The New York Times, November 25, 2018: For the first time, a black woman will lead The Harvard Crimson
Writers and editors at The Harvard Crimson have gone on to be presidents, tech billionaires and news media bosses. But what the newspaper had in power, it lacked in diversity. Now Kristine E. Guillaume will lead The Crimson’s “146th guard,” making her the third black president and first black woman to helm the organization since its founding in 1873.
“If my being elected to the Crimson presidency as the first black woman affirms anyone’s sense of belonging at Harvard, then that will continue to affirm the work that I’m doing,” Ms. Guillaume said as she was preparing to visit her parents in Queens for Thanksgiving.
For the past three years, she has been part of The Crimson’s “news board,” which is what the newspaper calls the editors and reporters who cover the campus and beyond. She has written on immigration and, taking on one of the paper’s most high-pressure beats, has covered the school’s leadership. In a recent article, she wrote that, for the first time, four of Harvard’s schools were led by black women.
“One of the significant reasons that trust in newsrooms has declined is simply because we don’t reflect the audiences we’re trying to reach, which means we’re missing stories,” said Raju Narisetti, a journalism professor at Columbia University.
