Campus Police Talk Racial Profiling, Law

The Harvard University Police Department and campus minority groups hosted an informal dialogue about race relations and law enforcement in Quincy Junior Common Room last night.

The event, which came on the heels of a two-year period in which relationships between minority students and HUPD officers have been occasionally strained, was aimed at increasing minority students’ comfort with their campus police, according to Jarell L. Lee ’10, who has been working to organize the event since last May.

HUPD Chief Francis D. “Bud” Riley and more than 25 officers participated in the open discussion, which was presented by student representatives from the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations, the Black Men’s Forum, the Latino Men’s Collective, the South Asian Men’s Collective, and the Asian American Brotherhood.

The event was not without context. In May 2007, a debate over racism ensued after HUPD responded to calls about an event organized by black student groups in the Quad. Cabot House residents sent a thread of e-mails questioning the presence of the student groups on the public lawn.

After an incident last August in which HUPD officers on campus confronted a black high school student trying to remove a bike lock from his own bicycle, University President Drew G. Faust announced the creation of a six-member committee to review HUPD’s practices.

Lee said that the Quad incident was one of the factors that set him thinking about ways to improve levels of understanding between minorities and police on campus.

“When the Quad incident happened, I didn’t believe HUPD racially profiled us because I knew many of the officers personally and knew they do not do that,” he said. “But I understand a lot of students didn’t know the officers as well.”

Many students last night recounted experiences of what they considered racial profiling at the hands of campus police officers.

Still, these students added that often the fault did not lie entirely with the officers themselves. Instead, they said some of the incidents were sparked by student calls and individual reports to HUPD.

According to a statement by HUPD spokesperson Steven G. Catalano after yesterday’s event, the department now has a new diversity and community outreach coordinator. The coordinator will work with the leaders of seven HUPD teams who already interact closely with students, HoCo chairs, and tutors.

“Every interaction that an officer has with a student is community relations. We demand professionalism and our officers act professionally,” Catalano said.

“Every positive interaction they have helps moves our community policing philosophy forward,” he added.

—Staff writer Courtney P. Yadoo can be reached at cyadoo@fas.harvard.edu.