The Harvard College Democrats released the following statement in response to President Larry Bacow’s remarks comparing an easing of alumni donations rules to the 13th Amendment:
Harvard President Larry Bacow’s comments stand in diametric opposition to the values our community, and the Harvard community at large, holds. At a time when Harvard must more fully reckon with its dark history of enabling and practicing slavery, it is unacceptable for its leader to compare alumni donors to enslaved persons and revised donor rules to the 13th Amendment. His comments display a deep misunderstanding of our nation’s history and the role slavery continues to play today. It’s time for him to make his apology real by divesting our institution from the prison-industrial complex.
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