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As President of the Harvard Black Law Students Association, this summer was difficult in many ways as a Black woman in leadership. The Supreme Court rulings attacked my womanhood while I was simultaneously reminded that Black life is political. However, I recognize our organization’s position as Black students educated at Harvard Law, and I want to say that our silence this summer should not be read as acquiescence or complacency.

The Harvard Black Law Students Association is appalled by the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, Casey v. Planned Parenthood, and Miranda v. Arizona, amongst other precedent. The Supreme Court’s decisions demonstrate that personal autonomy, health, safety, and civil rights are neither stable nor guaranteed under the Constitution. The blatant disregard for the lives of many in the United States, especially Black people, is disheartening. Though the United States has always relied on the voices of a few to determine the freedoms of many, the Supreme Court rulings call into question the legitimacy of the law, our future profession, and Harvard Law School.

Four out of the nine Supreme Court justices attended Harvard Law School. These lifetime appointments remind us of the weight that Harvard’s name carries and the burden we bear to build the lawyers of the next generation. Harvard must be more deliberate in its pedagogy and refine how students discuss topics in the classroom. The Harvard name should enable graduates the opportunity to create a better world; however, it is evident this is not happening.

I wanted to become a lawyer because I understood lawyers’ power to create positive societal change. The ability to read the law and knowledgeably argue for or against a topic is a gift that law students perfect, and lawyers execute throughout their careers. Yet, to see the legal education we are proud of used in ways that divide society, reinforce stereotypes, create barriers of entry, and promote prisons as rehabilitation centers is disgusting.

This year I endeavor to hold Harvard Law School and Harvard University accountable. We will continue to plan meetings with the administration about Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery Report, the unfair summer contribution policy, and the development of rules about hate speech from professors and our peers, to name a few. We will not let the legacy of this institution continue to be our future. We will expose the facade that Harvard Law School and Harvard University uphold until they make the institution equitable for all students.

At the same time, the Harvard Black Law Students Association will create intentional moments and space for Black joy. Black students deserve to be students who do not live life in a perpetual state of politics. We belong at Harvard Law School, and our existence does not always have to be at odds with the university. As we embark on the 2022-2023 Academic Year, I am excited and hopeful that we will take steps toward making Harvard and the world a more just place.

 

Dara J. Ferguson 

HBLSA President 2022 – 2023 

It is not a surprise that Harvard University enslaved and owned human beings. It is not a surprise that Harvard Law School was established and developed with money generated by slave labor. However, it is surprising that Harvard has taken this long to remember. 

Last Tuesday, on April 26, 2022, Harvard University issued a report detailing its complicity in enslaving Africans and African Americans, calling the report “Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery.” Twenty-four hours before the release of the report, Harvard University scheduled a meeting with the leaders of Black student organizations across campus to discuss a report that we had not seen. The planning and research process failed to include the Harvard Black Law Students Association or its members, some of whom are direct descendants of enslaved people, in the conversation on how Harvard University continues to perpetuate harm to the Black community. Instead, our opinions came second to the press, demonstrating the performative nature of this institution and its response. This is the continued legacy of Harvard University, an institution that seeks to change the opinions of press rooms rather than shifting the dialogue in classrooms. 

Historically, Harvard University has been willfully silent about its past. An institution that boasts of being the “oldest institution of higher learning in the United States,” founded in 1636, has taken almost 390 years to uncover and address its entanglement with slavery. The report notes that Harvard presidents enslaved people, and professors “conducted abusive research … of enslaved and subjugated human beings.” Harvard’s museum collections continue to house human remains of indigenous and enslaved people. Harvard University was not only cognizant of these records but kept custody of them. Only now has Harvard revealed the records to the general public. Harvard’s purposeful neglect is motivated by self-preservation.

This same self-preservation led Harvard Law School to recently change its crest, which previously depicted three bushels of wheat as an ode to the institution’s connection to chattel slavery. This came only after countless years of student activism. This institution has continued to demonstrate its comfortability and complacency with its endorsement of slavery and anti-Blackness. Harvard has finally taken nominal steps by recognizing its grievous history. However, what steps will Harvard take moving forward?

