Harvard Pledges $100 Million To Rectify Its Ties To Slavery
Summary from the AllSides News Team
Harvard University has pledged $100 million to study and rectify its ties to slavery, according to an official statement from president Lawrence Bacow.
Bacow said that the money will be allocated to an endowed "Legacy of Slavery Fund," which will ensure the progression of researching and memorializing the history of race issues. A 130-page report released in tandem with the university’s announcement revealed that at least 41 prominent school leaders enslaved people and that the institution benefited from "extensive financial ties to slavery." It also claimed that the legacy of slavery lived on at Harvard "as recently as the 1960s" by promoting "race science" and restricting the enrollment of so-called "outsiders." The 14-person committee that worked on the report recommended a number of ways the money should be spent such as improving educational opportunities for the descendants of enslaved people and updating memorials on campus.
The New York Times (Lean Left bias) noted a number of examples of how Harvard has been "slow to catalog its history on racial matters" and highlighted other legacy universities that are making similar reparations. National Review (Right bias) emphasized how Harvard’s wealth "allows it to easily dedicate resources to the project."
Featured Coverage of this Story
From the Left
Harvard Creates Fund to Redress Its Ties to Slavery
Harvard University is committing $100 million to study and redress its ties to slavery, the university’s president announced Tuesday, and with that money will create an endowed “Legacy of Slavery Fund,” which will continue researching and memorializing that history, working with descendants of Black and Native American people enslaved at Harvard, as well as their broader communities.
With the announcement, Harvard joins many other universities — including Brown, Georgetown and Princeton Theological Seminary — that are not just grappling with their complicity in the institution of slavery but also putting...
From the Right
Harvard to Spend $100 Million to Study and Redress Its Ties to Slavery
Harvard University President Lawrence Bacow announced Tuesday that the university will spend $100 million to study and redress its ties to slavery.
The funds will be put toward a “Legacy of Slavery Fund” to continue researching and memorializing the history, in part by working with descendants of black and Native American people enslaved at Harvard and their broader communities. The announcement follows the release of a report from the Presidential Initiative on Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery project, which Bacow commissioned in 2019.
“Harvard benefited from and in some ways...
From the Center
Harvard sets up $100 million endowment fund for slavery reparations
Harvard University is setting aside $100 million for an endowment fund and other measures to close the educational, social and economic gaps that are legacies of slavery and racism, according to an email the university’s president sent to all students, faculty and staff on Tuesday.
The email from Harvard President Lawrence Bacow included a link to a 100-page report by his university’s 14-member Committee on Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery. The panel was chaired by Tomiko Brown-Nagin, a legal historian and constitutional law expert who is dean of Harvard’s...
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