<p>At</a> Harvard, blacks perceive blatant culture of prejudice - The Boston Globe</p>
<p>Posted without comment for those who are considering Harvard.
(If you have trouble with the link, go to [url=<a href="http://www.boston.com%5DBoston.com%5B/url">http://www.boston.com]Boston.com[/url</a>] and click to News/Local.</p>
<p>Sadly, although the incidents describe happened at Harvard, I think they could happen anywhere. Mostly I think it shows that we have a long way to go as a society, not that Harvard is a racist institution.</p>
<p>Oh, and also, our freshman summer readings all deal with race and racism this year, in case anyone's interested, so clearly the school is trying to take steps to address any underlying racism in the university.</p>
<p>I agree that the incidents described could really take place pretty much anywhere, as sad as that is. I personally have never witnessed any racism on campus (although I don't doubt it exists). I don't think the article gives enough credit or mention to groups like BSA and ABHW, though, which have a strong on-campus presence in my opinion.</p>
<p>Harvard was clearly singled out. I'm sure this type of stuff happens in just about any campus.</p>
<p>But as the highest institution of learning in the country and the beacon of intellectualism pretty much everywhere, don't you think Harvard shouldn't be like "any other campus" in the country?</p>
<p>"don't you think Harvard shouldn't be like "any other campus" in the country?"</p>
<p>It's a human institution, and an American institution. No, you can't have a university that exists on an alternate plane, away from ordinary human interaction and its pitfalls. Well, maybe you could, but it would have to be the ultimate ivory tower, isolated from real-world dialogue. Maybe St. John's or Deep Springs can achieve that, but it's not what Harvard is trying to be, nor what I would like it to be.</p>
<p>It's worth noting that Harvard has the highest black graduation rate of any college in the country -- higher than any HBCU. Whatever racism black students may encounter there, it clearly isn't holding them back.</p>
<p>I'm not saying it has to be perfect, but it should be above usual standards.</p>
<p>The graduation rate is completely irrelevant. There's only a few hundred black students at Harvard, and they all worked really, really hard to get there (harder than many of us white students, I would wager). For one, there's a small portion; they're also among the smartest kids in the country, so of course they're not going to drop out of college.</p>
<p>That doesn't mean it's not a big problem.</p>
<p>Racism in general is a pretty widespread problem in Boston, and the Harvard Campus Police aren't atypical in that respect. Criticism of the system is pretty well-justified in this case.</p>