It is imperative that Harvard Law School recognize its role in producing agents of the law and dedicate itself to providing an environment in which  Black students can succeed. Harvard cannot claim to be an institution devoted to equal justice and opportunity without working to ensure it produces alumni who further the mission of equity in the legal profession and the law. The elation and inspiration that came from the appointment of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, an alumnus of the Harvard Black Law Students Association, have all too quickly been shadowed by recent sorrow and fear of regression. 

In light of recent news regarding Roe v. Wade, it is clear that the undertaking of justice and equality for Black people, especially Black women, is far from over. Harvard must take an active role in producing lawyers of the future, who advocate for justice over tradition, by changing the pedagogy of its classrooms. An institution that tries to reconcile its past, while simultaneously producing lawyers that perpetuate harm to the very communities with which it seeks atonement, is an unjust institution. 

The Harvard Black Law Students Association is dedicated to ensuring that the release of the “Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery” report is not the apogee of recognition, but the mark of a new beginning. As we have for decades, we call upon the leaders of Harvard Law School, and Harvard as an institution, to embrace this day of reckoning. It is not enough to repent for the actions of Harvard’s past: Harvard must reconcile and rebuild for the future.

Harvard University and Harvard Law School, we are ready to engage in these conversations, and not serve as a mere afterthought. We are ready for real solutions that address the legacy of slavery –not performative actions. We are ready for buildings and hallways – not fields or rocks – to be commemorated in our names. We are ready for adequate funding to rectify the continued legacy that this institution perpetuates. 

It is high time that Harvard University and Harvard Law School take the voices and advocacy of Black student organizations, not as mere inspiration, but as genuine recommendations and guidance to make certain there is equity on this campus. We ask that beyond claiming to hear us, Harvard takes the genuine step to listen to us. We acknowledge the work of the Committee on Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery. We are eager to work with Harvard Law School to honor and respect the enslaved ancestors whose forced labor and unwavering strength built this institution. 

Harvard BLSA Executive Board
Dara Ferguson, President
Ariel Talbert, Internal Vice President
Daniel Walker, External Vice President
Stephen Neilson, Treasurer
Caroline Akhame, Secretary
Brenna Phillips, Chief of Staff

View this statement as a PDF.

The Harvard Black Law Students Association is extraordinarily proud of our treasured alumna, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson (’96), whom President Biden has nominated to serve on the United States Supreme Court.

Judge Jackson is a brilliant lawyer, accomplished jurist, and has demonstrated an unyielding commitment to service and the pursuit and protection of justice. Judge Jackson currently serves as a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and now stands as the first Black woman nominated to the Supreme Court.

Today, President Biden stated that “[it is] time that we have a court [that] reflects the full talents and greatness of our nation with a nominee of extraordinary qualifications.”  Judge Jackson is the exemplary candidate to fulfill this role. With her background in criminal defense, trial work, and other exceptional qualifications, Judge Jackson will bring a powerful voice and a necessary perspective on today’s most pressing legal issues.

Judge Jackson’s nomination is monumental. It acknowledges the value of Black women’s perspectives and their critical role in shaping our nation and judicial system. The nomination of a Black woman to our country’s highest court was overdue. We are elated that the wait is now over.

We know that there is work to be done to ensure Judge Jackson becomes Justice Jackson. Our sincere hope is that the Senate Judiciary Committee will move Judge Jackson fairly and quickly through her confirmation process. For now, we celebrate this historic, groundbreaking honor and recognition of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s legacy.

To Judge Jackson, thank you for continuing to inspire us to advocate for justice, dream bigger, and dictate our own destinies.

Harvard BLSA Executive Board
Mariah K. Watson, President
Dara J. Ferguson, Internal Vice President
Virginia Thomas, External Vice President
Samantha Camy, Treasurer
Jordan Rogers, Secretary

View this statement as a PDF.

Dear President Bacow, Provost Garber, Deans Gay, and Bobo,

Harvard Law School’s Black Law Students Association (HBLSA) and the undersigned signatories are writing to condemn the University’s decision to refuse to consider Dr. Cornel West for tenure. 

