PRESS RELEASE: Harvard Defends Prison Investments Despite Statements on George Floyd Protests

Harvard University currently faces a lawsuit demanding that Harvard divest its endowment from companies that profit from prisons and policing. In a typo-ridden brief filed today, Harvard denies that the prison-industrial complex is an institution of slavery.

In the midst of uprisings for Black Lives across the country and throughout the world, Harvard continues to defend its racist profiteering through its investments in the prison-industrial complex. These investments uphold and expand an industry that targets and cages Black people. 

On May 30, President Bacow told some Harvard affiliates, “In the midst of this incomprehensible loss, our nation has once again been shocked by the senseless killing of yet another black person—George Floyd—at the hands of those charged with protecting us.” Yet, under President Bacow’s leadership, Harvard defends its practice of profiting from and investing in the exact systems which perpetuate the murder of Black people.

In its Reply brief, Harvard insists that labeling prisons as institutions of slavery is a “heartfelt opinion,” not a fact: “In short, Plaintiffs’ false advertising claim rests on their opinions on the nature of prisons . [sic] These views, no matter how heartfelt, are “labels and conclusions,” which Iannacchino distinguishes from “[f]actual allegations” that are necessary to suggest an entitlement to relief. 451 Mass. at 636.” 

The 13th Amendment is not an opinion, it’s a fact. Harvard is presumably aware of the 13th Amendment, which states that slavery is illegal except for those convicted of a crime. Harvard should know that prisoners therefore can be and are legally slaves. Instead, Harvard evades liability by denying that the prison-industrial complex is an institution of slavery. Harvard would rather argue that forced unpaid labor and putting people in cages is not slavery than simply divest its endowment from the prison-industrial complex.  

In February, student organizers with the Harvard Prison Divestment Campaign filed suit in Massachusetts state court alleging that Harvard University has violated its own Charter by refusing to hear in good faith the demands of the students, who became donors to the University before filing. According to the student plaintiffs, the Harvard Charter requires that all the University endowment’s disposings must be “according to the will of the donors.”

The plaintiffs also allege that the University falsely advertised itself as an institution which cares about addressing and reckoning with its legacy of slavery. The plaintiffs allege that the University cares not for its legacy of slavery because it invests in the prison-industrial complex, which is a slave trade itself. 

The University has explicitly refused to “hear” the plaintiffs in good faith on the problems with Harvard’s investments, according to the plaintiffs. Further, the University has repeatedly denied Ms. Tamara Lanier access to the portraits of her enslaved ancestors, even battling Ms. Lanier in court over possession of the portraits.

Today, Harvard University filed a Motion to Dismiss in the matter of The Harvard Prison Divestment Campaign, et al., v. The President and Fellows of Harvard College, et. al.

The court date for oral arguments has not been set.