Following the recommendation of an external review into Harvardâs police department, a newly formed committee comprised of affiliates spanning the University that will advise the departmentâs leadership held its inaugural meeting last month.
University President Lawrence S. Bacow announced the department review in June 2020 on the heels of student outrage over the presence of HUPD officers monitoring a protest in Boston following the murder of George Floyd, a Black man, by Minneapolis police.
The external review produced a more comprehensive probe into HUPD than an internal review set in motion in February 2020 in response to an investigation by The Crimson that found repeated instances of racism and sexism in the department and held the departmentâs leadership responsible for perpetuating a toxic culture among officers.
A panel of education leaders discussed strategies to combat racism in school classrooms during a Harvard Graduate School of Education webinar Wednesday.
The webinar, part of the Education Now webinar series HGSE launched last year, was hosted by HGSE Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging Tracie D. Jones. The panel included J. Malcolm Cawthorne, a Brookline High School teacher; Jennifer P. Cheatham, a senior lecturer at HGSE and former teacher and administrator; and Heidi Shin, a journalist and radio producer. The speakers discussed the flaws of school systems’ current approach to racism between students and how to address those shortcomings.