There is no doubt that Dr. West is more than qualified to receive tenure. Dr. West is a preeminent scholar–described by his peers as “sui generis”–that has consistently tackled the complex issues of race in America. He is a Professor Emeritus at Princeton University and has taught at Union Theological Seminary, Yale, Harvard, and the University of Paris. Prior to leaving Harvard in 2002, Dr. West was a University Professor, Harvard’s highest faculty honor, and the demand for his course was only exceeded by one other course. Dr. West, who is routinely cited, has written 20 books–including the seminal Race Matters– edited 13 and has published a substantial amount of academic articles. The decision not to consider Dr. West for tenure is inexplicable and inconsistent with the University’s expectation as expressed by Dean Bobo that “the expectation is that [Dr. West] will be with [Harvard] for a very long time.” The University’s actions are not only incompatible but do a disservice to all current and future students of the University.

We are deeply concerned by the University’s characterization of Dr. West as “too risky” and “too controversial.” These statements contravene the principle of academic freedom that undergirds the University. As the President said in the first address of the spring semester to the  Faculty of Arts and Sciences  “We pursue [Harvard’s] mission on the foundation of a set of values, chief among them free speech and academic freedom.” This characterization of Dr. West is not only inaccurate but also falls short of the values and standards established and reiterated time and time again by the University. We call upon the University to hold itself accountable and to follow its own model of academic freedom.

Harvard’s refusal to consider Dr. West for tenure continues a consistent pattern of practice that undermines and devalues the scholarship of Black professors and professors of color. Our call today for the University to revisit its decision is part of a longstanding tradition of HBLSA,  Black academics, and academics of color calling upon the University to recognize and value diverse scholarship. In 1992 Derrick Bell, the preeminent scholar on critical race theory and the first Black man to receive tenure at Harvard Law School (“HLS”),  left HLS in protest of its refusal to hire a Black woman and the lack of diversity within the faculty. For seven years, the university denied the Latino Law Review the right to use the Harvard name. In 2019, the University refused to grant tenure to Professor Lorgia García Peña, a decision that undermined cross-organizational efforts on campus for an Ethnic Studies program. In addition, more than 100 faculty members called for a comprehensive review of the tenure process to ensure better alignment with the University’s espoused commitments to diversity and inclusion. The refusal to consider Dr. West for tenure raises concerns about the future treatment of Black academics and academics of color in a tenure process that already lacks transparency. The University espouses a commitment to academic freedom and diversity and inclusion, but its actions continue to undermine diverse scholarship.

Dr. Cornel West’s research, publication record, and teaching are exemplary. We are not only disappointed in the refusal to even consider Dr. West for tenure but also are concerned that this denial indicates a lack of commitment to pursuing diversity, inclusivity, and social justice by the University.

The Harvard Black Law Students Association

La Alianza at Harvard Law School

Harvard Law School Lambda

Harvard Law School MELSA

Harvard Muslim Law Students Association

Harvard Law School Chapter of the American Constitution Society

Harvard African Law Association

Harvard Descendants

Harvard Law School Disability Law Students Association

Harvard Asian Pacific American Law Students Association

Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review

Harvard Journal of Sports and Entertainment Law

Harvard Journal of Law and Gender

Harvard Law School Labor and Employment Action Project

Tenant Advocacy Project

First Class at Harvard Law School

Harvard Women’s Law Association

Harvard Legal Aid Bureau

Harvard Human Rights Journal

Harvard South Asian Law Students Association

+127 Students

 

A full copy of the letter can be found here.

Dear President Bacow, Dean Manning, Dean Sells, Dean Claypool, Dean Jefferson, and Members of the Harvard Law School Administration:

The messages sent earlier this week by President Bacow, Dean Manning, and Dean Sells failed to explicitly denounce anti-Black racisms, police brutality, and the pernicious effects of state-sanctioned violence.  Harvard’s Black Law Student Association (HBLSA) calls upon the Administration to unequivocally denounce state-sanctioned violence and racially motivated animus towards Black people. It is Harvard’s obligation to not only unequivocally condemn state-sanctioned violence and police brutality but also use its position of power and privilege to generate true systemic change.

