Harvard Professor Gates Arrested for Disorderly Conduct at His Home, Accuses Police of Racism

Henry Louis "Skip" Gates, Jr., prominent professor and director of Harvard's W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Studies was, according to an article in student newspaper, the Harvard Crimson, arrested around noon last Thursday at his home. The arrest was for a wide variety of disorderly behavior, which included 'racist' comments towards the police officers, who responded to a report of a man "wedging his shoulder in the front door [of Gates' house] as to pry the door open," the Crimson quotes from the police report.

The incident is now being reported by media worldwide. Since the matter has been dropped and termed a 'misunderstanding' with neither side receiving blame, the significance of the event clearly goes beyond a single unfortunate event in which a tired professor arriving from overseas is having trouble entering his home.

Several years ago Gates' department was in conflict with then-Harvard president Lawrence Summers, now adviser to President Barack Obama. According to reports, Summers had included Gates' department in his efforts to address grade inflation and had been urging increased production of scholarly work. One professor, Cornel West of the Harvard class of '74, had been active in the Million Man March, produced his own Rap CD, and was quoted by PBS as saying that his 'celebrity status' was a tool he could use as a 'force for good.' Summers was accused of not supporting the department in issues such as affirmative action, and Cornel West left for Princeton along with colleague K. Anthony Appiah, with Gates leaving open the possibility that he would join them.

The results of the lawsuit of Ward Churchill in Colorado had the legal system sympathizing with the activist professor but declining to instruct the university to return him to his teaching duties. While Harvard and the University of Colorado are worlds apart in some ways, the question of whether positions of prestige in academia are legitimately power bases for social change, or whether the greater good of the university and scholarship in general are at stake is a question with no clear answer.

The faculty at Harvard was taken to task for joining in on the pressure on president Summers which ultimately led to his departure, with the Harvard Crimson reporting survey results that indicated that students were much more in favor of Summers' handling of the situation with the faculty than their professors' role in the situation. Ultimately, President Obama's choice of Summers as a key advisor casts a tacit vote in the matter as well.

Summers was replaced by Drew Gilpin Faust, historian and first female president of Harvard. When the international media reported her ascension, it was clear that journalists were looking to report the credentials and experience that led to the top position at Harvard. Aside from leading a small institute in the Harvard community, there were few, but, as with the Obama presidency, she did represent a monumental change in the Harvard community.

Gates' cry of racism may have simply been a shout of the frustration he deals with in his role as agent of change and researcher into the life and pain of African-American and African people. The question, raised once more, may be whether any world can be isolated from activism and agents of change.

"Harvard Loses West to Princeton", Kate Rakoczy, http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=205064

"Renowned Af-Am Professor Arrested for Disorderly Conduct", Peter F. Zhu, http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=528584

"Poll: Students Give Profs Low Marks in Summers Saga", Javier C. Hernandez, Daniel J. T. Schuker, http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=512062

"This Far by Faith . Cornel West", http://www.pbs.org/thisfarbyfaith/witnesses/cornel_west.html