Calling Out Chanequa

The Harvard Crimson reports Chanequa N. Campbell ’09 is being barred from graduating because of her alleged involvement with the recent shooting at Kirkland.  This is bullshit.  Her involvement, it seems, is based upon evidence pointing to her (and another, Brittany J. Smith ’09) as the means to which the victim, Justin Cosby, was able to get into the dorm.  The problem is that all kinds of non-Harvard people sneak into the houses.  You can’t use that as a basis for kicking someone out — what if you need 25 pizzas delivered?  I sure as hell ain’t going to carry all that into the dining hall myself (that’s the DELIVERY guy’s job).

Moreover, crime, in America, is judged by a jury of one’s peers.

So let’s say Chanequa is exonerated in the end.  She’ll get her diploma and (probably) a very nice apology letter, as well as a lifetime of these never-ending e-mails and letters from the Alumni Association asking for money.  And let’s say she’s not, and this emboldens Harvard to continue judging without balanced review.  Either way, something substantial is lost.

Bottom line: believe it or not, people invest a lot to go to Harvard.  There are sleepless nights and impossible loans and all those goddamn tourists with their goddamn cameras.  The transaction is not one-sided.  Harvard does indeed brighten the lives of her graduates, but Harvard sometimes forgets that her reputation is burnished by these very same lives.  We bet on you, Harvard.  Would it be too much to ask that you, perhaps, at times, go out on a limb and bet on us?