PRESS RELEASE: HPDC Stages Silent Protest at HLS Reunion Event

On Saturday morning, student organizers from the Harvard Prison Divestment Campaign staged a silent protest the Harvard Law School Annual 45th Fall Reunion at “A Conversation with Dean John F. Manning ’85” with HLS alumni. Dean Manning initially asked the organizers to leave. But after being handed a copy of Harvard Law School’s policy on protest and dissent, he allowed the students to stay and continued his talk to alumni.

The action was part of an ongoing campaign demanding that Harvard divest its holdings in companies that profit from the prison-industrial complex. Student organizers waited until Dean Manning started speaking and quietly held up signs that said “Harvard Profiteers from the Prison-Industrial Complex” and “Stop the Profits from Prisons.” The action comes on the heels of HPDC’s release of their “Harvard-to-Prison Pipeline” report, detailing the extent of Harvard’s holdings and the human impact of these investments. Find the REPORT: tiny.cc/hpdcreport

Other student organizers also handed out copies of the report and flyers of their demands. This flyer, which was given to Dean Manning, read, “Dean Manning, despite what you think, you are implicated in Harvard’s profiteering from prisons, policing, and weaponry. You produce prosecutors who put Black and brown people into cages en masses. There is blood no your hands, too.” The demands for Dean Manning included (1) Make a statement in support of our Campaign, (2) Schedule a meeting with Bacow and an HPDC organizer to advocate for HPDC.

“As current Harvard students, we believe that this is an issue that alumni deserve to know about. The administration has done their best to try to keep the broader public and alumni from learning about their investments,” said Paul Clarke, “We took the opportunity of reunion to raise awareness and call on alumni to hold the administration accountable.”