Handling Jeffries

Imagine what could have happened.

Scuffles break out between Nation of Islam members imported from Dorchester and Jewish militants imported from Brookline. Queer Nation members block the doors to Sanders Theatre, then are hauled away by Cambridge police called in to reinforce Harvard police.

When the speech eventually begins, protesters unfurl a banner calling controversial City University of New York Professor Leonard Jeffries a bigot. They are tackled by Jeffries' bodyguards, and a brawl breaks out.

Jeffries calls for the execution of all white people in his speech. The story is on the cover of the next day's New York Times--and The New York Post.

The crowd boos Jeffries so loudly that the speaker cannot be heard, and the moderator must dissolve the forum.

All the above scenarios constitute a Harvard administrator's nightmare, which is why so many University officials spent so much time and went to such great lengths to ensure that the Jeffries speech and the protest went off without a hitch.

Wednesday night, those officials were out in full force. Dean of the College L. Fred Jewett '57, Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III, Vice President and General Counsel Daniel Steiner '54, Harvard Chief of Police Paul E. Johnson and Harvard Foundation Director S. Allen Counter were all on the scene.

Even President Neil L. Rudenstine, concerned that the event might not go smoothly, made a personal appearance. In Washington, D.C. for the day, Rudenstine went directly from Logan International Airport to Sanders Theatre upon his return to Boston.

Some of the worst-case scenarios described above were averted by simply closing the Jeffries speech to the press. Without non-student media coverage, and especially without television coverage, the event was much less likely to spiral out of control. And if it did get out of control, Harvard officials would get an opportunity to put their spin on the story before it hit the streets.

The decision to keep out outside reporters troubled at least one journalist. "I'm confused about why," said Byron Barnett of Boston's Channel 7. "[BSA President] Art Hall says it is the University's decision."

But in an interview just before the speech, Epps passed the buck back to Hall, saying it was the "decision of the sponsors," not to allow outside reporters into the speech.

Just in case anything unusual did happen during the speech, and the outside press did need to know about it, University spokesperson Peter Costa was on hand to watch the event and presumably share his version of it with the outside press afterwards.

Rudenstine's final assessment of the way Harvard handled Wednesday's speech by Jeffries and the protest which surrounded the speech was overwhelmingly positive.

"I just think the University as a whole handled the event extraordinarily well," Rudenstine said, lauding Steiner, the Harvard University Police Department, Hillel and the Black Students Association.

It is true that the University "handled the event extraordinarily well" to the extent that there was no violence and that both speaker and questioners were heard inside Sanders Theatre. But it remains to be seen how well the University, and its students, will "handle" the aftermath of the Jeffries speech.

It is one thing for a slew of administrators to oversee a four-hour event, to prevent violence for that period and to protect free speech.

It is another, far more difficult task to heal the rifts that the Jeffries speech caused between campus Blacks and the rest of the minority community, and between campus Blacks and whites.

The University succeeded in keeping the anger engendered by Jeffries's appearance below the surface, out of the national media.

The challenge for the entire community will be how to deal with that anger now that Jeffries is gone and the protest posters have been thrown away.