HUPD White: Harvard Campus Police Accused of Racial Profiling

by Dan Haley | September 4, 2008 at 3:02 pm

Like the rest of us, I used to sleep easy knowing that while racism pervades American society, it has never been a factor in the affairs of Ivy League universities. But then Harvard had to go ruin it for everyone. Last week, Harvard President Drew Faust announced the establishment of a committee to review allegations of racial profiling leveled against the Harvard University Police Department. The department has been accused of "unfairly stopping African-Americans students, professors and other members of the community."

According to The Harvard Crimson, this review was formed in response to an incident where university police stopped a young African-American man using tools to remove a lock from a bicycle. After a conversation "laced with obscenities," the police learned the young man was the owner of the bike and a Boston area high school student working at Harvard for the summer.

Discussing the review, Faust writes:

The review will include consideration of HUPD's diversity training, community outreach, and recruitment efforts, as well as the ways in which Harvard's past experience as well as best practices elsewhere can help inform our future practice.

After the jump, we'll look at some of Harvard's past experiences.

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