(The Daily Caller News Foundation) — A music business program geared towards students of color has allegedly scrubbed its website of any mention of Harvard University following a civil rights complaint.
Mark Perry, senior fellow at Do No Harm, a medical watchdog group, filed a civil rights complaint Friday against Harvard University for its alleged partnership with No Label Academy, a summer music business course that is open exclusively to individuals of color, according to the civil rights complaint obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation. Since the civil rights complaint, No Label Academy appears to have allegedly modified its website, according to screenshots, to remove its reference to “the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research at Harvard University” which the civil rights complaint says supports the music program.
“This is my ninth Title VI or Title IX complaint against Harvard over the last three years, so this latest example of Harvard’s failure to enforce federal civil rights laws demonstrates a pattern of non-compliance with Title VI and Title IX, despite their legal obligation as a recipient of Federal funds to actively enforce all federal civil rights laws including Title VI and Title IX,” Perry told the DCNF. “Doesn’t Harvard have any legal process or mechanism in place to review new programs, especially BIPOC-only programs, for legal compliance with federal civil rights laws?”
Perry’s civil rights complaint, filed to the Boston Office for Civil Rights, notes that the summer program is “open to all BIPOC [black, indigenous, people of color] individuals interested in music business” and is hosted by the university on its campus. The civil rights complaint references an article about the program which stated that the program is able to take place with “the support of the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research and Harvard Art Museums at Harvard.”
Following my Title VI civil rights complaint vs. @Harvard and its @HutchinsCenter headed by Prof. @HenryLouisGates for sponsoring/partnering with @NoLabelAcademy to hold a no whites-allowed BIPOC-only music program at Harvard, here's what happened at https://t.co/Klu2p9VsN6 pic.twitter.com/19XhnPthtj
— Mark J. Perry (@Mark_J_Perry) June 5, 2023
Another article referenced in the complaint notes that the program will take place at Harvard University’s North West Lab. A program text update to individuals interested in the course allegedly states, “thanks for your interest in No Label Academy at Harvard,” according to the civil rights complaint.
In 2021, Perry filed a previous civil rights complaint against Harvard University for allegedly allowing No Label Academy to host its program at the higher education institution. No Label Academy allegedly modified its website for the first time in 2021 following Perry’s original complaint to no longer mention that the course was being held at Harvard University, Campus Reform reported.
“The BIPOC-only, no whites-allowed program scheduled to take place on Harvard’s campus in August is just as unlawful, offensive and objectionable as it would be if Harvard hosted a whites-only program on its campus and was a partner and funder of the sponsoring racist group organizing that program,” Perry told the DCNF.
No Label Academy, Harvard University and the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
