A Necessary Review

By launching a committee to review the treatment by the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) of minorities on campus, the University has taken an important step toward addressing and improving race relations at Harvard. Although many such committees—especially those at Harvard—prove to be the deathbeds rather than the springboards of initiative, the University has vested this particular committee with the influential members and wide latitude necessary to effect positive and tangible change in how HUPD interacts with minority groups on campus. Now, the Harvard community can only hope that this committee makes good on its potential.

The University’s decision was prompted, in part, by a series of controversial encounters between HUPD officers and minorities on campus. The most recent of these incidents occurred in August, when two HUPD officers confronted a black high school student working at Harvard for the summer as he tried to remove a lock from his bicycle.

To be sure, HUPD officers generally discharge their duties with professionalism and distinction, and they provide an invaluable service to all in the Harvard community. But the emerging pattern of racially charged incidents and subsequent discontent among affected minority groups on campus could not be responsibly ignored by the University. Neither the University nor the review committee are out to scapegoat HUPD for all the racial problems on campus. Rather, the committee’s task is to identify and resolve any procedural or institutional flaws that might be aggravating an already sensitive issue.

For this effort to be successful, the committee’s review must be both thorough and direct, even in the face of a formidably complex project. In a memorandum to faculty members and administrators, University President Drew G. Faust wrote that the committee would undertake a “consideration of HUPD’s diversity training, community outreach, and recruitment efforts, as well as ways in which Harvard’s past experience as well as best practices elsewhere can inform our future practice.” Such a broad agenda endows the committee with the authority necessary to complete the task at hand, but its breadth verges on vagueness, and in a committee setting, such agendas often lead to nothing more than unsubstantial and unhelpful recommendations. Rather than fall victim to such ambiguity, the HUPD review committee’s broad agenda must clarify, not muddle, the central questions to which the Harvard community urgently needs answers: Does HUPD practice racial profiling? Does it do enough to prepare its officers to handle racially complex situations with sensitivity and propriety? And if HUPD is deficient in these areas, what might be real and meaningful solutions to these problems?

Studying these questions will require the review committee to ensure that all members of the our community—especially those directly affected by any impropriety on HUPD’s part—are given ample opportunity to share their thoughts and experiences concerning HUPD’s practices. Several inflammatory encounters between HUPD and minority community members have been well documented, but other similar incidents may have occurred without being reported to either HUPD or University officials. Only when the full extent of the problem is assessed can the committee begin to consider appropriate responses.

At the end of the day, we are hopeful that the review committee—which boasts an accomplished membership and a significant vote of confidence on the University’s part—will prove equal to the challenging task before it. And as it begins its work, the rest of the Harvard community should take care to remember that HUPD’s controversial record is only one example of the larger race relations issues that have challenged this campus for years. The University, both by launching the HUPD review committee and by taking other meaningful steps—including, for instance, requiring incoming freshmen to complete readings on racial sensitivity—now seems to be working to solve Harvard’s race problems in a concerted and dedicated manner. The University’s commendable effort should surely garner the support and active engagement of all members of the Harvard community.