Leverett House Responds To Racial Harassment

An incident of racial harassment targeted against a Leverett student has prompted outrage in the house and a statement from the master calling such acts "inacceptable" and threatening to students' individuality.

House resident Lamonte Lucas '91, a former member of the College's race relations advisory committee and former committee chair for the Harvard-Radcliffe Black Students Association, reported that on November 29 he discovered a lost computer disk on his doorstep with a note reading, "NIGGER". The disk's contents were damaged or erased, he said.

Lucas, who issued an open letter denouncing the incident in the campus press, said last week he suspected a house resident was responsible.

Leverett Master John E. Dowling '57, in a letter sent to all house members, condemned the action and urged students to confront issues of racial diversity.

"When any of us is attacked for being different, each of us is hurt," Dowling wrote in the letter. "Attacks like these are not simply against some abstract rule. They make each of us afraid to reveal our individuality and that hurts the house as its strongest point."

"It is important for the community to know that this can happen," Dowling said last week. "Leverett prides itself on its diversity."

The master said that to his knowledge in nine years at the house there has been no similar harassment. He also issued a personal apology to Lucas.

Leverett students responded mainly with revulsion, shock and disappointment, Lucas and officials said last week. "The students have shared concerns expressed in the letter," said Senior Tutor Elizabeth B. Keeney. "There has been a positive response to the letter, and people are using the incident constructively."

Assistant Dean for Minority and Race Relations Hilda Hernandez-Gravelle, with whom Lucas initially discussed the incident, said. "The master and senior tutor of the house are reacting very well in treating this as a serious incident. I think that the fact that it happened at this time of AWARE [Actively Working Against Racism and Ethnocentrism] reinforces the idea that we need to address these issues and that the problem of college racism is a real issue."

Lucas added that he appreciated the master's response.

"I am very satisfied. I believe he [Dowling] addressed it very sincerely and responded very quickly," the student said.

"It's important for Harvard to realize racism is a problem and should be addressed," he said. "As my mother said to me, intelligence does not mean character, and intelligence does not mean immunity from prejudice."