Lovida H. Coleman: Fighting White-Collar Crime

Harvard is better the second time around, according to Lovida H. Coleman '72, an Institute of Politics (IOP) fellow for the spring term.

"I've been going to classes, and I enjoy it far more than when I was an undergraduate," says the former North House resident and government concentrator. North House was then a Radcliffe dorm, though Harvard males could choose to live there. Radcliffe had "better food and better parties," Coleman recalls.

Coleman was politically active at Harvard, serving as a member of the Youth Caucus, a bipartisan organization that mobilized opposition to the Vietnam war. She was also a campaign volunteer for Paul N. McCloskey, a California Republican congressman who ran against Richard M. Nixon on an anti-war platform.

Coleman describes her Republican party affiliation as both a "family tradition and a personal decision." "My grandfather in Louisiana was one of five Republicans in the state," she quips.

Coleman's parents are Republicans and she says her home state, Pennsylvania, has a "strong liberal Republican tradition." Coleman says her financial and foreign policy views are "in accord with the Republican tradition."

Predicting an eventual resurgence of the GOP's progressive wing, Coleman cites Sen. Robert Dole (R-Kansas), Sen. Charles Mathias (R-Maryland), Sen. Robert Packwood (R-Oregon), and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy '54 (D-Mass) as the top leaders in the Senate.

Coleman says the GOP should recognize that "the position Blacks have in the Democratic Party is far from ideal" and make an effort to reach out to Blacks. "We'll have to grow together," she says of the Black community and the Republican Party.

After completing law school, Coleman sought a career in government. "I wanted to be involved in policy making, to work hard for the government," she says. Coleman worked in private practice before becoming special assistant to the attorney general in the Carter Administration.

Coleman spent much of her time dealing with the policy issues raised by the growing rate of corporate crime. She will lead an IOP study group for undergraduates and do independent research on the topic this term.

"The way in which justice is administered is one of the most important ways we judge a society--are the prosperous citizens going to be equally subject to the laws?" asks Coleman. The Carter Justice Department made white collar crime one of its five "top priority areas," she said.

Investigation of white collar crimes requires vastly different methods from traditional criminal investigation, Coleman says. The FBI has hired agents with accounting degrees to help investigate corporate crime. The investigations can take two to three years and involve examining "thousands of documents," she says.

Coleman also participated in the Justice Department's evaluation of the Iranian hostage crisis. She helped prepare the government's case for the World Court that the hostage-taking violated international law.

Coleman also participated in the department's review of the Constitution to determine what powers the President had to respond to the crisis. The department determined that Carter could freeze Iranian assets and deport Iranian students.

Coleman worked with Professor of Law Philip B. Heymann who then headed the department's criminal division on formulating drug enforcement policy. Heymannn was in favor of "decriminalizing the marijuana laws" because he felt the department was devoting too much money to "arrest and prosecute small drug peddlers," says Coleman.

Heymann also proposed that to raise the world market price for heroin the U.S. should buy poppy seeds in Iran and Afghanistan. While this may have been a good idea, "you could never find a Congressman to allocate money for it," Coleman says.

"It's been very important to realize that I have spoken in part as a representative of Blacks," says Coleman on being a Black in government. "It's always important for me to focus on issues from the perspective of being a Black person and to represent and articulate these interests," she says, adding that Blacks still face "great barriers to complete equality, economic opportunity, and total fulfillment as a citizen."