A black Harvard College student was arrested Friday night after a physical confrontation with law enforcement for charges including indecent exposure, disorderly conduct, assault, and resisting arrest, according to information posted Saturday by the Cambridge Police Department.
In response to the event, the Harvard Black Students called the arrest of the student an incident of police brutality.
Hours after news of the student’s arrest became public, administrators and student groups including BLSA mobilized to organize meetings to help affiliates process the event. College officials held one meeting, BLSA held another, and multiple House Faculty Deans and tutors hosted gatherings in House spaces throughout the day Saturday.
Anselm Kizza-Besigye ’21, who said he is helping organize undergraduates’ collective response to the arrest, said after the BLSA event he thinks the University should have done more to protect the student involved in the incident. Kizza-Besigye is also comping Fifteen Minutes.
“As I’ve learned more about what’s happened, it’s just become more obvious to me that there is an acute and systematic failure on almost every level of administration to secure black lives on this campus,” he said. “When we talk about how the Cambridge Police Department responded to a medical emergency on a campus, that is absurd and it’s indicative of a much larger issue in which people don’t understand the implications of calling the Cambridge Police in a non-threatening situation.”
Cambridge City Manager Louis A. DePasquale wrote in a statement to Cambridge City Councillors that CPD is committed to just and legitimate policing.
"I know that the Cambridge Police Department takes great pride in serving and protecting the City of Cambridge," DePasquale wrote. "They are committed to ensuring legitimacy and procedural justice in their policing efforts."
As mandated by CPD policies, CPD plans to conduct an internal review of the event in the wake of the arrest. DePasquale wrote he is confident that CPD will use the review "as an opportunity to reflect on lessons that can be learned from this incident."
Kizza-Besigye added he does not think the University does enough in general to protect its black students.
“I don’t feel safe on this campus. Ever,” he said. “I don’t feel safe walking alone here.”
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