Where the Harvard morgue scandal stands

Also: Student loan relief for 3,500 Mass. arts students; the latest on local college encampments [Donate ❤️]( [View in Browser](  May 1, 2024 ☁️ Mostly cloudy, with a high near 56. Good Morning Boston, It’s been almost 11 months since news broke that Harvard Medical School’s morgue manager was allegedly stealing and selling parts of donor bodies, exposing a national network of human remains trading. And many, especially family members of body donors, are still waiting on answers about how this happened — at Harvard of all places. WBUR’s new narrative podcast [Last Seen: Postmortem]( digs into the scandal at Harvard, the macabre history of our nation’s medical schools and the world of human-remains collectors. You can listen to all five episodes now, [wherever you get your podcasts](. Before pressing play, I caught up with host and reporter Ally Jarmanning to check in about where the body theft case stands: - What’s happened to Harvard since this all came out?  Not much. The entire ordeal has been blamed on the one employee criminally charged in the case: former morgue manager Cedric Lodge. Inside Harvard Medical School, there appears to have been no other disciplinary action or legal accountability. In a statement to WBUR, Harvard expressed "deep sorrow for the uncertainty and distress that families face as the criminal proceedings continue.” Harvard officials called Lodge’s alleged actions “shocking and abhorrent.” - The current criminal case: Lodge has pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy and interstate transport of stolen goods. He is scheduled to go to trial in August. Several others have [pleaded guilty]( including Lodge’s wife, Denise. She admitted to a charge of interstate transport of stolen goods and faces up to 10 years in prison. - The civil lawsuits: Donor families hoped a lawsuit could force Harvard to answer questions and provide documents about how the lab was run and how well Lodge was supervised. But a judge [threw out]( the cases in February, saying there’s no evidence Harvard and Lodge’s supervisors didn’t act “in good faith.” The families have appealed. - Harvard’s own review: Harvard’s handpicked panel, brought in to evaluate the anatomical gift program, wasn’t charged with reviewing what Lodge did or who should have known about it. Still, they [found faults]( in how the program was run, from lax security to a subpar system for tracking donor bodies. Harvard said it’s made “significant security upgrades,” but wouldn’t go into specifics. Neither of Lodge’s bosses lost their jobs. - The status of the body donor program now: After a five-month pause on taking bodies, Harvard’s program is back up and running. And it appears Harvard is [hiring]( for Lodge’s old job — or one that sounds a lot like it. According to the posting, the employee will work “under minimal direction." Among the responsibilities: "Upholds highest standards of care to ensure the utmost respect of all human body donors." Now, in other local news: - Coming soon: A National Guard armory in Lexington will become the state’s next overflow emergency shelter. WBUR's Simón Rios reports the site will open later this month and host up to 55 of the 350 families currently in the state’s [safety-net shelter program](. - State officials tell Simón the new shelter will be used to house some of the 84 families (or 281 people) staying at the Melnea Cass Recreation Complex in Boston, which is [slated to close at the end this month](. - Heads up: New rules [take effect today]( for families staying at the overflow shelters. - The latest: Tufts University is giving an ultimatum to the pro-Palestinian demonstrators camped out on campus: [Clear out or face the consequences]( including potential discipline and forcible removal. - Elsewhere: [An encampment at UMass Amherst was dismantled Tuesday]( a warning from school officials, though students continue to protest. Meanwhile, Brown University reached [a deal with student protesters to end the encampment in exchange for a board vote]( on their calls for the school to divest from companies with ties to the Israeli government. - Go deeper: [Read more]( about the history of school divestment protests and their effectiveness in changing company behavior. - Zoning up: Andover residents overwhelmingly approved a new zoning plan to comply with the MBTA Communities Act. The Eagle Tribune [reports]( the changes were passed by a 434-196 vote last night. State officials have 90 days to review the plan. If green-lighted, the changes will take effect immediately. P.S.— We're going to keep beating the drum for googly eyes MBTA trains, the best civic pride-boosting idea since the [cod flag](. Check out [the photos and signs from Monday's very important and very silly "Googly Eyes on the MBTA" rally](. Nik DeCosta-Klipa Editor, Newsletters  Support the news  The Rundown [New York police have cleared Hamilton Hall and the encampment at Columbia University]( New York police arrested dozens of people on two campuses Tuesday night after officers cleared out a Columbia University building occupied by protesters. [Read more.]