Harvard misses deadline to review violent police arrest of Black student
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A committee formed to examine the brutal arrest of a 21-year-old Black Harvard University student beaten by Cambridge police, and review the school’s policing policies has stalled in its efforts, The Crimson reports.
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Before leaving, former University President Drew G. Faust formed the committee and ordered the review in an effort to address community policing and campus-wide concerns following the violent arrest of Selorm Ohene.
Faust said the recommendations should be done by the beginning of the fall semester, but the committee has missed that mark.
On Thursday, the committee said it needed more time to conduct further “focus groups” with students before offering suggestions to the new President Lawrence S. Bacow.
On Thursday, Katherine G. O’Dair, the College’s dean of students, emailed undergraduates to invite them to apply to serve on the focus groups to “ensure broad levels of student engagement,” The Crimson reports.
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In April, Harvard University President Drew G. Faust has issued a statement about the arrest of a Black student by Cambridge police, calling for the community to reflect on the incident against “the backdrop of increasingly urgent questions about race and policing in the United States.”
The brutal beating of undergraduate student, Selorm Ohene, was viewed widely in a shocking seven-minute video went viral.
Cambridge police officers can be seen holding Ohene down and striking him repeatedly, according to the Boston Globe. Faust called the video “profoundly disturbing” in an email sent to university affiliates Monday.