Harvard Law School holds itself as not only the preeminent legal institution in the country but the world, it must affirm Black Lives Matter through overt action. As James Baldwin once wrote, “civilization is not destroyed by wicked people; it is not necessary that people be wicked but only that they be spineless.” The world needs Harvard’s bold and proactive leadership now more than ever. Harvard Law School cannot wait for the next crisis. For years, Harvard Law School’s students have been demanding structural change to truly make Harvard Law School uphold its mission, “[t]o educate leaders who contribute to the advancement of justice and the well-being of society.” We reassert the demands of our predecessors.

Harvard Law School lags behind its peers. Our peer schools on Harvard’s campus, including the Kennedy School, School of Public Health, and Medical School, have offices of diversity or multicultural affairs that act as both liaisons and advocates for their students in addressing issues of diversity. Harvard Law School must demonstrate its commitment to racial justice and equality by establishing an independent Office of Diversity and Inclusion.

Harvard must ensure a safe campus for all students. As such, Harvard must disclose and sever relationships with any and all law enforcement agencies. The recent murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and David McAtee, alongside the history of innumerable instances of police violence towards Black bodies, have made it clear that police reform is not enough. As an organization, we are concerned about the presence of the Harvard University Police Department at recent demonstrations protesting police brutality, and the message it sends to current students about how the school values their lives. At these protests, many police departments have responded with more police brutality, through use of weapons banned in war, rubber bullets, and tear gas. Police departments have become increasingly militarized, and Black communities suffer most. Service providers, such as mental health professionals and trauma-informed crisis intervention specialists, are better trained and more equipped to assist community members in times of need. Defunding police and re-directing those funds to investments in the Black community is essential.

The collective resources of individual members of our community merit at least a proportional response from our institution. Match student, postdoc, staff, and faculty donations by giving an equivalent or larger dollar amount to the Massachusetts Bail Fund, Violence in Boston, Black Lives Matter Boston, and the National Black Justice Coalition to support protesters and activists at the local and national level.

Harvard Law School must pledge not to punish, penalize, or burden students arrested or charged while participating in the current protests. Students standing against one of the most pervasive evils of our time is both a benefit to our community and to HLS as an institution.

The healthcare system’s inequities cannot be divorced from the impacts of structural racism (e.g. COVID-19). We call upon Harvard to hire more Black healthcare providers and providers of color, including mental health providers, and mandate all Harvard University Health and Services (HUHS) providers receive implicit bias training annually. If HUHS providers are already undergoing training, it must be revamped to ensure Black students and students of color receive quality care.

Harvard Law School holds a unique position as a premier legal institution that trains the next generation of the country’s most powerful decision-makers, including Presidents, District Attorneys, and judges. To truly prepare our students for success in a world turning towards justice, Harvard Law School has a responsibility to educate its students about how systems of power and privilege inform the experiences of Black people and marginalized communities. We call upon Harvard Law School to hire a tenured Critical Race Theorist,  allocate its resources to establish an endowed Critical  Race Theory Program, and commit to institutional support.

In 1992, Derrick Bell gave up his professorship and left Harvard in protest due to the dearth of Black professors. He understood, as we do, that Black faculty are essential for a dynamic and thriving educational environment. As has been established by numerous studies (Study 1; Study 2), Black faculty are fundamental to all student learning. Placing professors with diverse backgrounds in front of students at Harvard Laws School encourages the discussion of different views that shape the reasoning behind legal decisions and emphasizes the importance of different perspectives in developing the law. In this effort, Harvard Law School should mandate that all faculty searches have diverse candidates (racial and gender diversity). There are many Black professors and professors of color in the legal community. Find, hire, and retain more.

HBLSA agrees with President Bacow that, “those of us privileged to work or study at a place like [Harvard] bear special responsibilities.” As legal scholars, we know the devastating impacts of state-sanctioned violence and prison-industrial complex on Black communities and communities of color. Harvard should heed the demands of the Harvard Prison Divestment Campaign (HPDC) and divest immediately.

We present this list of demands as a way for Harvard Law School to demonstrate that it is genuinely committed to creating a society that values and invests in Black Life.  History has proven that when Harvard acts, other educational institutions follow. Act now.

