Epps Takes Race Czar Role Seriously

This week, Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III demonstrated what being the College's race czar should be all about.

Epps came to the defense of Richard A. Cole '95, who said he was racially harassed by a Harvard Square shop owner. When Cole, who is Mexican-American, walked into Epps's office after the incident, the dean did more than just listen to the shaken student. He marched him right over to the Cambridge Human Rights Commission to file a complaint.

Cole says he was reading a magazine at Nini's Corner when owner Phillip Nini asked him to leave. When Cole hesitated, Nini responded with sarcastic Spanish phrases, including, "What's the matter, no comprende English?" And when Cole returned to obtain information for his complaint, Nini responded by cursing at him.

Although Nini initially denied Cole's account, calling him a "screw-ball" and a "troublemaker," the newsstand owner ultimately retracted his earlier statements about the incident and issued a public apology for his actions.

Nini faced consequences from the hasty actions of the Undergraduate Council as well. We find the council's decision to declare a university-wide boycott of Nini's Corner questionable, since they had only heard Cole's side of the story. It troubles us to think what might have happened if Cole's claims had been false.

Meanwhile, at least one more Hispanic student has come forward with a complaint against Nini's Corner since the Cole story was reported. And since the whole unfortunate incident, several other undergraduates have approached Epps with complaints of mistreatment by merchants in the Square.

Epps has demonstrated that he takes these complaints seriously, announcing that the College and the Harvard Square Business Association are planning a seminar on "the dynamics of race in the commercial setting." The seminar, which is tentatively scheduled for early 1995, has been greeted with enthusiasm by many merchants in the Square.

Including, apparently, Nini. "You have to think before you open your mouth," he confided to The Crimson. "Today you can offend anybody with anything."

Hopefully, the seminar will make it crystal clear to store owners that it doesn't help business to hurl racial epithets at potential customers.

But the seminar itself symbolizes something even more important: that Epps is taking racial harassment seriously.