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Dear Harvard College Students,
Earlier today, Dean Gay wrote to our community regarding a racist email that many of us received this morning. I want to join Dean Gay in condemning that hateful message, which represents the worst of humanity: a cowardly act of racism intended to deepen the wounds caused by our country’s legacy of lynching, sent on the heels of the commemoration of Juneteenth.
For all the anger and heartache that today’s message – and the events of the last few weeks – have caused, your own actions continue to give me hope. I am hopeful because of the many ways large and small that so many of you have joined to demand that we do better—as individuals, as a community, and as a society.
I am committed to standing beside you and doing everything in our collective power to be anti-racist, to stand up for Black lives, and to put actions behind our words so that we can tackle the structural inequalities at Harvard and create a community where all of our students can thrive.
Warmly,
Rakesh Khurana
Danoff Dean of Harvard College
Dear FAS Colleagues,
Early this morning, many members of the Harvard community, myself included, received an anonymous racist email message, whose vile language invoked the brutal history of lynching and sought to sow fear and undermine our sense of belonging. The University has already taken steps to block the originating email account and has forwarded the message to HUPD for investigation.
The message is both personally threatening to those of us who received it, and an affront to the values of our school. Over the last three weeks, I have witnessed this community come together, in large and small groups, to reaffirm our values and commit anew to action against anti-black racism and to building an FAS where we all can thrive. This is who we are, and who we aspire to be. It is essential that we continue this work, which is the most powerful rebuke to those who seek to stop positive, necessary change through the use of fear and intimidation.
Sincerely,
Claudine