Sincerely,
Harvard Black Law Students Association

Harvard Law School’s Black Law Students Association (HBLSA) extends its deepest condolences to the families of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Sean Reed, Nina Pop, Tony McDade, and George Floyd. We acknowledge the unfathomable pain of watching a loved one’s final moments. We know they are more than hashtags and headlines. We know they are deeply loved. We hold you in your healing from the death of your loved ones. They were taken too soon from you. We support you in taking your time and taking care. We hold space for your pain and your rage. We echo your calls for accountability and justice.

HBLSA is in solidarity with the millions of Black people frustrated and enraged by a system that continues to disregard and devalue Black Lives. The United States has long borne witness to racially motivated violence towards Black people. These incidents cannot be divorced from the history of the perpetual subjugation of Black people upon which our nation stands. A tradition that is complicit in the deaths of George Junius Stinney Jr., Emmett Till, Fred Hampton, 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing Victims, Rodney King, and Kalief Browder. This pervasive and omnipresent system of state-sanctioned violence built upon the notion of Black criminality perpetuates the denial of Black humanity and our right to freedom. From “Stand Your Ground” laws, the ‘94 Crime Bill, the McCleskey decision, “qualified immunity” defenses, to the consistent criminalizing of Blackness to bring about an onslaught of physical, emotional, and mental violence—the United States denies Black people the right to bird-watch, jog, sleep, read, and worship in peace.

The United States is witnessing uprisings all over the country. We recognize these as acts of rebellion against anti-Black violence that saturates us. Additionally, we are reminded of this moment’s place in our nation’s history; these uprisings are moments of unrest and resistance in the midst of 500 years of killing, torturing, and looting––of Black people and indigenous peoples more broadly. In the words of Dr. King, “A riot is the language of the unheard.” In the spirit of the work of those like Dr. King, Angela Davis, Assata Shakur, and Malcolm X, we are concerned about the ongoing looting of Black communities by bailed-out billion-dollar corporations who impoverish Black and brown people and continue to evict them from their homes in a pandemic. We have had enough.

As the COVID-19 brought the world to a halt,  these deaths serve as a painful reminder of the United States’ failure to address its history of institutionalized racism and pervasive anti-Blackness. This is a lethal reminder to reject complacency. This demands our attention and presents us with a fundamental crisis of consciousness. We must challenge our institutions, our progress, and our role in the fight for life and equity. We are required to learn from the past in order to move forward more united and inclusive. We demand the protection of Black queer, trans, femme, and system impacted lives. Hear the voice of the unheard. Hear their pain, their anger, their sadness, and their disgust. We must expand our understanding of justice and accountability to include an investment in Black life. 

Now is the time to continue moving from education to action. The resources listed below are not exhaustive, but a springboard for you to take steps to participate in this movement for justice.

RESOURCES

Please support the funds and organizations below dedicated to racial justice, liberation, and ending violence against Black people.

Education

Book List: 

• The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
• How To Be Anti-Racist and Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America  by Ibram X. Kendi
• So You Want To Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
• White Fragility: Why it’s so Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo

Teaching about race, racism and police violence: Resources for educators and parents by Washington Post

Personal Funds

• Ahmaud Arbery Fund: https://www.gofundme.com/f/i-run-with-maud
• George Floyd Fund: https://www.gofundme.com/f/georgefloyd
• Breonna Taylor Petition: standwithbre.com

Organizations/Funds

• Reclaim the Block, a Minneapolis organization devoted to reallocating the city’s money away from the police department and toward “community-led safety initiatives.”
• Black Visions Collective, a Black, trans, and queer-led social justice organization and legal fund based in Minneapolis-St. Paul.
• Bail Funds and Legal Aid By City, a community-sourced list of bail funds and legal aid organized by city.
• Campaign Zero, online platform & organization that utilizes research-based policy solutions to end police brutality in the United States.
• Northstar Health Collective, a St. Paul-based organization that provides health services and support at protests.
• The Minnesota Freedom Fund, which pays criminal and immigration bail and bond for people who cannot afford it. This fund is currently “overfunded,” so please consider giving to others. 