( [New York police have cleared Hamilton Hall and the encampment at Columbia University]( New York police arrested dozens of people on two campuses Tuesday night after officers cleared out a Columbia University building occupied by protesters. [Read more.]( [U.S. Department of Education discharges loans for New England Institute of Art students]( About 3,500 Massachusetts borrowers who attended The Art Institutes are eligible for roughly $80 million in relief. [Read more.]( [U.S. Department of Education discharges loans for New England Institute of Art students]( About 3,500 Massachusetts borrowers who attended The Art Institutes are eligible for roughly $80 million in relief. [Read more.]( [The Biden administration is moving to reclassify marijuana. Here's what that means]( The Justice Department is expected to propose a new, lower classification for marijuana that would lessen restrictions on the drug. But there's another review process to come. [Read more.]( [The Biden administration is moving to reclassify marijuana. Here's what that means]( The Justice Department is expected to propose a new, lower classification for marijuana that would lessen restrictions on the drug. But there's another review process to come. [Read more.]( [Healey signs shelter funding bill that limits lengths of stay]( Gov. Maura Healey signed into law a new nine-month limit on how long families can live in Massachusetts emergency shelters. [Read more.]( [Healey signs shelter funding bill that limits lengths of stay]( Gov. Maura Healey signed into law a new nine-month limit on how long families can live in Massachusetts emergency shelters. [Read more.]( [School districts look to state for guidance on LGBTQ student issues]( Local school leaders say some of the resources they have received from the state education department have been helpful, but want more guidance on navigating the conversation around gender identity in schools. [Read more.]( [School districts look to state for guidance on LGBTQ student issues]( Local school leaders say some of the resources they have received from the state education department have been helpful, but want more guidance on navigating the conversation around gender identity in schools. [Read more.]( Anything Else? - After posting his music on Reddit, local hip-hop artist WhyTri caught the attention of the makers of the popular video game Fortnite. WBUR's Arielle Gray has [the story of how that led to WhyTri working on the music and vocals for a new Fortnite character]( plus a new album. - The National Trust’s annual list of the most endangered historic places includes Minute Man National Historical Park, Walden Pond and other nearby landmarks. [Read about the full list of places here.]( - PSA: [New breast cancer screening guidelines]( released yesterday say all women over the age of 40 (instead of 50) should get mammograms every other year. Experts say if all American women follow the guidelines, an estimated 8,000 lives would be saved each year. - Jason Prokowiew's father was 10 in 1941, when the Nazis that invaded Belarus murdered his mother. How to get food — and how to get by without it — became a through line in his survival story. Now, with famine imminent in Gaza, Prokowiew [writes in this Cognoscenti essay]( that living without food is not something humans ought to know.  What We're Reading 📚 - The email came from France. ‘Do you think Karen Read killed her boyfriend?’ it asked. ([The Boston Globe]( - Longtime WBZ reporter Kim Tunnicliffe laid off ([Boston.com]( - How Far Trump Would Go ([Time](  Tell Me Something Good [Roxbury Community College's new softball team is blazing a trail in Boston (GBH News)]( RCC’s softball team is the first of its kind in the city. [Read more.]( [Roxbury Community College's new softball team is blazing a trail in Boston (GBH News)]( RCC’s softball team is the first of its kind in the city. [Read more.]( Listen: The Common talks to [the leader of the new Boston Caribbean American Association](. Play: [WBUR's daily mini crossword.]( Can you keep your streak going? Before you go: [Timeline cleanse.]( 😎 Forward to a friend. They can sign up [here](. 🔎 Explore [WBUR's Field Guide]( stories, events and more. 📣 Give us your feedback: newsletters@wbur.org 📧 Get more WBUR stories sent to your inbox. [Check out all of our newsletter offerings.]( Support the news    Want to change how you receive these emails? Stop getting this newsletter by [updating your preferences.](  I don't want to hear from WBUR anymore. Unsubscribe from all WBUR editorial newsletters [here](.  Interested in learning more about corporate sponsorship? [Click here.]( Copyright © 2023 WBUR-FM, All rights reserved.