This staff editorial solely represents the majority view of The Crimson Editorial Board. It is the product of discussions at regular Editorial Board meetings. In order to ensure the impartiality of our journalism, Crimson editors who choose to opine and vote at these meetings are not involved in the reporting of articles on similar topics.
Early this year, Yale University’s former police chief Anthony Campbell began his tenure leading the Harvard University Police Department. Campbell, a long-time police officer with a record of strong leadership and faith-driven policing, brings nearly thirty years of experience to the role.
Our department’s record doesn’t look nearly as shiny. More than a dozen officers departed HUPD during former chief Victor A. Clay’s tenure, and just weeks before Clay resigned, the union representing HUPD officers almost unanimously voted no confidence in Clay. The department has suffered numerous labor disputes, allegations of racism and sexism, and a variety of complaints filed with a state police regulatory body.
Evidently, any path embarked upon by a new police chief must be met by a renewal in HUPD’s culture.
We’re mostly hopeful — with Campbell’s past experience and commitment to community-oriented policing — that he could renew HUPD’s commitment to public safety, cultivate positive community relations, and create real transparency.
Campbell oversaw the roll-out of body cameras to New Haven’s police department, hailing them as a tool to bring about a “collaborative model of community policing.” He backed the creation of a center that assists victims of domestic violence.
He even left a gig at the New Haven State Attorney’s Office after just two months to return to his alma mater and serve as assistant chief of police at Yale. He did so to help then-chief Ronnell A. Higgins address a crisis of public trust after the involvement of a Yale officer in the shooting of an unarmed woman.
Campbell’s eye towards the community is encouraging to us as students. Intentional policing, in this way, could combat the fear induced by shootings such as that at Brown and MIT without eroding trust.
But that trust can only grow with real transparency from the police department. If Campbell is serious about his commitment to public safety, the Harvard community deserves to hear what that commitment looks like in practice.
Campbell must share the department’s goals, policies, and practices with the Harvard community. That means talking to student groups, teaching a class like Campbell once did at Yale, and allowing interviews so that campus may better understand the department’s leadership.
Otherwise, it’ll continue to feel like Sasha — HUPD’s community engagement dog — is the one walking the department around campus.
With any changes Campbell seeks to enforce, he cannot treat Harvard like Yale. Unlike his stellar term at New Haven’s Police Department, the actions of the Yale Police Department towards the 2024 pro-Palestine demonstrations were regrettable.
The protests there concluded in dozens of arrests, standing in stark contrast to HUPD’s peaceful handling of our own encampments. Protestors at Yale were zip-tied and charged with trespassing, while here, Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine and University President Alan M. Garber ’76 negotiated a peaceful end to the situation.
A University police department is responsible for protecting all students — including those exercising their right to protest on campus. Whatever the differences Harvard and Yale faced in their protest sagas, Campbell must adhere to HUPD’s own mission of maintaining a secure campus while honoring our University tradition of free expression.
Despite HUPD’s past challenges, Chief Campbell has an immense opportunity here at Harvard. Done well, effective leadership could rebuild a fractured police department, recenter the safety of Harvard affiliates, and create real engagement with students.
We remain hopeful that his work renews HUPD while upholding the rights and values of our University.
There’s a lot of trust to be gained — but the department can’t rebuild it with silence.
This staff editorial solely represents the majority view of The Crimson Editorial Board. It is the product of discussions at regular Editorial Board meetings. In order to ensure the impartiality of our journalism, Crimson editors who choose to opine and vote at these meetings are not involved in the reporting of articles on similar topics.
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