Police probing hate crime against black Harvard Law professors

Police in the US State of Massachusetts have launched an investigation into an apparent hate crime involving defaced portraits of black Harvard Law School professors.

The students and faculty members who walked into Harvard’s Wasserstein Hall on Thursday morning found that Black slashes of tape were placed over the faces of portraits of black professors hung on walls inside the building.

Wasserstein Hall houses two hallways with more than 180 portraits of law professors, six of which had tape over the black faculty members’ faces.

A police investigation into the incident was “active and ongoing,” according to Harvard University Police Department spokesman Steven G. Catalano. Police were yet to make any arrests.

The incident prompted outrage among hundreds of law school students and faculty members, prompting a meeting at noon on Thursday to discuss the incident.

During the meeting, students took turns to speak, some describing the law school as a racist and unwelcoming environment.

Law School Dean Martha L. Minow addressed the meeting and admitted the existence of racism at Harvard, describing it as a “serious problem.”

“Racism exists in America and in the United States and in Harvard and in Harvard Law School,” Minow said. “I am on record; this is my work. This is what I do,” she added.

Meanwhile, Kyle Strickland, the president of the law school’s student body, said “As a black student, it was extremely offensive. And I know the investigation is ongoing; we will see what happened, but to me it seemed like a pretty clear act of intolerance, racism.”

“This morning at Harvard Law School we woke up to a hate crime,” said Michele D. Hall, a second-year Law School student.

US President Barack Obama, who is half black, as well as six current Supreme Court justices, were educated at Harvard Law School.

The latest incident comes amid growing racial tensions on US campuses across the country.

Last week, thousands of students from over 100 college campuses took part in walkouts and rallies in a show of solidarity with protesters at the University of Missouri.

Earlier this month, a series of protests at the University of Missouri related to racism resulted in the resignation of the university’s president and the chancellor of the flagship Columbia campus.

Research has shown that the stresses of being a minority, in addition to the usual pressures of adjusting to college, can cause some students to leave school, said Jioni A. Lewis, a psychology professor at the University of Tennessee.

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