For the first time in its 145th year in existence, the student newspaper of Harvard University has named its first Black women as president. Kristine Guillaume will oversee The Harvard Crimson, which bills itself as the oldest running daily college newspaper in the country.
Guillaume, a junior at Harvard University studying African-American Studies along with History and Literature, will lead the 146th Guard of the Harvard Crimson. The Queens, New York native is one of three chairpersons that sit on the Crimson’s Diversity and Inclusivity Committee, which made it a point this year to select editors and staff of varying backgrounds.
In a recent statement after being named president of the Crimson, Guillaume noted that Harvard University’s past as an institution of learning primarily made for White men is no longer its legacy, and that her presence at the Crimson and the university itself signals the changes that will continue to come.
“I want people to think about how to navigate, and feel like they can and get through their education, and feel like they do belong here,” Guillaume said.
Past presidents of the Crimson include the likes of Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and CNN president, Jeff Zucker.