Voting 

While voting doesn’t solve every problem, voting in local elections, especially for District Attorneys and Sheriffs, has a direct impact on how and who is held accountable. 

How to Register to Vote

HBLSA has been and will continue to take steps to do our part, individually and as a collective. Stay connected for updates.

The Harvard Black Law Students Association

April 27, 2020

We mourn the loss of a trailblazer—Ms. Lila Fenwick. The Harvard Black Law Students Association (“HBLSA”) is deeply saddened by the passing of Ms. Fenwick, who was the first Black woman to graduate from Harvard Law School in 1956.

The child of Trinidadian immigrants and a graduate of Barnard College in New York, Ms. Fenwick attended HLS just three years after the Law School started admitting women in 1950. In 2003, she told the Harvard Law Bulletin that “I knew I was going to be a lawyer when I was a little girl…It never occurred to me that there were going to be any obstacles.” Despite the unforeseen obstacles faced because she was both black and a woman, she persevered—graduating from HLS in 1956. Post-graduation, Ms. Fenwick went on to attend the London School of Economics. She eventually began working at the United Nations in the Division of Human Rights—specializing in gender, racial, and religious discrimination among other things.

At a time when so much around is unpredictable, BLSA would like to recognize Ms. Fenwick for the barriers she broke at HLS and beyond, which opened the doors for so many Black women who aspired to be lawyers. Let Ms. Fenwick’s legacy serve as a reminder that regardless of the hurdles and unexpected challenges, we shall persevere like the giants who came before us. Our thoughts and prayers are with Ms. Fenwick’s family and loved ones during this time.

To learn more about the life and career of Ms. Lila Fenwick, please read her obituary in The New York Times found here.

 

 

 July 26, 2019

The Harvard Black Law Students Association (“HBLSA”) stands with the four members of Section 7 who were targeted with hateful, racist, and sexist messages from a yet-to-be identified classmate or classmates. For months on end, these four students, two of whom are Black, were targeted with malicious emails and texts intended to inflict pain, fear, and the false notion that they do not belong at Harvard Law School on the basis of their racial and gender identities.

The targeted students immediately went to the administration with screenshots of the messages, which revealed that the sender or senders set up two Gmail accounts and used two retailer display phones to send anonymous messages that read, in part, “we all hate u [sic]… at least you help with the curve” and “you know you don’t belong here…youre [sic] just here because of affirmative action.”

The targeted students asked the law school to use its resources to identify the source of this threat and hold the students responsible accountable. The law school subsequently engaged the Harvard University Police Department, hired an outside law firm to investigate the messages, and promised the targeted students that, regardless of what the investigation revealed, the targeted students would be able to see the report.

Two months later, not only was the law school “unable to establish the sender(s) of the threatening messages,” the administration reneged on its promise to provide the report to the targeted students. According to the administration, the Federal Education Reporting Privacy Act (“FERPA”) does not allow the University to release the report and that it either does not recall making such a promise to release the report or that if it did, it was an error.

The targeted students relied on the administration’s promise when agreeing to a school-led investigation. Now, more than seven months since the first hateful message was sent, the sender of this message remains unidentified and free to continue harassing Black and women students, meanwhile the targeted students have been left to continue fearing for their safety.

Harvard University, and specifically, Harvard Law School, asserts itself as a committed leader to diversity, inclusion, and justice; however, Harvard woefully failed to act and protect the students of Section 7.

It is an injustice that these students suffered and continue to experience the burden of these additional stressors in an already stressful academic environment. We applaud the affected students for remaining strong and sharing their story with the public. Time and again, it seems as though Harvard only responds when marginalized students’ demands for safety and protection are backed by external pressure.

We support the students of Section 7 in their ongoing fight for their voices to be heard and their cause to be valued by Harvard Law School. We urge Harvard Law to fulfill their commitments to the students of Section 7 by using every resource at its disposal to identify the sender and hold that person accountable for the harm that they caused.

