Harvard cancels course on controversial policing method under pressure from students
Share on Facebook
Karen TownsendPosted at 9:01 pm on January 27, 2021
Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
Harvard University’s School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS) canceled a course that was to be offered this semester due to pressure from students. The course features a controversial policing technique called Counter Criminal Continuum Policing, or C3.
The title of the course was Data Fusion in Complex Systems: A Case Study. The course was to have focused on evaluating the use of C3 to disrupt gang and illicit drug activity in Springfield, Massachusetts, where it is currently in use. The decision to cancel the course was announced Monday afternoon in an email from Harvard SEAS Dean Frank J. Doyle. The technique was developed by the U.S. military in their work of community policing in Iraq and Afghanistan. That is where the problem comes in for the students. It is rooted in militar
Harvard Cancels Course On Policing Techniques After Uproar
This story was updated at 4:10 p.m. with new information.
Harvard University s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences is canceling a new course focused on evaluating the efficacy of military-style counterinsurgency techniques used to fight crime in Springfield, Massachusetts, after critics raised concerns about the ethical implications of that approach.
The decision was announced Monday afternoon in an email from Harvard SEAS Dean Frank J. Doyle. I want to assure members of the SEAS community that we are aware of, and take seriously, the concerns that some of you raised about the design and pedagogy of the proposed course, Doyle wrote.