The Legacy of Slavery at Harvard
The Crimson | Editorial Board
Responding to Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery report, the Crimson Editorial Board writes, “Uncovering the truth is important: Action must follow,” urging that more must be done. “$100 million is an excellent start: At 0.19 percent of Harvard’s endowment, it cannot be the end. It cannot be enough.”
The Editorial Board recommends “rapid creation of a well-funded ethnic studies department,” divestment from private prisons, abolishing legacy admissions, building a Black student center, renaming every building that was named after an enslaver and rethinking entities including the Harvard Police Department (whose “continued existence has dramatic and negative consequences for Black people on and around campus”) as well as, more generally, “adults who are on campus [who] too often trivialize or invalidate the experiences of Black students.”
The board also recommends establishing a student committee who “will provide a personal perspective” on what should be done.
The Crimson’s hope is that Harvard’s response becomes a blueprint for a national response.