Finally, in the spirit of working towards a more diverse and inclusive campus climate, we urge Harvard Law School to adopt Reclaim Harvard Law School’s Fourth Demand, issued nearly four years ago:

Establish the Office of Diversity & Inclusion and implement other institutional changes aimed at curtailing organizational hierarchy and injustice against students, staff, and faculty. The Office should be established with meaningful staff and student input and transparency.

 

In Solidarity,

Harvard Black Law Students Association

Statement released March 31, 2019

Harvard Law School’s Black Law Students Association (HBLSA) writes this statement in regard to the controversy surrounding Harvard Law Professor Ron Sullivan’s representation of Harvey Weinstein. Professor Sullivan has been HBLSA’s faculty advisor for many years. Because of this, HBLSA finds it important that we speak to the controversy and make the ask of Harvard University to both unequivocally support survivors of sexual violence and to do so in a way that does not scapegoat Professor Sullivan for the University’s failings to address sexual violence on campus.

We speak only on behalf of HBLSA and write to make clear the following:

1. As an organization, we unequivocally support survivors of sexual violence.

We hope that our unequivocal support of survivors of sexual violence needs little explanation. In the U.S., the CDC reports that about 1 in 3 women (36.3%) and nearly 1 in 6 men (17.1%) experience some form of contact sexual violence (SV) during their lifetime. About 1 in 5 women (19.1% or an estimated 23 million women) have experienced completed or attempted rape at some point in their lives. In 2015, a U.S. Transgender Survey found that 47% of transgender people are sexually assaulted at some point in their lifetime. According to an ongoing study conducted by Black Women’s Blueprint, 60% of Black girls have experienced sexual abuse before the age of 18. Statistics of sexual violence for Black women are likely higher, however, as Black women are less likely to report instances of sexual violence for various reasons. Sexual violence can have psychological, emotional, and physical effects on a survivor, ranging from sleep disorders to suicidal ideation.

 

 

There is no question that sexual violence is a problem in the US and on college campuses across the country. There is no question that we must support survivors of sexual violence wholeheartedly.

As an organization of over 130 members, we do, however, share different perspectives on what that support looks like. Some members of HBLSA support the efforts of organizations like Common Justice, a restorative justice program highlighted in Michelle Alexander’s recent NYT opinion article that offers a process that both centers survivors of acts of violence and gives survivors the opportunity to define the terms of how to hold the person responsible accountable in ways that seek to repair the harm rather than simply sending the responsible party to prison.  Other HBLSA members look to the current criminal legal system to prosecute crimes of sexual violence. We’ve discussed the range of ways support can be for survivors, and while we may not be in total agreement on what form it should take, we are clear that unequivocal support for survivors of sexual violence is needed.

2. We disagree wholeheartedly with the insinuation that attorneys should not represent those accused of sexual assault and rape.

 

 

Several authors writing on this issue appear to argue that the critique of Professor Sullivan’s representation of Harvey Weinstein comes from a point of view that defense attorneys should not represent those who have been accused of crimes of sexual violence. As a general matter, we disagree with that point of view. As has been argued, the right to legal counsel in criminal trials is a necessary aspect of our criminal legal system and critical to maintaining any semblance of due process in that system. It would be unconscionable to argue that those accused of sexual assault should not have access to counsel in the adversarial system against the legal power of the state and US government.

3. We defer to the students of Harvard College in regards to their concerns with Professor Sullivan’s leadership as Faculty Dean.

 

 

Faculty Deans play a critical role of setting the tone at each of the twelve undergraduate residential Houses at Harvard University. Students at Harvard College have raised concerns that Professor Sullivan’s decision to represent Harvey Weinstein is incompatible with his role as Faculty Dean, especially so given Weinstein’s unique role as a catalyst and cultural symbol in the resurgence of the #MeToo movement.  As law students, we are not equipped to speak to the dynamics between Professor Sullivan and the students of Winthrop House. We are also not equipped to speak of the dynamics between the larger Harvard College student body and their Deans as we cannot truly understand the role the Faculty Deans play in student life at the College. Because of this, we defer to the students of Harvard College in regards to their concerns with Professor Sullivan and his continued leadership as Faculty Dean. If the students who have this unique relationship have raised concerns, either as students in Winthrop House or as members of the broader Harvard College community, their critique deserves to be heard on its own terms and in light of their unique relationship as a student of Harvard College engaging with a Faculty Dean rather than the implications of that relationship being ignored or dismissed wholesale as appears to have been done by some writers.

