA
Many types of international experience are fruitful, as the report on the Harvard College Curricular Review (HCCR) rightly suggests. After proposing that all students “pursue a significant international experience during their time in the College,” the report broadly defines international experience to include not just study abroad, but any activity that causes “immersion in another culture for an extended period of time,” such as “international internships, independent research, volunteer work, or employment abroad.” The authors of the HCCR strongly believe that a Harvard education should provide “global competence,” the flexibility and open-mindedness to live in this globalizing society.
From Opinion on Wednesday, November 03, 2004
Roman Pomp, European Dream
By ALEXANDER BEVILACQUA
Last Friday, while we all agonized about the impending U.S. elections, in Rome a singular political spectacle took place. On the Capitoline Hill, crowned by Michelangelo’s beautiful piazza, 29 European heads of government and of state met to sign the European Union (EU) constitution. The tulips were Dutch, the direction Italian (Franco Zeffirelli, of “Romeo and Juliet” fame) and all the politicians looked dapper indeed as they posed before the iconic statue of Marcus Aurelius. In true European style, however, the performance was surrounded by a flurry of chaotic disagreement.
From News on Wednesday, May 19, 2004
Atlantic-Crossers Mix Over Dessert
By SAMUEL M. KABUE
With free scoops of ice cream in the sunny afternoon outside the courtyard of the Center for European Studies (CES), about 100 students who will be studying or working in Europe this summer abandoned their exam preparation for two hours on Monday to meet informally and discuss their coming summer activitiesthe first event of its kind to be hosted by CES. Alexander Bevilacqua ’07, a member of the Undergraduate Student Advisory Board, said the event enabled the students to find out more about where people will be in Europe, and what activities they will be doing.
From Opinion on Monday, March 22, 2004
A New Cornucopia of Opportunities for European Studies
By ALEXANDER BEVILACQUA and SOPHIE GONICK
For all the talk of student-faculty interaction at Harvard, those exchanges are often hard to come by. Students in fields such as government or economics rarely enjoy meaningful exchanges with their professors, or, if they do, have to be combatively assertive in securing the opportunity. And forget about going outside the department: For those not in a special concentration such as social studies or history and literature, interdisciplinary or even integrative approaches to the focus of our academic inquiry are often all too rare. The study of Europe is particularly hard-hit by both of these problems. European issuesphilosophy and art, history and current politicsare obvious candidates for an interdisciplinary approach, yet so far the College has only accidentally offered this opportunity to students desiring it. Finally, however, undergraduate Europhiles have a new opportunity to pursue their studies and to interact with Harvard academics working in European fields. Through new initiatives targeted at undergraduates, such as a newly-created undergraduate advisory board and improved grant systems for European research projects, the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies (CES) is seeking to broaden its involvement with the undergraduate community.