Harvard Announces $100M Fund to ‘Redress’ University’s Ties to Slavery

Harvard is setting up a $100 million endowment fund to redress the university‘s ties to slavery.

In an email sent to students, faculty and staff Tuesday, Harvard President Lawrence Bacow announced the university’s $100 million commitment to redress its ties to slavery through the creation of the “Legacy of Slavery Fund.” The New York Times reported the fund will work with descendants of Black and Native American people once enslaved at Harvard, as well as their broader communities.

“Slavery and its legacy have been a part of American life for more than 400 years,” Bacow wrote, according to a copy of the email obtained by Reuters. “The work of further redressing its persistent effects will require our sustained and ambitious efforts for years to come.”

{snip}

The fund will serve as “a necessary predicate to and foundation for redress,” but does not call for direct financial reparations to descendants of enslaved people, the report says. Brown-Nagin told the Times she avoids using the term “reparations” because “fixating” on the word can be “counterproductive.”

{snip}