4. We condemn the outsized response taken by Harvard University, and some members of the Harvard Community. We take note of the racist undertones that characterize this outsized response.     

 

 

As previously stated, we defer to the students of Harvard College in regards to their concerns with Professor Sullivan’s leadership at Winthrop House and how they hope to address those concerns. At the same time, we condemn any actions by Harvard University and some members of the Harvard Community to scapegoat Professor Sullivan for the ongoing failures of the University to effectively address the many issues of sexual assault on campus.

In 2015, Harvard University’s Task Force on Prevention of Sexual Assault wrote to then-President Drew Faust that sexual assault is “a serious and widespread problem that profoundly violates the values and undermines the educational goals of this University.” Of the 60 percent of women in the 2015 graduating class at Harvard College, 31% said they had experienced some sort of unwanted sexual contact at Harvard. 16% of female Harvard College seniors from that survey characterized that contact as “nonconsensual completed or attempted penetration involving physical force, incapacitation or both. Fast forward two years, and in fiscal year 2017 to fiscal year 2018, Harvard’s Title IX office received 416 disclosures of sexual and gender-based harassment, an increase of 55 percent from the previous year. While this increase potentially comes from increased levels of reporting rather than actually increased levels of sexual and gender-based harassment, it still speaks to the fact that sexual violence has been and remains a major issue on campus to this day. Moreover, Harvard currently refuses to agree to third-party neutral grievance procedure for student workers in cases of discrimination and sexual harassment. Professor Sullivan should not be made a scapegoat for the University’s general failing to address pressing and prevalent issues of sexual violence.

We are also concerned of the racist undertones evidenced by the disproportionate response to this issue by the University and, likely, some members of the University community. In late February, the Dean of the College, Rakesh Khurana, announced a “climate review” of Winthrop House. Professor Sullivan stated in a recent New York Times article that, “[n]ever in the history of the faculty dean position has the dean been subjected to a ‘climate review’ in the middle of some controversy.” As Professor Sullivan noted in that article, it is not lost on us that Professor Sullivan was the first African American appointed to the position of Faculty Dean in Harvard’s history. Taking his statements as true, he is also the first Faculty Dean to receive such outsized treatment in the case of a controversy. Additionally, in late February someone vandalized Winthrop House, Professor Sullivan’s home, with white spray paint with slogans including the language of “Down w Sullivan!” As much as we recognize the anger and/or hurt felt by some students, it is unacceptable that in the face of such controversy the first Black Faculty Dean has to return to a vandalized home, evoking images of Jim Crow era tactics to control Black communities and the use of such vandalism to this day by white supremacists.  

5. We both respect and appreciate Prof. Sullivan’s previous and current work representing and supporting people from all walks of life as an attorney, faculty advisor, and professor.

 

 

Professor Sullivan is a world-renowned attorney who has dedicated his career to representing clients from all walks of life. Through his work with the office of the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office, Professor Sullivan designed and implemented a Conviction Review Unit (CRU) to identify and exonerate wrongfully convicted persons. The CRU has become one of the foremost model programs in the nation. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, he designed an indigent defense delivery system that resulted in the release of nearly all 6,000 people around New Orleans without representation and with all official records destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. He is the faculty director of the Harvard Law Criminal Justice Institute, a criminal law clinical program that provides much-needed defense of low-income members of the Boston community in criminal court. Moreover, as our faculty advisor, he has shown up in many ways for the members of HBLSA. The list of his accomplishments is long, and as an organization, we greatly appreciate Professor Sullivan’s years of support for HBLSA and the great work he’s done in the legal community.

 

As a community, we recognize the division this controversy has exposed in the Harvard Community, among friends, and even within our organization. We ask, however, that the University’s efforts to address this controversy be handled in a way that both prioritizes survivors of sexual violence while not scapegoating Professor Sullivan for broader University failures or failing to prevent actions like the vandalizing of Professor Sullivan’s home.