Not so long ago at Harvard, regular PBCs readers will recall, a routine police follow-up to a noise complaint sparked days of contrived racial agonizing, which climaxed with a Harvard administrator’s ignorant comparison of the Harvard University Police Department’s techniques to those of South Africa’s apartheid regime.

I suppose it’s worth asking who’s really pulling for racial separation–apartheid’s greatest hope–when one sees an announcement like this, from the campus’s Black Students Alliance:

———- Forwarded message ———-
Date: May 31, 2007 2:25 PM
Subject: [bsa-announce] **BLACK GRADUATION: ALL THE DETAILS**
Cc: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
Hello Black ‘07!
We are one week away from Commencement and less than a week away from
Black Graduation! […]
*WHEN IS BLACK GRADUATION?
-Wednesday, June 6th, 2007 -Reception with light refreshments to be held
from 5-6pm […]
-Ceremony starts at 6pm in […]

When I first saw the announcement’s subject line, I thought someone might be using the term “black graduation” figuratively. Apparently not–I attach the details of “When is Black Graduation” only to drive home the point that this is an actual event!