Harvard Is in Crisis After Police Beating of Black Student

A black Harvard student named Selorm Ohene was violently tackled and beaten by police in Cambridge, MA after they approached him for being naked in public. The incident has prompted a furious response from students accusing the school of failing to keep Ohene safe by giving him adequate medical attention, and of not doing enough to tackle racism on campus.

From The Harvard Crimson:

The [Undergraduate Council] representatives also criticized what they called a “failure” on the part of Harvard to adequately respond to the student’s needs prior to his arrest.

“On Friday, the very institutions that were supposed to keep us safe at Harvard failed us, failed the Black community, and failed a valued member of our community,” they wrote. “This abject failure to keep students safe engenders deep distrust in the notion that Harvard prioritizes the safety of students in need of medical attention and transport to HUHS, especially students disproportionately subject to discrimination and police violence.”

Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust called the incident “profoundly disturbing,” saying that “the responsibility rests with the University to establish the conditions of trust necessary for effective campus policing and the delivery and coordination of effective healthcare.”

The officers’ actions are now undergoing an internal investigation.