At Harvard, blacks perceive culture of prejudice

It was the quintessential college scene: dozens of students from the Harvard Black Men's Forum and the Association of Black Harvard Women picnicking on the Radcliffe Quad, playing capture-the-flag and running relay races at their end-of-the-year field day. But just an hour into the festivities on the sunny afternoon in May 2007, the fun screeched to a halt. Two campus police officers rode up on motorcycles. Were they students, the officers asked. Did they have permission to be there? The young men and women, dressed in Harvard T-shirts, would discover that a fellow student in a nearby dorm had mistaken them for trespassers, according to students who were there and whose account was confirmed by Harvard officials. The incident, which ignited criticism from black students and faculty, highlighted the prejudices that many black students say they continue to face at Harvard, not only from police, but from classmates, as well. Leaders of black student and faculty groups say they hope that Harvard's review of campus Police Department practices will help spark a wide-ranging conversation about the racial climate on campus and lead to other concrete steps by the university to improve it. The review, announced Tuesday, follows long-standing complaints of racial profiling by police. "The alarming thing is that this happens in one of the most progressive towns, the most progressive university, and there's this reluctance on behalf of students to even acknowledge that there is some covert racism going on," said Bryan Barnhill, a Harvard senior and former president of the Black Men's Forum. Barnhill said he would like to see Harvard president Drew Gilpin Faust deliver a speech that makes it clear Har vard will acknowledge and address racial misunderstandings and biases. "Rather than just focusing on the Police Department, it would be a brave step if the president would ignite a broader and more honest discussion about race," he said. Leaders of Harvard's Association of Black Faculty, Administrators, and Fellows, who met with Faust last fall to discuss their concerns, also want her to go further as she enters her second year at the helm. They are calling for Harvard to create a campus climate committee and a police community board, among other initiatives, to foster cross-racial understanding among students, as well as with the predominantly white Police Department, a private force overseen by the school. SOURCE:BOSTONGLOBE.COM