PRESS CONTACTS:

Jeannie Park: harvardcoalition@gmail.com and 607-699-9155 (mobile)

Rachael Dane: Rachael_Dane@Harvard.edu and 617-916-3636 (mobile)

 

 

MEDIA ADVISORY

 

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 14: National Civil Rights Leaders, Community Leaders, Students and Allies Host Harvard Square Rally to Defend Campus Diversity

 

WHAT

Community and national civil rights organizations are uniting with more than 30 Harvard student, alumni and staff groups to hold a #DefendDiversity rally in Harvard Square to show their support for diversity on campus. The rally is on the eve of trial in a lawsuit that seeks to eliminate race in Harvard’s admissions process and threatens diversity at the college.

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Follow #DefendDiversity on Twitter for live updates and you can find up to date information on Facebook and at diverseharvard.org/rally. Harvard Law student @Sej_Singh will be livetweeting the rally.  

 

WHY

Students for Fair Admissions, an organization purporting to represent Asian-American college applicants but headed by conservative activist Edward Blum, filed a lawsuit seeking to eliminate the consideration of race in admissions, thereby threatening diversity at the college. Allied civil rights organizations across the country, in conjunction with dozens of Harvard student, alumni and staff groups, organized this rally to amplify their condemnation of this divisive lawsuit and its attempt to pit historically marginalized groups against each other.

 

WHEN

11 a.m. Sunday, October 14

 

WHERE

Harvard Square.

(Press check-in at the Visitor's Information Center kiosk outside the Red Line T Station in the middle of Harvard Square)

 

WHO—SPEAKERS

Jessica Tang, President, Boston Teachers Union, and Harvard alumna

 

Todne Thomas, Assistant Professor of African American Religions, Harvard Divinity School

 

Doris Reina-Landaverde, Harvard Temporary Protected Status Coalition, member of 32BJ SEIU

 

Thang Diep, Harvard College Senior

 

Gregory Davis, Harvard Doctoral Student

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Wayne Yeh, Civic Action Organizer, Chinese Progressive Association

 

WHO—PERFORMERS

James Mathew & Olivia Owens, Harvard sophomores[JP1] , 21 Colorful Crimson

 

WHO—PARTICIPANTS (list in formation):

Asian American Resource Workshop

Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC

Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Los Angeles

Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Chicago

Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Orange County

Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus

Asian Pacific Islander Civic Action Network-APIs CAN

21 Colorful Crimson

Association of Black Harvard Women

Chief Stewards of Local 26 at Harvard

Civil and Human Rights Committee of HGSU-UAW

Coalition for a Diverse Harvard

First Generation Harvard Alumni

Fuerza Latina of Harvard

Harvard African Law Association

Harvard Asian American Alumni Alliance

Harvard Asian American Brotherhood

Harvard Asian Pacific American Law Students Association

Harvard Black Alumni Society

Harvard Islamic Society

Harvard Japan Society

Harvard Kennedy School AAPI Caucus

Harvard Korean Association

Harvard Latino Alumni Alliance

Harvard Latinx Student Alliance

Harvard Law School Lambda

Harvard Law School Pipeline Parity Project

Harvard Minority Association of Pre-medical Students

Harvard Native American Law Student Association

Harvard Phillips Brooks House Association

Harvard South Asian Association

Harvard South Asian Law Students Association (SALSA)

Harvard University Muslim Alumni

Harvard-Radcliffe Asian American Association

Harvard-Radcliffe Asian American Women’s Association

Harvard-Radcliffe Black Student Association

Harvard-Radcliffe Chinese Students Association

Harvard Temporary Protected Status Coalition

Harvard Vietnamese Association

Kuumba Singers of Harvard College

Native American Alumni of Harvard University

Native Americans at Harvard College

Pan-Asian Coalition for Education at HGSE

Task Force on Asian and Pacific American Studies at Harvard College