Student Barred From Graduation Was Subject of Prior Disciplinary Inquiry, Individuals Say

Testimony from three individuals revealed Friday that Chanequa N. Campbell ’09—the student Harvard barred from graduation after a deadly shooting in Kirkland House last week—was the subject of a serious disciplinary investigation by the College in her freshman year.

In 2005, Campbell was brought before the Administrative Board, the College’s chief disciplinary body, for allegedly stealing a blank check, making it out to herself, and redeeming the check for $300, according to the three individuals, who asked that they not be identified because they don’t want their names tied to the story.

It is not clear what, if any, punishment Campbell received at the time of the incident. For their part, several of Campbell’s friends have said that it was unlikely that she would be involved with any criminal activity.

Campbell allegedly stole the check at a party for a campus publication, two of the individuals indicated. Later, the student whose check she allegedly forged noticed that the handwriting was not theirs, and because Campbell had allegedly written the check to herself, the guilty party was easily identified, the individuals said. Campbell was not originally known to the person who had the check stolen, according to two individuals.

Campbell was then reported to the Ad Board, said the individuals, who added that Campbell defended herself after the incident by saying she needed the $300 for dental work.

In recent weeks, Campbell has told multiple media outlets that Harvard’s decision to bar her from graduation was unfounded and motivated by bias. While she is not making an “overall claim of racism,” she told The Globe, “I do believe I am being singled out...I’m black and I’m poor and I’m from New York and I walk a certain way and I keep my clothes a certain way,” she said. “It’s something that labels me as different from everyone else.”

Citing policy prohibiting comment on disciplinary matters involving individual students, administrators have declined to comment on Campbell—making it difficult to put together a cohesive picture of the record of the woman who claimed recently to the New York Post that she has been “scapegoated” and “can’t defend [herself].”

Repeated requests for an interview with Campbell through her lawyer Jeffrey T. Karp were denied. Karp did not respond to a request for comment on this story Friday night.

Friends of Campbell have come to her defense in the past week.

“She has had a difficult upbringing. She came from a very tough neighborhood in Brooklyn,” said a friend who did not want to be identified because he did not think Campbell would want her personal details exposed. “People are trying to paint her in a certain light,” the friend said. “I think that people want to put her in this archetype role of somebody who’s from the ghetto.”

Friends say Campbell is an accessible, social person.

“You could be in conversation with Chanequa and it would be broken up five or six times in one street because everyone loves Chanequa,” said Jonah C. Priour ’09, who said they “spent a good amount of time” together freshman year and “kept in touch over the years.”

“I think what sort of distinguished Chanequa for me was that I always left conversations with her with a new insight because she had such a wise perspective about the world,” Priour said. “We spent a lot of time having intellectual conversations in the middle of the night or during the day, too.”

Campbell, who is from New York City, was involved in “Prep for Prep,” a program that prepares minority students for private schools. The program sends many students to prestigious colleges and universities across the country. Campbell was also a New York Times Scholar.

“She got into pretty much every school that she applied to,” said William Wong, Campbell’s friend from the program, who attends Yale. “She’s very, very good academically and really smart.”

Campbell comes from a single-parent home and has a large extended family, according to Wong.

William J. Houghteling ’09 lived in Campbell's entryway in Canaday freshman year. He said he and Campbell sent Internet messages to each other, then later Campbell knocked on his door. “I put my hand out to give [her] a handshake and she says, ‘Come on man, I already know you, and gives me a big hug,’” he said.

Friends said they were shocked to hear that Campbell had been asked to leave campus and tied to the drug related shooting.

“It’s shocking to hear Harvard wasn’t going to let her walk with the graduating class,” said Wong, her friend of 10 years. “It’s definitely shocking she was mixed up in something like this.”

Priour said he was also surprised to hear Campbell was allegedly involved.

“I was honestly a bit shocked to hear some of the connections that were being said to [exist] between her and anything causing anyone harm,” he said. “Because, I don’t know, she’s always been sort of very ladylike, very conscientious, very sweet, and she always thought of others.”

Christian B. Flow and June Q. Wu contributed to the reporting of this story.

—Staff writer Eric P. Newcomer can be reached at newcomer@fas.harvard.edu

REDACTION AND CLARIFICATION

An earlier online version of the article contained information about one individual's relationship to Campbell that violated a source agreement. It has since been redacted.

The same version incorrectly implied that only students of African American or Latino descent qualify for "Prep for Prep." In fact, some programs accept students of Asian-American descent as well.